Cantara’s (Social) Notebook

Do I have to come back to America and slap you all upside the head? Even the Weather Underground wouldn't have fucked up as much as you have. All right — here are the rules for the revolution: DO NOT bring the children . For Christ's sake leave them with the sitter. Children who are too young to understand the cause shouldn't be put in jeopardy for the cause.  DO NOT make life harder for the elderly and infirm.  Appoint leaders. Yes, you're going to have to do this. You can throw them to the wolves later. Hide the money ! Your leaders can do this for you.  DO NOT let in spongers. Cut out the luxuries! NO MORE organic chicken dinners and sheep's-milk-cheese salads! DO NOT disrespect your food crew!  DO respect your environment — which includes its permanent residents. Rally to a SPECIFIC CAUSE. This is a strength, not a weakness. ARTICULATE THE FUCKING MISSION!!! Failure to do this is what undid the Weather Underground. If you're going to long-...

Take a close and objective look at the angry demonstrators now gathered on Wall Street, and at similar protest encampments burgeoning from San Francisco to Madrid. What you see is not simply a vast expression of rage at the crisis enveloping the world of democracy. The demonstrations also frame a fundamental contradiction—a profound source of strength that has been transformed into a disabling weakness. They deserve enormous credit for drawing a global spotlight to the perpetrators of that crisis: a sinister cabal of financial scamsters and rightwing politicians, backed by the dubiously “grassroots” electorate of the Tea Party. What almost no one, on the right or left alike, wants to talk about is that the cabal was empowered by the very people who are now denouncing it. Progressives, out of a mixture of political correctness and embarrassment, carefully avoid the subject. The Republicans are delighted at the silence, because it masks what should be fatal weaknesses in ...

Heard on NBC radio from San Francisco 1949-1951, Candy was the toughest and wittiest of all the female private investigators on the air. Candy Matson, YU 2-8209 created by Monty Masters—husband of the star, Natalie Masters —also had some of the cleverest dialogue and well-plotted mystery scripts in broadcast drama. An added plus are the real-life Bay Area locations woven into each story. Candy’s love interest, SFPD Lt Ray Mallard, was played by Henry Leff, while her sometime sidekick, aptly named Rembrandt Watson, was played by Jack Thomas. Astonishingly for the early 50s, Rembrandt is obviously gay— probably the first favorably portrayed homosexual on radio . This episode, entitled “ The Fort Ord Story ”, is dedicated to my husband, novelist-editor Michael Matheny, who took his basic training in Fort Ord in 1967 before being shipped overseas.

An old friend from San Francisco, the tough-guy actor and outspoken gay activist J.E. Freeman, just sent this poem to me and asked if I could repost it for National Coming Out Day , which I am very glad to do, as the suicides of those young  people are also weighing heavily on my mind: Unfortunately to be free requires sometimes that one fight back The most expensive quality in life is freedom. Freedom is never free. Never without cost. The price is not caring what the price is The price is to dare to be unafraid. Or if afraid to stand any way in fear and to take what comes. For what else makes courage? How else are heroes made? It is by facing that which we fear and surviving. It lies in requiring in demnding the haters to stand exposed in the light of their hatred which is only their own fear lashing out. To kill one's self is to become one's own executioner. It is to buy into the verdict of the hater. If one must die for one's freedom make the h...

Ross Ching 's vision of a carless LA. That's what I love about this city, all the possibilities. This posting is dedicated to my favorite car-free film producer, Marcia Nasatir.

What, no Bramwell? The Bronte sisters, painted by Bramwell

Tim Cooney in New York in the 50s. Just posted on YouTube today is an hour-long talk with Timothy J. Cooney (1929-1999), author of the book Telling Right from Wrong: What is Moral, What is Immoral, and What is Neither One Nor the Other . The blurb says: An important contribution to the field of moral philosophy, this book provides an objective and precise answer to the question, “What is morality?” Moral philosophers, the author claims, have gotten bogged down in meta-ethical questions and now find themselves in a hopelessly relativistic position. Cooney develops a unique moral theory and isolates and explores the core of morality, separating actual moral issues from apparent ones. It’s a slim book, only 158 pages, published in 1985 by the small press Prometheus Books after Random House rescinded their contract when Cooney admittedly forged a letter from the chairman of the philosophy department at Harvard that attested to its brilliance. And that not insignificant anecdote po...

