Signal Reads: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

I was born into the Cold War, and I often wonder if The Kids whose sense of awareness crested after 1992 really understand what it was like.  As far back as 2001, I was taking a martial arts class where the "adult" class meant high school and up.  After class we were putting on our shoes and chatting and somehow I managed to ask one of the kids if they even knew what The Cold War was.  Long story short, he knew it had something to do with Russia, but he didn't know why we may have been in conflict with The Russkies.

It's now been more than 20 years since I sat in class and watched video of Germans dancing on the wall, and I still don't really understand how one day we had An Evil Empire with whom we were locked in the world's worst staring contest, and the next, we had Eastern-block countries cut loose from Mother Russia and spiraling into fresh, new problems (see: Sarajevo) and Russia deciding that a government based on something that looks an awful lot like gangsterism should take the place of the death-mask Stalinist taskmasters.*

Happy B-Day to Sophia Loren

I haven't seen as many Sophia Loren movies as I'd like, but she's pretty terrific (in many, many ways).

Loren has had no small amount of cross-cultural success, appearing in a large number of American films as well as her prolific career in her native Italy.

Her image is also a major fixture at Italian-stereotype kitsch palace/ restaurant "Buca di Beppo".  So while you're gorging yourself on meatballs, you can look in wonder upon framed pics of Loren next to Italian flags and pictures of old Italian grocers and whatnot.

ah, Venice.

Happy 78th to Ms. Loren.

and this picture of Loren and Jayne Mansfield never fails to crack me up.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Adam West

Happy Birthday to Mr. Adam West, most famous for his role in the 1966 movie and TV series, Batman. he was born this day in 1928.

Mr. West as Batman inspired me to my first word: "Batman", and fueled me with a deep desire to both do what's right and say ridiculous things in a completely earnest tone. I continue to enjoy the TV show, lo' these many years later.

Patsy Cline's 80th Birthday

Patsy Cline was born on this day in Virginia in 1932.

Perhaps most famous for her performance of "Crazy" (written by a young Willie Nelson), Patsy's voice and mid-century country stylings are still very much in vogue and end up in more movies, TV shows and commercials than you want to think about.  She's very much a part of the American soundtrack.

She retains a following among Austinites in no small part thanks to the nigh-nightly tribute to Patsy that's done at Austin's own Esther's Follies, a sort of comedy/ variety show that's had the Patsy Cline bit going since it debuted.  Maybe.  I don't know.  Patsy's music seems to fit lazy, hot evenings pretty well, so maybe she's still this popular across the south.

Cline was part of a great era of American Country before "popular" Country music became watered down pop-rock in the 80's and settled there in the 90's when the big money rolled in.  She was a performed at the Grand Ole Opry and a major talent.  Had she not died in a plane crash in 1963, there's really no telling where she would have ended up.  I suspect she would have continued performing for a long, long time.

Happy Birthday, Patsy.

Rave On! It's Buddy Holly's Birthday!

Today in 1936, Buddy Holly was born in Lubbock, Texas.

At some point in 7th grade a Buddy Holly tape found it's way into my possession (I think KareBear gave it to me for Christmas) - and 23 two-and-half-minute songs later, I was a fan.  I still consider Rave On to be one of the best pop songs ever written.

35 Years Gone By, Elvis Aron Presley Merged with The Infinite

Eat it, every single other performer who ever fancied they had stage presence

Elvis gone 35 years ago, August the 16th, 1977.

I don't remember the death of Elvis.  I was two.  However, I grew up in a house where my mother played Elvis music on the turntable and hummed Elvis tunes while driving me to soccer practice.  A great gift once received was a bottle of "Elvis White Wine" which nobody ever drank, and eventually it got gross and was tossed away in 2010ish.

Like Marilyn Monroe, James Dean or Bogart, Elvis passed into the twilight realm of American Mythology, a demigod who didn't just sizzle in popularity for a short time after his death, but who attained legendary status once his life itself was no longer there to decry what could be and what could be believed.

Happy Birthday, Ronnie Spector!

Sorry for the last minute post, but we just noticed it's Ronnie Spector's birthday!

