“Welcome to Congress”

[Barry Blitt, “Welcome to Congress.” The New Yorker, November 19, 2018. Click for a larger view.]

At The New Yorker, Françoise Mouly has a brief commentary on the cover illustration. Which reminds me of this image:


[Teacher’s Pet (dir. George Seaton, 1958). Click for a larger view.]

I saved the screenshot of an all-white, nearly all-male newsroom years ago, thinking it might prove useful in teaching. (Two women, also white, appear in the background, one wearing a hat that may signify society page.) It should come as no surprise that the men at the table are staring at yet another white man, a journalist played by Clark Gable.

Today’s Saturday Stumper

How do you solve a puzzle by Frank Longo? How do you find the words that really fit? How you solve a puzzle by Frank Longo? You have to stick with it and give it your best — don’t quit!

Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper — well, difficulty, thy name is Longo. Solving this puzzle last night took me an hour and thirty-six seconds. (Thanks, Newsday puzzle timer.) A stage version of The Sound of Music was on PBS, but I was on the puzzle, which comes online at 10:00 Eastern.

Clues that I especially liked: 3-Down, “Poetic rapper of renown.” 11-Across, four letters: “Nickname for some spoilers.” And 22-Across, four letters: “No hitter of film.” I got the first answer straight off. The second answer made me smile. The third is the kind of answer I especially like, the kind that makes me look back at the clue and ask What? before I figure it out.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

Matt who?

“I don’t know Matt Whitaker”: SOP, right? Deny everything. I never even heard of him!

That denial and the recent weird bit about “the embrace” are further reminders that Donald Trump is, at heart, what they call a legitimate businessman. Strictly legitimate.

Signage in the dark

Thirty-six people joined up last night to form a Mueller Protection Rapid Response along one side of one block of our town’s main artery. At our end of the block, we had signs made with bright reflective tubing (courtesy of the organizers) that read, à la Burma Shave,

NO    ONE    IS    ABOVE    THE    LAW

Or if you were approaching on the other side of the avenue:

LAW    THE    ABOVE    IS    ONE    NO

We received many honks of support — not from migrating geese but from vehicles. Several angry pickup trucks gunned their engines as they passed. (I do not stereotype: it was always a pickup truck.) One driver in a compact car opened his window and asked about Hillary Clinton. Isn’t she above the law? Another driver in a larger car put on blinkers and stopped — in traffic — to take a picture. Oh, she’s a friend. Hi, Sue! Several youthful passengers in cars and mini-vans read the signs and seemed to wonder what they were about. Mom, what’s obstruction mean?

The odd thing about this effort: the longer we stood, the more quickly the time passed, and the easier it became to hold up a sign. We stood for an hour, walked home, and had soup.

Mueller Protection Rapid Response

Protests today, in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere: it’s the Mueller Protection Rapid Response. You can use the website to find an event near you.

I’m always of two minds about these events. On the one mind, I think that participating accomplishes little, if anything. In my small town, the usual small crowd will show up and feel better for doing so. On the other mind, I think that opting out is a form of complicity. To not participate is to go on with daily life as if all is well when it’s not.

When I think about the importance or insignificance of individual choice, I think about this account of how a world was lost. And I think about the categorical imperative, something I believe in. (I really do.) So I’ll be part of the usual small crowd, as I almost always am.

[Giving money, writing persuasively, casting a vote: I think that these all count for much more.]

Another

Another mass shooting, in the only country in the developed world in which such events are common currency.

“General Kelly” (as the president calls him) and his friends will have to get busy, teaching, sitting in on religious services, and tending bar, ready to take on, and out, all comers. And where else will they need to be? Meanwhile, our president offers his formulaic condolences: “God bless all of the victims and families of the victims.” How many more victims must there be before there can be an honest examination of gun violence in American culture? That’s not a rhetorical question.

Automat, archived

[Horn & Hardart Automat Cafeteria. From the NYC Municipal Archives Online Gallery. Click for a larger view.]

There it is, or was, at 1557 Broadway. Convicted Woman, playing next door, was released on January 31, 1940. The Diamond Horseshoe, Billy Rose’s nightclub, advertised on the barely readable sign, could be found in the basement of the Paramount Hotel, around the corner on West 46th.

The Automat appears in a handful of OCA posts. This one has a great photograph of a the Automat sign.

1940s NYC online

Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York reports that 1940s tax photographs are now part of the NYC Municipal Archives Online Gallery. Type in an address and see a building as it was — and perhaps still is. Jeremiah’s post has a number of well-known locations, including 154 West 10th Street, Manhattan, once a grocery store and delicatessen, now home to the bookstore Three Lives & Company.

In local news

It depends on what you mean by local. Our household’s favored candidates for the County Board, the Illinois House, and the House of Representatives all lost. Our friend running for the County Board in another district lost. A candidate in a neighboring congressional district lost a close election. To widen the idea of what’s local: Bruce Rauner, the worst governor our state has known, lost decisively to J.B. Pritzker, a candidate I’d call a billionaire for the rest of us. And the governor who provided the model for Rauner, Scott Walker, lost in Wisconsin. And less locally still, a friend in New Jersey worked mightily to flip a congressional district — and succeeded.

More and less locally, my dream of a Beto O’Rourke win turned out to be decidedly unprecognitive. But it’s our House.

Mystery actor

[Click for a larger view.]

I’ve seen him on television at least a hundred times. But on film — that was a surprise. Do you recognize him? Leave your best guess in the comment. I’ll drop a clue if needed.

*

Here’s a hint: this actor is probably best known today for playing a dancer.

*

Oh well. The answer is now in the comments.

More mystery actors (Collect the entire set!)
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