It has been said that democracy is the worst form of
government except all the others have been tried.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
COMEBACKS
When longtime Boston Mayor James M. Curley was speaking
during one of his many political campaigns a heckler shouted,
"I wouldn't vote for you if you were St. Peter."
Curley shout back, "If i were St. Peter, you wouldn't be in
my precinct."
from I'll Be Sober in the Morning, edited by Charles Lamb
(Chsrleston, SC: Frontline Press, Ltd, 2007)
***
DEMOCRACY
“Democracy means government by the uneducated,
while aristocracy means government by the badly educated.”
G.K. Chesterton
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents,
more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some
great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach
their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron."
H.L. Mencken
Notes on Democracy1926
Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's
inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
Reinhold Niebuhr, theologian (1892-1971)
**
ANALOGY:
Betsy De Vos: Public School Education :: Hannibal Lecter: Gourmet Dining
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
The three towering geniuses of European culture, Shakespeare, Mozart and Lenardo di Vinci, were not allowed to appear on the euro note as they might, in their separate ways , cause offence; mozart because he was a “womanizer”, Shakespeare, because he wrote The Merchant of Venice, a play judged to be anti-semitic, and Leonardo because he was reported to fancy boys. Now the euro note carries a picture of a rather dull bridge.
John Mortimer, Where There’s a WillPOLITICAL THOUGHT
From the Renaissance to the eighteenth century,
The impulse behind classic works of political thought was the urge to shape events. Machiavelli wrote to rescue Florence and Italy from internal corruption and external weakness.
Jean Bodin desgned a theory of sovereignity that might rescue France from its wars of religion. The Marian exile of the mid-sixteenth century, and John Locke under Charles II, devised justification for resistence to prevent tyranny.
Blair Worden in TLS (August 4,2006)
POLITICIANS/POLITICS
No matter how paranoid you are, what the government is actually doing is worse than you can imagine.
William Blum
Don’t believe anything until it’s been officially denied.
William Blum
People used to complain that selling a president was like selling a bar of soap. But when you buy soap, at least you get the soap. In this campaign you just get two guys telling you that they really value cleanliness.
David Brooks
Somewhere out in the audience may even be someone who will one day follow in my footsteps, and presides over the White House as the President’s spouse. I wish him well.
Barbara Bush. College address at Wellsley College on June 1, 1990
Politics? Politics are just like women: get into them seriously and you’re going to come out looking like an earthworm stepped on by a longshoreman’s boot.
Charles Bukowski in a letter to Gerald Locklin (August 2, 1981)
Political conflicts are merely surface manifestations. If conflicts arise you may be sure that certain powers intend to keep this conflict under operation since they hope to profit from the situation. To concern yourself with surface political conflicts is to make the mistake of he bull in the ring, you are changing the cloth. That is what politics is for, to teach you the cloth. Just as the bullfighter teaches the bull, teaches him to obey the cloth.
William Burroughs
Journal for the Protection of All Beings (City Lights Bookstore)
…one of the terrible truths of presidential politics: it changes everybody who gets into it, generally for the worse, frequently for the awful.
Gail Collins. The New York Times (February 7, 2015)
As early as 1923 it had become clear that world revolution was
no longer on history’s agenda, at any rate not in the form envisioned
by Marxism.
George C. Eckstein, reviewing Bukharin and the
Bolshevik Revolution in The Nation (February 8, 1975)
**
The exiled tyrant Pisistratus , planning his return to Athens in the
early sixth century BC, hired an unusually tall woman named Phye
to ride beside him in his in his chariot. She was to pretend to be the
manifestation of the goddess Athena, the Patron of Athens. Herodotus
gives her height as some four cubits---around 5’11”, more than a
foot taller than the average woman at the time—and notes that not
only was she dressed in full armour but was instructed of the bearing
in which she might best beseem her part (according to Macauley’s
inimitable translation . As Pisistratus and Phye trundled through the
fields of Attica, fell over themselves to pay their respects.,
Herodotus notes that Pisistratus was immediately returned to power.
Claire Hall. “The Day a God Rode In,”: reviewing “The Realness of
Things Past: Ancient Greece and Ontological History” by Greg
Anderson (London Review of Books)
I have just received the following telegram from my generous Daddy,
It says, “Dear Jack: Don’t buy a single vote more than is necessary.
I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay for a landslide.”
John F. Kennedy at the Gridiron Dinner (1958)
**
If you agree with me on nine out of 12 issues, you should vote for me.
If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 issues, you should see a psychiatrist.
Ed Koch, Mayor of NYC
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Groucho Marx
…I haven’t studied politics that much really. It just seems that
you have to be in a constant state of revolution, or you’re dead.
There always has to be a revolution, it has to be a constant thing,
not something that’s going to change things, and that’s it, you know,
the revolution’s going to solve everything. It has to be every day.”
Jim Morrison, in an interview with John Tobler
Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel,
go out and buy some more tunnel.
John Quinton
Teddy Kennedy says, “These are times that will test all people. Are we
up to the test?” And the people say, “The question is, can we get someone
to take the test for us?”
Mort Sahl
**
In that first four weeks (AFTER OBAMA’S ELECTION), you probably remember, effigies were burned. Obama supporters were being beat up, all sorts if things like that. For me, it was all captured in the amazing case of the second and third graders in Idaho who were riding their bus on the way to school and chanting “Assassinate Obama!” It was an incredible moment. I think that –very much like David Duke, the ex-Klan leader, predicted – Americans woke up on November 5 and to some of them it was a rude shock. This black guy was going to be their president, and, by God, he was going to take his wife and kids and move into the White House.
David Schimke. “Hate,Ink.” in UTNE READER (Jan-Feb. 10, 2010)
**
Arguing with the Tea Pary is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter how good
your argument the pigeon is going to knock all the pieces over, crap all over the board and strut around like it’s victorious.
Charles Simmons (?)
**
Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party they work for people
who don’t need help. That’s all there is to it.
Harry S Truman
**
For all those who attempted my name game challenges:
BELIEVE IT OR NOT’S ROBERT RIPLEY once received a birthday
greeting from a Chicago resident named Zeke Zzzpt.
NEW ANALOGY IN TOWN:
William Barr: Justice::Aaron Burr:tap dancing.
