HUSH MONEY
Published by
Putnam Publishing Group Inc.
March 1999
From the hardcover book jacket:
Spenser investigates shady dealings behind the ivy-covered walls of
academe, where political maneuverings take on deadly proportions.
"Parker says he'll keep writing Spenser novels as long as the public
wants to read them, which probably means he'll need to keep writing them
for the rest of his life. Spenser is 'the very model of a modern major
shamus,'" proclaimed The Boston Globe in a review of Robert B. Parker's
most recent New York Times bestseller, Sudden Mischief. With Hush Money,
Parker adds another classic to the legendary series, with a morally
complex tale that pits the burly Boston P.I. andhis redoubtable cohort,
Hawk, against local intellectual heavyweights.
When Robinson Nevins, the son of Hawk's boyhood mentor, is denied tenure
at the University, Hawk asks Spenser to investigate. It appears the
denial is tied to the suicide of a young gay activist, Prentice Lamont.
While intimations of an affair between Lamont and Nevins have long fed
the campus rumor mill, no one is willing to talk, and as Spenser digs
deeper he is nearly drowned in a multicultural swamp of politics: black,
gay, academic, and feminist.
At the same time, Spenser's inamorata, Susan, asks him to come to the
aid of an old college friend, K.C. Roth, the victim of a stalker.
Spenser solves the problem a bit too effectively, and K.C., unwilling to
settle for the normal parameters of the professional-client
relationship, becomes smitten with him, going so far as to attempt to
lure him from Susan. When Spenser, ever chivalrous, kindly rejects her
advances, K.C. turns the tables and begins to stalk him.
s
Then the case of Robinson Nevins turns deadly. It is, Spenser discovers,
only the tip of the iceberg in a great conspiracy to keep America white,
male, and straight. Spenser must call upon his every resource, including
friends on both sides of the law, to stay alive.
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Spensariums's Aphorisms and Allusions
Dedication
For Joan:
all the day and night time
Frank Sinatra
"I've Got a Crush On You"
Lyrics:
How glad the many millions of Annabelles and Lillians
Would be to capture me
But you had such persistence, you wore down my resistance
I fell and it was swell
I'm your big and brave and handsome Romeo
How I won you I shall never never know
It's not that you're attractive
But, oh, my heart grew active
When you came into view
I've got a crush on you, sweetie pie
All the day and night-time give me sigh
I never had the least notion that
I could fall with so much emotion
Could you coo, could you care
For a cunning cottage we could share
The world will pardon my mush
'Cause I have got a crush on you
Could you coo, could you care
For a cunning cottage
That we could share
The world will pardon my mush
'Cause I have got a crush, my baby, on you
Click here to hear Sinatra sing this selection.
Chapter 1
...but Red Barber and Mell Allen would have had trouble
with the number of commercials these guys had to slip in.
"The Old Redhead": Legendary baseball announcer Red Barber was the voice
of the Cincinnati Reds, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees during his
career. He was noted for a folksy style where Rallies were noted by
saying "the fat's in the fire;" a winning team was "sitting in the
catbird seat;" and arguments were dubbed "rhubarbs." Barber's baseball
career ended because of honesty. In 1966, he was fired because he
insisted on telling his Yankees audience that only 413 people were at a
late-season game. Barber, with Mel Allen, were the first broadcasters
inducted into the Hall of Fame, in 1978. In 1991 his Friday morning
commentaries on National Public Radio earned him a Peabody Award. He
died in 1991 at 84. He was alos the author of several books on Baseball.
(See Below)
1947 : When All Hell Broke Loose in Baseball
Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat
The Storytellers :Mel Allen
Chapter 1
Do you know that we are turning out English Ph.Ds who have never read Milton?
John Milton is most often noted for his epic poem in blank verse Paradise
Lost which was originally issued in 10 books in 1667.
Considered by many scholars to be one of the greatest poems of the
English language, Paradise Lost tells the biblical story of the fall
from grace of Adam and Eve (and, by extension, all humanity) in language
that is a supreme achievement of rhythm and sound.
Click here for more on Milton's Paradise Lost
Chapter 2
"Tasteful in small things, tasteful in all things."
