Edward G. Robinson

Emanuel Goldenberg was born in Bucharest, Romania in December of 1893.  Because of antisemitism, his Jewish family emigrated to the United States in 1903 when he was ten years-old.  Emanuel grew up on the lower east side of Manhattan and attended City College of New York with the intention of becoming a criminal lawyer.  However, he developed an interest in acting and won a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts also in New York.  He then changed his name to Edward G. Robinson.  The G was for Goldenberg.  

After first working in the Yiddish theater, Robinson had his Broadway debut in 1915.  He made his first (of over 100) film(s), a silent one, in 1923. His last was fifty years later.  Robinson's performance as the gangster Rico in Little Caesar (1931) pushed him into the Hollywood movie star category.  He virtually resurrected that role in the hit Key Largo (1948) directed by John Huston and which also starred Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.  In this one, Robinson portrayed the gangster Rocco.

In 1944, Robinson took the part of Barton Keyes, an insurance company Claims Manager, in Billy Wilder's very successful movie Double Indemnity which also starred Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray.  The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards (but won none), including Best Motion Picture (lost to Going My Way), Best Director (Wilder lost to Leo McCarey for Going My Way) and Best Actress (Stanwyck lost to Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight). 

Double indemnity is an insurance term which refers to a "provision for the payment of double the face value of an (life) insurance policy when death occurs (for example) as a result of an accident." In the film, Walter Neff (MacMurray), an insurance salesman, conspires with Phyllis Dietrichson (Stanwyck), the wife of a client, to murder her husband in a way that makes it seem as if his death was an accident in order to collect double the value of the insurance policy he sold her.  Neff's colleague at the insurance company, Barton Keyes, tries to solve what he suspects to be a murder, not realizing Neff is one of the murderers.

Robinson's delivery (as Keyes) of Wilder's Academy Award nominated dialogue nearly steals the movie from the other two actors.  Some examples are below:

"Come now, you've never read an actuarial table in your life, have you?  Why they've got ten volumes on suicide alone.  Suicide by race, by color, by occupation, by sex, by seasons of the year, by time of day.  Suicide, how committed:  by poison, by firearms, by drowning, by leaps.  Suicide by poison subdivided by types of poison, such as corrosive, irritant, systemic, gaseous, narcotic, alkaloid, protein, and so forth; suicide by leaps, subdivided by leaps from high places, under the wheels of trains, under the wheels of trucks, under the feet of horses, from steamboats.  But, Mr. Norton, of all the cases on record, there's not one single case of suicide by leap from the rear end of a moving train.  And you know how fast that train was going at the point where the body was found?  Fifteen miles an hour.  Now how can anybody jump off a slow-moving train like that with any kind of expectation that he would kill himself?  No.  No soap, Mr. Norton.  We're sunk, and we'll have to pay through the nose, and you know it."   

"There it is, Walter.  It's beginning to come apart at the seams already.  Murder's never perfect.  Always comes apart sooner or later, when two people are involved it's usually sooner.  Now we know the Dietrichson dame is in it and a somebody else.  Pretty soon, we'll know who that somebody else is.  He'll show.  He's got to show.  Sometime, somewhere, they've got to meet.  Their emotions are all kicked up.  Whether it's love or hate doesn't matter; they can't keep away from each other.  They may think it's twice as safe because they're two of them, but it isn't twice as safe. It's ten times twice as dangerous.  They've committed a murder! And it's not like taking a trolley ride together where they can get off at different stops.  They're stuck with each other and they got to ride all the way to the end of the line and it's a one-way trip and the last stop is the cemetery.  She put in her claim...and I'm gonna throw it right back at her.  Let her sue us if she dares.  I'll be ready for her and that somebody else.  They'll be digging their own graves."

"This Dietrichson business.  It's murder.  And murders don't come any neater.  As fancy a piece of homicide as anyone ever ran into. Smart, tricky, almost perfect.  But...I think papa has it all figured out.  Figured out and wrapped up in tissue paper with...pink ribbons on it."
__________      
  
"Robinson was never nominated for an Academy Award, but in 1973 he was awarded an honorary oscar in recognition that he had achieved greatness as an (actor).  He was notified of the honor, but died two months before the award ceremony."           

