Movies Watched -- Three Coins in a Fountain (1954)

102 minute running time so just a couple minutes over the ideal … sort of a love letter to Rome (and Venice) .. American “girls” in post-war Italy surrounded by Italian stallions … pre-women’s lib, once again … the oldest lady should have become a cat lady instead of marrying that insufferable old American prick (played by Clifton Webb) — that third of the love story didn’t make any sense. Definitely give it a miss unless you’re interested in what male-female courtship rituals in the mid-1950s were supposed to look like (“predatory dames”).

Bosley Crowther’s review.

Things can happen that American girls don't understand.

Movies Watched -- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

102 minute running time so only two minutes over the ideal length … a Stanley Donen MGM movie musical from the mid-1950s … pre-women’s lib … lots of comical fistfights (combined with acrobatic dancing) and kidnapping of womenfolk … silly fun but much weaker than Singin’ in the Rain (which was great). See it if you like musicals, but certainly doesn’t get a green-go rating.

We ain't never hardly never seen a girl

God Does Not Play Dice

From Denis Brian’s interview on Booknotes:

“He was hated by the Nazis because he was almost regarded as the representative of Jews in Germany, the representative of Jewish intellectuals. And he spoke out against the Nazis. And, in fact, when they put a price on his head and people threatened to kill him and he was in Belgium and being protected by the queen of Belgium, who was a friend of his, strangely enough, and who secretly -- she had detectives guard him, when his wife begged him to stop talking out against the Nazis, to keep quiet, his life was in danger, he refused to keep quiet. He said, ‘I wouldn't be Einstein if I kept quiet.’”

Do Away With You All

From Sarah Brady’s interview on Booknotes:

“Scott was a little boy about 5. We went to go swimming with some friends, and they had the pickup truck from her business, and the gentleman who worked for her was driving. And Scott hopped in and I hopped in to the pickup truck, and Scott picked up off the seat what we both thought was a toy gun, and he sort of started in to play with it. And I said, ‘Scott.’ And I took it from him. I said, ‘You don't even point a toy gun at anyone.’ And then I realized it was not a toy gun, it was a fully loaded little .22, very much like the one that had shot Jim.“

The Best Political Campaign Manager in History

From John Brady’s interview on Booknotes:

“There is a quality of desperation in this religious search. It has, to me, more the aura of someone who is looking for religion not out of fervor, but out of fear … These prayers are all pretty much of the quality that, `Dear God, if you will help me through this, if you will make me better, if you will give me a victory in this, I will be the best foot soldier you could ever want in your army.' There's usually a quid pro quo in Lee's prayers, and I think that he was trying to make a deal with God, much as you'd make a deal with someone in order to get a political victory. I think that was Lee's nature. I think that was the essence of Lee to the end: trying to manipulate, trying to manage people, trying to have his way with them….“

Write a Letter to God

From Melba Pattillo Beals’ interview on Booknotes:

“President Clinton--then Billy Clinton to us--Billy brought us together in 1987 at the mansion--the mansion where Governor Faubus had sat and planned our demise.“

Everyone knows William Jefferson Clinton was our first black president.

Custer's Luck

From Louise Barnett’s interview on Booknotes:

“[Custer] left her [his wife] nothing but debts. This was quite shocking. He had speculated in railroad stocks shortly before his death and incurred considerable losses, over $8,000, which at the time was a very large amount of money, particularly for someone on a lieutenant colonel's salary. And, of course, he did not expect to not to live to repay this. But Libby was left with that debt, which she had known nothing about until his assets were totaled up. So she started out with that burden. However, when she died, she left an estate of over $125,000, which in the 1930s was obviously a considerable amount of money. She was quite lucky in being on the lecture circuit and then making careful investments.“

Just Plain Cussedness

From Bonnie Angelo’s interview on Booknotes:

“When Ronald Reagan heard George Bush telling about how the chauffeurs would race to take the kids to school, Reagan just would kind of roll his eyes, because in his really poor, poor growing up years, he'd walk through, you know, two feet of snow, whatever length of distance it was to school. Nobody took him. He couldn't even, you know, ride a bus. So their lives were so different.“

Movies Watched -- Dial M for Murder (1954)

106 minute running time so about six minutes too long … in WarnerColor … Hitchcock adaptation of stage play … still on my Princess Grace Kelly kick, once again she plays a British wife with a fake posh accent … it’s well made, should be included among the best movies made in 1954, widely considered a classic no doubt. Recommended, green go.

Bosley Crowther’s review.

Where’s the nearest police station?

The Most Reproduced Image in the History of Photography

From James Bradley’s interview on Booknotes:

“Most of those guys supposedly ‘captured’ were Korean laborers, slave laborers who gave up. The Japanese who were ‘captured’ generally had a hole in a part of their body, and maybe half of their blood system was already out of their bodies, and they were unconscious. The Japanese were not surrendering. Germans surrendered. Italians surrendered. English surrendered. Americans surrendered in World War II. Japanese, no.“