Possibly a turn of phrase on Matthew 25:23
His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant;
thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things:
enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Chapter 2
"I always know when you are really jerking my chain, because you
start sounding like Mantan Moreland."
"Mantan Moreland?"
"I'm
kind of proud of coming up with that one myself."
Nicknamed "Google Eyes" by his childhood friends, African-American actor
Mantan Moreland joined a carnival at 14 and a medicine show a year later
- and both times was dragged home by juvenile authorities. Most of
Moreland's early adult years were spent on the "Chitlin Circuit," the
nickname given by performers to all-black vaudeville. After a decade of
professional ups and downs, Moreland teamed with several comics (notably
Benny Carter) in an act based on the "indefinite talk" routine of
Flournoy and Miller, wherein each teammate would start a sentence, only
to be interrupted by the other teammate ("Say, have you seen...?" "I saw
him yesterday. He was at..." "I thought they closed that place down!").
Moreland's entered films in 1936, usually in the tiny porter, waiter and
bootblack roles then reserved for black actors. Too funny to continue
being shunted aside by lily-white Hollywood, Moreland began getting
better parts in a late-'30s series of comedy adventures produced at
Monogram and costarring white actor Frankie Darro. The screen friendship
between Mantan and Frankie was rare for films of this period, and it was
this series that proved Moreland was no mere "Movie Negro." Moreland
stayed with Monogram in the '40s as Birmingham Brown, eternally
frightened chauffeur of the Charlie Chan films. The variations Moreland
wrought upon the line "Feets, do your duty" were astonishing and
hilarious, and though the Birmingham role was never completely free of
stereotype, by the end of the Chan series in 1949 Monogram recognized
Moreland's value to the series by having Charlie Chan refer to "my
assistant, Birmingham Brown" - not merely "my hired man." Always popular
with black audiences (he was frequently given top billing in the
advertising of the Chan films by Harlem theatre owners), Moreland
starred in a series of crude but undeniably entertaining comedies filmed
by Toddy Studios for all-black theatres. The actor also occasionally
popped up in A-pictures like MGM's Cabin in the Sky, and worked steadily
in radio. Changing racial attitudes in the '50s and '60s lessend
Moreland's ability to work in films; in the wake of the Civil Rights
movement, a frightened black man was no longer considered amusing even
by Mantan's fans. Virtually broke, Moreland suffered a severe stroke in
the early '60s, and it looked as though he was finished in Hollywood.
Things improved for Moreland after 1964, first with a bit in the oddly
endearing horror picture Spider Baby (1964), then with a pair of
prominent cameos in Enter Laughing (1968) and The Comic (1969), both
directed by Carl Reiner. With more and more African Americans being
hired for TV and films in the late '60s, Moreland was again in demand.
He worked on such TV sitcoms as Love American Style and The Bill Cosby
Show, revived his "indefinite talk" routine for a gasoline commercial,
and enjoyed a solid film role was as a race-conscious counterman in
Watermelon Man (1970). In his last years, Mantan Moreland was a honored
guest at the meetings of the international Laurel and Hardy fan club
"The Sons of the Desert," thanks to his brief but amusing appearance in
the team's 1942 comedy A-Haunting We Will Go (1942). -- Hal Erickson,
All Movie Guide
Shanghai Cobra,
Secret Service,
Jade Mask,
Scarlet Clue
Chapter 2
Susan smiled at me. It was a smile that
could easily have launched a thousand ships.
Christopher Marlowe
Dr. Faustus, V.i
Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss!
Her lips suck forth my soul,
See where it flies.
Click Here for more on Faustus
Chapter 3
"Before or after the cock crowed?" I said.
"I didn't know it crowed," Susan said.
"Never mind," I said.
The Bible
Luke 22: 60-62
And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest.
And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew.
And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter.
And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him,
Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.
Chapter 4
"Did a Brody out the window of his apartment."
According to _The New York Public Library Book of Popular Americana by
Tad Tuleja: Steve Brodie was "a New Yorker who claimed in 1886 that he
had survived a jump from the Brooklyn Bridge. Since the feat was not
verified, his celebrity was tainted with incredulity. 'To do a Brodie'
came to mean (1) to fail extravagantly, (2) to perform a dangerous
stunt, and (3) to commit suicide by jumping." The movie to which belson
Aludes is The Bowery (1933) starring George Raft.
