In the early 1950s, while Grant was staying at his luxurious Mayfair Hotel penthouse suite, he placed chocolates on the suite’s bedroom pillow for a certain woman who was meeting him there. He was married to actress Betsy Drake at the time – his third wife out of five – but he had another ‘female friend’ in mind. And for his plans of seduction, he designed a breadcrumb trail of chocolates, leading from the suite’s sitting room into the bedroom where he placed the final bit of sweets on his pillow. The name of his soon-to-be bedmate is still unknown, as are the contents of a love letter he left beside the chocolates. As expected, the woman arrived at the suite before Grant, where his romantic ploy was an Oscar winning success.

The manager on duty noticed Grant’s ploy and started the regular practice of leaving a nighttime chocolate on guests’ pillows. And that very tradition still continues at the Magnolia St. Louis, as part of its turndown service, but with chocolates now from Bissinger’s, regarded as one of the finest chocolatiers in St. Louis.

Today, guests can stay at the Magnolia’s Cary Grant Suite which is a fusion of old-world style with modern elements and technological enhancements The augmentation also includes an executive desk; tufted faux leather headboards with ecru woven textured bedding; gray and taupe textured fibers, woven into carpeting repeating the color palette of the floor to ceiling drapery with sewn-in blackout lining. And, of course, the suite is shrouded with Cary Grant photographs amd momentos.

Guests can continue their Cary Grant homage by dining at the Magnolia’s Robie’s Restaurant and Lounge, named for John Robie, Grant’s suave former jewel thief in the Alfred Hitchcock 1955 film, To Catch a Thief. So, the next time you stay at a hotel and enjoy the chocolate, cookie bite, or mint, remember that we have Cary Grant’ to thank for it. Readers, please note, you will not find Grant’s letter on the pillow: believed to be, Compliments of C. Grant: Have a restful sleep.

Who Was Cary Grant & Why Do We Keep Talking About Him?

Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant. I have spent the greater part of my life fluctuating between Archie Leach and Cary Grant; unsure of either, suspecting each. I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be until finally I became that person. Or he became me. – Cary Grant

Grant was born Archibald Alexander Leach (1904) in a working class home in Bristol, England, a fishing town which offered few opportunities. In his youth he possessed a sense of drive, much like the early life of Charlie Chaplin in the slums in Victorian London. He felt he had no choice but to pull himself up by his bootstraps to eventually becoming an American stage and vaudevillian star, and then, after seemingly endless years on the road to be one of Hollywood’s most iconic film actors. With his distinctive Mid-Atlantic accent and impeccable timing, he was considered the foremost exemplar of the debonair leading man, not only handsome, but also witty, charming and masculine.

Film critic Robin Wood noted that the Bond films would never have happened if not for Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959), with Grant in the lead role. Grant was the first actor asked to play the role of James Bond in Dr. No (1962) at the advent of the James Bond film franchise, but decided to pass due to age. He had come a long way since he worked as a stilt walker at Brooklyn’s Coney Island.

Grant, His Mother & Failed Marriages

Grant’s father, ravaged by years of alcoholism, worked as a tailor’s presser, while his mother was a seamstress. His older brother passed away at age one, and biographer Geoffrey Wansell notes that his mother blamed herself bitterly for the death, and never recovered from it. Nevertheless, his mother taught young Archie to sing and dance, insisted on piano lessons, and occasionally took him to the cinema.

Grant’s biographer Graham McCann claimed that his mother did not know how to give affection and did not how to receive it either. Grant acknowledged that his negative experiences with his mother affected his relationships with women later in life. Grant attributed her behavior to overprotectiveness, fearing that she would lose him as she did John..

When Grant was nine years old, his father placed his mother in a mental institution, and told him that she had gone away on a “long holiday”, which later ended with her death. To a degree, this resembled Chaplin’s relationship with his own fragile mother, often returning home from grade school to find that she had been placed in a mental ward. Grant did not learn that his mother was actually still alive until he was 31; and made arrangements to support her for the rest of her life, yet only visiting her once in 1938.

Cary Grant’s 1949 marriage to Betsy Drake constituted his longest martial union, but they separated in 1958 and divorced in 1962. Grant credited her with broadening his interests beyond his career and with introducing him to the then-legal LSD therapy and to hypnosis.

In the 1950s, after Grant had become the wildly successful star, he sought professional help to cope with the lingering emotions over his traumatic childhood. In particular, his failed marriages weighed on him. He tried hypnosis, yoga, and supervised LSD experimentation. During his LSD hallucinations, Grant was able to confront and overcome the unconscious motivation that had undermined his marriages: anger and sorrow over his mother. He credited Dr. Hartman’s treatment for helping him understand how his mother’s disappearance had triggered a self-sabotaging pattern of relationships.

A Brief Look at Grant’s Career from an Auteurist Perspective

Upon Cary Grant’s arrival in Hollywood he was dismissed by casting directors due to his thick neck and bowlegged walk. But, a year later, he appeared in crime films or dramas as a handsome, yet wooden, costar in films by Josef von Sternberg in Blonde Venus (1932) with Marlene Dietrich, and She Done Him Wrong (1933) with Mae West, who apparently took one look at him and said, If can talk, I’ll take him. But Cary Grant becoming Cary Grant, the Cary Grant persona in which he is famous, began with his role co-starring with Katherine Hepburn in George Cukor’s Sylvia Scarlett (1935) as the rough, but charming Cockney swindler, Jimmy Monkley. Leo McCarey’s 1937 comedy The Awful Truth (1937) with Irene Dunne proved to be a smash box office success and furthered to concrete Grant’s sophisticated comedic image; later he followed with two more Cukor comedies with Hepburn, Holiday (1938) and The Philadelphia Story (1940).

But it was his roles in Howard Hawks’ screwball comedies, Bringing Up Baby (1938) with Hepburn again, and His Girl Friday (1940) with Rosalind Russell, which are frequently cited among the greatest comedy films of all time. Hawks continued to cast him in what are regarded as the lesser comedies, I Was a Male War Bride (1949) and Monkey Business (1952), and but also in the earlier 1939 drama, Only Angels Have Wings, where Grant delivered the goods with a powerful dramatic performance.

Cary & Hitch

During the 1940s and 1950s, Grant developed a close working relationship with Alfred Hitchcock, who cast him in four films: Suspicion (1941) opposite Joan Fontaine, Notorious (1946) opposite Ingrid Bergman, North by Northwest (1959) alongside James Mason and Eva Marie Saint, and To Catch a Thief (1955) with Grace Kelly. The last two of the four capitulated audiences and film critics alike, while the first two film dramas, Suspicion and Notorious, Hitchcock revealed a darker, more ambiguous nature in Grant’s characters.

Toward the end of his career, Grant was praised by critics primarily as a romantic leading man, and received five nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, which included a pair of Stanley Donen features, Indiscreet (1958) again with Bergman, and Charade (1963) with Audrey Hepburn. Cary Grant died at age 82 of a cerebral hemorrhage. His marriage to Dyan Cannon, which ended in divorce, produced his only child, Jennifer, who was the centerpiece of his life and his greatest work of art.

Cary Grant is most remembered for his broad appeal as a handsome, suave actor who did not take himself too seriously, and able to play with his own dignity in comedies without sacrificing it entirely. The story of chocolates on the pillow continues to speak to lovers throughout the world with a special affection to the art of seduction.

For more on Celebrity Suites, visit Hemingway, John & Yoko, Oscar Wilde Celebrity Hotel Rooms & Suites: Part I – Traveling Boy; The Beatles, Coco Chanel, Jim Morrison Celebrity Suites, Part 2 – Traveling Boy; Katharine Hepburn, Salvador Dali, Gwyneth Paltrow Celebrity Suites, Part 3 – Traveling Boy; Francis Ford Coppola, Nelson Mandela, J.K. Rowling, Richard Harris Celebrity Hotel Rooms & Suites, Part 4 – Traveling Boy; and Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, Audrey Hepburn Celebrity Suites Part 5 – Traveling Boy

A Bite About Chocolate – Courtesy of the World Cocoa Foundation

Cocoa and other chocolate products are enjoyed by billions of people around the globe, but surprisingly few people know the history of the confection. In fact, cocoa has appeared in different cultures worldwide for hundreds of years. Cocoa was first developed as a crop in many ancient South American cultures, with the Aztecs and Mayans being the most well-known of these indigenous populations. Researchers have found evidence of cocoa-based food dating back several thousand years. READ MORE History of Cocoa | World Cocoa Foundation

Click here for further information about the Cary Grant Suite at the Magnolia St. Louis.

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What are some of the “things” or activities that visitors do for fun?

ANSWER: There is so much to do while visiting Kaua’i depending on your interests. Some of the more popular activities are: Viewing the Napali cliffs from a boat tour, seeing Kaua’i from above in a helicopter or plane tour, kayaking the navigable rivers, take a zipline over the treetops, take an ATV tour, horseback riding in beautiful scenery, playing on golf courses with views that can distract you, enjoying a luau and the list goes on and on.

What’s one thing the public probably does NOT know about Kaua’i?

ANSWER: Kaua’i is nicknamed the “Garden Island” and in fact Kaua’i has many gardens to enjoy while visiting. Three of those gardens are part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG): Limahuli Garden, Allerton Garden and McBryde Garden. The National Tropical Botanical Garden is the only tropical botanical garden with a charter from the United States Congress. In the early 1960’s a group of forward-thinking individuals recognized the need for a tropical botanical garden on U.S. soil, and banded together to form a foundation with the purpose of ensuring such a garden was established. NTBG has the mission to enrich life through discovery, scientific research, conservation and education by perpetuating the survival of plants, ecosystems, and cultural knowledge of tropical regions. One of the most recent programs at NTBG is The Breadfruit Institute founded in 2003. The mission of the Breadfruit Institute is to promote the conservation and use of breadfruit for food and reforestation. The institute is taking a leading role in the conservation of breadfruit diversity and ethnobotanical research documenting traditional uses and cultural practices involving breadfruit.

What has Kaua’i contributed to the world?

ANSWER: Kaua’i has contributed millions of wonderful vacations, weddings, honeymoons and memories, as well as iconic images via the movies and television. From 1934 “White Heat” to 1958 “South Pacific” with Mitzi Gaynor to 1961 Elvis’ “Blue Hawaii PERIOD” Kaua’i has been immortalized in many blockbusters, including the recent “Jurassic Park” films, “6 Days / 7 Nights” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” to the Academy Award winning “The Descendants.”

For more on Kaua’i, visit

Kauai Official Travel Site: Find Vacation & Travel Information

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Jim Boitano: Meet Angela Biedermann – Photographer, Designer, Baltic Tour Guide Extraordinaire!

She isn’t famous, but I’ll never forget Angela Biedermann. On a six-hour bus ride across the flat Baltic countryside from Vilnius to Riga, I met her back in 2003. Just one of those people you run into when you travel and fall into deep conversations.

She was a Viennese photographer, well known in her small local circles in Austria for her beautiful art exhibitions. She was best known for taking shots of old Austro-Hungarian doorways, thresholds and house facades. She was recording these in the Baltics when I met her.

We all have encounters with interesting people when we travel, often on planes, sometimes on trains. But usually when we arrive at our destinations, we scatter to the four winds.

But Angela kept in touch. Every year for my birthday, she made me a personalized birthday card containing multiple examples of her work. She even designed her own postage stamps. As someone who doesn’t have that type of artistic gene, I appreciate it so much more when shared with others. Beyond that, she became a kind of pen pal and we would write each other long emails about our lives.

I went to visit Angela twice in Vienna. Of course, her apartment was a museum. She called it ‘my Moroccan Palace’ and indeed it was a shrine of art and décor. I helped her set up for one of her shows (on India) and got to attend it. This was in 2011 and again in 2014.

Last year, I received a letter from her sister advising me that Angela had passed away from a pulmonary embolism. She was 20 years older than me, and when I met her that seemed quite old. Now I’m older than her and she will continue to inspire me to travel and enjoy the art we find in the little places in this world.

Richard Carroll: So Many

I have met a number of memorable persons in my travels, many who have become life-long friends. Among them in no particular order are Tom McCarthey, who I met in Maui years ago and is passionate about life with a marvelous sense of humor, a world-wide traveler, and with a big heart.

Celia Abernethy, born and raised in the United States who fell madly in love with Italy, learned to speak Italian, and is now the supreme contact for travel to Italy. She has homes with her husband in Milano and Lake Como, is extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of Italy, and always with a smile on her lips.

I met “John Colclough” in Dublin some 30 years ago and we have remained the best of chums. John, with his thick Irish accent, a photographic memory, and splendid vocabulary, has spent a lifetime researching, traveling Ireland and collecting in-depth details, it seems, on every major building, castle, Townhouse, estate, and historic site, in the country, along with the family history of each.

Another memorable encounter was in Salt Lake City. I was not quite a teenager when I thought I could play the trumpet, and along with David Pratt, who played clarinet, we wanted to show our skills to the great “Louis Armstrong,” who was performing with his band in the evenings at the Rainbow Randevu in downtown Salt Lake.

My sister Sharon, pulling a little red wagon, and our family dog, followed us to the Hotel Newhouse. With our instruments in hand and a battered music stand we sneaked up to the second floor of the hotel and knocked on Louis Armstrong’s door. A nicely dressed man opened the door and coldly stared at us. Looking at our feet we said to him, “We want to play for Louis Armstrong.” He started to shut the door but Louis said, “Open the door and let them in.” Armstrong was sitting on a bed in shorts, and a gorgeous black woman wearing a sparkling gown with strands of gold chains dangling from her neck was standing near the door smiling at us.

He said, “Come in boys.” We quietly said, “Can we play a duet for you Mr. Armstrong, David wrote it.” The man who opened the door was now holding a telephone and kept repeating, “Louis, New York is calling again!” Louis, said, “Hold the call. I’m busy.” We set up the music stand knocking it to the floor twice.” My mouth was dry, hands were shaking, and with two false starts we sounded horrible. When we finally finished the duet, Louis said, “Keep up the good work boys. What mouthpiece are you using?” I said, “It’s a Bach 7C,” handing it to him. He gave us personalized autographs, and said, “If you ever come to New Orleans I would like to see you both.”

We packed up and left, while New York was calling. My sister greeted us on the street and said, “Did you play for Louie? I thought I heard something?” We said, “We did, but it wasn’t so good.” She said, “Will you play for him again.” Nodding our heads we said, “Never.”

Phil Marley: Peter Marley, My Father

Peter Marley, though he preferred to be called, “Pete,” was a Cockney Londoner, who was a boxer before joining the British Merchant Marines. One of the vessels took him to Winnipeg, where he met and married a 14-year-old Canadian farm girl, who gave birth to my brother and me.

When my family arrived from Canada, I was eleven-years-old, and was very naïve and ignorant of the ways of the world that day. So, my first memory was moving into a small apartment on Lower Queen Anne Hill. Eventually I would become a high school student on the top of its hill.

As we unloaded our baggage, though there wasn’t much, for the small apartment was fully furnished, I noticed there was a strange buzz in the air, unlike anything I had ever heard before.

Later, I learned it came from concert at the site of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, by a rock group from Liverpool, who had shockingly long hair. They were named the Beatles, and in a few years would have a great impact in my own life. Soon I transitioned to John Lennon government-issued horn-rimmed glasses and began to wear my hair long. I was also a fan of the Rolling Stones. Once, while chomping on a candy bar in my family’s car, my father said, “You keep that up, and you’re gonna rot your teeth out like that Keith Richard.” I smiled, and said: “Yeahhhhhhhhh!”

My father, Peter, found a graveyard position as a security guard in downtown Seattle’s new 50 Story Bank Building. We were proud of his new tenure, though others thought it was absurd to take pride in such a low profession. But we would remind them, it was an honest job, and he was in charge of protecting a high building, which was then the tallest throughout Seattle.

As I said, my father was a Cockney from London, and my brother and I would laugh when others could not understand what he was saying. And sometimes we would laugh at ourselves, too; for we couldn’t understand a single word he was saying either, and were given a one-way ticket to be alone in our bedroom on Queen Anne Hill.

In the early morning, around 6 a.m., his night of work was over, and he would pack our family in our family’s Studebaker for a trip to Seattle’s Green Lake.

And it was there that he taught me how to swim and dive. Due to the early morning hour, the area that surrounded Green Lake was empty of people, and we had the lake to ourselves. And I enjoyed the solitude, for no others would see me struggle and swim, and laugh at me as I crawled up to the shore.

Our high school was on the top of Queen Anne Hill, famous for its setting and spectacular city views. On clear days, we could see majestic Mt. Rainier.

But for us, Queen Anne High School was just an old building and we would barely notice the views.

But, we were only kids.

David Erskine: Peloponnese and Epiphanies, Greece

My name is David Erskine. Ed Boitano of Traveling Boy asked me to write a guest article, written just ten minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. I have been a Traveling Boy reader since the conception of the travel site, and also Vice President of Advertising from 2020 until the height of the Covid pandemic.

I recently spent over two weeks in Western Greece (the Peloponnese towns of Finikounda, Elafonisos and Monemvasia). It was a family reunion with the German and California families. It also was an opportunity to keep the European and American families connected, which was a request of my mother before she passed many years ago. Additionally, it was a way to honor a reunion from 1971 with my mother’s siblings in Germany and their children in Gmunden, Austria.

The theme for this travel article is Peloponnese and Epiphanies.

The request and legacy of my mother, who grew up in Dresden in the 1920s and 1930s is alive and well today. My German Uncle’s son and daughter attended the reunion and my cousin’s two grown children and my daughter as well. The legacy continues for another generation.

I share this as a foundation and backdrop to where the reunion took place for this article.

Traveling from San Francisco to Greece is a journey across ten time zones and here are a few takeaways and epiphanies.

Clarity: As I have been studying the ancient stoics and Eckert Tolle about being present it was becoming a mental exercise as I tried to undo the unconscious mind and become more conscious, i.e., living in the moment. Well, when I woke up the first night around three am and listened to the Ionian Sea outside my window, it dawned on me that I was present. Between the distance, lack of noise, TV or Internet, my mind was clear, and I was present. I was not worried or concerned about anything other than where I would run my miles the next morning.

History/Perspective: On June 4th, 2024, we walked the ruins in Messini circa 3 BCE. As an actor to walk in an amphitheater where actors walked the stage centuries ago or to see my daughter and her cousin walk in the sports arena where athletes competed so long ago literally took my breath away and gave perspective and context to my life and how living in the present and controlling what I can control and dismissing the rest is a gift.

Gratitude: Am so thankful for all the Greek people I met and shared a conversation, laughter and connectedness. I was recently reminded how important it is to bring joy to someone every day and perhaps a smile or a laugh. When all is said and done, remember: “And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make.” – The Beatles.

David Erskine: World Traveler, Poet, Actor, Runner, Taxi-Driver, T-Boy Writer

Fyllis Hockman: What’s this – Ed Boitano?

Ed Boitano — because he has given us “Traveling Boy.”

Raoul Pascual: My most Travel Influencer

For me, the most influential person in regards to Travel would be Traveling Boy’s Ringo Boitano. I had known him early on as an editor for travel publishing companies but I didn’t expect him to be a walking encyclopedia about places to go, culinary delights, film and music of the 60s and 70s and geographic (mostly European) history. Ringo can spend hours sharing his anecdotes of just about anything.

Before I met Ringo, I remember I was touring a visitor to my hometown (back when I lived in Manila) and I brought him to different sites. Touring was simply “drive,” “look,” then drive to the next spot. I remember standing in front of the Intramuros (an antiquated Spanish fortress) in silence. Then he asked me, “So what’s the significance of this place?” And I was flustered because all that I knew about it was one sentence long. It was then that I realized the importance of knowing how things came to be — why was a Spanish fortress sitting in the middle of a grassy golf course far away from the shoreline? I wasn’t able to convey that this 300-year-old fortress is surrounded by reclaimed land and that it housed the prison cell of our National Hero who chose to die of a firing squad rather than deny his love for his country.

