"The Hunley" with Armand Assante and Donald Sutherland (1999)

When Sue and I moved to North Carolina in 1998, plans for raising the CSS Hunley were already underway. The submarine had been located and marked; all that was left was to raise her; which required both great planning and funding. Both were secured and the Hunley was raised and reconstructed over something like a 5 year period. It was a fascinating process, involving many people; among them author Clive Cussler, who helped finance the effort to raise the sunken vessel.

The movie, which came out in the midst of the real life drama, was one I skipped at the time, opting for the newspaper articles and films on TV to tell me the story of the CSS Hunley, the first sub-surface vessel to successfully sink a surface vessel. Though it ended in disaster, it marked a new era in warfare, and raised the question of just what is moral, or not, in wartime.

But the real meat of this film lies in the performances by Armand Assante, as the beleaguered Lt. Dixon, who must get his vision operable by a certain date for the equally beleaguered General Beauregard, played with style by Donald Sutherland. His haste will be Lt. Dixon’s undoing as he sets out with a crew of nine; some from as far away as Ireland; to do the impossible. The men know that he has lost a crew previously while testing the vessel, but elect to take on the risk for a cause which they believe is  on the verge of dying, but worth dying for. To die with that era seems fitting to them.

Very terse writing, and equally compelling performances by both Armand Assante and Donald Sutherland, make the script by  John Gray, of his story, which was co-written with John Fasano, come to life. Directed by Mr. Gray, he had the films structure clearly in mind prior to filming it, and so it has a feeling of continuity often lacking in other docu-dramas. Great story, if you have never heard about the Hunley, this film is a great place to get started.

Election Day - "For What It's Worth"

Today is Election Day and I truly hope that you will all get out and vote. Every 4 years you are told that “this is the most important election in a lifetime.” I got news for you; they’re all important. Even if you don’t like the candidates for the highest offices, at least make your choices known on the local level. And, when the day is done, and the votes all counted, let’s try to act like civilized people and accept the new President; from whatever party prevails; and unite as Americans to get something done in the next four years. This bickering along party lines has got to stop in order for the country to move forward. That means we have to respect the system and the outcome of the election.

There is much work to be done, and flapping jaws won’t cut it. Vote, and then let your Congressional Representatives and Senators know what you expect of them, regardless of who wins the Presidential race.

I have always loved the sound of this song, as well as the message it carries. The video; courtesy of You Tube; is from the Hollywood Palace TV show in 1967.

"Snow-Storm in August" by Jefferson Morley (2012)

The City of Washington D.C. springs to life in the hands of author Jefferson Morley’s book “Snow-Storm in August”. Billed as a biography of one man, Beverly Snow; a free man of color living in D.C. at the time; the book is so much more. Mr. Snow’s story is merely the vehicle by which the author has painted a very accurate; and fascinating; portrait of Washington only 3 decades after it was founded. There were times, while reading this book, in which Mr. Snow became the furthest thing from my mind.

The book delves into the history behind the decision to locate the Capital City where it stands today; and not in another Northern state, such as New York, or Philadelphia, both of which had already been home to our fledgling national government. The District of Columbia was chosen because it was acceptable to the Southern states, being surrounded; as it was; on two sides, by the slave holding states of Maryland to the North, and Virginia to the South. The district was filled with African- Americans, some free, and some enslaved.

Mr. Snow was of mixed race; referred to at the time as “mulatto”; and owned an oyster house on the James River in the town of Lynchburg, Virginia. He took for a wife a free woman of color named Julia, and the couple moved in with Beverly’s owner Susannah Norvell. Susannah’s father had left her Beverly in his will. Sussanah was a forward thinking woman who disliked the institution of slavery and manumitted Beverly, enabling him and Julia to open their very prosperous oyster house. Each month some of the profits would be kept by Beverly and his wife, while the rest went to Sussanah.

Before long, the lure of the Capital City, and the profits to be made there, called to Beverly. He settled all accounts with his mistress and her husband, and then he and Julia moved; as free persons of color; to the District. There, Beverly went to work for Jesse Brown, who owned a fine restaurant.

