Donald Trump - Replay of Gorgeous George?

Gorgeous George

One of the problems of growing older is that one remembers too much.

As I watch and listen to the commentariat puzzle over the Donald Trump phenomenon, it occurs to me that Trump is following the very successful model of the professional wrestler, Gorgeous George.

You can look it up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgeous_George

My original observation was that watching Trump strut about the stage, arms akimbo, he bears a great resemblance to the fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini. There's some truth to that, as well.

I think the main difference is that Mussolini took himself and his outrageous fantasies seriously. Gorgeous George did not. He knew he was putting on a show.

The big question is, does Donald Trump understand this?

Who knows?  Gorgeous George turned professional wrestling into a great, money-making show in the early days of television. It was also a fantasy show for children.

Lifebuoy: B.O.

In recognition that it was a bit foggy this morning, Town Dock posted a link to the audio sound of a fog horn.

In all honesty, Town Dock's fog horn was a bit wimpy. But it called to mind a more robust fog horn that sounded on the radio during the 30's and 40's along with a public service announcement. Well, you could call it that, at least back in the days when people took baths at least once a week whether they needed it or not.

Here's the announcement.

If you prefer just a robust fog horn, here's a different link without the "public service."

Safe navigating!

Oriental Croaker Fest 2012

A bit hot, but the opening of the Croaker Fest at 4:00 today went well and was enjoyed by all. Good music. Tasty food. And I loved the root beer floats (they benefit Hope Clinic, but they are not just morally good - they taste great!)

Don Winslow of The Navy

When I entered the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps about fifty-eight years ago, all I knew about the navy came from three sources: the Victory at Sea television series, the book Queen of the Flattops about USS Lexington (sunk at The Battle of the Coral Sea) and Don Winslow comic books. It wasn't until about five years ago that I learned that the character Don Winslow was devised as a means to help naval recruitment in the Midwest. The creator, Frank Martinek had served as an officer in naval intelligence during World War I. He had already used the Don Winslow character in some novels he had written. When I told my wife about the recruitment angle, she said, "it worked, didn't it?"

Cheerleading Politicians

A curious feature of American elected officials is that a number of them prepared for officialdom by serving as cheerleaders either in high school or college.

It makes sense. The function of a cheerleader is to stir the crowd to a hysterical level of support and optimism, no matter how dire the circumstances. The opposing team is ahead by four touchdowns and has the home team's back against the goal line, threatening another score. "Push 'em back," the cheerleader cries to the shouts of the fans, "push 'em way back.!"

Cheerleaders don't organize or select the plays,don't throw any passes, don't catch the ball or set any blocks. They don't even carry water to the folks who do.

Reality plays no part in the matter at all.

Among former cheerleaders in politics:

Thad Cochran, senior senator from Mississippi (Ole Miss);
Trent Lott, former senator from Mississippi (Ole Miss);
Kay Bailey Hutchison, former senator from Texas (University of Texas);
George W. Bush, former governor of Texas and former president of the United States (Phillips-Andover);
Rick Perry, governor of Texas (Texas A&M).

The Wrong Trousers

Last Tuesday, America put on The Wrong Trousers, programmed by a larcenous penguin (played by Eric Cantor) to steal prospects for middle class prosperity. The larceny is nearly completed when Wallace (in the role of America) is awakened by an alarm (stock market decline), starts removing the trousers and begins an effort to bring the larcenous penguin to justice, aided by Gromit (played by Paul Krugman, Brad DeLong, Mark Thoma and others).

Watch the movie. It's more entertaining than actual events. Let's hope America wakes up in time, finds the correct trousers and celebrates with a bit of cheese..

Horoscope

I just discovered the web page for the Onion's horoscope.

My favorite is the horoscope for Aries. Too bad I missed being Aries by a day.

The Matinee - Waiting for Hopalong

In the late forties, kids flocked to the matinees. It was always a raucous crowd of children ranging from about five years old to twelve or so. When the cartoon started up, the crowd cheered and then watched in rapt attention as the previews of coming attractions, the next episode of an exciting serial and the newsreels all flashed on the screen.

Then came the main attraction, usually a cowboy movie but sometimes a detective story like Boston Blackie.

Cowboys were the favorite and it was from those movies that we received the most influential instruction about proper conduct. Cowboy movies were far more influential than Sunday School.

The plots were always the same. The villain, a greedy, cowardly bully who sent his hired hands to do the dirty work, had devised a way to take over the town and leave the good, hardworking and honest townspeople, farmers and ranchers without an effective voice.