Chapter 5
"You don't know where there's a field of daffodils in bloom do you?"
Poem: I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
by William Wordsworth, 1804.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Click here for info on the complete works of Wordsworth
Chapter 5
"Course of true love, I said, "never did run smooth."
PoemA Midsummer Nights Dream
by William Shakespeare
Act 1: Scene 1
Lysander addressing Hermia:
The course of true love never did run smooth.
But either it was different in blood -
Oh cross. Too high to be enthral'd to low,
Or else misgraffed in respect of years.
Oh spite. Too old to be engaged to young,
Or else it stood upon the choice of friends.
Oh Hell. To choose love by another's eyes.
Click here for info on A Midsummers Night Dream
Chapter 6
Give a squirrel a peanut and you feed him for a moment," I said.
"But teach him to grow peanuts..."
A turn of phrase on the Chinese proverb:
"Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day.
Teach him how to fish and he'll eat forever."
Chapter 8
"I feel like Casper the Friendly Ghost," I said.
Casper, the friendly Ghost was created by Seymour Reit and illustrated
by Joseph Oriolo. In 1945, Casper made his first appearance when
Paramount released the film short "The Friendly Ghost". Casper
re-appeared when Paramount released two additional film shorts "There's
Good Boos Tonight" in 1948 and "A Haunting We will Go" in 1949. In 1959
as Casper gained tremendous popularity, Paramount expanded the cartoons
into an entire television series. Casper quickly became one of the most
celebrated cartoon characters on earth. In December of 1952, Harvey
became the sole publisher of Casper comic books. In 1991 the original
Casper cartoon shorts were re-dubbed, re-edited, and re-colored.
Sixty-five episodes of "Casper and Friends" were aired throughout the
country to a new generation of children whose parents also grew up
watching Casper. In 1995 Steven Spielberg brought "Casper" to the world
as a feature length, live-action film and in '97 and '98, two new
direct-to-video Casper features sold nearly 5 million units. Overall,
the Casper franchise has scared up an otherworldly $1 billion in
revenues....in the 1990's alone! casper was also the nickname of the
Apollo 16 Command module with the character painted on its side.
Chapter 8
"Many names I didn't recognize, a few I did,
Frantz Fanon, Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright."
Three of the primary authors of the Black Modernism and Postmodernism movement.
Click here for info on Black Skin, White Masks by Fanon
Click here for info on The Wretched of the Earth by Fanon
Click here for info on Dying Colonialism by Fanon
Click here for info on Invisible Man by Ellison
Click here for info on Juneteenth by Ellison
Click here for info on Native Son by Wright
Click here for info on Black Boy by Wright
Chapter 8
...so he wouldn't sound like Clarence Thomas.
Associate justice of the Supreme Court
Born June 28, 1948, in Pinpoint (near Savannah), Ga., Thomas is married
and has one child. He was educated at Conception Seminary, 1967-1968;
Holy Cross College, A.B.; Yale Law School, J.D., 1974. Presidential
Nominations: Nominated by President Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia Circuit; took oath of office, March 12,
1990; nominated by President Bush as associate justice of the U.S.
Supreme Court; took oath of office Oct. 23, 1991.
Chapter 8
Hawk's voice was calm and his diction was better than Tony Blair's.
Labor party leader and Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Tony Blair was born Anthony Charles Lynton Blair on May 6, 1953.
In 1994, at 41, he became the UK Labour Party's youngest leader ever.
Chapter 8
"Well, a fine mess you got us into this time, Ollie"
Movie: Another Fine Mess
Written and filmed September, 1930. Released by MGM, November, 1930.
Produced by Hal Roach.
Directed by James Parrott. Three reels.
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Thelma Todd, James Finlayson, Charles
Gerrard.
STORY: On the run from the law, Stan and Ollie take refuge
in the temporarily deserted mansion of Colonel Buckshot. A couple
arrives wishing to rent the mansion for the summer, so Ollie poses as
the owner, Stan doubles as both butler and maid. The real Colonel
Buckshot returns home armed with shotgun, and the boys escape atop a
tandem bicycle, dressed as a water buffalo.
