Joseph Sciuto's Blog: A Curious View: A Compilation of Short Stories by Joseph Sciuto, page 9

“SURVIVING THE FOREST,” BY ADIVA GEFFEN.

 A couple of days ago I was looking at President Biden signing a cooperation agreement with Japan and  South Korea at Camp David. I turned to my wife, who knows her history, and asked, “How many Americans do you think know how significant this agreement is?”

She replied, “Maybe one percent.”

I agreed with her. It is often forgotten what the occupying Japanese did to the Korean people before and during World War 2 (not to mention what they did to the Chinese and the Philippine people). It could easily be called a Holocaust or genocide.

For a good part of my life, I refused to ever visit Germany, Japan, or Italy because of their crimes against humanity. I eventually dropped Italy from the list, mainly because they were fairly inept when it came to warfare, and partly because all my ancestors are Italian and they did not, from what I studied, participate in Mussolini’s dream.

Adiva Geffen’s book, “Surviving The Forest,” is about a beautiful and happy young woman named Sarah, but called, Shurka, and her family having to move from their village, where supposedly the Jews and Gentiles, got along beautifully…celebrating holidays and birthdays together into a neighboring Ghetto and then into the depths of a forest to survive against the Nazis (and also the Polish turncoats) desire to eliminate all Jews.

Shurka’s story is similar but unique like all stories about the Holocaust. It examines the inhumanity  that different races and religions can practice against other human beings…literally no different from them.

What makes Ms. Geffen’s story somewhat unique is that the story does not end with the end of the war but continues and examines the pogroms against Jews in Poland and elsewhere on the continent after the war…not nearly to the extent of what the Germans managed to do but they nevertheless existed.

Israel did not exist as a country until 1948 and the British who controlled the area, refused to let Jewish refugees into what is known today as the country of Israel. It is especially during this time that the pogroms against many of the Jewish people continued as they waited to travel and live either in America or Israel. Inhumanity has no boundaries, as we are now, once again, seeing here in the U.S.A.

Ms. Geffen lives in Israel and is regarded as one of the best writers in the country. “Surviving The Forest,”is her examination of the holocaust before, during, and after World War 2 and it is well worth reading.

I imagine if the Jewish and Korean people have managed to cooperate with the once brutal regimes of the Japanese and Germans anything is possible and surely preferable. But one should never forget history because that is when such brutality tends to repeat.

“LAST STOP, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, THE BIOGRAPHY OF: ROD SERLING,” BY JOEL ENGEL

Many years ago, I was sitting in a bar in Burbank, drinking a beer, while waiting for a prescription to be filled next door at the pharmacy. I picked up a discarded magazine and started reading an interview with the great music producer, George Martin. At the end of the interview he used a saying I heard many times before but coming from him it affected me differently. He said, “If you have heroes, do yourself a favor and never meet them because you will only be disappointed.”

I worked at a very famous/infamous restaurant where I came in contact with famous people from all walks of life, but especially the movie business. Whether greeting people at the door or waiting tables I met famous people all the time. I had many conversations with a few of them over many years. My conversations with Ray Liotta were so great that when he died it was like I had lost a close friend. The same with Sam Shepard, and Don Rickles. I would say, that 98 percent of the so-called famous people I came in contact with were polite and nice. The two percent that were far from nice or polite, I lost all respect for, regardless of their accomplishments.

I have never been star struck nor have I ever asked for an autograph. In truth, all my heroes…except for a few…have been dead for awhile and in some cases nearly a thousand years. When a friend of mine asked me if I would like to meet Martin Scorsese I politely said “no,” the words of George Martin ringing loudly in my ears. First impressions can seriously be long lasting and I wasn’t going to take a chance. When given an opportunity to meet Frank Sinatra I almost gave in but George Martin’s wisdom won out, again.