Best of Intentions, Chapter 16

President Roosevelt is in a conference at the White House with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill when the phone rings.  

"Excuse me, Winston...Oh, yes, Mr. Secretary.  I understand.  You received confirmation about this Karchevsky matter...Yes...You need to go to Mexico City right away and confront their Foreign Secretary.  Lay our cards on the table and express how intolerable this is.  It has to end immediately.  Come to the White House as soon as you return.  Have a safe trip." 

After hanging up the phone he returns to Churchill.

"We received some intelligence that Mexico is plotting to join the Axis."

"I can't believe it.  This is a diversion from our focus on Hitler.  We can't afford to spend time looking for the boogie man under the bed when we have an actual full-blown monster running around Europe."

"I appreciate your point, but we need assurances that our southern border is not in jeopardy.  I need to be convinced that nothing sinister is going on in Mexico.  Now, where were we?"  

Secretary of State Hull enters a conference room at the Mexican Foreign Ministry in Mexico City.  His counterpart, Ezequiel Padilla Peneloza, is waiting for him.

"Welcome to Mexico City, Secretary Hull.  Let me first express our deepest sympathy over the recent loss of life as a result of the Japanese attack at Hawaii.  We wish your country well in your war efforts."

"Thank you, Secretary Peneloza.  As a matter of fact, I am here regarding our war efforts."

"I don't understand.  We are a neutral country."

"Then I need you to explain your government's connection to a Soviet emigre named Julius Karchevsky.  We have reason to believe he's doing research in Mexico that may be harmful to the United States." 

"I have never heard of this man.  Furthermore, my government is not engaged in anything that would be harmful to your country."

"Perhaps you'd like to make further inquiries before making such a definitive statement."

"That is not necessary.  I know what is and what is not going on in my country.  An emigre with such a name would not be invisible to us.  Do you have anything else to discuss?"

"No."

"Then our meeting is adjourned."

Ben and Rita sit on a sofa in their backyard on a gorgeous night.   The stars and the moon are out and she rests her head on his shoulder.

"It's so beautiful tonight.  I feel wonderful," she said.

"I wish it could stay like this."

"It's peaceful here.  I know you're worried about your country, your family, your friends, but you're doing something to help at the American Embassy."

"Maybe I could do more."

"What's most important to me is that Mexico is not involved in the war.  Maybe that's not fair, but I'm selfish.  I want us to live our lives with love, not war."

Ben and Maria kiss softly.   

  

Cats

It is not my intention for this post to be anti-dog.  I know a wonderful dog:  Fender, a Standard Poodle, who lives with our friends, Kevin and Connie, in Durham, NC. 

On my sixteenth birthday in 1961, my brother Joel and sister-in-law Judy gave me a puppy for a present.  She was a mix of beagle and fox terrier and I named her Trixie.  She was a nice dog, obedient, but stupid.  Or maybe I was just too stupid to train her well.  Before her first birthday she gave birth to a litter of three puppies. Trixie had sex way before I did.  When I went to Penn in 1963, I had to give her away as my mother refused to care for her in my absence.  

In 1969, my ex-wife, Bonita, and I adopted a beagle whom we named Zootie.  We kept her for ten years until she outgrew her welcome.  Zootie had her good points, but she had plenty of bad ones.  She growled at us when we disciplined her and she was obsessed with food, once nipping my daughter, Rachel, above her eye when she was nervously eyeballing a carrot being sliced nearby.  

Some years after Zootie, my sister-in-law, Noreen, asked us to take care of her cat, Lucy, whom she had to give up because of a problem with her landlord in Washington, D.C.  I was hesitant about bringing a cat into our house even though I had no experience with any.  Why?  Perhaps because of Walt Disney.

In the 1950s, my formative years, I saw three feature length Walt Disney produced cartoons which featured cats as negative characters.  The first was Cinderella (1950), the story of an orphan girl named Cinderella who works as a servant in the house of her cruel step-mother, Lady Tremaine, whose cat, Lucifer, loves making Cinderella's life miserable.

Next was Alice in Wonderland (1951), the story of a girl named Alice who visits a strange land where she meets a variety of weird characters, including the Chesire Cat who displays the mischievous ability to appear and disappear at will.  To Alice, the Chesire Cat is a very unreliable character.

