Les Green, born Leslie H. Walker

new amended birth certificate

Les Green.Savannah GA.1998My new discovery is that I now have evidence that my father was born Leslie H. Walker in Binghamton, NY. I had been misled that it might have been Wesley Walker, based on the listing in the 1930 Census.

After failing to find a birth certificate in Wilkes-Barre, PA, where I thought he might have been born, I read some genealogical clues. One suggested the New York State Archives, in the same building as the state library in Albany.

I discovered a set of microfiche. It lists every birth in New York State – excluding NYC – by year, and alphabetically within the annual listing. For 1926, “Walker, Leslie H., Bing, 26 Sept.” I have to think it was no accident that Agatha named him similar to Raymond C. Cone’s elder daughter Lessie.

Now I could apply for his real birth certificate. The birth certificate I’d seen since 1974, dated from 1944, listed McKinley Green as Leslie Green’s father. I now know it may have been the “real” birth certificate. Or a legal fiction. Thanks to Melanie for the following:

According to this: “As a portion of the estimated 6 million adoptees, our New York adoptees have two ‘official’ birth certificates. The original one, which truthfully states the information about their physical birth, including their original names, their natural parents’ names, the hospital, doctor, date, time and weight, becomes forever sealed under a court of law when their adoption is finalized.”

Birth certificate #2

“At that point, the new adoptive parents are issued a new amended birth certificate which might or might not state the real birth information such as date, time, hospital and weight, and replaces the natural parents names with the adoptive parents names ‘as if’ the child was born to them. The name of the child is also reborn and all identity from the point of finalization on is replaced.”

Ha! So the registrar didn’t screw up. McKinley and Agatha didn’t lie. And this suggests heavily that McKinley Green actually adopted Leslie H. Walker by 1944, though my father’s surname shows up as Green as early as the 1940 Census.

Since November 2019, obtaining Original (Pre-Adoption) Birth Certificates are now available for adoptees from New York State. “Direct Line Descendants” are also eligible to access it. “A Direct Line Descendant is a child, grandchild, or great grandchild, etc. of the adoptee.” I qualify.

I’ve applied directly to the City of Binghamton office of Vital Statistics. New York State’s queue for old birth, marriage and death certificates is about 15 months.

Movie review: Marriage Story

ScarJo with two acting noms

Marriage StoryThe movie Marriage Story was included in the Vanity Fair article Divorce Stories: Why the Oscars Love Miserable Couples. I realized how true the observation was. And I’m one of those folks who had been attracted to these.

Ordinary People (1980), Kramer v. Kramer (1979), the early oeuvre of Woody Allen. These are among the films I related to heavily at the time.

The beginning of Marriage Story was quite lovely. Charlie (Adam Driver), a theater director, and Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) are putting together lists. They are to write down the traits they like in each other. Alas, this is in anticipation of their inevitable divorce.

Still, they both agree to try to work out the arrangement without dragging lawyers into the mix. They want to protect their son Henry (Azhy Robertson) from too much drama.

Yet the arrangement becomes a transcontinental affair. Charlie has a theater gig in Manhattan. Nicole, whose family is from SoCal, has an acting gig in LA.

Send lawyers…

So Nicole gets a fiercely strong attorney, Nora Fanshaw (Laura Dern, NOTHING like Marmie in Little Women). Charlie is forced to respond, with the avuncular Bert Spitz (Alan Alda). High-powered lawyer Jay Marotta (Ray Liotta) may not be available.

Charlie and Henry are visited by a social worker, which was difficult. Charlie, back in NYC, sings to his cast. There is a rather emotionally brutal scene between the principals; THAT was exhausting. At the end, do they find the balance they sought?

Marriage Story was written by Noah Baumbach. He wrote and directed The Squid and the Whale (2005), which also touched on the themes of divorce and children. I haven’t seen it since I first viewed it at the time. But I recall enjoying it far more than Marriage Story. He also penned the screenplay to The Fantastic Mr. Fox. So he can write about happy families.

This was a very well-written, -paced, and -acted movie. The nominations for Johansson, Driver and especially Dern are warranted. I don’t imagine me seeing Marriage Story again, though.

1910 #1 hits : discs rule!

