Wildlife: An Osprey was hunting over Middle Foy's Lake this morning. A huge Bald Eagle did the same about an hour later.



Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Weather: Back into the 80 degree(F) zone -- hot for here.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site Just click to help.

Garage Sale Booty: Rick O'Shay, Hipshot, and Me by Stan Lynde -- signed first editions, hardbound and paperback. My friend Bill Blackbeard helped Stan with newspaper versions of his first comic strips when a house fire destroyed the original art. Yeah, I can call Lynde by his first name too -- he's always been an accessible, easy-to-know person.
A package of Superman and Batman radio serials from the 30's and 40's on cassette tapes.

Media Watch: We finally saw ALL of Sashi Kapoor's Jab Jab Phool Khile after spending about 16 years of looking for it again -- it is a fabulous, although a touch too-traditional, Bollywood movie. (Made in 1965, but still popular forty years later!) It's locations have obviously changed -- Bombay has really built up into the skies over the decades, and sadly enough, Kashmir is no longer a mellow haven for tourists.
I'm recording Jamaica Inn on TCM tonight -- it's suposedly a cinematic textbook in over-acting on the part of the film's co-producer Charles Laughton, to the dismay of his director-for-hire Alfred Hitchcock. It also features the equally great over-acting master Robert Newton in the cast. I can't wait to see Newton and Laughton doing a scene together. These guys were GOOD, and some excess on their part might be a spectacle to enjoy. Newton's making Laurence Olivier ALMOST crack up on-camera in Henry V is well worth watching as well.
There is NO mention of Daphne DuMaurier in the credits, although she wrote a famous gothic novel by this name. (Hitchcock did at least two other movies based on her writings, though -- Rebecca, and The Birds.)
I passed by the real Jamaica Inn many times when I lived in Cornwall, and even visited it once. It is high on the edges of Bodmin Moor, north of the ancient market town of Bodmin. The moors are still wild places, with creatures, vegetation, and climates all their own, and even get snow in the winter, while palm trees flourish in the vales on the south coast. Jamaica Inn is at least ten miles from the nearest salt water, and would have served no purpose for smugglers, wreckers, or pirates. DuMaurier herself did a good turn or two for Footsbarn Theatre when they were based in Cornwall, but her aristocratic social position, and advanced age were barriers to any real involvement, or material help.

BACK FROM VACATION! (See below for summary)

Wildlife: Three Ospreys have haunted Middle Foy's Lake all day today. One caught a fish first thing this morning. We also had a visit from a Racoon about 3 AM -- his/her black-masked face was right up against the screen door. Good thing it didn't know it could cut it's way in with just a swipe of one of it's claws. (The cats were GROWLING, but they were no closer than four feet from the screen.)

Weather: Cooler than before we left. We've even had some rain, reportedly.

Charity Alert: Can't do better than The Hunger Site, unless you want to touch your wallet.

In The Community: Dunno -- Flathead Valley Community College dosen't start for two weeks; I missed Kalispell City Council last Monday; I will be taking down the K.D. Swan photography show at the Hockaday soon, and I think I still have my Arts In The Park photos on the memory disk in my camera. I will shoot some street banners and the Swan show, as gallery shots, later next week.

Media Watch: We bought almost a dozen Bollywood movies in Toronto, Ontario and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Except for weather, we didn't follow the news at all -- the Northwest Airlines strike snapped at our heels, but we got home before it started.

(New Category) Vacation 2005:
SUMMARY -- NW Airlines from Kalispell to Minneapolis to Toronto.
Rental car from Toronto to nearby Niagra Falls, on the famous border between the US and Canada.
Went back to Toronto for shopping and trading Bollywood movies in "Little India," several blocks devoted to food, clothes, and culture near downtown. Saw a new Shah Rukh Khan movie in a suburban theater devoted to subtitled Indian movies.
Canada Air to Halifax Airport in Nova Scotia. Rental car to Truro, and then another half-hour to our cottage on the Bay of Funday to see the very high and very low tides. A long drive along the beautiful Fundy Shore the next day.
Crossed the Confederation Bridge for a relaxing few days on Prince Edward Island.
Took the car ferry back to Nova Scotia on our way for a couple of days on Cape Breton Island and the Atlantic shore.
Enjoyed watching the Tidal Bore waves on rivers near Truro and Maitland, Nova Scotia.
Spent an unexpectedly wonderful evening and morning in Halifax, Nova Scotia before flying on NW Airlines to Detriot, Minneapolis, and ... getting in too late on our delayed flight to catch our connection home.
NW put us up in a hotel, bought us dinner, and flew us to Kalispell midday on Friday. My car's battery had gone dead over the two weeks parked in the lot, so we needed AAA to give us a jump. The cats were VERY happy to see us again.