Finally, there was The Lady and The Tramp (1955), a love story between a cocker spaniel named Lady and a mixed breed dog named Tramp.  There are also two twin Siamese cats, Si and Am, who are very mean to Lady.

I believe I was influenced by this anti-cat prejudice.  How many other Baby Boomers were affected as well?  Many times, I have met people who, without any cat experience, will tell me they hate cats.  It's irrational.

So, because of my desire to help out Noreen, I agreed to give Lucy a one month trial.  She stayed with us for five years until her death.  Of the three pets I had in my life, Lucy was clearly the best.  She was the most intelligent, the friendliest, and the cleanest.   

Lucy was so independent that we could leave her at home for a couple of days without any trouble whereas my dogs had to be boarded. We would leave a bowl of food which she would eat a little at a time. And then, so amazingly, she could jump from the kitchen floor to the counter top to drink water from the dripping faucet.  

I remember Lucy's custom of sitting by the kitchen door waiting to either enter or leave the house. Unfortunately, one day she left and never returned.  Our veterinarian had diagnosed Lucy with a cancerous growth on her throat.  That last time, I believe, she was looking for a place to die.  Lucy was unforgettable.  Cats can be great.                     

World Series

In October of 1968, the American League champions, the Detroit Tigers, were the home team for games 3, 4 and 5 of the World Series against the National League champions, the St. Louis Cardinals.  My brother Ted, who worked for a Detroit radio station at the time, acted as host for the station's clients at their seats in Tiger Stadium during the above games.  Thus, Ted, who was not a baseball fan, got to see three World Series games before I saw any.  His main memory was that Vice President Hubert Humphrey, the Democratic Candidate for President, was at one of the games.

On Tuesday, October 14, 1969, forty-eight years ago yesterday, I was at my desk in the Tax Department of Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc. at 375 Park Avenue in Manhattan.  Besides my work, I was thinking about that afternoon's third game of the World Series featuring the National League champions, the New York Mets, who would be hosting the American League champions, the Baltimore Orioles, at Shea Stadium in Queens (the first ever World Series game played there).  The two teams split the first two games of the 1969 World Series in Baltimore the previous weekend.

Late in the morning, our Tax Director, Chris Bakos, leisurely walked into the Tax Department office holding two tickets to that afternoon's World Series game.  He asked who among the ten of us wanted to go. What a treat!  To go to a World Series game for free instead of working.  I assumed everybody would want to go.  I was shocked when only three of us did.  But, there were only two tickets.  We drew straws and I was one of the lucky two.

The other winner, a man named Roy, offered to drive me to the game in his car.  However, I thought traffic would be horrible so I opted for the subway.  I was right.  I got to my seat in the upper deck along the right field line well before the game started.  Roy arrived by the third inning.  

The Mets starting pitcher Gary Gentry shut out the Orioles until he was relieved in the seventh inning by future Hall of Famer, Nolan Ryan, who was making his only World Series appearance in a 27-year career.  Baltimore started another future Hall of Fame pitcher, Jim Palmer.

Without a doubt, the hero of the day was Mets center fielder, Tommie Agee.  The first batter up for the Mets in the bottom of the first inning, he hit a home run off Palmer for the only run the Mets would need.  

In the top of the fourth inning, with runners at first and third base and two outs, Agee went into left center field to make a backhanded grab of a line drive off the bat of Elrod Hendricks to end the inning.  

When Gentry loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning, Met Manager Gil Hodges brought in Ryan.  One out later, Paul Blair hit a fly ball to right center field that Agee made a diving catch of to end the threat.  Ryan pitched the final two innings to preserve a 5-0 Met victory.  

Two days later, the Mets won game 5 and the 1969 World Series. That day the ten of us were listening to the game on a radio in the Tax Department office (along with visitors from the IRS).  Those were the days of the Miracle Mets (and when World Series games were played in the afternoon).  A mere 7 years earlier, the Mets, an expansion team, lost 120 games, the most since 1899 and not duplicated to this day.   

Jersey Injury

One evening shortly after 9/11 I was home with my sixteen year-old son, Bret, preparing dinner for the two of us.  I am not sure what else I was cooking, but I know the menu included Uncle Ben's white rice.  When the rice was done, I put it in a large bowl and brought it to the dining room table.  I then returned to the kitchen to do the finishing touches to the rest of our dinner.

