Thursday, July 29, 2004

More on Jackson Beck

Here are two photos of the late Jackson Beck in roles he played on radio. At left, he's The Cisco Kid from the radio show of the same name, which aired from 1942 through 1945. (Two years later, it came back with a different cast.) Mr. Beck was about as Hispanic as Miracle Whip but in those days, no one gave much thought to such matters. At right, he has the title role in Philo Vance, Detective, which ran from 1948 through 1950. The few hundred episodes he recorded for these two shows represent a tiny fraction of all that Beck did in radio. And his radio work represents a tiny fraction of all that he did before microphones. [Thanks to his pal Anthony Tollin for the Cisco photo.]

• Posted at 4:31 PM · LINK

Recommended Viewing

Here's a short film/political ad starring Will Ferrell as George W. Bush.

• Posted at 9:13 AM · LINK

Minutes With Michael

If you are repulsed at the sight and/or sound of Michael Moore, skip this item. But if, like me, you enjoy some of what he does, you may enjoy a 43-minute speech which is currently up on the C-Span page. It's an address he made in the last day or three to some delegates at the convention and it's very passionate and at some points, very funny. Defenders of George W. Bush are fond of saying that even if what Bush says is erroneous, he can be forgiven because he truly believes what he says and has only honorable intentions. I don't really buy that and if a Democratic president got caught saying something that turned out to be untrue, I don't think they'd cut him any slack. Nor should they, especially if the inaccuracy relates to something as serious as sending this nation into war.

I am a tad more positive about Moore since I realized how silly it is to fault an op-ed filmmaker for skewing facts when we're going to let the Commander-in-Chief get away with telling us "We found the weapons of mass destruction" and other statements his own administration no longer stands behind. In the best of all public discourses, of course, everyone is accurate and they retract when it turns out they aren't. In terms of distorting reality to make one's case, Bush and Moore may have a lot more in common than either of them would ever recognize...and Moore, since he isn't an elected official sending soldiers into battle, has more excuse for his excesses. He's certainly single-minded and passionate, even when he's been misled as to the facts.

As I said, the Moore speech is 43 minutes and it's up on the C-Span website in Real Player format, at least for a few days. It's difficult to link directly to a clip on that site. This link might do it for some browsers but most of you will have to go to the site and look around to find it. I don't vouch for all the factual claims in it (there aren't very many...it's mostly opinion) but I think it shows Moore at his best and goes a long way to explaining why he's come so far.

• Posted at 1:40 AM · LINK

Jackson Beck

Here's the first online newspaper obit I've found for Jackson Beck. I've corrected a few minor errors in what I posted earlier about him.

• Posted at 1:07 AM · LINK

July 30, 2004 • Current • July 28, 2004