Waldina

Today is the 95th birthday of the woman that is an American icon, even fifty years after her death:  Marilyn Monroe.  Do yourself a favor and watch The Misfits sometime soon.  You won’t be disappointed.  One of my favorite stories about her is that for 20 years after her death, Joe Dimaggio had red roses delivered to her crypt twice a week. Generations of flower shop delivery boys learned the story, made the drive to visit her final resting place in honor of their baseball hero, replace the 3-day old roses with new ones, touch the her bronze name placard and understood the true meaning of eternal love.  The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

Song: "Heat Wave" sung by Marilyn Monroe from There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) written by Irving Berlin for the 1933 musical As Thousands Cheer.

One of the many novels that have stuck with me and I carry around in my head is  a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald called “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz.”

The story first appeared in the June 1922 issue of The Smart Set, a popular magazine of the 1920s. Originally titled “The Diamond in the Sky,” Fitzgerald had attempted to sell it to the Saturday Evening Post, which had published many of his other stories, but its harsh anticapitalistic message was rejected by the conservative magazine. In September 1922, the story appeared in his second collection, Tales of the Jazz Age.

The story was inspired by Fitzgerald’s 1915 visit to the Montana home of a Princeton classmate. It tells of young John Unger, who is invited to visit a classmate at his impossibly lavish home in Montana. Gradually, Unger learns the sinister origins of his host’s wealth and the frightening lengths to which he will go to preserve it.

In this story, Fitzgerald begins to explore many of the themes he used later when writing his best-known work, The Great Gatsby. The carelessness and immorality of the vastly wealthy and the American fascination with wealth are personified by Braddock Washington and his narcississtic family, who seem to believe that all others have been put on Earth for their amusement.

It is old enough to be in the Public Domain, so I will include the whole story below.  You should read it.  It’s not that long, really quite tightly written, and a pretty good reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://waldina.com/2021/06/01/the-diamond-as-big-as-the-ritz-f-scott-fitzgerald-1922/

Today is the 125th birthday of the film director Howard Hawks. He directed one of my very favorite films Bringing Up Baby as well as His Girl Friday, The Big Sleep, Monkey Business, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and I Was A Male War Bride. The genres are as varied as the stories themselves, but all excellently told. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

Today is the 95th birthday of Christine Jorgensen.  When confronted with people’s opinions about the gender identities of others, I often claim that they are the bravest people we will ever meet.  Think about it.  If how you felt on the inside didn’t match how you looked on the outside and you chose to dress and alter yourself to align those two more closely, but in doing so, in making yourself feel more whole, you are going to get stares and snickers every time you left your house.  All day long.  Would you be brave enough to do it?  Would you be strong enough to live your truth?  The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

Today is the 112th birthday of the musician and band leader Benny Goodman. Whenever I hear his music, I think of my grandparents. The hight of his popularity coincided with them being the age of dating and just married, going to dances that played popular music. He represents the time between the two wars that was full of hope, prosperity, youth, vibrancy, jazz and optimism. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

Today is the 104th birthday of the 35th president:  JFK. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

Attached is JFK's "Peace Speech" given at American University on June 10, 1963

"Only Angels Have Wings" Lux Radio Theatre - May 29, 1939

Staring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Thomas Mitchell, Rita Hayworth, and Richard Barthelmess.

"Old Acquaintances" Lux Radio Theatre - May 29, 1944

Staring:  Alexis Smith, Miriam Hopkins, Otto, Kruger, Robert Bailey, and Gloria Fischer

Today is the 127th birthday of the man that wrote some of the best detective novels of the early 20th century:  Dashiell Hammett.  A lot of them went on to become very popular films that I am sure you know.  His contribution to the film noir genre is tremendous. When I was living in San Francisco, I would walk by 891 Post Street every time I went to the gym. There is a literary landmark plaque on the side of the building entrance that I would read little bits of as I passed.  The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

The Maltese Falcon radio play is attached

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://waldina.com/2021/05/27/happy-127th-birthday-dashiell-hammett/

Today is the 64th birthday of the singer Siouxsie Sioux. Amongst my group of high school friends, all the girls wanted to be her, half the boys wanted to be with her, and the other half also wanted to be her. She was so punk, so badass, and so beautiful. Her music is part of the soundtrack of my life. The world is a better place because she is in it.