Author Archives: louisprofphillips

“The other night I was reading the dictionary. I thought it was a poem about everything.” Steven Wright ** AMERICA’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE HOT DOG | “Most recently, a hot debate over whether a hot dog is a sandwich has arisen, with experts weighing in on both sides. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary stated its websiteContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: WORDS,WORDS, WORDS”

DASHIELL HAMMETT & NICKY ARNSTEIN & OSCAR LEVANT Nicky Arnstein, Fanny’s (BRICE) first husband, was once being sought unsuccessfully  by the police and was discovered – by the great Dashiell Hammett – marching in a St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York; it was a n unlikely place for a man of his ethnic  originsContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE:MYSTERIES”

FLORENCE MILLS She was the greatest Negro star I ever saw. She was thin & reedy and her voice was immeasurably poignant She also danced wondrously. Florence Mills was to be the star of the first ann-Negro musical, called Shuffle Along. Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle wrote the score and Josephine Baker had a bitContinue reading “BITS &PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: CELEBRITIES #2”

MORE HISTORY THAN WE BARGAINED FOR In late June 1776, as a massive British fleet prepared to invade New York, a complex drama played itself out at the headquarters of General George Washington’s Continental Army in New York City: a former bodyguard of the general was set to be hanged for conspiracy against the PatriotContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: HISTORY”

EARLY MOTION PICTURE HISTORY IN NEW YORK CITY “In 1911 Thomas A. Edison had an idea for talking pictures and the first experiments were tried at an uptown studio. Gus Edwards arranged to have (EDDIE) Cantor, Truly Shattuck, a well-known prima donna, and me make the original tests. These tests were tried in a theatre,Continue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE:MOVIES”

***Kickapoo Native American people of the Algonquian family, 1722, from native /kiikaapoa/ which is sometimes interpreted as “wanderers” [Bright] wigwam (n.)1620s, from Algonquian (probably Eastern Abenaki) wikewam “a dwelling,” said to mean literally “their house;” also said to be found in such formations as wikiwam and Ojibwa wiigiwaam and Delaware wiquoam. from THE ONLINE ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY **** RALPH WALDO EMERSON & THE FIRST USE OF THEContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE:WORDS,WORDS”

New York City? I could only last 3 months there. It’s a hard place to be without money and when you don’t know the territory and you don’t have a trade. That was 1944 or 1945, so maybe it’s a nice place now, only I’m not going to try it. Charles Bukowski *** LEARNING TOContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: NEW YORK,NEW YORK”

Hatchards is a branch of Waterstones, and claims to be the oldest bookshop in the United Kingdom, founded on Piccadilly in 1797 by John Hatchard. After one move, it has been at the same location on Piccadilly next to Fortnum and Mason since 1801… (Wikipedia) On the other hand , THE KING’S ARMS, founded byContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: THE JOYS OF READING”

radio (n.) “wireless transmission of voice signals with radio waves,” 1907, abstracted or shortened from earlier combinations such as radio-receiver (1903), radiophone “instrument for the production of sound by radiant energy” (1881), radio-telegraphy “means of sending telegraph messages by radio rather than by wire” (1898), from radio- as a combining form of Latin radius “beam”Continue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE:NOTES ON OLD-TIME RADIO”

“To police is to maintain law and order, but the word derives from polis – the Greek for ‘city’ or ‘polity’ — by way of politia, the latin for ‘citizenship,’ and it entered English from the Middle French police, which meant not constables but government.” Jill Lepore. “The Long Blue Line” in The New YorkerContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE:MYSTERIES”