Arthur Stanley Jefferson (16 June 1890 - 23 February 1965)
Born in Ulverston, Lancashire in England, Stan joined the Fred Karno
troupe as an understudy to Charlie Chaplin. Both actors established
themselves in the English music halls and later travelled to America
where Chaplin departed to Sennett Studios. Stan changed his stage name
from Jefferson to Laurel and toured the vaudeville theatres with an act
based upon an imitation of Chaplin. However, it was at the Roach Studios
that Stan perfected his often overlooked writing and directing skills
before successfully teaming up with Oliver Hardy to create the most
successful comedy double act in history.
Oliver Norvell Hardy (18 January 1892 - 7 August 1957)
Born in Harlem, Georgia in the Deep South, the young Oliver was gifted
with a beautiful singing voice and at an early age joined a minstrel
troupe. Later in between his law studies, he worked in the small
vaudeville theatres and sang in a male quartet. From here Oliver
progressed to films where he first opened a movie theatre and later
established himself as an actor specialising in playing the bad guy or
'heavy'. During this time, Oliver made an innumerable amount of films
before eventually joining the Roach studios where he was cast generally
against type and allowed to develop the character we all know and love
today.
Chapter 10
"It was a small office on an interior wall and it was lined with paperback editions of English lit classics: The Mill on the Floss, Great Expectations,
case books on English lit classics. "
A Mill on the Floss
George Eliot
First published in 1860, this is a vivid portrayal of childhood and adolescence in rural England.
One of George Eliot's best-loved works, this novel is a perceptive study of provincial life,
a brilliant evocation of the complexities of human relationships, and a compelling
portrait of a young woman whose rebellious spirit closely resembles Eliot's own.
Click here for info on A Mill on the Floss
Great Expectations
Charles Dickens
"Great Expectations" is the story of the growth of "Pip" - Philip Pirirp -
from a social parasite and snob to man
of character and independent thought.
Pip indulges hinmself in three "great expectations".
But each in its turn crashes before him and he is forced into
hard work. Through this hard work he becomes respectable
and finally marries his lifetime love.
Click here for info on Great Expectations
Chapter 14
"Then you think he was, ah, defenestraded?""
From 1575 to 1577 there was a struggle over the Bohemian Con-
fession, from 1608 to 1611 one of the focal points was the question of a
successor to Rudolph II in Prague. In 1618 the Imperial Governors were thrown out
of the window of Prague Castle (defenestration) and the first act of the
Czech revolt against the Habsburgs, the prologue to the Thirty Years
War, began.
For details, see the book: Defenestration of Prague
by Susan Howe or
Click Here
Chapter 15
"Sweet science is what happened to my nose," I said.
The term "Sweet Science" as applied to boxing originated with
journalist A. J. Leibling. Liebling joined the staff of The New Yorker
in 1935 and wrote for the magazine until his death in 1963. Acknowledging
A.J. Liebling's brilliant evocations of life in and around the ring, Red Smith
once remarked in The New York Times: "Nobody wrote about boxing with more grace
and enthusiasm than Joe Liebling." Whether he was at an obscure club fight or a
marquee bout, Liebling never saw his subjects as muscled automata.
His boxers were people, every fight a story, and the stories collected in the Sweet Science form a
classic work of sport that no cigar-chewing sports hack ever tossed on a wire.
In addition, Mr. Leibling was noted as a food critic and essayist.
Thanks to Robert B. Parker for this info.
Leibling's book Sweet Science is now out of print, but
here are a few of his other works which remain available today:
A Neutral Corner
Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris
The Honest Rainmaker : The Life and Times of Colonel John R. Stingo
Chapter 15
More notches on the weapon than John Wesley Harding.
Hardin is the stereotype of the western gun fighter. Throughout his 7
years of gunfighting, he is attributed with at least 41 killings.
Hardin was eventually captured and convicted of 2nd degree murder
for the death Texas Ranger Charlie Webb.
Chapter 16
I could raise one eyebrow like Brian Donlevy, but I didn't very often,
because most people didn't know who Brian Donlevy was or what I was doing with my face.
Brian Donlevy was a stout Irish-born actor who was cast mostly as 'heavies'
in a variety of roles, most notably as Sergeant Markoff in the classic film Beau
Geste.