Happy birthday to an amazing vocalist.

Ronnie is/ was, of course, the centerpiece of the Wall of Sound project, The Ronettes.

And, of course, the ex-wife of producer/ zvengali and convicted murderer, Phil Spector.

50th Anniversary of the Death of Marilyn Monroe

On June 1 of this year we wished Marilyn Monroe a happy birthday.  August 5th is listed as the day when Marilyn Monroe was found dead, but reports seem to say that she died before midnight on the 4th.

There's enough speculation out there, from the various conspiracy theories surrounding Monroe's death, and I've no idea what her career might have looked like had she lived.  The final years before she passed were difficult, and she'd been fired off a movie.  Like so many who are revered who passed when they were still young and beautiful, it's easy enough to build an image that has nothing to do with who the person was, what their career was really like, or even what was really happening when they passed.

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention the date, and so we do.  Godspeed, Ms. Monroe.

Anniversary of the Tower Shooting Part 2

Last night I posted on the Anniversary of the 1966 shootings that occurred at UT Austin.

Today I had no lunch plans, and so I got up from my desk and walked to the UT Tower, arriving just before 11:48 AM. The University of Texas doesn't do anything in particular to commemorate the day every year, and certainly not the time. When they do hold events, which does happen from time to time, I am uncertain if they hold them on the day and time of shootings.

So, walking up to the Tower, it was the usual mishmash you see in August. Tourists. Summer school students. Kids on campus for camp, a mixed bag of college aged people engaged in group activities you can't quite puzzle out.

The sky was clear today and the temperatures were in the high 90's.  Despite the lunch hour, not many folks walked the main plaza, an area most folks know is often hot and free of shade.  I'd venture that few were aware of the date.

I snapped a picture of the flagpole from our earlier post. It's not quite as far from a door as I thought, but it's still a good 30 yards, and that's if you cleared the hedge.

46th Anniversary of the UT Tower Shootings

On August 1, 1966 Charles Whitman killed both his mother and his wife while they slept.  He went and purchased firearms from local shops, then drove to UT Austin's central tower.

Then, as today, the tower was an administrative building and, at the time, was also the library for UT Austin. It still looms well above all other features not just on campus, but for much of the surrounding territory.   From the top of the tower, one has a panoramic view in all directions, far out to the hills of West Austin, into downtown to the South if you look beyond the South Mall and the older buildings on campus that surround the grassy strip, usually strewn with students studying and socializing.  To the East lies the stadium and a great swath of campus, and to the North, the science buildings, and past that, the Hyde Park neighborhood.

I went up the first time in 2000 shortly after the Tower's observation deck re-opened for the first time since a rash of suicides in the 1970's.  No, Whitman's atrocity didn't convince the University that it needed to be closed.

On that morning, Whitman took a footlocker full of weapons with him to the top of the tower, and knocked an administrative assistant unconscious with his rifle (she would die later at Seton Hospital).  He would show a final and baffling act of mercy as he let a couple who had not seen the secretary's unconscious form bypass him, and then he barricaded the door.  Moments later he would kill and wound several tourists who came to the door seeking to go out to the Tower's observation deck.

Whitman took advantage of the unimpeded vantage provided by the 27 story tower and began firing down upon students and faculty walking between buildings.  For about 100 minutes Whitman held Austin hostage between Guadalupe and the East Mall, from the North Mall to far past the South Mall, where visibility goes down to 21st Street and further down University Avenue.

Happy Birthday, Amelia Earhart

You don't hear the term "aviatrix" anymore, and that's a shame, because that is one awesome word.  "Pilot" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Born on July 24, 1897, Earhart would go on to become one of the most famous aviators in the world, her name still synonymous with pioneering and the adventurous spirit of the 20th Century.

Earhart was the first woman to cross the Atlantic by plane, an educator and a leader in the cause of women's rights.

She is, of course, equally famous for disappearing during her ill-fated flight over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to circumnavigate the globe.

We're still looking for you, Amelia.

D-Day Anniversary

Better writers than myself will have covered the D-Day Anniversary, but Wednesday was the 68th Anniversary of the Allies storming of Normandy, signalling the beginning of the end of the occupation of France and the end of the Third Reich.