IT IS DIFFICULT TO PREDICT THE FUTURE
The following sentence appeared in The QuarterlyReview in 1825: "What can be more palpably absurd
than the prospect held out of locomotion traveling
twice as fast as stage coaches?"
**
POLITICIANS/POLITICS
No matter how paranoid you are, what the government
is actually doing is worse than you can imagine.
William Blum
Don’t believe anything until it’s been officially denied.
William Blum
People used to complain that selling a president was
like selling a bar of soap. But when you buy soap, at least
you get the soap. In this campaign you just get two guys
telling you that they really value cleanliness.
David Brooks
Somewhere out in the audience may even be someone
who will one day follow in my footsteps, and presides over
the White House as the President’s spouse. I wish him well.
Barbara Bush. College address at Wellsley College
on June 1, 1990
Politics? Politics are just like women: get into them seriously
and you’re going to come out looking like an earthworm
stepped on by a longshoreman’s boot.
Charles Bukowski in a letter to Gerald Locklin
(August 2, 1981)
Political conflicts are merely surface manifestations.
If conflicts arise you may be sure that certain powers intend
to keep this conflict under operation since they hope to profit
from the situation. To concern yourself with surface political
conflicts is to make the mistake of he bull in the ring, you are
changing the cloth. That is what politics is for, to teach you
the cloth. Just as the bullfighter teaches the bull, teaches him
to obey the cloth.
William Burroughs
Journal for the Protection of All Beings (City Lights Bookstore)
…one of the terrible truths of presidential politics: it changes
everybody who gets into it, generally for the worse, frequently
for the awful.
Gail Collins. The New York Times (February 7, 2015)
As early as 1923 it had become clear that world revolution was
no longer on history’s agenda, at any rate not in the form
envisioned by Marxism.
George C. Eckstein, reviewing Bukharin and the
Bolshevik Revolution in The Nation (February 8, 1975)
**
The exiled tyrant Pisistratus , planning his return to Athens
in the early sixth century BC, hired an unusually tall woman
named Phye to ride beside him in his in his chariot. She was
to pretend to be the manifestation of the goddess Athena,
the Patron of Athens. Herodotus gives her height as some
four cubits---around 5’11”, more than a foot taller than the
average woman at the time—and notes that not only was she
dressed in full armour but was instructed of the bearing in
which she might best beseem her part (according to
Macauley’s inimitable translation . As Pisistratus and Phye
trundled through the fields of Attica, fell over themselves
to pay their respects., Herodotus notes that Pisistratus was
immediately returned to power.
Claire Hall. “The Day a God Rode In,”: reviewing “The Realness
of Things Past: Ancient Greece and Ontological History”
by Greg Anderson (London Review of Books)
I have just received the following telegram from my
generous Daddy, It says, “Dear Jack: Don’t buy a
single vote more than is necessary. I’ll be damned
if I’m going to pay for a landslide.”
John F. Kennedy at the Gridiron Dinner (1958)
**
If you agree with me on nine out of 12 issues, you
should vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out
of 12 issues, you should see a psychiatrist.
Ed Koch, Mayor of NYC
Al Gore never claimed that he invented the internet,
Howard Dean didn’t scream. Hillary Clinton didn’t say
she was staying in the race because Barack Obama
might be assassinated. And Wesley Clark didn’t impugn
John McCain’s military service. Scott McClellan, the former
White House press secretary in his tell-all memoir “What
Happened.” But a true account of modern American
politics should “What Didn’t Happen.” again and again
we’ve had media firestorms over supposedly
revealing incidents that never actually took place.
Paul Krugman (NY TIMES. July 4,2008)
**
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere,
diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Groucho Marx
…I haven’t studied politics that much really. It just seems
that you have to be in a constant state of revolution, or you’re dead.
There always has to be a revolution, it has to be a constant thing,
not something that’s going to change things, and that’s it, you know,
the revolution’s going to solve everything. It has to be every day.”
Jim Morrison, in an interview with John Tobler
\
Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel,
go out and buy some more tunnel.
John Quinton
Teddy Kennedy says, “These are times that will test all people.
Are we up to the test?” And the people say, “The question is,
can we get someone to take the test for us?”
Mort Sahl
**
In that first four weeks (AFTER OBAMA’S ELECTION), you probably
remember, effigies were burned. Obama supporters were being
beat up, all sorts if things like that. For me, it was all captured in
the amazing case of the second and third graders in Idaho who
were riding their bus on the way to school and chanting
“Assassinate Obama!” It was an incredible moment. I think
that –very much like David Duke, the ex-Klan leader, predicted
– Americans woke up on November 5 and to some of them it
was a rude shock. This black guy was going to be their president,
and, by God, he was going to take his wife and kids and move
into the White House.
David Schimke. “Hate,Ink.” in UTNE READER
(Jan-Feb. 10, 2010)
**
Arguing with the Tea Party is like playing chess with a pigeon.
No matter how good your argument the pigeon is going to knock
all the pieces over, crap all over the board and strut around
like it’s victorious.
Charles Simmons
**
Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party
they work for people who don’t need help. That’s all there is to it.
Harry S Truman
**
NEW APP: HOW YOU CAN TELL RIGHT AWAY IF THE PERSON YOU
ARE TALKING TO HAS ENOUGH MONEY TO MAKE IT WORTHWHILE
FOR YOU TO BE THEIR FRIEND. AFTER ALL WHO WANTS TO
WASTE THEIR TIME WITH POOR PEOPLE?
DESIGN BY LILLY KRONGARD
TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATIONASKING THE SUPREME COURT TO VOTE UPONTHE UNCONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Although many Americans are aware that the Supreme
Court has been asked to deprive some 9 to 11 million
Americans of their health insurance on the basis of an
ambiguous four word phrase in the health-care provision
, few Americans are aware of a case that will soon follow suit
– - Americans Who Hate The General Welfare vs. The
Constitution of the United States of America.
Attorneys for the state rights have pointed out (and
rightly so) that the majority of our 50 States were not in
existence at the time the Constitution was approved
(sometime in the l8th century we believe, although many
citizens believe the Constitutional Congress, like the
moon-landings, was a hoax). Here are the phrases called
into question:
" We the People of the United States, in Order to form a
more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic
Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote
the general Welfare, and secure he Blessings of Liberty
to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish
this Constitution for the United States of America."
