It's time for another Mystery Guest segment of What's My Line?, and the 'Mystery Guest' here is Hayley Mills. The segment is low-key but charming -- which is only fitting. I had occasion to meet her once, maybe about 25 years ago. My whimsically magical friend Philippa Salisbury was developing a screenplay she wrote – which I later was brought in to help rewrite. She was friends with Hayley Mills (which isn't terribly surprising since Philippa tended to become friends with most anyone she crossed paths with, no matter who, whether famous or someone on the street asking her directions), and the hope was to get her to star in it. That didn’t pan out (not for any reasons with Hayley), though we all met at the hotel where she was staying. At this point, I don’t remember any of the conversation, other than I enjoyed it – and Philippa always kept saying for years after how nice it was that I made Hayley laugh. Mind you, I have no idea what I said that was so funny, but I'm happy to take Philippa's word for it. If you want to skip directly to the segment, just jump to the 17:30 mark.
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You couldn't make this up. It would be thrown out as too unbelievable. You would be thrown out for wasting people's time.
But how utterly appropriate that the new GOP video about their "Commitment to American" and what it means to be an American was NOT filmed in the U.S. but uses stock footage from Russia and Ukraine!! And the little white, blond boy is from Russia. As it happens -- this is what it means to be a Republican. You can read a full article about it and watch the Russian/Ukrainian video here on the Huffington Post. After watching what Trump had to say in his Wednesday interview with Sean Hannity, I thought I might try the same technique and see if I can get it to work for me. After all, if I can just think what I want to write here and have it done, it will eliminate a whole lot of work – not only the first draft but also the rewriting. In fact, I figured that if I did it correctly, there’s be no need for any rewriting, since my thinking in the first place should be perfect. My first few attempts at this were only just okay. But in fairness, that was mostly my fault because I got distracted. The first time was because I was watching the Cubs game at the same time as I was thinking the column, and had the sound on low, though I could watch the video. And so, the results were a little jumbled and had more baseball commentary mixed in than I was hoping for. And “Cubs win!! Cubs win!!” in the middle of the piece probably would be confusing to readers. I did better on my later tries on Wednesday night, though even there my attention was torn between thinking the column and eating a huge bowl of popcorn while celebrating as I watched the news shows reporting on the lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The results were pretty good, though, because I’d been watching and reveling in the news all day, and when hearing the same stories for the eighth time, I was able to block most of it out for a few minutes. The problem is that I couldn’t get enough of hearing the news again and again and again, so that’s why I did still get distracted in my thinking. So, while much of the think piece was smart, thoughtful, insightful and impressively nuanced, there was a lot of giddiness and phrases like "You go, girl!!" mixed in, and the final draft seemed a bit off for it. But I kept working at my thinking, and I…er, think that I finally got it down pat. And not only was I able to think my everything I wanted to say for the column perfectly, but I also now understand how Trump was able to declassify material just by thinking it. The one problem he had -- that I did not have – is that’s still a legal process to go through for declassifying government documents, and while he did the thinking part properly, he never was able to work out the “process” part that involved notifying others. With my column, no such process existed. I was very pleased with how things turned out, and hopefully you will be, too. I look at it all as sort of like being Prof. Harold Hill in The Music Man. As you’ll recall, Prof. Hill is a traveling con man didn’t know one musical note from another, and so came up with what he told the naive, trusting citizens was called ‘The Think System’ for teaching the young boys in River City how to play their musical interests for the town band. All they had to do was think Bach’s Minuet in G. And in the end, when he desperately told them to “Now, think, men…thiiiiiiiiink!” – it worked out pretty well. As it did for me. I just had to think today’s column. And so, here it is – It works!! If you're a fan of film noir, there is a superb and somewhat-lesser known one on TCM very late tonight (or early morning tomorrow). It's In a Lonely Place that stars Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame (who played 'Ado Annie' -- the girl who cain't say no -- in Oklahoma!). The 1950 movie was directed by Nicholas Ray and written by Andrew Solt. It's based on Dorothy B. Hughes' 1947 novel. The movie airs on TCM at 11:15 PM tonight (Sept. 22) on the West Coast, or 2:15 AM early morning tomorrow in the East. It's not just an intriguing story, but also a fascinating psychological study. But don't take just my word for it. Though it's not as well known as some of the great film noirs, its reputation has grown over the years. The film was named by Time magazine to their "All-Time 100 Movies" list. The BBC had it #89 in their list of the 100 greatest American films of all time. In 2007, In a Lonely Place was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Keep in mind that all three of these are not for "best film noirs," but for films, period. Here's the trailer. It's more heavy-handed on the movie (what I like about the film is how subtle and nuanced it is, and the suspense and uncertainty grows. This is more trying to push the audience in one direction in order to get them to go the theater. It does a nice job on setting the tone, but mediocre in being fair to the story). If you plan to watch the movie, then avoid the trailer. If you're not sure, then it's worth watching. Well, if you had Fani Wallis in Atlanta for your office pool as being the first law official to file charges against Trump, you lost. Not as big a loss as the Trump family had on Wednesday, but a loss nonetheless.