We didn't want the day to pass with no mention of the event.

Happy Birthday to Marilyn Monroe

Today is the birthday of Norma Jeane Mortenson, who would go on to create an image of sexually charged glamour in American cinema and related media around 60 years ago, something that we're still not sure what to do with today.

Like everybody else who first learned Marilyn Monroe's biography from a maudlin Elton John tune, I cannot help but see her as a tragic figure.  Doubly so as, according to a number of sources, Monroe was also a bit of a genius, just one who knew that wasn't what the cameras or the public believed or wanted, and managed to play a role quite often in her public life.  It's only in seeing the surprising number of photos that surface with Mornoe with a book in her hands, or the fact that one of her choices of a man to marry was Arthur Miller*, that the image of the head tilted back with the open mouth smile becomes a put-on and the other Monroe comes into focus.  But maybe that's why Monroe continues to be discussed when Jayne Mansfield (and, in her way, Mamie Van Doren) have disappeared into pop cultural ephemera most people can't pick out of a line-up.

Memorial Day: American Women

On this Memorial Day, I thought maybe I'd take a minute to remember the many women who've also served in and in conjunction with the US Armed Forces.

I'm not clear on how women are currently deployed in the US Military, but in our recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there can be no question that those anywhere in the theater are at risk.  Nor can you bypass the sacrifice many have made just to serve.

Its hard to ignore the contributions of women in World War II, be it the WACS, the WAVES, the women who took jobs in factories building machinery or the women who carefully managed a country under rationing and who planted victory gardens.

Korea and Vietnam saw women serving in an increased capacity as medical staff.

Like A Doll's Eyes - Quint's Monologue

As we head toward Memorial Day, a day of remembering our fallen soldiers here in the US, and as we cross the threshold into summer (at least here below the the Mason-Dixon Line), I am already pondering not if, but when, I will watch Jaws this summer.

I can't remember the last time I saw a movie with a monologue, a real monologue, included.  I don't suppose the kids these days would sit for a full two or three minutes of somebody just, you know, talking, without pulling out their cell phones and texting away.  But this is from an era of filmmaking that wasn't entirely about avoiding risk, perhaps the only serious era where this occurred at the studios.

No matter how many time I watch it, Robert Shaw's speech about the sinking of the Indianapolis still hits me.  Its a terrific bit of film writing and an amazing performance to match, all carried by the extremely young Steven Spielberg behind the camera.



The sinking of the Indianapolis as described by Shaw's character Quint was all too real, the details of which had only been released to the public in the few years previous to when Jaws hit theaters, and not many had heard the story.

Clearly the speech sets the motivation for Quint, that its far more than about the $10,000 plus expenses, and it gives the film's primordial man vs. nature premise a bent that supersedes Brody's duty and Hooper's scientific curiosity.  And, in many ways, despite tying the film to World War II, it also manages to decouple the film from a 70's creature movie, placing it alongside Melville as a seafaring journey, a sort of tale of revenge against the very sea that gives the character meaning.

Memorial Day isn't just about car sales or a day off.

1100 men went in the water, 316 men come out.  The sharks took the rest.  June the 29th, 1945.

Happy Birthday, Star Wars

Apparently today is the 35th Anniversary of the release of Star Wars.  We do not care to dwell upon the meaning of this day too much.

So, you know, thanks for the first three movies and a happy childhood and whatnot.

And, of course, Princess Leia.

And

And, of course...

Today is Jimmy Stewart's 104th Birthday

In college I took a class called "acting for non-acting majors".  Everyone in the room had to state who their favorite male and female actors were.  The folks who weren't film buffs tended to drop the names of popular actors of the day, many of which left me rolling my eyes so hard I'm surprised my orbs weren't creaking with rust by the time they got to me.  The folks who wanted to be seen as having discriminating taste all said "Al Pacino", and this was well after Scent of a Woman.  It was amazing.