First of all the phrase “We the people of the United States”
was a blatant falsehood at the timeThe Constitution was drafted.
many so-called people (women, slaves, children, and anyone
who did not own property) were in no position to ordain anything.
these disenfranchised chattle did not establish the Constitution.
They could barely establish that they existed. Did any of the persons
who voted for ratification of the Constitution produce voter IDs?
How many tainted votes were cast? There should be a revote,
with a prior ruling on how to count or not count hanging chads.
Second: What about all the new States that have become part
of the United States since. Each new State should be allowed to
rewrite the Constitution to fit the needs of its citizens.
Third, what about the phrase “promote the general welfare"?
Anyone who did not own property could not vote, thus were in
no position to ordain anything. These disenfranchised chattles
did not establish the Constitution. They could barely establish
that they existed. Now that is ambiguous. Does our Constitution
endorse “The Welfare State”. We know we need guns to promote
the general welfare, but do we really need Social Security and
National Healthcare? The phrase "promote the general
welfare" must be struck from the Constitution.
Last, but not least, The Supreme Court will be asked
to rule on whether the phrase “common defence” is spelled
correctly . Since the usual spelling is defense, did the persons
who drafted the Constitution have something sinister in mind.
Were the Founding Fathers mocking the notion that there is
such a thing as a “common defence” since Americans seem
not to agree on many “common: issues.” This two word phrase
should cause the Constitution to be nullified.
Once again, we expect the court to be divided down along party
lines and that the decision will come down to the vote one Supreme
Court Justice. Yes, Justice.
And last, but not least, The Supreme Court will be asked to rule on whether the phrase “common defence” is spelled correctly . Since the usual spelling is defense, did the persons who drafted the Constitution have something sinister in mind. Were the Founding Fathers mocking the notion that there is such a thing as a “common defence” since Americans seem not to agree on many “common: issues.” This two word phrase should cause the Constitution should
Be nullified.
Once again, we expect the court to be divided down along party lines and that the decision will come down to the vote one Supreme Court Justice. Yes, Justice.
NEW BOOK PUBLISHED BY THE WHITE HOUSE:WHERE’S TRUMP?
In order to boost sagging poll numbers and to relieve
stress caused by the pandemic, protests, and failing economy,
President Trump and his loyal White House staff are
publishing a puzzle and family fun book in the
Where’s Waldo tradition. Voters, non-voters,
and children at the U.S./Mexican border who are
separated from their parents will have hours of fun
attempting to locate the real Donald Trump among
hundreds of Donald Trumps. Can you do it? Can
anyone do it?
“Best book ever. More fun than the Bible!” Lindsay Graham
“:I love this book because it has no words in it. It’smy second favorite book –after Mutiny on the Bounty.”
You know who
**
NEW BOOK PUBLISHED BY THE WHITE HOUSE:WHERE’S TRUMP?
In order to boost sagging poll numbers and to relieve stress caused by the pandemic, protests, and failing economy, President Trump and his loyal White House staff are publishing a puzzle and family fun book in the Where’s Waldo tradition. Voters, non-voters, and children at the U.S./Mexican border who are separated from their parents will have hours of fun
attempting to locate the real Donald Trump among
hundreds of Donald Trumps. Can you do it? Can
anyone do it?
“Best book ever. More fun than the Bible!” Lindsay Graham
“:I love this book because it has no words in it. It’smy second favorite book –after Mutiny on the Bounty.”
You know who
**
THE SAURUS — The dinosaur that is a synonym for another dinosaur
designed by Lilly Krongard
**
Loot (n, hence v, whence looter): Hind lut denasalized from Sanskrit
lunrati, he plunders.
Eric Partridge. Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English
(New York: Greenwich House,1966
Dear Editors:
Looting is very destructive to community and
our sense as citizens that we should look out for
one another, but there are different kinds of looting.
One kind of looting takes place when people smash
windows, enter a store, grab merchandise and run
off.
There is a second kind of looting that we should
consider: looting done by persons of power and
authority. Consider political leaders and their family
members who use their positions to squander so much
of tax payer monies for their own personal pleasures
and economic enhancement. Is that not looting?
Or consider the Environmental Protection Agency.
how many regulations have been rescinded so that
future generations of Americans can no longer
can count upon breathing clean air nor drinking
uncontaminated water.
Or stealing young people’s futures by loading them
Down with crippling loans for their education.
Or denying citizens affordable health care.
All kinds of looting are to be abhorred. Which
is worse may be difficult to determine on a case by
case basis, but none of these lootings make us a
better nation. None of these lootings make us a better people.
Sincerely,
Louis Phillips
Image by Lilly Krongard
**
DESCENDING INTO BEDROCK
There is just so much sleep to go around
With the bed still warm
From my wife’s body,
Pillows piled high & the annoying sound
Of traffic going somewhere or not.
Another erratic midnight.
Don McLean got it right:
“Bad news on the doorstep.”
& I got no Chevy either.
Am I the only person not dreaming?
In Apartment 8H, right
Below us, some idiot is playing
First Edition’s
“Just Dropped In to See
What Condition My Condition Was In.”
The human condition? Bah! Humbug.
It’s the entire bedrock
Of a crumbling nation,
Entire oceans of fish
Are awash with waking & dreaming.
Oceans choking
to death on plastic.
***
ABRACADABRA
By the incantation of a single word, this sentence becomes
transformed. It was formerly an epigram: Now it is closer
to the national anthem of Argentina: “May the Laurels be
eternal That we know how to win. Let us live crowned
with glory Or swear to die gloriously.” Abracadabra.
All that dying gloriously stuff: Now that’s real magic.
**
ATOM SMASHING
I do not understand why it took scientists so long
to split the atom. When my sons were 4 or 5, if
they had been given an atom for Christmas, they
would have broken it in no time at all.
**
LA TRIVIATA # 38
NOTE TO THE READERAll 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
1l Bees can see all colors except one. What color
cannot be seen by bees?
2.What is the only seven letter word in the English
language that contains all 5 vowels?
