#Arthur Kober

[movie-titlecards]

Hollywood Party (1934)

My rating: 4/10

I mean, it does pretty much do what it says on the tin, and you can't fault it for that, plus some of the musical bits are pretty good, but Jimmy Durante was a man of powerful, nay overpowering shtick, and since it's the 30s there is many a yike throughout, what with the racism and assorted other bigotries. Surprisingly homoerotic in parts, though.

[byneddiedingo]

Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett in Me and My Gal (Raoul Walsh, 1932)

Cast: Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Marion Burns, George Walsh, J. Farrell MacDonald, Noel Madison, Henry B. Walthall, Bert Hanlon, Adrian Morris, George Chandler. Screenplay: Arthur Kober, Philip Klein, Barry Conners. Cinematography: Arthur C. Miller. Art direction: Gordon Wiles. Film editing: Jack Murray.

Why have I never seen Me and My Gal before? Is it because it's not an easy movie to pigeonhole, being not quite romantic comedy, not quite screwball, and not quite crime drama? Or because it's one of those pre-Code movies that teeter on the edge of seriousness and back off from it in sometimes uncomfortable ways? It starts with an old man about to drown his dog and ends with the police detective protagonist fudging the truth to protect the not entirely innocent. And in between it's wall-to-wall wisecracks, most of them delivered by a never-better Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett, who does the gum-chewing dame as well as anyone, even Joan Blondell. Tracy plays Danny Dolan, a cop whose attitude toward those he's supposed to protect and serve is summed up in his response to someone telling him there's been another bank robbery: "Oh, who'd the bank rob now?" And when told that it was the bank that got robbed, retorts, "Ah, turned the tables on 'em, eh? Smart!" There's also a slapstick drunk, a well-staged bank break-in, and even a parody of the Clark Gable and Norma Shearer movie based on Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude (Robert Z. Leonard, 1932), which Dolan remembers as Strange Inner Tube. Much of the credit for turning potential chaos into a thoroughly entertaining movie has to go to Raoul Walsh, one those Hollywood tough-guy directors who seem not to get the recognition they deserve today. 

[dorothydalmati1]

Obscure Animation Subject #149: Hollywood Party

Now, this subject isn’t fully animated. It’s mostly a live-action film, but it does include some animation. Released on June 1, 1934 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Howard Dietz and Arthur Kober, and directed by Richard Boleslawski, Allan Dwan, Edmund Goulding, Russell Mack, Charles Reisner, Roy Rowland, George Stevens and Sam Wood, with the animated bits directed by the god himself, Walt Disney!

Yeah, at the time his cartoons were released under a distribution contract for United Artists (ironically would be acquired by MGM in the 80s), but had decided to be involved with this production for MGM! Back in 1928, Disney wanted a distribution contract for MGM to get his Mickey Mouse shorts distributed, but was rejected. Eventually, he did get a distribution contract for Pat Powers, to get his Mickey cartoons released, and had been under various distribution contract over the years until 1953 when he founded his own distribution company, Buena Vista.

The film follows "Schnarzan", a jungle movie star who attends a Hollywood party, but when everything goes crazy, it all turns out to be a dream of Jimmy Durante. Ha Cha Cha Cha!

The animated sequence with Mickey Mouse would be extended into a cartoon produced with Technicolor, The Hot Choc-late Soldiers, MGM asked for a contract to get Disney to produce the sequence, and it was overseen by Ben Sharpsteen, who guided young artists Cy Young and Ugo D'Orsi. Originally, Mickey wasn’t intended to appear in the film, but that changed after a pitch meeting for the character to appear on Meet the Baron was dropped. Hollywood Party is noted for being the first appearance of Mickey in a feature film.

I rumored that when Ub Iwerks’s contract with MGM was coming to an end, MGM wanted a contract of distributing the Disney cartoons, however due United Artists still holding their contract, they didn’t do so and instead have Harman-Ising under their belt after Harman-Ising ended their partnership with Warner Bros. on the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies series. It helps that former Disney animators we’re heading the company, and their series, Happy Harmonies, was a previous OAS.