Then the hero rode into town. It might be Hopalong Cassidy or the Lone Ranger and Tonto, Lash Larue or Wild Bill Hickock. It might even be Roy Rogers or Gene Autry, though they sang entirely too much.

The hero quickly sized up the situation, possibly spying on the villain. Then he organized thetownspeople, pumped up their courage and led them in the effort to undo the villain's plan. There was always a fist fight, and often a gun fight, though the hero never killed anyone. He would just shoot the gun out of the bad guys' hand and "bring him to justice," which meant turn him over to the Sheriff.

It was all good fun, even though we knew it was unlikely that a real world hero could shoot a gun out of someone's hand without otherwise harming him.

Other moral lessons from these movies: greed is bad and greedy people are usually evil; people have to stick together to fight evil; honest workers who do an honest days' work for an honest days' wages are the good guys; if a deal isn't fair, it isn't right.

And altruism is good.

Not bad life lessons.

In the real world, though, it might not work to just wait for Hopalong. Sometimes we have to set things right ourselves.

Momentous Events

This Friday, April 29, 2011, two momentous events taking place an ocean apart will probably dominate television.

Early that morning east coast time, the world will be treated to the spectacle of the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

That afternoon, we will see the final launch of space shuttle Endeavor, commanded by Captain Mark Kelly, husband of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head last January by an attempted assassin. Congresswoman Giffords is expected to attend the launching. Oh, by the way, so will President Obama.

By far the most momentous of those events will be the presence of Congresswoman Giffords at the launch of Endeavor.

My guess is that the largest TV audience will be that of the wedding.

A question for the bean counters among us: which event cost their nations the most - the wedding or the space launch?

I have no idea.

Captain Marvel

Shazam!

And mild-mannered Billy Batson, boy radio reporter, assumes the powers of a half-dozen superheroes.

Unless the evil Doctor Sivana's henchmen get to Billy Batson and gag him before he can say more than "Shazmpf." If he gets the whole word out (Shazam), he turns into superhero Captain Marvel.

In case you missed it, the serial at this week's Friday Flicks at Oriental's old theater, will show a Captain Marvel serial, followed by Alfred Hitchcock's 1930's black and white spy story, "Thirty Nine Steps."

When I was six years old or so, I rushed down to Woolworth's every month to buy the latest edition of Captain Marvel. I don't remember ever seeing the movie serial, so this will be a rare treat.

A Really Super Bowl

Our household faced a dilemma deciding who to root for in last night's Super Bowl.

As graduates of Ole Miss, we were mindful of the fact that Peyton Manning's father, Archie Manning, had quarterbacked for Ole Miss in the 1960's, had been drafted by the New Orleans Saints and played superbly for about a decade for what was otherwise a dreadful team. Archie Manning has made his home in New Orleans. Peyton's younger brother, Eli, also played at Ole Miss and quarterbacks for the Giants.

Since there was an Ole Miss/Manning connection to both teams, we decided to go with sentiment and root for the team that had never been to the Super Bowl before. Besides, we had lived in Washington DC when the Baltimore Colts left that town surreptitiously and shamefully relocated to Indiana. In Baltimore (and Washington), that is still seen as perfidy. Like the Dodgers moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

For all of those reasons, we rooted for New Orleans.

The game was a delight to watch. When did you ever see a second half begin with an onside kick? The offensive coaching was daring. The New Orleans defense was superb. Plainly the strategy was to keep Peyton Manning off the field. Good idea.

A game that lived up to the hype.

Can't say as much for the ads. Not up to par.

And the halftime show? My wife remarked that she'd rather have seen marching bands. Would have been more entertaining. Maybe it's a generational thing.

Valentina Lisitsa

What an afternoon of music!

We are certainly fortunate in Oriental to have a venue like the Old Theater and a Music Society able to recruit top notch musicians like Valentina Lisitsa. It probably helps that she has made her home in North Carolina.

This afternoon she announced each piece, giving a short lecture tinged with humor and insight. Then she sat at the piano, wearing high heeled pumps and played away, her long fingers moving so fast they seemed a blur, but extracting every last ounce of passion from the music.

The highlight: a magic performance of Rachmaninoff's Concerto Number 3 for Piano and Orchestra, without the orchestra. She explained that it would sound fine without the orchestra, since the orchestra "just hums along," anyhow. She invited the audience to hum along, too, if they felt the need. No one did.

When she comes back to Oriental, don't miss the chance to hear her perform.