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ificandream's Journal

May 12, 2024

Exclusive: Team Trump Says Classified Docs Judge Aileen Cannon Is a 'Godsend' (Rolling Stone)

Article says what we've all been thinking.

BY ASAWIN SUEBSAENG, ADAM RAWNSLEY

According to some in his inner circle, Donald Trump's most effective and not-so-secret weapon in his 2024 effort to reclaim the White House is a federal judge he appointed in Florida.

Judge Aileen Cannon is presiding over one of Trump's two federal criminal cases - the classified documents case in the Southern District of Florida. In August 2022, the FBI raided Trump's Florida club and estate, Mar-a-Lago, following his sustained refusal to return to the government a trove of classified documents he was hoarding at the club. This bizarre scandal led to a criminal case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Since last year, Trump's attorneys have inundated the court with a range of motions and efforts to delay the trial. Instead of handling those matters quickly, Cannon has let motions languish for weeks without decision while holding what some experts see as unnecessary hearings to debate other issues, pushing a trial date further.

Cannon went even further last week with a ruling that tossed the May 20 trial date, postponing it indefinitely in order to first deal with what she said were "myriad and interconnected pre-trial and [classified information evidentiary] issues remaining and forthcoming."

May 11, 2024

TCM schedule - Saturday May 18 - Jailhouse Rock, Gunga Din, John Wayne, The Murder of Mary Phegan

THE DAY AT A GLANCE

CREATED BY GEORGE STEVENS JR.
Murder of Mary Phagan, The (1988) (TCM premiere)
- TCM LATE NIGHT: DOCUMENTARY
Freedom on My Mind (1994)
- TCM DAYTIME
WEEKEND FEATURES
Gunga Din (1939)
MGM Cartoons: Old Smokey (1938)
Believe It or Not #12 (1932) (short)
Natural Wonders of the West (1938) (short)
Devil's Island (1940)
Directors Playhouse: Rookie of the Year (1955)
Popeye: Hold the Wire (1933)
Falcon in Danger, The (1943)
Song of Fame, The (1934) (short)
Great Ziegfeld, The (1936) (Musical Matinee)
FBI Story, The (1959)
Cahill, United States Marshal (1973)
- TCM PRIMETIME - TCM SERIES: TWO FOR ONE
- STEVEN SPIELBERG
Jailhouse Rock (1957)
Forty Guns (1957)
- NOIR ALLEY
Take Aim at the Police Van (1960) (TCM Premiere)
- TCM LATE NIGHT: JOHN WAYNE
Cowboys, The (1972)
Chisum (1970)

FULL DAY'S SCHEDULE

11:30 PM The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988)

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The fact-based events surrounding the murder of a young woman at the National Pencil Factory in Atlanta in 1913. Originally shown as a TV mini-series.
Dir: William Hale Cast: Richard Jordan, Peter Gallagher, William H. Macy, Jack Lemmon
Runtime: 251 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC:

Emmy nominations:
(*WINNER*) Outstanding Miniseries
Outstanding Writing In a Miniseries
(*WINNER*) Outstanding Sound Editing For a Miniseries, Movie or Special - 1988
Outstanding Lead Actor In a Miniseries Or a Movie 1988 - Jack Lemmon

The Murder of Mary Phagan is a 1988 American two-part television miniseries starring Jack Lemmon about the murder of a 13-year-old factory worker and the subsequent trial of her accused murderer Leo Frank. The supporting cast features Richard Jordan, Robert Prosky, Peter Gallagher, Kathryn Walker, Rebecca Miller, Paul Dooley, Charles Dutton, Kevin Spacey, Cynthia Nixon, Dylan Baker and William H. Macy.

4:00 AM Freedom on My Mind (1994)

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The dramatic story of the Mississippi Voter Registration project (1961-64) is told through the eyewitness accounts of several remarkable men and women.
Dir: Connie Field Cast: Endesha Ida Mae Holland, Pam Chude Allen, Marshall Ganz
Runtime: 105 mins Genre: Documentary Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations: DOCUMENTARY (Feature) -- Connie Field, Marilyn Mulford

6:00 AM Gunga Din (1939)

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Three British soldiers seek treasure during an uprising in India.
Dir: George Stevens Cast: Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks
Runtime: 117 mins Genre: Adventure Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Gunga Din is a 1939 American adventure film from RKO Radio Pictures directed by George Stevens and starring Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., loosely based on the 1890 poem of the same name by Rudyard Kipling combined with elements of his 1888 short story collection Soldiers Three. The film is about three British sergeants and Gunga Din, their native bhisti (water bearer), who fight the Thuggee, an Indian murder cult, in colonial British India.

The supporting cast features Joan Fontaine, Eduardo Ciannelli, and in the title role, Sam Jaffe. The epic film was written by Joel Sayre and Fred Guiol from a storyline by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, with uncredited contributions by Lester Cohen, John Colton, William Faulkner, Vincent Lawrence, Dudley Nichols, and Anthony Veiller.