The author also introduces us to a Mrs. Anna Thornton, a Washington widow who owned some property and several slaves. She allowed her driver, George Plant to live in Georgetown with his wife of color, who was also a free woman. This was not an unusual arrangement at the time in Washington. So long as the servant showed up at the master’s home at the appointed time, there was no trouble.

On the night of August 4^th, 1835, one of Mrs. Thornton’s servants; a young man named Arthur Bowen; who was also the son of her most trusted maid, tried to kill her. His own mother awoke just in time to stop her son from killing her mistress. The boy fled and a city erupted in violence. This was the first race riot in Washington, D.C., a city which was divided in its customs and viewpoints concerning slavery. Anna Thornton’s assailant was sentenced to death by hanging, and only her impassioned plea for clemency; made by Mrs. Thornton out of her fondness for the boy’s mother; caused President Jackson to pardon the young man.

With a deft style that will keep you turning the pages, the author rolls back the curtain on a time in our nation’s history when slaves built our national monuments, while great statesmen spoke of “freedom for all.” This is one of the most neglected chapters of our history; how a nation; truly divided, and on the brink of civil war; managed to hold together for so long before the issue of slavery finally ripped it in half.

The book also explores the career of Francis Scott Key after he wrote the “Star Spangled Banner”. He was the District Attorney in Washington at the time of these events. He waged a campaign against vice, mainly the many brothels which proliferated in Washington at the time. He also wrote erotic poetry and was tone deaf, and never got to hear his immortal poem sung to music.

As a matter of fact, the author has packed so much information into this work, that Beverly Snow’s story gets a bit lost in it. This book is so wide in its scope that it will take a second reading to truly enjoy it fully. That’s a compliment.

The Animals - Richmond Jazz Festival (1965)

The Animals were one of the most underrated bands of the 1960’s English “invasion”. With their mixture of blues and rock they infused the music scene with something a bit more edgy than the Beatles, or the Dave Clark Five. Groups like Herman’s Hermits and Freddy and the Dreamers, with their “bubblegum” brand of rock and roll, will always be remembered. At the same time, groups like The Animals are an example of the more serious of the bands that came over from England in the mid-sixties.

A blues based band, similar to the Rolling Stones in many ways, the band never sold out and kept on releasing blues-rock recordings, never giving way to the musical changes of the 1970’s. This version of “We Gotta Get Out of this Place” was recorded at the Richmond Jazz Festival in England sometime during 1965. It’s a great example of what the band was doing at the time. The mixture of blues and rock was already well established, but these guys took it to a darker place.

In this song you can feel the youthful frustrations which were rocking the world at the time. Released on the the heels of The Rolling Stones “Satisfaction”, this song highlighted a new generation’s dissatisfaction with the status quo. In Eric Burdon there was a match for the sneering visage of Mick Jagger. And both groups projected a menacing working class attitude that things needed to get better.

I know I am a dinosaur when it comes to the music I love, but what can I do? Groups like The Animals really influenced an entire generation of young people; for better or worse.

" In My Merry Oldsmobile" - (1931)

I ran across this little promotional cartoon for the 1931 Oldsmobile. It has all the elements of a melodrama, with a villainous landlord and a lady in distress. She is rescued by a virtuous young man who then takes her for a spin in his new automobile. The ending not shown is when he runs out of gas and pulls over to the side of the road, collecting his reward for saving her virtue. And if that’s not funny enough for you, it’s a Fleischer creation from the days when he was still doing advertisements, while cranking out the early Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons.

Watching this cartoon shows two things which have not changed; you need money to make money; and the guy with the coolest car usually gets the girl!

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Fall Back!

Don’t forget to set the clocks back at 2 AM tonight and enjoy the extra hour out, or in the morning, when you can simply sleep in. I don’t mind the fall set back – it’s the springing forward that hurts me more with each passing year! But, the fall set back, with its extra hour of night time is all right by me!

