Author Archives: louisprofphillips

for Arnie and Karen Markoe, and Ken Jackson***”I don’t have to live in New York. I could live in hell.” Greta GarboEpigraph to Married to the Icepick Killer by Carol Muske-Dukes (New York: Random House, 2002)**NEW YORK CITY’S JACOB BEACHJacob Beach in Manhattan was the descriptivephrase referring to a small area near the oldMadison SquareContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: NEW YORK, NEW YORK”

BABE RUTH IN SING SING In 1929, the New York Yankees at Sing Sing prison played the prison baseball team . The Yankees won and it was said that Babe Ruth slugged a 620 foot home-run.The New York Daily News (January 4, 2005),p. 15**DON GULLETT AT THE CAR-WASHWillie Stargell, the Hall of Fame slugger forContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: BASEBALL”

for playwright Robert Karmon_____________________________________________________________\”The essence of dramatic form is to let an idea come over people without its being it being plainly stated.” Stanley Kubrick**ON ARISTOPHANES “… the most gratifying distinction conferred on him was the presentation of a wreath of wild olive made from the leaves of Athena’s own sacred olive tree on theContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: THEATER”

“Bugs Bunny wasn’t nothing but Br’er Rabbit with a better agent.” from The Sellout, a novel by Paul Beatty **ON THE ROAD TO MORROCO (1942)Paramount shot two endings for the film. The one not used had Bob Hope and Bing Crosby enlisting in the Marines and ended with the line “See you on the roadContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISLAID LIFE: FILM # 22”

“If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not meant, then what ought to be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if morals and art deteriorate, justice will go astray; if justice goes astray, the people will standContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: WORDS,WORDS, WORDS”

for MarkCHARLIE CHAPLIN PLAYS HAMLETThe following memory of Charlie Chaplin performingHamlet’s soliloquy is recorded by Helen Hayes in herautobiography — My Life in Three Acts.”Chaplin mimicked an actor doing Hamlet’s soliloquy.The actor suffering from a hangover absentmindedlypicked his nose and was unable to remove from hisfinger what he had brought forth. Chaplin deliveredthe soliloquy asContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: SHAKESPEARE”

THE POWER OF MOVIES TO CHANGE LIVES”In the middle of a school day in 1943, Harry Belafonte walked into a Harlem movietheater and sat for a showing of the HumphreyBogart World War II film ‘Sahara.’ He struggledwith undiagnosed dyslexia and was blind in one eye, difficulties that contributed to him skippinglessons and, eventually dropping out ofContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: FILM #22”

Poetry is not the most important thing in life…I’d much rather lie in a hot bath reading Agatha Christie and sucking sweets.” Dylan Thomas**EMILY DICKINSON’S FAVORITE LINE FROM SHAKESPEARE“Her favorite quotation from Antony and Cleopatra, one of the few tags she does not distort for her own purpose – probably because this one serves herContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: POETRY & POETS”

“We are the first nation in the history of the world to go to the poorhouse in an automobile.” Will Rogers**THE VERY EARLY MODEL T”The driver of the old model T was a man enthroned. The car, with the top up, stood seven feet high. The driver sat on top of the gas tank, broodingContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: AMERICANA”

“Everyone out in Los Angeles huddled around the film industry as though it were a fire, stoking it with screenplays and starlets and deals. And the fire made you hot, depending on how close you could get to its center, how consistently you could string out your name or image with a recent hit. PeopleContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE:FILM #21”