Wildlife: Mama Whitetail and her two fawns were climbing up the mini-mountain with the "F" painted on it above Lakeshore Drive this morning.



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Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!

Weather: Wintery, but dry -- it was very dark until Noon..

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site -- Click to help feed critters, people, and other useful things

Media Watch: A Date With Judy (1948) was on TCM last night, following an interview with it's star -- the gracious Jane Powell, who looks wonderful as she approaches 80 years old. There were stalwarts from MGM's Central Casting Department, doing what they did regularly -- Wallace Berry was the gruff ol' dad, Carmen Miranda was her goofy effervescent self, and Xavier Cugat pretended he was some kind of Latin stereotype, rather than the classy guy he really was.
The movie was full of 40's-style faux "Teenage" stereotypes that resembled "Archie Comics" more than anything real. Elizabeth Taylor was stunning as dark-haired "Veronica." Jane Powell was "Betty" all the way, even if her character's name WAS "Judy." Leon Ames played a lookalike version of "Mr. Lodge," i.e. "Veronica's" father. Jane Powell's brother even had a beanie like "Jughead." Liz Taylor's brother was an incomparable leading-nerd. He even led an all-nerd singing group, which was pretty embarassing to see and hear.
Neophyte Robert Stack only partly resembled insufferable "Reggie."
Stack was the mutual love-interest of both "Betty" and "Veronica," even though he wasn't a teenager -- he was supposed to be a GI Bill college student doing a summer job as a soda-jerk at his uncle's malt shop -- which was a lot like "Pop Tate's" place in "Archie's" small town of "Riverdale."


The long-running "Archie" series (below) started in 1941,
replacing "Madam Satan" (above)in Pep Comics.
Harry Lucey originally drew both features, and was followed by
the very capable Bob Montana and Al Hartley in later decades.

Wildlife: Four Whitetail Deer were on the hill overlooking the junction of Foy's Lake Road and Buckboard Lane last night. I hope they were continuing to the west. There was another body about half a mile to the east on Foy's Lake Road this morning.



Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
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Weather: Wintery, but not too bad -- just above freezing, snow in the mountains, evaporation of frozen gunk on the roads.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site -- Click to help with a half a dozen projects.

Media Watch: OK -- I finished Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak. Let's see now -- Pulp-fiction entrepreneur Edward Stratemeyer came up with the concept, and wrote the first few scenarios for the series.
Harriet Stratemeyer Adams and her sister Edna took over his successful syndicate of popular fictional characters when he died suddenly in 1930.
The extremely prolific Mildred Anderson Wirt Benson was the first ghostwriter who filled out Stratemeyer's outlines under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. As the Great Depression deepened, Mildred took other work rather than take a pay cut from the Stratemeyer syndicate. A man named Walter Karig wrote three Nancy Drew books, Nancy's Mysterious Letter, The Sign Of The Twisted Candle, and The Password To Larkspur Lane. (Yeah, I read most of the original series -- coincidentally THESE are the ones I remember most.)
Mildred returned to the syndicate until after WWII, even though she became a full-time journalist in Toledo, Ohio and wrote potboilers under other pseudonyms.
Harriet Stratemeyer Adams' role in her syndicate continued to grow into the 50's and beyond. By 1960 she was not only Nancy Drew's editor, but her main writer too. She cultivated an image of being the sole creative force behind the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew in the mass media, even though it wasn't exactly true. After thirty years and more of overseeing every one of their books into print, I can understand her perspective. Before her death in 1982, Harriet faced Mildred Anderson Wirt Benson in court, as part of a lawsuit between Grosset & Dunlap and Simon & Shuster over the right to publish new Nancy Drew books. ("I thought you were dead!")
Mildred's only gain was public acknowledgement of her efforts in writing Nancy Drew's popular mysteries for almost twenty years. She never made more than a few thousand dollars for her work with Stratemeyer.
Interview with Melanie Rehak


The REAL Nancy Drew
30's illustration from
Bob Finnan's Nancy Drew Site

Wildlife: Firehouse Pond is FROZEN OVER. All those Golden Eye Ducks have moved up to Middle Foy's Lake.



Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!

Weather: Dark and cold this morning, but the snow started falling -- helping to melt the black ice on the roads.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site -- Click to help feed somebody.