3. It has been claimed that the logo depicting a large
tongue protruding from a mouth is the most famous
logo in Rock & Roll history. It is the logo of what group?
4. What were the names of the famous NBC newscasters
who signed off each broadcast with:
“ Good night, David.”
“ Good night, Chet.”
5. What does a kinologist study?
6 In the Olympics Discus throw competition how much
does the discus weigh?
7.Fur is one of the official languages of what African
country?
8. In 1984, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
established the Television Hall of Fame and inducted
seven people. Can you name any 3 persons of the
first seven inductees?
9. A bit of IdMb trivia for this film, directed by John
Ford and starring John Wayne as Captain Brittles
Reveals that the regiment's blacksmith, named "Wagner"
(Mickey Simpson), is seen at work, we can hear the orchestra
playing the "Nibelung"-motif from Richard Wagner's famous
opera, "Siegfried". In the opera the motif is connected with
the forging of Siegfried's sword. What is the film?
10. Ithaca and Kerykara are Greek islands in what sea?
11.On November 25, 1864 the Winter Garden Theater
in NYC presented a production of Julius Caesar. Junius
Brutus Booth played Cassius and his brother Edwin Booth
played Brutus. What part did the third brother—JohnWilkes Booth
– play?
12. In the U.S. Presidential election of 1920 one of
the major candidates on the ballot was a prisoner
in a Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia . Who
was he?
13. What country has the oldest flag in the world?
14. How many eyes does a scallop have?
A. none
B. 30
C. 50
D. 100
15. What do the following all have in common?
Mr. R. Nixon, Phunky, Ty Kong, Wopsle, Squod
Nobs, and Hookem?
16. What U.S. President is associated with this
piece of advice: “Speak softly, but carry a big stick.”
17. What U.S. President gave Maxwell House Coffee
its famous advertising slogan “Good to the Last Drop”?
18. Edson Arantes do Nascimento is better known to
the world by what single name?
19. Richard Strauss was, of course, a famous German
composer and conductor, but what does his last name
mean?
20. What is paronomasia?
ANSWERS
1. Red (Do not ask me how scientists know such things)
2. Sequoia
3. The Rolling Stones
4. David Brinkley and Chet Huntley
5. A kinologist studies physics laws of motion
6. 4 pounds
7. Dafur
8. Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, Paddy Chayesky, Norman Lear,
Edward R. Murrow, William S. Paley, David Sarnoff
9. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
10. The Ionian Sea
11. He played Marc Anthony
12. Eugene Debs. He ran as a socialist candidate and
received nearly one million votes.
13. Denmark
14.( D) 100
15. They are names of characters in works by Charles
Dickens
16. Theodore Roosevelt
17. Theodore Roosevelt. According to The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations, Roosevelt uttered that phrase to
Joel Cheek in 1907.
18. Pele’, the great Brazilian soccer player
19. According to Wikipedia , Strauss is a German: nickname
for an awkward or belligerent person, from Middle High German
struz 'quarrel', 'complaint'. ... Dutch: from a Germanic personal
name, Strusso.
20. According to the online Merriam Webster Dictionary,
paronomasia was first used in 1571. It is from Latin, from Greek, from paronomazein to call with a slight change of name, from
para- + onoma name — more at NAME. It is simply a long word
meaning a pun or play on words.
********************
One of my all-time favorite books is What's in the Names of WildAnimals by Peter Limburg, illustrated by Murray Tinkelman'
(Toronto: Longman Canada Limited, 1977). Here is the opening
paragraph:
ANIMAL is a word imported directly from ancient Rome,
where it meant "a living being." The word comes from
anima, Latin for "soul" or "breath of life." Despite its
illustrious Roman ancestry, animal is practically a new-
comer to the English language. It was hardly used at all
before the 1600s, and even then only by scholars....
**
ANIMALS
Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims
he intends to eat until he eats them.
SAMUEL BUTLER
If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?
GEORGE CARLIN
Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
GEORGE CARLIN
As humans, we are well acquainted with the needs and capacities of the human body –we live our own bodies and so know, from within, the possibilities of our form. We cannot know, with the same familiarity and intimacy the lived experience of a grass snake or a snapping turtle; we cannot readily experience the precise sensations of a hummingbird sipping nectar from a flower or a rubber tree soaking up sunlight. And yet we do know how it feels to sip from a
fresh pool of water or to bask and stretch in the sun.
David Abram. The Spell of the Sensuous (New York:
Vantage Books, 2017)
I meant what I said, and I said what I meant...
An elephant faithful -- one hundred per cent !
Theodor Seuss Geisel, Horton Hatches the Egg, 1940
epigraph to Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Chapel Hill
Algonquin Books, 2006)
**
SPIDERS
are named
by what they do,
spinning their webs,
as all of us
are named
by what we do.
The lace of heaven
is their province.
In the highest wood
all the spiders
gather
to knit the snow.
Louis Phillips
(from The Spider Anthology, edited by David Cornell
(Arachne's Muse Foundation,Inc.1988)
CATS
It was Edward Lear, I believe, who said that the true test of imagination is the ability to name a cat.
W.H. Auden
**
I don’t know why cats are such habitual vomiters. They don’t seem to enjoy it, judging by the sounds
they make while doing it. It’s their nature. A dog is going to bark. A cat is going to vomit.
Roy Blount, Jr.
Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose.
Garrison Keillor
Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia.
Joseph Wood Krutch
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MOUCHE
Named for Scaramouche,
Comic actor with a sword,
My rum-lined cat purred
Her feline duels. The couch
Was hers, pillow, rug, & floor,
Her veritable kingdom
Of knotted fur loomed
Amid her arch & scratch, her-
Self alert, & en garde.
I confess defeat,
Subdued by energies, her flat
Poise before a leap, her hard
Indifference to command.
Yawning thrust & parry
She was my noble adversary.
Those who own a cat will understand.
-
Louis Phillips
**
SNAILS AND THE WEATHER
In Scotland snails were once used to predict
the weather. Children sang the following rhyme:
Snailie, snailie, shoot out your horn
And tell us it will be a bonny day the morn.