Wildlife: TWO Bald eagles were perched on the log outside our bedroom window last Friday -- a mature adult with a bright white head, and an immature eaglet who was all mottled brown.



Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Weather: Peter Tosh sang: I'm a-comin' in hot, hot, hot... and so are the temperatures.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site Click six times to help six ways.

In The Community: I am starting my sixth year at the Hockaday Museum of Art taking a Sunday shift -- the last one of this season. Linda Engh-Grady has been our Executive Director for almost four of them, and this institution has never been more prosperous, or presented better shows!
The Hockaday's Web Site
Anyone who lives near us, or will be visiting Kalispell owes themselves the favor of seeing our exhibit of portraits by Winold Reiss, Artist of the Great Northern Railway.

Media Watch: I happened to see several movies from the mid-30's featuring William Powell. What a fabulous actor! He seemed to have an offhand, effortless style, but I'm sure he just made his acting LOOK easy. I wonder if he was aware of Stanislavski's "Method?" It's certainly possible, since they were contemporaries. I wonder because his style seems so modern -- although he specialized in light comedy, rather that the Angst-driven roles of Brando and Dean which made "Method Acting" famous after WWII.
Fashions of 1934 (1934) Director; William Dieterle, Writing credits; Harry Collins, Warren Duff, Cast; William Powell, Bette Davis (!) as a New York debutante, Frank McHugh, and Warner Bros/Busby Berkeley stalwart Hugh Herbert. Speaking of Busby Berkeley, he choreographed a bizarre dream sequence in this movie featuring hosts of near-nude chourines waving Sally Rand fans, and harps made out of living starlets with beaded strings. (see photo below)
Star of Midnight (1935) Director; Stephen Roberts, Writing credits; Howard J. Green, Edward Kaufman. Cast; William Powell, Ginger Rogers, and Gene Lockhart as Powell's loyal butler Swayne. This is a light-hearted caper flick, very similar to 1934's The Thin Man, only with a young Ginger Rogers, on the threshold of stardom, playing an adoring fan of a hard-drinking playboy lawyer. She calls Powell "Sherlock," and he calls her "Watson." Everybody's pretty funny, including Swayne.
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936) Director; Stephen Roberts, Writing credits; James Edward Grant, Anthony Veiller, Cast; William Powell, Jean Arthur, and Eric Blore, the great comic actor, as Powell's butler this time around. One could almost see this as a sequel, or remake, of Star of Midnight, except that the characters' names are different. Jean Arthur is drop-dead gorgeous in her youth, but she's not as as sweet or as effortlessly sexy as the young Ginger Rogers. Her well-crafted British acting style clashes with Powell's outwardly easygoing manner. The obvious difference in their ages is a bit annoying too.
Later that year, he would team up again with Montana's own Myrna Loy in After The Thin Man, with young James Stewart as the villain. The makeup artists did a better job in minimizing the generation gap between the principals, and the two lead actors made Cinema history with their chemistry.
A William Powell Filmography There are others too.
A better-than average Myrna Loy Site Her name continues on in Montana's state capitol with
The Myrna Loy Center for the Performing and Media Arts
An enthusiastic fan's shrine to Ginger Rogers Ms. Rogers DESERVES all the fans she can muster -- she corresponded with my wife and I in the early 90's. What a nice, gracious lady!
Bombshell's Bette Davis Gallery This actor was almost a force of nature, but I wouldn't want any part of her sad life.
Reel Classics -- Eric Blore He and Edward Everett Horton were two of the funniest men on the planet. I'd suggest Top Hat, with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, for an example of the two English comedians together in one film.
Just so we don't forget anyone:
Reel Classics: Jean Arthur
Reel Classics: Gene Lockhart
Edward Everett Horton on TV
Reel Classics: Edward Everett Horton

Busby Berkeley's "Living Harp" vision
from Fashions of 1934

Wildlife: The Red Wing Blackbirds seem to have replaced the Yellowheads at the backyard feeders. Their songs are prettier, but it seems a bit early for migration.



Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Weather: Hot, and getting hotter. There have been cool winds at my house that mitigate the heat somewhat.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site It's so EASY to help.

Watching The Skies: Air Force fighter jets have been cruising all over the valley this morning, getting ready for the Air Show, I guess. I was born near an air base in Salt Lake City, and I remember this kind of noise and activity from a young age. Now they make the jet pilots go to the west desert beyond the Great Salt Lake to practice their shenanigans, and a number of them unfortunately die in accidents.