Well, in the Spring of 1997, when asked, my answer was:  Jimmy Stewart

And if you asked me again today, I'm not sure my answer would change, other than to say that I see no point in asking the question.  Today, I would also say:  Jimmy Stewart

And today is Stewart's 104th Birthday.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President - 50th Anniversary

Well, this is interesting.

Saturday was the birthday of both our own NathanC and Seattle-based-pal, The My.  NathanC received a light hearted image of Donald Duck with cake.  For The My, I decided to Google an image of Marilyn Monroe in "the dress" singing to JFK.

It turns out that May 19th, 2012 was the 50th Anniversary of the infamous "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" birthday serenade from Marilyn Monroe to John F. Kennedy, President of the United State of America.

I say:  God bless America.

While Mrs. Kennedy was not in attendance, the performance did not go unnoticed.  It can't have been much fun to see America's icon of sex throwing herself at her husband from a stage in front of not just a Madison Square Garden full of people, but Life Magazine, TV cameras, and the world.

Still the gold standard for both brazen winking about one's dalliances and performances of The Birthday Song*, we can only stare in disbelief that the world of 1962 was kooky enough that one would have their birthday party hosted by Peter Lawford.  Also: have their mistress sing to them on camera in front of an NBA-arena-sized crowd.

If you've never seen Monroe's breathy performance, here you go:

The reference to "the late Marilyn Monroe" was a joke about Monroe's tardiness to the birthday program. Of course, Monroe would be dead within 6 months.

For more on the performance, consult the internet.

Happy 50th Anniversary of ruining everybody else's birthday, Ms. Monroe.


*Megan Draper's performance of Zou Bisou Bisou in the Season 5 premiere of Mad Men may set another standard for good Birthday singing ideas.

75th Anniversary of the Hindenburg Disaster

On May 6th, 1937 the airship known as The Hindenburg burst into flames, killing 36 people.

In many ways it's utterly shocking that only 36 died.  

It may come to you as a surprise that I am NOT an expert in pre-WWII era airships or their design, so I really don't know much about the disaster other than that you really don't see people clamoring for blimp rides these days.

The Hindenburg was also supposed to be one of Nazi Germany's showcase Graf Zeppelins in America, so, you sort of have to have mixed feelings...

I'm not one to shy away from looking directly at a car crash scene, so if you want to see it, the footage from the disaster is up and online.  Learn where we got the phrase "Oh, the humanity!" that one declares when witnessing a disaster.

For more information, you can click here.

Happy Birthday, Manfred! (The Red Baron)

Today is the 120th birthday of Manfred von Richthofen.

AKA:  The Red Baron

No, that dude does not look German at all.

von Richthofen is known to my generation primarily through frozen pizza marketing and as the cad who shoots down Snoopy, WWI Flying Ace.*  But real he was (and without the handsome mustache attributed to him by the pizza box artists).

The Red Baron had a reported 80 victories in the skies over Europe, many in his Fokker Dr.I, the crimson tri-wing you absolutely cannot believe someone had the guts to fly in any combat conditions whatsoever.  During WWI, air combat retained some semblance of gentlemanly chivalry as understood in Europe, with pilots following certain rules of engagement and a vague sense of knightly honor, even as they ambushed one another relentlessly from cloud cover or diving in with the sun at their backs to ensure a tactical advantage.

Apparently its not apocryphal that von Richtofen collected silver mugs with the date and location of his various victories inscribed upon them, of which he had about 60 when Germany ran out of silver.

The Red Baron was, of course, fighting on the side of the Germans in what became truly horrific combat on the ground as trench warfare led to the introduction of new tactics, including gas warfare.  Perhaps because of the near certainty of death in aerial combat (it was sort of a question of "when" more than "if" your number would get punched), the 80 victories and surviving one disaster did not deter The Baron, who turned down a cushy desk job, recognizing that other wounded German soldiers would also be returning to the front lines.

The circumstances of von Richthofen's death are somewhat puzzled over, as its possible he went down from enemy fire from the air or from the ground, but when he finally did go down in 1918, the British treated his burial with the utmost respect.  Perhaps not a hero, but certainly a respected opponent.  His remains were later reinterred in Berlin.


*there's a whole song about Snoopy vs. von Richthofen.