The Atlas Coffee and Bean Company's Untold True Story

*Opening soon is the movie 'Atlas Shrugged Part I' from the novel of Ayn Rand. I probably won't get to see it in a theater, but I look hopefully to an early television/cable showing. The story is just as pertinent now as it was in 1952 when the book was published. The book itself is rather lengthy, so the producers expect to make three parts of the movie story. Although I believe much of the objectivism of Ayn Rand, I don't agree with her religious views. She's an atheist. And I can't understand people who take the atheistic view of life. It's so sad and dreary. And it offers no real hope for anything. Might as well be a rock on the ground.

*A Vonage commercial includes a, supposedly, real customer to spout praises for its Internet phone service. But do you think identifying these people is a good idea? The first one says his name is Sucker Shmalla. That's probably a fine Indian name, but proudly declaring you are Sucker [and a small one at that] doesn't do Mr Shmalla or Vonage much good, does it? Don't the advertisers check these things out before using them?

*Why it's not a good idea for judges to become humorously creative. -- "A lawyer defending a man accused of burglary tried this creative defense: 'My client merely inserted his arm into the window and removed a few trifling articles. His arm is not himself, and I fail to see how you can punish the whole individual for an offense committed by his limb.' 'Well put,' the judge replied. 'Using your logic, I sentence the defendant's arm to one year's imprisonment. He can accompany it or not, as he chooses.' The defendant smiled. With his lawyer's assistance he detached his artificial limb, laid it on the bench, and walked out." [GetAmused.com] -- Usually it's the criminal who acts stupidly, isn't it?

*More from GetAmused.com - "Steven Richard King was arrested for trying to hold up a Bank of America branch without a weapon. King used a thumb and a finger to simulate a gun, but unfortunately, he failed to keep his hand in his pocket. --- In Redondo Beach, Calif., a police officer arrested a driver after a short chase and charged him with drunk driving. Officer Joseph Fonteno's suspicions were aroused when he saw the white Mazda MX-7 rolling down Pacific Coast Highway with half of a traffic-light pole, including the lights, lying across its hood. The driver had hit the pole on a median strip and simply kept driving. According to Fonteno, when the driver was asked about the pole, he said, 'It came with the car when I bought it.'" --- You can tell what I was reading this afternoon.

*A Lyrica ad has a women declaring that she just found out that we have nerves connecting with the brain and sending pain signals. Huh? Doesn't every first grader know that? Just how dumb do these advertisers think the average American is? I'd fire that ad firm post haste if I was Lyrica.

*it just occurred to me. Questions and answers on 'Family Feud' are supposedly based on 'nationwide surveys.' Any of you souls out there ever participated in these surveys? I know I haven't. I don't know anyone who has. So, I wonder whether they ever occurred. Or were they made up?

*Speaking of coffee [we were?], 90% of coffee around older Western movies and television shows seems to spontaneously generate on the set. We rarely see anyone making it. But it always seems to be there. Another thing, while we're at it. Dry beans require at least a day soaking in water before being cooked. Of course, you can also pre-boil them to get them tender, but even that takes three or four hours. I can almost see that happening with a chuck wagon cook, but not the cowboy on the trail. There are always beans available to have with his meat and bread. Bread? Another anomaly.

*'The Conspirator' in the movies is said to be based on an untold true story. Eh? The Civil War has been over 146 years, and no one ever heard the story? Sorry, I don't buy it. Nobody can keep a secret for 146 years only to reveal it in 2011 for a movie. Many people can't keep a secret for more than an hour without spilling the beans. This 'untold true story' had to have been related in a bar scene some place, at some time. Many bartenders have some very tricky secrets under their vests. We find out about them after bartenders' conventions.

