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Marcheta Hamlin

Too infrequently, I went to visit Mrs. Hamlin in her later years.

Marcheta Hamlin, who was always Mrs. Hamlin to me, was one of the classiest people I’ve ever known. I don’t mean she was fancy, or put on airs; quite the opposite. She was proud, but not arrogant; dignified and gracious.

When I say she was like family, this wasn’t just a saying. Her parents, Rev. Alphonso Whitfield (d. 1999) and Constance (Walker) Whitfield (d. 2000), were my godparents. Her “nephson,” her sister Pat Jones’ son Walter (“Butch”), who lived right next door to the Hamlins, and from whom I inherited TWO jobs, was MY parents’ godson, and probably the closest thing I ever had to a brother.

Mrs. Hamlin was the organist at the church in which I grew up, Trinity A.M.E. Zion in Binghamton, NY, for decades. When I was 11 or 12, I took piano lessons from her for a little over a year. I just wasn’t very good at it, though I did practice. No regrets, since it was useful for singing.

One day, I was laboriously trying to play the Minuet in G major, then attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, which, incidentally, I had danced to in second grade; it’s now credited to Christian Petzold. Mrs. Hamlin said, “It’s like A Lover’s Concerto by the Toys.” I had no idea what she was talking about, though, of course, now I do. But it was clear that she, who was my parents’ age, was cooler than I, at least at that moment.

Her daughters Connie and Lauren went to the same grade school and junior high my sisters and I did, Daniel S. Dickinson, which was but a block away from their home. We comprised approximately 40% of all the black kids going to school there at the time. Lauren sang at church with my sister Leslie and me in the MAZET Singers at church, which was only a couple blocks away from home for all of us.

Too infrequently, I went to visit Mrs. Hamlin in her later years. My wife got to meet her equally dignified husband, Garland, who died in 2003, and who figures prominently in this 1972 story I wrote a few years ago. I visited her a couple of times after his passing, at least once with my late mother c. 2007, and Mrs. Hamlin was, as always, a charming hostess.

The top picture is her c. 1942, holding her little cousin, John Hightower. The middle picture is of Garland and Marcheta’s wedding in 1949. Also pictured, her sister Pat (d. 1978) and Pat’s then-husband Walter L. Jones, who I barely remember.

Here is Mrs. Hamlin’s obituary. Today is her funeral, after 90 wonderful years, and she will be in my heart.

Herb Trimpe

Herb Trimpe shared “his extraordinary experiences of working hand-in-hand with the many ‘real life angels’ at Ground Zero following the September 11th attacks.”

Mark Evanier and Johnny Bacardi write about the sudden death of comic book artist Herb Trimpe, who I met twice at comic book shows in Albany. He seemed like a nice guy.

But I never wanted to bug him, because all the fanboys who loved him because he was the first artist to draw Wolverine, later of the X-Men.

As noted in Bleeding Cool, he attended the East Coast Comic Con just this past weekend but died on Monday at the age of 75.

Herb Trimpe wrote eloquently about his unceremonious “dismissal” from comics by Marvel in a 2000 NY TIMES MAGAZINE article, in which he shows how he reinvented himself as an art instructor.

The ordained minister in the Episcopalian faith shared “his extraordinary experiences of working hand-in-hand with the many ‘real life angels’ at Ground Zero following the September 11th attacks in the book THE POWER OF ANGELS (2004).

Herb wrote, “Since the September 11 attacks, the area of devastation is known to most as Ground Zero. The phrase Ground Zero implies utter desolation, a vast emptiness devoid of life and hope. The World Trade Center site is anything but that.”

My friend Fred Hembeck wrote this lovely piece on Facebook, which he has allowed me to reprint:

Lynn and I were stunned to learn of Herb Trimpe’s passing. We saw Herb and his wife Patricia at the East Coast Comic Con just this past Saturday. I recognized his familiar voice call out from behind me as I was checking in, and turned to be greeted by a wide smile and a big hug.

Although I had met him briefly several times at various parties going back a few decades, it wasn’t until about ten years ago that we became good friends under somewhat unique circumstances: wife-to-be Patricia was our daughter Julie’s 10th-grade Spanish teacher and class counselor. Not long after the couple tied the knot, Herb presided over a once a week, full day cartooning class at the school for a semester, and he asked me to be guest instructor for a day. I agreed, but was admittedly very nervous at the prospect, as I didn’t really know him all that well, and trust me, I am NO teacher. But the day went just swell, and Herb invited me to come back again at the end of the semester for another go at it. From that, a really nice friendship was formed.

A year or so later, we shared High School Graduation Day together, as Patricia’s daughter Natalia was in the same class as Julie. It was a small private school, and each graduating student was given the chance to make a short speech. I recall being touched by the sincerely warm remarks Natalia made about her new step-dad during her turn at the podium. I shouldn’t have been surprised, though–EVERYBODY loved Herb.