In 1999, Gunga Din was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Oscar nominations:
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Black-and-White) -- Joseph H. August
[NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL NOMINATION. Title was on a preliminary list of submissions/nominees from the studios from which the two official nominees (Stagecoach and Wuthering Heights) would be selected.]

Trivia: Sabu was the first choice to play Gunga Din; when it became clear he was unavailable, Sam Jaffe was hired in his place. In an interview years later, Jaffe (a Jewish Russian-American) was asked how he so convincingly played an Indian Hindu. Jaffe replied he kept telling himself to "Think Sabu."

Trivia: This was the second-highest-grossing film of 1939, behind Gone with the Wind (1939).

8:00 AM Short: Old Smokey (1938)
Old Smokey, the faithful fire horse, is in trouble of being replaced by a new engine.
Dir: William Hanna Cast: Billy Bletcher, Pinto Colvig, Martha Wentworth
Runtime: 7 mins Genre: Animation Rating: TV-G CC: N

8:08 AM Short: Believe It or Not #12 (1932)
This short film, part of the "Believe It or Not" series, features such odd sights as a moving house and chickens with tail feathers measuring up to twenty-five feet. Vitaphone Release 1427.
Dir: null Cast: James E. Marvin, Leo Donnelly, Robert L Ripley
Runtime: 8 mins Genre: Documentary Rating: TV-PG CC: N

8:17 AM Short: Natural Wonders of the West (1938)
This short film takes the viewer to some of the natural wonders of the western United States.
Dir: James H. Smith Cast: Gutzon Borglum, James A. Fitzpatrick (narrator)
Runtime: 8 mins Genre: Documentary Rating: TV-G CC: N

8:27 AM Devil's Island (1940)

A surgeon unjustly sent to Devil's Island fights to survive harsh treatment.
Dir: William Clemens Cast: Boris Karloff, Nedda Harrington, James Stephenson
Runtime: 62 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: When released in 1939, this film caused strong protests from the French government over the depiction of their penal colony. Not wanting to harm their marketing of other films in France or its colonies, Warner Brothers withdrew this film from overseas distribution until the fall of France the following year in World War 2.

Trivia: Rolla Gourvitch, who plays the colonel's daughter, appeared in only two films in her brief career, this and The Life of Emile Zola (1937). Oddly, both are about prisoners on Devil's Island.

9:30 AM Short, Screen Directors Playhouse: Rookie of the Year (1955)
A sportswriter recognizes a young ballplayer as the son of a former baseball hero who was banned for throwing a game, in this episode of the Screen Directors Playhouse television series.
Dir: John Ford. Cast: John Wayne, Vera Miles, Ward Bond
Runtime: 29 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

10:00 AM Cartoon: Hold the Wire (1933)
Bluto's sneaky work over the telephone wires leading to Olive's home gets Popeye in trouble with her. As a result, our hero and Bluto get into a dispute on the phone wires high above the city streets.
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Willard Bowsky Cast: Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, Gus Wicke
Runtime: 6 mins Genre: Animation Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

10:07 AM The Falcon in Danger (1943)

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A society sleuth tracks a lost plane carrying $100,000.
Dir: William Clemens Cast: Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Elaine Shepard
Runtime: 73 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Much of the climatic action takes place on RKO's famous Victorian staircase, built for Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). A year before, star Tom Conway made a fateful climb up it in Val Lewton's Cat People (1942).

11:30 AM Short: The Song of Fame (1934)
In this musical short, an aspiring singer visits an impresario who can potentially give her a break. Vitaphone Release 1690-1691.
Dir: Joseph Henabery Cast: Charles La Torre, Zeke Canova, Andy Canova
Runtime: 21 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-PG CC: N

12:00 PM The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

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The larger-than-life career of stage genius Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. is aptly celebrated in this marvelous musical biography.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer
Runtime: 180 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

The Great Ziegfeld is a 1936 American musical drama film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and produced by Hunt Stromberg. It stars William Powell as the theatrical impresario Florenz "Flo" Ziegfeld Jr., Luise Rainer as Anna Held, and Myrna Loy as Billie Burke.

The film, shot at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in Culver City, California in the fall of 1935, is a fictionalized and sanitized tribute to Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. and a cinematic adaptation of Broadway's Ziegfeld Follies, with highly elaborate costumes, dances and sets. Many of the performers of the theatrical Ziegfeld Follies were cast in the film as themselves, including Fanny Brice and Harriet Hoctor, and the real Billie Burke acted as a supervisor for the film. The "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" set alone was reported to have cost US$220,000 (US$4,830,504 in 2023 dollars[3]),[4] featuring a towering rotating volute of 70 ft (21 m) diameter with 175 spiral steps, weighing 100 tons. The music to the film was provided by Walter Donaldson, Irving Berlin, and lyricist Harold Adamson, with choreographed scenes. The extravagant costumes were designed by Adrian, taking some 250 tailors and seamstresses six months to prepare them using 50 pounds (23 kg) of silver sequins and 12 yards (11 m)[clarify] of white ostrich plumes. Over a thousand people were employed in the production of the film, which required 16 reels of film after the cutting.[citation needed]

One of the biggest successes in film in the 1930s and the pride of MGM at the time, it was acclaimed as the greatest musical biography to be made in Hollywood and still remains a standard in musical film making. It won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture for producer Hunt Stromberg, Best Actress for Luise Rainer, and Best Dance Direction for Seymour Felix, and was nominated for four others.

3:15 PM The FBI Story (1959)

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A dedicated FBI agent thinks back on the agency's battles against the Klan, organized crime and Communist spies.
Dir: Mervyn Leroy Cast: James Stewart, Vera Miles, Murray Hamilton
Runtime: 149 mins Genre: Crime Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: J. Edgar Hoover personally chose James Stewart for the role of Chip Hardesty because he felt that Stewart conveyed a positive image. However, he also forced director Mervyn LeRoy to reshoot a scene because he didn't approve of one of the extras.

Trivia: Two FBI agents were on the set at all times.

6:00 PM Cahill, U.S. Marshal (1973)

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After tracking down a gang of outlaws, lawman J.D. Cahill returns to town and discovers that the local bank has been robbed, the sheriff and the deputy have been killed, and four bank robbers are imprisoned in the jail. But Cahill is stunned to find out that one of the bank robbers is his own son.
Dir: Andrew V. Mclaglen Cast: John Wayne, Gary Grimes, George Kennedy
Runtime: 103 mins Genre: Western Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: John Wayne was sixty-five years old at the time the movie was filmed. He had had a cancerous lung removed in 1964, and was suffering from emphysema in his remaining lung. Wayne was so weakened that he had to use a stepladder to climb onto his horse in the film. In addition to his own declining health, news that his friend and mentor, John Ford, was dying of cancer forced the actor to consider his own mortality. After Ford's death in August, 1973, Wayne told reporters, "I'm pretty much living on borrowed time."

8:00 PM Jailhouse Rock (1957)

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Young Vince Everett goes to prison for accidentally killing a man in a barroom brawl while defending a young woman's honor. After Everett's cellmate teaches him how to play guitar and encourages him to sing, Everett's hip-swiveling, electrifying performance at a jailhouse concert leads to stardom.

Dir: Richard Thorpe Cast: Elvis Presley, Judy Tyler, Mickey Shaughnessy
Runtime: 96 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Jailhouse Rock is a 1957 American musical drama film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Elvis Presley, Judy Tyler, Mickey Shaughnessy, Vaughn Taylor and Jennifer Holden. Adapted by Guy Trosper from a story written by Nedrick Young, the film tells the story of Vince Everett (Presley), a convict who learns the guitar while in prison and later becomes a star following his release.

The film's iconic soundtrack was written by songwriters Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber. The dance sequence to the film's title song is often cited as "Presley's greatest moment on screen."

Jailhouse Rock premiered in Memphis, Tennessee on October 17, 1957, and was released nationwide on November 8, 1957. It peaked at #3 on the Variety box-office chart and finished #14 for the year, grossing $4 million. The film initially earned mixed reviews, with much of the negative targeted at Presley. In 2004, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, who deemed it "culturally, aesthetically or historically significant."

Trivia: Elvis Presley's band in the film is his real-life band, including Scotty Moore on electric guitar and Bill Black on stand-up bass. Both had been with Presley since his beginning in Memphis at Sun Records.

Trivia: In the recording studio scenes, the piano player is Mike Stoller of the Lieber and Stoller songwriting team, which wrote many of the major-hit rock songs of the 1950s. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote four songs for the film ("Jailhouse Rock", "I Want to Be Free", "Treat Me Nice", and "You're So Square&quot

in five hours after their music publisher, under deadline, locked them in their hotel room.

Trivia: Judy Tyler never saw the premiere of this movie; she was killed in a traffic accident in Wyoming on July 3, 1957, only three days after the film was completed. Elvis Presley refused to watch this movie because of Tyler's tragic death.

10:00 PM Forty Guns (1957)

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A showdown in Arizona between the Bonnell brothers, U.S. Marshals, and Jessica Drummond, the iron-fisted rancher who controls the territory with her private posse of hired guns.
Dir: Samuel Fuller Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Dean Jagger
Runtime: 80 mins Genre: Western Rating: TV-PG CC: N

Trivia: Barbara Stanwyck's stunt woman refused to allow herself to be dragged by a horse, saying that it was too dangerous. Without further ado, Stanwyck did it by herself. She got some bruises and scrapes, but was okay. At that time, Stanwyck was 49 years old.

12:00 AM Take Aim at the Police Van (1960)

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A prison truck is assaulted and the two convicts inside are murdered. The prison guard on duty gets suspended for negligence and takes it upon himself to track down the killers.
Dir: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Michitaro Mizushima, Mari Shiraki, Misako Watanabe
Runtime: 79 mins Genre: Crime Rating: TV-PG CC:

1:45 AM The Cowboys (1972)

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When his crew quits, a veteran cattleman trains schoolboys for the big drive.
Dir: Mark Rydell Cast: John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, Bruce Dern
Runtime: 128 mins Genre: Western Rating: TV-MA CC: Y

Trivia: Roscoe Lee Browne was urged by his friends not to work with the right-wing John Wayne. He ignored them and the two actors refrained from discussing politics during filming.

4:00 AM Chisum (1970)

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A cattle baron enlists Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid to help him fight a land war.
Dir: Andrew V. Mclaglen Cast: John Wayne, Forrest Tucker, Christopher George
Runtime: 110 mins Genre: Western Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: According to the Los Angeles Times, this was John Wayne's 200th starring role in a feature film. It also noted Wayne was in the "Top Ten Money-Making Stars" list for the 20th consecutive year, and for that year he was second only to Paul Newman.

May 10, 2024

Marjorie Taylor Greene's constituents mixed over effort to oust House speaker (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Picture caption: U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, made an unsuccessful bid this past week to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. While some of her constituents in northwest Georgia's 14th Congressional District supported the effort, others saw it as vain and self-serving. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)

By Michelle Baruchman

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s effort last week to oust U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson is the latest Rorschach test for constituents in her district. To her supporters, Greene’s effort to remove the Louisiana Republican from his post as leader of the House is evidence that she stands firm on her beliefs. “She don’t put up with no crap. She speaks her mind, and she don’t water nothing down. She tells it like it is,” said Billy Taylor, 56, who lives in Paulding County.

For fans of the Rome Republican, such as Taylor, compromising on Johnson would be a sign of weakness. Taylor, an electrician, said he wants to see a House speaker who will “look out for everybody else, not just themselves.” “I’m tired of the good-old-boys system where everybody is scratching everybody’s back,” he said. “I feel she don’t do that.”

But Greene’s detractors said her move — one condemned by at least a dozen GOP lawmakers — is a vain, self-serving attempt to draw attention to herself and gain more campaign donations.

Charlie Ping, a 43-year-old engineer who also lives in Paulding, said he is tired of government shutdowns and wants to see a functioning Congress. “The things that she’s involved in are more about getting attention for herself than actually accomplishing anything. I’ve never heard her sponsor a bill that helped our state,” he said. “Just always fighting and trying to make headlines, it seems like.”

Link: https://www.ajc.com/politics/marjorie-taylor-greenes-constituents-mixed-over-effort-to-oust-house-speaker/Z3WJER7V4FDQBAN5S2M2DK4F2M/

May 8, 2024

Florida deputies who fatally shot US airman burst into wrong apartment, attorney says

Source: Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — Deputies responding to a disturbance call at a Florida apartment complex burst into the wrong unit and fatally shot a Black U.S. Air Force airman who was home alone when they saw he was armed with a gun, an attorney for the man’s family said Wednesday.

Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, who was based at the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, was in his off-base apartment in Fort Walton Beach when the shooting happened on May 3.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a statement that Fortson was on a Facetime call with a woman at the time of the encounter.

According to Crump, the woman, whom Crump didn’t identify, said Fortson was alone in his apartment when he heard a knock at the door. He asked who was there but didn’t get a response. A few minutes later, Fortson heard a louder knock but didn’t see anyone when he looked through the peephole, Crump said, citing the woman’s account.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/police-shooting-airman-florida-8bcc82463ada69264389edf2a4f1a83d

May 8, 2024

Pete McCloskey, Republican Who Tried to Unseat Nixon, Is Dead at 96

Source: New York Times

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By Robert D. McFadden
May 8, 2024

Pete McCloskey, a California congressman who raised a flag of rebellion against President Richard M. Nixon's war policies in Vietnam with a spirited but futile race for the Republican presidential nomination in 1972, died on Wednesday at his home in Winters, Calif., west of Sacramento. He was 96. His death was announced in a statement released on Wednesday by a family spokesman, Lee Houskeeper.

Mr. McCloskey, who represented an area south of San Francisco for 15 years, from late 1967 to early 1983, was a liberal Republican who admired President John F. Kennedy, voted for environmental causes with Democrats and believed that the Republican Party had veered too far to the right.

In July 1971, with the nation divided over the war and Nixon heavily favored for re-election, Mr. McCloskey, a 43-year-old Korean War hero and two-term congressman best known for defeating Shirley Temple Black in a special election, launched his quixotic quest for the Republican nomination.

He had no money, party support or realistic prospects. But he had gone to Vietnam three times, and in campaign appearances he vividly portrayed the war's "cruelty and futility," as he put it, evoking cluster bombs that killed or maimed anyone within 25 acres, and napalm strikes that burned all within 150 feet at 2,000 degrees. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese and Americans were dying in a war that could not be won, he argued. "To talk, as the president does, of winding down the war while he is expanding the use of air power is a deliberate deception," Mr. McCloskey said. "I'll probably get licked, but I can't keep quiet."

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/us/politics/pete-mccloskey-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qU0.8VQS.G0sCPkKpy5cZ&smid=url-share

Picture caption: Pete McCloskey in 1975. He represented an area south of San Francisco for 15 years, from late 1967 to early 1983.Credit...CQ Archive/CQ-Roll Call Inc., via Getty Images

He was quite a patriotic man. Too bad the Republican Party didn't follow his lead. I remember he was also associated with a bank in Walnut Creek, CA., that had a peace symbol on the outside of its building. It lit up brilliantly at night. I also remember seeing him as a lawyer in case when I got called to jury duty.

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May 8, 2024

From January 2024: White House for Sale: How Princes, Prime Ministers, and Premiers Paid Off President Trump (reports)

Report from Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Democratic Staff:

https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-oversight.house.gov/files/2024-01-04.COA%20DEMS%20-%20Mazars%20Report.pdf

Selected investigation documents:

https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-oversight.house.gov/files/2024/DOCUMENT%20PACKET%2001-03-2024_Redacted.pdf

May 8, 2024

Using Cartoonish Accents, J.F.K.'s Grandson Insults and Mocks Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Source: New York Times (gift article/no paywall)

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By Chris Cameron
May 8, 2024

The grandson of President John F. Kennedy this week savaged his presidential-candidate cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in a series of mocking, meant-to-be-funny videos that were, inarguably, uncharacteristically un-Kennedyesque, escalating a civil war within America's most storied political dynasty.

In a series of Instagram posts, the grandson, Jack Schlossberg, 31, variously called Mr. Kennedy, 70, a "prick," suggested he was using steroids, said he was "lying to us" and portrayed him as a Russian stooge and a stalking horse for Donald J. Trump.

But what viewers may be more struck by, or even insulted by, are the heavily accented caricatures the young scion used to dramatize his points. He impersonates a Massachusetts fan of the Kennedys named Jimmy, sounding like Ben Affleck in a Dunkin' Donuts commercial.

"You know, I'm a fan of his father," Mr. Schlossberg says, as Jimmy. "And you know his uncle? Rest in peace, I remember where I was the day he was killed, I mean it was a tragic day, the entire country wept. But listen, that guy, he's a prick. The new guy, the young guy, he's a friggin prick."

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/us/politics/rfk-jr-jack-schlossberg.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qU0.Eh5H.XXX2bFOqT6SB&smid=url-share

Picture caption: Jack Schlossberg's videos, on Instagram, are a modern reminder that broad swaths of the Kennedy family reject Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign.Credit...Matthew Abbott for The New York Times

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fyi, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg's son.

May 8, 2024

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan says he's not voting for Trump : 'Character is too important'

Source: Yahoo Finance

Akiko Fujita

Paul Ryan has no interest in giving Donald Trump another chance come November. The former House speaker told Yahoo Finance on Tuesday that he doesn't plan to vote for the former president, adding he would be writing in a Republican candidate instead.

“Character is too important for me,” Ryan told us at the Milken Institute Global Conference. “[The presidency] is a job that requires the kind of character [Trump] doesn’t have.”

Ryan, who left the speakership in 2019, has been vocal in his opposition of Trump since. During a Monday panel, Ryan warned about the stakes in the upcoming election, saying Trump would be “bad on NATO, bad on alliances, bad on Europe, and bad on trade."

“Democracy is being tested in two very specific ways. One within, with our polarization eating each other alive,” said Ryan, who is now vice chairman and partner at private equity firm Solamere Capital. “The second one is from [the outside], from authoritarian regimes who are basically saying they got the mojo, they can make the decisions faster, they can beat democracy.”

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/former-house-speaker-paul-ryan-says-hes-not-voting-for-trump--character-is-too-important-210633204.html?.tsrc=fin-srch

May 7, 2024

TCM Schedule Saturday, May 11: American Graffiti, Bogie, early John Wayne, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, The Fisher King

MAY 11 AT A GLANCE
TROUBLED YOUTH
Rumble Fish (1983)
Wild Boys of the Road (1933)
Crime School (1938)
- TCM LATE NIGHT: JOHN WAYNE
Haunted Gold (1932)
- TCM DAYTIME
WEEKEND FEATURES
Jungle Book (1942)
MGM Cartoons: Little Buck Cheeser (1937)
Believe It or Not #11 (1932) (short)
India on Parade (1937) (short)
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
Directors Playhouse: Tom and Jerry (1955)
Popeye: Little Swee' Pea (1936)
Falcon's Brother, The (1942)
Forbidden Passage (1941) (short)
Sweet Charity (1969) (Musical Matinee)
Point Blank (1967)
Roadblock (1951)
American Graffiti (1973)
- TCM PRIMETIME
TCM SERIES: TWO FOR ONE
- PATTY JENKINS
Fisher King, The (1991)
(P) Synecdoche, New York (2008)
- NOIR ALLEY
Follow Me Quietly (1949)
- TCM LATE NIGHT: MISS MARPLE
Murder, She Said (1961)
Murder at the Gallop (1963)
MGM Parade Show #11 (1955)

FULL DAY'S SCHEDULE
12:00 AM Rumble Fish (1983)

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Absent-minded street thug Rusty James struggles to live up to his legendary older brother's reputation, and longs for the days of gang warfare.
Dir: Francis Ford Coppola Cast: Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane
Runtime: 94 mins Genre: Crime Rating: TV-MA CC:

Trivia: To mix the black-and-white footage of Rusty James and the Motorcycle Boy in the pet store looking at the Siamese fighting fish in colour, Stephen H. Burum shot the actors in black and white and then projected that footage on a rear projection screen. They put the fish tank in front of it with the tropical fish and shot it all with colour film.

2:00 AM Wild Boys of the Road (1933)

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An impoverished girl masquerades as a boy to run with a gang of young hobos.
Dir: William A. Wellman Cast: Frankie Darro, Edwin Phillips, Rochelle Hudson
Runtime: 77 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: The movie shown in the theater scene about an hour into the film is another Warner Bros. release, Footlight Parade (1933).

3:30 AM Crime School (1938)

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A crusading warden sets out to improve conditions at a reform school.
Dir: Lewis Seiler Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gale Page, Billy Halop
Runtime: 86 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: The boys at the reform school recite the Pledge of Allegiance without the phrase "under God." The phrase wasn't added to the Pledge by law until 1954.

5:00 AM Haunted Gold (1932)

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A cowboy and his girl fight bandits and a ghost over an abandoned mine.
Dir: Mack V. Wright Cast: John Wayne, Duke, Sheila Terry
Runtime: 58 mins Genre: Western Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: The statuette of the Maltese Falcon, previously used in the original version of The Maltese Falcon (1931) can be seen in the background inside the house several times and very prominently in the scene where the film's heroine, Sheila Terry, is playing the organ.

6:00 AM Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book (1942)

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A boy raised by wolves adjusts to life among humans.
Dir: Zoltan Korda Cast: Sabu, Joseph Calleia, John Qualen
Runtime: 109 mins Genre: Adventure Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Jungle Book is a 1942 independent Technicolor action-adventure film by the Korda brothers, loosely adapted from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1894). The story centers on Mowgli, a feral young man who is kidnapped by villagers who are cruel to the jungle animals as they attempt to steal a dead king's cursed treasure. The film was directed by Zoltán Korda and produced by his brother Alexander, with the art direction by their younger brother Vincent. The screenplay was written by Laurence Stallings. The film stars Indian-born actor Sabu as Mowgli. Although the film is in the public domain, the master 35mm elements are with ITV Studios Global Entertainment.

Oscar nominations:
ART DIRECTION (Color) -- Art Direction: Vincent Korda; Interior Decoration: Julia Heron
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Color) -- W. Howard Greene
MUSIC (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) -- Miklos Rozsa
SPECIAL EFFECTS -- Photographic Effects by Lawrence Butler; Sound Effects by William H. Wilmarth

Trivia: This was the first film for which original soundtrack recordings were issued. Previously, when record companies released music from a film, they had insisted on re-recording the music in their own studios with their own equipment. The "Jungle Book" records were taken from the same recordings used for the film's soundtrack, and their commercial success paved the way for more original-soundtrack albums.

Trivia: Although this movie was set in India, the production was actually shot in California, USA

8:00 AM Short: Little Buck Cheeser (1937)
In this parody of Buck Rogers, a mouse and his mice friends build a rocket to go to the moon.
Dir: Rudolf Ising Cast: Bernice Hansen
Runtime: 0 mins Genre: Animation Rating: TV-G CC: Y

8:08 AM Short: Believe It or Not #11 (1932)
This short film, part of the "Believe It or Not" series, features such odd sights as a church service held on a river in boats. Vitaphone Release 1410.
Dir: null Cast: Leo Donnelly
Runtime: 7 mins Genre: Documentary Rating: TV-G CC: N

8:16 AM Short: India on Parade (1937)
Short film on the landmarks, people and customs of India.
Dir: James A. Fitzpatrick Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick (narrator)
Runtime: 9 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-G CC: N

8:26 AM Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)

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Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is a 1958 independently made[4] American science fiction horror film directed by Nathan H. Juran (credited as Nathan Hertz) and starring Allison Hayes, William Hudson and Yvette Vickers. It was produced by Bernard Woolner. The screenplay was written by Mark Hanna, and the original music score was composed by Ronald Stein. The film was distributed in the United States by Allied Artists as a double feature with War of the Satellites.

The Allied Artists television version runs 75 minutes instead of 66, including a long printed crawl at the beginning and end, repeated sequences, and hold-frames designed to optically lengthen the film's running time.

The film's storyline concerns the plight of a wealthy heiress whose close encounter with an enormous alien in his round spacecraft causes her to grow into a giantess, complicating her marriage which is already troubled by a philandering husband.[5]

A space visitor's touch turns an unhappy heiress into a vengeful giant.
Dir: Nathan Hertz Cast: Allison Hayes, William Hudson, Yvette Vickers
Runtime: 65 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: The movie was shot in eight days for $89,000 (which was $10,000 under budget). This equates to about $820,000 in 2021.

9:30 AM Short: Screen Directors Playhouse series: Tom and Jerry (1955)
A priest tries to save a marriage that appears to be headed for the rocks in time for Christmas, in this episode of the Screen Directors Playhouse television series.
Dir: Leo McCarey Cast: Peter Lawford, Nancy Gates, Frank Fay
Runtime: 30 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

10:00 AM Cartoon: Little Swee' Pea (1936)
Popeye tackles lions, bears, snakes and countless other animals chasing after Swee'Pea at the zoo only to find himself the victim of an assault by Olive for scaring Swee'Pea with a toy on their arrival home.
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Seymour Kneitel Cast: Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, Jackson Beck
Runtime: 7 mins Genre: Animation Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

10:08 AM The Falcon's Brother (1942)

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A gentlemanly detective calls on his brother to help him stop the Nazis from assassinating a key diplomat.
Dir: Stanley Logan Cast: George Sanders, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph
Runtime: 63 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Tom Conway (Tom Lawrence) was the real life elder brother of George Sanders (Gay Lawrence). This film was Sanders' final appearance as "The Falcon," a role of which he had grown tired. Sanders passed the baton to Conway, who played the role in nine subsequent films until 1946.

11:30 AM Short: Forbidden Passage (1941)
This documents the U.S. Department of Immigration's efforts to halt the smuggling of illegal immigrants into the country.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann Cast: Addison Richards, Harry Woods, William Tannen
Runtime: 20 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-PG CC: N

12:00 PM Sweet Charity (1969)

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A taxi dancer's faith in love leads her to one bad match after another.
Dir: Bob Fosse Cast: Shirley Maclaine, Sammy Davis Jr., Ricardo Montalban
Runtime: 149 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ART DIRECTION -- Art Direction: Alexander Golitzen, George C. Webb; Set Decoration: Jack D. Moore
COSTUME DESIGN -- Edith Head
MUSIC (Score of a Musical Picture--original or adaptation) -- Adaptation score by Cy Coleman

Trivia: Although uncredited, Gwen Verdon, who starred in the Broadway musical version, was assistant choreographer in the film version of Sweet Charity (1969).

2:45 PM Point Blank (1967)

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A professional thief seeks revenge on his unfaithful wife and a fellow mobster who double-crossed him.
Dir: John Boorman Cast: Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn
Runtime: 92 mins Genre: Crime Rating: TV-14 CC: Y

Trivia: This was the first film shot at Alcatraz, the infamous prison which had been shut since 1963, only three years before the production. Two weeks in the abandoned prison facility required the services of 125 crew members. MGM agreed to pay $2,000 per day ($16,400 in 2021) to rent the prison and to pay all expenses to re-establish power, water, and heat necessary for the production.

4:30 PM Roadblock (1951)

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An insurance agent's greedy wife leads him to a life of crime.
Dir: Harold Daniels Cast: Charles McGraw, Joan Dixon, Lowell Gilmore
Runtime: 73 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: One of the first films to be shot in the Los Angeles River.

6:00 PM American Graffiti (1973)

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Four high-school seniors face an uncertain future as they try to live through their last big school dance.
Dir: George Lucas Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Charles Martin Smith
Runtime: 109 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-MA CC: Y

American Graffiti is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Harrison Ford, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Bo Hopkins, and Wolfman Jack. Set in Modesto, California, in 1962, the film is a study of the cruising and early rock 'n' roll cultures popular among Lucas's age group at that time. Through a series of vignettes, it tells the story of a group of teenagers and their adventures over the course of a single night.

While Lucas was working on his first film, THX 1138, Coppola asked him to write a coming-of-age film. The genesis of American Graffiti took place in Modesto in the early 1960s, during Lucas's teenage years. He was unsuccessful in pitching the concept to financiers and distributors, but found favor at Universal Pictures after every other major film studio turned him down. Filming began in San Rafael, California, but the production crew was denied permission to shoot beyond a second day. As a result, production was moved to Petaluma. The film is the first movie to be produced by George Lucas's Lucasfilm.

American Graffiti premiered on August 2, 1973, at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland, and was released on August 11, 1973, in the United States. The film received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Produced on a $777,000 budget (equivalent to approximately $5,332,993 in 2023[2] dollars), it has become one of the most profitable films ever. Since its initial release, American Graffiti has earned an estimated return well over $200 million in box-office gross and home video sales, not including merchandising. In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Oscar nominations:
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Candy Clark {"Debbie"}
DIRECTING -- George Lucas
FILM EDITING -- Verna Fields, Marcia Lucas
BEST PICTURE -- Francis Ford Coppola, Producer; Gary Kurtz, Co-Producer
WRITING (Story and Screenplay--based on factual material or material not previously published or produced) -- George Lucas, Gloria Katz, Willard Huyck

Trivia: Due to the low budget, George Lucas was unable to pay all of the crew members. He offered to give many of them a screen credit in lieu of payment, and they accepted. Traditionally, only department heads received screen credit. Giving screen credit to so many crew members has now become a tradition, which is why closing credits last so long now.

