Some Bits & Pieces of A MISPLACED LIFE

A BASEBALL MEMORY FROM RUSSELL HILL, author of 
THE DOG SOX and GHOST TROUT

When I was a boy (of ten) I used to go to the Oakland
 Oaks ballpark in Emeryville, on the Oakland side of 
San Francisco  Bay and watch the Oakland Oaks play.
 took the C electric train that was bound for San Francisco 
and stopped in Emeryville, which was home to Judson Steel.  
They were coached by Casey  Stengel and they were called 
Casey and the nine old men  It was  war time and most of 
the players were ether cast-offs from the  Big Leagues 
(Ernie Lombardi) or guys who were plumbers in the 
daytime and ball players a night or on the weekends.They 
won the Pacific Coast League that year. The San Francisco Seals 
had the DiMaggio brothers. Anyway, Casey was the manager, 
and Pumpsy Green played second base (he had two fingers 
missing) and Ray Hamrick played left field and Ralph Pine Tar 
Buxton was a pitcher the pine tar was his speciality). Billy 
Raimondi was the catcher for 20 years. Billy Martin played 
hortstop for Casey.  
*

That feller runs splendid but he needs help at
the plate,which coming from the country chasing
rabbits all winter give him strong legs, although
he broke one falling out of a tree, which shows
they can't tell, and when a curve ball comes he
waves at it and if pitchers don't throw curves 
you have no pitching staff, so how is a manager
going to know whether to tell boys to fall out
of trees and break legs so he can run fast
even if he can't hit a curve ball?

           Casey Stengel

from THE RANDOM HOUSE TREASURY OF
HUMOROUS QUOTATIONS, edited by
Louis Phillips and William Cole (New
York: Random House, 1996)
**
POLITICAL SCIENCE AT YANKEE STADIUM

Casey Stengel,
Hearing about Marx & Engel
s , asked about them with great verve
"Can any of those guys hit a curve?"
**

BERT LAHR
 
Bert Lahr—
His career went very far
(You may skip this 3rd line)
After he played The Cowardly Lion.
 
 **

LA TRIVIATA # 38
 
 
 
NOTE TO THE READER
 
All right, I know that more than a few of the questions in 
the various La Triviata quizzes  are unfair and often impossible 
for many readers, to answer. But the point of a quiz is not 
to test intelligence or even cultural and verbal awareness. 
Not by a long shot. The point is to have fun, to pass some time 
pleasantly while picking up tidbits of useful and useless information. 
I hope it’s a good party game or a good quiz to share with a friend 
or two. Actually I hope it is just a good quiz. And sometimes a
 useful one. If you get 6 correct you are doing very good. 
If you get 9 or more correct you are in the Genius
Category.
 
—LJP
**
1. What Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award winning novelist, 
playwright, and short story author wrote the short play “Hello 
Out There” in 1941?
 
 
2. What great American song-writer wrote,
in his early 20’s, the song “ Hello in There”
from the viewpoint of an old man?

3. Who wrote the lyrics and music musical “Hello, Dolly!” ?

4  What does the skiing term piste refer to?
 
5. In 1881, Johanna Spyri wrote a best selling children’s book that became a favorite with children all over the world. It is still in print.
What is it?
          
6.  The 1945 biographical film A Song to Remember earned 
Cornel Wilde an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor 
for his portrayal of what great classical composer?
 
.
7. The phrase “The Usual Gang of Idiots” could apply to Congress, 
but it is actually associated with what great American magazine?
 
 
8. What great ice-skating champion was the first female athlete 
to sign a million dollar a year contract?

9. “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have done; it is 
a far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.” 
is the final sentence  to what Charles Dickens’ novel?
 
10. In 1782, what building in Philadelphia became the first 
building to be owned by the U.S. Government?
 
11. Who was the youngest actress to win an Academy Award 
as Best Supporting Actress? For what film?
 
12. Since we are on the subject of being young—
In 1955, what baseball future Hall of Famer
led the American League with a .340 batting average? 
At age 20, this outfielder was the
youngest player in MLB history to lead his
league in batting.
 