The Black Box and George Orwell

About 4 years ago Sue and I disconnected from cable TV; our remotes were almost worn out from constant clicking in search of something worthwhile to watch. Think about it; you sit down in front of the television, remote in hand, confident that there is something of interest on at least one of the 150 channels available to you. So, you start clicking away; like a kid at the beach, searching for that one perfect seashell; only to find that they are all unsatisfactory in one way or the other. So, you are left empty handed.

Now I don’t know about you, but we have a TV that is as flat as Twiggy was in 1967; and at the same time; high tech. In other words this means that I have a flat screen 50” television that asks me to “Please Be Patient” when I turn it on, as well as pauses while it locks onto the state of the art digital signal which is supposed to make me feel like I am part of the show. But, with each click taking about 30 seconds to produce an image on the screen, I can click through all 150 stations at the rate of one every 30 seconds, or two per minute. Divide the 150 channels by 2 per minute and that means it takes 75 minutes to cycle through them all, unless I find something that interests me. And to accomplish this feat, I need to add about 30 seconds to each station I land on while ascertaining whether or not I want to remain there. So that makes a total of I minute per station, divided by none, which equals 2 and a half hours to check out all the stations. Phew!! Sounds like work to me.

So, we cut the cable. It was like cutting an umbilical cord, in some ways giving us a bit more leisure time in our leisure time. Of course we had to get one of those “converter” boxes which the government was originally supplying to everyone for free with a voucher. This kind of had me scratching my head a bit, as the government had never before concerned itself with the change from Hi-Fi to stereo; or even helped us out with the switch from vinyl recordings to 8 tracks to cassettes to CD’s and MP3 players. I had to ask myself, “Why the deadline to convert all the TV’s? And why does my government want to give me something that I didn’t need until they made it necessary?” These are two valid questions.

I read a lot, so I always go back in my mind to something I may have read which applies to the situation at hand. It didn’t take me too long to figure it out. The box is a two way system, allowing me to intercept what is broadcast, but also a camera and audio device for Big Brother to look into my living room. Remember George Orwell’s “1984”? Kind of like that, only with better programs.

I know, you’re laughing at me. But all the same, each time I pass the box, I wave and say hello.

"The General Died at Dawn" with Gary Cooper, Madeline Carroll and Akim Tamiroff (1936)

See William Frawley as you’ve never seen him before in this film which takes place in the years between the two world wars. At the time of this story, by writers Charles G. Booth and Clifford Odets, China was undergoing tremendous change as it was struggling to overthrow the warlord system of government which had ruled the land for thousands of years. The choice was between a nationalist, Western styled government; or the radical changes evoked by the Communist Party. In it, he plays one of several mercenaries looking to profit from the turmoil which reigned in China at the time. Don’t look for a hint of Fred Metz in his portrayal of Brighton, a booze besotted man whose only concern is the buck he might make at the expense of others.  His greed will prove his undoing.

Gary Cooper plays a man known as O’Hara, an American mercenary who finds himself in care of the money to purchase arms for the local militia. Acting against his instructions to avoid traveling by train, O’Hara takes the rail to Shanghai, losing the money along the way, along with a piece of his heart. Judy Pierre, played by Madeline Carroll, is the temptress who causes him to lose the money to the ruthless warlord General Yang, played by Akim Tamiroff.  Judy’s father has conspired with the General to steal the money from O’Hara, and although Judy is in love with the American, she allows herself to be used in the conspiracy to rob him. She soon comes to regret her actions, as it becomes plain that the man she has fallen in love with now holds her in contempt.

Sparks fly as O’Hara attempts to recover the money, as well as his honor in this adventure. As an added attraction, there is much to be learned about Chinese history and the opposing factions vying for power in the decades between the First, and Second, World Wars. These were the years when she was struggling to reform herself from a backward country, isolated from the rest of the world, into a viable nation which would command respect abroad, as well as at home. The wars in China were as much about the foreigners being allowed to carve the country up for profit, as they were about national unity. They don’t make them like this anymore.