Bret was hungry and asked me how much rice he should put on his plate.  I responded with, "As much as you want."

When I brought the rest of the food to the table, I saw he had put all the rice on his plate.  I mean all of it.  In retrospect, I know he was being playful.  However, at that moment, I was not in a playful mood.  I responded badly.  I paid a price for my bad behavior.  

I walked towards Bret who was standing near the table.  I grabbed his t-shirt with my right hand.  He backed away, forcing my hand to release his shirt.  Sounds simple, right?  That simple act broke the little finger of my right hand.  

I don't remember any terrific pain, but I immediately realized something was wrong.  I looked at my little finger and in the top crease where it normally bends, there was something in its place.  I could no longer bend it.  Right away I got in my car and drove to a nearby walk-in clinic.  They told me I needed to go to a hospital.  


Early the next day, I drove to the North Shore Hospital in Nassau County.  The doctors in the Emergency Room referred me to a hand specialist whose office was nearby.  I went there as fast as I could. When I walked in, his office was mobbed, peopled with a variety of finger and hand injuries.  I waited patiently until it was my turn. The doctor took four patients at a time placing them in separate examining rooms where he rotated from one to another.

I wish I could remember my doctor's name, but he appeared to be of either Middle Eastern or South Asian ancestry.  Besides that, he was a great surgeon and a great human being.  He calmly explained to me what happened to my finger.  He told me he would try to surgically repair the finger as best he could.  However, he promised me that, at the very least, I would not have pain.  I don't.

A few days later, as my doctor instructed, I arrived at another hospital on Long Island and waited for his call from the Emergency Room. Since he wanted to repair my finger ASAP, he said he would fit me into the surgical schedule when he could.  I waited almost 12 hours in the ER. It was fascinating being there that long. I saw victims of heart attacks and auto accidents arriving, one after the other.

Finally, it was my turn.  I remember being wheeled into surgery and then waking up afterwards with my finger heavily bandaged. When my finger recovered sufficiently my doctor prescribed occupational therapy.

I went to a clinic on the east side of Manhattan.  I remember walking there on a busy street full of pedestrians with my left hand and arm in front of my recovering finger trying to protect it from further harm.  My therapist was a short, fat lady who turned out to be great.  

On my first visit, I asked her to be very gentle with my finger.  She said she would.  Then, she started manipulating it.  The finger was so sensitive that I almost jumped out of my chair and banged the back of my head against the wall behind me.  But, slowly over time, with her help, my finger came back to where it was before the accident.  

And what was my accident?  My therapist called it a "jersey injury."  I responded like, "New Jersey?"  No, she said, as in a "football jersey."  Players grab each other's jerseys and when they break away from each other sometimes fingers are broken.  You can see players tape their fingers before the game to protect them. Check it out next time you watch on TV or in person.  

My therapist also had a sense of humor.  On Halloween, she dressed up like a witch with a black costume and green makeup.  

I messed up that night when I overreacted and got my finger broken.  However, there was a silver lining.  I got to meet two wonderful human beings.       
          

John Garfield

John Garfield, the actor, was born Jacob Julius Garfinkle on Manhattan's lower east side on March 4, 1913.  His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia.  As a child at P.S. 45, Garfield was first introduced to acting.  Later, he took "lessons at a drama school" and began to appear in theatrical productions in New York. He made his Broadway debut in 1932.  

In 1938, Garfield made his film debut in the Warner Bros. picture, Four Daughters, directed by Michael Curtiz, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor (lost to Walter Brennan in Kentucky).  In 1939, he was in Juarez with Paul Muni.  In 1945, Garfield starred in Pride of the Marines.  In 1946, he was cast opposite Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice.  In 1947, Garfield was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Body and Soul (lost to Ronald Coleman in A Double Life).

Also in 1947, Garfield appeared in a supporting role in the groundbreaking film, Gentleman's Agreement, which won three Academy Awards including Best Picture.  In the story, Philip Green (Gregory Peck, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, but also lost to Ronald Coleman in A Double Life), a journalist, moves to New York City to write for a magazine.  His publisher asks him to do an article about antisemitism.  In order to get a different perspective, Green, a gentile, adopts a Jewish identity, Philip Greenberg.