13. Who became Queen of Egypt after the death of her father 
Ptolemy XII in 51 BCE,?


14. What number in Mathematics is considered to be both 
real and imaginary?

15. How many fluid ounces are there in a gallon?

16.  The term "Impressionism" is derived from 
the title of his painting Impression, soleil levant 
(Impression, Sunrise), which  was exhibited in 1874 . 
Who painted it?
 
 
17.  The band The Airborne Toxic Event took their name from 
what novel by Don DeLillo?
 
18. In 1892, Wiliam Painter, a Quaker from Baltimore , invented 
what common object and eventually became a millionaire.
He invented what?
 
   A. The flexible clothespin’
   B.  The Zipper
   C. The paper clip
   D. The crown bottle cap
 
19. “When shall we three meet again?
        In thunder, lightning , or in rain?”

   are the opening  lines to what play by Shakespeare?
 
                20. Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Is considered
                       the founder of what great U.S. city?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ANSWERS

1. William Saroyan. He refused to accept the Pulitzer Prize 
awarded to his play “The Time of Your Life” (1941)
 
2. John Prine
 
3. Jerry Herman
 
 4. a run of compacted snow

5. Heidi

6. Frederic Chopin
 
7. Mad
 
8.Dorothy Hamill


9. A Tale of Two Cities
 
10. The U.S. Mint

   11 Tatum O’Neal was 10 years old when
     she won an Oscar for her work in Paper Moon.
 
 12. Al Kaline of the Detroit Tigers
 
13. Cleopatra
 
14. Zero
 
15. 128
 
16. Claude Monet
 
17. White Noise

18. The Crown Bottle Cap

19. Macbeth

20. He is regarded as the first permanent non-Indigenous 
settler of what would later become Chicago, Illinois, and 
is recognized as the "Founder of Chicago".[7] A school, 
museum, harbor, park, and bridge have been named in 
his honor. 

**
THE FOLLOWING IMAGE WAS CREATED  & EXECUTED  
BY LILLY  KRONGARD,  based upon an idea from SNL
 

"... reading of any kind is on the decline, Half the American 
people never read a newspaper. Half never vote for
President. One hopes it is the same half."
      Gore Vidal
'
"I have read only one book in my life, and that
is White Fang. It is so frightfully good I've never
bothered to read another."
 Nancy Mitford

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx
**
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Tell the Democrat Governors that “Mutiny On The Bounty” was one of my all time favorite movies. A good old fashioned mutiny every now and then is an exciting and invigorating thing to watch, especially when the mutineers need so much from the Captain. Too easy!
161K
10:57 AM - Apr 14, 2020

THE RESULT OF NOT READING

Dear Editors:  
The readers of the Times Book Review know the power, 
the empathy, the knowledge that fiction and non-fiction 
can bring into our lives. The ability to connect with other lives,
other perspectives and ideas, often providing a sense of history 
and how the past plays a role in understanding the present 
and perhaps our futures. President Trump knows none of this. 
The United States in 2020 and beyond, led by a President 
& other government leaders who do not read, not even important 
reports,  is paying a terrible price because of a pervasive pride in lack of curiosity, a paucity of critical thinking, and a disdain for facts,
indeed a disdain for Truth itself.  The vanity of so many 
cabinet members,  governors, mayors, and Senators and 
Representatives -indeed our Attorney General himself --  
confuse having power with doing the right thing. Empathy 
for others, genuine concern for the poor, for immigrants, 
for so many of our fellow citizens and world citizens 
who are suffering appears to be non-existent in President
Trump's inner circles and in so many courts of law.
    Perhaps there is something  to be gained from reading
 the handful of  words on dollar bills . But I do not believe
there is much to be gained from such  reading.
 Stock certificates and real estate contracts  are rarely 
great literature. Mutiny on the Bounty indeed!

Louis Phillips


Sincerely,

**