Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 286
April 30, 2013
Today's Tale from Gun Nutty USA
I offer a daily item in this spot--some tragedy that's particularly horrid--but Joe Nocera at the NYT does a daily collection of incidents. Here's today's, plus some highlights:
Denver, Colo., police are investigating a Monday shooting that left an 8-year-old boy in critical condition. The boy was sitting in the backseat of a car driven by his parents when a bullet entered through the back, near the license plate. It is unclear if the car the boy sat in was targeted or in the wrong place at the wrong time.
—Denver Post
A man and woman were shot in front of their house in Dallas, Tex., by the woman’s ex-boyfriend Monday night. Both victims were shot multiple times. The man is expected to survive, but police say the woman is in critical condition. 32-year-old Lenar Alexander Corales was named as a suspect.
—The Dallas Morning NewsA man was jailed for investigation of murder and manslaughter after fatally shooting his friend’s brother in the face during a rabbit-hunting trip in Bend. Ore., Sunday afternoon. The suspect, Montana Silk Marlett, 24, fled after shooting 19-year-old Devon Moschetti.
—The Oregonian
Boomer and Bust?
Urp, this hits kinda close to home. New numbers show an alarming, and unprecedented, climb in the suicide rate for (us) (we) Baby Boomers.
Although experts have long thought of midlife as a time of stability and emotional contentment, baby boomers are proving to be an unfortunate exception. Reversing a longtime demographic trend, midlife suicides are on the rise for the generation born between 1946 and 1964.
National figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that the suicide rate for people in this age group rose by almost 30 percent during the decade ending in 2010, even as the rate among people 85 and older – traditionally, the demographic most likely to kill themselves – dropped by 12 percent.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/04/22/5360...
The Greatest Protest Letter Written to a President--By a Movie Actor
Last week I published an excerpt from my new book,
Hollywood Bomb: The Unmaking of 'The Most Important' Movie Ever Made
, on Ayn Rand writing a rival pro-nuclear script for a rival studio. Here's another excerpt, about what happened after President Truman objected to a scene in the MGM film on The Bomb, and ordered revisions.
A bizarre, and revealing, postscript to President Truman's involvement with The Beginning or the End was provided by Roman Bohnen, the actor who portrayed Truman in the original sequences. Bohnen, a 51-year-old character actor, had appeared in such well-known movies as Of Mice and Men, The Song of Bernadette, and A Bell for Adano.
Learning of the need for a re-take, following the White House critiques, Bohnen on December 2 wrote the President a polite, but slyly critical letter. He noted the President's concerns about the depiction of his decision to “send the atom bomb thundering into this troubled world,” adding that he could "well imagine the emotional torture you must have experienced in giving that fateful order, torture not only then, but now—perhaps even more so." So he could “understand your wish that the scene be re-filmed in order to do fuller justice to your anguished deliberation in that historic moment.”
Then he offered a suggestion. People would be talking about his decision for a hundred years, he observed, "and posterity is quite apt to be a little rough" on Truman "for not having ordered that very first atomic bomb to be dropped outside of Hiroshima [his emphasis]with other bombs poised to follow, but praise God never to be used."
His suggestion: Truman should play himself in the film! If he believed in his decision so strongly why not re-enact it himself?
"If I were in your difficult position," Bohnen wrote, "I would insist on so doing. Unprecedented,
yes--but so is the entire circumstance, including the unholy power of that monopoly weapon." Perhaps to show that he was serious about all this, Bohnen indicated that he was sending a copy of the letter to Louis B. Mayer.
Ten days later, Truman responded warmly, apparently missing (or ignoring) Bohnen's sarcasm. He thanked the actor for his suggestion that he play himself but admitted that he didn't have "the talent to be a movie star" and expressed confidence that Bohnen would do him justice. Truman then took time to defend in some detail the decision to use the bomb, revealing much more about his emotional attitude than he usually did.
The President explained that what he had objected to in the film was that it pictured his decision as a "snap judgment," while in reality "it was anything but that." After the weapon was tested, and the Japanese given "ample warning," the bomb was used against two cities "devoted almost exclusively to the manufacturer of ammunition and weapons of destruction." (A complete lie.)
“I have no qualms about it whatever for the simple reason that it was believed the dropping of not more than two of these bombs would bring the war to a close. The Japanese in their conduct of the war had been vicious and cruel savages and I came to the conclusion that if two hundred and fifty thousand young Americans could be saved from slaughter the bomb should be dropped, and it was.
"As I said before," Truman concluded, "the only objection to the film was that I was made to appear as if no consideration had been given to the effects of the result of dropping the bomb—that is an absolutely wrong impression." There is nothing on the historical record, or in Truman’s letters and diaries, however, to indicate that he did give strong consideration to the human toll in the Japanese cities, the release of radiation--or letting the nuclear genie out of the bottle.
For whatever reason, MGM replaced Bohnen in the re-takes with a slightly younger actor, who was instructed to portray Truman with more of a "military bearing" (a revealing suggestion in itself). Did Truman or someone at the White House demand that Bohnen be replaced after reading his note to Truman? (This seems likely.) Did Louis B. Mayer drop him after seeing a copy of the letter sent to him by Bohnen? Or did a conflicted Bohnen simply quit?
In any event, when The Beginning or the End was finally readied for release, the actor playing the President in the pivotal scene was Art Baker, who portrays the peppy, salt-of-the-earth Truman as magisterial and aristocratic: in other words, as a worthy successor to Franklin Roosevelt. Baker wrote to Charlie Ross on January 7, 1947, revealing that he’d been picked to play the president in the re-take—and then expressing warm feelings for Truman.
For much more, see Hollywood Bomb.