So you must be saying what does this have to do with a biography on the late Rod Serling. Another thing I very, very seldom do is read biographies on movie people, dead or alive. But of late, I have made a few exceptions. I read a biography on the late Mary Tyler Moore because for over twenty years I walked by the studio her husband and she made famous, MTM, nearly every day. I learned a lot about this amazing lady that I had no idea about and was happy I read the book.

Rod Serling has been an individual who has fascinated me nearly my whole life and there are three reasons why: 1) The brilliance of The Twilight Zone. 2)His military service during World War 2. He tried to enlist but was turned down because he unknowingly received his draft notice. He could have asked for a deferment because he was accepted at a number of universities but declined. When he told the Colonel in charge that he wanted to be a paratrooper he was rejected because of his height. He was 5ft.5inches tall. He continued to harass the Colonel until the Colonel finally gave in and said, “if you want it that bad, go ahead. You’re in.” He passed basic training and was assigned to the 511th paratrooper infantry division. Being a paratrooper is the most dangerous job you could have in the military, even more dangerous than being a regular infantry combat soldier. Rod Serling was sent to the Pacific arena where he and the rest of the 511th division saw some of the worst combat in the entire war. The 511th was spared the attack on Japan when the Atomic bombs were dropped and the war ended. Ironically, later in life he became a strong advocate against the use and building of nuclear weapons. 3) When asked what he wanted on his tombstone after he had become famous he simply replied, “He left friends.”

Joel Engel’s biography, ” Last Stop, The Twilight Zone, The Biography of : Rod Serling,” was the first biography to come out about Mr. Serling ten years after his death at the age of 5o. It is a comprehensive look at a complex individual who grew up in Binghamton, N.Y., fought in World War 2, graduated from college where he ran the college newspaper, and went to New York City and found success on Kraft Television Theatre with a play called “Patterns,” and at Playhouse 90 television theatre with “Requiem for a Heavyweight.” Before and in-between these two successes there were many rejections of material he had submitted for publication. Rod Serling started his career when Television was in its infantry and companies who advertised on these programs literally had final say on what was acceptable and what wasn’t. Without their advertising dollars there was no programming. This would be a sour point with Mr. Serling throughout his career, even when he became a spokesperson for many of the companies that controlled what the audience saw or didn’t see.

As television grew Mr. Serling moved his family to Los Angeles where most of the T.V. shows were now shot. He was a prolific writer, and when I say prolific I mean prolific. He literally hit it out of the ball park when it came to submitting material. With the success of “The Twilight Zone,” he was able to easily sell many of his rejected scripts that he had piled up throughout the years. He wrote two-thirds of “The Twilight Zone,” episodes over its five year run which is simply astonishing.

Mr. Serling adapted fairly quickly to Hollywood. In no time he was sporting a tan, driving around in convertibles, and smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, even though he was warned numerous times by his doctors that he had to stop smoking. The smoking got so bad that he lost his circulation in one of his fingers and couldn’t type anymore. From then on, he tape recordered his scripts and plays and his longtime secretary Majorie Langsford would transcribe the recordings.
The success of “The Twilight Zone,” made Mr. Serling very possibly the most famous writer in America at the time. One reason being that he narrated parts of each show and was on camera for the audience to see. Mr. Serling was a very generous individual who gave to many charities, picked up almost every check when out to dinner with friends, left three-hundred dollar tips, and never turned down a person who asked for an autograph.

Despite the success of “The Twilight Zone,” he continued to write scripts, plays, and adapt other writers’ novels for the movies or T.V. at an unusually fast pace. He was naturally paid handsomely for his work but very little of it ever made it to the big screen or T.V., and if it did it was heavily edited by another writer.

Mr. Engel contributes this desire to continually write at such a fast and prolific pace, sport a tan, drive beautiful cars, and always wanting to be in the spotlight to an “Inferior Complex,” because of his height…5 feet, 5 inches tall, and a latent knowledge that he was meant to die young like his father who passed away while he was in the military.

