George McGovern

George McGovern was born July 19, 1922 (104 years ago) in Avon, South Dakota.  The McGovern family lived on the edge of poverty for much of the 1920s and 1930s.  

Growing up so close to privation gave young George a lifelong sympathy for underpaid workers and struggling farmers.  He was influenced by the currents of populism and agrarian unrest, as well as the teachings that sought to fight poverty, injustice, and ignorance.

McGovern was listening to a radio broadcast of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra  for a music appreciation class when he heard the news of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.  In January 1942, he drove with nine other students to Omaha, Nebraska and volunteered to join the United States Army Air Forces.

As a B-24 pilot, McGovern flew 35 missions over German occupied Europe from an air base in Italy.  He received a Distinguished Flying Cross for making a hazardous emergency landing and saving his crew.

After the war, McGovern earned degrees from Dakota Wesleyan University (DWU) and Northwestern University.  Later, he returned to DWU as a professor of history and political science.

In 1956 and 1958, McGovern was elected to the US House of Representatives from South Dakota.  In 1962, 1968 and 1974, he was elected to the United States Senate.

In 1972, McGovern won the Democratic Party's nomination for president of the United States.  He lost to the incumbent Richard Nixon by one of the biggest landslides in US history.  However, I voted for McGovern, the first time I voted for a Democrat.

On October 15, 2012, McGovern died at the age of 90 in his native South Dakota.      

A Nameless Girl Again

I recently saw a video on YouTube in which people my age (80) and above were asked about lessons learned over their lifetime.  One gentleman responded that he should have made love more often.  Nothing better he said.  Really?

Twice in my blog I have written about a Nameless Girl I met when I was nineteen years-old.  I was home on vacation from Penn and she was a student at the State University of New York at Oswego.  

I was driving her back to her sorority at the end of our second date.  When I stopped in front of the house, she threw herself at me and we engaged in heavy duty "making out."  Great!

When I returned home that night, instead of thinking about the end of the date, I focused on her behavior that afternoon when she had acted in a very bossy manner, which I didn't appreciate.  I decided to unilaterally end our budding relationship...without confronting her.  Ghosting!  Needs an apology.

I should have focused on the end of our date in which she showed she obviously wanted an intimate relationship with me.  Other than the bossy behavior, I liked her.  I wanted intimacy, as well.  

We could have talked about what had upset me that afternoon...and resolved it.  Maybe?

We could have gone to second base...or even hit a home run.  Maybe?  

Sweet Smell of Success

 Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis reunited (after Trapeze) in the 1957 film noir Sweet Smell of Success.  

The film tells the story of powerful, sleazy and sinister newspaper columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Lancaster) who uses his connections to ruin his young sister's relationship with a man he deems unworthy of her.

In reality, because of J.J.'s obsession to maintain a close relationship with his sister (they live together), no man would be deemed worthy of her.

Manhattan press agent Sidney Falco (Curtis) scans the New York Globe for J.J.'s column which dominates the entertainment world. For the fifth day in a row, J.J. has not publicized any of Sidney's clients, as he has asked Sidney to end his sister's affair with a jazz guitarist. 

Sidney has been unsuccessful so far.  But, J.J. wants him to continue trying.

Similar to Trapeze, in the end. J.J. and Sidney's relationship is broken because of a woman.

Sweet Smell of Success was filmed on location in New York City in black and white.  Both Lancaster and Curtis were native New Yorkers, born in Manhattan.

Lancaster was reunited in this film with two actors from his first film, The Killers.   Sam Levene played the Swede's friend since childhood and now J.J.'s sister's boyfriend's agent.

Queenie Smith portrayed a maid in a hotel where the Swede stayed and now a personality J.J. wanted on his weekly program.  

Paladin, Chapter 20

INT. HOTEL - NIGHT 

PALADIN enters hotel and walks to reception.

PALADIN: In what room is POLLYANNA?

CLERK: I'm sorry, sir, but she's not here.  She's most likely at her ranch this time of night.

PALADIN: (grabbing the shirt of clerk) One last time.  In what room is POLLYANNA?

CLERK: 10.

PALADIN climbs stairs and goes to room 10 and enters it.

INT. ROOM 10 - NIGHT

PALADIN enters room 10.  POLLYANNA is lying in bed in her night clothes and is mildly surprised to see PALADIN.

POLLYANNA: Well, this is a pleasant surprise.  I can't say I'm disappointed either.

PALADIN: I wanted you to know your friend won't be coming tonight.

POLLYANNA: What friend are you talking about?

PALADIN: Well, it's not BIG DAN.

POLLYANNA: So, why is my friend not coming tonight?

PALADIN: I told him to go home to his wife.

POLLYANNA: And he did...just like that?

PALADIN: You could say I didn't give him much of a choice.