A bizarre, and revealing, postscript to President Truman's involvement with The Beginning or the End was provided by Roman Bohnen, the actor who portrayed Truman in the original sequences. Bohnen, a 51-year-old character actor, had appeared in such well-known movies as Of Mice and Men, The Song of Bernadette, and A Bell for Adano.Learning of the need for a re-take, following the White House critiques, Bohnen on December 2 wrote the President a polite, but slyly critical letter. He noted the President's concerns about the depiction of his decision to “send the atom bomb thundering into this troubled world,” adding that he could "well imagine the emotional torture you must have experienced in giving that fateful order, torture not only then, but now—perhaps even more so." So he could “understand your wish that the scene be re-filmed in order to do fuller justice to your anguished deliberation in that historic moment.”
Then he offered a suggestion. People would be talking about his decision for a hundred years, he observed, "and posterity is quite apt to be a little rough" on Truman "for not having ordered that very first atomic bomb to be dropped outside of Hiroshima [his emphasis]with other bombs poised to follow, but praise God never to be used."
His suggestion: Truman should play himself in the film! If he believed in his decision so strongly why not re-enact it himself?
"If I were in your difficult position," Bohnen wrote, "I would insist on so doing. Unprecedented,
yes--but so is the entire circumstance, including the unholy power of that monopoly weapon." Perhaps to show that he was serious about all this, Bohnen indicated that he was sending a copy of the letter to Louis B. Mayer.
Ten days later, Truman responded warmly, apparently missing (or ignoring) Bohnen's sarcasm. He thanked the actor for his suggestion that he play himself but admitted that he didn't have "the talent to be a movie star" and expressed confidence that Bohnen would do him justice. Truman then took time to defend in some detail the decision to use the bomb, revealing much more about his emotional attitude than he usually did.
The President explained that what he had objected to in the film was that it pictured his decision as a "snap judgment," while in reality "it was anything but that." After the weapon was tested, and the Japanese given "ample warning," the bomb was used against two cities "devoted almost exclusively to the manufacturer of ammunition and weapons of destruction." (A complete lie.)
“I have no qualms about it whatever for the simple reason that it was believed the dropping of not more than two of these bombs would bring the war to a close. The Japanese in their conduct of the war had been vicious and cruel savages and I came to the conclusion that if two hundred and fifty thousand young Americans could be saved from slaughter the bomb should be dropped, and it was.
"As I said before," Truman concluded, "the only objection to the film was that I was made to appear as if no consideration had been given to the effects of the result of dropping the bomb—that is an absolutely wrong impression." There is nothing on the historical record, or in Truman’s letters and diaries, however, to indicate that he did give strong consideration to the human toll in the Japanese cities, the release of radiation--or letting the nuclear genie out of the bottle.
For whatever reason, MGM replaced Bohnen in the re-takes with a slightly younger actor, who was instructed to portray Truman with more of a "military bearing" (a revealing suggestion in itself). Did Truman or someone at the White House demand that Bohnen be replaced after reading his note to Truman? (This seems likely.) Did Louis B. Mayer drop him after seeing a copy of the letter sent to him by Bohnen? Or did a conflicted Bohnen simply quit?
In any event, when The Beginning or the End was finally readied for release, the actor playing the President in the pivotal scene was Art Baker, who portrays the peppy, salt-of-the-earth Truman as magisterial and aristocratic: in other words, as a worthy successor to Franklin Roosevelt. Baker wrote to Charlie Ross on January 7, 1947, revealing that he’d been picked to play the president in the re-take—and then expressing warm feelings for Truman.
For much more, see Hollywood Bomb.
Willie Nelson Turns 80
Happy Birthday to Willie, and hoping he blows out 80 joints on his cake. Here he does "Dead Flowers" with--Keith Richards, Ryan Adams, Hank Williams III. Below that, one of his greatest vocals on one of greatest songs, Townes Van Zandt's "Marie."
Poll: Americans Oppose Action vs. Syria, N. Korea
NYT reports on new poll finding by large margin Americans oppose intervention in Syria's civil war--and feel North Korea's nuclear threat can be contained by other means. So the scare-mongers have failed for now. But the public in the NYT/CBS survey does back the continued use of drones as killing machine, with 70% approval. Louis Brown, 50, a poll respondent from Springfield Township, Ohio, described Syria and North Korea in a follow-up interview as “political hotbeds.” In his view, “we don’t need additional loss of American lives right now.”
April 29, 2013
Black Ball
Amazing find: oldest film footage of black baseball players surfaces--from 1917. And game played on a plantation. Jackie Robinson arrived, 30 years later.
Leonard Curious About George
Somehow, I've never associated Leonard "He's My Man" Cohen with George Jones--who has?--but there was Leonard this weekend hailing George and playing his great single "Choices" in one of the encores for his concert in Winnipeg. Sorry, no video of that yet, but for an explanation here's Leonard from a few years back:I listened to country as a kid. I could get WWVA from West Virginia, late at night. Have you heard George Jones’ last record, Cold Hard Truth? I love to hear an old guy laying out his situation." Here's George doing "Choices."
Redford on the Run
My new piece at The Nation on Robert Redford's new movie on '60s radicals on the run.
Paul Newman, Beyond 'Mad Men'
The great actor and citizen Paul Newman was portrayed briefly on Mad Men last night, speaking at a dinner in favor of Sen. Eugene McCarthy in 1968 and against the Vietnam war. As it happens, at the time of that speech in the show, I was head of my campus campaign for McCarthy. Anyway, here is brief clip of Paul a year later, opposing the war, and asking people NOT to attend his films or any others on the first Moratorium day. UPDATE In case you wondered, the Mad Men scene based closely on real-life, with Newman speaking to ad awards dinner and guest shouting out.
Prof. Petraeus
Fun post mocking the general's new teaching position. Parents, lock up your daughters!