*Why do so many people in the movies give up so quickly when they have a gun pulled on them, especially by a known killer? I recognize the unpreventable panic, but in most cases they're going to be killed anyway; so why not give it a last try to forestall it? Another happening in the movies is the chase. Whether it's a monster, an animal, or the bad guys, the chasee always runs in a straight line. Why? Usually, there're woods or houses or somethings to the left or right. He/She can go there. This is especially advisable when being chased by someone in a plane or car. Why get run down. Now I know that Cary Grant had to go in a straight line. There was nowhere else to go on the flat and bare area surrounding him---though in his case, I would have run toward the plane. [But then it wouldn't be cinematic history, n'est pas?]

But if you zig and zag and go at right angles, it seems to me that you'd have a better chance of survival. And for crying out loud, don't stop and look behind you. You know there's someone[s] chasing you. Turning around just lets them close the gap some more.

So, run like hell, don't keep looking behind you, and run into the woods if necessary. In keeping with W C Fields, don't give the sucker [pursuer] an even break.

Junior Frolics & Associates Part 6 of 8

'The Million Dollar Movie' [M$DM] was an interesting concept. The same movie played at 7:30 pm and then again at 10 pm [during the day on weekends] on WOR-TV, Channel 9, a local channel. And this for an entire week! Some of the times changed over the years, but the M$DM lasted for quite some time: 'King Kong', 'Yankee Doodle Dandy', 'Mighty Joe Young', 'Three Husbands', 'Adventure in Baltimore' etc. Not every movie could be a M$DM. Only ones which could gather your attention over and over and not become stale---and me and Mary Anne could attest to that. We watched some of them weekday evenings at the early showing, and on weekends during the daylight hours. [Movies changed on Mondays.]

You don't see that kind of station or network dedication today. One exception is one of the true marathons of one show I've ever seen on TV. Spike TV showed CSI for an entire week. All the time. Every hour a different episode. From 9 am thru 3 am. From Monday through Friday. It filled in a lot of dead time as background for these essays when nothing very interesting was on any of the other stations. I usually have the TV on for company these days, and I can write these essays while they keep me interested between sentences. [USA does have frequent mini-marathons with Law and Order CI or Law and Order: SVU for a whole day] Other than the M$DM, there weren't any marathons in early TV.

Running times for the 'Million Dollar Movie' depended on the length of the movies, and how much had been cut to disinfect them for our poor minds. But, the movies were generally an hour and a half, some two. There were fewer commercials at the time [yet we still complained.] These days, with so many cable channels, you can see one movie a hundred times over the period of a few months. But it'll be hit or miss and won't be on a regular schedule. And I've seen movies on modern channels interrupted by numerous commercials---often at a poorly appointed time---the break often going up to three minutes. TV film editors continue to be lacking a cylinder or two.

Among the movies I particularly remember from that M$DMovie' series were 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' [1942] with Jimmie Cagney and Joan Leslie ['…born on the fourth of July...'] the story of George M. Cohan, the prolific composer and showman, and “Mighty Joe Young' (1949) with Terry Moore. This latter movie featured a stirring rendition of 'Beautiful Dreamer,' proving that the right music can decidedly tame the wild beast. It tamed Mr. Joseph Young of Africa, and it can always tame me. Mary Anne and I loved those two movies, and when they were on the M$DM, we must have seen each one a dozen times during its week. They were definitely one of the movies we had “seen before.'

I still remember lying on the floor watching Jimmie Cagney faking old age, kicking up his heels, dancing around the stage, singing, marching with his movie family, and being rightly humble with President Roosevelt. The music sold me on the pre-war tin-pan-alley tunes. As for Mr. Joseph Young of Africa, I can still see him playing tug of war with the 'strong' men, of whom Primo Carnera was the only one I recognized as being authentic, though I had heard of the Swedish Angel, Killer Kuwalski, and Man Mountain Dean. Later in the movie, Joe was a sight riding in the back of a moving truck, peaking out, shaking his fist, and then climbing out to scale a burning building to save the orphans. Hot stuff! And that fire scene had an orange tint throughout, reminiscent (I suppose) of the silent movie era---although I didn't know that until later when I had a color TV.