Green's Jewish friend, Dave Goldman (Garfield), is staying with Green in his Manhattan apartment while Goldman looks for an apartment for himself.  One night, the two are in a restaurant for dinner. Goldman, an officer in the U.S. Army, is in uniform.  A drunken customer walks by their table and bumps into Goldman.

Noting Goldman's uniform, the drunk says, "I don't like officers."

Goldman responds in jest, "Neither do I."

"What's your name, Bud?" asks the drunk.  

"Dave, Dave Goldman.  What's yours?"

"I especially don't like them if they're yids."

Furious, Goldman jumps up from his seat and grabs the man by his lapels.  However, he is cool enough not to hit the physically impotent drunk.  Goldman releases him and sits back down.

In a documentary about Garfield, another Jewish actor, Richard Dreyfuss (1978 Academy Award winner for Best Actor in The Goodbye Girl), referred to this scene as "the scene."  As a fellow Jew, I think I understand what he meant.

Tragically, John Garfield died of a heart attack on May 21, 1952 at the age of only 39.  That he had scarlet fever as a child contributed to his untimely death.  A great actor was taken from us far too soon.           

       

                           

Best of Intentions, Chapter 15

In the week after Pearl Harbor, Ben's nephew, Harry Johnson, enlists in the United States Army near his home in Syracuse.

A week later, Secretary of State Cordell Hull arrives at the White House for a meeting with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  

Hull opens the meeting with "The American people suffered a terrible shock on December seventh, Mr. President, and they couldn't tolerate another.  Therefore, my staff and I put together a report as to where another such sneak attack could come from in order to crush it before it happens."

"I'm not sure I follow you.  We know who our enemies are."

"Yes, of course, but our enemies could have allies lying in wait.  I want you to think about...Mexico."

"Don't be ridiculous."  

"Let's look at the facts, Mr. President.  1836: Americans living in northern Mexico revolt and form the independent Republic of Texas.  1845: Texas joins the Union, we invade Mexico and seize New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.  1914: We invade Mexico and occupy the City of Vera Cruz for six months. 1916: Again, we invade Mexico, this time looking for Pancho Villa. 1917: Germany offers Mexico its assistance in retrieving its lost territories if it enters the Great War on Germany's side.  Recently, former President Cardenas maintained cordial relations with Nazi Germany.  And now Mexico has a growing trade relationship with Germany.  Isn't this enough for us to beware of Mexico?"

"I'm not convinced.  Tell me something about Mexico I don't know."

Hull takes some papers out of his briefcase and places them in front of the president.

"This report was passed to me by the Secretary of War, which he received from reliable sources in the Department of the Army. There's a scientist in Mexico named Julius Karchevsky who's doing some hush-hush research on a new type of bomb.  He's a Soviet emigre who went there with Trotsky in '37 and is now working for the Mexican government.  Years before he was a colleague of Einstein.  Now why would the Mexicans be doing this?  They have no enemies.  No need to develop super bombs.  There can be only one explanation: they're in league with the Japanese and/or the Germans.  We don't need a sneak attack from across the Rio Grande, Mr. President."

"This is preposterous.  Unbelievable.  However, I will study your report, but I want independent confirmation.  I want new people to check out this Karchevsky.  Make it a high priority.  If it's true, we need to act fast."

"Very well, Mr. President."

After Hull leaves his office, Roosevelt opens his desk drawer and takes out a letter in an envelope with the return address showing the name Albert Einstein.  He starts to re-read the letter dated August 2, 1939.

Meanwhile, Ben and Maria are lying in their bed in Mexico City.

"My country's at war," says Ben, "and I'm not there.  Dave told me they need able-bodied men at his factory.  Maybe I should go there for a while and help out."

"Don't say that, Ben.  I couldn't bear for you to leave me.  I'd be afraid something would happen and you wouldn't come back."

"Don't be silly.  Nothing would happen to me."

"Factories are targets.  You could be killed."

"We're too far away for the Japs and Krauts to bomb us.  I'd be okay."

"Anything could happen in a war, like sabotage.  In Mexico, we're safe.  Maybe you could do something here, perhaps at the American Embassy. Please don't go, my love.  Please don't go."

She puts her arms around him and smothers him with kisses.