POLLYANNA: What a coward!  Well, you're here.  Why don't you stay.  We have a lot to talk about.

PALADIN: Look, if you want a new husband, get a divorce and look for a single man.

POLLYANNA: You're so old fashioned.

PALADIN: Perhaps.  But, I don't like to see people get hurt unnecessarily.  Especially somebody like GRACE.

POLLYANNA: Who cares about GRACE?

PALADIN: I do.

POLLYANNA: On the other hand, you're single.

PALADIN: Yes, I'm single, but I'm not interested in staying here.  Have a good evening.

PALADIN is set to leave the room.

POLLYANNA: (Shouting) PALADIN!

PALADIN: Quiet, POLLYANNA.  You'll wake the other guests.

Father's Day Again

Today, June 21, is Father's Day in the United States.  Happy Father's Day.

When I was a child, Father's Day meant my father, Harry Lasky, born September 7, 1901 in Troy, New York, the seventh of eight children in a family of first generation Jewish-Americans whose parents had emigrated from eastern Europe.

On December 7, 1975 (Rachel) and August 15, 1985 (Bret), I became a father.  As a result, Father's Day took on a new meaning.  

When my children were born, I felt an immediate bonding with them, something I had never experienced before.  Raising my children became my #1 priority.  

I also discovered that I totally enjoyed the experience of being their father. 

My children are grown now and I am very proud of them.  I consider Rachel and Bret to be the greatest successes of my life. 

On January 17, this year, Bret became a father when his daughter Macy was born.  Happy first Father's Day, Bret.

Trump again

Today, June 14, 2026, Donald J. Trump celebrates his 80th birthday.  Welcome to the club.

From September of 1966 until May of 1967, I was in my senior year as a student at the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

I think my favorite course that senior year was an introductory one in real estate.  I learned its three rules:  location, location, and location.  

Our professor had us study an actual neighborhood in West Philadelphia, not far from the campus.  Each student was given an address of a house in the neighborhood and had to do various research related to the house.  

One was to go to Philadelphia City Hall (intersection of Broad and Market Streets) and look up the last three times the house had been sold (using old fashioned microfilm) to certify that each owner had signed on the subsequent sales document.  This is what title insurance is about.

Some time during that senior year, a colleague mentioned that one of our fellow students was Donald Trump, the son of a wealthy New York City real estate developer.  He was a junior transfer from Fordham University in New York City.  We never met.  

Trump was at Penn because of the Wharton School's real estate program.  He graduated 12 months after I did in May of 1968.

In November 2016, Donald Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States of America.

In November 2024, Donald Trump was elected the 47th President of the United States of America.  He is scheduled to serve until January 20, 2029 when he will be 82 years of age.

Trapeze

Trapeze is a 1956 American circus film starring Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida.  The film was among the top three box office earners of 1956 in the United States and Canada.

A trapeze is a short horizontal bar suspended by two ropes or metal straps from a ceiling or support structure. It is primarily known as an aerial apparatus used by acrobats and circus performers to execute swinging and gymnastic tricks.

In the film, embittered trapeze aerialist and former circus star Mike Ribble (Lancaster) needs a cane to walk as a result of a fall during a performance (shown in the first scene of the film). Brash, inexperienced Tino Orsini (Curtis) comes to Paris and wants Mike to train him to do the dangerous triple somersault. 

Mike, only the sixth man to complete the triple, brushes him off at first, but comes to believe that Tino is capable of matching his feat.  He starts to teach him. 

However, the manipulative Lola (Lollobrigida) enamors Tino, convinced he is a star in the making. Mike is pressured into adding her to their new act.

Tensions rise as Lola and Mike are attracted to each other.  However, Mike clearly sees how mercenary she is.  A love triangle forms. 

Tino comes to resent Mike's attempts to warn him about Lola. He breaks up with Mike.

However, during a performance attended by circus VIP John Ringling North, Mike talks Tino into attempting the triple. The French circus owner tries to stop them by having the safety net taken down, but Tino goes ahead anyway and achieves the highly dangerous feat. 

A greatly impressed North immediately offers all three a job with his circus in New York. Tino wants Mike back, but Mike leaves followed by Lola.

Lancaster, a former circus acrobat, performed many of his own stunts in the film, though the most dangerous (including the climactic triple somersault) were performed by technical consultant Eddie Ward from the Ringling Brothers Circus.  

Trapeze was filmed entirely in Paris, including at the Cirque d'hiver and at the nearby Billancourt studios.

I remember watching this film at the Oswego Theater during my youth.  

As a result of the film, I fell in love with the circus trapeze act.  It's thrilling.  I looked forward to it every time I took my children to the circus when it came to New York's Madison Square Garden.  

On the other hand, I don't like the high wire act.  It's scary.