When Hollywood Party was released to theaters, it was critically panned, and the directors themselves find it to be such an embarrassment to the point where they don’t want to be credited in the film, even Walt Disney himself! The film was even a box-office bomb, only earning $500,000, which resulted in producer Harry Rapf to be transferred to the short subjects department. He later returned to produce features, doing so until his death in 1949.

In spite of shabby reputation, The Hot Choc-late Soldiers sequence was seen as a highlight among the critics, and the film became fondly remembered for for Mickey’s roast on Jimmy Durante, and has been as such since then.

Due to the 1965 MGM vault fire, 68 of the 75 minutes are known to exist. While the animated sequences survived through and through, 7 minutes of the film remain lost.

[kafkasapartment]

Wish You Were Here (rehearsals of Arthur Kober, Joshua Logan and Harold Rome’s musical comedy ‘Wish You Were Here’),  1952. Slim Aarons. Silver Gelatin

[pinerant]

Grand long beach events center events maker fair

#Grand long beach events center events maker fair movie

Sand Hill Properties of San Mateo bought the mall in 1995 and announced plans to begin renovation. Retail analyst Arthur Krakower told the San Francisco Examiner in 1993 that factors leading to the mall's decline included the loss of department stores, combined with an excess of shopping malls built in the 1980s. In response to this, Hahn proposed to replace the center with outlet stores, but was unsuccessful in negotiating with any prospective retailers. By 1993, the center was over 80 percent vacant among the major stores that had closed were Oshman's Sporting Goods, Foot Locker, and Pier One Imports. Between this and the fact that Whole Earth Access did not open to the mall, the interior quickly experienced a decline in tenancy. JCPenney left the mall in 1991, thus leaving two of the mall's four anchor stores vacant once more. All American Sports Club filed for bankruptcy and closed all of its stores in 1989. Terramonte renamed the mall to The Island and sold the vacated Liberty House location to Whole Earth Access, a counterculture retailer based out of Berkeley, California, in July 1987. Also as part of this deal, Amfac, then-owners of the Liberty House location, closed the store in order to sell its lease to Hahn. In 1987, Terranomics Development of San Francisco, California, purchased a 25 percent stake in the mall. Furthering the mall's failure was the expansion of nearby Hillsdale Shopping Center throughout the 1980s. Later that year, Federated Department Stores (now Macy's, Inc.) closed the Bullock's location and sold it to real estate developer Sterlik Company, which converted 84,000 square feet (7,800 m 2) of the 130,000-square-foot (12,000 m 2) store into a sporting goods store called All American Sports Club. Hahn had attempted to sell the mall to DeMonet Industries, but was unable to negotiate a sale price. In addition, construction along Highway 92 made the mall difficult to access. Factors in this underperformance included the Teflon-coated "fabric roof" of the Bullock's store which, combined with problems in the store's ventilation system, created issues with the store's internal temperature. Decline īy 1986, Hahn Company had put the mall up for sale due to underperformance. The only one to remain open was the Fashion Island store. In 1984, Liberty House closed nine of its ten California stores due to restructuring after poor sales the previous year.

#Grand long beach events center events maker fair movie

In addition to the four anchor stores, other amenities upon opening included an ice skating rink, a food court, and a multiplex movie theater. The mall was formally opened on May 2, 1982. In relation to the mall's development, developers including Menlo Development and Trammell Crow Company announced plans to build adjacent residential and office complexes. The mall also employed a number of architects: Charles Kober and associates for the mall itself, Environmental Planning and Research for the Montgomery Ward and Bullock's stores, Millard Archuleta for the JCPenney store, and Chaix and Johnson for Liberty House. These would be national chains Montgomery Ward and JCPenney, along with California-based chain Bullock's and Hawaii-based Liberty House. Plans called for a 844,000 square feet (78,400 m 2), one-story shopping mall with four anchor stores. In response to this, the engineering firm of Ruthroff and Engelkirk built piling foundations under each structure so as to allow "flexibility" to the structure. The site chosen for the mall was previously a muddy field, which presented challenges in construction. The developers chose a site along the California State Route 92 freeway in San Mateo, California. The Hahn Company, a California-based shopping mall developer, announced plans to build San Mateo Fashion Island in 1980. Major tenants of Bridgepointe Shopping Center include The Home Depot and Target. Bridgepointe Shopping Center is owned and managed by CBRE Group. Following the closures of Bullock's and Liberty House, the mall went into decline throughout the 1990s, leading to its closure and demolition in favor of a power center. Opened in 1982 as San Mateo Fashion Island, it was originally an enclosed shopping mall featuring JCPenney, Bullock's, Liberty House, and Montgomery Ward as its anchor stores. Bridgepointe Shopping Center LocationĨ44,000 square feet (78,400 m 2) (San Mateo Fashion Island)ĥ72,000 square feet (53,100 m 2) (Bridgepointe Shopping Center)īridgepointe Shopping Center is a shopping mall in San Mateo, California, United States.