After that, Lynn and I got together with Herb and Patricia a few times for some very enjoyable dinners–though in the past few years, we’d only managed to spend several scant happy minutes together at one comics convention or another (I was lucky enough to be in attendance last fall when Herb received a well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Harvey Awards Dinner).

But finally, stopping by Herb’s table late Saturday afternoon on our way out, as he was still producing sketches for a swarm of appreciative fans, we made tentative plans for dinner the weekend after next. And now, mere days later, this awful, awful news. Herb was a truly wonderful guy, and losing him has saddened me tremendously. Our hearts go out to Patricia, her daughter Natalia, and to all the other members of Herb’s family, as well as to his many, many friends and fans. A more likable guy you’d be hard-pressed to find, and it was truly an honor to consider him my friend.

Dustbury on the passing of singer Percy Sledge.

A very entertaining, real obit in the local paper for Christian Lewis Hacker.

The rich are not like you and me. They’re rich.

The yacht buyers in New York state got a tax break.

The few who understand the system, will either be so interested in its profits, or so dependent on its favors that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantages… will bear its burden without complaint, and perhaps without suspecting that the system is inimical to their best interests. — Rothschild Brothers of London communiqué to associates in New York June 25, 1863

Is it me, or has the blatant disregard for the lesser people economically in the society, to the advantage of the well-to-do, become more painfully obvious of late? Of course, it’s been around a long while in the United States; I’ve seen the Gilded Age mansions. But in recent decades, income inequality is not just on the rise, but in full gallop mode.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on April 9, 2015. Among the topics she talked about was the inability of our federal government to lower the interest on student loans – the outstanding debt jumped to $1.3 trillion in 2014 from $1.2 trillion, an increase of $100 billion in one year – because the Republicans blocked it, citing that the Congressional Budget Office does not use “fair-value accounting” to measure risk. But for reasons she explains, this is a bogus argument.

Moreover, if the crushing burden of student loans were lifted, these people could be buying houses, and other goods and services, stimulating the economy. Meanwhile, the financial industry is getting loans at or close to ZERO percent interest, so they’re doing just fine on even a modest return on investment.

Lots of examples of the double-standard of making the poor prove they’re worthy of government benefits, such as Kansas getting ready to prevent welfare recipients from going to swimming pools and the movies.

SamuraiFrog wrote this recently: “It goes like this: you don’t get a say in how other people live their lives. You just don’t. Even if it involves your precious tax dollars and the (on average) $36 a year of it that goes to food stamps. You have no problem with the $870 a year you pay for corporate tax subsidies, but the thought of a poor person being able to buy a steak or a cupcake fills you with rage? Ridiculous.”

Interestingly, the best example of the absurdity of this attitude, well dubbed as scapegoat economics, comes from The Onion, a parody site that tells a great truth.

Here’s the thing: being poor sucks. The payday loans, higher interest rates, the immobility to get to work. I was working on a reference question recently, and I recognized that those rent-to-own places are toxic, where the poor can pay $4,150 for a $1,500 sofa. Moreover, because of depressed wages, there are plenty of folks who are working but need public assistance anyway.

Meanwhile, the yacht buyers in New York state got a tax break in the budget just passed at the end of March 2015, because, as state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos noted, “Blah blah blah trickle-down blah blah.” Indeed, the rich get government handouts just like the poor. Talk about your entitlement programs.

Congressional Republicans find the need to try to end the estate tax, which affects the heirs of the top 0.2 percent.

So what to do about it? I want/need to ponder on that. Probably will write another blog post, sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, this has been running through my head: Money Make The World Go Round from the movie Cabaret (1972).

Happy Income Tax day?

Arthur writes about Hillary Clinton entering the race for President (no surprise), and dealing with Big Money.

The IRS — A Love Song. John Oliver. And Michael Bolton.

N is for The Night They Raided Minsky’s

To this day, I know the lyrics to the verse of “Take 10 Terrific Girls (But Only 9 Costumes)” by heart.

I had mentioned one movie in this blog possibly more than any other, save for Annie Hall, but never a formal post. So here it is.

The Night They Raided Minsky’s is a movie that tells about, as Rudy Vallee put it, the info seen above. It was broadly based on the book Minsky’s Burlesque by Morton Minsky (with Milt Machlin).

I saw this movie with my friend since kindergarten, Carol, and her friend Judy when I was 15 in 1968. Quickly, I developed a mad crush, unstated, for Judy, who I would never see again. The film was rated M, a precursor for PG, though with about two seconds of nudity, maybe it’d be PG-13.

Though I did not know it at the time, it was a troubled film. I did know that Bert Lahr, best known as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, “died before shooting was finished.” This was also the film debut of Elliott Gould, who would soon star in the movie version of MAS*H.