Bert Williams (pictured)

According to A Century of Pop Music: “By 1910, discs had assumed full dominance of the popular record market over wax cylinders…” And that advantage “expanded every year…”

Joel Whitburn explains, “Sheet music sales achieved an all-time high in 1910, with published estimates ranging from 30 million to substantially more. Two six-million sellers were ‘Let Me Call You Sweetheart’ and ‘Down By the Old Mill Stream.'” I know both quite well, and I’m not nearly that old. “Not the new, but the old…”

Another popular song from 1910, Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet by Arthur Clough (#3) and the popular Haydn Quartet, among others.

Casey Jones – Billy Murray & the American Quartet (RCA Victor), 11 weeks at #1. Though the RIAA didn’t start certifying records until more than 40 years later, it was designated a gold single. It was “one of the biggest sellers of the entire acoustic recording era.” Billy Murray also had a #3 hit as a solo artist that same summer.

By the Light of the Silvery Moon – Billy Murray and the Haydn Quartet (RCA Victor), 9 weeks at #1. Billy Murray was ubiquitous in this period. The song also went to #2 as performed by both the Columbia Male Quartet and Ada Jones. The Tin Pan Alley standard was first performed on-stage by Lillian Lorraine in the “Ziegfeld Follies of 1909.” Another song that is still a classic over a century later.

More hits

Where the River Shannon Flows – Harry MacDonough, 6 weeks at #1. The Irish Swanee River.

Play That Barber-Shop Chord – Bert Williams, 6 weeks at #1. “Bert Williams (November 12, 1874 – March 4, 1922) was a Bahamian American and was one of the pre-eminent entertainers of the Vaudeville era and one of the most popular comedians for all audiences of his time. He was by far the best-selling black recording artist before 1920. In 1918, the New York Dramatic Mirror called Williams “one of the great comedians of the world.”

Every Little Movement – Harry MacDonough & Lucy Isabelle Marsh, 4 weeks at #1.

Call Me Up Some Rainy Afternoon – Ada Jones & American Quartet (Columbia), 4 weeks at #1. Written by Irving Berlin.

Meet Me To-Night In Dreamland – Henry Burr, 4 weeks at #1.

Carrie (Carrie Marry Harry) – Billy Murray, 2 weeks at #1.

In the Valley of Yesterday – Harry MacDonough (RCA Victor), 2 weeks at #1. Recorded in 1905.

Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! – Byron Harlan & Frank Stanley, 1 week at #1. Apparently recorded in 1907.

Oscars so early! (Why is that?)

I saw 7 of the 9 Best Picture noms

Best Picture Oscars 2020
Why are the Oscars so early this year? In 2020, they’ll be on Sunday, February 9. The previous earliest date was February 22, and it’s often in late February or March.

If the idea of nominating a film is, in part, to perhaps give it a boost, an Academy Awards presentation so early negates that. Since the Oscar nominations voting closed on January 7, it’s likely that some of the voting members didn’t even get a chance to see all the potential films. This is especially true of the short films, a group of which I almost always viewed at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany.

I have seen seven out of the nine Best Picture nominations as of this writing, though I haven’t yet written about Marriage Story. Here are the nominees. If I saw it, I put a * the first time I linked to my review.

Acting

Performance by an actor in a leading role:

Antonio Banderas in PAIN AND GLORY
Leonardo DiCaprio in ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
**Adam Driver in MARRIAGE STORY – He’s always very good in a variety of roles.
Joaquin Phoenix in JOKER
Jonathan Pryce in THE TWO POPES

I’ve seen one of them. I was wary of seeing JOKER and ONCE UPON A TIME. Still,if I hadn’t been sick this week, I might have seen one of the two. The others I just missed.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:

*Tom Hanks in A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Anthony Hopkins in THE TWO POPES
*Al Pacino in THE IRISHMAN
*Joe Pesci in THE IRISHMAN
Brad Pitt in ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD

Pitt is the insiders’ favorite. Of the ones I saw, I liked Pacino, though Hanks’ role was harder than it seemed.

Performance by an actress in a leading role:

*Cynthia Erivo in HARRIET
*Scarlett Johansson in MARRIAGE STORY
*Saoirse Ronan in LITTLE WOMEN
*Charlize Theron in BOMBSHELL
Renée Zellweger in JUDY

Zellweger will win. Erivo, though, was amazing.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role:

*Kathy Bates in RICHARD JEWELL
*Laura Dern in MARRIAGE STORY
*Scarlett Johansson in JOJO RABBIT
*Florence Pugh in LITTLE WOMEN
*Margot Robbie in BOMBSHELL

Pugh nearly stole the movie and is my favorite. There is a Dernaissance, and she’ll probably win. Johansson was great, but will likely get two acting nominations and no wins.