Mr. Serling would never again reach the peak he hit with “The Twilight Zone.” “Night Gallery,” was a very short lived show which the author attributes to lack of good material. Strangely, this reader at times seemed to get the impression that Mr. Engel, the author, got a certain satisfaction out of Mr. Serling’s failures. He put a heavy emphasis on his failures, and his constant need to be recognized, and what he perceived as an ‘inferior complex,’ coupled with an obsessive compulsive disorder.

After finishing reading this book, I wished I had continued to follow Mr. Martin’s advice about meeting your heroes…or in this case reading biographies about people who you greatly admire.

After a little time passed, I realized that what I read and which disturbed me was the author’s impressions of Mr. Serling. Mr. Serling suffered from insomnia, and his compulsion to constantly work might not have been so much the effects of an ‘inferior complex,’ but his experiences during the war which were gruesome. Even though he wrote about the insanity of war quite a bit, what he and his buddies experienced fighting the Japanese was never far away and when he did get some sleep he dreamed of his military experiences but strangely enough most of the dreams had a happy ending.

Mr. Serling was a great talent, undeniably flawed, and who lived with many regrets but in his short life he contributed handsomely and a person who actually lives life will always have their share of regrets like Mr. Serling had. Even in “The Twilight Zone,” regrets among many of the characters played a major part in driving the magnificence of the show.

“SONGBIRDS,” BY CHRISTY LEFTERI.

After reading Ms. Lefteri’s, “The Beekeeper of Aleppo,” I simply had to read another novel by this truly gifted writer. I didn’t expect it to be any better than the previous mentioned novel, but I was hoping for something almost as good, compelling, and enlightening and My God did my wish come true.

“Songbirds,” by Ms. Lefteri is based on a true story which takes place on the Island of Cyprus against the backdrop of the Greek and Turkish war over forty years ago.

The novel takes place in the present, and it takes a sobering and heart throbbing look at female migrant workers, indentured servants, maids, and waitresses, who the authorities look upon as barely human and when they disappear under unusual circumstances don’t bothered to investigate. The migrants are not only there to hopefully pursue a better life and save money to send home to their poverty stricken families, but because the citizens of the island want them there because they are a source of cheap labor which its citizens don’t have no desire to do.

The story centers on the beautiful Nisha, a native of Sri Lanka who leaves her mother and daughter behind and sends the money she makes working as a maid for Petra, a widowed mother, and her young daughter Aliki. Nisha is not only a beautiful lady but she has the heart of an angel, and in no time Alika thinks more of her as a mother than her own mother.

Petra accepts this fact and is amazed at Nisha’s knowledge and patience. But it is not until Nisha vanishes on a Sunday night, leaving behind all her valuables and passport, that Petra realizes how very special Nisha really is and how important she is to her and her daughter.

Petra goes to the police but they just brush her off and say that she probably went back to her native country, disregarding the simple fact that she left everything of value behind.

Unable to accept this nonsense, she starts her own investigation, with the help of Nisha’s boyfriend.
It is during their investigation that she discovers the dehumanization of the migrants by the authorities and citizens of the Island.

“Songbirds,” is a powerful, eye-opening story that will simply keep you reading. Like, “The Beekeeper of Aleppo,” it leaves you with a disturbing look at humanity with occasional glimpses of hope. In many ways, it reminded me of the political, ugly, and disturbing insanity that is coming out of the mouths of our politicians right here in the U.S., and being cheered on by a large percentage of our population. How very sad.

“BLACKBIRD HOUSE,” BY ALICE HOFFMAN.

What a wonderful, mesmerizing collection of short stories from this extremely talented author. The stories, nearly twenty in all, are connected by a run down house on a large property in Cape Cod. The stories span over two centuries, starting with the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War 2, Korea, Vietnam and right up to the present.

The owners of the house, and there are many, come from all walks of life, starting with a sailor and his family, and ending with a young lady, Emma, who has inherited the property from her parents who are quite rich.