********
**ELEPHANTS
I love to look on these overgrown beasts, with their
vast bodies, their immense strength, their ungainly proportions,
their docile harmlessness. Their very size and clumsiness
make me a kind tenderness for them -- their unwieldy bulk
has something infantile about it. Moreover they have large
hearts. When they get wild, they are furious, but when they
calm down they are peace itself.
Sir Rabindranath Tagore
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 # 38NOTE 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. Heidi6. 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. Macbeth20. 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,
ON COOKING
“You have a map of flavors, and then you
dance.”
Ali El Sayed, quoted by David Kortava
in The New Yorker (September 2, 2019)
THE LETHE MARTINIPOEM
I have already forgotten what this poem is about.
**COCKTAILS
DRINK/DRINKING
The right gin matters, not Bombay with its overpowering
botanicals and its sweetness, And a conical glass, though in an
emergency you can approximate a very dry one by
removing a bottle of Tanqueray from the freezer
and swigging from the neck.
Sam Leith, on the Martini. The Spectator
(16 December 2014)
An alcoholic is someone you don't like who drinks
as much as you do.
Dylan Thomas
Jacques (Feyder) seemed very impressed and insisted
we go out afterwards and celebrate my success. Champagne
was ordered at his behest -- I knew he enjoyed drinking it,
but I had never touched the stuff. As the champagne
went down, my value as a composer went up. By the end
of the second bottle I was better, according to
him, than Beethoven had ever been.
Miklos Rozsa. Music For the Movies by Tony Thomas. 1997.
**
Dating back to 1862, these (CORPSE REVIVERS) belong to
the dubious category of drinks engineered, in a counterintuitive,
vaguely homeopathic way to vanquish hangovers, like
other well-known hairs-of-dogs.
Rosie Schaap. The New York Times Magazine
(October 11, 2015)
COFFEE
American coffee can be a pale solution served at a temperature
of 100 degrees centigrade in plastic thermos cups, usually
obligatory in railroad stations for purposes of genocide.
Umberto Eco. How To Travel With a Salmon.COOKING
Her cooking suggested she had attended the Cordon noir.
Leo Rosen
Drama is very important in life. You have to come on with a bang.
You never want to go out with a whimper. Everything can have
drama if it’s done right. Even a pancake.
Julia Child
"Boiled cabbage a l'Anglais is something compared with which
steamed coarse newsprint bought from bankrupt Finnish salvage
dealers and heated over smoky oil stoves is an exquisite delicacy.
Boiled British cabbage is something lower than ex-Army blankets
stolen by dispossessed Goanese housekeepers who used them
to cover busted-down hen houses in the slum district of Karachi,
found them useless, threw them in anger into the Indus, where
they were recovered by convicted beachcombers with grappling
irons, who cut them in strips with shears and stewed them in sheep
dip before they were sold to dying beggars. Boiled cabbage !"
William Connor (Cassandra) [ 1909 - 1967 ]
*
LANGUAGE MATTERS
ON HONKY-TONK (from Wikipedia)
The origin of the term honky-tonk is unknown. The earliest
known use in print is an article in the Peoria Journal dated
June 28, 1874, stating, "The police spent a busy day today
raiding the bagnios and honkytonks."[ The capitalization[
of the term suggests that it may have been the proper name
of the theater; it is not known whether the name was taken
from a generic use of the term or whether the name of
he theater became a generic term for similar establishments.
There are subsequent citations from 1890 in
The Dallas Morning News,[1892 in the Galveston Daily News
(Galveston, Texas)[(which used the term to refer to an
adult establishment in Fort Worth), and in 1894 in
The Daily Ardmoreite in Oklahoma,[4] Early uses of the term
in print mostly appear along a corridor roughly coinciding
with cattle drive trails extending from Dallas and
Fort Worth, Texas, into south central Oklahoma, suggesting
that the term may have been a localism spread by cowboys
driving cattle to market. The sound of honky-tonk
(or honk-a-tonk) and the types of places that were
called honky-tonks suggests that the term
may be an onomatopoeic reference to the loud,
boisterous music and noise heard at these
establishments.one theory is that the "tonk" portion
of the name may have come from the brand name of piano
made by William Tonk & Bros.,an American manufacturer
of large upright pianos (established 1881),[ which made
a piano with the decal "Ernest A. Tonk".
The Tonk brothers, William and Max, established the
Tonk Bros. Manufacturing Company in 1873, so such
an etymology is possible,[ however, these pianos were
not manufactured until 889, at which point the term
seems to have already been established.[9]An early source
purporting to explain the derivation of the term
(spelled honkatonk) was an article published in 1900 by
the New York Sun and widely reprinted in other newspapers.[
The article, however, reads more like a humorous urban
(or open range) legend or fable, so its veracity is questionable.
**
The Franklin stove is a metal-lined fireplace named
after Benjamin Franklin, who invented it in 1741.
***
LA TRIVIATA #37NOTE TO THE READERAll right, I know that more than a few of the questions
in the various La Triviata quizzes are unfair and often
mpossible 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. On July 31, 1968 – 18 years after Charles Schultz
Peanuts comic strip had been syndicated, the very first
black child appeared (mainly because of the urging of
Harriet Glickman, a teacher) as a regular character with
Charlie Brown , Linus & others What was the name of
this character?
A) Thurmond Armstrong
B) Franklin Armstrong
C) Malcolm Armstrong
D) Luther Armstrong
2. The name Rosa Kleb should bring to mind what popular
novel by Ian Fleming?
3. Movie actor and stuntman Ben Johnson won an
Academy Award for Best Supporting actor in 1971.
At 9 minutes and 54 seconds, Ben Johnson's performance
in this movie is the shortest to ever win an Academy Award
for Best Supporting Actor. What was the film?
4. True or False: A person is more likely to be killed
by a cow than by a shark.
5. You are in The City of Saints, a large city in
North America. In what city are you in?
6. What great American poet wrote:
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
7. In English Society in the late 19th and 20th Century
what was a Lion Tamer ?
8. Iris, Ceres, Juno, Nymphs, and Reapers are characters
in what play by Shakespeare?
9. Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singin' this'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die
The above is from what hit song? Who wrote it?
10. According to information on the inside of the bottle
cap to my Snapple (Product placement people please
take notice) what peoples invented lemonade in 1299 A.D.?