Instead, New York Attorney General Letitia James got in there first and filed a massive lawsuit against the Trump, his kids and their organization. (Just to clarify, I mean real estate organization.) Among other things, it comes with asking for $250 million in penalties and that neither Trump nor his kids can serve as an officer of any business registered in New York state - ever again. Which, while it allows for working elsewhere, cuts a pretty wide swath when it comes to doing business anywhere in the world. And the “outraged” responses have come pouring in from Trump and his kids, along with his lawyers (the ones willing to still defend him) and most-loyal supporters. How it’s all politics and just a witch hunt. And that it’s a witch hunt. And just about politics. And it’s only politics. And a witch hunt. Y’know, the Greatest Hits. That, and a new one tossed in, that Letitia James filed the lawsuit because she’s black. And therefore a racist. (In fairness, this one can probably be ignored as just Trump projecting.) The thing is, when I keep reading all "outraged" responses by Team Trump, crying out that it's all just political and there's no evidence and just a witch hunt, what I think is two things -- 1) Trump and his son Eric pled the 5th 1,000 TIMES! And in a civil trial, when someone refuses to testify because they say a truthful answer may incriminate them, jurors may draw an adverse inference. Up to 1,000 adverse inferences 2) In a civil trial, unlike in a federal trial that needs a unanimous vote for conviction, only seven of the 12 jurors, a majority, are needed to find against a defendant liable of the charges. And also unlike in a federal trial, where guilt must be determined beyond a reasonable doubt, a civil trial only requires a preponderance of the evidence. So, 1,000 “I take the 5th” pleas refusing to testify is a big problem. Apparently, they found the witches. And have mountains of documents as evidence to back up their charges that the state offered in its filing. Indeed, an interesting thing about this is that we know Trump famously doesn’t use email so as not to put things on paper. Funny thing, though, it turns out that his children and others in the organization and those they dealt with…do use email. And it all exists. And the state has it. Man, this just has to be Trump’s worst nightmare. Not the lawsuit. Yes, of course, that’s very bad. But Trump is at least used to lawsuits, even if they haven’t been as potentially as damaging as this. No, I’m talking about how it’s being filed by a black woman. Furthermore, if and when charges also get filed by Fani Wallis in Atlanta, that together with this from New York will probably his sixth circle of Hell. Notable, too, is that Attorney General James suggested that federal criminal laws may have been broken, and referred the case to both the U.S. Attorney and IRS. And what’s critical, as well, is that if the Trump organization loses and is found liable, it will be near impossible for Trump to get a bank loan for five years from any financial institution that is registered to do business in New York state. Given that New York City is considered the financial capital of the world, it’s hard to think of any financial institution that does not do business in New York. And it’s well-known that Trump has many hundreds of million of dollars of loans that are due so. To be clear, that condition is only if the Trump organization loses – or perhaps settles the case, which it’s difficult to see would not have draconian conditions, including this about doing business in the state, witness the settlement that the Trump charitable foundation made with the state. The thing is, even without being found liable, something that would be years away, it’s hard to imagine any bank that would lend Trump any money, even enough to do home repairs, let alone hundreds of millions of dollars, since they are charged with multiple counts of lying on their bank documents, and so next-to-nothing can be trusted should they make a loan application. And further, given the risk the Trump organization presents for paying back a loan should they be held liable, that would seemingly make any bank even more unlikely to make a loan. Of course, that still does leave Saudi Arabia or Russia making a loan. So, hey, that’s possibly good news for Trump. Needless-to-say, a state filing charges does not mean that it will present a