Historical facts are good but it lacks the joy and wonderment of a traveler-storyteller like Ringo. The way Ringo relates his adventures and the research he digs up makes me appreciate history then and history as it unfolds to the present.

Ed Boitano: MY PARENTS – Louis and Carol Boitano

My father, Louis Boitano, born Luigi Boitano on April 16, 1924, in Ballard, Washington, before it was incorporated into the city of Seattle. He taught me many things which I try to live by today: never judge someone about the money they make in an honest profession; be wary of flag wavers, they’ve probably never experienced a real battle; never define anyone by their religion or by the pigmentation in their skin color. And, never sprinkle grated Parmigiano-Reggiano on ravioli, for it interferes with the dish’s real natural flavor.

Luigi Boitano was mocked his entire life because he was a Roman Catholic and an Italian-American sinner. My father became the first Italian-American firefighter in Seattle. On his day of enrollment there was the customary pomp and circumstance celebration. But, he knew it was not for him; only for the new “white” recruits. The Fire Chief brushed past my dad: “Boitano, did you bring your stiletto?”

Once, when he was running too fast, he jumped on the back of a Fire Engine; he lost his balance and took a serious spill. He could no longer work saving people’s lives anymore. He was saved by his membership in the Seattle Firefighter’s Union. And, it was due to the Seattle Firefighter’s Union, that my family was saved from poverty.

At the time of his death, my family faced persecution from people who would mock Unions, which they considered to be Communist. Imagine, my father was willing to sacrfice his own life in WW II so these people would have the freedom to laugh at Unions — and, it’s due to Unions that we are not a Communist nation.

When I informed my father that I was planning to move to Hollywood, he said it was ok if I changed my family name to an Anglo-Saxon one. I asked my mother, why I was given the first name, “Edward?” She said, it was my dad who suggested it, so it would protect me from the hatred of White Nationalists who would be intimidated by the name of an English King.

Once, when he taught me how to drive a car, he said, “Ed, when you drive too fast… all you have to do… is take your foot off the gas.” As I grew older, I realized this was an important metaphor on how I should live my own life: “Never charge at the enemy looking for a fight, withdraw and no one will get hurt… no matter how much they had hurt you in the past.” Twice, a distant relative of my wife challenged me to a fight. But, I rememeber my father’s words. So, I took my foot off the gas… and no one got hurt.

My father was fearless and strong. After a long day of work at the Seattle Fire Department’s Engine 20, or after night shifts of labor at one of his two part-time jobs, he was never too busy to play catch with me or treat me to a Seattle Totem’s hockey game or a Seattle Rainier’s baseball game. He never once missed any of my little league baseball games on Magnolia Field. Once, when I was drafted into the majors at eleven-years-old, we looked down at Ray Field together from his old Volkswagen Bus. We saw our Magnolia All Star Players who were two years older than me. His own sense of worryness was greater than mine; “I was a Little Guy, playing with the Big Guys, who used to chase me around the block.”

Many of our summers were spent in Washington State’s Lake Roesiger in a cabin he built with his own hands. This was the place for great family reunions where everyone was invited: my mother’s church friends who she had known since she was seven-years-old in Sunday School, Italian and Scandinavian-American relatives, African and Asian-American inn-laws, and generally a new and lonely neighborhood boy who had no friends. Each morning would begin with my mother’s fried bacon, cooked on a woodburing stove. Then a big group would assemble around our large dining table to wait for my mother’s real specialty: “Hot Cakes!” smothered with real butter and my Grandma Nonna’s handmade jam, picked with berries from her own garden.

It was during one of our family occassions, later in the day, my parents helped me conquer my fear of water, and I learned how to water ski.

My mother once said that carrying my father’s Cross of Unhealed Pain was too much for her to carry alone. She asked God that she wanted a foul ball at a Rainier’s ball game to strike her in the forehead, so he would take her to heaven early. But, God said there was much more work for her to do. I was too self-centered to notice. All I asked God for was that the Rainiers make a double play.

I know we’ve all been persecuted some way or other. But I only think of myself. My mother-in-law, my beautiful Mother Gay, survived the Nazi occupation of The Netherlands, the Great Depression and the Winter Hunger. But, I never once ever heard her complain about anything at all. She would only speak with joy when starving people staggered to her self-sufficient family farm from Amsterdam to be fed. The only way these “City People” could survive was to dig up rotten tulip bulbs; and many of them had died because the bulbs were too soiled with disease.

Mother Gay and her Dutch Family were feeding “liberal urban elitists.” It’s such a “hateful” expression. My wife is frequently mocked with that same dogmatic expression. She is wounded and haunted by it. But, there is really nothing else we can do…

When my father first flew to Italy to meet our Italian relatives, it was the first time he could embrace his uncles and aunts and cousins; his relatives that his mother had told him stories about his entire life. When he returned back home to Seattle, he said: “This is the first time I ever felt I belonged.”

Louis, spoken correctly as Louie in French, joined the US Marine Corp when he was seventeen. He was involved in the Pacific campaign, a participant in D-Day: The Battle of Iwo Jima, and D-Day: The Battle of Okinawa. As a young child who loved playing army games, I would frequently ask him what his battle experiences were like. Yes, I was far too young to realize the pain my questions may have caused him.

My father, though, was not the type of person to shy away from any question, in particular, when it was from one of his own children.

With little fanfare, he would deliver a short narrative without any form of glory; but would always end with a valuable moral lesson:

“Eddie, no one really wins in war. It’s only the little guy who gets hurt.”

“But, Dad, didn’t you capture some real Japanese solders?”

“The Japanese were tough soldiers. Others in my platoon would try to break them in interrogation, but they would never break… they were tougher and better fighters than we were. You know, Eddie, the Japanese soldiers were ‘little guys,’ too, and they loved their families just like you do.”

My father spent the first years of his youth (two thru six) alone in a one-room migrant shack with his Italian immigrant mother, Adelina (My Nonna, MY Grandma Nonna!) who did not speak English. They survived by working in the fields of the Puyallup Valley in Washington State. Many blasphemous Luther ans and “inauthentic” Evangelical Christians — thank you, Pastor Chuck, for explaining this to all of us!– had called my grandmother and father criminals when they toiled in hard labor throughout dawn until the harsh darkness of a Washington rainy night. It was the only way they would not face starvation and experience God’s Salvation. Their shack had no indoor running water and one harsh lightbulb. I was unaware of this narrative until my early twenties, when I overheard my father speak to a kind woman at a small family gathering who was curious why he knew so much about the Puyallup Valley.

He conveyed his backstory above, without any sense of self-pity.

Kind Woman: “Louie, I didn’t realize you were so poor.”

My Father: “We weren’t poor.. at least we didn’t think we were. We always knew there was someone out there… who had it worse than we did.”

My beautiful Italian Grandmother, my beautiful Italian Nonna, was made fun of throughout her life in the US. She was branded as illiterate, because she could only speak broken English. Ten years before Nonna’s passing; I once sat alone with her in her small, dark living room in Ballard. And, she recited the Gettysburg Address and the Declaration of Independence in perfect American English. She always played by the rules in her new home in Seattle.

When my father, was close to death, my wife’s brother and her nephew, hurried over to his his assisted living memory care facility to say goodbye. No one had informed them of this, but they knew this in their real Christian Hearts, that God had told them that they must.

After they performed their eulogy, my father, Luigi Boitano, gently drifted up to heaven. And now, he rests with the Lord, who protects him from all the pain which may have come to my own family.

And, I must say, the pain in which I have caused him, too. Forgive me, Dad. I really did Love YOU.

Carol Virginia (nee Stave) Boitano was given birth on December 25, 1927 in Washington State. Her parents had planned to name her Helen. But, when she was born on Christmas Day, she became everyone’s “Christmas Carol.” My mother and sister and mother-in-law all had/have beautiful red hair. But, my mother and mother-in-law were mocked throughout most of her lives for having it. When my father first met his soon-to-be-wed bride, he said it was one of the most beautiful visions he had ever seen in his life. Later, my wife’s Father Herman, later said something similar — when he first noticed a shy, young red headed woman, trying to hide in the background of her Dutch immigrant family — her etherial red hair, made him believe that God had sent her to be his eternal bride. Later, Father Herman wed this shy, young red headed woman, and she became my second mother, my Mother Gay.

I still don’t understand why Anti-Christians said the color of red was the symbol of the Devil. They’ve caused suffering to all of God’s children, just because he made them look a little differently than you.

So, my mother referred to her hair color as “Strawberry Blonde.” But, she never once dyed her hair to a different color. I think, my Mother Gay, only did to preserve her natural hair color of red.

Carol Boitano’s Scandinavian-American parents, Tom & Clara (Nee Hildahl) Stave and her siblings temporarily relocated to Burlington, WA to be closer to their extended families, before returning to Seattle’s Norwegian and Icelandic immigrant district of Ballard. My father would say, “And I had to marry the only Scandinavian who did not like fish.”

My mom grew up with a lot of good natured teasing from her siblings (five brothers). Her Stave family home was just a few doors down from my father’s residence, where he lived with his mother, Adelina (my beautiful Italian Nonna), stepfather “Johnny,” and half-brother, Aldo. My mother would often ask her younger brother, Stan (who currently lives in an assisted living home in Seattle) to play tennis on the street which faced my father’s home, so that he would notice her. But, it was not necessary for he had often secretly basked in her beauty many times before.

They were Ballard’s Romeo and Juliet, who lived across the street from one another. At first my father was too shy to ask her on a date. He feared that she would condemn him as an anti-Christian Roman Catholic, just as her own father (my grandfather Stave) did when my father asked for her hand in marriage. My “Christian Lutheran Grandfather” made him swear that his first child must be raised as a Lutheran. Grandfather Stave was completely blinded by the German Roman Catholic Monk, Martin Luther, that he actually believed Luther’s inflammatory book about why we should persecute Germans of Jewish ancestry: “On the Jews and their Lies.”

Luther’s Jews in Amazon

Louie kept his vow, and that is why I’m a Presbyterian — but, not a Lutheran. The Presbyterian Church is often considered the most liberal branch of the Protestant Church. It was the only way my mother could heal her father of his sins which he had commited to her husband, my Father Luigi. I recall, I once sat through a service at my Presbyterian Church. The minister was a devout African-American Christian, yet there were no other African-Americans in attendance. I’ve read that Africans were God’s first and most favored people in his own Kingdom. Yet, over 114 million Africans perished due to blasemous Christian white slave traders. And, today, White Nationalists scream, why must there be such a hateful thing, called BLACK LIVES MATTER? Why do they riot? We give them free food and small rent-free apartments. I think the answer is obvious. Violence is the only answer that White Nationalists can truly understand.

My mom was an early version of Traveling Boy’s Fyllis Hockman and my wife, Deb; where she would politely correct me when I miss pronounced a word, but did it in a way which would not upset me. She also typed and proof read four of my screenplays.

My mother was once an executive at AT&T Phone Company in Seattle. One of her clients was our greatest city father, Ivar Haglund (“Keep Clam, Keep Calm!”). My mother said when she would call him, he would begin with one of his corny jokes, but those jokes were the reason why she loved him. Ivar Haglund: the son of two poor Scandinavian immigrants; Seattle folk singer, restaurateur and the founder of Ivar’s Acres of Clams, his flagship restaurant on Seattle’s waterfront.

Seattle’s Smith Tower was once the tallest building west of the Mississippi. When Ivar heard it was for sale, he immediately paid a million dollars to purchase it. He really didn’t know what he would do with it; he just wanted to make sure a big corporation would not tear down one of Seattle most iconic landmarks. At this point, Ivar was growing older and knew he would not live forever. So, when he signed the contract, he entered a clause that the next buyer could not tear it down.

Starting in July of 1968, Seattle’s skyline would light up with a display of Fourth of July fireworks. I would watch them with my family on Magnolia Bridge. My mother would turn to me, “This is a gift from Ivar, honey. He’s paying for it.”

Before my mother passed away at the same assisted living memory care facility where my father had lived. She was demented to the point of blindness and could no longer speak. My wife urged me to take the first flight to Seattle to be with her.

When I arrived, her eyes were closed as she rested in bed. The room was dark. And, I was stunned by how much my beautiful mother with strawberry blonde hair had aged. I did my best to emulate how my wife’s brother and nephew had eulogized my father.

I stroked her hair and said…

“Mommy, this is Eddie… soon you’ll be in heaven with all the people who love you.”

I was surprised when my mother spoke. But, was not surprised by her last words…

I LOVE IT…

Yes, She LOVED IT.

God Bless You, Mom!

Skip Kaltenheuser: Rick Cluchey; Actor – Playwright, Boxer, Convict, an Inspiration

Once it sufficed a teenager to dangle from a water tower in high wind by as few fingers as would support the weight, or to jump a strange horse to see how long until he was rid of you. Or to ask out a girl that held one in a state of pronounced intimidation. A mere smooch was a victory of acceptance, “safe sex” a distant dream of Nirvana.

Collisions with alcohol could go many ways. The sting of tequila might be so bad the stench would warn you off for years. Life did not lack for hazards, but the risks seemed cleanly cut.

Now someone has mined the field of play. Young people are being devastated by crack, AIDS and triple-threat pregnancies.

At Prince George’s Publick Playhouse, this Wednesday through Saturday, Rick Cluchey and the latest hybrid of his San Quentin Drama Workshop will seek to make these horrors imaginable when it presents “The Shepherd’s Song.”

The Publick Playhouse, formerly the Cheverly Cinema, is a facility of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. The theater is located in an area of the county that has a high incidence of substance abuse and positive testing of the HIV virus among teenagers.

“The whole thing is about intervention, catching people at an early enough age,” says Cluchey of “The Shepherd’s Song.” “This is the heart and soul of it. We have to continue to intervene and educate at younger levels.” Efforts are being made by county officials to bring residents of juvenile detention centers, as well as teenagers loosely defined by their schools as “youth at risk,” to the performances. “The people I do business with can’t afford a ticket to Arena {which recently staged “When It Hits Home,” a play about AIDS}, or other name stages,” says Cluchey. “They can’t read or write. Education is a high-sounding thing but to people who can’t read or write conventional education means nothing. You have to engage them on an emotional level and you have to engage them where they live.”

According to Cecil Thompson, theater specialist for Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation and executive producer of the play, “County officials are alarmed and know they have to get the word out, and there’s no time for fooling around. The fastest growing population segment at risk is females age 14 and up. Consider that the average age of a female parent of an incoming kindergarten kid in Baltimore City is 20, and you sense the magnitude of exploding tragedy.”

“This production,” Thompson says, “represents attempts to focus public funds on major problems at a time of severe fiscal restraint. I hope Cluchey’s vision can be realized, to create good shepherds teaching both wellness for the stricken, and prevention — some hope beyond the pipe.”

The social utility of theater is what Cluchey, a resident of Silver Spring, is about. He came to the stage later than most professionals. Rather, the stage came to him. His first theatrical experience, at age 23, was a 1957 performance of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” in San Quentin prison. Cluchey was in the audience.
His crime career was brief, but if the prosecutor had gotten his way, the only notices we’d have read of Rick Cluchey would have been his execution.
The robbery was a day after a payroll delivery. A gun fired accidentally, and a ricocheting bullet gave a slight wound to the courier while he was held captive in his moving car. Under California’s “little Lindbergh law,” this qualified Cluchey for the death penalty. The judge, however, sentenced Cluchey to life without parole.

Though punctuated by success as a middle-weight boxer, life was bleak. “Then I saw myself on that stage, amid the two tramps commenting, and the baronial character hauling another guy with a rope around his neck.” Something sparked. One result was the San Quentin Drama Workshop, familiar to some from the film “Weeds,” in which Cluchey was portrayed by Nick Nolte. On his last day in office, Gov. Pat Brown made possible the reversal of fortune that put Cluchey over the wall after 12 years. After 10 years on parole, he was pardoned by Califonia Gov. Jerry Brown.

In prison, Cluchey wrote “The Cage,” which he eventually directed and performed in on Broadway, after warming it up at the Arena Stage. While performing in Europe, he hooked up with Beckett, who became his friend and mentor, training Cluchey to become a world-renowned interpreter of his works. Cluchey’s merit badges include an Obie for David Mamet’s “Edmond.” He was the first American actor ever to win the Italian theater critics’ Premio Critica, and has two Los Angeles Dramalogue Critic’s awards in writing, directing and acting.

Beckett’s influence runs throughout Cluchey’s approach to theater, and to experiments like the “Shepherd’s Song.” “Beckett was a spiritual man with an Irish sense of humor who carried deep pain from his identification with the harsher events in the world. He was not a nihilist, but a minimalist — poetic vision distilled to the last drop,” says Cluchey. “Beckett lived above a French prison, watching inmates signal him with mirrors. He was fascinated by prisons, mental hospitals, all the so-called bleeding meat of society. When he got the Nobel Prize, it was for demonstrating to humanity its pain in a way it could be understood.”

This is the challenge of “The Shepherd’s Song,” conveying understanding to generations that include many who are functionally illiterate. Says Cluchey: “They reject the messages sent by teachers they see as boors, their defense mechanisms are up to those approaches and they reject the ideas. We have to find a vocabulary to think the issues through, an architecture of thought and image that makes people understand the dues of irresponsibility, yet provides them with a voice so they know they are counted.” The message to the public at large is a stark one: Find ways to catch people who are falling or go down with them.

These thoughts are echoed by members of the multiracial cast, who range in age from 17 to 28. Ezra Knight plays the shepherd who counsels the teenagers as they confront their various fates in a juvenile detention center. Knight has worked for eight years with Arena’s Living Stage projects to reach young people in trouble. In response to a query as to whether the grim realities of the play are too unrelenting, he responds, “We’re used to people getting through, happy endings, so forth, but it is also important to show worlds we need to change. … In terms of the relationship of AIDS, crack and pregnancy, there is no better vehicle than this, with characters who speak a language that provides a bridge. It is incumbent for the audience to take that message and do something with it, not just sit on their butts and be gratified.”

With only six weeks to put the project together, Hayes Award-winning director Roberta Gasbarre required the cast to immerse themselves in the topics, attending presentations by Whitman Walker Clinic and getting tested, reading five new articles or pamphlets a night on the topics portrayed, visiting prisons.

All the while, she has done that delicate dance in line cuts that can make a playwright’s ears quiver, fitting the lines and rhythm to the stage choreography she envisions as most effective for the target audience.

“Kids have been talked at too much,” says Gasbarre. “They only listen to each other, only live in half-truths, and half-truths can kill them. I hope this will evolve into a national project that goes everywhere, including the prisons.”

Lory Fields plays Baby, a pregnant and homeless 15-year-old from a rural town in Georgia. Fields had previously done volunteer work in shelters and soup kitchens, but has found her empathy greatly stretched by her experience with the play, her first nonmusical role. “The play is challenging to the cast,” she says, “the idea of part of the audience living out what we are trying to portray. Hopefully by the time they’re adults these topics won’t be so taboo.

“We’ve had to become quasi-expert so we can handle questions in the informal forums that follow each performance. Our daily assignments include bringing in the latest slang, and the cast goes over each line to see what rings true. The sets, the lighting, the sound, everything will happen for a purpose. If they don’t understand everything we’re saying, they’ll understand what we’re feeling. The final performance will be signed for the hearing impaired, a real challenge of the craft. The issues are so far-reaching. It’s not just drugs that threaten. You can catch AIDS by sharing needles to pierce ears, or inject steroids, or from an elementary school blood-brother bonding. One of the toughest is curbing the negative feelings toward safe sex by teenagers who figure they’re charmed.”

The play has a consultant who has AIDS and who wishes to remain anonymous. He participated in initial readings at four Maryland juvenile detention centers last summer, but the evening of the last performance, he was rushed to the hospital with a 105-degree fever. “I’m still helping because I love kids, and they’re being stricken along with everyone else,” he says.

Meanwhile Cluchey hopes “The Shepherd’s Song,” a pilot play in continual progress, will become a national model. He says his San Quentin Drama Workshop has been approached by representatives of the National Commission on Correctional Medicine to put on the play at the commission’s September convention in San Antonio.

