Heather Cox Richardson on the NRA

In today’s installment of Letters from an American, Heather Cox Richardson, historian, offers a brief history of the NRA’s shift from “sports” to “gun rights.”

[I just realized that the title Letters from an American must have been inspired by Alistair Cooke’s BBC broadcast Letter from America.]

Pocket notebook sighting

Two of the (many) creepy things about the gossip columnist J. J. Hunsecker are his little pocket notebook and his little writing instrument.

[J. J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) and Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) at 21. From Sweet Smell of Success (dir. Alexander Mackendrick, 1957).]

Good grief: it’s a perforated pad with the Hunsecker name on every page.

[Click either image for a larger view.]

Harry Kello is a corrupt cop. That little note for Sidney is a directive meant to destroy a musician’s career. J. J. will ask for that piece of paper back, of course.

What is J. J. writing with? I’d guess a miniature mechanical pencil, sterling silver no doubt, but the handwriting suggests a pen. A miniature ballpoint? But the thick and thin lines of Kello suggest a fountain pen. Well, it’s a movie. A great one.

An economical choice for the aspiring gossip columnist: the Zebra T-3 mini ballpoint or TS-3 mini mechanical pencil. Speak viciously and carry a small writing instrument.

More notebook sightings
All the King’s Men : Angels with Dirty Faces : Ball of Fire : The Big Clock : Bombshell : The Brasher Doubloon : Cat People : City Girl : Crossing Delancey : Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne : Dead End : The Devil and Miss Jones : Dragnet : Extras : Eyes in the Night : The Face Behind the Mask : Foreign Correspondent : Fury : Homicide : The Honeymooners : The House on 92nd Street : Journal d’un curé de campagne : Kid Glove Killer : The Last Laugh : Le Million : The Lodger : Ministry of Fear : Mr. Holmes : Murder at the Vanities : Murder by Contract : Murder, Inc. : The Mystery of the Wax Museum : Naked City : The Naked Edge : Now, Voyager : The Palm Beach Story : Perry Mason : Pickpocket : Pickup on South Street : Pushover : Quai des Orfèvres : The Racket : Railroaded! : Red-Headed Woman : Rififi : La roue : Route 66 : The Scarlet Claw : Sleeping Car to Trieste : The Small Back Room : The Sopranos : Spellbound : Stage Fright : State Fair : A Stranger in Town : Stranger Things : Time Table : T-Men : To the Ends of the Earth : 20th Century Women : Union Station : Vice Squad : Walk East on Beacon! : Where the Sidewalk Ends : The Woman in the Window : You Only Live Once

A Walser talk

Soon: Susan Bernofsky talks about Robert Walser with the poet Eileen Myles. It’s a Zoom event, free, April 15, 7:00–8:30 p.m. GMT: “Clairvoyant of the Small": A Conversation.

Also soon: Bernofksy’s biography of Walser, Clairvoyant of the Small: The Life of Robert Walser, arrives on May 25.

Related reading
All OCA Walser posts (Pinboard)

[World Time Buddy is a handy site for figuring out when.]

In Illinois-15

Representative Mary Miller’s response to mass murder: to retweet Lauren Boebert and Ben Shapiro. That is all ye know in Illinois-15, and all ye need to know.

All the Mary Miller posts
January 5 and 6 in D.C., with Mary Miller : The objectors included Mary Miller : A letter to Mary Miller : Mary Miller, with no mask : Mary Miller, still in trouble : His ’n’ resignations are in order : Mary Miller in The New Yorker : Mary Miller vs. AOC

Ralph Kramden’s list

[Ralph Kramden’s bad points and good points, by Ralph Kramden. From the Honeymooners episode “Young Man with a Horn,” March 24, 1956. Click for a much larger view.]

I have the thirty-nine “classic” Honeymooners episodes on DVD, but I am still driven to watch whatever episode airs on Sunday night on MeTV. “Young Man with a Horn” aired this past Sunday. In this episode a visit from doughnut-company owner August Gunther and his wife to the Kramdens’ apartment — the Gunthers’ first apartment, many years ago — prompts Ralph to emulate Mr. Gunther and aim to become a success by eliminating his weaknesses and building up his strong points.


Bad points: 1. Late for work. 2. Oversleeping. 3. Snores. 4. Loses temper. 5. Don’t pay debts. 6. Too fat. 7. Brags. 8. Connives. 9. Daydreams. 10. Avoids responsibility. 11. Stubborn. 12. Too fat. 13. Overeats. 14. Neglects wife. 15. Spends foolishly. 16. Gullible. 17. Sloppy dresser. 18. Treats wife like workhorse. 19. Generally untidy. 20. Too fat. 21. Talks too much. 22. Argues too much.