Chapter 17
"The way she wears her hat," I said. "The way she sips her tea."
They Can't Take That Away from Me
George and Ira Girshwin
The way you wear your hat
The way you sip your tea,
The mem-'ry of all that
No, no! They Can't Take That Away From Me!
They way your smile just beams,
The way you sing off key,
They way you haunt my dreams,
No, no! They Can't Take That Away From Me!
Chapter 17
"Prudery is its own reward," I said and left with my head up.
This is one of those popular sayings that, never was born, only "jist growed."
There are several appearances of it in classical literature however:
Virtue is her own reward. John Dryden: Tyrannic Love, act iii. sc. 1.
Virtue is to herself the best reward. Henry More: Cupid's Conflict
Virtue is its own reward. Matthew Prior: Imitations of Horace, book iii. ode 2. John Gay: Epistle to Methuen Home: Douglas, act iii. sc. 1
Virtue was sufficient of herself for happiness. Diogenes Laertius: Plato, xlii.
Ipsa quidem virtus sibimet pulcherrima merces (Virtue herself is her own fairest reward).--Silius Italicus (25?-99):
Punica, lib. xiii. line 663.
Chapter 17
"Prudery is its own reward," I said and left with my head up.
This is one of those popular sayings that, never was born, only "jist growed."
There are several appearances of it in classical literature however:
Virtue is her own reward. John Dryden: Tyrannic Love, act iii. sc. 1.
Virtue is to herself the best reward. Henry More: Cupid's Conflict
Virtue is its own reward. Matthew Prior: Imitations of Horace, book iii. ode 2. John Gay: Epistle to Methuen Home: Douglas, act iii. sc. 1
Virtue was sufficient of herself for happiness. Diogenes Laertius: Plato, xlii.
Ipsa quidem virtus sibimet pulcherrima merces (Virtue herself is her own fairest reward).--Silius Italicus (25?-99):
Punica, lib. xiii. line 663.
Chapter 19
"We had on the big fat pillow gloves that even if you got nailed wouldn't hurt much, and we were
floating like a couple of butterflies and pretending to sting like a couple of bees."
Muhammad Ali
As a young pro, "The Louisville Lip" and "The
Mouth" became two of Cassius Clay's more well-known nicknames. He was noted for his pre-fight,
rhyming predictions, in which he would inform the world of the round he would knock out his
opponent. But while Clay may have had a big mouth, he also had the ability to back it up. In 1964, before his
title fight with Sonny Liston, Clay said his strategy was to "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,"
a line that was most likely coined by Clay's corner man, Drew "Bundini" Brown. Clay then went
out and captured the heavyweight title when Liston was unable to come out for the seventh round.
In 1965, at the age of twenty-one, Clay converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali.
Chapter 19
"So we reading Othello and we reading Invisible Man..."
See reference to Invisible Man in Chapter 7 references above.
In the first scene of Shakespeare's Othello, Roderigo, Iago, and
Brabantio all emphasize Othello's difference by referring to him only as
"the Moor." The first occurance is in Iago's speech about how Othello denied
him promotion to lieutenant. At the end of the speech, Iago sarcastically
comments that the underserving Cassio got the job, while he has to remain
as "his Moorship's ancient [ensign]" (1.1.33). "His worship," is
a term of respect, so Iago's pun, "Moorship,"
mocks both Othello's race and his character.
Later, when Iago and Roderigo are trying to get Brabantio angry over the elopement of Othello and
Desdemona, Iago shouts out, "I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now
making the beast with two backs" (1.1.115-117). A moment later Roderigo does his part to emphasize the
dangerous sexuality of Othello; he tells Brabantio that his daughter has fled "To the gross clasps of a
lascivious Moor" (1.1.126). Roderigo then goes on to describe Othello as an "extravagant and wheeling
stranger / Of here and every where" (1.1.136-137).
Chapter 21
As I watched, someone stuck a sign out of the sunroof that said 'Brendan Cooney for King.'
A student activist at Oberlin College. Organized such activities as
The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) "Mt. Olive Picke Boycott"
and the Student Labor Action Coalition's (SLAC) sweatshops group.
Chapter 22
"Wine, women and song?" Morgan said.