For now, the workshop is trying to generate enough community awareness to help raise funds to allow ongoing projects — such as the potential use of the auditorium at Prince George’s County Hospital for regular presentations in a medical environment.

“There is a strong link between substance abuse and risk behavior,” says Cluchey. “The message is: Don’t do drugs that diminish your capacity for judgment or you’ll do something dumb — fail to practice safe sex. If you have screwed up and contracted the disease, your days are numbered. But you can practice wellness that will increase your life span and shepherd those around you to protect them.

“We are heading into that intersection where theater and life converge,” Cluchey continues. “We’re using a Brechtian model in the dramatic telling of the lives of five young people, a cathartic story-telling of insoluble social problems, the warning finger that also points toward a redemption, a practicing of wellness and a stewardship of one’s fellows. What will not be confusing is the message of this play.”

Cluchey considers formats of communication that might counter the impact of crack, “a deadly drug tied to a deadlier disease, breaking everything apart inside, like a centrifuge, the fast ride and the sudden stop. These kids skipped right through the so-called gateway drugs like pot and booze that gave some warning perspective, and they don’t know what hit them.”

It all could make one long for the days when hanging from a water tower was a kick that lasted all day, like the memory of a first kiss.

For time context, my text is taken from a WaPo article I wrote in March, 1991. Rick became one of my closest confidants. Gone now, alas.

But his steady instruction, “Keep punching!”, still echoes.

The post People and Places: Who’ve Changed Our Lives – Some Good or Bad – Some Gone – But Never Forgotten appeared first on Traveling Archive.

To see US Presidents and their Pets, Part I, visit Presidents and Pets: A T-Boy Odyssey Into Why They Loved One Another. For Part II, see Pet Owners Who Love Their Pets: Precious Pix, which includes many photographs of owners and their pets with uplifting texts.

Our first president, General George Washington, never lived with pets in the White House – it was not completed until the administration of our second president, John Adams. President John Adams is credited with owning the first White House Presidential Pets: two mixed breed dogs, named Juno and Satan. John Adams’ tenure in the White House was short-lived (he lost reelection later that year), but many dogs and cats have served as First Pets ever since.

Abraham Lincoln and Fido

Like Barron, Rover and Spot, the name Fido has long been a popular one to name a pet dog. The birth of the name was coined by an English language newspaper, asking for help, finding a small white Greyhound with a Collar, who answers to the name of ‘Fido.‘ But the popularity of the name started in the US during Abraham Lincoln’s life in Springfield, Illinois. Five years before becoming the 16th president of the US, Lincoln was a victim to many episodes of depression and Fido helped to relieve him from the pain.

Throughout his childhood and into his presidential years, Abraham was kind to animals and always made time for his pets. Fido is taken from the Latin word “Fidus,” which means, always faithful, instilling a similar sense of loyalty. Semper Fidelis (also from “the faithful”) is the motto of every US Marine. It is an eternal and collective commitment to the success of our battles, the progress of our Nation, and the steadfast loyalty to the fellow Marines we fight alongside. Semper Fidelis was also the motto of my US Marine Corp father, Louis Boitano, who participated in D-Day: Battle of Iwo Jima and D-Day: Battle of Okinawa. I still remember his words today when I was a child: Eddie, You see a lot of guys today sitting around playing video games and talking about battles, but I doubt they‘ve experienced a ‘real’ battle.

Fido didn’t get to live in the White House. Instead, he stayed in Springfield, Illinois. Sady, both Lincoln and Fido met a similar demise, both assassinated in different venues and with different weapons. Lincoln took a bullet hole in the back of his head, by the culprit John Wilkes Booth at Ford Theater in Washington DC, and Fido took a knife deep into his gut, by a drunken culprit on a derelict porch in Springfield. Fido would become euphoric upon seeing other people, and had an excitable tradition of standing on his two back legs and embracing them with his two front legs, leaving his stomach vulnerable to attacks. But the drunken vagrant took exception to this; why should a mongrel mutt bother me when I’m in a drunken bliss? Apparently, Fido survived the initial attack and managed to run away, but was discovered months later in his deathbed below a dilapidated shack.

Thomas Jefferson, our third US President (In office 1801-1809) was the second US President to maintain a farm, after George Washington.

Dick was Jefferson’s favorite of his four mockingbirds; Bergère and Grizzle were shepherd dogs from France; two grizzly bear cubs were gifted from Captain Zebulon Pike; Caractacus was a horse named after a 1st-century British chieftain. Beginning in 1807, the president bred sheep from, Four of the most remarkable varieties. By spring 1808, there were nearly 40 sheep grazing at the president’s house.

William Henry Harrison served the shortest presidential term in history, dying 32 days after his March 4, 1841 inauguration, but still had the energy to own two pets; a cow name Sukey and a goat, whose name is still unknown. For now, let’s call him Ringo.

Franklin Pierce made history when his miniature teacup Japanese Chin dog was part of a gift exchange with Japan following the Perry Expedition.

President LBJ owned Him and Her, that is the beagles, Edgar and Freckles. Yuki was a mongrel dog, famous for “singing duets” (howling) with Johnson for White House guests.

LBJ and his Beagle

In 1964, when President Lyndon Baines Johnson lifted his pet beagle by its ears in front of reporters, he enraged animal lovers and animal rights groups around the world. Johnson, a Texan and dog lover, pulled the stunt to make the dog yelp before some visiting businessmen, according to Life magazine, and said “It does them good to let them yelp.” He claimed he didn’t think he was hurting the dog, but Humane Society spokespeople begged to differ, and Johnson caught heat from activists’ public statements and newspaper editorial pages. It was a public barking match that LBJ was not going to win. Today, the photo and the botched response stands as one of the most memorable presidential gaffes of all time.

Richard M Nixon and Checkers

Before Richard M Nixon was vice president, he was hounded by the human press, when he accepted a pet dog named Checkers. Nixon had been accused of improprieties relating to a fund established by his backers to reimburse him for his political expenses. His place was in doubt on the Republican ticket as vice president with General Dwight David Eisenhower, who was on a quest to become our 34th US President. So, Nixon flew to Los Angeles and delivered a half-hour television address, known as Checkers speech, in which he defended himself and attacked his opponents. During his speech he stated that he intended to keep one gift, regardless of the outcome: a black-and-white Cocker-Spaniel that his children had named Checkers.

Donald J Trump and Malice

Former president Donald Trump never had a pet while in the White House. And all the animals in the world now pray, that he’ll never have a chance again. Many pet owners were riled up, when the former president would refer to the human species of women as dogs, horsefaces, pussies and pigs. It seemed to imply that animals and the human species of women were inferior to him. And the more they thought about it; shouldn’t it be the other way around.

And how his human cultists would laugh, when he’d do crude pantomimes, mocking members of the human species due to their mental and physical disabilities, stuttering, and because some are below average height. Something that no animal would ever do. Animals are known to help other animals when they’re hurt and distressed. And, often times, when they are abandoned, regardless of whatever species they are, they adopt each other, making it a wonderful large family of love and acceptance. Animals also defend us from perpetrators. I remember that was something that a few US politicans had sworn an oath to do. But how can all the animals throughout our Republic ever defend us from a powerful army of a human monarchy?

President Jimmy Carter and President Ronald Reagan

And hail to the Commanders and Chiefs, Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer, and Ronald Reagan, a rancher, who were once adversaries. Eventually they forged a friendship, but not certain if it was because of their pets.

Lieutenant James Earl Carter Jr., USN: Georgia Governor and Our 39th American President

I have one life and one chance to make it count for something… My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference. – President Jimmy Carter.

Jimmy Carter was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for work to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development. He was often labeled a dove and a pansy by the right-wing media and politicians, but they never seemed to notice that he was a graduate from the US Naval Academy in 1946. He spent a number of months in the design and development of nuclear propulsion plants for naval vessels. Starting in March of 1953, Lieutenant Carter was preparing to become the engineering officer for the USS Seawolf, one of the first submarines to operate on atomic power. 

However, when his father died in July 1953, Carter resigned from the Navy and returned to Plains, Georgia to manage his parent’s interests. When he saw the condition of their family farm, he realized his family was hopelessly in debt. Jimmy moved his wife, the former Rosalynn Smith, a noted author and humanitarian, and their three young kids, settling into a shack on a dirt road, where the area was almost entirely populated by impoverished African-American families. Through this, Jimmy and Rosalynn saw first-hand how tragic racism really is. They were stunned that African-Americans, many who had protected our nation in the Second World War, were forced to live in such deporable conditions.

Later, the USS Jimmy Carter, the third and final Seawolf-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines in the United States Navy, is named in his honor due to his courage in defending the values our nation.

President Carter was fond of pets and also of children. When he was in the neighborhood, he would secretly teach Chrisitan Sunday School to kids. But why did he do it in secret? Once again, Jimmy had remembered the US Constitution, where there was a thing about a separation of church and state, and that our nation does not have a national religion. Jimmy looked at the theocracies of Iran, Sudan and Saudi Arabia and saw that our Founding Fathers were right. There was never a theocracy in world history that was fair to all of its citizens. Later, when our Nation issued a ban of all Muslims entering the US, including American citizens, Jimmy tried to warn us that some politicians were trying to redefine our Republic as a theocracy.

Nonetheless, President Carter marched on, continuing to teach Christian Sunday School in secrecy. But once again, why in secret? Jimmy realized that this would be offensive to our US citizens who might believe in Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and so many more that it’s made the US a rich tapestry of different cultures. Imagine our Republic without beans, maize, pizza, chili pepper, Wiener Schnitzel, sushi, and pumpkin pie and the Mexican Turkey Hen for Thanksgiving. And, most importanly, pet food from England for our animals to survive.

President Jimmy Carter: Born October 1, 1924, reached his 100th birthday on October 1 ,2024, the first time an American president has lived a full century and the latest milestone in a life that took the son of a Depression-era farmer to the White House and across the world as a Nobel Peace Prize-winning humanitarian and advocate for democracy.

Happy Birthday, Jimmy –

America really does love you. Some of us were just too busy to tell you.

The defining image of you that many of us will always remember, is when you’re smiling and wearing you work clothes, holding a hammer and pounding nails, building a home for forgotten Americans who need shelter and unconditional love.

Ronald Wilson Reagan: Governor of California and then the 40th president of the United States

President Reagan was a man who also loved his pets. But even more so, he loved Reaganomics, which meant economic deregulation and cuts in both taxes and government spending.

Reagan left the presidency in 1989 with the U.S. economy having seen a significant reduction of inflation, the unemployment rate having fallen, and the United States having entered its then, longest peacetime expansion. At the same time, the national debt had nearly tripled since 1981 as a result of his cuts in taxes and increased military spending, despite cuts to domestic spending.

As the right-wing Republicans, whose logo is an elephant, were hard on Carter, the left-wing Democrats, whose logo is a donkey, were hard on Reagan, too, due to his harsh cuts to domestic spending. America’s poor and homeless felt abandoned. Even more so with the cut backs on children’s free lunch programs for they really did need to eat in order to survive and be attentive in our nation’s classrooms to learn how to read and write. If you’re someone who never inherited a large amount of money, education is often the only way to succeed financially in life without being a criminal.

Today, Ronald Reagan is often regarded as one of our greatest presidents; but for the poor, the forgotten, ethnic minorities and the U.S. citizens who were condemned to death by a new pandemic called AIDS, he is regarded as something less.

But, on a personal note, I will always admire him, back when he was caught in the illegal Iran-Contra Affair; for he did something that our later despicable, cult messiah would never do. He sat in the Oval Office and looked at America’s cameras directly into their lenses and said: I made a mistake.

Yes, President Reagan loved his pets. In particular his dog, Lucky, a female Bouvier des Flandres, who was given to first lady Nancy Reagan by the 1985 March of Dimes poster child, Kristen Ellis. The dog was named after Mrs. Reagan’s mother, Edith Luckett Davis. Lucky was moved from the White House to Rancho del Cielo during the 1985 Thanksgiving holiday, because she was getting too big for the White House.

The Reagans went dogless in the White House for a while, but Nancy was known to be clairvoyant and didn’t want the First Family to end up like a later president would, a later president who would compare his own stature to her husband, President Ronald Reagan. So, their next new puppy, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, was named after Rex Scouten, the White House chief usher.

One of Rex’s first official duties was to throw the power switch to light the national Christmas tree in 1985

Because Rex planned to leave his luxurious doghouse at the White House at the end of President Reagan’s second term, he was presented with a new doghouse that was a mini-replica of the White House. Lining the inside was a piece of familiar carpet from Camp David.

Frequently Asked Questions

The animals whose abuse is most often reported are dogs, cats, horses and livestock. Undercover investigations have revealed that animal abuse abounds in the factory farm industry. But because of the weak protections afforded to livestock under state cruelty laws, only the most shocking cases are reported, and few are ever prosecuted. Data on domestic violence and child abuse cases reveal that a staggering number of animals are targeted by those who abuse their children or spouses. There are approximately 70 million pet dogs and 74.1 million pet cats in the U.S. where 20 men and women are assaulted per minute (an average of around 10 million a year). In one survey, 71 % of domestic violence victims reported that their abuser also targeted pets. In one study of families under investigation for suspected child abuse, researchers found that pet abuse had occurred in 88 % of the families under supervision for physical abuse of their children.

What is the most common animal cruelty?

Neglect is the most common type of animal cruelty. Hoarding is a severe form of neglect in which the owner accumulates an excessive number of pets, is unable to provide even minimal care.

Is kicking a dog or cat abuse?

Animal cruelty involves inflicting harm, injuring, or killing an animal. The cruelty can be intentional, such as kicking, burning, stabbing, beating, or shooting; or it can involve neglect, such as depriving an animal of water, shelter, food, and necessary medical treatment.

Can a dog be emotionally abused?

Yes, dogs can experience emotional scars as a result of traumatic events, abuse, neglect, or the loss of a significant person or companion animal in their life.

Are you hitting the animal and causing it pain?

If yes, it’s probably abuse, because hitting an animal doesn’t teach it anything in a way it can understand – it just teaches the animal to be afraid of you and the circumstances in which it’s being hit. A gentle tap to get an animal’s attention is one thing – and that should be tailored to the animal’s capability, so for example a kitten might require a literal finger tap on the flank, while a horse might need a nudge with your heel – but if you’re doing anything that makes the animal yelp or otherwise indicate PAIN, you’ve got it wrong.

Are you withholding food, water or other necessities for more than the duration of a short training session?

If yes, then it’s more like neglect (and is abuse). Although an animal can understand “I didn’t get a treat for what I just did” they are not capable of understanding “I did a bad thing so I don’t deserve my meal.” If the dog doesn’t sit when you ask it to do so, it doesn’t get a treat right then, it should still be fed its normal meal at the normal time.

Are you isolating a social animal away from you or the rest of its social group for more than the duration of a short training session?

Withdrawing attention briefly in order to negatively reinforce a behavior is one thing – turning away from a dog that’s jumping up, for example, until he puts all four feet on the floor. But throwing that same dog into a crate in a back bedroom because he’s jumped up at you, and leaving him there, is again running into the neglect side of things.

How to Heal the Emotional Scars of an Abused Dog

To help an emotionally abused dog, you should first seek veterinary care. It is important to rule out any underlying physical issues and to get a thorough health evaluation. Then slowly and gradually expose the dog to new experiences, people, and other animals in a controlled and positive environment. Encourage the dog’s good behavior with treats, praise, and affection. Avoid using punishment or force-based training methods. Provide a stable and predictable routine: Regular meals, exercise, and plenty of rest can help establish a sense of security and stability. A veterinary behaviorist can help create a tailored behavior modification plan and provide support during the recovery process. Healing takes time and patience. It is important to remain consistent in your approach and to never give up on the dog. Offer the dog plenty of affection, love, and positive reinforcement. Show the dog that they are safe and loved. Remember, healing from emotional abuse is a slow process, but with patience, love, and the right support, many dogs can make a full recovery.

Do dogs get traumatized when you hit them?

Yes, dogs can get traumatized when they are physically punished, such as being hit or kicked. Physical punishment can cause fear, anxiety, and aggression in dogs and can result in long-lasting emotional scars. It can also damage the bond between a pet and its owner and can lead to trust issues. Using physical punishment is not an effective or humane way to train or discipline dogs. Instead, positive reinforcement training techniques, such as rewarding desired behaviors and ignoring undesired behaviors, are more effective and do not cause emotional harm. If you are struggling with training or behavior issues, it is best to consult with a professional dog behaviorist for guidance.

WHAT WE CAN DO TO HELP

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the largest animal rights organization in the world, with more than 6.5 million members and supporters. PETA exposes animals suffering in laboratories, in the food industry, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry.

Advocating For Animals | Nonprofit For Animals

List of Animal Welfare Nonprofits in Los Angeles | Deep Sweep

We have a moral obligation to report any felon who is abusing an animal, regardless of race, color, creed, religion, wealth and political domination. Feel free to contact Traveling Boy directly **@*******ng.com and we’ll do everything in our power to bring the felon to justice.

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.– Mark Twain

Happiness is a warm puppy. – Charles M. Schulz

Animal Trivia

Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee; let’s see how well you do with these 25 Question Trivia Game about Animals

To play the 25 Question Trivia Game about Animals, see below:

First Animal Trivia Set

Are Pigs smart enough to play video games? Name the most intelligent animal in the world? Do Elephants never forget? Is the Grandview rattlesnake the most venomous snake on earth? In The Beatle song, Martha My Dear, is “Bungalow Bill’s Mother,” a code name for “Martha?”

No one will see your answers, except for you.

Second Animal Trivia Set

Is the Giant Rat  invisible when seen in infrared cameras? Is it true that we call a group of Kangaroos a “Kangaroo Court?” Did Winston Churchill say something alarming, which caused Richard Burton to throw his MBE back into Queen Elizabeth, Number Two’s face? How much wood does a woodpecker chuck wood per second? Did the Scottish poet, Robert Byrne, write the poem, “Howl?”

And remember, no one will see your answers, except for you.

Third Animal Trivia Set

Do horses sleep while standing up? How can you tell if your pet dog is dreaming. Can camels go without water for over a month? Panda Bear’s sleep the longest of all animal species. Is the Yakima Yellow Tail the most poisonous critter on earth?

As noted above: No one will see your answers, except for you. And all winners, not suckers and losers, like Trump said about courageous Americans who join the military to defend our way of life, will be awarded prices. And this will be on an honor system; so good luck with that, too! — The T-Boy Staff

The post US Presidents and their Pets: Part III appeared first on Traveling Archive.

In our first installment of Owners and Pets, we covered Presidents and Pets: A T-Boy Odyssey Into Why They Loved One Another. Part I ended with a request to our friends, families and readers to consider sending us photographs of their own sacred pets, including those who had passed away, but will never be forgotten. This should help others to understand; when our pets love us, we tend to love them back. I’ve noticed in cinema, when male and female actors sign a contract to play in a film, they specify things that their character will never do. Male actor Martin Sheen writes, that he’ll never throw the first punch or take the Lord’s name in vain. Female actors often say that they’ll never appear nude, and a body double must be used. But, the overall crime that they’ll never commit, is that they will never kick a dog, in particular when the dog is down. It has been noted by PETA, the Humane Society and animal rights groups that the abuse of one’s pet, often leads to the abuse of a spouse or abuse by a parent of their own children. It is one of the most terrible crimes in human history, to abuse a child and animal who are vulnerable, as well as any vulnerable creature throughout the world.

Let’s close with a lyric by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Though the words were written by Paul, John later commented, See what {Paul} he can do when he sets his mind on it.

“And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love you make”

– Lennon and McCartney

The End, Abbey Road, The Beatles

Pet Owners who Love Their Pets: Precious Pixs

Tommy

Owner: Jim
Seattle, Washington

Beloved pound pooch Tommy loved to go on road trips. During his life, he traveled to 6 states and one Canadian province. He loved the view from Crater Lake.