Good points: 1. Loves wife. 2. Admits mistakes. 3. Soft hearted. 4. Has good intentions. 5. Basically honest when pinned down.

Norton suggested bad point no. 5: “You owed me two dollars for the last month.” And after Ralph pays up: “I knew it’d work!” Norton’s single suggested good point, which sort of makes this list: “The sweetest guy in the world.”

“Young Man with a Horn” is one of the most poignant Honeymooners episodes. It has very little yelling, and is nearly all hope, failure, and hope.

You can watch this episode now at YouTube.

*

An afterthought: It occurred to me that aside from the names of members behind in dues, written on a chalkboard in the Raccoon lodge, Ralph’s list of bad points and good points might be the only handwritten text we ever see in The Honeymooners.

Related reading
All OCA Honeymooners posts (Pinboard)

[Individual items on the list shift in and out of focus as the camera moves away from the wall. I transcribed with care. As far as I can tell, this transcription is the only one to be found online. I am thinking of this post as a fleeting refuge from the horror of current events.]

Small pleasures

We were making our way through the empty TV hour that precedes two late-night episodes of Murphy Brown. We had Antiques Roadshow on for lack of anything better. I flipped to see the descriptions of the upcoming Murphy Brown episodes and read aloud: “/ˈkā-mē-ˌō/ appearances by,” &c. I always say /ˈkā-mē-ˌō/. I always have it wrong. Elaine always points out that it’s pronounced /ˈka-mē-ˌō/. And I continue to get it wrong.

Back at the Roadshow, someone soon said /ˈka-mē-ˌō/. And on the first of the night’s Murphy Brown episodes, someone said /ˈka-mē-ˌō/. The second episode had the cameos, by Ed Bradley, Bob Dole, Linda Ellerbee, and many others.

The Antiques Roadshow episode was from /spō-ˈkan/, Washington, not /spō-ˈkān/. That’s how it goes in the spoken language.

The small pleasures here are two: 1. hearing cameo pronounced correctly, once in our living room, twice on on TV, and 2. getting a lesson in pronunciation that will stick.

[Nos. 6 and 7 in a series.]

Mystery actor

[Click for a larger view.]

The guy on the phone: recognize him? I didn’t. Leave your best guess in a comment. I’ll drop a hint if needed.

*

That didn’t take long. This actor’s name is now in the comments.

More mystery actors (Collect them all!)
? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? :

“?”

Bill Griffith channels Carl Thomas Anderson.

Venn reading
All OCA Henry posts : Henry and Zippy posts : Zippy posts (Pinboard)

“A Dance to Shpring”

Patrick McDonnell channels Jules Feiffer.

Related reading
All OCA Mutts posts (Pinboard)

Today’s Newsday Saturday

Today’s Newsday  Saturday crossword, by Matthew Sewell, is not an exceptionally difficult puzzle, but I have to remind myself: it’s a Themeless Saturday, not a Saturday Stumper. The puzzle was a pleasure to solve, with lively fill and a few tricky spots, particularly in the southwest corner, where I was sure I must have had something wrong. But I didn’t. It’s strange fun to get the puzzle right without knowing why. I think of it as the crossword equivalent of “Bank error in your favor.” Okay, if you say so.

Some clue-and-answer pairs I especially liked:

2-D, nine letters, “Breaking the host’s bowl, for example.” Takes me back, or forward, to the world of hosts and guests.

6-D, seven letters, “Hard seltzer category.” It’s only hard seltzer, but the answer sounds so lowdown to me. The reason is in the comments.

7-D, seven letters, “White pet cited by Aristotle.” I think mentioned might be more accurate. I’m not sure what it might have said in Greek.

16-A, ten letters, “Scrooge, to Dewey or Louie.” So that’s what he is.

22-A, four letters, “Dollywood group.” I heard it from a customer-service person on the phone the other day and loved it.

44-A, twelve letters, “Real dilemma.” Simultaneously lively and dowdy.

56-A, four letters, “Not a long range.” The answer made me think I must have made a mistake.

58-D, three letters, “Nickname for a Genesis patriarch namesake.” Nicely unexpected.

My favorite clue in this puzzle:

46-A, five letters, “It depends on oral interpretation.” So clever. And even after filling in an answer, which I thought couldn’t be right, I didn’t get the point, not right away.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.