The owners are all unique and in a strange way represent America from its inception to the present. A simply riveting collection of stories. Thank you Ms. Hoffman.

“THE BILL OF OBLIGATIONS,” BY RICHARD HAASS

Joseph Sciuto

Author 8 books126 followersJuly 26, 2023

Richard Haass’ “The Bill Of Obligations: The Ten Habits Of Good Citizens,” is a book which should be mandatory reading in grammar schools, high schools, Colleges, Graduate schools, trade schools, etc. One should not confuse OBLIGATIONS with Rights. Rights are conferred upon all citizens and non-citizens and one could go to jail for disobeying one’s rights. Obligations are habits and behaviors, that one would wish all politicians and citizens lived by.

The Obligations Mr. Haass’ lists are: 1) Be Informed. 2) Get Involved. 3)Stay Open to Compromise. 4) Remain Civil. 5) Reject Violence. 6) Value Norms. 7)Promote The Common Good. 8)Respect Government Service. 9) SUPPORT THE TEACHING OF CIVICS. 10)Put Country First.

If all Americans lived by these obligations we wouldn’t have to worry so much about our democracy failing…but this is all a fantasy.

I highlighted, Support the teaching Of Civics,” because if you ever wonder how a two time impeached President, found guilty of sexual assault, called the service men and women who died for this country suckers, took money out of a charity for children with cancer to have a portrait painted of himself, was found guilty of tax fraud, is currently under indictment…37 times…for stealing classified information, indicted in New York for using hush money to shut up a porn star before he was elected President, will soon be indicted in Georgia for attempting to defraud the voters of that state, and will soon be indicted for trying to overthrow the legally elected President of the U.S. Joe Biden and planning a coup, etc…

If you wonder how a person like this, who is proud of never reading books and thinks President Andrew Jackson was president during the Civil War, can still excite and have the support of about 25 percent of the population it might all come down to never learning civics in school or for that matter the actual history of our country. Civics is a dying “subject” in schools across our country.

Civics teaches us about the three branches of government, The Declaration Of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, The Constitution , The Bill of Rights, and all the additional amendments which have been added. It is a study guide to how our country functions as a democracy, and when individuals have never taken a civics course is it any wonder that they would cheer on an illiterate, egoistical, person who puts himself above his country? A criminal in every way.

I highly recommend this book.

ALAN ALDA’S, “THINGS I OVERHEARD WHILE TALKING TO MYSELF.”

Alan Alda is a wonderful actor, director, and writer and so much more. In fact, I will go so far as to call him a “Renaissance Man,” in the DA Vinci mode.

Mr. Alda’s, “Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself,” is a testament to the above statement. Besides being on one of the biggest TV shows ever, M*A*S*H*,he also spend eleven years as host of “Scientific American Frontiers,” where he insisted on meeting and interviewing all the scientists himself. His curiosity is immeasurable and before speaking before a conference of experts on Thomas Jefferson, he went to China in the hope of finding out something about Jefferson that not even the historians knew, and he found it out in a rice field.

He is currently a visiting Professor at Stony Brook University’s Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. He wrote the play “Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie” and starred and help write the play “QED” about physicist Richard Feynman.

He is an empathic and humble man and his inspirational speeches before scientific, medical, and theater students (just to name a few) is reason enough to read his book. It should be mandatory for all college graduates to read because his wisdom and knowledge about life might be more important than anything most students ever learn in the classroom.

Highly, highly recommend.

“THE BEEKEEPER OF ALEPPO,” BY CHRISTY LEFTERI

In Europe and the United States we hear a lot about the immigrant problem, and in all honesty it is a problem. What seems to get lost in all the noise is the reason for the problem. People just don’t pick up and leave their country where they have lived their whole lives, like their parents and grandparents before them. It’s usually because of a famine, a war, an autocratic regime bend on having complete control, drugs, and human trafficking.

