Bookmarks

Clearing out the bookmarks folder, more or less at random.

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Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch was once asked why some people disliked former NYC Rep. Bella Abzug. Because, Koch said, "they know her."

That's pretty much the same situation that faces former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Those who know him best -- New Yorkers -- like him the least. That's not just because of his prickly personality. They know what he's like and they know what he's done -- see for instance "Giuliani Time!: The Rudy Quiz" in the current New Yorker. Some examples:

7. True or false: When Giuliani blamed an underling named Jerome M. Hauer for the foolhardy idea of placing the city’s emergency-management headquarters in the World Trade Center, he was confronted with a memo in which Hauer had argued against the site and in favor of a less visible target in Brooklyn. ...

17. Who is Justin Volpe?

(a) The priest recently hired by Giuliani’s consulting firm despite having been accused of molesting young boys.
(b) The police officer who sodomized the Haitian immigrant Abner Louima with a broomstick in a Brooklyn station house.
(c) The live-in partner of the gay friend whom Giuliani moved in with after his wife Donna Hanover, having learned of his intention to divorce her when he announced it at a press conference, refused to leave Gracie Mansion.
(d) The man standing between Giuliani and Alfonse D’Amato in a picture of them, dressed as hoodlums, from a photo-op drug bust in 1986.

Answers: True; b.

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Some justifiable hyperbole from Matthew Yglesias. Plus Amanda weighs in on Season 3 of The Wire.

And just in case you haven't seen these yet, here are the prequels:

• Young Omar (1985)

• Young Prop Joe (1962)

• When Bunk Met McNulty

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Mutant Enemy day on the picket lines: Grrr. Aargh. (via)

Granted, Joss Whedon is, like Rupert Jee, more of a cult figure than an A-list celebrity, but it's still frustrating how little press coverage there is for events like this. (Hello Deli vid via LateShowWritersOnStrike.com.)

It's strange to look at, for example, these pics from "Heroes" day on the picket line and to realize that these pictures aren't going to be in the newspaper or on the evening news. Here are the stars of a hit show. If two or three of them had gone to a nightclub for a private evening out, the paparazzi would have been waiting outside to snap photos that would end up on the entertainment wires, yet here they are marching and holding signs and wanting their pictures to be taken and scarcely any photos from events like this will ever hit the wires. Given the corporate nexus of news and entertainment media, this isn't surprising, but it's still weird.

In other strike news, Hugh Laurie used the occasion of his Golden Globe nomination to support the writers:

"I'm extremely honored to be included in such company. But now, especially now, I have to emphasize how much I owe to [series creator] David Shore and all the writers on 'House.' Without them I wouldn't even know how to finish this sentence without ... you know ..."

See also: "Strike Life." (And semi-related, I was watching all the "Speechless" videos when I realized that if they're going to do a Norman Mailer biopic, they need to do it while Ed Asner is still alive.)

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Getting back to Giuliani, the Ed Koch/Bella Abzug anecdote above is a reminder that New Yorkers often dislike officials, but with a kind of fond dislike. Koch and Abzug each had their fair share of personal and political enemies, but they are also regarded, even by their detractors, as colorful characters with their own peculiar charms of a sort. Giuliani isn't remembered in that way. Despite his penchant for cross-dressing and the baroque details of his disastrous personal life, the dislike felt for him is unmitigated by any kind of "only in New York," Runyonesque charm. He is simply disliked.

Anyway, looking for the above anecdote, I also found this remembrance of Bella Abzug, which includes another episode from her long feud with Koch:

“Bella and I just disliked one another intensely, personally as well as politically,” Ed Koch remembers. But after Abzug left a favorite hat in Washington, whom did she call from New York one Saturday morning to retrieve it?

“Who else would she trust to bring up her hat?” Koch recalled. He carried it on the plane in a box, he said, “very carefully.”

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Jon Mooallem's "Schlock and Awwww: Commercializing Altruism" takes an uncomfortable look at the choreographed appeal of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. That got me thinking about the lineage of this kind of reality-based entertainment, trying to remember the name of the old-time radio show that featured random acts of altruism from a millionaire (back when that really meant something) who traveled around giving out money to various deserving recipients.

Does that ring a bell with anyone? Anybody remember the name of that show? Happily, while failing to find that information online, I did come across this treasure trove of old-time radio shows in .mp3 format and this Jean Shepard podcast site. Good stuff.

N.B. from David Mamet's Writing in Restaurants:

... Radio is a great training ground for dramatists. More than any other dramatic medium it teaches the writer to concentrate on the essentials. ... Good drama has no stage directions. It is the interaction of the characters' objectives expressed solely through what they say to each other -- not through what the author says about them. The better the play, the better it will fare on the radio.

Comments

[cjmr]

I don't remember the name of that radio show, but I do remember my parents talking about it.