Directing and screenplays

And the Oscar goes to
Achievement in directing:

*THE IRISHMAN Martin Scorsese
JOKER Todd Phillips
*1917 Sam Mendes
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD Quentin Tarantino
*PARASITE Bong Joon Ho

Rooting for Mendes.

Adapted screenplay nominees:

*THE IRISHMAN Screenplay by Steven Zaillian
*JOJO RABBIT Screenplay by Taika Waititi
JOKER Written by Todd Phillips & Scott Silver
*LITTLE WOMEN Written for the screen by Greta Gerwig
THE TWO POPES Written by Anthony McCarten

Gerwig’s consolation prize for not getting nominated for Best Director. But it IS deserved. I also liked Waititi. The Irishman, if I were honest, was too damn long.

Original screenplay nominees:

*KNIVES OUT Written by Rian Johnson. Fun!
*MARRIAGE STORY Written by Noah Baumbach. Exhausting.
*1917 Written by Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD Written by Quentin Tarantino
*PARASITE Screenplay by Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won; Story by Bong Joon Ho. The most original.

Best motion picture of the year

*FORD V FERRARI Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and James Mangold, Producers
*THE IRISHMAN Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Producers
*JOJO RABBIT Carthew Neal and Taika Waititi, Producers
JOKER Todd Phillips, Bradley Cooper and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Producers
*LITTLE WOMEN Amy Pascal, Producer
*MARRIAGE STORY Noah Baumbach and David Heyman, Producers
*1917 Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Jayne-Ann Tenggren and Callum McDougall, Producers
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh and Quentin Tarantino, Producers
*PARASITE Kwak Sin Ae and Bong Joon Ho, Producers; also nominated as best international film

JOJO, LITTLE WOMEN, PARASITE, 1917 – very different films, and if any of them won, it’d be fine by me.

The only other nominated film I saw:
*TOY STORY 4 Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera for Best animated feature film of the year; also Best song.

Review: Jack Kirby’s Dingbat Love

looking for Ebony

Dingbat LoveHaving read an advanced copy (PDF) of Jack Kirby’s Dingbat Love, I now understand the title. It’s a bit of a portmanteau. I fear, though, tha the casual reader will misunderstand it as just romance comics featuring not very bright people.

As Steve Sherman, one of Kirby’s assistants in the 1970s notes in one of the text pieces, “Dingbat” is what Archie Bunker called his wife Edith on the TV show All in the Family. But Jack had named the “kid gang” he drew and wrote the Dingbats of Danger Street. They had a few issues in the mid-1970s, but I somehow missed them.

And I did read Kirby in this period: New Gods, Kamandi, and OMAC among them, even though I was primarily a Marvel fan then. Dingbats is an entertaining read, especially when inked by Mike Royer and D. Bruce Berry, and colored especially for the book.

All you need is…

The “Love” angle in the title is represented by True-Life Divorce, an abandoned newsstand magazine. Also stories from Soul Love, a romance book inked by Vince Colletta and Tony DeZuniga finally sees the light of day. The dialogue was occasionally clunky, but the stories were surprisingly good. The Kirby women, for the most part, were realistically zaftig.

The discussion of WHY these items were not published at the time is nearly as entertaining as the strips. Editor John Morrow examines the era, while Jerry Boyd analyzes Soul Love. Kirby assistant Mark Evanier explains going to several stores looking for Ebony magazines. Kirby wanted them as references for faces of black people, but they were hard to find in Thousand Oaks, CA.

Still, as Morrow noted, “What was unprecedented was Kirby’s inclusion of black heroes in his Marvel Comics series in the 1960s. In 1963, Gabe Jones debuted as a black member of Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos in Sgt. Fury #1. But the one that really broke down barriers was the Black Panther, first appearing in Fantastic Four #52 (1966).”

It’s odd. After Kirby’s tumultuous departure from Marvel c 1970, one might think that DC would be inclined to let the King do what he would like. That would be an erroneous assumption. As Evanier noted: “We’re talking here about Jack Kirby, the man whose rejects were more interesting than what most creators got accepted.”

You may order the book Dingbat Love, a 176-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER, from your local comic book store – I hope – or through Two Morrows. They’re the same folks who put out Kirby & Lee: Stuf’ Said!

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