A. Aztecs
B. Spaniards
C. Mexicans
D. Mongolians
11 What is a xenobot?
12. Who was the first black entertainer to win an Emmy?
13.What is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea?
14. What month is designated Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month?
15. If you are dining outside you are dining “el fresco,”
but what does “al fresco” mean in Italian?
16. In 1956, what world famous princess recorded
the number one hit song “True Love” with Bing Crosby?
( In 1954, this woman, before she became a princess
won an Academy Award as Best Actress for her performance
in The Country Girl.)
17. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy stated that
this philosopher was “the most important philosopher
ever to write in English.” Who was he?
A. Bertrand Russell
B. William James
C. David Hume
D. John Dewey
18. You have just purchased a new automobile – an
M G. What do the initials stand for?
19. When Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his
cap what did he call it?
20. What is the longest word in the English language to
contain only one vowel used just once? (8 letters )
ANSWERS:
1. Franklin Armstrong
2. To Russia With Love3. The Last Picture Show.
4. True.
5. Montreal. So-called because it has many streets named for saints.
6. Carl Sandburg
7. A Lion Tamer was a society woman who would convince
a celebrity or celebrities to attend and lend an air of
importance to her parties.
8. The Tempest
9. American Pie by Don McLean
10. (D) Mongolians
11. Xenobots, are synthetic organisms that are automatically
designed by computers to perform some desired function
and built by combining together different biological tissues.
12. Harry Belafonte
13. Sicily
14. June
15. the expression has a completely different
meaning. 'Al fresco' literally means 'in prison.
16. Grace Kelly
17. David Hume
18. The initials stand for Great Britain’s automobile maker
Morris George
19. Macaroni
20. STRENGTH
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
SELF KNOWLEDGE
Why are we are so interested
In that baggage of heartbreak
With ripped pockets
We carry around with us?
Shouldn't souls of others
Stir us to action?
Remember Gary Cooper
Walking the streets of High Noon?
Am I like him? Are you?
12 yrs old, & I was
Waiting for my parents
To get off from work.
I paid 25¢ to see
A good cowboy movie.
Missing the politics,,
High Noon, in 1950s slang,
Blew me away.
Who was I then,
Sitting by myself,
All alone in the dark,
Waiting for my parents
To drive me home.
Among motion picture archives,
Who are you? the Caterpillar,
As played by Ned Sparks,
Asks a very polite Alice.
Did Gary Cooper & Sparks
Become what we see on the screen?
Caterpillars become butterflies,
Sparks become fires.
Who do we become
When we turn our attentions to,
Let us say, Handel,
His Concerto No. II in B-Flat Major,
With its fourth movement
In 3/8ths time,
Must we sit on the couch & ask,
"Just where do I fit in all this,
What does it have to do with me?”
O myself, myself,
Do not forsake me, O my darling.
Louis Phillips
If you’re playing baseball and thinking about managing, you’re crazy. You’d be better off thinking about being an owner.
Casey Stengel
There are plenty of Hank Aarons…in spring training.
Bobby Cox
We have Three big leagues now. There’s the American, the National, and there’s Ted Williams.
Mickey Harries (Red Sox Pitcher in 1946)
Catching a fly ball is a pleasure but knowing what to do with it after you catch it is a business.
Tommy Henrich
When you’re hitting .175, whatever you say doesn’t make much sense.
Reggie Jackson
**
—
When the one great scorer comes to mark against your name, it’s not whether you won or lost but how many paid to see the game.
Peter Bavasi
He gets to the ball quicker than Cinderella’s sisters.
Dave Campbell (ESPN sportscaster) on Roberto Alomar
**
CASTING NEWS:
Howard’s End starring Timothy Bottoms
*******
LA TRIVIATA #36
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. If you are a deltiologist, you do not collect facts about deltas. What do you collect?
2.
All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness. Be not righteousness over much…Why shouldest thou destroy thyself? … For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Is one of the epigraphs to Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo (New York: Vintage Books, 2006)
What book of The Bible is the quotation from?
3. Más a Tierra (Closer to Land), is the second largest of the Juan Fernández Islands,. In 1966 its name was changed to Robinson Crusoe Island. What country governs the island? Who wrote the novel Robinson Crusoe?
4. If there are 11 players on each side on the field in a football game, how many players on each side on the field in Lacrosse?
5. If you are fortunate enough to receive a Pritzker Prize, awarded annually since 1979,
what is your profession?
A. Architect
B. Chemist
C. Fabric Designer
D Journalist
6. How many fireplaces are there in the White House?
A. 8
B. 14
C. 21
D. 28
7. Who was the Queen of England whose final words, delivered upon the scaffold, said, referring to her neck: “It is very small, very
small” ?
9. If a person is awarded the Caldecott Medal, he or she would be:
A) a chef
B) a writer./illustrator
C) a swimmer/diver
D) a painter
10. According to Guinness World Records,
the siphonophore Praya dubia is the longest animal in the world. It is a variety of what
kind of animal?
A) jellyfish
B) snake
C) eel
‘ D) sea worm
10 What two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner in the Decathalon served four terms
in the United States House of Representatives
representing the northern San Joaquin Valley
of California?
11. Toward the conclusion of this film-maker’s memoir Apropos of Nothing, he writes:
“I’m 84; my life is almost half over. At my age, I’m playing with house money. Not believing in a hereafter, I can’t see any practical difference if people remember me as a film director or a
pedophile or at all. All that I ask is my ashes be scattered close to a pharmacy.”
Who is he?
12. What does the acronym ASPCA stand for?
13. The very popular song “Moon River” was first sung by Audrey Hepburn in
what 1961 movie? Who wrote the lyrics? Who composed the music?
14. Heterochromia is a sometimes found in humans, but more often seen in cats and dogs.
What do you have if you have heterochromia?
A. Color blindness
B. Seeing mostly in black & white
C. Eyes of two different colors
D. One eye near-sighted, the other far-sighted
15. What noted Bishop of Hippo in his youth declared “De mihi casitatem et continentian , sed noli modo.’ (“Give me chastity and continency –but not yet!”)?
16. If you see a Moomin what are you seeing?
17.The poplar song “That ‘ll be The Day,”written by Buddy Holly and sung by The Beatles was inspired by a line
spoken by John Wayne in what western movie?