[thebryanandsilvergarbage]

The 22nd Annual Bryan Awards - Creative Arts Bryan Awards, Round 3

Here are yet more winners from this year's Bryan Awards. Traditional Reality Program - Below Deck (Bravo) Made for Television Movie - The Survivor (HBO) Children's Program - Arthur (PBS) Special Class Documentary or Nonfiction Program - The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+)

Guest Actress, Drama Series - Harriet Walter, Succession (HBO/HBO Max) Guest Actor, Drama Series - James Cromwell, Succession (HBO/HBO Max) Guest Actress, Comedy Series - Jane Lynch, Only Murders in the Building (Hulu) Guest Actor, Comedy Series - Nathan Lane, Only Murders in the Building (Hulu) Guest Performer, Daytime - Jeff Kober, General Hospital (ABC)

Late Night Host - Stephen Colbert, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) Talk Show Host - Kelly Clarkson, The Kelly Clarkson Show (Syndicated) Game Show Host - Jane Lynch, The Weakest Link (NBC) Reality Show Host - RuPaul Charles, RuPaul's Drag Race (VH1)

Writing, Variety Series - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO/HBO Max) Directing, Variety Series - Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC) Writing, Variety Special - Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel (Netflix) Directing, Variety Special - One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga (CBS)

Episode of the Year, Comedy - Abbott Elementary, "Pilot" (ABC) Episode of the Year, Drama - Squid Game, "Red Light, Green Light" (Netflix) Moment of the Year, Daytime - Amy Schneider Wins 38 Straight, Jeopardy (Syndicated) Sports Moment of the Year - "Ohio State is Vanquished", Michigan vs. Ohio State, College Football on FOX (FOX) Most Missed Series - This is Us (NBC; 2016-2022)

[ohfiddlefrancesdee]

Synopsis: Dr. Eli Watt (Lionel Barrymore) tends tirelessly to the needs of the town's skeptical and unappreciative residents, often receiving home-grown vegetables as the only payment for his work. Dr. Watt’s son Jimmy follows his father’s footsteps in the medical field, eventually surpassing him in reputation, but takes his beautiful fiancée Joan for granted until Dr. Watt sets him straight. An inspirational testament to human kindness.

Director: John S. Robertson

Writers: Lester Cohen, Samuel Ornitz, Katharine Havilland-Taylor, Arthur Kober

Starring: Lionel Barrymore, May Robson, Dorothy Jordan, Joel McCrea, Frances Dee

Producers: Merian C. Cooper,

Initial release: August 31, 1933

#LionelBarrymore #JoelMcCrea #FrancesDee #MayRobson #DorothyJordan #precodehollywood #hollywoodcouple

[nevinslibrary]

Totally Random Non-Fiction Tuesday

Linear B. I think that I’d heard of it (found in Crete in 1900, thought to be from 1400 BC, deciphered in 1952). This book is all about all of it. It’s about Arthur Evans, who found it, Michael Ventris who is credited with deciphering it, and Alice Kober, who during the 1940s helped solve it but died before it was fully deciphered.

It was a very Simon Winchester-esque book (another great writer of prose non-fiction). I’m generally interested more in writing (the full words, how do we get our ideas, what is our brain doing, why is it doing it, just…. The craziness that is our brain and writing), but, I do like the ancient world, and the author really drew me in through that and there was enough of the history and other stuff that I didn’t get lost in the linguistics. There was even a little intrigue in the book too for the mystery lover in me.