Who does not love wine, women, and song
Remains a fool his whole life long.
Attributed to Luther, but more probably a saying of J. H. Voss
(1751-1826), according to Redlich, "Die poetischen
Beitrîge zum Waudsbecker Bothen," Hamburg, 1871, p. 67.
King: Classical and Foreign Quotations (1887).
Chapter 23
"Hard is in the eye of the beholder, I guess," I said...
Beauty is altogether in the eye of the beholder.
Attributed to General Lew Wallace.
Successful as lawyer, soldier, diplomat, and author;
served in the War with Mexico; Major General during
the Civil War; served in the Indiana State senate, as
territorial Governor of New Mexico and Minister to
Turkey; authored the classic novel Ben Hur: A Story of the Christ.
Chapter 25
"Damn," I said, "I thought maybe you had told her what a Roscoe I was in bed."
Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
Famed obese comic actor in silent film comedies.
His comedic talent flourished in spite of“ rather than because
of“ his size, and he soon formed his own production company, hiring Buster
Keaton to star in his first film, The Butcher Boy (1917). His acting career was
abruptly ended when he was arrested on manslaughter charges in 1921. Although
acquitted after three trials, the national press -
led by William Randolph Hearst's San Francisco Examiner - had a field day. One must
remember that yellow journalism was common in this era.
Banner headlines, proclaiming lurid innuendoes about Arbuckle's private life, filled
newspaper dailies throughout the nation for weeks. The term "Roscoe" became common slang for
someone who was a womanizer.
Not applicable, but still interesting was the following reference that I discovered:
Roscoe: (ros'kO), [key] “n. Older Slang. a revolver or pistol.
Chapter 28
On his desk next to a couple of books bt R. W. B. Lewis was a book titled
'Death in the Landscape: The American Pastoral Vision' by David T. Harmon.
R. W. B. Lewis:
Professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Author of Edith Wharton, which won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book
Critics Circle Award for Biography, and of The Jameses: A Family Narrative.
No reference yet located for 'Death in the Landscape:
The American Pastoral Vision' by David T. Harmon.
Chapter 29
"Gayer than laughter," Farrell said.
Musical: South Pacific
Song: Younger than Springtime
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
"Gayer than laughter, younger than springtime."
Click Here to hear this song in Real Audio
Chapter 33
"I've been everywhere before," I said in perfect imitation of Humphrey Bogart.
Actually, I believe the quote is,
"I've no regrets. I've been everywhere and done everything. I've eaten caviar at Cannes, sausage rolls at the
dogs. I've played baccarat at Biarritz and darts with the rural dean."
Margaret Lockwood as Iris Henderson in Hitchcock's 'The Lady Vanishes' (1938)
Click Here for the VHS Tape
Click Here for the DVD
Chapter 33
"I've been everywhere before," I said in perfect imitation of Humphrey Bogart.
Actually, I believe the quote is,
"I've no regrets. I've been everywhere and done everything. I've eaten caviar at Cannes, sausage rolls at the
dogs. I've played baccarat at Biarritz and darts with the rural dean."
Margaret Lockwood as Iris Henderson in Hitchcock's 'The Lady Vanishes' (1938)
Click Here for the VHS Tape
Click Here for the DVD
Chapter 36
"My strength is as the strength of ten..."
Sir Galahad
by Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson
My good blade carves the casques of men,
My tough lance thrusteth sure,
My strength is as the strength of ten,
Because my heart is pure.
Chapter 41
Walt looked at me as if I'd just leapt a tall building in a single bound.
Radio made Superman a household word.
The show called The Adventures of Superman was ostensibly
intended for young listeners, but it was
catchy opening became familiar to almost everyone.
"Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to
leap tall buildings in a single bound! Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's
Superman!" That litany, delivered with dramatic urgency by narrator Jackson Beck and a
supporting cast, backed up with the sound effects of a gunshot, a steam engine and a
whistling wind, is familiar today even though the radio show has not been broadcast
since 1951.
Chapter 41
"I hate your Uncle Remus impression," I said.