“The first cut was, by all accounts, dreadful.” The head of the studio reportedly said: “In all my years in film, this is the worst first cut I’ve ever seen.” Fortunately, film editor Ralph Rosenblum, who would later edit extensively for the directors Sidney Lumet and Woody Allen, including on Annie Hall, worked his magic. “His ‘save’ was detailed in his fine book When The Shooting Stop…The Cutting Begins.”

[Director William] Friedkin, who would be best known for The French Connection (1971) and The Exorcist (1973), “wasn’t around for any of the post-production, having moved on to his next film.

“The original idea from producer Norman Lear [later TV producer of All in the Family, Sanford and Son, and much more] was that he wanted this old-fashioned musical… to have a New Look. Just what that meant or what the New Look was supposed to be, nobody quite knew.” Luckily, Rosenbaum pulled it off.

I MIGHT have forgotten this film – I still have not seen it in 47 years – except for one thing. My grandfather, McKinley Green, was a janitor at what was then WNBF-TV and radio. When an album was removed from the radio station’s playlist, Pop got to bring them home and give them to his grandchildren.

When he brought home the soundtrack to The Night They Raided Minsky’s a year or two after the movie’s release, I glommed onto that LP immediately.

“The score for Minsky’s was written by Charles Strouse, who’d already written several Broadway shows, as well as the score for the film Bonnie and Clyde. The lyrics were by Lee Adams, with whom Strouse had written the Broadway shows Bye Bye Birdie; All-American; Golden Boy; It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, It’s Superman; and others.”

To this day, I know the lyrics to the verse of “Take 10 Terrific Girls” by heart.
Take 10 Terrific Girls (But Only 9 Costumes) – Dexter Maitland.
This song showed up on the Muppets, sung by Statler & Waldorf.

Other songs include:
You Rat You – Lillian Heyman.
Perfect Gentleman – Norman Wisdom and Jason Robards.
The title song by Rudy Vallee.

But my favorite scene may be wistful What is Burlesque with Norman Wisdom and Britt Eklund.

Watch the last eight minutes of the film – in German, with that aforementioned brief nudity.

Here’s the late Roger Ebert’s review.

Writer Mark Evanier is MORE of a Minsky’s buff than I. He recently noted this piece of trivia involving a magazine. He discussed the failed Broadway-like musical from 2009. And way back in 2001, he mentioned how the movie was edited for television broadcast.

ABC Wednesday – Round 16

Baseball bans, Edward Snowden, and other things

Geoffrey Lewis was the classic character actor.

The new Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is revisiting Pete Rose’s lifetime ban from baseball. Clearly one of the greatest players in the game, with more base hits than anyone, Rose was banished from the sport by the late Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti for wagering on baseball.

But as the Wall Street Journal noted: “The rules were put in place to prevent cheating, not betting. And cheating is something that no thinking person, then or now, has suggested Pete Rose would do.”

While he’s at it, I’d like the commissioner to reexamine the story of Shoeless Joe Jackson (pictured), who batted .375 with perfect fielding in the 1919 Chicago White Sox in World Series, yet was caught up in the “Black Sox” scandal.

“In 1921, a Chicago jury acquitted Jackson of helping to fix the Series, but Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the first Commissioner of Baseball, went against the ruling and banned all eight players including Joe Jackson from baseball for life.” I have never been convinced of his guilt. In other words, I say it AIN’T so, Joe.

If either one of those happens, I would suggest that the Steroid Era players, prior to 2004, when the baseball policy was quite unclear, ought to get due consideration for the Baseball Hall of Fame: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and the others.

“Where do we strike the balance between personal freedom and national security — and how do we even get people to care?” Watch John Oliver Meets Edward Snowden. The folks at Politifact fact-checked what Snowden said and they gave it a rating of Mostly True. And speaking of whom, NYC officials removed a Snowden statue secretly installed in Brooklyn park, but it was replaced by a Snowden hologram.

Stan Freberg was a comedy legend, a skilled voice actor, a genius of American advertising, and more. Just go to Mark Evanier’s site, and search for Freberg; you’ll find several articles, plus links to even more. Also, listen to Wun’erful, Wun’erful. Stan Freberg died on April 7.
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Geoffrey Lewis was the classic character actor. If you look at the massive list of his TV and movie appearances, you might say, “Oh, he’s THAT guy.” This is telling: he played two DIFFERENT characters on the series Mannix, Mission: Impossible, Cannon, Police Woman, Lou Grant, Little House on the Prairie, and The A-Team; three on Alias Smith and Jones, and Barnaby Jones; and FOUR separate characters on Murder, She Wrote.

The only show I ever watched where he was a regular was Flo, a spinoff of Alice, and that was 35 years ago. Jaquandor linked to a spoken word performance. Father of 10 children, including actress Juliette Lewis, Geoffrey Lewis also died on April 7.
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Richard Dysart was a star of the TV show L.A. Law, which I watched religiously. But he had a string of other notable performances on stage and in the movies, as well as TV. He died on April 5.