Cinnamon

Terry
West Side LA, California

Cinnamon was my sister’s dog – friendly, playful, smart – a border collie/golden retriever mix. She was raised with cats and learned to make meowing noises to get attention. Every time I visited she would greet me enthusiastically and hang with me all day. When my sister was killed by a drunk driver the family decided I should take care of Cinnamon, which I did happily, bringing her to California from her home in Florida. We shared much joy, and she supported me with love during hard times. She would anticipate “dinnertime” by prancing excitedly around my legs, her nails clicking on the kitchen floor like a tap dancer. I would grab her leash and say: “Wanna go out? Wanna go out?” and she would leap and dance in circles by the front door in her eagerness to go for a walk. She always had my back. While walking her in public I would notice I was talking to myself, so I would then say: “Isn’t that right, Cinnamon?” We had many wonderful years until, sadly, I finally had to put her down at age 18.

My mom and I have been active with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) since we lost my sister, and it remains one of the causes I support.

Posie the Dog

Owners: Annalies and Marty
Outlook, Washington

Tillie

Owner: Brent
First Hill of Seattle, Washington

I have two kids, three grandkids and one dog. Whose picture do I carry in my wallet? You guessed it, my “dog-ter,” Tillie!

Ziggy

Owners: Annie and Raudi
Portland, Oregon

The Dog with Three Names

“You want to take him home?” We didn’t imagine ourselves having a dog as newlyweds in a one bedroom apartment. But how could we pass up the offer for a sweet Border Collie who greeted us like he’d known us forever?

Ziggy once known as Tab by his original owners, and more recently Street, was an unexpected gift from Raudi’s uncle. He had once belonged to our cousin and they were looking to re-home him as he had a habit of running away. After running away from our cousin, he was turned into the Humane Society a year later by a free spirit who said his name was Street. You might imagine his life was hard but we know he was well taken care of, possibly too well, as he was 40 lbs over weight.

We couldn’t help but say yes to Raudi’s uncle to spontaneously take him back home to our little apartment in Portland, OR. We only felt it right he have a new name for the next chapter in his life. He loves the beach, hiking the PNW, and anywhere he can be free off leash chasing his ball. One thing we’ve learned while having him is you can take the dog out of the street, but you can’t take the street out of the dog. Oh, the stories he would tell if he could talk!

Min and Kitskin

Owner: Barb
Lynnwood, Washington

I’m captivated by my two wonderful cats, Min and Kitskin. I believe that cats are more intelligent than many people believe. When I get upset, my cats surround me, purring and comforting me. They rush to see me when I come home.

Bella

Owner: Shari
Outlook, Washington, USA

Josie McJosersen

Owner: Paul
Mill City, Oregon

This is Josie. Josie McJosersen. We adopted her 4-years ago. The only dog I’ve ever had that was “my dog.” She belongs to all of us. But I’m her favorite.

Bessie the Cow

Owner: Wyatt
The beautful town of Outlook, Washington

Micah, a Maine Coon

Owner: Bethany
Rancho Park, California

Big Pussy

Owner: Susan
NYC, New York

Introducing Big Pussy,* the ginger tabby who rules my life. He came to me as a pandemic adoption, and has brought me vast amounts of love and companionship. For a while there, he had a crush on the stuffed animal. Once he realized it was not reciprocated, he turned his attention back to me. *Note: He was named in honor of one of Tony Soprano’s capos.

Gretta

Owner: Mike’s Trucking Company
Lower Yakima Valley, Washington

Gretta is the most recent addition to the Roskamp and Mike’s Trucking Company family.

Annie and Satchel

Owner: Peggy
Ballard District of Seattle, Washington

Of my uncle’s pets, who is currently living in an assisted living home in Seattle: Annie is a 10.5 year old dog, and Satchel, a 3 year old female cat. They are best friends! Satchel goes on walks with Annie too. However, she and my 14 year old cat are NOT best friends! While my son, Chris’s cat, also likes Annie the dog, she likely wishes she’d never met Satchel. They spat a lot! I’m always happy to share pictures of my baby. In fact, I have two kids, three grand kids and one dog.

Tonka and Tinker

Owners: Raoul & Jackie
Whittier, California

Crown Corgi brother and sister from the same “popular” Mom a year apart. They are under-stimulated sheep herding dogs so they compete on who first sounds the alarm for the intruder. It’s comical when they take a walk with their ears out like radar to survey the terrain — their arch enemies are the bulldog and boxer who live next door. People smile when they see these full-bodied “security” dogs with their little feet. Raoul wrote a song about them.

Buckles

Owner: Noelle
Mill Valley, California

Buckles is part Blue Heeler and part McNab, a cattle dog mix from Mendocino and raised in a few beautiful places including the Eastern Sierras and later on in Marin County. 

If you were to look up the following in Webster’s Dictionary.

A dog that loved chasing a ball, following a scent, bringing joy and a smile every day to someone new or an old friend, this is where you’d see a picture of Buckles!

Although he’s not with us physically, his spirit lives on in our hearts.  His legacy is to wake up each day and bring joy to someone and for those of us who spent a moment or longer with him… this can be ours… bring joy to someone today and Buckles will smile on you!

Bella the Cat

Owner: Akiko
Universal City, California

Fionna

Owner: Camille Schaefer
Tacoma, Washington

Traveling Boy suggests to all voters throughout Pierce County: “Remember to vote for Camille Schaefer, as she’ll become YOUR Judge in Pierce County Superior Court, and will take a solemn oath on the US Constitution in treating all people with kindness and equality.“

Molly and Udon

Owner: Janet
Los Angeles, California

Rescued cats: Gentle Molly is near sighted and bumps into things. She was bullied by her brother and sister who both died prematurely. Now she gets along with her new friend who understands.

Tangerine, Puff, Natasha & Everdeen

Owner: Weave
Vancouver Island, British Columbia  

I love my dogs more than any human I know – terrible to say but it is true. There’s something about being loved back by a non-human that helps us better understand the universe.

Cali

Owners: Tony and Vanessa
Hacienda Heights, California

He loves to guard the garden of Tony and Vanessa. He hates coyotes and raccoons.

Charlie

Owners: Robin and Gary
Grandview, Washington

Charlie loves to wait for us, sitting on his official armchair.

Marlee

Owners: Lisa and Josh
Tri-Cities, Washington

Marlee is feeling a little excluded. In her 13 years in Washington she has covered a LOT of miles and has visited more wineries in WA that a dog probably should?

Oliver the Bunny

Owner: Bri
Lynnwood, Washington

I love Oliver so much.

King

Owners: Mike and Maggie
Whittier, California

The territorial barking guard dog of Mike and Maggie. His bark is bigger than his size.

Peamon

Owners: Tim and Yachiyo
San Diego, California

He’s old and grumpy. And a gigantic #@$%hole! (ha) but he’s our #@$%hole!💕
He sleeps 23 hours a day. And still controls our lives.  Unless he wants something, he totally ignores you. He’ll watch you clean his cat box, just to make sure you do it properly. 

Buddy the Therapeutic Dog

Owner: Heather
Whittier, California

Petty asked if Heather could care for Buddy when Petty’s husband passed away. Heather didn’t have time for Buddy; but when she was told that she could return Buddy if things didn’t work out, Heather decided to take action. Heather has not returned Buddy ever since.

Heather works in a funeral home so she meets people who are distraught and Buddy has remarkably turned into a sensitive therapeutic dog. I guess he earned his keep.

Cedric and Delphine

Owners: Deb & Ed
Burbank, California

Cedric came to us from the breeder, the very kind Amber Sharp, as the smallest puppy of a litter of thirteen. With no milk from his mother, he was fed from a bottle, while sitting on Amber’s lap. He was pampered and rambunctious, craving attention he never received from his mother, brothers and sisters. Amber gifted him to the CEO of Mike’s Trucking Company in Outlook, WA, who gave him to us. Our lives would never be the same again. We finally had a child of our own; and a very demanding one at that. Some people consider Dalmatians to be of lower intelligence, but not Cedric. It was a proud day when Cedric graduated with flying colors at the Burbank Dog Training School, scoring a remarkable 22 out of a possible 100 points.

We found Little Delphine at the Burbank Humane Shelter. She had previously been discovered in a rough part of town, wandering around in a Kmart parking lot; starving, dirty and using the last of her strength in order to stay live. The sad irony is that she was using the last of her strength in order to return to the criminal owners who had abused her.

Quite literally, she was only skin and bones. When we took our first walk with her, she would lunge at empty garbage cans. Upon feeding her with prescribed medicine, we would place the pills in a fingerful of peanut butter, and carefully stick it into her mouth. She would become confused, preferring the substance on her wagging tongue. We could tell that she had been taken away from mother when she was far too young, for she had never been taught how to suck on anything at all. Delphine had complicated medical conditions. When we placed a bowlful of food out for her to eat, recommended by our veterinarian, the amazing Dr. Laurie Leach, Delphine would charge over to it, but would have difficulties digesting it. T-Boy photographer, Deb Roskamp, also one of the first family nurse pactioners in the US, thought Delpine might have been poisoned by a dispicable owner. But that made us love her even more.

I had often fantasied that someday I would find this deplorable person, and remind whoever he or she may be, of all the terrible things that they had done to Delphine.

But, what good would it do? Perhaps this person had also suffered from abuse, too.

“I remember the proverb, ‘There is no such thing as a bad pet, only a bad owner.‘”

And there you have it, the article is complete!

With special thanks to friends, families, writers and readers – owners who love their pets: Barb; Shari; Annalise & Marty; Terry; Wyatt; Brent; Annie & Raudi; Akiko; Jim; Uncle Mike & Mike’s Trucking Company; Susan; Camille; Paul; Noelle; Peggy; Bethany; Bri; Tim & Yachiyo; Weave; Lisa & Josh; Robin & Gary; and inspired by Emily, who loves vulnerable pets more than anyone else we’ve ever known.

God Bless you all!

Post Script:

Some dogs spend hours hiding in the corner of a secluded room while avoiding contact with other humans and pets. There are also dogs that consistently avoid being petted by their new human parents. Centuries of coexistence have genetically tuned dogs to trust humans. However, when that trust is breached, pet dogs are often left emotionally broken, confused, and fearful. Abused, neglected, and eventually abandoned, these dogs need more than just love and care. Pet parents who adopt abused dogs often report back, saying that their newly-adopted dogs are showing signs of behavioral issues.

Common Signs of Abuse Physical scars are often easy to treat. However, many dogs of abuse develop long-term emotional problems. These behavioral issues usually take months of emotional nursing to rectify. Following are a few common behavioral issues that are often noticed in abused dogs: Extreme Separation Anxiety • General Distrust Towards Other Dogs and Humans • Signs of Extreme Submissiveness (tucked-tail stance, ears back, wide-eyed glance) • Unprompted Aggression.

WHAT WE CAN DO TO HELP

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the largest animal rights organization in the world, with more than 6.5 million members and supporters. PETA exposes animals suffering in laboratories, in the food industry, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry.

Advocating For Animals | Nonprofit For Animals; List of Animal Welfare Nonprofits Los Angeles | DeepSweep.

No man can be condemned for owning a dog. As long as he has a dog, he has a friend; and the poorer he gets, the better friend he has. – Will Rogers

You think dogs will not be in heaven?  I tell you, they will be there long before any of us. – Robert Louis Stevenson

Stay tuned for Part 3 in the T-Boy series, where we discuss more about US Presidents and their Pets, Frequently Asked Questions about Pets, and a 25 Question Trivia Game about Animals, who we love.

The post Pet Owners Who Love Their Pets: Precious Pixs appeared first on Traveling Archive.

So, in Part II, here’s more bleak and sinister children’s nursery rhymes, which we advise that your refrain from turning off your bedroom lights.

Dark Nursery Rhymes

Three Blind Mice

Three Blind Mice is an English nursery rhyme and musical round,a song form in which three to five voices simultaneously sing a simple melody in unison or octaves starting at different times, often with each performer beginning two measures after the previous singer.

Lyrics

Below is Three Blinde Mice (1609) with its original lyrics, by the possible author, Thomas Ravenscroft.

Three Blinde Mice
Three Blinde Mice,
Three Blinde Mice,
Dame Iulian,
Dame Iulian,
the Miller and his merry olde Wife,
shee scrapte her tripe licke thou the knife.

Simple, yes. But despite the simplicity of the lyrics, many literary scholars have struggled to understand its historical significance. This has led to the speculation that it was written earlier and refers to Queen Mary I of England, the very Bloody Mary, that is Mary, Quite Contrary, which some believe to reference Queen Mary I and her mass execution of Protestants during her reign, where we had examined in Part I, which also included further horrendous acts of torture and death. Now that most of us have eyes which are not blind, let’s examine the blinding and the execution of the three Protestant Bishops, believed to be the Ridley, Latimer and Cranmer. But, it turns out, they were burned at the stake, and not blinded; although it’s possible if the rhyme was made by crypto-Catholics, where the mice’s blindness could refer to their Protestantism. However, as can be seen above, there is no mention in the earliest lyrics about harming the three blind mice, and the first known date of publication is 1609, well after Queen Mary died.

Three Blind Mice only entered children’s literature in 1842 when it was published in a collection by James Orchard Halliwell.

Variations

Amateur music composer Thomas Oliphant; Robert Schumann’s Kreisleriana #7; Joseph Holbrooke in Symphonic Variations, opus 37; Joseph Haydn for Symphony 83 (La Poule); Piano Concerto No. 4 by Sergei Rachmaninoff,who was criticized as resembling Three Blind Mice; and the theme can be heard in Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 IV. Allegro con fuoco.

As this is Hollywood, Three Blind Mice was used as a theme song for The Three Stooges, with the obvious assumption that Larry, Curly and Moe and Larry are the Three Blind Stooges.

And leave it to the James Bond franchise, were a calypso version of the tune with new lyrics by Monty Norman was recorded by Byron Lee and the Dragonaires for the film, Dr No (1962), which we all understand that only Sean Connery is the real 007. The reworked rhyme alludes to the three Afro-Caribbean assassins whose deadly march through the streets of Kingston, Jamaica. opens the film. Other Jamaican versions include dance hall artists, like Josey Wales and Brigadier Jerry.

Jack and Jill: Not the Power Couple We Thought

Jack and Jill, a traditional English nursery rhyme, was originally spelled Gill in the earliest version of the rhyme where the accompanying woodcut showed two boys at the foot of the hill. Throughout the 19th century new versions of the story were written featuring different incidents. A number of theories continue to be advanced to explain the rhyme’s historical origin.

The earliest version of the rhyme was in a reprint of John Newbery’s Mother Goose’s Melody, thought to have been first published in London around 1765. The rhyming of water with after was taken by Iona and Peter Opie to suggest that the first verse might date from the 17th century.

Jack and Gill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water;
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Gill came tumbling after.

According to Nursery Rhymes of Mother Goose, the very popular Jack and Jill Children’s Nursery Rhymes, was believed to be first published in the mid-1700. Sad to say that this alluring power couple may actually be referring to a 17th century popular tax on alcoholic beverages. Some believe that the supposedly cheerful nursery rhyme actually has its origins in the reign of King Charles I of England – who you’ll hear more about in the Real Story of Humpty Dumpty below – and his attempts to raise taxes on measures of liquid. The original version of the rhyme featured Jack and Gill, as noted above, was eventually changed to Jill in later publications. A Gill also happened to be another term for a quarter pint measure of liquid, while a Jack, short for a Jackpot or a double jigger, was a measure of volume equal to a half-pint, according to the original Encyclopaedia Britannica.

According to the Owlcation website, when King Charles I attempted to increasing taxes on Jacks, the English Parliament refused to do so. Undeterred, the king decided instead to simply reduce the volume a Jack would hold, by lowering the imperial measure of the half-pint line, which was indicated by a crown symbol. Thus, Jack lost his crown and a reduced volume on the Gill soon followed, or came tumbling after. And with the volume on Jacks and Gills reduced, King Charles I managed to get his tax increase without technically raising the prices on the beverages. It was a big win for Charles but the English Parliament were not done with him.

The Real Life Story of Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the King’s horses and all the King’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again!

This nursery rhyme isn’t about a giant egg, as suggested by most illustrations in children’s books, but the actual Humpty Dumpy was a cannon used during the English Civil War. It was destroyed by cannonballs, fell into a marshland, and could never be repaired. Then the illustrator of Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Caroll randomly decided to illustrate the poem with a picture of a large egg, which many of regard as the real history of the broken egg.

The English Civil War

The English Civil War was actually a series of civil wars between Royalists and Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642. The main cause was Charles I’s belief in the divine right of kings to rule, and the need for money to fund his court and wars. The parliament wished restrict the powers of the king. The English Civil War ended with this inscription: The majesty King Charles I passed through this hall and out of a window nearly over this tablet to the scaffold in Whitehall where he was beheaded on January 30th, 1649.

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

In recent times there has been some question as to whether or not this nursery rhyme is as innocent as we all grew up; believing it to be, particularly with the use of the color black and the word master. Sorry, Trumpsters, most scholars believe the rhyme has nothing to do with race at all; so need to worry that your suburban neighborhoods will never be the same again. Apparently, the rhyme is about the Great Custom tax on wool where a third of the sales revenue of wool went to the king, a third was to be given to the church, and the remaining third went to the farmer who did all of the work.

More recently the rhyme has been alleged to have a connection to the slave trade, particularly in the southern United States. This explanation was advanced during debates over political correctness and the use and reform of nursery rhymes in the 1980s.

What is a Black Sheep?

According to the Merrian Webster Dictionary, the definition of a black sheep is an idiom used to describe disfavoredor disreputable member of a group, especially within a family

Psychological Ramifications

People who self-identify as the black sheep of their family tend to struggle with their self-esteem and self-concept throughout life. When you have a poor self-concept, it affects all aspects of your life such as intimate and social relationships, job performance, satisfaction, and achievement, and even a willingness to take risks and following your heart.

This Little Piggy

Yes, a heart wrenching children’s rhyme, about a very cute pig with a basket in its arms, euphorically skipping down the road to the grocery store, bless your heart. Sad to say, This little piggy went to market means that it was more than likely butchered and sold off to a market, or was on its way to the slaughterhouse, to be slaughtered and served on someone’s plate. If the first pig went to the market to get slaughtered, then the little piggy staying home refers to a pig not yet ready to eat, and that must stay home to mature. The little piggy having roast beef is about fattening a pig up, while the fourth piggy that gets none is too small to go to the market, managed to survive another day without being slaughtered and is safe from Republican South Dakota Gov Noem, that is, for now.

How Popular is Pork in the U.S.?

Pork ranks third in annual U.S. meat consumption, behind beef and chicken, averaging 51 pounds per person.

Who is a Barbarian?

Listening to the sounds, Baa, Baa, is the origin of the Greek word, barbarian, which means: any person who did not speak Greek, spoke an incomprehensible language which sounded similar to a noise that a sheep makes.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

The original line in this rhyme read, three maids in a tub and the story goes this is about peep-shows at fairs where a person could pay to ogle at women sitting in a tub enjoying the company of one another. And my mother had simply informed me it was about taking a Saturday night bath.

Well, how clean are we?

Americans have a reputation for a cleanliness, which fuels a $3.1 billion body soap industry, yet recent studies show that Americans are actually quite average when compared to how often people shower worldwide.

In a Euromonitor survey, Brazilians and Colombians took the lead with more than one shower per day on average, with Australians, Middle Easterners, Mexicans and Indonesians coming in not too far behind. Americans, meanwhile, averaged a bit less than one shower a day, along with Spaniards, Indians and the French. Brits were on the low side of showering, with the Japanese and Chinese coming in the least frequent of all countries in the poll, with an average of about five showers a week.

Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater

A dark side, you say. But wait a second, the husband, named Peter, locks away his wife, due to her fondness of sharing her private body parts with other men. And what could poor Peter do? So he murdered her and stuffed her dead body into an extremely large pumpkin, and then he lived happily ever after.