A) TheSearchers
B) Stagecoach
C) Red River
D) Cheyenne Autumn
18. United States Presidents Franklin Roosevel, Harry Truman, and Dwight D.
Eisenhower all claimed that they saw
the ghost of what historic figure haunting the White House?
19. In 2019 astronomy was in the news when
what important part of the universe was photographed for the first time?
A. A singularity event
B. The subatomic particle known as a Charm
C. A Black Hole
D. Water on Saturn
20. What great movie did the American Film Academy choose as The Greatest American Western of All-Time?
ANSWERS
1 Postcards
2. Ecclesiastes
3. Chile; Daniel Defoe.
4. Ten
5. A (Architect). The Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually “to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture”.[
6. 28 fireplaces.
7. Anne Boleyn
8. (B) The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
9) (A) Jellyfish. It measures about 160 feet.
10. Bob Matthias. He and his wife also portrayed themselves in the biopic of his life?
11. Woody Allen
12. American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®
13. Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Johnny Mercer provided the lyrics; Henry Mancini the music.
The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
14. C. Eyes of two different colors
15. St. Augustine (354-430)
16. A Moomin is a cartoon character created by Tove Johnson. It is a cuddly standing white hippo-like creature.
17. (A) The Searchers (1956)
18. Abraham Lincoln
19. A Black Hole
20. The Searchers, directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne
**
**
SLIDING DOWN THE BANNISTER
OF HUMAN THOUGHT
Damn these splinters!
They are so difficult
To get out.
**
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SELF KNOWLEDGE
Why are we are so interested
In that baggage of heartbreak
With ripped pockets
We carry around with us?
Shouldn't souls of others
Stir us to action?
Remember Gary Cooper
Walking the streets of High Noon?
Am I like him? Are you?
12 yrs old, & I was
Waiting for my parents
To get off from work.
I paid 25¢ to see
A good cowboy movie.
Missing the politics,,
High Noon, in 1950s slang,
Blew me away.
Who was I then,
Sitting by myself,
All alone in the dark,
Waiting for my parents
To drive me home.
Among motion picture archives,
Who are you? the Caterpillar,
As played by Ned Sparks,
Asks a very polite Alice.
Did Gary Cooper & Sparks
Become what we see on the screen?
Caterpillars become butterflies,
Sparks become fires.
Whom do we become
When we turn our attentions to,
Let us say, Handel,
His Concerto No. II in B-Flat Major,
With its fourth movement
In 3/8ths time.
Must we sit on the couch & ask,
"Just where do I fit in all this,
What does it have to do with me?”
O myself, myself,
Do not forsake me, O my darling.
Louis Phillips
The following caption appeared on the Front Page of
The New York Times (April 20,2020):
YOUNG LEADER, FUDGING FACTS FINDS THE RIGHT
The news caused me to be curious how fudge & fudging came to be associated with avoiding telling the truth or providing misleading information (TRUMP FUDGE would be a best-selling product).
One explanation can be found in C.C. Bombaugh, in Oddities and Curiosities of Words and Literature, edited and annotated by Martin Gardner (New York: Dover Publications, 1961) . Bombaugh’s reference is Disraeli’s
quoting from an old pamphlet titled Remarks Upon the
Navy. The author of the pamphlet says that “There was in our time one Captain Fudge, commander of a merchantman, who upon his return from a voyage, how ill fraught soever his ship was, always brought home his own
crop of lies; so much so that now, aboard ship, the sailors when they hear a great lie told, cry out, ‘You fudge it’” The ship was the Black Eagle, and the time, Charles II; and thence the monosyllabic name of its untruthful captain comes to us for exclamation when we have reason to believe assertions ill-founded.
(page 199)
Eric Partridge, on the other hand, provides a more Academic approach in his Origins: A Short EtymologicalDictionary of Modern English, giving a Germanic origin:
Fudge ! Nonsense! Is prob of Gmc origin; fudge, or contrive, to counterfeit – whence the sweet or candy fudge – may be for ‘to forge, to get on well, itself app of LG origin.
I think Partidge’s etymology is more far fetched than the story in the Navy pamphlet. You do not forge fudge. And, in what way is fudge counterfeit?
The Online Etymological Dictionary supports Disraeli:
Fudge –put together clumsily or dishonestly,” by 1771 (perhaps from 17c.); perhaps an alteration of fadge “make suit, fit” (1570s), a verb of unknown origin. The verb fudge later had an especial association with sailors and log books. The traditional story of the origin of the interjection fudge “lies! nonsense!” (1766; see fudge (n.2)) traces it to a sailor’s retort to anything considered lies or nonsense, from Captain Fudge, “who always brought home his owners a good cargo of lies” [Isaac Disraeli, 1791, citing a pamphlet from 1700]. It seems there really was a late 17c. Captain Fudge, called “Lying Fudge,” and perhaps his name reinforced this form of fadge in the sense of “contrive without the necessary materials.
Of course a colorful story is worth preserving. As the newspaper editor says at the conclusion to John Ford’s great western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact print the legend.” Eric Partridge be damned.
***
LA TRIVIATA #35
by Louis Phillips
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 should you do with a burgoo?
A. sail it
B. plant it
C. live in it
D. eat it
2. “Home Plate” was the name of a Sudbury farm
owned by what Hall of Famer baseball player?
3. During World War II this movie actress (Morocco
and Shanghai Express ) and singer gave so many performances
for U.S. troops, she was made an honorary colonel. Who was she?
4. In what country is the secessionist Republic of Biafra located?
5. The first black man to be crowned heavyweight champion of the world became an expert on fleas and ran the flea circus at Hubert’s Museum on
West 42nd Street in New York. Who was he?
6. The first television commercial on public television occurred on June 27 1941 on WNBT in
New York City. What was that first product to be advertised on TV?
A. a Bulova Watch
B. Pillsbury Dough
C. a Desoto Automobile
D. Jello
7. The first word of this play by Shakespeare is also
the first word of the title. What play?
8. When the Plaza Hotel opened its doors in New
York City in 1907, how much did it it cost to rent
a single room with a bath ?
A) $2.00
B) $4.00
C) $6.00
D) $8.00
9) Please distinguish between Sarawak and the
acronym SWAK which sometimes appeared on
the envelopes of mailed letters.