While doing the washing up after dinner last night I got to reflecting on Ed Gyllenhaal’s latest posting over at New Church History , which led to a train of thought that ended with the odious TV show Jimmy Kimmel Live! I should explain: Around last Christmas a young woman who claimed to be one of Kimmel’s producers contacted me to ask if I had in my possession, of all things, an original (!) copy of Swedenborgian entomologist Leonard Gyllenhaal’s 200-year-old masterwork Insecta Suecica that the show could borrow for an upcoming appearance by Jake. I could only wonder how my interest in the history of Swedenborgianism had gotten around, but I was pretty damn sure that Kimmel was planning to bring up Jake’s great-great-great-great grandfather in order to crack a few “bug man” jokes—the same way he tried, not coincidentally, to crack a few cheap jokes about the Gyllenhaal noble line when Maggie was on. Of course I don’t possess a copy of such a precious volume, and I really wante...

I'm outlining a novel inspired by the life of this man. Jacques Lusseyran (19 September 1924 — 27 July 27 1971) was born in Paris. A school accident caused him to become totally blind at the age of eight. However, he soon learned to adapt to being blind and maintained many close friendships. As a young teenager, alarmed at the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism in Germany, he decided to learn the German language in order to listen to German radio broadcasts and understand his country's perilous situation better. In the spring of 1941, during the Nazi Occupation of France, Lusseyran formed a Resistance group called the Volunteers of Liberty with fifty-two other boys; the group later merged with another Resistance group called Défense de la France. In July 1943 Lusseyran was arrested by the Gestapo, betrayed by a weak-willed member of his group. He was sent to Buchenwald with two thousand other French citizens where, because he was blind, he was exempted from forced labor. Luss...

A negro man came along the shore toward them, collecting the grunion quickly, like twigs, into two pails. They came in twos and threes and platoons and companies, relentless and exalted and scornful, around the great bare feet of the intruders, as they had come before Sir Francis Drake had nailed his plaque to the boulder on the shore. “I wish for another pail,” the negro man said, resting a moment. “You’ve come a long way out,” said Stahr. “I used to go to Malibu, but they don’t like it, those moving picture people.” A wave came in and forced them back, receded swiftly, leaving the sand alive again. “Is it worth the trip?” Stahr asked. “I don’t figure it that way. I really come out to read some Emerson. Have you ever read him?” “I have,” said Kathleen. “Some.” “I’ve got him inside my shirt. I got some Rosicrucian literature with me, too, but I’m fed up with them.” The wind had changed a little, the waves were stronger further down, and they walked along the foaming e...

Ladies and gentlemen , before we bring this rodeo to a close, a few things need to be said. There has been a lot of speculation in the press about what I legally can and can’t say about NBC. This isn’t a joke, and to set the record straight, tonight I am allowed to say anything I want. And what I want to say is this: between my time at Saturday Night Live , The Late Night Show , and my brief run here on The Tonight Show , I’ve worked with NBC for over twenty years. Yes, we have our differences right now and yes, we’re going to go our separate ways. But this company has been my home for most of my adult life. I am enormously proud of the work we’ve done together, and I want to thank NBC for making it all possible. I really do. A lot of people have been asking me about my state of mind. I’ll be honest with you: Walking away from The Tonight Show is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Making this choice has been enormously difficult. This is the best job in the world, I absolutely...

People of Earth: In the last few days I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision. Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from t...