History of the Pumpkin

Though many cultists of the U.S.’ final emperor assume that the pumpkin first came from the U.S., but were first cultivated in the Tehuacan and Oaxaca valleys in the United Mexico States around 6,000-5,000 B.C.E. Nevertheless, pumpkin pies are an essential component on many U.S. Thanksgiving tables at the count of around 50 million pumpkin pies are devoured every November.

From T-Boy food critic, Audrey Hart: Everyone should know how to make a homemade pumpkin pie.

So, here’s a Thanksgiving pumpkin pie recipe submitted to T-Boy by Randy Scott:

This traditional, simple scratch recipe makes the ideal Thanksgiving dessert. Skip the canned pumpkin and store-bought crust and make your holiday pumpkin pie from scratch with a flaky homemade pastry crust and a deliciously spiced pumpkin filling.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie Ingredients

These are the ingredients you’ll need to make this pumpkin pie recipe from scratch:

• For the crust: all-purpose flour, salt, shortening, and cold water
• For the filling: cooked pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt

Here’s a brief overview of what you can expect when you make Randy Scott top-rated homemade pumpkin pie:

1. Mix the flour and salt. Cut in the shortening, then add the water.
2. Shape the dough into a ball. Roll it out on a lightly floured surface.
3. Cut the rolled dough and fit it into the pie pan.
4. Beat the filling ingredients together, then pour it into the prepared crust.
5. Bake in a preheated oven until a knife comes out clean

To Prepare Mashed Pumpkin:

Cut a fresh pie pumpkin in half. Scoop out and discard seeds and stringy portions. Leave skin on and cut pumpkin into chunks. Measure out 1 1/2 pounds for this recipe to yield 2 cups of mashed, cooked pumpkin. If your pumpkin is larger, consider cooking 3 pounds and doubling the pie recipe above to make two pies.

Place pumpkin chunks in saucepan over medium heat with 1 inch water; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain and cool. Remove and discard peel. Return pumpkin to the saucepan and mash with a potato masher or use a food mill until smooth.

Filling:

• 2 cups mashed, cooked pie pumpkin
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, or more to taste
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger, or more to taste
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, or more to taste
• ½ teaspoon salt

Pastry Crust:

• 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup shortening
• 3 tablespoons cold water, or more as needed

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Make the pastry crust: Mix flour and salt together in a bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in 3 tablespoons water, one at a time, until dough is moist enough to hold together. Add up to 1 more tablespoon water if needed.
3. Shape dough into a ball with lightly floured hands. Roll dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Place a 9-inch pie pan upside-down on the dough; use a sharp knife to cut a circle of dough 1 1/2 inches larger than the pie pan. Remove and discard dough scraps and set pie pan aside.
4. Gently roll circular piece of dough around the rolling pin; transfer it right-side up over the pie pan. Unroll, easing dough into the bottom of the pan. Use two hands to flute the dough around the top edges.
5. Make the filling: Beat pumpkin, evaporated milk, brown sugar, eggs, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well combined. Pour into the prepared crust.
6. Bake in the preheated oven until a knife inserted into the filling 1 inch from the edge comes out clean, 40 to 60 minutes. Cover the edges with foil if needed to prevent from burning as the filling cooks.
7. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature before serving.

Filling:

• 2 cups mashed, cooked pie pumpkin
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, or more to taste
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger, or more to taste
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, or more to taste
• ½ teaspoon salt

Filling:

• 2 cups mashed, cooked pie pumpkin
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, or more to taste
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger, or more to taste
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, or more to taste
• ½ teaspoon salt

As Ms. Hart said, the recipe seems to be easily done.

And our article closes with, Sleep well, readers, as the day turns into night.

The post ‍Beyond T-Boy’s Journey into the Curious Case of Nursery Rhymes appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Auteur François Truffaut

Auteur François Truffaut was born 1932 in Paris and died 1984 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris. His mother and stepfather sent Truffaut when he was a young boy to live with various nannies as wll as an important loving grandmother, who nurtured his love of the arts. As a teenager, he was an enthusiastic moviegoer, often found in the front row of Henri Langlois et la Cinémathèque française, which was co-founded by Georges Franju and Jean Mitry. Langlois (1914-1977) was a French film archivist and cinephile. During the Second World War, Langlois and his colleagues helped save many films that were at risk of being destroyed during the Nazi occupation of France

As a pioneer of film preservation, Langlois was an influential figure in the history of cinema, where his film screenings in Paris in the 1950s are often credited with providing the ideals that led to the development of the politique des auteurs (auteur theory) on the generation of young cinephiles and critics who would later become the La Nouvelle Vague (French New Wave). Among the directors included were Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette, Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer and Alain Resnais. The future filmmakers were called les enfants de la cinémathèque (children of the cinémathèque), as they could often be found in the front row of packed screenings.

When Truffaut first took a chair at the cinémathèque he spoke that when the screen lit up, it was the first time he could see films that had been banned, films that he had never been allowed to see, films that he didn’t know had existed, and films that ultimately changed his life – the effect was immense, overwhelming, transformative. Even more so, for Langlois would screen the films, back-to-back, without any breaks between them: westerns by John Ford, comedies by Chaplin, and Josef von Sternberg films with Marlene Dietrich; gangster films by Howard Hawks, musicals by Vincent Minnelli and crime dramas by Robert Bresson and Fritz Lang; and, most importantly, films by Jean Renoir and Alfred Hitchcock, who would become his idols. It was akin to seeing them all at once.

For Godard and Truffaut: In Defense of Henri Langlois et la Cinémathèque française scroll below to post script.

After starting his own film club in 1948, Truffaut met film critic, André Bazin, who had a great effect on his professional and personal life, ultimately becoming his spiritual father. Bazin was the head of another film society and became a personal friend and helped him out of various financial and criminal situations during his formative years. At 18, Truffaut joined the French Army in 1950, but spent the next two years trying to escape, and was arrested for attempting to desert the army and incarcerated in military prison. Bazin used his political contacts to get Truffaut released and set him up with a job at his new film magazine, Cahiers du cinéma (Notebook of Cinema), which allowed Truffaut a platform to echo Bazin’s critical film philosophy, the politique des auteurs, a theory which changed the landscape of film criticism and cinema forever.

For more Auteur, scroll below to post script and see the politique des auteurs.

Composer and conductor Maurice Jauber.

Maurice Jaubert (born 1900 in Nice) was a prolific French composer who scored some of the most important French films of the early sound era. Jaubert grew up in a musical household, and began playing the piano aged five. Jaubert left for Paris and studied law and literature at the Sorbonne, but became seduced by classical music. His music was written in a style of clarity, frankness and freedom, in which he did not seek novelty for the sake of it, where his spontaneity is not weighed down by pedantic formulas.

Maurice Jaubert was the second son of François Jaubert, a lawyer who would become the president of the Nice Bar Association. He followed in his father’s footsteps and upon graduation from the Sorbonne, became the youngest lawyer in his hometown.

After Jaubert was awarded the baccalaureat (a college bachelor’s degree), from the Lycée Masséna in Nice in 1916, he enrolled at the Nice Conservatory of Music, where he studied harmony, counterpoint and piano. He was awarded the first piano prize in 1916.

Although Maurice Jaubert understood and appreciated film composing and scoring, he also had other creative musical outlets. As music director of Pathé-Nathan studio, he conducted musical orchestrations of several other composers, including Arthur Honegger and Darius Milhaud.

Left to right: Maurice Jaubert, French writer Jean Giono, and Brazilian-French film director, Alberto Cavalcanti, courtesy of Underscore,fr/portraits.L

Jaubert was a French army officer in engineering during World War I, and was demobilized in 1922. The next year he completed his musical education in Paris with Albert Groz, while undertaking a variety of music related jobs such as proof correction and checking Pleyela rolls.

The compositions by Jaubert’s in the early 1920s included songs, piano pieces, chamber music and divertissements. He wrote his first stage music in 1925 for a play by Calderón, Le Magicien prodigieux, using the Pleyela, a revolutionary player piano at the time. He was then hired by Pleyel to record rolls on the Pleyela.

Left to right: Maurice Ravel, French Romantic composer and best man at Jaubert’s wedding; Georges Neveux, devenu secrétaire de La Comédie; and Jaubert as the new smiling husband, courtesy of Underscore,fr/portraits.

Jaubert as a young composer, was attracted by technical innovations that could serve his artistic aspirations. While working on the play, Le Magicien prodigieux, he met a young soprano, Marthe Bréga, who would later sing most of his vocal compositions. They married in 1926, with composer, Maurice Ravel as his best man.

In 1929, while pursuing his work for the concert hall and the stage, Maurice Jaubert began writing and conducting for the cinema. He collaborated with prominent directors such as Alberto Cavalcanti (Le Petit Chaperon Rouge), Jean Vigo (Zero for Conduct and L’Atalante), René Clair (Quatorze Juillet), Julien Duvivier (Carnet de bal and La Fin du Jour), and Marcel Carné’s Drôle de drame, Hôtel du Nord and Quai des brumes (Port of Shadows).

Maurice Jaubert and François Truffaut

Thirty years after Maurice Jaubert’s death, director François Truffaut, purchased the publishing rights to four of his orchestral compositions.

It is believed that Truffaut first discovered Jaubert’s compositional music scores on the radio, but it’s never been determined which score he first heard. Perhaps it was Jean Vigo’s L’Atalante, where Jaubert in an early scene asked his musicians play the score backwards, similar to what George Martin would do in The Beatles’ recordings 35-years-later. Or, possibly from the film, Carnet de bal, where Jaubert enhanced director Julien Duvivier’s illusionary imagery with his own brillant use of lyrical imagery in his compositional music soundtrack.

Nevertheless, an emotional bond was set, when Truffaut used four of Jaubert’s orchestral compositions to four of his own films: Le Chambre Verte, L’Histoire d’Adèle, L’Homme qui aimait les femmes and L’Argent de poche.

Le Chambre Verte (The Green Room, 1978) was a deeply personal project for Truffaut, where he spent several years working on the film’s script, played the main character, Davenne, and felt a special connection to the theme of honoring and remembering the dead. In the film, he finds a forgotten, derelict altar, and rebuilds it and rechristens it as his own Altar of the Dead. The film is adapted from Henry James’ 1895 short story, Altar of the Dead and also two other works by James: The Beast in the Jungle and The Way It Came. Inside the chapel Davenne places portraits of people from his own life, which included composer Maurice Jaubert, writer Henry James and actor Oskar Werner, taken from footage of Jules and Jim, when Werner was an Austrian-German soldier during the Great War.

Cécilia, played by Nathalie Baye, then better known as the script girl in Truffaut’s1973 film, La Nuit américaine (Day for Night), plays the role of a young woman who helps him build his alter. Complications arise when Cécilia requests that one of the candles represent her former deceased lover, but is rebuffed by Davenne, due to a betrayal by the deceased man in the past.

Le Chambre Verte was one of Truffaut’s most critically praised films, and considered by some as his most personal, but also one of his least successful financially. From that point on, Truffaut’s films were never quite the same, making more popular mainstream films like the crowd pleasing Le Dernier Métro, a 1980 historical drama film, which won ten César Awards for best film, best actor (Depardieu), best actress (Deneuve), best cinematography, best director, best editing, best music, best production design, best sound and best writing. The box office and accolades were immense, but for many serious critics it spelled the kiss of death of Truffaut’s personal films. Truffaut followed with La Femme d’à côté, a film about adultry, and the detective film, Vivement dimanche!, where he did display his personal vision in his love of genre films. In a sense; one for Renoir and one for Hitchcock.

The 1975 film, L’Histoire d’Adèle (The Story of Adèle H.) is a historical drama directed by François Truffaut, and starring Isabelle Adjani, Bruce Robinson and Sylvia Marriott, based on Adèle Hugo’s diaries. The narrative is about Adèle Hugo, the daughter of writer Victor Hugo, once considered the most famous man in France. Victor Hugo was so famous that Adèle would only use the first initial of her surname to hide her identity. Adèle Hugo’s unrequited love for a military officer leads to her downfall. Throughout the film she is on a quest to find the military officer, but, as the film ends, she has become battered and weary to the point of destitution, that when she finally finds the officer, she passes by him without realizing who he is.

As in all four of Truffaut and Jaubert films, the images, sound and music are profound. But much notice was given to 20-year-old Isabelle Adjani, who justifiably received critical acclaim for her performance as Adele H., which led to her status as a legend on the French screen today.

Truffaut’s 1977 film, L’Homme qui aimait les femmes (The Man Who Loved Women) is billed as a romantic comedy about a man who loves women. The film stars Bertrand Morane, played by Charles Denner, a Truffaut regular who had appeared in his earlier films, 1968’s La Mariée était en noir (The Bride Wore Black) and 1972’s Une belle fille comme moi (Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me). The movie begins with one the most joyful funerals in film history, where in attendance are all the women with whom Morane loved in his life. The ensemble of female actors is too irresistible not to list, which features, Brigitte Fossey, the former child star of Clément’s1952 landmark film, Jeux Interdits (Forbidden Games), Leslie Caron, with no introduction required; Nelly Borgeaud as one of Bertrand’s emotionally unstable lovers; Geneviève as Hélène, a lingerie saleswoman; and Valérie Fabienne, one of Bertrand’s former lovers, who he regrets making her think that he wanted a serious relationship with her.

As noted above, Bertrand Morane loved women, as Truffaut did as well; so, let’s close with the opening of one of the cinema’s most euphoric funeral sequences in L’Homme qui aimait les femmes.

The cast also included, Roselyne Puyo as Nicole, in a bit part as an usherette, who in real life is deaf. Truffaut also served as a passionate voice for those who suffered from disabilities; reminding audiences that they too exist, and to also show those who suffer with disabilities, a pathway to live a relativity normal life and join or re-join “normal society.” This act of courage is best illustrated by T-Boy’s Brom Wikstrom. So take a trek to Machu Picchu in a mobile wheelchair with Brom and his bride, Anne’: Looking Back: Lima, Machu Picchu, Peru – Brom Wikstrom, Traveling Boy

In 1976’s L’Argent de poche, Truffaut mixes the story of his actors with childhood experiences and the challenges of a number of children. Scenes include life at school; a toddler and a cat, playing on an open windowsill but falling down unhurt; a young girl, played by Truffaut’s daughter, causing confusion with a bullhorn; Bruno showing his friends how speak to girls; a double date at a movie theater; a child telling a dirty joke; first love and a first kiss. The main character is the motherless Patrick, who lives alone with his father who uses a wheelchair for mobility and an automatic page turner to read books. His mysterious friend, Julien, lives in poverty, has long unwashed hair and cannot stay awake at school due to long nights without sleep, wandering the empty, dark city streets. Patrick notices Julien constantly refuses to change his clothes for gym class, and his curious why does not.

In the end, Julien and his classmates realize why he doesn’t remove his clothes for gym classes; to hide his bruises that cover his body, making it obvious that he was beaten by his parents. Once the criminal news of Julien’s parent’s cruel abuse becomes public, he is rescued from his family, who are arrested as angry mobs of citizens pound their fists on the police wagon, aware that abusing a child is the greatest crime ever commited by a parent.

L’Argent de poche ends with an important message by one of the schoolteachers, Jean-François Stévenin, in a stunning performance by Jean-François Richet, about child abuse, injustice, children’s rights, hope, love and resilience: Of all mankind’s injustices, injustice to children is the most despicable! Life isn’t always fair, but we can fight for justice… If kids had the right to vote, they would have better schools. Life isn’t easy. You must learn to be tough. I don’t mean ‘gangster-tough’. What I mean is having endurance and resilience… Time flies. Before long, you will have children of your own. If you love them, they will love you. If they don’t feel you love them, they will transfer their love and tenderness to other people. Or to things. That’s life! Each of us needs to be loved.”

François Truffaut’s first feature: Les quatre cents coups

Jean-Pierre Leoud plays a loose version of Truffaut in 1959’s “Les quatre cents coups” (“The 400 Blows”), a film highly influenced by Jean Vigo’s “Zero for Conduct” which paralleled tragic instances in Truffaut’s own childhood. Before the film was made, Truffaut dedicated it to his spiritual father, Andre Bazin, who succumbed to death prior to the film’s release. Photograph courtesy of In a Lonely Place Film, Growing-up is Still Difficult.

The narrative of Les quatre cents coup is taken from the point-of-view of Truffaut’s cinematic counterpart, Antoine Doinel, a reacurring character who appeared in four features and one short film, often referred to as the Antoine Doinel Cycle. The film re-creates the trials of Truffaut’s own childhood, unsentimentally portraying aloof parents, oppressive teachers, and petty crime, with Antoine Doinel played by actor Jean-Pierre Léaud, a veteran of six and a half of Truffaut’s films. Les quatre cents coup marked Truffaut’s passage from a leading film critic to trailblazing auteur of the La Nouvelle Vague. In the 2022 Sight & Sound Critics’ Poll, Les quatre cents coups was ranked 50th as one of the greatest films ever made.

Truffaut and Fatherhood

In both of Truffaut’s public and private life, the concept of fatherhood was an endearing theme; a biological father who abandoned him in his early childhood; Andrea Bazin, his spiritual father; Jean Renoir and Alfred Hitchcock, fathers who mentored his own love and art in cinema; and Jean-Pierre Léaud, who referred to Truffaut as his cinematic father.  Later, after Léaud appeared in Antonie and Collete, he played in a number of Jean-Luc Godard films, and was quoted as saying: If Truffaut is my father, then Godard is my uncle. As Truffaut became older he became obsessed with finding the name of his own biologicall father to the point of hiring private detectives. Eventually the name of his real father was found, a successful French dentist of Jewish ancestry.

François Truffaut: film critic, now director, received the award for Best Director at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival.

In 1958, François Truffaut was regarded as the enfant terrible of film critics, due to the politique des auteurs, and was banned from the Cannes Film Festival. The next year, he submitted his directorial debut to the festival, Les quatre cents coups and received the award for Best Director and a Palme d’Or nomination. From that year onward, Truffaut’s life dramatically changed forever. 

Truffaut as Actor

English language film director Alfred Hitchcock made cameo appearances in 40 of his 53 surviving major films. Truffaut was also fond of appearing in his own films, but often as a lead character. He also appeared in films made by other directors, such as the playing the role of Claude Lacombe, a French scientist with a bad command of English, in Steven Spielberg’s 1977 film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Later, Truffaut spoke of his own first encounter on the film’s set: When I first arrived on the set of the Spielberg film, I quickly put my book by Stanislawski back into my suitcase.

Jaubert as Composer

As music director of Pathé-Nathan studio, Jaubert conducted the film scores of several other composers, including Arthur Honegger and Darious Milhaud. In the 1930s he gained a reputation as a conductor in France and abroad, most notably for the final season of Marguerite Bériza’s opera company and the season of opéras-bouffes for the 1937 exposition. At the Comédie des Champs-Élysées, in 1937, he conducted the premiere of Philippine, an opérette, by Marcel Delannoy with libretto by Henri Lyon and Jean Limozin.

Maurice Jaubert (1900-1940)

Jaubert enlisted in a French army engineering company during World War II which he would command as a reserve captain. When his company mobilized in September 1939, he was fatally wounded after having successfully blown up a bridge. He died at age 45 a few hours later at the Baccarat Hospital on June 1940. His letters to his wife reflected a spirit of sacrifice tinged with deep humanism. Jaubert did not live to hear his last two compositions, written at his base camp. Jaubert’s gravesite rests in Montmartre Cemetery in Paris.

Maurice Jaubert left a legacy of written articles about lectures, his musical tastes and political opinions, which included a passionate support of German-born American composer Kurt Weill, who created a revolutionary kind of opera of sharp social satire in collaboration with the writer Bertolt Brecht.