You may like this book If you Liked: La Dame D'esprit by Judith P. Zinsser, Digging for Richard III by Mike Pitts, or The Keys of Egypt by Lesley Adkins

The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code by Margalit Fox

[typingtess]

Tiptoeing through the "Cac Tu Nhan" guest cast

Carl Lumbly as Charles Langston   John M. Jackson as A.J. Chegwidden   Jeff Kober as Harris Keane   Long Nguyen as Dang   The men recently around Hetty are all back for this episode.  Lumbly was last seen in "Golden Days" enjoying a toast to Owen Granger.  Jackson, Kober and Nguyen were all in "This is What We Do" (episode 200).

Gabriel Olds as Spencer Allen   This is the third NCIS related guest role for Olds – appeared in the "Child's Play" NCIS episode in season seven and "It Happened One Night" from the first season of NCIS: New Orleans.  He also played Lt. Commander David Ridley in the "Friendly Fire" episode of JAG's eighth season.

Played Mason Scott in D.C.  Also appeared in episodes of Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Party of Five, Sisters, CSI, Tru Calling, Century City, Charmed, Judging Amy, Six Feet Under E-Ring, Strong Medicine, Commander in Chief, The Evidence, Numb3rs, Medium, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, The Mentalist, Heroes, Drop Dead Diva, The Event, Private Practice, Franklin & Bash, Boardwalk Empire, Elementary and SEAL Team.

James Handy as Nelson   Handy's first role was on the soap Ryan's Hope in 1977.  He has been working ever since.  He was in feature films from "The Verdict" (as the victim's family member looking for justice) to "Logan" last year.  

TV guest roles span from Cagney and Lacey to Wiseguy; from Quantum Leap to The X Files; from ER to The West Wing and from Criminal Minds to Castle.  Played Arthur Devlin in Alias.    

Kenny Leu as Billy Van   Played CIA Officer Kenny Young in the "Stop the Bleeding" season 13 premiere of NCIS.  Was Sgt. Eddie Chen in The Long Road Home.  Appeared in episodes of Scream: The TV Series, Zoo and The Player.

Catherine Kresge as NCIS Special Agent Carter   Played Lance Corporal Stella Brooks in the first part of the season 10 NCIS finale ("Double Blind").  Was in episodes of The OC, That 70's Show, CSI: Miami, Moonlight, Eleventh Hour, House, The Middle, 90210, Franklin & Bash and Lucifer.

Sylvia Kwan as Young Woman   Appeared in an episode of 90210.

Written by:  R. Scott Gemmill wrote “The Only Easy Day”, “Brimstone”, “Breach”, “LD50”, “Found”, “Borderline”, “Absolution”, “Archangel”, “Tin Soldiers”, “Impostors”, “Cyberthreat”, “Honor”, “The Watchers” and both sides of the NCIS Los: Angeles/Hawaii Five-0 “Touch of Death” episodes, “Recruit”, “Free Ride”, “Wanted”, “Ravens and The Swans”, “Impact”, “War Cries”, both ends of the “Deep Trouble” season five finale/season six premiere, “Inelegant Heart”, “Praesidium”, “Traitor”, “Active Measures” (season seven premiere), “Blame It On Rio”, “Internal Affairs”, “Matryoshka” part one,  “Talion” (season seven finale), “High Value Target"/"Belly of the Beast” (season eight premieres), "The Queen's Gambit", "Under Siege", "Unleashed" (season eight finale), "Party Crashers" (season nine's premiere) and "This Is What We Do" (episode 200).  

Directed by:  James Hanlon directed “War Cries”, “The Grey Man”, “Kolcheck, A”, “Driving Miss Diaz”, “Command and Control” (number 150), “Angels and Daemons", “Where There’s Smoke”, "Black Market", "Tidings We Bring" and "Can I Get a Witness?".

[howardhawkshollywoodannex]

Lillian Hellman got screenwriting credit for adapting her 1939 stage hit The Little Foxes for the big screen in 1941, but she got help from her ex-husband Arthur Kober, her friend Dorothy Parker, and Dorothy's husband Alan Campbell.

