Apparently, it’s fall, not that you can tell by the weather in New Orleans. Our high temps are lingering at around 90 degrees. The summer was cooler than normal, but the fall is kicking our asses.
My right eye is being de-cataracted on Monday. It will be a relief when my eyes can work as a team again. In hopes of reducing eye strain, I popped the left lens out of my glasses. I’ve only worn them briefly since it doesn’t seem to help. Surgery is the solution.
The fierce featured image comes from Max Ernst’s southwestern period. It’s a far cry from his Dada collages and surrealistic images of dancing fingers and such. Have I told you lately that I love Ernst to the Max?
This week’s theme song was written by Rod Argent for The Zombies 1968 album, Odessey and Oracle. It was the band’s masterpiece. It failed commercially but Time Of The Season was a hit. Go figure.
We have three versions of Time Of The Season: The Zombies OG, Ian Lloyd, and Charlie Byrd.
Let’s hop aboard the season cycle before beginning our second act:
I’m doing something a little different this week: A brief essay followed by a movie list. I’ve decided to move the movie lists to the second act. It worked quite well last week with the William Wyler Dozen so why the hell not.
Buried In Flyers & Texts: I nearly wrote about this in my latest irksome things post, but these are minor complaints that don’t threaten the Republic or my sanity.
It’s election season in New Orleans. Our pols love flyers. The attack flyers are being rolled out as the campaign nears a climax. They’re all wasted on me. I know who I’m voting for: Helena Moreno for mayor and JP Morrell and Matthew Willard for city council. The latter two are relatives of two former councilmembers who everyone called the Cynthias.
I gave the candidates’ kin nicknames that I remain proud of: Cynthia Hedgehog Morrell and Cynthia Windy Lewis. I met the latter during the heyday of the NOLA bloggers. She asked me if I was the one who called her Windy Lewis. I said yes and she told me that it made her laugh because it was true, “I do go on sometimes.”
Is it just me or is anyone else getting nonstop texts from MoveOn and Act Blue, among others. I had seven texts the other day asking for money. How irritating is that? I’m not going to donate over the phone, y’all.
The John Garfield Dozen: I love, love, love John Garfield. He’s one of my favorite actors of Hollywood’s Golden Age. I’ll have more to say about him tomorrow when I write about his final film, He Ran All The Way, which came in at #5 on the list.
Let’s get to it:
- The Postman Always Rings Twice
- Body and Soul
- Nobody Lives Forever
- The Breaking Point
- He Ran All The Way
- Force Of Evil
- Humoresque
- Fallen Sparrow
- Pride Of The Marines
- Destination Tokyo
- We Were Strangers
- Gentleman’s Agreement
The last word of our second act goes to Billie Holiday:
We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.
Separated At Birth Casting Edition: One of my old movie guilty pleasures is 1939’s Juarez, which purports to tell the story of the standoff between the Mexican president and the Emperor imposed on his country by France, Maximillian Hapsburg, the Austrian Kaiser’s kid brother.
In the movie, John Garfield plays Porfirio Diaz, then a general, later the authoritarian president of Mexico.
Claude Rains was better casting as Napoleon III:
Your Weekly Oscar: I’ve done this segment for 5 years. I’m slowly phasing it out in lieu of Your Basic Basie. Hence the OP-Basie tune featured this week.
The buns have it.
Have I told you lately how much I love Oscar Peterson and Count Basie?
Best Of CBS Sunday Morning: It’s time to Zombie-fy this segment as Mark Phillips hangs out with Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone. I refuse, however, to watch any zombie shows on the tube. I’ll stick to the band.
Saturday GIF Horse: Here’s John Garfield as a doll holding submariner in Destination Tokyo.
That calls for a submarine song but not the most famous one:
Classic Movie Trailer: It’s the number one movie on the John Garfield Dozen. It’s one of the best examples of this rule: The two best-looking people in a movie always get together. Who was prettier than Lana Turner and John Garfield?
Grading Time: I give The Postman Always Rings Twice 4 stars and an Adrastos Grade of A.
Thinking of Lana Turner in that noir classic gave me an earworm:
Toon Time: I rarely post anything from Tiger Beat On The Potomac. This Matt Wuerker cartoon was too good to pass up.
Let’s close down this virtual honky tonk with some more music.
Saturday Closer: It’s an Ed Sullivan Show doubleheader featuring Buddy Holly & The Crickets.
That’s all this week. The last word goes to Gregory Peck and Celeste Holm watching John Garfield take on an anti-Semitic schmuck in Gentleman’s Agreement.