François Truffaut, (1932-1984)

Truffaut suffered from a brain tumor and underwent an operation at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine on September 12. He died just over a year later in the hospital on October 21, 1984 at the age of 56-years-old. At his bedside were Madeleine Morgenstern, film producer and ex-wife; their two children, Laura and Eva; and actress Fanny Ardant, with wholm he lived with from 1981 to 1984 and had a daughter, Joséphine Truffaut (born September 1983). Ardant apeared in Truffaut’s final two films, La Femme d’à côté and Vivement dimanche! As he had requested, his body was cremated and his ashes were buried also in the Montmartre Cemetery in Paris. Truffaut was an atheisit, but chose to have a Mass celebrated for him at the church of Saint-Roche, believed to be in the honor of the Roman Catholic Church.

At the time of Truffaut’s death, he was considered by many critics and moviegoers as the most popular French film director of his era. Film audiences flocked to his films, whose main themes were passion, women, childhood and awareness of the disabled, which struck a chord with both critics and moviegoers alike.

To hear more about François Truffaut and Maurice Jaubert, consider purchasing the album, Bandes Sonores Originales Des Films, which includes the scores, L’Argent de poche, L’Histoire d’Adèle, L ‘Homme qui aimait les femmes and Le Chambre Verte, available on vinyl and CD.

And don’t miss film critic Walt Mundkowsky’s film review of François Truffaut’s “Stolen Kisses” – A Look Back – Traveling Boy

Also, if you wish to revisit The Film Soundtracks in Our Lives, Part I, see Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Western, Once Upon a Time in the West. You can buy, but not on our site, Morricone’s Complete Spaghetti Western Compilation, also available on vinyl or in three-discs or a five-box set on CD.

POST SCRIPT:

Godard and Truffaut: In Defense of Henri Langlois et la Cinémathèque française

In 1968, French culture minister Andre Malraux tried to fire Henri Langlois by stopping funding of la Cinémathèque française, allegedly due to Langlois’ arrogance and iron-fisted rule. Local and international uproar ensued, and even the prestigious Cannes Film Festival was halted in protest that year. Malraux eventually backtracked. Below is an announcement made in 1968 by Jean-Luc Godard and They were once soliders-in-arms in the art of cinema, but as their careers’ progressed, Godard’s films became increasingly political, specifically Marxist, and dismissed Truffaut as a bourgeoisie film director. Truffaut replied, I make personal films, and I can’t remember the last time I took a bus.

READ More: the politique des auteurs – The policy or politics of auteurs: In his 1954 journal, Une certaine tendance du cinéma français (A certain trend in French cinema) Truffaut wrote as a critic for the French film publication, Cahiers du Cinéma (Cinéma Notebook) and introduced the concept that directors should be considered the real creators of the films they create. When translated literally, the French word auteur means author in English. The term is applied to a film director with complete creative control over their work, often defined as a director who has a recognizable personal style, signature and vision which is evident in each film they make. When applied to the other arts, a painting by van Gogh or a symphony by Mahler is instantly recognizable to audiences. When film critic and director, Jean-Luc Godard wrote that Hitchcock was as profround an artist as Dostoevsky, traditional film critics thought he had gone mad. They failed to recognize that Hitchcock was just as profound in his own medium of film as Dostoevsky was in his medium of literature.

Truffaut referred French directors, Jean Renoir, Robert Bresson and Jacque Tatil as auteurs. He contrasted auteurs with directors of commercial studio films, whom he called, merely “metteur en scène” or stagers of a script created by someone else.

In the US, The Auteur Theory was coined and expanded by New York film critic, Andrew Sarris, the Father of American Auteurism. After Truffaut first introduced this new theory, which was based on film critic, Andre Bazin’s earlier work, it eventually spread to the US in 1963 through the writings of Sarris and film critic/director, Peter Bogdanovich.

But, many US film critics thought the concept was preposterous to the point that a film director should even be called an artist. This applied, in particular, to the highly influential San Franciso based film critic, Pauline Kael, who attacked both the theory and Sarris. The battles between them were legendary, and still discussed today, even though Kael finally embraced the theory and championed her own favorite directions, Robert Altman, Sam Peckinpah, Bernardo Bertolucci and even Truffaut. In the end, Sarris said that Kael was not anti-auteur, but anti-genre, and recognized the director as an artist, but still not necessarily the sole artists in a collaborate medium which included cinematographers, edits, art directors, etc. Sarris counter with, who is in charge of all the collaborators who helps the director create their personal vision of a film?

Truffaut on Cinephiles: But the cinephile is… a neurotic! (That’s not a pejorative term.) The Bronte sisters were neurotic, and it’s because they were neurotic that they read all those books and became writers. The famous French advertising slogan that says, “When you love life, you go to the movies,” it’s false! It’s exactly the opposite: when you don’t love life, or when life doesn’t give you satisfaction, you go to the movies.

Art is not scientific; why should criticism be? The main complaint against some critics, and a certain type of criticism, is that too seldom do they speak about cinema as such.

Every critic should take to heart Jean Renoir’s remark: All great art is abstract. He should learn to be aware of form, and to understand that certain artists, for example Dreyer or Von Sternberg, never sought to make a picture that resembled reality.

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– Josh Billings, US humorist writer

Many of America’s presidents have found friendship and solace in their pets. It’s a tradition that goes all the way back to our first president and founding father, President George Washington, the founding father who was also the first president to have bred foxhounds.

As of today, 46 U.S. Presidents have had pets while they resided in the White House. And, like many of us today, the pets became part of their families, offering courage, patience, forgiveness, comfort and unconditional love, particularly during stressful periods in office.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michele, accepted a puppy as a gift from Senator Edward Kennedy. The dog was a Portuguese water dog that they named Bo. Then in 2013, the Obamas brought home a second Portuguese water dog, name Sunny.

White House Animal Paths

Historically, the pets at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have mirrored national trends in animal ownership. Early presidents had working animals such as hounds for hunting and horses for transportation, but a wider variety of animals soon made their way to the White House.

In the 1920s, President Coolidge’s animals included a bobcat, a donkey, lion cubs, ducks, a wallaby pygmy hippo, and a raccoon named Rebecca, who walked on a leash.

From William Taft’s cow, Pauline Wayne, to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Scottish terrier, Fala, and George H. W. Bush’s English springer spaniel, Millie, many White House animals have achieved celebrity status.

US Presidents with the Most Pets

Tabby and Dixie were cats, and Abraham Lincoln once remarked that Dixie is smarter than my whole cabinet.

James Buchanan received a herd of elephants from the King of Siam.  But as elephants are the largest land animals alive today, Buchanan found them to be too large for the White House, and sent them to the zoo.

Misty Malarky Ying Yang was Jimmy Carter’s daughter’s pet Siamese cat. An Elephant was given to her, but again too big to fit in the White House rooms, and was sent to the National zoo, too.

The True Story of Teddy Roosevelt and the Teddy Bear

In 1902, Teddy Roosevelt accepted a hunting invitation from Mississippi governor, Andrew Longino, and they traveled with their guide, who was determined to find a black bear for Roosevelt to shoot. It was easy for the guide to corner an old bear, and decided to tie the bear up, making the shot easier for Roosevelt to fire.

When Roosevelt realized what the guide had done, he was astonished and fired back in anger and said that such an act would be unsportsmanlike to shoot such an old and vulnerable creature. The news of Roosevelt’s act of compassion spread across globe, and in his honor that is why we have the Teddy Bear.

Our 26th, President Theodore Roosevelt began his presidency in 1901, along with six children and more animals than the White House had ever seen before. The Roosevelt children’s family of pets included a small bear named Jonathan Edwards; a lizard named Bill; guinea pigs named Admiral Dewey, Dr. Johnson, Bishop Doane, Fighting Bob Evans and Father O’Grady; Maude the pig; Josiah the badger; Eli Yale the blue macaw; Baron Spreckle the hen; a one-legged rooster; a hyena; a barn owl; Peter the rabbit; and Algonquin the pony. President Roosevelt loved the pets as much as his children did. Algonquin was so beloved that when the president’s son, Archie, was sick in bed, his brothers Kermit and Quentin brought the pony up to his room in the elevator. But Algonquin was so captivated by his own reflection in the elevator mirror that it was hard to get him out!

The Theodore Roosevelt family were dog lovers as well. Among their many canines were Sailor Boy, a Chesapeake retriever; Jack the terrier, Skip the mongrel, and Pete, a bull terrier who sank his teeth into so many legs that he had to be exiled to the Roosevelt home in Long Island. Alice, his daughter, had a small black Pekingese named Manchu, which she received from the last empress of China during a trip to the Far East.

Alice once claimed to have seen Manchu dancing on its hind legs in the moonlight on the White House lawn, though it has never been determined if there ever was an elephant dancing on its hind legs in the White House rooms. But, apparenty, there is one today in a very different kind of room.

Another Kind of Elephant in the Room

As of late, fake news outlets have been on fire due to a particularly large elephant in their broadcast rooms with the recent release of South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem’s ghostwritten book, No Going Back.

South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem takes a cheap shot at “fake news” for the backlash against her killing an untrainable 14-month-old wirehair pointer, named “Cricket,” 20-years-ago in a gravel pit on her family property, moments before her children arrived from school!

But, later, she had the courage to hurry back to her pickup, grabbed another shell, went back to the gravel pit, and put him down; “Him” being the demon goat, which had a wretched smell, who often chased and knocked Noem’s children around.

I’m aware that a parent who knocks their kids down is the greatest sin ever committed by a parent, who deserves a one-way ticket to a lifetime in prison. But should an owner who knocks down a kid goat deserve less? And the one with a such a wretched smell, something I never seemed to notice when I petted the kid, Billie Goat, at Seattle’s Woodlawn Park Zoo, when I was a kid, too.

Noem said to her ghostwriters in her ghostwritten book. No Going Back, which includes the fictional meeting with North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un. The North Korean dictator who she’s sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all), which she now blames on her ghostwriters, but refuses to walk them back and retrack the words she commanded her ghostwriter’s to ghostwrite in her ghostwritten book.

Oh, how I kid South Dakota Republican Governor Noem, why I only heard about her on Fox News TV, where she informed viewers that she was on a mission to tell us the REAL meaning of Thanksgiving: Here the poor Pilgrims were close to starving and they shared their last food with Native-Americans (the 25 Tribal Nations of the Wampanoag People) it was all part of God’s Divine Providence.

“God’s Divine Promise” fulfilled, and illustrated in “The First Thanksgiving,” a reproduction of a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, courtesy of the Associated Press.

Did the Pilgrims use “God’s Divine ‘Providence” as an excuse to sit in Plymouth Harbor and wait on the Mayflower for the final act of “God’s Divine Providence” to be done? Were they just too excited and couldn’t wait to siege the Wampanoag People’s Tribal Land for just a few more days? When they arrived there were many felled fields to plant, but surround by many dead bodies of the 25 Tribal Nations of the Wampanoag People. Apparently “God’s Divine Providence” was first issued to the Spanish Conquerors, who shared no food, but only European diseases which the Wampanoag People had no immunity from. But with no gold to be found, the Spanish Conquerors left Plymouth, leaving only endless Wampanoag dead bodies scattered around, some still alive, desperately crawling on the ground. The few people that manged to stay alive, where left for the Pilgrims to fulfill “God’s Divine Providence” and get the job done.

The next Thanksgiving celebrated was 1637 when Massachusetts Colony Governor John Winthrop declared a day of thanksgiving after volunteers murdered 700 of the Tribal Nation Pequot People. As we remember the celebration of Thanksgiving, sharing indigenous food from the New World, I recall that the American-Indian Tribal Nations consider it as a Day of Remorse.

Historians are hailing Congress to elevated Ulysses S. Grant to the military’s highest rank, calling it a rehabilitation of his political and racial legacy. Photograph courtesy of Newsreader1.com.

On June 18, 1870, our eighteenth president, Ulysses S. Grant, signed into law the Holidays Act that made Thanksgiving a yearly appointed federal holiday. Grant preferred horses above all other animals as pets, but he and his family members did have other pets with them in the White House, including two dogs. One was a Newfoundland named Faithful, but the other was a dog named Rosie, who was rumored to be a black-and-tan dog of no determinate breed. According to Seymour Reit in Growing Up in the White House, Grant would often take dinner in the stables and talk to both the horses and to Rosie while he ate.

Fala: The Most Famous Dog in America

President Franklin D. Roosevelt had a lifelong affection for dogs. They were a constant presence in his life from his early childhood. FDR owned a number of dogs during his lifetime, but his best-known was Fala, the Scottish terrier he was given in August 1940.

Fala quickly became his constant companion. He slept in a special chair at the foot of FDR’s bed and every morning had a bone that was brought up on the President’s breakfast tray. Fala is buried in a marked grave about ten yards behind the Roosevelt tombstone in the Rose Garden at Springwood, beside Chief (1918–1933), the Roosevelts’ German Shepherd.

The first U.S. President with pets who maintained a farm was George Washington

Like South Dakota Republican Governor, Kristi Noem, George Washington was a farmer who had pets, though it’s never been determined if he had the courage to put any of his pets down in a gravel pit. I have many friends and families who are farmer with pets, who are aware that their pets were once wild animals, but they chose to domesticate their wild critters into something more profound. And once this transition was completed, the pets loved them and they loved them back. I read somewhere that there is no such thing as a bad pet dog, only a bad owner, who made them be like that. Was there a reason why Noem’s 14-month-old pet Cricket, didn’t love her; is it possible she never loved him, and that’s why he never loved her back?  

Washington’s pets included, Sweetlips, Scentwell and Vulcan – American Foxhounds; Drunkard Taster, Tipler and Tipsy – Black and Tan Coonhounds; an Andalusian donkey (a gift from King Charles III of Spain); Nelson and Blueskin – horses ( that were Washington’s wartime mounts); Snipe – parrot (said to have been owned by First Lady Martha Washington); and the Stallions, Samson, Steady, Leonidas, Traveller and Magnolia.

Cornwallis was a greyhound, named for British General Cornwallis, though not sure if the stallion served as a trophy due to General Washington’s victory at Yorktown, or an homage to the man he defeated, giving up any chance of winning the Revolutionary War.

Pushinka (Russian: Пушинка), known to us as ‘Fluffy’

Pushinka was a dog who was given by the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy in 1961.

Words taken from White House dog handler Traphes Bryant

“Pushinka (which the Kennedy family now refers to as Fluffy), struck up a romance with the Kennedy’s Welsh terrier, Charlie. In June 1963, Pushinka had puppies. Caroline and John-John named them Butterfly, White Tips, Blackie and Streaker. JFK referred to the puppies as pupniks since Pushinka was the daughter of a dog who had been to space on the Russians’ Sputnik 2. When the puppies were two-months-old, the First Lady picked two children from the thousands that had written to the White House asking for one of the pups. That’s how Butterfly and Streaker got adopted. The other puppies were given to family friends.”

“The father of the puppies, Charlie, was large and in charge. He bossed the other dogs around and made sure he got first dibs at dinnertime. When given the chance, he showed humans who was boss, too. If a visitor ignored him, Charlie peed on that person. Although he was not an official watchdog, he growled if someone got too close to JFK.”

Bryant describing events in the Oval Office during the Cuban missile crisis:

“I was there in Jack Kennedy’s office that day. Everything was in an uproar. I was then feet from Kennedy’s desk as Pierre Salinger ran around the office taking messages and issuing orders while the President sat looking awfully worried. There was talk about the Russian fleet coming in and our fleet blocking them off. It looked like war. Out of the blue, Kennedy suddenly called for Charlie to be brought to his office. After petting Charlie, his Welsh terrier, the president relaxed, returned Charlie to the kennel keeper, and said, ‘”I suppose that it’s time to make some decisions.”“

In his book American Legacy: The Story of John and Caroline Kennedy, author David Heymann relates a story from White House nanny Maud Shaw: “Caroline and her nanny encountered Pushinka as she was being walked by a kennel worker on the White House grounds. As Caroline reached to pet the dog, Pushinka growled.”

“Instead of recoiling, Caroline stepped behind the dog and gave it a swift kick to the rear end,” Heymann writes. “Emitting a howl, Pushinka turned tail and raced off into the night.”

When Shaw related the story to JFK, the president smiled at his daughter and said, “That’s giving it to those damn Russians!”

Animals in Judaism & Christian Theology

The photograph above is a Peruvian school’s Nativity Scene, taken by former Peace Corp. Volunteer, Alex Brouwer. The Nativity Scene depicts the Virgin Mary and Joseph solemnly looking down at the infant, Jesus, the new king of Israel, surrounded by an array of different animals, for he is their New King, as well, and they will inherit the earth, too.

Saint Francis of Assisi & the Nativity Scene

Saint Francis of Assisi, the Patron Saint of Animals, is credited with creating the first live Nativity Scene in 1223 in order to cultivate the worship of Christ. He had recently been inspired by his visit to the Holy Land, where he’d been shown Jesus’ traditional birthplace in Bethlehem. Saint Francis’ pantomime of the Nativity Scene is the first real symbol of Christmas. The scene’s popularity spread throughout the world, inspiring other countries to stage similar Nativity Scenes.

To find out more about St. Francis and the Nativity Scene, why the Roman holiday of Saturnalia became the Happy Holy Days (Happy Holidays) and the Mass of Christ (Christmas), CLICK HERE.

Do animals praise the name of the Lord?

Psalm 148 commands all of creation to praise the Lord, including animals: “Wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and maidens, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.” (vv. 10-13).

What would Jesus do?

Don’t give holy things to dogs, don’t throw your pearls to pigs, lest they trample them under their feet and, turning, tear you to pieces. – Matthew 7:6. (English language translation by Francis Bacon).

What would Reverend Billy Graham say?

God will prepare everything for our perfect happiness in heaven, and if it takes my dog being there, I believe he’ll be there.

Heaven-bound persons who are offended at the thought of dogs and cats frisking on the golden streets will have a difficult time with the odd beasts gathered around the throne as described in the Book of Revelation.

Or Mark Twain?

The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven not man’s.

President William Jefferson Clinton first arrived at the White House with Socks, who in 1991 was reported to have jumped into the arms of daughter, Chelsea Clinton after piano lessons while the Clintons were living in the Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock. He was later joined in 1997 by Buddy, a Labrador Retriever, who was named after a longtime Clinton family friend who died around the time they adopted the dog.

During President Clinton’s second term, the two reportedly did not get along, with Bill Clinton later saying, I did better with the Palestinians and the Israelis than I’ve done with ‘Socks and Buddy.’

Presidential Pets and the Media

The first White House dog to receive regular newspaper coverage was Warren G. Harding’s dog, Laddie Boy.

When FDR’s Fala’s fame spread, he became the subject of books, including this 1942 picture book titled The True Story of Fala. He even starred in two MGM newsreels shown in movie theaters: Fala, the President’s Dog and Fala at Hyde Park.

Fala’s growing popularity is reflected in the thousands of letters he received from the public, where they are all preserved today among the papers stored at the Roosevelt Library.

The book, Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids’ Letters to the First Pets was written by First Lady Hillary Clinton, and later appeared as cartoons in the kids’ section of the first White House website.

Millie was an English springer spaniel that was the first President Bush’s family pet. She gave birth to Spotty, who moved into the White House with the second President Bush. H. W. also had two Scottish terriers named Barney and Miss Beazley, but Spotty was the only pet to live in the White House during two administrations

“Study hard, and you might grow up to be President. But let’s face it: Even then, you’ll never make as much money as your dog.” — President George H. W. Bush, to a graduating class, referring to Millie, his dog, who earned $889,176 (about $1,979,459 today) in book royalties.

George H. W. Bush and First Lady Barbara’s Millie is the only first pet to actually write a book, Millie’s Book. And their son, George W. Bush’s Scottish terrier, Barney had his own website and appeared in Barney Cam videos.

Presidents and Pets: Bits & Pieces

• President Thomas Jefferson bought his dog, Bergere, in France. She had two puppies onboard the ship heading back to the United States.
• James Buchanan is the only president who never married. His large Newfoundland, Lara, kept him company in the White House.
• Woodrow Wilson, in office 1913-1921, owned a pet ram, named Old Ike, who was known for chewing tobacco and cigars, which makes sense as North Carolina is often referred to as the Tobacco State.