[itunesbooks]

The Riddle of the Labyrinth - Margalit Fox

The Riddle of the Labyrinth The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code Margalit Fox Genre: Ancient Price: $13.99 Publish Date: May 14, 2013 Publisher: Ecco Seller: HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS In the tradition of Simon Winchester and Dava Sobel, The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code tells one of the most intriguing stories in the history of language, masterfully blending history, linguistics, and cryptology with an elegantly wrought narrative.   When famed archaeologist Arthur Evans unearthed the ruins of a sophisticated Bronze Age civilization that flowered on Crete 1,000 years before Greece’s Classical Age, he discovered a cache of ancient tablets, Europe’s earliest written records. For half a century, the meaning of the inscriptions, and even the language in which they were written, would remain a mystery.                                                Award-winning New York Times journalist Margalit Fox's riveting real-life intellectual detective story travels from the Bronze Age Aegean—the era of Odysseus, Agamemnon, and Helen—to the turn of the 20th century and the work of charismatic English archeologist Arthur Evans, to the colorful personal stories of the decipherers. These include Michael Ventris, the brilliant amateur who deciphered the script but met with a sudden, mysterious death that may have been a direct consequence of the deipherment; and Alice Kober, the unsung heroine of the story whose painstaking work allowed Ventris to crack the code. http://bit.ly/2ESmS08

[swisscgny]

Swiss artist talk presents: Regina Düring

Swiss Artist Talk is a written interview series conducted by the Consulate General of Switzerland featuring current Swiss artists-in-residence living in New York. Swiss Artist Talk is pleased to introduce writer Regina Düring. Regina received a grant from the Canton of Bern and will stay in New York until the end of January 2018.

Regina Dürig (*1982 in Mannheim, Germany) is a Switzerland based writer, performer, lecturer and researcher. She has published miniatures, short stories, audio dramas, kids’ books and YA novels. She teaches creative writing at the Berne University of the Arts/Swiss Literature Institute and in the Adult Education Center in Biel. Preferably she collaborates with artists from other disciplines, as art & life for her are all about encounters. Her writings have won several awards, a.o. the IBBY Honour List, the Wartholz Literature Prize, the Peter-Haertling-Prize and the Literature Prize of the Cantone of Berne, her books have been shortlisted for national YA book awards in Germany and Switzerland.

Photo taken by Nicole Rampa during a stories & sounds performance together with Christian Müller in our studio in the East Village end of September

What are you working on right now?

I am working on two manuscripts (a kids' novel and a picture book), but my main task for the time here in NYC is the research for a new piece. “Deciphering the Silence” is a layered project circling around the American classicist Alice Kober (1906-1950). It is about knowledge and dedication. Love in the margins. Language and scripts. Writing as a gesture of deciphering. Daughterhood, womanhood in a male world. Lacking. Insisting. Traveling. Losing against time. I imagine the result to be a novel and some sort of audio piece which will be realized together with Christian Müller, my partner and long term collaborator (see our work as stories & sounds duo Butterland on www.butterland.ch), who is here in NYC with me.

Dr. Alice Kober, who lived in New York City all her life and taught at Brooklyn College, was in the 1930s and 40s the leading scholar in the decipherment of Linear B, a pre-hellenic script which was found on clay tablets unearthed in Knossos, Crete, by the British archeologist Sir Arthur Evans. With her rigorous and meticulous analytical approach Alice Kober was able to understand the relations of the syllabic signs without assigning sound values to them–this is to say she did not want, in a first step, to read the language, but to find out how it was used. She came very far and might have even deciphered the script, hadn't she died in 1950, at the age of 43. Two years later, this task was accomplished by Michael Ventris, drawing on Alice Kober's methodology and findings. Never the less, her work and she herself is nearly forgotten.

“Deciphering the Silence“ aims at writing Alice Kober back into the world. The novel, which I imagine to be more of a texture than a text, will incorporate different voices and traces: one will be Alice's own voice, based on fragments from the correspondences with scholars Franklin Daniel and Johannes Sundwall, other ones will be fragments and short stories telling significant moments of her life and my search for her. I am very grateful for the opportunity to access the archive of Alice Kober's letters and work notes in the PASP (Program for Aegean Scripts and Prehistory), Texas University, Austin, as a visiting scholar in October 2017. The blur pics were taken on our 48 hour train ride from NYC to Austin.