What gets lost in the problem is the human aspect, and when we stop realizing that immigrants are human beings, like you and I, with families and children, cares and worries, our humanity often seems to dissipate.

Ms. Lefteri’s novel, “The Beekeeper of Aleppo,” puts the spotlight on one family. Nuri and Afra, a husband and wife, and their 7 year old child Sami who is killed by a Syrian bomb while his mother watches in horror, and in so doing goes blind. They are forced to leave their home in Aleppo because if they don’t they will most likely be killed like so many of their friends and families. They hope to migrate to England where their friend and Nuri’s business partner Mustafa has successfully migrated.

Their journey is one of heartbreak, post trauma stress, inhumanity, and humanity and caring that shows fellow human beings at their very best. The story of this one family and the people and circumstances they encounter is also the story of most immigrants on some level or other fleeing their native countries to keep their families safe and hopefully one day returning back to their native countries.

“DREAMERS OF THE DAY,” BY MARY DORIA RUSSELL.

“Dreamers of the Day,” is not the literary gems that “Doc, The Sparrow, A Thread of Grace,” were but, My God, it is so good.

The lead character and narrator, Agnes, is a forty year old school teacher in Ohio. She has been told that, unlike her sister Lillian, she is not the pretty one in her family. When the influenza virus kills everyone in her family, she is left with a huge inheritance.

She decides she needs a change. After all, at forty she has not been anywhere and she dresses like an old maid. She goes to an upscale clothing store in Cleveland and a young saleswoman Mildred literally does a complete make-over of Agnes. Out with the old and in with the new and suddenly the not so pretty Agnes turns out to be quite pretty.

She books a trip to Egypt. The year is 1921. Staying at upscale hotel she is drawn into the company of Winston Churchill, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia, not Peter O’Toole) and Lady Gertrude Bell, to name just a few. In just a span of a couple of weeks she becomes witness to the haphazard redrawing of the Middle East and the foundation of a treaty that has been labelled: The Peace to End all Peace. One hundred years later, one could still point to that map as almost every reason for all the wars and insanity that have taken place in the Middle East.

Little consideration for all the different sects of Islam, for the Jewish, Christian, and Hindu religions clashing with the Muslims and each other…and a total disregard for human life.

What a wonderful book. Highly recommend.

A CURIOUS VIEW: INTO THE DARK NIGHT WITH A LAUGH AND A CHEER: A TRIBUTE TO JOANN LILLY FUNICELL0

Many years ago when I used to go through one of my many severe bouts of depression, I used to go to a neighborhood park in Westwood or Studio City and sit on a bench, not far from a group of mothers who watched over their young children who were playing in the recreation area of the park. I never sat too close, and always with my back to the mothers and children, so they wouldn’t worry that I was some type of creep.

 

I always brought a book and pretended to be reading but anybody who walked by would know I was not reading but sitting there with my eyes closed. I would listen to the unfiltered, unpretentious, and unaffected laughter of the young children. Their laughter worked as well as any medicine I was on at the time, and after about forty-five minutes I would sit up and walk away and always think, “I have to remember to take my tape recorder next time,” but strangely enough I never brought a tape recorder and I sat on the benches in those parks many of times.

 

A few years before leaving lovely southern California, I used to go to the Smoke House restaurant in Burbank for lunch with my good friend Rod Lynch, his lovely wife Terri, JoAnn Funicello, and Gino…the elder statesman of the group.

 

Naturally, the gathering of this group was never shy about ordering a drink or two, and JoAnn’s unfiltered laughter throughout our gatherings was always a highlight. JoAnn was about 5’3” inches tall with a very attractive, simple, and innocent face like that of a child. She was very thin, and Rod would always force her to order a steak which she would obediently do. She would eat half the steak, and take the other half home.

 

After all, she was always too busy telling stories, laughing, listening to jokes and laughing some more. If strangers walked into the restaurant and heard the laughter coming from our table they would think, “My God, they’re having a lot of fun,” and they would be one hundred percent correct.