• Top Five Dog Names of 2023
  
  Girl: Luna, Bella, Daisy, Maggie and Willow
  Boy: Max, Charlie, Cooper, Teddy and Milo
  
• Goat on the Loose!
  
  Benjamin Harrison, our 23rd President ran down Pennsylvania Avenue holding on to his top hat and waving his cane, but his pet goat kept running, only stopping later after numerous Washington, D.C., residents had seen the Commander-in-Chief chasing the runaway goat.

Commander & Chief, President Joseph R. Biden

The Bidens added a puppy named Commander to their family, following the death of their beloved German Shepherd, Champ, who passed away at the age of 13. But in 2018, all the abandoned pets throughout the U.S. rejoiced when the Bidens adopted the German shepherd, Major, from the Delaware Humane Association.

Major arrived at the White House to great applause, but his time at the White House was short, after a series of biting incidents. Major was sent to Delaware in April 2021 for training, and then the White House announced that Major’s permanent home would be elsewhere, a decision based on consultations with veterinarians, dog trainers and animal behaviorists.

While it may have disappointed those hoping Major would usher in a new age of presidential shelter pets, Major’s story shows that shelter dogs, like any other pet, need time and patience to adjust, and sometimes need to find a better match.

Andrew Jackson, had a pet, a grey parrot named Polly, who learned how to swear. She later attended Jackson’s funeral but had to be removed due to loud and persistent profanity. Perhaps Polly had not forgotten that Jackson had forced thousands of American-Indian Tribal Nations to leave their ancestral homeland in his illegal Indian Relocation Act, which led to countless deaths on the Trail of Tears. And remember, like the remaining tribal nations have never forgotten, never use a twenty-dollar bill as the tyrant, Old Hickory’s face is on it.

The Cherokee People and their pets and animals on the “Trail of Tears.” Painting by Robert Lindneux, courtesy of National Geographic.

It seemed curious at first that the U.S. President Trump selected Jackson as his favorite among our past presidents. But as his years in the Oval Office progressed, it became clear that they were both cut from the same white cloth.

For more on Jackson’s illegal Indian Relocation Act, the Trail of Tears and the plight of the Cherokee Tribal Nation, CLICK HERE.

The state which has the strongest animal abuse laws

For the second year in a row Maine maintains its first-place rank, followed by Illinois (2), Oregon (3), Colorado (4) and Rhode Island (5).

New Mexico remained in 50th place, with Idaho (49), Mississippi (48), Alabama (47) and Utah (46) rounding out states with the weakest animal protection laws.

“BONNER COUNTY, Idaho — The Bonner County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) has filed charges for animal cruelty and abandonment against 45-year-old Jacob M. McCowan and 31-year-old Jessica L. Smurtwaite, after 31 Husky-type dog were found across North Idaho.”

“Sugar” is pictured resting after being adopted by Heather Toliver. The medical team from “Better Together Animal Alliance” believes she was a week to days away from dying based on her condition when she arrived at the facility in mid to late January.  Photograph courtesy of Heather Toliver, “a modern-day Patron Saint for abused animals.”   

California’s Animal Cruelty Penal Code §597(a) makes it a crime to intentionally maim, mutilate, torture, wound, or kill a living animal. Violation of CPC §597(a) can result in three years in a state prison, a fine of up to $20,000, or both a prison term and a fine.

The penalty for abuse was much worse in Ancient Egypt, where killing a cat, even accidentally, was punished by death.

The White House Wall of Shame: Presidents with no Pets

Donald J. Trump, James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson did not have any official pets while in office. But Andrew Johnson reportedly left flour out at night in his bedroom for a family of mice.

The worst presidential pets in the history of the US goes to President John Quincy Adams’ First Lady, Louisa Catherine Adams. According to one of Adams’ diary entries, she kept several hundred silkworms that she raised herself for their silk. Silk is nice, but let’s face it: Silkworms make terrible pets. They are, after all, worms. And technically, they’re caterpillars, too.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
— Mahatma Gandhi

It is much easier to show compassion to animals. They are never wicked.
— Haile Selassie

Millard Fillmore named his two horses after the surveyor Jeremiah Dixon and astronomer Charles Mason, who guided them both to the new land of America, and created the Mason-Dixon Line. The border marked the line between Maryland and Pennsylvania, which was significant during the War Between the States, as it is significant today, drawing a line between the politics of the Northern and Southern states.

Let’s close on a happy, nonpartisan note, which I did cross the line a couple of times, and listen to Mark Knopfler’s tribute to Mason and Dixon with his song, Sailing to Philadelphia, which includes the voice of James Taylor in a duet of the song.

Attention: T-Boy Readers, Friends and Families

We hope you enjoyed Presidents and Pets, Part I:  A T-Boy Odyssey Into Why They Loved One Another. Please consider sending us photographs of your own sacred pets, including those who passed, but will never be forgotten. Your photographs will be included in the T-Boy article: T-Boy Readers and Their Pets. We can also include your name, address and narrative about your life with your pet. But it’s up to you if you’d like to do that, and we promise to send you a proof to revise. Please send to **@**********oy.com, and we will be excited upon seeing them.  

Stay tuned for Presidents and Pets, Part II: A T-Boy Odyssey Into Why They Loved One Another

Abraham Lincoln & Fido, who once had the most popular dog name in the U.S; Plantation Farmer, Thomas Jefferson & Peanut Farmer, Jimmy Carter; Lessons learned by Marine Corp’s Louis Boitano, a man with a disdain for cowardly flag wavers, in particular for ones who never experienced a real battle; Reagan Rex’s White House dog house; and (How Much) is that Doggie in the Window.

The post Presidents and Pets: A T-Boy Odyssey Into Why They Loved One Another – Tales of nonpartisan, unconditional love appeared first on Traveling Archive.

In this T-Boy article, please consider it to be an invitation to join me on a personal journey in search of the source of many of the cinema’s most popular musical soundtracks. I’ve tried to make the categories specific, where the composer worked with the director before the film was shot, or used a pre-existing composition after the movie was in the can. Categories also include the innovation of using songs in films that have not been done before. I hope this makes sense once you see the line-up of film soundtracks on the list, where you’ll also notice that there are many others not included which would make the list too long – so here’s a few below:

But first, let’s begin with a quotation by French director, François Truffaut:

“It’s very difficult for a musician to make music for a film, because he is shown a film at a stage of the assembly where the lengths are false, the rhythm is not there. It seems as it is the film, but it is far from the final result. I think you really have to know the cinema and really love it so that you can see the film at that stage and imagine its intentions and its qualities. The musician is called at a time when the director is a little demoralized. We count a lot on him. We say all the time in the editing rooms: ‘It will work out with the music!’ In short, we wait for the musician as we wait for a sort of savior.” – François Truffaut

PSYCHO

Hitchcock and Herrmann

When Alfred Hitchcock, the master of everything, wrote his screenplay for 1960’s Psycho with composer Bernard Hermann at his side, every musical note was placed on his storyboard long before the film was shot. And by the time all the sketches were finished, which also indicated the exact placements of edits, camera angles and lighting, sound effects and more, Hitchcock would become bored before his camera even rolled because all the hard work had already been done before.

So, let’s look at the chilling shower scene in Psycho, where Hitchcock drew and Hermann scored such a precise storyboard, so precise that the audience actually thought that Anthony Perkins’ character’s knife had slashed Janet Leigh’s body.

Overall, Herrmann wrote the scores for seven Hitchcock films, from The Trouble with Harry (1955) to Marnie (1964), a period that included Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959) and Psycho. He was also credited as sound consultant on The Birds (1963), as there was no actual music in the film, only electronically made bird sounds, which succeeded in making some of us have a lifetime distaste for birds. This also applied to Psycho, too, where others were actually afraid to take a shower after seeing the film. Hitchcock coined a knew film term with The Birds, where a high-angle shot looking down on the subject, is now called a Bird’s-Eye Shot. The perspective makes the subject appear short and trivial, often illustrating a fatalistic doom.

It should be noted that Hitchcock’s psychological thriller Vertigo, topped the 2012 poll of the British film magazine, Sight & Sound’s, The 50 Greatest Films of All Time.

Later, many film directors would use new musical compositions by Herrmann, along with Hitchcockian images, which included Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976) and François Truffaut’s The Bride Wore Black (1968). And also with Hitchcock emulater, Brian De Palma, in his film’s Sisters (1972) and Obsession (1976), in an attempt to capture the magic in which Herrmann and Hitchcock had created.

ALEXANDER NEVSKY

Eisenstein and Prokofiev

In 1938, composer Sergei Prokofiev and film director Sergei Eisenstein worked closely together throughout the production of the film, Alexander Nevsky. Sometimes Eisenstein would do a short episode and give it to Prokofiev to set to music and other times the composer would write a piece and Eisenstein would change the rhythm of the film’s action to suit the music. The climactic Battle on the Ice is spectacularly staged, which starts with a low rumbling of the chorus that depicts the troops riding toward each other. The Russian and Teutonic hymns are played again to represent the opposing forces. The pace quickens to a gallop and then to a cacophonous clash of cymbals, horns, and drums that conjure up the chaos of a medieval battle.

Eisenstein and Prokofiev’s matching of sound to action has made orchestral art music accessible to the general public and also established the use of compositional music as an important part of creating a masterpiece.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST

Leone and Morricone

Ennio Morricone was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles with more than 400 scores for cinema and television

His film scores for director Sergio Leone were regarded just an important as his images. The Spaghetti Western maestro incorporated Ennio Morricone’s musical scores, not just to be background music, but to define many of his characters in his films. In Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), each of the five main characters, played by Claudia Cardinale, Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, Jason Robards and Gabriele Ferzetti have their own theme song in the music score. After listening to one of Morricone’s film compositions, audiences felt as if they were blessed with a sense of heavenly euphoria. In fact, with Once Upon a Time in the West the choruses really did sound like angels singing.

Many important films directors also included Morricone’s film scores into their films, as did T-Boy favorites, Terence Malick in Days of Heaven (1978) and 1976’s Novecento (1900) by Bernardo Bertolucci.

Ennio Morricone also influenced many younger artists including Hans Zimmer, Metallica, Radiohead and the Dire Straits with fingerpicking guitarist virtuoso, Mark Knopfler, who was inspired to  compose and produce his own film score soundtracks, such as Scottish film director Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero (1983) and Comfort and Joy, as well as Cal (1984) and The Princes Bride (1987). And Knopfler was particularly taken by Leone and Morricone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, too, and created the Dire Straits – Once Upon A Time In The West (1979), which you can visit below.

THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD

Powell and Rozsa

Francis Ford Coppola once said that his favorite movie is the British film adaption of The Thief of Bagdad (1940) directed by Michael Powell, along with Ludwig Berger and Tim Whelan. Michael Powell’s films were profound in in their technicolor imagery, in particular when his co-director was Emeric Pressburger, but they reached unsurpassed heights with the haunting movie music by famed composer Miklos Rozsa. The Thief of Bagdad is scored for full orchestra with extensive percussion (including gong, cowbells, glockenspiel, xylophone, jingle bells, harp, celesta, piano) and both mixed and children’s chorus as well as solo singers. Later, after a frequent revisit to the film, I was surprised upon reading, “There is no real melodic focus, for it is essentially a rhythmic piece, with the vocal parts providing a stabilizing centrum, and with lyrics such as ‘sweet fruit,’ and ‘melons’ sung in syllabic fashion. Unsung words are also noted, such as ‘Oh you nasty little wretches, Oh you dirty pack of thieves.'”

The overall effect of the piece is not really that of an ensemble number in a musical, where there is usually a strong statement of the song melody with refrain by the chorus, but rather a group recitative in an opera. Miklos Rozsa is best known for his nearly one hundred film scores, but nevertheless maintained a steadfast allegiance to absolute concert music throughout his career what he referred to as his, “double life.”

I VITELLONI, LA STRADA &

LE NOTTI DI CABIRIA

Fellini and Rota

Witnessing the images of Italian Maestro, Federico Fellini, could be an enthralling, hypnotic and mesmerizing event. But what made his images work was due to the brilliance of the musical compositions of another Italian Maestro, Nino Rota. In Fellini’s early work, the films they did together, included The White Sheik (1952), I vitelloni (1953), La Strada (1954), and Le notti di Cabiria (1957). At first Rota’s Le notti di Cabiria score sounded comedic, almost a bit cumbersome, like Chaplin’s earlier Mack Sennent Keystone Kops shorts, after music was later added. But then Rota’s music would transition into the heart wrenching quest of the road for the hope of better things to come. Yes, Fellini was Rota, and Rota was Fellini. And Fellini was highly influenced by Chaplin too; in particular, during his Neo-Realist period. With La Strada, translated in English as The Road, Fellini’ wife of 50-years, the remarkably talented, Giulietta Masina, really does go on the road, and plays Chaplin’s Little Tramp.

Both La Strada and Le notti di Cabiria won Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and were described as having been inspired by Masina’s humanity. Nino Rota scored nineteen films written by Fellini, and all of Fellini’s directorial features from 1952 to 1979, the year of Rota’s death at 67-years-old.

Rota wrote more than 150 scores for Italian and international productions at an average of three scores each year over a 46-year period. Among the films included, were Luchino Visconti’s Il Gattopardo, Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet, (in particular, the Love Theme) and Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather Trilogy, which were often better known with casual movie goers than the films he did with Fellini. But, many of us will always remember Nino Rota best for his collaborations with Federico Fellini.

CHINATOWN

Polanski and Goldsmith

Composer Jerry Goldsmith’s musical score for Chinatown (1974,) considered by many critics as one of the cinema’s greatest neo-noirs, transforms movie goers back to a time and place that had no longer existed. At first Goldsmith’s Chinatown Love Theme sounded simple, played by a lone trumpet solo, yet somehow felt lush and romantic. Apparently, director Roman Polanski insisted that Jerry Goldsmith should be a last-minute replacement for Phillip Lambro, though not necessarily due to Goldsmith as a superior composer, but because he was one of the last Hollywood composers to have grown up in the film’s period setting, and was able to capture the mood of the not-so-innocent era. And, as a last-minute replacement, Goldsmith’s contract stated he was to submit his work in ten-days. Yet, Goldsmith delivered compositions which had emotional hooks, providing Chinatown with its own identity.

But how really simple is Jerry Goldsmith’s masterful score, which features a unique ensemble which features strings, four pianos, four harps, guiro, and solo trumpet, which the composer revealed he saw in his head while watching the movie for the first time. The latter instrument went on to define the film noir aspect with its hypnotic bluesy theme for Jack Nicholson’s private eye, and love theme for the mysterious Evelyn (Faye Dunaway). But the score to Chinatown has a darker, more avant-garde heart to it, where Goldsmith presents a series of unsettling cues for the movie’s thriller and mystery elements, remaining a stark contrast to his memorable opening theme. Consider when John Huston’s Noah Cross is introduced. We hear sound from the lowest registers with bells and harp joined by guiro to create dissonance and motion, while strings and eventually a trumpet resonates on an alternate theme. The Jake and Evelyn passage introduces a more contemporary 70’s sound with a beautiful reading of his main theme; here Goldsmith captures intimacy and anticipation with tremolo strings and a delicate piano motif. Later, Chinatown producer, Robert Evans, commented that Goldsmith single handily saved the picture.

JULES AND JIM, DAY FOR NIGHT &

THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR

Truffaut and Delerue

In a span of 24-years, between 1959 and 1983, composer Georges Delerue collaborated with François Truffaut on ten films, which included Jules and Jim (1962), where Jeanne Moreau stars as Catherine, as an alluring young woman whose enigmatic smile and passionate nature lure Jules (Oskar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre) into one of cinema’s most captivating love triangles. For many of us, it was the first time we heard the French expression, ménage à trois. In 1973, Truffaut directed Day for Night (La nuit américaine), a film that changed my life, which chronicles the troubled production of a film melodrama, and the various personal and professional challenges of the cast and crew. It stars Jacqueline Bisset, Valentina Cortese, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Dani, Alexandra Stewart and the floppy-haired actor, Jean-Pierre Léaud, often signaled out as Truffaut’s son or alter ego, due to his appearances in six films and one short of the director’s 21 films. And also for his recurring performances as Atonine Doniel, from 1959’s Les quatre cents coups (the 400 Blows), based on Truffaut’s childhood, to the lighter 1979 comedy-drama, f L’amour en fuite (Love on the Run).

Truffaut cast himself as the director within the film, in Day for Night, whose character is partially hearing impaired, due to his position in the French army’s artillery division during WW2. Truffaut was regarded to be kind and generous, and would often cast handicapped people into his films to remind audiences that they too exist, and show us and other disable people, that they have found a way to march through life as well. Dare I add, that I once sent him a spec script without ever having met him, and to my surprise, he read it and introduced me to the former Czechoslovakian film director Ivan Passer to direct. And this is one of the reasons why I write this article today, for Truffaut’s passion for cinema embodied us to love it just as much as he did, too.

The last collaboration between Truffaut and film composer, Georges Delerue, was The Woman Next Door (1981), where two ex-lovers, played by Gérard Depardieu and Fanny Ardant (Truffaut’s companion, who also appeared in his next and final film, Vivement dimanche! (Confidentially Yours). Delerue also composed film music for Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Renaiss and Bernardo Bertolucci. Truffaut/Delerue are regarded to be in the same pantheon of Fellini/Rota, Hitchcock/Hermann as well as the many pairs that T-Boy just coined in this article, above and below.

Pre-existing compositional music used in film

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

Kubrick and Classical Music

Many of us fell out of our seats when Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) began with the bombastic opening theme from Richard Strauss’ classical tone poem, Also sprach Zarathustra. Strauss’ symphonic tone poem was popular among classical aficionados in 1968, but today its popularity has surged to such unfound heights, that it is frequently used in other films, TV shows and commercials where manufacturers sell everything from washing machines to trucks and perfume. Kubrick wanted 2001: A Space Odyssey to be a primarily nonverbal experience that did not rely on the traditional techniques of narrative cinema, where pre-existing music would play a vital role in evoking moods and emotions.

Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey continues to be profound for its innovative use of classical music taken from existing commercial recordings, in contrast to most feature films, which the images are generally accompanied by elaborate film scores or songs written specially for them by professional tunesmiths. Kubrick’s soundtrack also raised the profile of other classical composers and their compositions, which also includes, Johann Strauss II and his 1866 Blue Danube Waltz, where Kubrick made the poetry of motion with the association of the spinning motion of the satellites and the dancers of waltzes. And, there are also compositions by György Ligeti, who was almost completely unknown in 1968, with Atmosphères, which evokes a sense of timelessness where the listener is lost in a web of texture and tonality, Requiem For Soprano; Gayane Ballet Suite (Adagio), and Lux Aeterna; as well as Aram Khachaturian’s Adagio from third Gayane ballet suite.

And, who could not forget about HAL: The 9000 series computer – You know, the most reliable computer ever made. And, we are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error and No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information.

So, let’s close with HAL’s singing the 1892 song, Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two), written by songwriter Harry Dacre, at the moment when his logic fades to simplicity, and he regresses by 40 years. Which is also notable as the first song ever performed by a computer – specifically, the IBM 704.

The song takes HAL back to its childhood, and emphasizes that Dave, play by Keir Dullea, is killing that child just as much as he is dismantling a malfunctioning computer system. Adding to the overall themes and interpretations of 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL’s callback to an earlier system command suggests that evolution may be just as possible for computers as it is for humans, given a sufficient level of sentience.

Film critics ponder about HAL

Andrew Sarris:

Film critic and father of American Auteurism, Andrew Sarris, initially panned Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, but later changed his opinion after seeing it “under the influence,” which he later said was a contact high. Was Kubrick a visionary? Well, according to Sarris, he did tell us how boring space travel would really become.

“2001 now works for me as Kubrick’s parable of a future world toward which metaphysical dread and mordant amusement tiptoe side by side. Even on the first viewing, I admired all the stuff about HAL literally losing his mind. On second viewing, I was deeply moved by HAL as a metaphor of reason afflicted by the assaults of neurotic doubt. I have never seen the death of a mind rendered more profoundly or poetically than it is rendered by Kubrick in 2001.”