For our neighborhood holiday project “The Little Literary Studio” which invites everybody to order their very own piece of prose which I will write & give to them, I borrowed a typewriter. At home I have the same model, in a light green metallic finish. I usually take my typewriter with me when I travel to write, but for the stay here I had to leave it at home, because of its weight.

As I am quite excessive with editing when I write on the computer (which doesn't help in the stage of a first draft when you want to go forward rather than backward), I use the typewriter to outsmart myself. So I am really excited that it sits on my nice wooden desk now. The first sentence I wrote with the new ribbon, which was surprisingly easy to find, was: I might be in love with the catfish who lives in the studio across the street.

What work of yours are you most proud of?

A finished text continues to be meaningful for me if writing it made me discover something about writing, ideally by surprise. The last piece with this momentum was a performance inside of a bridge in Berne, Switzerland, this fall. I was invited as one of eight musicians/voice artists to contribute & perform a live piece, which lead the audience into the impressive, particular and unfamiliar environment. I don't think of myself as a statement making person, I prefer the porous and ephemeral, but in order to stay balanced with the space the text had to be exactly that: very determined and firm. I think this experience of doubtlessness really implied a shift in my (usually very critical and doubtful) mind.

What inspires you the most?

The mundane, the details, the absent.

Cooking, eating, drinking.

Encounters of all kinds.

Humbleness.

Reading.

People who love what they do.

The sea.

Silence.

How is New York influencing your work?

I absolutely love the readings here–I have seen so many fascinating, brilliant and dedicated writers reading or discussing their texts & thoughts, it is absolutely overwhelming. My recommendations are: Strand, Y92, Books are Magic, KGB bar & Brooklyn Book Festival.

Teaching writing is also an important part of my practice and during the last couple of months I very much enjoyed being on the participant's side–in NYC there are so many different classes and writing group meetings that the actual work is not to find them, but choose the right ones. Something that really impressed me was a workshop I attended just a couple of weeks ago, called Sense Writing. The group met in a yoga studio and the writing process was connected with movement sequences from the Feldenkrais method. It was a great environment to experiment­–with focus, great care and adept guidance.

What is your favorite place in New York?

Strand bookstore & Union Square farmer's market, the restaurant/bar Atla.

What are you hoping to gain from your stay here in New York that you can take with you back to Switzerland?

Apart from two suitcases full of books I will take back the openness and curiosity I encountered here, the conviction that writing can and should change the world, and, most importantly, the feeling to be wide awake, wider than ever before.

Where can people see more of your work?

On January 25, I'll perform with Christian Müller, Shayna Dunkelmann, Michael Carter and other musicians from NYC at the Trans-Pecos in Brooklyn at 8pm. Stories in German and lots of sounds!

You can follow our journey to Alice Kober on Instagram.

And, of course, you can buy my books at the book store of your choice: A YA novel called 21/2 Gespenster and a kids' book called Weisst du, welches Tier?

Follow the hashtag #SwissArtNYC on twitter and Instagram for more Swiss art in NYC!

[njawaidofficial]

Tiger Joe Robinson Dead: 'Diamonds Are Forever' Actor Was 90

http://styleveryday.com/2017/07/11/tiger-joe-robinson-dead-diamonds-are-forever-actor-was-90/

Tiger Joe Robinson Dead: 'Diamonds Are Forever' Actor Was 90

11:12 AM PDT 7/10/2017 by Mike Barnes

He also worked as a stuntman and taught actress Honor Blackman a thing or two about self-defense.

Tiger Joe Robinson, a real-life British judo, karate and wrestling champion who famously engaged Sean Connery in a fierce fight in an elevator in Diamonds Are Forever, has died. He was 90.

Robinson died July 3 after a short illness in Brighton, England, his family announced.

Robinson also jumped in the ring to wrestle the Italian giant Primo Carnera in director Carol Reed’s A Kid for Two Farthings (1955), which competed for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

In Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Robinson, who played a diamond smuggler, and Connery’s James Bond went at it amid the tight quarters of a glass-enclosed lift before 007 employed a fire extinguisher to put away his adversary.

The broad-shoulder Robinson also was a stuntman and stunt arranger, and he and his brother Doug gave actress Honor Blackman her first lessons in judo and karate. Those skills came in handy for her action roles as Dr. Cathy Gale on the 1960s ITV series The Avengers and as Pussy Galore in the Bond film Goldfinger (1964).

