more noir

Joan Evans came from a film family. her parents wrote the screenplay for the Bette Davis vehicle "The Star."  & her godmother was Joan Crawford. her own acting career was brief (1948-1961). she gave it all up for marriage & motherhood.  I was able to talk with her abt Elyria's Keefe Brasselle who was her romantic interest in "Skirts Ahoy." she sd he was a pro on set & a pleasant person off screen.

Marsha Hunt was back. her memory is amazing. & she remains a social activist. altho she's happy to talk abt movies I think she's even happier to be askd abt her work with the United Nations.

from the Donald Strachey films: director Ron Oliver & actor Nelson Wong

Palm Springs film noir festival

this may be my favorite festival because it's intimate & easy.  it's one weekend every spring.  in the same theater. only 12 films projectd by true professionals on a huge screen with attentive audiences. & participants are able to interact with the celebrities brought in.

this past weekend the 2013 edition of the festival allowd me to thank some performers I've admired for years.

James Lydon was the screen's Henry Aldrich who also gave Elizabeth Taylor her first screen kiss. but I was able to talk with him abt his short-lived sitcom "So This is Hollywood." I've written many times how this series formd my vision of what Hollywood was. so it was a thrill to thank him for his part in that.

I told Clu Gulager how much I admire his performance in "The Killers."

altho I mentiond several of his films to Stuart Whitman I faild to add that when we were both younger I felt he was one of the hottest men on the screen.

centennial of Kent State University Libraries

the first library opend a hundred years ago today in Merrill Hall.  when I was a student that's where I took journalism classes.  later my friend Julia Waida had her office there.

when I came to Kent the library was on the corner of front campus (& that's where Julia's office was then).  here I am in that building (which now houses the KSU Museum) with Gary Snyder:

Snyder & I were looking at letters of his in Special Collections.  that department of the library was begun by Dean Keller who later hired me to be his assistant.  I love this early picture of us together:

Special Collections is now on the top floor of what I think is still the tallest building in Portage County.  here I am in my wonderful office there with James Broughton:

& here are my parents in the reading room for the opening of the exhibition of Mom's autograph collection:

love you Mom

thx

to Tom Beckett for his review.

he's an important poet & editor. but he's also one of the essential interviewers of our time. & if you've never read what he got out of me here it is.

where are you Mary Lou?

how the mind works.  what part memory plays in its working.  the older I get the more that fascinates me.

after posting that picture in front of Eastern Heights I began remembering those years.  I've written often abt Miss Radachy because she was so important to my development. & Miss Hackett the librarian. but I also remember the attractive Miss Hyman & an art teacher who liked opera.

then my peers. Ann Cantwell & Gary Fleming & Denise Gainer & Ed Buttle & Jane Gottfried & Bill Cooper & Barb Horwitz.  how often some of their faces have been in my dreams.  but then there are names which suddenly crop up for seemingly no reason.  like Mary Lou Konkel.  when I creatd & wrote the "8-4 News" she was my typist. but her face has faded & I have no idea what became of her.

some days tiny bits of my past surface.  sometimes the revelation staggers.  other times I question if that was ever real.

(the only picture I have of myself with Miss Radachy)

odd

I was searchcing online this morning & discoverd myself on a sales site. there were copies of The Avalanche of Time available for purchase. what puzzles me is the price range.  one dealer was offering a copy for 99 cents while another had it listd for $67.47. both prices seem out of whack to me but the gulf between them is remarkable.

Taylor Mead (1924-2013)

I only saw him a couple of times over the years but his face always was for me the face of the Village.