successful case and be able to win in court. It’s possible, too, that the Trump, his kids and their organization is not actually guilty of all the great many charges. It’s absolutely possible. But in considering that possibility, it’s important to remember that you are allowed to consider the 1,000 refusals to testify that can be used to draw an adverse inference. And important to remember, too, that only a majority of jurors have to decide against Trump, his kids and their organization – based only on a preponderance of the evidence, not beyond a reasonable doubt. It's also important to consider that it will be hard to explain away an 11,000 square foot home that you claimed was 30,000 square feet. Trump's standard “I trusted what they told me,” also, won’t work because HE was the developer. (Never mind the ludicrous price per square foot he gave it.) And none of this takes into consideration how this lawsuit against Trump will have any impact on the Mid-term Elections. No, Trump isn’t a candidate, but he’s the GOP party leader. And candidates may be asked about the charges. Certainly, the most loyal Republicans will be “outraged” and circle the wagons in support. But just as certainly, it will reinforce Democratic anger at Trump and likely make those in the middle and even moderate Republicans growing weary about more and more and more noise from Trump. All reinforcing, too, the January 6 insurrection investigations, voter fraud phone call investigation, search warrants for stolen top secret, classified and government documents investigation and more. And more. Finally, lest we forget, there’s one other thing I keep thinking about: When NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman had to resign in 2018, Trump very publicly laughed at him with great Schadenfreude ridicule. Schneiderman was replaced by Letitia James. From the "Be Careful What You Wish For" file. But if you think, whoa, that's some major story and a whole lot of bad news for Trump to digest, so you need to catch your breath after all of that, well, as TV pitchmen like to say -- But wait, there's more! That's because meanwhile, in other bad news for Trump yesterday -- The 11th Circuit Court has made a ruling already on the DOJ's emergency appeal of Judge Aileen Cannon's decision and lifted the hold barring the DOJ from making a risk assessment on the classified and Top Secret documents that were stolen and taken to Mar-a-Lago. What this means is that a) people in Trump World can now be interviewed for who handled what classified material, and b) it shows the 11th Circuit is taking this very seriously and is following the law. And believes that some of the material is, in fact, classified, contrary to Trump's unsworn insistence. But it's worse than that -- because the 3-judge panel's decision was unanimous. But it's worse than even that -- because two of the three judges were appointed by...Trump. We now return you to our scheduled movie, Bad Day at Black Rock. After posting the video yesterday of William Daniels delivering a couple of subtle, hidden, homages on St. Elsewhere to his performance as John Adams in the Broadway musical 1776, I thought this would be a nice companion piece. I've posted it before, but many years ago, so it's due for a repeat. This is part of what I consider the greatest TV special I’ve seen – the 1971 Tony Awards. It was the 25th anniversary, and on top of all the normal awards and Best Musical numbers…they brought back the original stars from each of the previous 25 Best Musical winners and sang a number (in costume) from the show. This is William Daniels and Virginia Vestoff (who got to repeat her role in the movie) singing “Yours, Yours, Yours.” Though a great many people have seen this number repeatedly in the annual airing on the Fourth of July of movie adaptation of the musical, I think it's especially fun to see them do it live, as they performed it on stage. And all the more so for me, since it was the first show I ever saw actually on Broadway. One note: contrary to what the video says, this is not the song, ’Til Then,” but “Yours, Yours, Yours.” It's an easy mistake to make, since the songs are near identical with slightly different lyrics given their context in the show. And, okay, I also like that William Daniels is a Northwestern grad. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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