Robert Eggers:

US filmmaker and production designer, Robert Eggers, is best known for directing the horror films, The Witch (2015), The Lighthouse (2019), and the historical fiction epic, The Northman (2022). It was reported to T-Boy that Egger would direct a remake of FW Murnau’s 1922 German Expressionistic masterpiece, Nosferatu, also remade by Werner Herzog in 1978.

I had once thought that Murnau’s Nosferatu was the first horror movie, but later learned that director and magician, Georges Méliès, predated it in 1896 with Le Manoir du Diable. As Kubrick once took us on a trip to the moon in 1968’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Méliès did so too, but much earlier with his 1902 film, A Trip to the Moon, which took audiences on a trip into the world’s first science fiction film.

“HAL is the most human character in the film despite his perfect computing abilities. The genius of Kubrick is that he makes you sympathetic to HAL comparable to Frankenstein or The Hunchback of Notre Dame. HAL made a mistake, like all humans have done once. Yet, that mistake cost him his life. His final pleas before the Bowman character disconnects him are saddening and remorseful, connecting the viewer’s humanity to the most artificial character in the entire movie.”

A Hard Day’s Night

Lester and The Beatles

Director Richard Lesters’ A Hard Day’s Night is a 1964 musical comedy film starring the Liverpublian rock band, which many of us refer to as The Beatles. The narrative is written by Alan Owen which covers two typical madcap days in the life of the Beatles, where the Fab Four struggle to keep themselves and Paul McCartney’s mischievous grandfather in check while preparing for a live TV performance. The songs featured are written by Lennon and McCartney, which include the title song, taken for a nonsensical Ringoism. Also in the film is I Should Have Known Better, played in a railway storage car where Harrison met future bride, model and muse, Patti Boyd; If I Fell with Lennon at lead vocals in an attempt to heal Ringo’s hurt feelings; and McCartney’s vocal lament about his girlfriend and female actor, Jane Asher, famous for her performance in Jerzy Skolimowski’s stunning 1970 psychological masterpiece, Deep End. Jane’s brother is Peter, the other half of the duo, Peter and Gordon, famous as well for their hit single recording, A World Without Love, penned by McCartney, natch’.

I’m Happy Just to Dance with You is often mistaken as a composition by George Harrison due his taking the lead vocals. But he had a lot of help with John and Paul’s lyrics and harmonies. The film closes with abbreviated versions of Tell Me Why and She Loves You, where the lads conquer the TV stage, complete with screaming fans in the audience. Among the many highpoints is in the middle of the film when the Fab Four break out of the restrictive studio building and charge down the fire escape’s stairs to an open field where they would swing, jump and dance to the explosive, Can’t Buy Me Love. Did this sequence by Richard Lester, who was already famous for his The Running, Jumping & Standing Still (1959) short film, he made with Spike Millidan and Peter Sellers, give birth to MTV? All I can say is, let’s see it again.

It should be noted that in this film, Lester and Owen defined the persona of the four Beatles that many of us use today: John as witty, Paul as cute and choir boyish, George quiet, and Ringo sad and lonely. In The Beatles’ final song release, Now and Then, many us were surprised to see Lennon cutting-it-up, twisting the night away, playing the clown. But when we look at past footage, John really does play the clown, and loves being one.

Did someone really say that A Hard Day’s Night is best to be enjoyed when you’re young and a committed Beatlephile. Let’s remember that film critic, Andrew Sarris, once proclaimed, A Hard Day’s Night to be one of the four greatest musical films of all time.

Richard Lester followed up with the 1965 Beatle musical Help! As can be expected the songs were remarkable and often served as soundtracks in our own lives, but some found it to be bizarre when Lennon was asked to compose the title song for a musical-comedy-adventure, and he delivered a plea for others to Help me! during a rough passage in his life. The narrative of Help! played almost like a James Bond spoof, which didn’t work with moviegoers about an eastern cult and a pair of mad scientists, who are obsessed with obtaining a sacrificial ring sent to Ringo by a fan. Nevertheless, the soundtrack was released as the band’s fifth studio album, and proved to be another Beatle smashing success.

And let’s see what T-Boy’s own Emperor of Oldies has to say about it: My favorite Beatles album is “Help!” (the Capitol version) but that may be because I was slightly too young to experience “A Hard Day’s Night” in real time like I did with the “Help”! LP. One thing I noticed about the song performances in the “A Hard Day’s Night” film… they appear to have taken the audio from the LP tracks and slowed them down drastically…. always wondered why? It’s a great album however, with one clunker in my view… “When I Get Home.”

THE LAST PICTURE SHOW

Bogdanovich and Country Western Music

Set in 1950-51, Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 film, The Last Picture Show (1971) is about people who live in a small, dying north central Texas town that never really should have existed. It is a sad story where most of the students at the local high school will probably go nowhere in their lives and are aware of it. Bogdanovich’s images of the tired landscape of this piece of Texas tell us what we already know. But the music Bogdanovich uses in the soundtrack is profound, so profound that it was never done before. It consists as a compilation of popular Country & Western music, heard throughout the film from real sources in real time; music in car radios; on records in homes and on TV; in diners, pool halls and jukeboxes; and at dances and parties, perfectly setting the time period, and most importantly hearing what the characters hear, and, in a sense, defining who they are and who they’ll always be.

The movie begins with Hank Williams’ Country and Western song, Why Don’t You Love Me (Like You Used to Do) and follows with nine other Hank Williams’ songs, and also songs performed by Tony Bennett, Eddy Arnold, Frankie Laine, Pee Wee King, Hank Snow, Jo Stafford, Webb Pierce, Tony Bennett, Johnnie Ray, Lefty Frizzell, Eddie Fisher and Kay Starr.

As noted above, the soundtrack of The Last Picture Show is all source music from the early 1950s. At the time of the film’s release there were only two soundtrack LPs available, one from MGM records that included Hank Williams songs and one from Columbia with the selections from their catalog including Tony Bennett and Johnny Ray songs. The CD release from El Records is the first to collect all 28 cues from the movie. Several of these cuts are rare and difficult to find. So, kudos to El/Cherry Red Records in the UK for putting this collection together.

MARIE ANTOINETTE

(Sofia) Coppola and Teenage Angst

Sofia Coppola’s historical drama, Marie Antoinette (2006), is filmed in a stylistic display of sweeping monarchical images, while the movie’s soundtrack consists of punk and indie rock songs. Recently, there has been much discussion regarding the dialectical collision of sound and images, primarily due to Jonathon Glazer’s The Zone of Interest. Sofia Coppola does this as well, creating a unique film experience with eye candy for your eyes and something a little bit more darker for your ears.

The narrative of Marie Antoinette takes us on a journey into a world of despair about a 15-year-old Austrian Hapsburg archduchess, Maria Antonia, who is far too young to be the dauphine and then the queen of France. Her struggle is reflected in the 1970s and ’80’s contemporary music by the Gang of Four, the Strokes and New Order.

We first see Kirsten Dunst in the title role, wearing a decadent feathered headpiece, sticking her finger into a cake’s frosting while the Gang of Four’s Natural’s Not in It, is heard in the background. The Strokes’ What Ever Happened? plays as Marie longs for an extramarital affair that is finally over. And Ceremony by New Order dominates the scene of Antoinette’s 18th birthday party. What can be said, other than Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette soundtrack tells us that teenage lust, angst and loneliness continues throughout eternity.

Marie Antoiniette: A Historical Lover of Dogs

Marie Antoiniette’s disparity is illustrated in an early moment in the film, upon her arrival at the French border, when Marie’s new royal family ruthlessly grabs her childhood pet dog, a Pug named Mops, for the more appropriate French Poodle. Thankfully, there was a happy ending in real life, where they were reunited, apparently due to the intervention of new king, her husband, Louis XVI. Sofia Coppola’s film does not close with revealing Queen Marie Antoinette’s less-than happy ending with her beheading, but it is believed that she carried her pet Papillon with her to the guillotine.

Oddities & One Shots

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER

Stigwood and the Bee Gees

Despite John Travolta’s pulsating dance moves on the disco floor, without South Australia’s producer, Robert Stigwood’s 1977’s Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, it would not be considered a Hollywood classic. Stigwood licensed a mostly fictional 1976 article about working class Italian-American men with menial labor some jobs, who would spend their entire paycheck for a Saturday night at a local Brooklyn discothèque. It seemed obvious that the young men were on a fast track to nowhere, but while drinking and dancing on the floor, it was clear that everyone had a chance to become a star.

Saturday Night Fever‘s soundtrack stayed on top of the Billboard charts for six months, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. Stigwood was the manager of the Bee Gees and commissioned the Brothers Gibb to contribute three of their songs: Stayin’ Alive, How Deep Is Your Love, and Night Fever – which all became number one hit songs. Yvonne Elliman’s version of If I Can’t Have You, which the Bee Gees also wrote, topped the charts, as well. Good or bad, Stigwood’s soundtrack has been ingrained into our consciousness and used so often that it’s regarded more than a cliché. Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees later commented that every time he turned on the radio a Saturday Night Fever song was playing, to the point where he would become ill.

THE 007 FRANCHISE

Barry and Bond

The narrative of 1964’s Goldfinger is typical of many of writer Ian Fleming’s plots: While investigating a gold magnate’s smuggling operation, James Bond uncovers a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve. Guy Hamilton, an English film director, who directed 22 films from the 1950s to the 1980s, including four James Bond films, is noted in the credits as director. But, with no offense to Hamilton, this is a franchise movie, and does it really matter who directed it. So let’s give it to the duo producer team of Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, better make that Cubby Broccoli, who took exception when people assumed that his last name stemmed from a vegetable. Later, it was revealed that it really did, but his family replied it was the opposite, with broccoli name after the Broccoli family.

A viewing of Goldfinger will take you into a sinister world of suspense, intrigue and betrayal. And you’ll see in action: Sean Connery as MI6’s 007, the only real Bond; Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore, who made the 1960’s seem so carefree and less PC; Harold Sakata’s Oddjob, the man with a sharp hat, who gave us a new name and new meaning to Head Over Heels; and finally, Gert Fröbe as Auric Goldfinger, who turns everything he touches into gold, though still not determined if his hands ever touched a former US president’s gold-plated bathroom toilet.

The soundtrack is the work of composer John Barry, who created a musical vocabulary that will forever be synonymous with 007. Barry is also famous for his first marriage to the deceased and equally iconic, Jane Birkin. While it was hard to choose between his Bond soundtracks, Barry perfected his sound with the bold and brassy theme for Goldfinger, performed by Shirley Bassey.

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL HIGH SCHOOL

Arkush/Dante and the Ramones

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School is a 1979 musical comedy, co-directed by Allan Arkush and Joe Dante, billed as jukebox extravaganza. The title cut is a song performed by the rock band, the Ramones, who were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States, the Ramones are often cited as the world’s first true punk band. Though initially achieving little commercial success, the band is seen today as highly influential in punk culture. All members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname Ramone, although none were biologically related; they were inspired by Paul McCartney, who would check into hotels under the alias Paul Ramon.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll High School theme song opens with an extended drum beat, with lead singer Joey Ramone eventually singing the opening line, “Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock ‘n’ Roll High School.” And why did we include it: Let’s just say, Because it feels so goddamn good. – Attributed to Sam Peckinpah in his film, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, a 1974 Mexican-American Neo-Western.

Stay tuned for The Film Soundtracks in Our Lives, Part II: The relationship between auteur, François Truffaut and orchestral composer, Maurice Jaubert. In fact, you can see it now at https://travelingboy.com/travel/the-film-soundtracks-in-our-lives-part-ii/.

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After driving three hours into the burning desert of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, we arrived at our destination, Saint Catherine’s Monastery, officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Catherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai.

As we stepped out of our van, the same team was with us as before: the well-versed driver; the official police officer; the two very nervous American tourist, who still continued to speak ceaselessly of the nearby war; and our highly educated guide, Salaam, who thought it best to simply smile when the two very nervous American tourists would rant.

Saint Catherine’s Monastery was sanctioned by the orders of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, between 565-548 B.C.E. But, in the year 330 A.C.E., the Empress Helena, the mother of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, built a church with massive granite blocks, believed to be on the site where God spoke to Moses through the burning bush.

We had to advance deep into the valley for there are many hermit cells and a shrine at the site of the Bush. The Bush is verdant to this day. This is the Bush of which I have spoken earlier, the one from which God in a flame of fire spoke to Moses. – Author unknown.

The first Byzantine Orthodox monks arrived approximately around year 330 A.C.E., and still live according to the traditions of the early Christian monastic order, based on the spirituality of the desert – Because life in the desert is cruel and harsh, but it is here where one may find God.

The monastery was eventually renamed after Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a saint in Europe’s Catholic Christology, during the Middle Ages, who was sentenced to death in her defense of other Christians. Her body was placed on a spiked breaking-wheel, but, at her touch, the wheel shattered to pieces. It was then ordered that she be beheaded. Centuries later her body was said to be found in a cave close to Mt. Sinai, and was taken to the monastery. The relics of Saint Catherine, which are kept inside the monastery today, continue to inspire pilgrimages from people throughout the world.

Controlled by the autonomous Church of Sinai, which is part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, Saint Catherine’s Monastery became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002 for its unique importance in the traditions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The site holds the world’s oldest continually operating library, along with rare works, such as the Codex Sinaiticus and the Syriac Sinaiticus, and, but still debated, the largest collection of early Christian icons. Also inside is the earliest known depiction of Jesus as Christ Pantocrator, which represents the dual nature of Christ, illustrating traits of both God and humankind.

Saint Catherine’s Monastery and the area consumed by Mount Sinai also remains sacred to the monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The climate was cool when our group stepped into the rooms of Saint Catherine’s Monastery, taking refuge from the staggering desert heat outside. The monastery was compact, almost like an ancient city with chambers, pathways and gardens, captured between four granite walls.

It was easy to find the purported Burning Bush, or the Bush which no longer burns, as we assume it is a remnant where most had disappeared into ashes long ago.

Soon, we spotted the Well of Moses, where Moses apparently met his future wife, Zipporah. The Well remains today as one of the monastery’s main sources of water. As I took a sip of water from its drinking fountain, I wanted to to believe it was all true.

We quietly walked into the main chapel with a strong sense of reverence, and were surprised by the small size of the worship room, which was clearly overburdened with many icons and relics. We noticed on the other side of a short, waist high, dividing wall that an elderly monk was deep in prayer, and wondered what he was praying for. The dividing wall made it clear that it served as a threshold that should never be crossed. And we also assumed that after the monk had finished his prayer, not a single word should ever be crossed. But the moment he saw us, he walked over to greet us and gave us a warm hello. He asked where we had traveled from, and we told him that we had traveled a long way from the United States, which he nodded was truly a long way. And then replied with a grin, You know, I have a cousin in the United States… who owns a restaurant in Philadelphia.

As we bid farewell, we promised that if we ever did return to Philadelphia, we would look his cousin up. But decided not to mention that the City of Brotherly Love, the birthplace of our republic, is often referred to as the City of Brotherly Shove.

The time was too brief for our tour, as the doors at Saint Catherine’s Monastery would soon be closed for tourists, but it was important for our group to realize the ritualized monastic life. Priests meet in the morning at 4:00 a.m. and pray in their cells until eight a.m., followed by a one-hour period of rest. And then, each monk begins their assigned task; working in the library, the garden, cleaning icons, etc.

The first meal is lunch at 1:00 p.m., where all monks eat in silence while a novice reads religious texts. From 1:30 to 5:00 p.m., there is another resting period, after which vesper service is held until 7:00 p.m., and the monks return to their cubicle. At 10 p.m. the lights are extinguished, but the monks are allowed to read in their monastery cells by candlelight.

The monks fast three days a week, followed by eating simple vegetables, all grown from well-maintained gardens. It was a stroke of genius or part of God’s Holy plan, that the monks had managed to create one in the rough landscape of unbearable heat and endless desert sand. There were also many citrus and olive trees, where the olive itself is often a symbol which defines Greek and Mediterranean life the best.

In the garden rests a small cemetery within the Chapel of St. Tryphon and the Charnel House. The sparsity of earth does not permit permanent graves, so the monks buried in the cemetery are later exhumed and their bones placed in the ossuary. One of the oldest remains is of the hermit, Stephanos, a 6th century monk, who is believed to have lived on Mount Sinai in a small dwelling, where he solemnly struggled on behalf of his own monasticism.

As the monastery’s clock ticked down to 1 p.m., we took a mad cap dash to the small gift store for postcards, gifts and souvenirs. To our surprise, the monk behind the counter turned out to be the one with a cousin in Philadelphia, with whom we had met earlier before. As we hurriedly piled our growing load of treasures onto the counter, I wondered if I should suggest that perhaps there should be a slight discount. But I assumed what the kind monk would smile and say, All profits go to God, who looks down upon us now. Back home, I wondered where the profits of a bible marketed by a former U.S. president would really go; for he too looks down upon us, but in a very despicable way.

When we left Saint Catherine’s Monastery, we hopped back into the van for the long ride back to Sharm El Sheikh. Thinking of the monk’s cousin, food was soon on our mind. So, halfway through our trek, Salaam suggested we should make a hard right turn to a local seafood restaurant on the Red Sea, where the very polite staff of Egyptian waiters presented a large platter of seafood, caught that very day. We were curious, and not sure why; Salaam, our driver and policeman chose to sit inside. Perhaps they needed a break, before realizing they probably needed a break from me.

After we made our selections, we realized the authenticity of a real seafood restaurant, unlike the rather faux ones at Sharm El Sheikh’s Four Season’s restaurants. Our meals had been enjoyable at Sharm El Sheikh, but this late lunch easily tipped the scales, serving the best meal during our entire three-weeks in Egypt.

Our balcony table was set just above the shore’s waters. It occurred to me that this was as close as we had ever been to the historical and biblical waters of the Red Sea, the waters which I had imagined I would dive into the moment after our immediate arrival to Sharm El Sheikh. But then I remembered that tomorrow would be a very different kind of day.

Red Sea Underwater Adventure

The following day after we left our resort property at Sharm El Sheikh, we really did tip our feet into the Red Sea. The holy act was the first act for a planned underwater adventure, which I refer to as a hybrid tourist vessel, where the lower body of the ship drops down below the water’s surface, while the top remains above.

After cruising out of the congested mooring, we shuffled down a flight of stairs to witness the Red Sea’s underwater eco-system, home to over 300 species of coral and 2,100 species of fish from the vantage point of two long observation windows. What I found more interesting was another kind of hybrid on the boat: Russian, Egyptian and North American tourists.

The Russian passengers were polite, and basically kept to themselves, but were enthusiastic and appreciated the underwater wonders on the other side of the hybrid boat’s windows. The women seemed fashion conscious, were well dressed in vibrant colors, many with trendy sun glasses. They paid great attention to their mobile phones, and were generally part of large groups or families. It was easy to see they were from landlocked areas in Russia, and this was a vacation of a lifetime.

Many of the Egyptian passengers were busy as workers on the vessel, but the others seemed open, and easy to please, and simply happy to be there.

As for the North Americans… well, we were North Americans, but also seemed pleased to be part of this fascinating hybrid experience.

One of the most colorful moments was a post-cruise lunch, where we saw an attractive-looking Russian woman, dressed in typical beach clothes and sandals, after speaking on her mobile phone. Seated at the next table, was an attractive Egyptian woman, dressed in a black burka and tennis shoes, after speaking on her mobile phone. Two divergent worlds, unbeknownst to each other, were sitting back-to-back at their tables. Did someone really say, Truth is stranger than fiction?

The next day we departed from the Sharm El Sheikh Four Seasons Resort. As we passed its gates, the Icon of Peace was standing as it was before. The above image was used in an earlier installment, but it never can be seen too often as the world struggles to seek international peace.

A few hours later we were on a plane and gone.

Related Articles:

• Egypt: A personal interpretation of its land, people and antiquities, Part 1
• Egypt, Part II: The Sinai Peninsula

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