I seem to recall there was a column in the newspaper when I was a teenager that had a similar premise--a rich guy answered letters from people and gave them a helping hand, sometimes a financial one, other times by helping them find the resources they needed in their community to solve the problem themselves (like a referral to an excellent tenants' attorney who'd work pro bono).

[bluefrog]

Would that be The Millionaire? It started, I think, as a radio show in the 40's, then came to TV in the 50's. The basic plot was that a multi-millionaire, John Beresford Tipton, gave a million dollars, tax free, to strangers; then the audience got to see what the sudden wealth brought about. The man himself was never seen; the money was delivered through his representative, John Michael Anthony. Sound familiar?

[bluefrog]

Would that be The Millionaire? It started, I think, as a radio show in the 40's, then came to TV in the 50's. The basic plot was that a multi-millionaire, John Beresford Tipton, gave a million dollars, tax free, to strangers; then the audience got to see what the sudden wealth brought about. The man himself was never seen; the money was delivered through his representative, John Michael Anthony. Sound familiar?

[hilker]

Queen for a Day?

[Johnny Pez]

As long as we're doing bookmarks . . .

Now up on Right Behind: The Voice of Reason. Part 3 of the (currently) 5 part series "The Ozark Effect".

There will be more. Oh yes, there will be more . . .

[Jon]

Not sure about the radio show, but I do remember the newspaper column by millionaire Percy Ross, who would give money to people who wrote in asking for it if their stories moved him. Not sure if that was only a regional thing, though.
Is that the column you were talking about cjmr?

[Jeff]

Now up on Right Behind: The Voice of Reason.

Appropriate Tab and Slot snark left (behind?) as comment...

[cjmr]

Yes, Percy Ross is who I was thinking of. The picture at that link is the one they printed at the top of the column each week, in fact.

[Jon]

My mom also says that the name of the radio show was The Millionaire.

[Pseudowolf]

If you like the old time radio stuff, you should also check out R U Sitting Comfortably at http://www.rusc.com/

Good stuff. Old episodes of The Shadow and You Bet Your Life are personal faves.

[Steve]

Okay, I guess I should check out The Wire...but 30 Rock has been pretty amazing this season.

[Steve]

Yowza...$40 a pop (and up) for a season of The Wire on Amazon. Better check the local library.

[Jeff]

The Millionaire to the best of my knowledge was never an old-time radio show (though it would have been excellent on radio!) but strictly a television offering. However, Marvin Miller---who portrayed John Beresford Tipton's executive secretary/emissary, Michael Anthony---was a longtime old-time radio presence as an actor and announcer (he announced for, among others, The Bickersons and The Railroad Hour and acted in such shows as One Man's Family, The Whistler, The Affairs of Anthony, and The Story Behind the Story), so it might be simple enough to assume by way of that that The Millionaire had a radio life as many early television shows formerly did, too.

[JessicaR]

I'm glad I'm the only one that can't stand Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The familes are more than deserving, but isn't it better to build them a nice sensible home than some colorful gorgon that will be expensive to keep up and pay the energy bills for? And isn't it better to focus on building strong communites that will help each other than play to idea that you just have to hold out for the fairy godmother to drop a bag of money on your doorstep and if that doesn't happen it means you don't deserve it? I really need to check out The Wire, and I second the kudos for 30 Rock. That and Colbert/Daily are what I miss most because of the strike. Speaking of here's one of my favorite vids, SNL's Fred Armiesen as a studo head infiltrating the strike...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=F28kCLTd_Dk

[sophia8]

And isn't it better to focus on building strong communites that will help each other
That was pretty much the premise of a UK TV show call Challenge Anneka, where the presenter had a week or less to build a playground, community hall or something similar. She wasn't given any money, but had to use her powers of charm and persuasion to get local companies and volunteers to contribute materials and do the job for free. It made for a pretty good show.
Currently showing on UK Tv, there's The Secret Millionaire:
"Each week a different multi-millionaire searches for people whose lives he or she can change for the better. Each of our modern-day philanthropists must guarantee to give away thousands of pounds of their own money. For ten days, the millionaires leave their wealthy lifestyle behind and go undercover to live in some of the UK’s toughest areas. They conceal their true identities and immerse themselves in communities with the aim of finding those people that they think deserve their help. On the last day of their visit, they reveal their secret and write their cheques."
I haven't seen it yet, but its had favourable reviews.

[Cactus Wren]

Fred, the "treasure trove of old-time radio shows" link sends me to the same site as the "Schlock and Awwww" link.

[Richard Hershberger]

So far as I know I have never watched Extreme Makeover, and it doesn't sound like a show I would want to watch. So when I read stuff like this,

"It's easy to resent Makeover for the ways it simultaneously helps and exploits its beneficiaries. But when it comes down to it, I resent Makeover because it exploits me."

I cannot help but wonder why the writer can't do the same.

There is this trope out there that would should be bitterly resentful of bad television shows. This sort of made sense when I was a kid, with three networks and a tightly limited schedule. But nowadays with innumerable cable channels, a few of them even good, my sympathy is limited.

