Spring is many New Orleanians favorite season. It is not mine. Why? In a word: Pollen.
There’s a thick layer of yellow pollen coating everything outdoors. We call it the pollening. I am allergic to pollen, so every day for the last week, I’ve awakened with a brutal headache, which takes an hour to clear up. The only consolation is that I’m feeling better than last year at this time. In addition to my daily Spring sinus headache, I was in throes of my major illness. So it goes.
I still have Canada and The Guess Who on my mind. Hence this week’s theme song.
No Time was written by Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings for The Guess Who’s 1969 album Canned Wheat. The song is more appetizing than the album title. Does canned wheat exist? Discuss amongst yourselves.
We have two versions of No Time for your listening pleasure: The OG single and a live version by Ringo’s All-Starr Band with Burton Cummings:
I hope you have time for two other songs called No Time:
One more timely tune before we second act up:
Our second act consists of a review of a fine PBS documentary about a man who was famous in his lifetime but whose renown has faded as time passed. His name was the same as Bryan Cranston’s character in Breaking Bad, but that’s the only similarity between the two Walter Whites.
Forgotten Hero: Walter White And The NAACP tells the story of the longtime Civil Rights leader who helped set the stage for the progress made after his death. Walter White was a light-skinned Black man who was born in 1893 but never considered passing as white. Instead, he became a “race man” who was president of the NAACP from 1929-1955.
White did, however, go undercover as a white dude to investigate conditions in the Deep South; a fact I was unaware of until seeing the American Experience documentary.
Under White’s leadership, the NAACP focused on passing an anti-lynching law and hung this banner outside their NYC HQ:
They didn’t succeed in passing the law, but awareness was raised about the ultimate White Supremacist crime.
Walter White was a flawed giant. He and WEB DuBois had a bitter falling out, which led to a nasty public feud. He was also jealous of Thurgood Marshall whose legal skills and charisma eclipsed White as the NAACP pursued its litigation strategy culminating with Brown vs. Board Of Education in 1954.
Using a basketball, analogy White was the point guard who fed the ball to Marshall and Martin Luther King. He did not live to see the greatest gains made by the Civil Rights movement, but he set the table for its ultimate success.
Here’s the trailer:
Grading Time: I give Forgotten Hero: Walter White And The NAACP 3 1/2 stars and an Adrastos Grade of B+. We need all the heroes we can get right now, forgotten or otherwise.
The last word of our second act goes to Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers:
We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.
Separated At Birth Casting Edition: I’m doing something different with this feature today. I recently watched Ruthless, a 1946 movie starring movie weasel Zachary Scott. During a flashback sequence, I realized that the same kid who played the young George Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life played Kid Zachary in Ruthless.
From left to right, I give you Jimmy Stewart, Bobby Anderson, and Zachary Scott.
The kid was better casting as Stewart than Scott who look nothing alike. Oh well, what the hell.
Speaking of movies with ruthless in the title:
Your Weekly Oscar: Another day, another OP doubleheader. This time, he’s paired with Isaac Hayes.
Have I told you lately how much I love Oscar Peterson? I dig Isaac Hayes too.
The Best Of SNL: I’m not a Rob Schneider fan with the exception of this character:
Anyone who mocks Sting can’t be all bad. I do, however, dig this time tune:
Classic Movie Trailer: Psycho is one of my favorite films. I’ve seen it ten+ times and get something new out of it with every viewing. This trailer is a hoot because our guide to everything Psycho is the director himself.
Good evening.
Celebrity Ad Corner: It’s an oil company ad that could be called When Bugs Bunny Met Zachary Scott:
Pop goes the movie weasel.
Saturday GIF Horse: Here are two GIFs from The Roaring Twenties in which Jimmy Cagney does some cigar smooshing and milk drinking.
Your Weekly Political Cartoon: I didn’t see this Mike Luckovich cartoon until after I posted Trump’s Improbable History, 20th Century Edition. In that what if post I had the Kaiser of Chaos sell out the allies in 1942, but this works just as well.
Let’s close down this virtual honky tonk with some more music.
Saturday Closer: I was stupidly happy to be followed on BlueSky by Susanna Hoffs. We had a pleasant exchange after I went all fan boy on the platform. Here’s a doubleheader of Susanna covering a Bad Company classic followed by the band itself.
It takes nerve and a helluva singing voice to cover a Paul Rodgers song. Susanna Hoffs has both.
That’s all for this week. The last word goes to Julie Andrews and Big Ben:
