Forget it, Jake.
The Detroit City Council is holding hearings on the current mayoral scandal. Unfortunately, a recess was called this afternoon when one council member got into it with two others, referring to one as “Shrek” and taunting, “You’re not my daddy!”
Video here. Highly recommended. Being a government reporter here must be beyond awesome.
Meanwhile, back in Grosse Pointe, they’re having a sale at Brooks Brothers:
(Order your Amazon through me and I earn 4 percent. Click the “powered by Amazon” logo.)
Mindy said on April 11th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I know there’s such a thing as “go to hell” pants that look like this, but the jacket? Wedding attire for a clown, maybe.
Kirk said on April 11th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I think Jimmy Crum has one like that.
nancy said on April 11th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
That’s exactly who I thought of, Kirk. For the uninitiated, an old Columbus sportscaster who made loud jackets his trademark.
Julie Robinson said on April 11th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
More proof that everything comes back. I had a dress like that in high school, except in what we would now call jewel tones.
sue said on April 11th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Oooh, I’ll take one in each color. Oh, wait…
Harl Delos said on April 11th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Jimmy Crumm? I was thinking Al Schottelkotte.
But I usually watched Nick Clooney, because I was afraid Al’s show would cause epileptic seizures.
(Cincinnati newsreaders, not Cowlumbus.)
Kirk said on April 11th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
I seldom saw Schottelkotte, but I remember his broadcasts having almost no video and lots of stories in which cops were heroes or generally great guys.
Dexter said on April 11th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Mindy, here’s the “Muzak” that was playing , at least in the head of the buyer of that cra-zeee jacket.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycfKEm3ki_o
Dexter said on April 11th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Mr. Cottrell didn’t REALLY look like Shrek…Shrek doesn’t wear glasses.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maybe Kwame ought to address these folks in chamber and start off by saying, “Mrs. Kilpatrick and I have a DIFFERENT kind of marriage…”, just like Governor Paterson did at his swearing-in. But then, things have gone too far to save Mr. Mayor by now.
And, you know what? Gov. Paterson was right to do a tell-all from the get-go…there hasn’t been a peep from the NYC media about Paterson since we learned of the Days Inn rendezvous point.
Dexter said on April 11th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
btw.…Lindsey Nelson loved those jackets, too.
http://www.thevib.com/lnelson.jpg
alex said on April 11th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
A friend’s always trying to drag me to the outlet mall and it seems to me that’s exactly what all of the clothing there looks like. He’s one of those people who thinks that buying something with a fancy brand name at a dirt-cheap price is some sort of triumph, but the thrill’s lost on me. Personally, I’d sooner buy bootlegged Chinese stuff out of the back of a truck. At least they offer styles you wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen in.
michaelj said on April 11th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I used to have a patch madras jacket. I thought it seriously cool. Back around ’68. Stolen from the family wagon, along with all of our clothes, at a Hamtramck motel during a total family breakdown that had been coming on for years since the death of my little brother Matt. We left Detroit and moved to Memphis, and moved back again a week or so later. Dysfunctional doesn’t come close.
But anyway, I like that jacket, and I could get away with wearing it to Sunday Brunch at Cracker Barrel on Hilton Head Island. There is certainly such a thing as being hipper than thou, and mockery is short surfeit when you have every reason to be ridiculed for your own fashion choices. These days, I’m partial to a Herschel Walker jersey dressed up with a black linen blazer. With tasteful pleated khakis. De gustibus and plus ca change. And I’d like my jacket back. And my brother, too.
Laura said on April 11th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
They’re selling the same jacket (non-pastel, though)
at J. Crew. Madras patchwork is actually fairly hip.
Linda said on April 11th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I just saw a patch madras pair of shorts in a women’s catalog, and thought, “my God, would anybody pay $59 to look like that on purpose?”
Laura said on April 11th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I think madras looks best on teens and 20-somethings. After that, maybe not so much. My teenage daughter and her friends all rock the madras look – usually with shorts or mini-skirts. They all look pretty cute. Of course, they look cute in everything, damn them.
John c said on April 11th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Okay, here’s the thing. I’m a preppie at heart, which sort of just happens when you grow up in Connecticut and aren’t Italian or black or Latino. So I look at jackets like this every once in a while — I live in Grosse Pointe, where they are, er, not uncommon — and for just a few seconds I think I should get one. I think I would look like that cool, goofy, fun-loving guy you occasionally see in one. Then I remember: most of the guys you see in one are, well, richards. I’m not sure I have what it takes to be one of the rare few. (michaelj: something tells me you might be.) So I pass, and settle for khakis and docksiders with no socks and faded double-l polos, etc.
Somewhere in my 9-year-old’s collection of hand-me-downs is a pair of shorts that look like this jacket. Sometime last year I was going through his closet and pulled it out, holding it up for him. “How about this one?” I asked. He sort of cocked his head, wrinkled the corner of one eye and said: “Uhh. No.” I threw it in a pile and thought: He’s gonna be okay.
Harl Delos said on April 11th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Back to Chris Matthews:
How many hours a day does a campaigner put in? Don’t you suppose it might make sense to get juice, which has potassium and sugar in it, and limit the coffee, so you can sleep at night?
If I was in a private home, and your hostess offered me a beer, many brands of which I’m allergic to, I wouldn’t say, “Thanks, but could you mix me a Whiskey Sour instead?” I might say, “Uh, thanks, but no. Could I have some water instead?” Or I might just accept the beer and touch it to my lips without actually drinkiing any of it.
But this is a *diner*. In a diner, the waitress turns over the cup with one hand, holding the carafe in the other, and says, “Coffee, honey?” and you say, “Unleaded, please,” or “Oh, my word, I’m up to my eyeballs in coffee already”, or you say, “No”, as the junior senator from Illinois did, and order a different beverage. I’ve never seen a diner that didn’t have OJ on the menu.…
I know these guys don’t live in the real world, but don’t they ever visit this planet once in a while?
michaelj said on April 11th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
WTF is a Richard? I assure you, I’m not, whatever it may be. I like to think of myself, as I’m sure all of you do, as uncategorizable. Tall and handsome? Check. Aryan as hell? Check. Inquisitive? Intelligent? Teillhardian? Yup. If /richard has to do with Kings of England , I’m of the II variety, not IIIrd.
For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings. (I think this is the greatest speech Shakespear wrote. It might be bizarre I have an opinion. While I’m at it, the decond soliloquy is a whole lot better than To be, or not to be.)
More Caliban, less Prospero, aside from wishing something true. But Caliban has the second best speech
Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.
Laura: Isn’t pastel impossible for real madras? How would it bleed effectively?
Dave K. said on April 11th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
michaelj.…“WTF is a Richard?” Seriously, mike, you couldn’t figure this out?
As I was listening to the City Council video, my wife asked if I was watching “Reno 911″. She honestly thought the voices were that of Reno deputies Williams and Jones.
Richard=DICK, was the way I remember it, when we used to page “Richard Cranium” on the plant-wide PA system.
michaelj said on April 11th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Seriously Dave, I couldn’t be bothered.
michaelj said on April 11th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Seriously. A Richard? You mean a dick? How clever. There is no possibility of a lamer piece of shit bit of cell-phone garbage, Chad. Seriously sorry. Hilarious, though.
What is the result when dickheads call people dicks? Too dumb for words.
michaelj said on April 11th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
So how does that ahole get off calling me a dick and left free to gaze longingly into his own fundament?? If I’m pricked do I not bleed? Who exactly did I offend?
michaelj said on April 11th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
What exactly is the ‘plant-wide PA system’?
whitebeard said on April 12th, 2008 at 12:41 am
I worked with someone, who, believe it or not, introduced himself as Dick Handler, and never knew the meaning
Harl Delos said on April 12th, 2008 at 1:10 am
If, every time you met someone, people had a nervous titter, don’t you suppose you’d eventually figure out it had something to do with your name?
If the guy had an IQ over 80, he knew what it meant before he got through the third grade. And if he was mentally retarded, he’d still learn it in the locker room when he took physical education.
I think people with names like that figure that people are going to laugh anyhow, and it’s better to face it straight out than to try to call yourself Richard.
Dick Hoff, an insurance agent, used to have a billboard on US 127 near Van Wert. I’m sure he heard a lot of “Who’s on First” jokes. On the other hand, most people switch insurance agents because they get a renewal notice, and rates have risen. Nobody would notice a billboard for Richard Hoff — but they’d remember Dick’s billboard. I imagine he would get more than an average number of calls for competitive quotes.
whitebeard said on April 12th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Harl, this Dick Handler was incredibly obnoxious and totally clueless. The first Iraqi War, the real one, happened around deadline at the morning paper where I worked and we were updating with better photos and a better story for every edition. I collected all six editions to save as a souvenir and he came up to my desk, picked up “my” papers and said he was looking for the various editions.
And as for clueless, he bought a new car and called me the next day because it would not start. I asked him all kinds of questions: was it automatic or manual? Was the battery fully charged? Was it the primary key or secondary key he was using?
When he said it was manual, I asked him to go out to the car and see if he heard a click from the engine compartment when he turned the ignition key to start. He came back in
to say there was no click. I then asked him to go outside and turn on the headlights and see if they dimmed when he tried to start the engine. He came and said that the lights did not dim.
I then asked if he had any trouble starting the car the day before and he said the salesman had started the car and he, Dick Handler, got in and drove it home.
Then I asked the question I had been saving right from the beginning of our conversation 23 minutes ago. When he pushed the clutch pedal, I asked, did he push it all the way to the floor.
Why would I push the clutch pedal to the floor when I start the engine, he replied.
Oh, I said, didn’t you know that on new cars there is a safety ignition interlock feature that means you have to press the clutch to start the engine. Payback is always fun.
coozledad said on April 12th, 2008 at 10:48 am
One of the benefits of living close to Duke and UNC is the kind of stuff that shows up at the Goodwill stores. I’ve seen this jacket, or its simulacrum, for four bucks ( although I thought that was an insanely high price for something designed to be worn with white oxfords). A lot of the local shops donate last season’s line, too, so a lot of the stuff hasn’t even been worn.
If you need a blue blazer in either wool or a summer weight fabric, chances are they’ll have it in your size, without conspicuous moth-holes or seepage from the corpse they pried it off of, even. Do I sound like a crazy cheapskate? Well, I am. But it’s more that I have a tough time giving a damn what anyone thinks anymore.
Dave K. said on April 12th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
michaellj.… PA = Public Address system. Plant-wide = The “PA” audio announcements can be heard throughout the entire plant/factory/facility.
Sorry you “couldn’t be bothered…”, but back to the topic. If Monica Conyers doesn’t sound exactly like Reno 911 deputy
Raineesha Williams, you can call me “Richard”.
John c said on April 12th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
michaelj … If you read back carefully you will see I was NOT calling you a dick. I was saying that you were, are, most likely one of the few who could carry off a jacket like that. My point, perhaps poorly made, was that in the right hands, it’s a great jacket. But in most hands, including mine, it is the opposite of a great jacket. Of course, now I’m wondering if I was wrong. But no disrespect intended.
del said on April 12th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
John c, that’s what I was trying to tell michaelj before my computer cut out. D’oh! Could tell you meant that mj could probably be one of the cool, fun-loving guys who could pull it off. (And sorry about your brother mj.)
Dave said on April 12th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
When I learned to drive a stick (manual transmission), way back in the dark ages, my father taught me to push in the clutch every time when starting the car. This, better than having the gearshift in neutral, to avoid the possibility of the driver only thinking that it was in neutral, to avoid that sudden leap forward or backward.
whitebeard said on April 12th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I did not emphasize that clutch lesson enough to my daughter, who started an older BMW while in gear. The car shot forward into the repair shop where her husband was working and hit the car lift, dislodging a much larger Buick that partially crushed the BMW. The shop owner was in shock at seeing this, as if he was seven months pregnant as my daughter was at the time. She was unhurt.
Julie Robinson said on April 12th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Coozeldad, we lurv the Goodwills and Salvation Army stores! Our son works at one of those mall stores and has to wear their overpriced crap while at work. Even at his 40% employee discount it’s too expensive for a college student making $6/hr, so he haunts the thrifts. These are the times when I am very proud of his values.
whitebeard said on April 12th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
We are proud of the 13-year-old grandson who lives with us as well because he has fun picking T-shirts and other clothes in Goodwill and when I travel to other cities on business, my friend takes me to Goodwill stores, she loves handbags, I look at anything I can cram into my carryon luggage
Dexter said on April 13th, 2008 at 10:56 am
AH! How nice to wake to snow today! Another day of the bicycles safely locked away in the garage. Oh , it could be worse, and at least I do have freshly ground coffee beans.…
Mindy said on April 13th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Accept no imitations, Dexter!
http://www.almanac.com/
MichaelG said on April 13th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Used to be a NASCAR race driver named Dick Trickle. Swear to God.
I had a friend many years ago who was the service manager at a BMW store. Some genius at the regional level decided that service managers should wear suits. So Leroy used to buy a suit a week from the Salvation Army. He’d wear it for five days and toss it. It was cheaper than a bill from the dry cleaner. You can imagine the look and fit of some of them — especially by Friday. This only lasted a month or two.
It’s in the eighties here today.
Harl Delos said on April 13th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Used to be a NASCAR race driver named Dick Trickle.
He was Rookie of the Year in 1989. I could be wrong, but I think he was the oldest one ever.
He drove for Cale Yarborough that year, and in 1990, the Tom Cruise movie about NASCAR (Days of Thunder) came out. They called the Tom Cruise character Cale Cole Trickle. Hmmm. Wonder where they came up with that name.
It’s not a great movie; instead, it’s the kind of testosterone flick that TBS runs, with 51 minutes of edited-down movie between 188 minutes of commercials. TiVO it, so you can skip through the ads, chill a 6-pack, order a pizza, and you’ll be able to anchor the couch for a while, so it doesn’t float up and scuff the paint on the ceiling.
On the other hand, while Tom Cruise is always Tom Cruise, this one had a better script than most of his other movies, and Robert Duvall is good: “No, no, he didn’t slam into you, he didn’t bump you, he didn’t nudge you…he RUBBED you. And rubbin, son, is racin’.”
I don’t think there’s a good first name to go with “Trickle”. Nor with “Hooker”. Nor a bad first name to go with Derringer.
brian stouder said on April 13th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I don’t think there’s a good first name to go with “Trickle”. Nor with Hooker”.
‘Fight’n Joe Hooker’ — or “FJ Hooker”, as Lee shortened it, was a pretty apt name. We used to deal with a fellow named Richard Payne (a manufacturer’s rep for a hose company)
We just watched Hell’s Angels — the Howard Hughes flick from 80 years ago; we had never watched it before, and we’ve wanted to ever since watching Leonardo DiCaprio’s tour de force in The Aviator…and then Grant snapped it up at the library yesterday. If all you did was look at Jean Harlow — it’s a GREAT movie! — and beyond her, it is still quite remarkable
MarkH said on April 13th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Trickle WAS Rookie of the Year in ’89, Harl, and the oldest. Prior to that, a short-track king out of Wisconsin. Claims were made that he had either 1200 or 2000 career wins to his credit overall, depending on who was doing the claiming. This is, of course, BS. Other than a few NASCAR wins, his claim to fame was his insistence that he be able to SMOKE DURING THE RACE. NASCAR alledgedly relented after a time and said okay, but only during yellow flags. Legend has it that footage exists from an in-car camera shot during a 1990 race of him lighting up in such an instance. And, I’m sure you remember, Harl, that during their ESPN days, Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann always announced his finishes, no matter where they were, just so they could say his name.
Most racing movies have such BS storylines, but the action always makes it worthwhile. Even “Thunder”, although I always thought it was just re-hashed “Top Gun” on wheels. I always revere “Grand Prix”, but the best racing feature film, I think, is McQueen’s “LeMans”. Barely even a story line, at McQuen’s insistence, but terrific footage. Best one ever,though it’s a documentary, is Michael Keyser’s “The Speed Merchants”, chronicling the 1972 international sports car season. Brian, ever see that one?
Dialing back a bit to Friday:
Kirk, if you were looking for video in a TV newscast and missing it, you weren’t watching Shottelkotte. Must have been some other Cincy newsshow. In 1965 when I was 13, I moved from Pittsburgh and KDKA TV’s Bill Burns to Cincinnati, and Shottelkotte was on every night in our house until my mother moved away in 1978. Al was known for his penchant of cramming as many stories into the broadcast as possible, none more than 30 seconds long, most shorter, and always with visuals. Back in the ‘50s, ‘60s, this would have meant film and still shots (even polaroids!), and the of course, video beginning in the mid-‘70s. A real newsman, he was, starting at age 16 at the Post, then to radio and TV. In fact, the only times you saw him during his newscast were the intro, the close, and throwing to weatherman Dick Coleman, and sportscaster, Jack Moran. Who, by the way, was the one who wore the loud sportscoats, a la Jimmy Crum, not Al. Yes, Al was always old school, never apoloized for it, but no one covered the city better back in the day. No matter who WLW or WKRC put up against him, they always trailed in the ratings. That is, up until the mid-‘70s advent of the telegenic newsreaders, and his approach showed its age. That’s when and where Clooney and Jerry Springer and the likes of them came up in Cincinnati. So, Harl, labeling Shottlekotte a mere “newsreader” does scant justice to a man who WAS news in the Queen City. My former OSU J-school classmate, Barry Horstmann tells it better in this obit after Schottelkotte died in 1996.
http://karenserenity.com/inspiration/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=63
He was also known as a tyrant of an editor to his reporters, and I inadvertantly saw this first-hand. While attending UC, I was summer job-hunting, and wanted to work in radio or TV, so made the rounds of all the broadcast outlets in ’71 or ’72. While at WCPO, I was directed through the newsroom and was startled to be walking past Shottelkotte’s news desk, with him in the “slot” surrounded by three reporters. As I hurried to exit to an office, I suddenly heard behind me, “What the hell is this shit?!” I turned around in time to see and hear him loudly rip one of the reporters, Walt Maher, a new asshole on how he handled a story. All Maher could do was cower bug-eyed behind his typewriter. Definitley a departure from his on-air personna.
MichaelG said on April 13th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Nothing wrong with John Lee Hooker the great blues singer.
That was true about Dick Trickle (funny how how you have to say his whole name) smoking in the race car. He would light up during yellow flag laps and they would pick it up on the in car camera. I don’t recall anybody ever making a stink about it.
Harl Delos said on April 13th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
I always revere “Grand Prix”
I loved it when it came out, saw it recently on TV, and was so disappointed. A couple of days later, I realized why. When I saw it originally, the theatre shook when they’d rev the engines, and the screen was so big that you’d flinch when the cars drove straight at the cameras. It just isn’t the same on a 27-inch screen at volume levels suitable for keeping neighbors happy.
So, Harl, labeling Shottlekotte a mere “newsreader” does scant justice to a man who WAS news in the Queen City.
He had been at one time. By the late 1970s, he had become irrelevant, and it wasn’t any great accomplishment for Nick Clooney to become the #1 news anchor in Cincinnati — all they had to do was broadcast something halfway acceptable, knowing that eventually people would discover it.
What you didn’t say was that between those 20 – 30 second stories, there was a video glurge of about 15 still images each displayed for 1/30 of a second apiece. It was like staring at a strobe light or watching a bad movie about LSD flashbacks.
Walter Cronkite went to Houston or to Cape Canaveral for space shots. Dan Rather went to Nam, and he covered hurricanes while holding onto a street sign to keep from being blown away. Even Hilliard Gates went out to cover golf tournaments until he retired. Did Al ever leave the studio to cover news? In the late 1970s, it seemed like he was just reading stories that staffers had covered.
MarkH said on April 13th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
My point, exactly, Harl. Nothing lasts forever, even Al’s position at top ‘o the news heap. His style got old, and we saw less of him. I figure by the mid ‘70s as the aging population died off, he lost his appeal. Oddly, though, the last time I was in Cincinnati, in 1985, I saw him sharing the 6:00 news desk with another male anchor. Boy, did he look SMALL. And, he did cover stories, especially in his early days on radio and TV. In TV news’ infancy, no one had much of a news staff, so it was mostly him. Even later, up until probably the early ‘70s, he did go on some stories himself, especially if it involved city/county government shenanigans. You’re right; as time went on, he was more the managing editor. But he was in charge, as the editor, and with a competent staff, why would he have to go out so much? I don’t buy the comparison to Cronkite or Rather on the types of stories you mentioned. Those were large, one-shot stories, important enough to make sure viewers tuned in. Hence the network big-guns fronted the work, AND…the networks had the MONEY. Yes, the rapid-fire stills were part of the plan, and I chuckle at your exaggeration of psychedelia, but I always thought it worked. In any event, WCPO, Schottelkotte and CBS news were among my biggest inspirations to pursue a reporting career.
You are correct on Grand Prix, Harl. I remember seeing it as a teen at a Cincy theatre when it came out. Nothing will equal that. I think it was in a quasi-Cinerama format, too, with a pre-Sens-suround audio. However, our 50 inch TV with a home theater setup and the dvd works quite well, considering. Interesting note on this movie: Harl, did you ever read Robert Daley’s “The Cruel Sport”? It came out in ’63 after Daley spent five seasons covering Formula One for the New York Times. Robert Alan Arthur got sole credit for the screenplay, but entire lines of dialog are lifted from Daley’s book. He got no credit. I think it’s a crime when you figure this book had to be Frankenheimer’s inspiration for the film. The title came from Dan Gurney’s comment after a colleague’s racing death: “This is a cruel sport…”. The film story is horrible, but the no-tricks-filming of the racing action makes it worth it.
EDIT: OK, OK, I, too, can’t believe I’ve spent all this time defending Al Schottlekotte!! It’s just that his impact on Cincy is permanent and undeniable.
coozledad said on April 13th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Julie: Good on that kid. I wish I’d been more of an independent thinker when I was that age. I had to wait until I got hitched and my wife beat the mall out of me.
brian stouder said on April 13th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Only big-screen movie I’ve seen in “sense-surround” sound was the original release of Midway, with Charlton Heston…and Henry Fonda played Chester Nimitz (I think he played Nimitz in two other movies, too)
Mark — not sure about Speed Merchants; I have seen a late-60’s/early 70’s documentary movie about racing which included some fairly troubling scenes of people getting killed (including some hapless fellow darting across pit-lane, and then getting pitched high into the air by an incoming car, and then falling lifeless to the ground).…possibly that was it. Grand Prix and Le Mans are both excellent movies; they capture the colors and the appeal. (especially when they get to Monaco, for example)
The first morning I parked the car at Michigan International Speedway at Brooklyn, I smelled lots of charcoal-fired barbecues; and each time since, that’s the first thing I smeall. Now, on the rare occasions that I smell charcoal burning in a grill, I immediately think ‘RACE DAY’!!
Harl Delos said on April 13th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
But he was in charge, as the editor, and with a competent staff, why would he have to go out so much?
No reason. And I don’t mean to demean Al. But that’s the distinction I draw between “news reader” and “news anchor”. The newsreader stays in the building, while the news anchor goes out and covers the really big stories.
Harl, did you ever read Robert Daley’s “The Cruel Sport”?
I never heard of the book or the movie before this; I need to remedy that, apparently. Thanks for the recommendation.
I was reading earlier today that Jackie Stewart won 27 F1 races, but he saw 57 “close friends, colleagues and competitors” die on the track. Talk about a cruel sport!
From Grand Prix:
MichaelG said on April 13th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
That horrible crash in “Le Mans” was not staged. It was the real thing. The driver, David Piper, lost a leg in the accident. Aside from that awful moment, it was a teriffic film.
MarkH said on April 14th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Harl, your excellently chosen quote is just one of several examples of Daley’s work appearing in the film.
From “The Cruel Sport”, page 155, here’s Daley’s version, in a photo description of a crash scene:
“Above, two Ferraris speed past the burning, upside down wreck. Neither driver knows what has happened or who is hurt, perhaps dead. The head of the rookie driver, trailing, is screwed sideways, eyes trying to penetrate the smoke and steam. The veteran driver stares straight ahead. Later, he will answer in a flat voice, “What did it do to me? Nothing. Do I sound callous? I used to go to pieces. I’d see an accident like that and feel so weak inside that I wanted to quit, to stop the car and get out. I could hardly make myself go past it.
“But I’m older now. When I see something really horrible, I put my foot down, because I know everyone else is lifting his.“
Daley never revealed who actually said this, but judging by the particular model Ferrari, and rookie following veteran, I would think it was veteran Phil Hill, followed by Wolfgang Von Trips’ replacement after Trips was killed in the 1961 Italian GP; late ’61, or early ’62.
Plagiarism? I never saw or heard of any complaint from Daley, but that looks pretty blatant.
True story about Piper and his lost leg, Michael, but I’m not sure that crash was left in as McQueen’s crash of car #20. I have Michael Keyser’s book, “A French Kiss With Death” chronicling the making od the film, and the film crash is described as carefully staged with a hybrid Porsche-bodied Lola. Piper’s car was being filmed as it crashed, but it was much more heavily destroyed and was #21. No mention was made that it was used in the final film.
And, yes, Harl, your distinction drawn between newsreader and news anchor is appropriate, and supports the distinction between Schottelkotte and Clooney.
Harl Delos said on April 14th, 2008 at 12:57 am
In today’s
NY Times, an article on the winner of the “worst name” contest.
Iona Knipl (pronounced “nipple”), chosen because of the obvious response when introduces herself. “Hi, I own TWO”. After marrying and divorcing, she took back her maiden name. She kinda liked it. (FWIW, Kinpl is apparantly yiddish for “loose change”.)
I like the name Iona. Iona is a synonym for “amethyst”. The name was popular between 1900 and 1920, but by 1930, almost nobody was being named Iona. Mom knew Iona Ford, who married a man named Carr, becoming Iona Carr. Her husband owned Carr Tractor Sales, which was a Ford Tractor dealership.
Hundreds of comments on the NYT story; most are interesting to read. A couple of people mentioned Harry Baals (mayor of Fort Wayne from 1934 – 1954, when he died, except for one term 1948 – 1951) but nobody spelled it right.
Another comment mentioned Joy Bang. I took a class at Defiance College in 1969 with someone of that name. Could there be two of them? (She was smart, funny, hot, and playful, and I think she was engaged. In any case, she was an upperclassman who didn’t know I existed.)
John said on April 14th, 2008 at 7:51 am
I’m a preppie at heart, which sort of just happens when you grow up in Connecticut and aren’t Italian or black or Latino.
I’m guessing you are talking about the “west of the Connecticut River” part of the state.
MichaelG said on April 14th, 2008 at 9:07 am
I’m sure you’re correct, Mark. I’m operating off an ancient memory without a reference. Too lazy to google.
Boy, I can see that on a tombstone now. TOO LAZY TO GOOGLE.
Ms. Knipl is too good. I knew a kid named Joe Blow in third or fourth grade.