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.