Storytellers & More

From 38 Bits of Trivia About Novels, Poems, Books and More by Jay Wells L’Ecuyer, msm.com:

Headline from nypost.com: “Too ‘Square’: NYU students whine Wash. Sq. Park’s charm left with homeless junkies — despite vagrant attacking classmate.” At that age I felt similarly about the old Times Square, so I can’t condemn them.

From NYP: “Role reversal: Over 70K Ukrainian women now serving in army as war with Russia drags on.” Geez.

From NYP: “Trump’s Mr. Fix it: Scott Bessent set to tackle affordability crisis.” I would like to know if companies not affected by tariffs are using them as an excuse to raise prices. The following headline from newsmax.com seems to address that: “Trump Orders DOJ, FTC Task Forces to Probe Food Price Fixing.” Side bar: Note to all Dem pols complaining about affordability: how about suspending sales taxes or congestion pricing?

Another tidbit from the article above:

Last night the Grit channel, 31–3 on OTA in NYC, ran a western with which I was completely unfamiliar, Track of the Cat (1954), directed by William Wellman, starring Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright, Tab Hunter, Beulah Bondi, William Hopper, Diana Lynn, Philip Tonge and Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer, the latter, in his mid 20s at the time, portraying an elderly Indian. Set in a mountainous, snowy area, the film is more a dysfunctional family drama similar to the works of Eugene O’Neill. Poverty is not the problem. The clan is middle class, living in a beautiful home. Based on the novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, adapted by A.I. Bezzerides, it is grim going, relief coming only in the final minute. While I would not say I liked it, I respect the dive into existential angst. Wellman is a Hollywood legend. Born in Massachusetts, he was an aviator in the famous Lafayette Escadrille during WWI, nicknamed Wild Bill. He began his tinseltown career as an actor, a job he hated. He worked his way up to director and made several fine films, including Wings (1927), the first Academy Award-winning best picture; the phenomenal The Public Enemy (1931); A Star Is Born (1937), for which he won his only Oscar, Best Original Story; and, a favorite of mine, Battleground (1949). Married five times, his final union lasted from 1934 to his death at 79 in 1975 and produced seven of his eight children… Diana Lynn, a mom of four, had a great career going, 72 titles under her name at IMDb, when she was taken by a stroke at 41… Switzer was killed at 31 in a dispute about money. Here are Wellman and Lynn, photos from Google Images:

Ideal December weather for the Anti-Inflation Book Shop, quite a relief from cold of the past few days. My thanks to Wolf and Sophie who, as usual, overcompensated me for their purchases, which today included a paperback in Russian, several DVDs and The Traitor’s Circle: The True Story of a Secret Resistance Network in Nazi Germany―and the Spy Who Betrayed Them by Jonathan Freedland; and to Herbie, who bought the large print edition of Whiter Than Snow by Sandra Dallas; and to the woman who purchased Stephen Hawking, a bio by Kristine Larsen; and to the one who took home a nifty shopping bag; and to local porter Robert, who donated four books.

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