Luise Rainer...who made her screen debut as a teenager and appeared in three other German-language films in the early ‘30s, terminated her European career when the Austrian Adolf Hitler consolidated his power in Germany. With his vicious anti-Semitism, his imposition of a police state in Germany, and his desire for an anschluss between Austria and Der Vaterland , Hitler was a threat to European Jewry. Rainer had been spotted by a talent scout, who offered her a seven-year contract with the American studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The 25-year-old Rainer took the deal and emigrated to the United States. ...During the making of Escapade, Rainer met and fell in love with the left-wing playwright Clifford Odets, then at the height of his fame. They were married in 1937. It was not a happy union... Rainer would allay any backbiting from Hollywood's bovines over her first Oscar with her performance as O-Lan in MGM producer Irving Thalberg’s spectacular adaptation of Pearl S. Buck’s The G...

Now that I’ve got your attention, you Susan Boyle fans, it’s just a fantasy. But wouldn’t you love to hear Captain Jack and our beautiful Sue do this number from the Great American Songbook, “Baby It’s Cold Outside”? Liner notes: Frank Loesser wrote the music and lyrics; it won the Oscar for Best Song in 1949; it was from the movie Neptune’s Daughter in which Ricardo Montalban sang it to Esther Williams (on dry land, I think). There is some controversy as to whether this is a song about date rape—“Hey, what’s in this drink?”—to which I say: screw you. Gals have got no sense of playfulness anymore. There's a juiceless version of this song at YouTube with Michael Buble and Jane Monheit and a creamy one with Dean Martin that makes you want to crawl into bed with him. But the best one overall, where the arrangement and the voices really shine together, is the one sung by Margaret Whiting and Johnny Mercer. Enjoy—and Happy New Year! [ Baby It’s  Cold Outside ] SUBSCRIBE TO MY O...

My lit quarterly Cantaraville was lucky enough to get acquaintance Stephen Tobolowsky to contribute a written version of his soon-to-be periennial classic “An LSD Christmas” to the special free Winter issue, which can be read and downloaded here. Tobolowsky’s story can be heard in different versions, in the film Stephen Tobolowsky’s Birthday Party (directed by Robert Brinkmann) and now—thanks to Slashfilmcast producer David Chen—in audio podcast at the two-month old Tobolowsky Files . So gather the family around the old laptop, and remember, when the dog talks, you listen. _____ SUBSCRIBE TO MY OCCASIONAL NEWSLETTER. CLICK HERE.

Besides being able to act, sing tenderly , sing patter , dance , move like and elf, and make people laugh without uttering a word , the next Danny Kaye also has to demonstrate a genuine desire to put a smile on a child’s face and a genuine interest in other people. You hear that, Naomi ? Au suivant!

This October (on the seventh, to be exact) marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of one of America’s greatest imaginists. Here for your delectation is not one of his usual shivery slimy nightmares but a very satisfying tale indeed of love, revenge and menchhood...

I was turned on to the wonderful, un-pigeonholeable 2005 film Stephen Tobolowsky’s Birthday Party by none other than the director, Robert Brinkmann, who happens to be a mutual acquaintance of an old friend from San Francisco theater, as well by Tobolowsky himself. I talk a little about STBP in an earlier posting which you can find here . Fans have been clamoring for more of the big guy, and now in response comes The Tobolowsky Files , a series of videos in which he shares more of his incredible, funny and poignant life stories. For the audio portion of his Halloween tale, click here to listen. You’re in for a (trick or) treat! Want more Tobolowsky? His hilarious story, “An LSD Christmas”, was published in last year’s winter issue of Cantaraville , which you can read and download at my earlier posting . The editors of Cantaraville are pleased to announce that “An LSD Christmas” was nominated for a Best of the Web award. SUBSCRIBE TO MY OCCASIONAL NEWSLETTER. CLICK HERE. ...

I’ve just been asked by fellow publisher, Sandra Sanchez of the Wessex Collective, to pass on the story of Irene Sendler, who died last year at the age of 98. And so  here  it is.

Mailer’s first short story published by Esquire is this view of army life during the Korean War. It’s appropriate reading for Mad Men fans who’d like to understand better where Dick Whitman’s coming from. SUBSCRIBE TO MY OCCASIONAL NEWSLETTER. CLICK HERE. _____