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.