A moral umbrella

The scene: the Antient Concert Rooms, before the music begins. Hoppy Holohan, the concert’s manager, leads a memeber of the press to a room. Another member of the press is already there.

James Joyce, “A Mother,” in Dubliners (1914).

I read this story aloud yesterday as Elaine sewed. (What century are we living in?) This passage was one of many that made us laugh, also aloud, repeatedly.

Related reading
All OCA Joyce posts (Pinboard)

A husband

Meet Mrs. Kearney’s husband, a bootmaker on Ormond Quay:

James Joyce, “A Mother,” in Dubliners (1914).

Spoiler alert: Mrs. Kearney, manager of her daughter Kathleen’s budding musical career, driver of a hard bargain, does almost all the talking for her family. Kathleen speaks just twice. Mr. Kearney never says a word.

Related reading
All OCA Joyce posts (Pinboard)

Draw-your-own

The distillery was offering a draw-your-own-bottle option. You drew a shape and the distillery turned it into a bottle. I drew a bottle with a long sloping side that ended in a shallow puddle of glass. The bottle was to be filled with — with what? I didn’t know.

Related reading
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[As Elaine points out, this dream is likely influenced by our reading of Dubliners.]

Making it plain

“Donald Trump was at the center of this conspiracy”: Representative Bennie Thompson (D, MS-2), a few minutes ago.

*

“There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain”: Representative Liz Cheney (R, WY), a few minutes ago, addressing fellow Republicans who continue to, in her words, “defend the indefensible.”

Mystery actor

[Click for a larger view.]

The guys in the front seat are pretty recognizable. The one in the back, less so — I think.

You could probably take the names of the guys in the front, do a little searching, and come up with the name of the guy in the back. But Orange Crate Art works on the honor system.

Leave your guess(es) in the comments. I’ll drop a hint if one is needed.

*

The answer is now in the comments.

More mystery actors
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Domestic comedy

“I’m not a big fan of Errol Flynn. But at least it’s not a swashbuckling movie.”

“It’s post-swashbuckle.”

“He’s too old to buckle or swash.”

Related reading
All OCA domestic comedy posts (Pinboard)

[“It”: The Big Boodle (dir. Richard Wilson, 1957). We didn’t see it through.]

Barometers

Mr. Farrington has been humiliated at his office. He will never finish copying the contract by the end of the workday. His mind begins to wander to “the glare and rattle of the public-house.”

James Joyce, “Counterparts,” in Dubliners (1914).

That sentence later began a novel:

Charles Jackson, The Lost Weekend (1944).

Related reading
All OCA James Joyce posts (Pinboard)

Domestic comedy

“It’s true!”

“Everything Roz Chast says is true!”

Related reading
All OCA domestic comedy posts (Pinboard)

[Context: a Roz Chast drawing of a box of Crayolas. The built-in sharpener is labeled “Black Hole of Doom” and “Will Break Crayon.”]

Love and grammar

Bob Doran, boarding house resident, and Polly Mooney, daughter of Mrs. Mooney, the house’s proprietor, have sinned. Mr. Doran has confessed to the priest. Polly and her mother (a silent observer of her daughter’s doings) have talked things over, and Mrs. Mooney wants to speak to Mr. Doran, who wonders whether to marry or flee. Will his family look down on Polly?

James Joyce, “The Boarding House,” in Dubliners (1914).

Related reading
All OCA James Joyce posts (Pinboard)

[Mrs. Mooney’s silence is purposeful: “she thought of some mothers she knew who could not get their daughters off their hands.” That Mrs. Mooney is known to her boarders as The Madam (Joyce’s italics) tells us everything about her management of her daughter’s life.]

Trump on Trial

From the Brookings Institution, a free PDF: Trump on Trial: A Guide to the January 6 Hearings and the Question of Criminality.

The first hearing: this Thursday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.