In The Community: Oh Man! Look what our Information Officer sent out:
They are in our backyard dancing in the sky as I write...Tomorrow is your chance to meet a Blue Angels pilot and recruiter.
Invite your friends, family or anyone who might be interested in career opportunities in the military. The recruiting session will take place on our campus in BSS 132 and 133 from 8:30-9:30 a.m. The Blue Angels are scheduled to fly nearly 70 air shows at 34 locations in the United States during the 2005 season.
I don't work tomorrow, so I won't be involved -- feels like the 50's again.

Media Watch: NASA and the Space Shuttle are all over satellite TV. It's too bad that they are "grounding" the Shuttle fleet -- especially for Hubble's sake, but I'm very glad they're working on the problems which killed the whole crew on the previous flight. NASA's Return to Flight Page.
Robin and Marian from 1970-something on TCM. Great acting (Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Shaw), but a lousy movie. Too bad -- Richard Lester, the director, has also made some of my favorite flicks: A Hard Day's Night, Three (& Four) Musketeers, and Superman II.

Wildlife: A Bald Eagle sat on the log outside of our bedroom window yesterday morning. For some reason, the cats stayed close to the house on the deck until it flew away.



Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Weather: Arts in the Park weekend has been absolutely perfect -- even the mild shower on Friday afternoon was welcome. The line-up of cars getting ready for the Glacier Street Rod Association's 'Rod Run' parade on Saturday backed up for over a mile into the westside neighborhood of Kalispell. Membership is restricted to cars from 1957 or earlier, so there were no multiple headlights or crazy-fins -- which reached their zany peak from 1958 to 1960 -- there were a lot of pretty vehicles, though.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site Click six times to help six different charities!

In The Community: I'm back behind the desk at the Hockaday Museum after a photo-visit to Arts in the Park. Yesterday was one of the best-attended days in the 35 year history of the event! I'm missing the best music of the weekend too -- Steve Eckles, Tra La Gael, and Dave Walburn. The great weather has everyone smiling.
Hockaday Museum of Art (see photo below)

Media Watch: I finished my two-dollar trade edition of Goodnight, Sweet Prince by Gene Fowler, a biography of his friend John Barrymore (1882 - 1942).
Web page about the Barrymore family.
It seems as if Barrymore's last decade was hard. His memory progressivly failed him, and as his body deteriorated from the effects of alcoholism (whether he was drinking or not) he intentionally made a career out of parodying himself in his public appearences. It may have humiliated his friends, and probably wasn't helpful to his self-esteem, but the work paid the bills, which piled up with psychotic rapidity on Barrymore's part.
It seems like Grand Hotel may have been the last glimmer of his genius captured on film -- at least Greta Garbo appreciated his work in that movie -- and that means something.
Others may disagree, but I am personally far from offended at his portrayal of a seriptiously helpful police inspector in the Bulldog Drummond potboilers. He played the role so good-naturedly that he elevated potential D-movie dreariness to a higher level of joy.
His equally hard-drinking friend W.C. Fields suffered from a chronic memory problem too, especially after making Never Give A Sucker An Even Break. Many big checks were written out to him, and cashed, but Fields wasn't really able to perform successfully, despite trying, from about 1941 until his death in 1946.
My own father, who also suffered from alcoholism, was very fond of the films of W.C. Fields -- the wit of both Barrymore and Fields was inspirational to him. Whatever kinship he felt for their common affliction was something he never spoke about, and can only be guessed at, but he sure laughed like hell when he read this book.

My friend Karen Black (left) manages the espresso booth
at Arts in the Park for yet another year.

Wildlife: The elusive Golfinches are around more often, so we put out a Niger Seed feeder to keep 'em coming.



Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Weather: Another hot, dry day. Lightning strikes have started wildfires near Dillon, Montana, six hours away.

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site Click six times, and help six charities!

In The Community: Arts In The Park starts tomorrow morning, so that's where the boss is tonight, and why I'm at the Hockaday so much lately.
Arts In The Park - Greatest Outdoor Art Show in the Northwest USA.
Not as great as our Winold Reiss portrait exhibit, though. (see photo below)
I am teaching the video production class how to use the college's Kron Editor, so I'm behind in getting Current Events onto Bresnan Cable. I have the 'Bibler Gardens' sequence running on the public access channel now, but the rest of it will have to wait until next week.

Media Watch: I'm glad I taped the broadcast of The Fire Next Time, a friend of mine in Washington State needs to see it.

Exhibits at the Hockaday