Trivia: When Charles Martin Smith pulls up on the Vespa in the beginning, his crash into the building wasn't scripted. He genuinely lost control of the bike, and Lucas kept the cameras rolling. Fortunately, the accident and the actor's reaction to it was in keeping with his character. Furthermore, the incident got the first big laugh from the audience in its first public premiere which Lucas and friends took as a very good sign for the film.

Trivia: One of the main reasons why so many studios initially turned down the script was because George Lucas wanted at least 40 songs on the soundtrack, which would obviously lead to a large bill over the rights to these songs. Universal finally agreed to fund the picture when Lucas' friend Francis Ford Coppola (fresh from the success of The Godfather (1972) the year before) came on board as producer.

Trivia: When John (Paul Le Mat) and Carol (Mackenzie Phillips) are sitting at the red light, a car full of girls pulls up next to them. One of the girls throws a water balloon through the window and it hits Carol. It was scripted to hit the side window and drench Phillips' face, who was then supposed to act really angry. However, she was accidentally hit square in the face and unable to refrain from laughing. Still, she kept going, ad-libbed through the scene and George Lucas kept it,

Trivia: Harrison Ford was asked to cut his hair for the film. He refused, stating that his role was too short, and offered to wear a hat instead.

Trivia: When Wolfman Jack makes an on-air prank call to Pinky's Pizza, the voice on the other end belongs to George Lucas.

8:00 PM The Fisher King (1991)

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A former radio DJ, suicidally despondent because of a terrible mistake he made, finds redemption in helping a deranged homeless man who was an unwitting victim of that mistake.
Dir: Terry Gilliam Cast: Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams, Adam Bryant
Runtime: 137 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-MA CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE -- Robin Williams {"Parry"}
(*WINNER*) ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Mercedes Ruehl {"Anne"}
ART DIRECTION -- Art Direction: Mel Bourne; Set Decoration: Cindy Carr
MUSIC (Original Score) -- George Fenton
WRITING (Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen) -- Richard LaGravenese

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Trivia: For the "waltzing commuter" scene in Grand Central station, the main hall of the terminal was shut down for the shoot from 8pm until the first commuter trains arrived at 5:30 am the next morning. Lighting effects outside of the large terminal windows made it seem to be 5:00 in the evening the entire night, and over 400 extras waltzed around the mirror-ball topped Information Booth again and again throughout the night. Now, on New Year's, an orchestra plays there and people waltz for real.

10:30 PM Synecdoche, New York (2008)

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A theatre director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he creates a life-size replica of New York City inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
Dir: Charlie Kaufman Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams
Runtime: 124 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-MA CC: Y

Trivia: At the start of the film, when Philip Seymour Hoffman is reading the news at the breakfast table, he says "Harold Pinter has died. Wait, no, he's won the Nobel prize". This is a reference to a famous news broadcast in which Sky News, in their rush to be first with breaking news, accidentally announced that Harold Pinter was dead. In fact, he had just been selected to recieve the Nobel prize for literature.

12:45 AM Follow Me Quietly (1949)

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Police track a mysterious killer nicknamed "The Judge."
Dir: Richard O. Fleischer Cast: William Lundigan, Dorothy Patrick, Jeff Corey
Runtime: 59 mins Genre: Crime Rating: TV-14 CC: Y

Trivia: The voice in The Judge's apartment building yelling downstairs is Marjorie Main.

2:15 AM Murder She Said (1961)

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When nobody will believe she witnessed a murder, elderly sleuth Miss Marple takes a job as a maid to ferret out clues.
Dir: George Pollock Cast: Margaret Rutherford, Arthur Kennedy, Muriel Pavlow
Runtime: 86 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: The name of the manor house where Miss Jane Marple conducts her inquiries is called Rutherford Hall in Dame Agatha Christie's novel. This was changed to Ackenthorpe in this movie to avoid comparison with the surname of Dame Margaret Rutherford (Miss Jane Marple).

Trivia: Despite privately remaining unimpressed by the film, Agatha Christie dedicated her 1962 novel "The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side" to Margaret Rutherford "in admiration".

4:00 AM Murder at the Gallop (1963)

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Elderly sleuth Miss Marple suspects foul play when an old friend is supposedly scared to death by a cat.
Dir: George Pollock Cast: Margaret Rutherford, Robert Morley, Flora Robson
Runtime: 81 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Miss Jane Marple (Dame Margaret Rutherford) refers to a "remarkable novel" of Dame Agatha Christie's, "The Ninth Life." This was an in-joke; her creator wrote no such book.

5:30 AM Short: MGM Parade Show #11 (1955)
Judy Garland and Gene Kelly perform in a clip from For Me and My Gal. Susan Hayward introduces a clip from I'll Cry Tomorrow.
Dir: null Cast: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Susan Hayward
Runtime: 25 mins Genre: Documentary Rating: TV-G CC: N

May 7, 2024

The full Howard Stern interview with President Biden.

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About ificandream

Writer, journalist with over 35 years at a daily newspaper, then an author and a freelance writer.

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