Media Watch: I took a break from Nancy Drew's creators to read The Planets by Dava Sobel -- it has SOME current scientific information, but contains a lot of reverie too.
Here's a page where a scientist reviews Sobel's books: Dr. Fred Bortz

I think I'm going to read about building the Great Pyramid next -- dunno if this author has anything figured out, but it's an engaging mystery how all that masonry was piled up along the banks of the Nile so nicely.

Hail the All-Seeing EYE!
NOTE: Satire Alert! Do not drive or operate heavy machinery
under the influence of the above Web site.

Wildlife: Blue Jays, Magpies, Nuthatches, Juncos, and Chickadees! The Winter birds are coming around the feeders.



Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!

Weather: Luckily, the sun came out and melted the blizzard's mess yesterday. Gray and cold today -- 16 Degrees (F) at sunrise.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site Click to help out with a few little things -- like nutrition, disease, and oxygen in our air.

Media Watch: Monday Night Football -- Philadelphia played well, but Dallas won 21 to 20. I still think Donovan McNabb needs an operation, and that the Eagles would do better waiting for next year, but I can see how they all want to get out there and play hard every week.
The History Channel ran a piece on the Battle of the Bulge in 1944-45. As dramatic and bloody as the seige and relief of Bastonge was, I'm glad they pointed out how the failure of SS General Peiper to advance through the hills and deep valleys of the Northern Ardennes, despite/because of his 69-ton Tiger tanks, doomed Hitler's whole operation. Lack of gasoline, adverse terrain, and dogged human resistance all played their parts in preventing a near-disaster from turning into a cataclysm.
I had the pleasure of spending a day or two around Bastonge in the spring of 1976 -- there was still a lot of wartime detrius scattered about the woods, a prominent monument with a tank on the top, and a plaque underneath that just said "NUTS."
To tell you the truth, I liked Charlemange's cathedral at Aachen better (see below), and the hot springs around Spa -- yep, the ORIGINAL Spa!


A bright spot in the Dark Ages:
Carolingan Dynasty Cathedral at Aix en Chappell (Aachen, Belgium)
Circa 800 A.D.
Speaking of Charlemange, or Charles the Great, I've always thought it was funny when the Germans call him "Karl der Gross" -- Now THAT'S the right kind of name for a Dark Ages king!

Wildlife: The Whitetail Deer herd just scampered merrily across the road in front of me this morning. Black ice, WHAT black ice? They have been there every day along that same stretch of road, so I was ready. (see Weather below)



Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!

Weather: Ice on the roads this morming -- black, smooth and dangerous -- looks like 4-wheeling for a few months! A blizzard started at about 8:30. Maybe people will be scared enough to drive slowly.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site Click to help out a little.

Media Watch: NFL Football -- I saw large parts of two games Sunday afternoon which were hard-fought to the bitter end. Washington 35 Tampa Bay 36 -- a gutsy two-point conversion, running the ball in the last few seconds, won the game. The lowly Minnesota Vikings scored 24 and beat the puffed-up N.Y. Giants who barely got to 21 -- every yard was heavily contested, and NY's defense was too beat-up to stop Minnesota's final drive.
Pre-game madness -- MAD-TV's Frank couldn't possibly be as funny as he was last week, but he sure is a good mimic. Jillian Barbarie didn't go out on a limb either, but she defiantly welcomed Pamela Anderson back again.
Category 7: End of the World tried to be suspenseful. Gina Gershon got the last word, which may mean her career is on the upswing, and the evil Dick Cheney-like character was sucked up into a tornado.
I'm reading about Edward Stratemeyer, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, and Mildred Wirt Benson -- the gang who created, wrote, and published the Nancy Drew mysteries and other popular book series.
The photo section has a small black and white reproduction of 70's Nancy Drew actress Pamela Sue Martin's Playboy cover. (Which I'm not going to show here.)
I happen to like these nearly-forgotten movies from the late 30's:
NANCY DREW, DETECTIVE (1938); NANCY DREW AND THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE (1939; NANCY DREW, REPORTER (1939); NANCY DREW, TROUBLE SHOOTER (1939)-- All starring Bonita Granville. They are silly and fun. They could have been better, and maybe more like the series, but they reportedly had no impact on book sales at all.
Here's two flicks that I've never even heard of, much less seen:
STARDUST ON THE STAGE (1942) Starring Louise Currie as Nancy Drew.
THE TEXAS KID (1943) Starring Shirley Patterson as Nancy Drew.

The first Nancy Drew mystery 1930