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“I don’t know if it’s ever very wise to give up on Dickens. in my experience , a sudden panic about my own ignorance is followed firstly by the desperate desire to read nonfiction, and then, usually very swiftly by a realization that any nonfiction, and then, usually very swiftly by a realization that anyContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE:THE JOYS OF READING”

THE ORIGIN OF THE PHRASE “BRING HOME THE BACON” Most on-line sources claim the phrase originated in 1104 in a small town in Essex, England. A local Lord and his wife dressed themselves as common folk and asked the local Prior for a blessing for not arguing after a year of being married. The Prior,Continue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: FOOD & DRINK”

GEORGE CRUM & THE CREATION OF POTATO CHIPS Place; Moon’s Lake House in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. “As the story goes one day in 1853 the railroad and Shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt was eating at Moon’s when he returned his fried potatoes to the kitchen because they were too thick. Furious with such a fussy eaterContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: AMERICANA # 5”

*** ON THE FLASH GORDON SERIAL (1936) -ImbD Trivia Despite its large budget, this serial utilized many sets from other Universal films, such as the laboratory and crypt set from The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), the castle interiors from Dracula’s Daughter (1936), the idol from The Mummy (1932) and the opera house interiors from TheContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: MOVIES #9”

JOHN DILLINGER John Dillinger— No need to linger Over a very long bio. He was shot outside the Bio graph movie theater. ** Barbara Stanwyck was a Brooklyn girl named Ruby Stevens who had risen above her background and become both a movie star and a great lady… among the Marrenners’ * neighbors were aContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: PEOPLE”

LIT CRIT #87986954 Some readers adore it, Some readers abhor it. By it, I mean, Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit. ** CAFFEINE IN THE SUM OF ALL FEARS “I counted fifty-six references to coffee in Tom Clancv’s new thriller “The Sum of all Fears” (Putnam, $24.95) . It’s a long book, nearly eight hundred pages. StillContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: THE JOYS OF READING #6”

WEIGHING GOLD DUST nDURING THE GOLD RUSH IN THE YUKON (Circa 1898) “The trick for the weigher was to make some of that dust stick to his own fingers. Some weighers cultivated mandarin-length fingernails to collect the golden grains; others kept their fingers moist and dusted them off in the leather pockets of their trousers;Continue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: OCCUPATIONS #3”

Never count the teeth of a comb; if you do, they will all break out. AMERICAN PROVERB EDWIN BOOTH ON A STORMY NIGHT IN MARCH 1865 ” One stormy night in March 1865, the famous American actor, stood on the platform of the Jersey City railroad station. He had just finished a successful run ofContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: AMERICANA”

for Neil Hickey NEW YORK NEWSPAPERS IN THE 1920s The newspapers, the Journal and American, later combined , were dedicated to ”noise in the news” and had an editorial view of the world from inside a bedroom, or at the rail of a police desk at night. These tales were printed in newspapers that practicedContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE:JOURNALISM”

PHOTO by Igor Sunara KING KONG AND GUSTAVE DORE “…there were some beautiful moments in King Kong; that we both appreciated the location given us for the scene when you held me in your left hand and pulled at my skirt with your right hand, as though taking petals from a flower. That’s the wayContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: MOVIES #8”