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AS A GUEST AT FRANCO’S PALACE FOR A PICNIC FILM STAR ESTHER WILLIAMS LEAVES THE PARTY TO READ A NOVEL BY ERNEST HEMINGWAY (1961) “.. I withdrew from the group , stretched out on a blanket and pulled a book out of my purse that I’d been wanting to read. It was Ernest Hemingway’s ForContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: THE JOYS OF READING”

MACK SENNET’S KEYSTONE KOPS A male gynecologist is like an auto mechanic who has never owned a car. Carrie Snow THE TRICK IN PLAYING COMEDY “The trick in playing comedy is to make an audience believe what is going on and for this you have to believe it first yourself. This is why I thinkContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: HUMOR & COMEDY”

FRANKIE LAKE, MEMBER OF BIG BOY’S GANG, AND PAT O’BRIEN IN CHICAGO AND THE LADY FROM BRISTOL “We were pals. He sat down , opened his coat. In full view (Glimpsed in a mirror) was a grim .45 in a shoulder holster. To put it mildly, I was somewhat concerned. “Hey, Frankie boy — whatContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE:WORDS,WORDS, WORDS #4”

AIRLINE WORKERS “Remember they are dealing with angry, disgruntled, miserable people. And then they leave home for work. Not only is your safety and well-being in their hands, but more important, so is your expensive designer luggage.” Joan Rivers ** Melissa Rivers. The Book of Joan (NY: Crown Archetype, 2015) EPIDEMIOLOGIST “Of all the arts,Continue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: PROFESSIONS #3”

TELEVISION IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA One thing I must set down about England is that television was in general use over there before we had it, and I was surprised to see the sets in the store windows. The Ringling Circus radio publicity department had used the clown Felix Adler on a television program inContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: TELEVISION”

BACKSTAGE AT THE EARLE …vaudeville was very proper. Backstage at the Earle, the management had posted a sign: THE THEATER CATERS TO LADIES, GENTLEMEN AND CHILDREN, VULGARITY WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. DO NOT USE THE WORDS HELL, DAMN,DEVIL, COCKROACH, SHIT, ETC. Phil Silvers. This Laugh Is On Me, with Robert Saffron (Englewood, N.J. Prentice Hall,Continue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: WORDS, WORDS, WORDS, #4”

THE FIRST POCKET BOOKS (Circa mid-1500s) “Tradition has it that the first pocket books were printed in Venice by the great Ahus Manutius who, taking advantage of Eastern scholars for Crete and Constantinople, published an incomparable series of Handy classics, knowledgeably edited and impeccably Produced. So popular did these volumes become, that The 1536 PriceContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: THE JOYS OF READING”

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA MAGICIAN’S ASSISTANT “ I met a woman once who was divorced from a professional magician. She hated this man with a passion. She used to appear with him in a baffling trick where they exchanged places handcuffed and manacled in a locked cabinet. I asked her how it was done. The divorceeContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: PROFESSIONS”

GRACIE ALLEN “The well-known radio, TV, and movie star one year ago was voted Hollywood’s most intelligent actress by Southern California psychology students. She ran for President of the United States n 1940 on the Surprise Ticket. As a painter she exhibited her paintings at a Manhattan gallery (one of her paintings is called –Continue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: MOVIES # 7”

“The 75th anniversary of the publication of Le Petit Prince in France is commemorated by a single 1.08 e stamp available in a sheet of 15. First available in the United States in 1943, it was banned by Vichy France and not published until after the liberation. The novella was written by writer and aviatorContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: THE JOY OF READING #3”