It's been a quiet week.  The host recalls a notable childhood moviegoing experience, Lyle Janke's 10th grade biology class learns about bears, and a few thoughts on the power of memory.

​Four top executive of Volkswagen, including its CEO, have lost their jobs in the wake of the emissions-fixing scandal.  Volkswagen diesel vehicles were found to have had software installed that turned on when the cars would be tested for emissions, and then turned off afterwards to allow them to have better acceleration and mileage.  Up to 11 million vehicles are affected, and in the U.S. alone the cost of the company is said to be $8 billion.  In the last five days, the price of the company's stock has dropped from $162 down to $112.  And none of this takes into consideration how angry customer are who bought that vehicles -- even when Volkswagen fixes the software, as they've promised, these customers are still stuck with cars that will now get worse mileage and worse acceleration than promised when they bought the car.

Now comes a report that internal documents show that the company new about the deceptive software as early as 2007.

This is clearly an overwhelming problem for Volkwagen -- but also for Germany, for whom the company is one of the foundations of the economy.  I feel very bad for the employees of any company who had nothing to do with causing the problem, but whose jobs could be affected.  I do't feel bad for the company because a scandal of this proportion didn't happen by accident, and there had to be a lot of people who knew what they were doing.  But mainly, though I know 80 years have passed and society has changed, and Germany is very open and admirable today about dealing with its past, and the company has changed, completely --but as unfair as one's memory may be to the present, I still can't get out of my mind that Volkswagen came to its initial success because of Adolf Hitler.  So, whatever happens to the company...you're on your own here, guys.

This was a story that absolutely fascinated me in the current issue of Written By, the in-house magazine of the Writers Guild of America.  Every once in a while, the magazine edited by Richard Stayton devotes an issue to a single theme, and this was dedicated to the Blacklist, likely timed for the upcoming movie Trumbo (which I wrote about here) with the film's screenwriter John McNamara on the cover.

But it was another article inside that leaped out to me, "A Noble Band of Outlaws," written by David Gritten.  The story dealt with a very popular TV series in the late 1950s, The Adventures of Robin Hood.  It ran for four seasons and 143 episodes.  (Yes, that many in just four years.  Back then, a full year was...a full year.  Its third season they produced a remarkable 41 episodes.)  You may have found childhood memories of the show, or perhaps caught up with it on DVD.

It turns out that there was a reason such an early show in TVs Golden Age stood out for many in the audience as so lively and fun --

It was often written by some of the greatest movie screenwriters in Hollywood history!  You just didn't know it because they were blacklisted, some on the famous Hollywood 10, and writing under pseudonyms. 

This is not hyperbole.  Among the people who wrote for The Adventures of Robin Hood were --

Ring Lardner, Jr., who wrote the classic Tracy-Hepburn film, Woman of the Year and later, after the Blacklist ended, M*A*S*H.  (The article says that he co-wrote the Robin Hood series' first episode, but in checking credits there's a lot of inconsistency.  Another source shows that Lardner wrote the premiere episode all his own, as 'Eric Heath' and co-wrote the second episode.  And wrote the third and fourth.  At the very least, though, he did write for that first show.)

Waldo Salt, who was an uncredited contributing writer on the Jimmy Stewart-Katharine Hepburn classic, The Philadelphia Story, and later won Oscars for writing Midnight Cowboy and Coming Home, and also wrote Serpico, The Day of the Locust, The Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight and the epic Taras Bulba.

Howard Koch, who had won an Academy Award for co-writing Casablanca, as well as writing the Oscar-winning (for Gary Cooper as best actor) Sergeant York and the Errol Flynn classic, The Sea Hawk, as well as after the Blacklist the wonderful TV movie, The Night That Panicked America about the Orson Welles' War of the Worlds radio broadcast.

Robert Lees wrote many of Abbott and Costello's most-popular movies, including Buck Privates Come Home, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, Hold That Ghost and The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap.

And other Blacklisted writers include Adrian Scott, whose credits include Mr. Lucky with Cary Grant, and Ian McLellan Hunter who wrote A Woman of Distinction with Rosalind Russell and Ray Milland; Mr. District Attorney and Eye Witness.

In all, research shows that as many as 22 blacklisted writers wrote episodes for The Adventures of Robin Hood.  This largely came about because the show was made in England, financed by Lew Grade (who later became Lord Grade, and whose great-many credits include executive producer of The Muppet Movie and was the inspiration for the studio head played in the film by Orson Welles, as 'Lew Lord.')  And overseeing it all was Hannah Weinstein, an American producer who had relocated in London.

As the article notes there was logic in her plan to use blacklisted American writers.  First, she already knew many of them through her previous political work.  Second, the level of talent available was significant.  Third, because of their situation, the blacklisted writers were willing to work cheap.  And also, many of the blacklisted writers has themselves moved to England and therefore were accessible.  

You can read the whole article here.  The intricate tale and subterfuge is fascinating.  It's well-worth checking out the full story.

Here's the first episode of The Adventures of Robin Hood.  Oddly, the one on-screen credit missing here is the one for (you guessed it) the writer.  But writers names do start showing up on the second episode.

Well, it's official -- after some pretty dismal seasons recently, including going 73-89 last year, the Chicago Cubs last night made the post-season as a Wild Card team.  But believe it or not, this isn't especially about baseball, but music.  Still, the Cubs getting into the post-season can't go without at least mention and some perspective first. After all, they currently have already won 89 games with nine games left to play...and have the third best record in the National League.  Quite a turnaround in one season!  Yes, they've only qualified for a one-game playoff, so the post-season can be over in just one game, but hey, when you haven't won a World Series in 106 years, simply one game in the post-season is a cause for joy -- and optimism.

So, we'll celebrate with "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."  It's a song that's ubiquitous in baseball, of course.  Every major league team, and even minor league team -- and probably most if not all college teams -- pause their games in the middle of the seventh inning to sing it.  But the Cubs have ratcheted things up with the song and for years have made it a special tradition -- beginning with announcer Harry Caray leading the crowd with the song and then, after he passed away, starting in 1999 bringing in celebrity "guest conductors" to lead the crowd for the past 17 years.

Okay, pretty much everyone knows the song, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," though they don't know the full song, with its two verses that surround its famous chorus.  Or know much about its history.  That's where we come in...

The song was written 1908 by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer, who did the music.  An oddity of the song is that when they wrote it, neither had seen a professional baseball game.  (And wouldn't for another 20 years -- or 32 years in Von Tilzer's case.)  This wasn't their only hit song though -- among other things, they also wrote the classic "Shine On, Harvest Moon."

The first recording was sung by Edward Meeker, which the Library of Congress added to the National Recording Registry in 2010, something they do annually for recordings that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."  (Why it took 102 years, I have no idea.  Though given that the song was written the same year that the Chicago Cubs won a World Series, having a long wait is not surprising.  At least it got its honor before the Cubs have...)

Here's Meeker's recording, along with the words displayed along the bottom of the screen -- and with wonderful photos of old, classic ballparks.

By the way, this recording should resolve on long-standing issue -- what the words actually are.  As you'll hear, it is not, "take me out to the crowd", but "with the crowd."  And also, it's not, "I don't care if I ever get back", rather it's "never get back."

So, now you know.

Here's the latest 3rd & Fairfax podcast from the Writers Guild of America.  In this edition, the screenwriter of The Maze Runner, based on the popular series of books -- and its new film sequel:  The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials (as well as the third movie in the series, currently in pre-production),  T.S. Nowlin is interviewed by Ian Fried.  In addition, for those of you interested in such things, there is a talk with Maureen Oxley, WGAW Senior Director of Residuals.