 

Shortly before leaving southern California, I stopped at the bar at the Smoke House to say good-bye to the bartender. It was after one of our lunches, and unbeknown to me, JoAnn, who I had thought left with Rod and company, tapped me on the shoulder and sat beside me. She had just had back surgery and she was in a lot of pain, but pain was never a good enough reason not to tell a joke she had forgotten to tell the group and have a good laugh and so she told the joke to me and we both had a good laugh.

 

Over the next 5 to 6 years, JoAnn and I kept in contact mostly through emails and a few times on the phone. About a year ago she told me she was going to have a lung transplant but before they would do the surgery she had to gain some weight. She gained weight, and they did the transplant but there were a number of complications. She was in rehab for a long time and had to learn many of the basics, such as speaking correctly but like a real trooper she made it out of rehab and was back at home.

 

We emailed each other a number of times after she got home, and then after a couple of messages I didn’t receive a reply. I didn’t think much of it because she had told me of a vacation her and her family were planning.

 

About a week ago my friend Rod called and told me JoAnn had passed away about a month ago. It was a shock and even though she had been through a lot there was always so much life to her… so much laughter and joy. It was as if the world had gone silent.

 

JoAnn Lilly Funicello during her career work at ICM, The Dick Clark Show, the George Lucas studios, and 20th Century Fox studio. She leaves behind her husband Joe Funicello, a daughter Jessica, and a multitude of friends.

 

A few days after I heard the news from Rod, I looked out my dining room window and for the first time in ages, I saw a group of children playing, laughing uncontrollably, and I simply closed my eyes and listened.

“MARY,” BY HERBIE J. PILATO

I usually do not read many books about celebrities, unless they have done something extraordinary like Hedy Lamarr, Rod Serling, James Steward, or Shirley Temple. It’s not that I have anything against actors or actresses, movie executives, writers, and directors because I don’t. I was just simply around them all the time.

Back a very long time ago, I read a couple of reviews for “Ordinary People,” which won the best picture, director, supporting actor awards at the Academy awards (beating out the great “Raging Bull). Mary Tyler Moore also received a best actress nomination but did not win.

A number of reviewers who praised her performance also went out of the way to say that the Mary Tyler Moore we saw in the movie, a stand offish and unlikeable mother, was more like the real Mary Tyler Moore in real life. I thought to myself at that time that that was pure bullshit. That Mrs. Moore in real life was more like Mary Richards on the great, “Mary Tyler Moore Show or more like Laura Petrie on the Dick Van Dyke Show.” The reason I came to this conclusion was because of the authenticity Mrs. Moore brought to both those roles. The Mary Tyler Moore in “Ordinary People,” was an actress giving a great performance.

For nearly 25 years of my life I lived right down the street from ‘MTM’ in beautiful Studio City, Ca.
‘MTM’ was the very successful company started by Mrs. Moore and her husband at the time Grant Tinker. MTM was a very small studio compared to studios like Warner Bros. or Disney but it had a charm and beauty and closeness about it that no other studio I had ever been on possessed. In a way, it was representative of the many wonderful T.V. sitcoms that were shot there.

“Mary, The Mary Tyler Moore Story,” by Herbie J. Pilato did clarify one thing for me and that was that Mary Tyler Moore in real life was more like Mary Richards and Laura Petrie, and not the mother in “Ordinary People.”

Mrs. Moore also exemplified the one principal that President Teddy Roosevelt often talked about in his speeches. The principal that if one is fortunate in life to possess large sums of money or notoriety, one has an obligation to give back and Mrs. Moore not only gave back with large contributions of money to the causes she believed in, such as animal rights, stem cell research, women’s rights, juvenile diabetes (which she suffered from) and childhood diseases but she also gave of her time, despite working all the time.

I enjoyed Mr. Pilato’s book but I’m certain they’re better books out there about this amazing women and icon.