[Rudy]

It was definitely "The Millionaire". I remember watching it; the people getting the money usually or always ended up ruining their lives with the money, at least that's how I remember it. I was just a little kid at the time.

You never actually got to see the actual Millionaire, he would just have his back turned or be out of the camera, as he gave instructions to his minion, who actually delivered the money to the recipient.

My wife always wonders whether any of the people getting the Home Makeover actually has the time to clean all those rooms, or whether they can pay the now greatly inflated property tax. I also wonder if the property tax will go up for everybody else on the street.

But sometimes the folks getting the house makeover get more practical stuff, like assistance for their handicapped family members. And sometimes they really need way more room.

Why don't they do a reality TV show about Habitat houses?

[Richard Hershberger]

"Why don't they do a reality TV show about Habitat houses?"

Fewer possibilities for product placement?

[cjmr]

Product placement is actually an answer that makes sense. When hardware stores/home product manufacturers donate materials to be used in Habitat houses, they aren't donating the current hot, sexy, top-of-the-line, profitable for them faucet (or whatever), they're donating a less-expensive (but probably more workable) model. They'd still get the free-ish advertising in a Habitat reality show, but without the "Oooo! That's cool! I want one!" reaction they get from the stuff they donate to Home Makeover.

As far as Home Makeover/Habitat houses and taxes go, last year someone in our community who had a Habitat house had to sell it because the property values were going up so quickly she could no longer afford the taxes on it.

[indifferent children]

> ...had to sell it because the property values were going up so quickly she could no longer afford the taxes on it

Here in Florida, we added a "Save Our Homes" ammendment to our state Constitution. The property taxes on your primary residence, can't go up by more than 3% per year. So even if your neighborhood skyrockets, you won't lose your house because of property taxes.

Businesses, owners of rental property, and owners of vacation homes are pissed that they aren't similarly protected. This year they are trying to re-ammend the Constitution to remove this protection.

[Jesurgislac]

Since owners of rental property simply pass their property taxes on to their tenants, they've got a point that they should be covered - or rather, their tenants should.

Businesses and people with second homes? Nerts.

[twig]

If you like good radio plays I suggest downloading the stuff from Tales from the Afternow. Free one-hour post-apocalyptic sci-fi radio drama. It hasn't updated in a while last I checked, but the guy's an awesome storyteller.

[Jeff]

As long as we're plugging bookmarks, I wish more sites (like this one and ObWi) would use reCAPTCHA for bot protection. Why not do something useful with the time we waste proving that Turing tests can still differentiate between people and bots?

[Dahne]

The familes are more than deserving, but isn't it better to build them a nice sensible home than some colorful gorgon that will be expensive to keep up and pay the energy bills for?

Cause those can't turn the annoying neighbor's kids into lifeless stone with a glance!

Yeah, I'm already drunk.

[Spalanzani]

More old time radio: http://www.quietplease.org/

Quiet, Please is most known for the episode "The Thing on the Fourble Floor". Think The Twillight Zone meets...I'm not sure what, exactly. I always thought that if Fred had lived in the 1940s and wrote for the radio instead of living today and being a blogger, than this would be the radio program that he'd write. Some of the episodes have certain elements that haven't exactly aged well, but for the most part they hold up really well. The audio quality can be poor though, since the surviving tapes simply aren't in good condition, and some of the episodes seem to be lost entirely.

[Chico]

Funny how you keep linking to Amanda, who thinks your kind can't be trusted.

[Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little]

Chico, you tryin' to sow discord between two bloggists I admire greatly? Shame on you!

(Strictly entre nous, I don't think Fred will fall for it. For one thing, he can read and come up with his own conclusions. If you want to convince someone that someone else hates them, you'll be more successful in a venue where you word is all they have to go on.)

[stinger]

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition seems like a cross between The Millionaire and Queen for a Day (another ghastly program from the '50s) -- whoever has the worst sob story, according to the audience, gets the prize, which eventually ruins their life. Actually I guess that describes all "reality" shows of any decade.

[kgtt]

Sentimentality, James Joyce said, is "unearned emotion." That's an apt description of a lot of the sappy treacle that fills the airwaves at Christmastime. But on the other hand, it's cold and dark and the end of a long year
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[kgtt]

Sentimentality, James Joyce said, is "unearned emotion." That's an apt description of a lot of the sappy treacle that fills the airwaves at Christmastime. But on the other hand, it's cold and dark and the end of a long year
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[kgtt]

Sentimentality, James Joyce said, is "unearned emotion." That's an apt description of a lot of the sappy treacle that fills the airwaves at Christmastime. But on the other hand, it's cold and dark and the end of a long year
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[Ecks]

The show in England I grew up with was "Jim'll Fix It," where some millionaire wold grants requests and scret wishes to deserving people - though possibly mostly kids... It was a long time ago :)

hi all :)

hi all :)

[Ryan Ferneau]

Hello all you happy people