10. This very popuar cartoon character was created by Grim Natwick and was supposedly based on the popular singer Helen Kane. Later this cartoon character was frequently seen in animated films with Felix the Cat, Who was she?
11. “Reader, I married him.” is the final line of what classic English novel?
12. What great French poet was imprisoned for 6 days in 1911 when he was wrongly suspected of being connected with the theft of the Mona Lisa?
13. What is the oldest organized sport in North America?
14. After spending a few hours at the Rijksmuseum, you decide to unwind by taking a long walk in
Vondelpark. In what city are you in?
15. What is an Annie Oakley?
‘
16. Captain Hook’s pirate ship in Peter Pan is described by James Barrie as “a rakish-looking craft foul to the hull, every beam in her detestable, like ground strewn with mangled feathers. She was the
cannibal of the seas and she floated immune in the horror of her name.” What is the ship’s name?
17. According to The Encyclopedia Britannica this great classical composer’s marriage to Maria Anna Keller in 1760 produced neither a pleasant, peaceful home nor any children. Haydn’s wife did not understand music and showed no interest in her husband’s work. Her disdain went to the extremes of using his manuscripts for pastry pan linings. Who was the composer?
18. Who was the only United States President who was not married?
19. If you are using a mashie what sport are you playing?
20. The cheese stands alone in what song?
ANSWERS
1. D. It’s a spicy stew
2. Babe Ruth
3. Marlene Dietrich
4. Nigeria
5. Jack Johnson . In 1908 he became the first African American to win the world heavyweight crown when he knocked out the reigning champ, Tommy Burns.
6. Bulova Watch
7. As You Like It
8. $4.00
9. Sarawak is a country located on the northwest corner of Borneo. SWAK meant Sealed With a Kiss.
10. Betty Boop. The name comes from Helen Kane’s scat phrase “boob boop-a-boop” in her rendition
of “I Wanna Be Loved By You.”
11. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
12. Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918)
13. Lacrosse
14. Amsterdam
15. An Annie Oakley is a free pass, usually to a sporting event. The pass received its name because it was punched with numerous holes, a tribute to the great American sharpshooter Annie Oakley.
16.Jolly Roger
17. Joseph Haydn
18. John Buchanan
19. Golf, It’s a name for the 5 iron
20. Farmer in the Dell
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
PHOTOGRAPHY
The last thing left in nature is the beauty of women, so I am very happy photographing it.
Peter Beard
I have been frequently accused of deliberately twisting subject matter to my point of view. Above all, I know that life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference. Opinion often consists of a kind of criticism. But criticism can come out of love. It is important to see what is invisible to others—perhaps the look of hope or the look of sadness. Also, it is always the instantaneous reaction to oneself that produces a photograph.
Robert Frank. Statement 1958.Photographs are perhaps more like prisms than mirrors. They do not duplicate reality so much as offer a changed direction or view of it.
David Goldblatt
First is the impulse to photograph. It begins with something in the external world, the ‘real’ world outside my own inside that draws me. It has ‘isness’, a quality of being, that excites and that I want, somehow, to distill
in photographs.
David Goldblatt
**
CLEMENTINE"I sure like that name, Clementine." My Darling Clementine (film)
I confess: I have never
Slept with a woman named Clementine.
A failure of nerve, no doubt,
Or not being in the right place
At the right time. Oh sing this tune:
I have missed most of America,
The Old West with its gold mines,
Sagebrush, barbed wire, sour wine,
Petticoats on the laundry line,
Saloon courtrooms,
& early morning hangings.
Listen here, Greenhorn,
Gather around the campfire
To dry out your britches
While Black Bart sings his doggerel:
"I labored long and hard for bread, For honor and for riches, But on my corns too long you've tread,You fine-haired sons of bitches."
I too have labored hard for bread,
A place to rest my head,
A couple of acres, a homestead,
But so much life, plain & fine,
Has passed me by. Look,
I didn’t plan on being old,
It just happened sooner
Than I expected. Not going to whine
About it. Yesterday, about 5
In the afternoon, I sat
In front of Trout’s General Store,
Talking on & off about women
With names like nectarines,
Their sharp breasts
Perfumed with desire.
Louis Phillips
**
THE LAST PICTURE SHOWTeacher: Well, I wonder what are my chances this morning of interesting you kids in John Keats?Duane Jackson: None at all.(Dialogue from the movie)
There are small towns in Texas
& points beyond
Where residents make up
Affectionate names for traffic lights.
Nothing to do
But get drunk, get laid,
Listen to car radios play
Frankie Lane,
Drive around all night
Murmuring pick-up lines
To screw honky-tonk angels.
Sometimes a heifer will do.
The Royal movie-theater,
Plays Red River
For what feels like forever,
John Wayne in fantasies
Of high school girls
& their mothers too.
No more popcorn.
Night lifts high skirts.
Nothing to see.
The old Truth/Beauty
yadda yada.
Daylight is for funerals:
That lucky sonuvabitch!
He found one way
to get outta this cow shit plaza.
Louis Phillips
**
P.S. My son Ian Phillips' documentary -COACH JAKE-
can be streamed for free on Amazon. His short
documentary about young girls playing chess can
be seen Friday (April 24) at the Yonkers virtual
Film Festival,
ER MOVE NEXT Award Winning Girls Chess Documentary by Ian Phillips. In the Spring of 2017, Ian Phillips documented the rise of an all-girls scholastic chess team in NYC. As they prepare for the Nationals in Chicago, the girls learn how friendship and sisterhood translate into wins on the board. FALLEN SWAN Award Winning Animated Short Film by Win Leerasanthanah A baby swan discovers its potential to escape out of a well, and must overcome its fear and doubt to succeed.And other surprises!Info, Trailer & Tix HERE
Although each screening may be a bit different, generally the way it works is this: 1. Buy one ticket per connection (i.e. a whole family can watch from the same screen). 2. We’ll send you a link to the film(s) on Thursday. 3. You can screen the film(s) at your convenience. 4. We’ll meet on ZOOM Friday evening, where YoFi will moderate a post-screening talkback with the filmmakers and you’ll have the chance to ask questions
*
PhillipsMiscellany 