The brothers were credited as co-authors of 1965’s Honor Blackman’s Book of Self-Defence and appeared as her combatants in several photographs. “If a man were going to attack someone, he’d be a fool to pick me,” Blackman, who became a black belt in karate, told Life magazine in 1966.

A third-generation champion wrestler, Robinson defeated Olympic gold medalist Axel Cadier of Sweden to win the European heavyweight wrestling title at Royal Albert Hall in 1952. Around that time, he also portrayed Harry “Muscles” Green in a West End production of Arthur Kober’s Wish You Were Here.

Robinson studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and went on to appear in The Flesh Is Weak (1957), Sea Fury (1958), The Bulldog Breed (1960), Barabbas (1961) and Tony Richardson’s The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962).

Survivors include another brother, Norman.

Source

#Actor #Dead #Diamonds #Joe #Robinson #Tiger

[childrenshouruncc-blog]

Hellman & Hammett: An Unusual Love Affair

Aspiring playwright Lillian Hellman, 24, met Dashiell Hammett, 36, writer of The Maltese Falcon. She offered him connection to high society. He offered her hope of attaining mastery of story. She left her husband, screenwriter Arthur Kober, for Hammett. They had an unorthodox intimate relationship which spanned over three decades.

Hammett was a womanizer and heavy drinker with thin good looks. Hellman was by most accounts outspoken, a drinker, and not bridled by society convention. At times, their relationship was warm and caring. Hammett was Hellman’s inspiration when she wrote The Children’s Hour. Martinis were their drink of choice. At times, their boozing preceded sharp tongued rows.

As left wing activists, together they stormed the Red Scare of the ‘50s and McCarthyism. Hellman was brought up to testify before the House Committee of Un-American Activities (HUAC). Hammett was jailed. Both were blacklisted.

While emotionally intertwined, both had relationships with others and spent most of their time apart. Hammett, who was diagnosed with lung cancer, lived out the last four years of his life in Hellman’s New York home. Hammett died in 1961. Hellman continued writing and died in 1984.

- Linda Ann Watt

[newyorkerfictionarchive-blog]

Author: Arthur Kober

Title: It's a Sure Headache, I'd Appreciate Somebody to Remove Offa My Hands

Issue date: January 11, 1946

Source: The New Yorker

[childrenshouruncc-blog]

Who is Lillian Hellman?

Thirty-three years after her death, playwright Lillian Hellman is still a force. Hellman was born in New Orleans in 1905. She was a feminist before the word was coined. She drank heavily, smoked heavily, and wasn’t afraid to impose her ideas or lead causes to recognize human strife. Her political activism later landed her in front of the House Committee on Un-American activities (HUAC). She declined to testify and she was blacklisted.

As a young woman, Hellman attended Columbia University in New York and shortly after left college to work at a publishing house. She met and married writer, Arthur Kober. They moved to California, where she got a job as a script reader for MGM Studio. The job proved boring, but the position allowed Hellman to enter a circle of creative writers. She met writer Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man) and subsequently left her husband. She never married Hammett, but they had a relationship, which spanned over 30 years until his death in 1961.

On his urging, she wrote her first play, The Children’s Hour, based on an 1809 court case about two Scottish school teachers, accused of indecent acts. This play, her first, was a Broadway success. Her second play, Days to Come, wasn’t well received. Hellman traveled to Europe to support the anti-Franco side of the Spanish Civil War. She returned to the US where she went on to write the successful play, The Little Foxes, which explored family greed over love. Hellman’s work touched on the negative emotions and selfish desires of the human condition. She seemed to understand it well from watching her mother’s family disparage her father for losing his business.

In her later years she wrote Pentimento: A Book of Portraits, a loose autobiography about her life, which included a chapter about her aiding the anti-Nazi movement. The Oscar® winning movie, Julia, was an adaptation of the book. It came under fire by author and literary critic, Mary McCarthy on The Dick Cavett Show. McCarthy said the book was a fabrication of lies. Hellman filed a libel suit against McCarthy. Hellman died on June 30, 1984, the libel suit was still pending. Her successors dropped the suit.

- Linda Ann Watt