Uncle Remus was a character in several books by Joel Chandler Harris
(1848-1908) As an apprentice to the
editor of the Countryman, a newspaper published on a Southern plantation,
Harris gained firsthand knowledge of black slaves and their folklore. His stories
and sketches of the South were originally published in the Atlanta Constitution,
with which he was associated from 1876 to 1900. Harris's first collection, Uncle
Remus: His Songs and His Sayings (1881), brought him immediate fame.
Featuring as their narrator a lovable, shrewd former slave, the Uncle Remus
authentic life, character, and dialect of Southern blacks. The demand for his
stories and sketches was so great that Harris followed with nine more books in a
similar vein, including The Tar Baby (1904) and Uncle Remus and Br'er Rabbit.
Chapter 43
"My guess is that Bass is not Lionel Trilling."
Lionel Trilling (1905Ç75) was an American critic, author, and teacher.
b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1925; M.A., 1926; PhD., 1938).
He began teaching literature at Columbia in 1932 and became a full professor
in 1948. His essays“collected as The Liberal Imagination (1950),
The Opposing Self (1955, repr. 1979), A Gathering of Fugitives (1956),
and Beyond Culture (1979)“combine social, psychological, and political
insights with literary criticism and scholarship. Other works include
a novel entitled Middle of the Journey (1947); Matthew Arnold (1939),
a pioneering use of Freudian psychology in analyzing a public figure and
his work; E. M. Forster (1943); The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud (1962);
and Sincerity and Authenticity (1972). On the subject of plagiarism, he once said,
"Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal."
Chapter 45
"I refute it thus," I said.
She came out of her abstraction trance long enogh to look puzzled.
"Is that a quote?" she said.
"I couldn't stand her anymore. I stood.
"Samuel Johnson," I said. "Look it up."
Samuel Johnson
1696Ç1772
The first president of an Anglican institution, King's College (now Columbia), in New York City.
The quote above references an anecdote often attributed to Samuel Johnson when he
was asked how he would refute Bishop Berkeley's statement that
the world was an illusion.
After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop
Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the nonexistence of matter, and that every thing in the
universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is
impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking
his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it -- "I refute it thus."
Boswell: Life
Chapter 45
I felt like I had wandered into a remake of 'Stella Dallas.'
Soap opera like film from 1925,
adapted from from the Olive Higgins Prouty novel of a
woman who sacrifices everything for her daughter.
It features Barbara Stanwick in what many claim
to have been the finest performance of her career.
Chapter 48
"So, Hawkeye," he said. "What'd you see?""
Leather Stocking Tales
James Fenimore Cooper
Romantic and epic adventure stories about Hawkeye (Natty Bumppo) and
Chingachgook, his Mohegan friend and companion. The series is comprosed of
The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, and The
Deerslayer.
Chapter 50
"But I think that there's something lurking behind the arras."
"A rat, maybe?"
"Or Polonius," Susan said.
William Shakespeare
Hamlet
Act III, scene IV
Polonius is accidentally stabbed by Hamlet while he is
hiding behind the arras (tapestry/wall hanging)
in Gertrude's room.
Chapter 50
"you must prepare for the enemy's capability, rather than his intentions."
von Clausewitz
The Prussian military thinker Carl von Clausewitz is widely acknowledged as the most
important of the major strategic theorists. Even though he's been dead for over a
century-and-a-half, he remains the most frequently cited, the most controversial, and in
many respects the most modern. The above reference is the essential theme of his tratise 'On War."
Chapter 51
"Be like J. Edgar Hoover running around in a dress."
In an article published in the May 22, 1998, issue of the New York Times, author
Michael Kimmerman describes the late director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover,
as a 'cross-dresser' as if that were a known fact, by writing, 'We smile at the delicious
publicity photographs of J. Edgar Hoover, top G-Man, and now we know, cross-dresser.'"
John G. Devine of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, Inc., took issue with
the patently erroneous and gratuitous statement in a letter to the New York Times
publisher, Arthur Schultzberger, Jr., when he wrote, 'On what basis does Mr.
Kimmerman offer proof that there's one scintilla of evidence to support his irresponsible
remark?' " "Devine points out that the source of the wild and widely-spread malice about J. Edgar
Hoover stems from a single and disreputable quote by Susan Rosenspiel, a
convicted perjurer, in a 1993 book. In his reply to Devine's letter, the New York Times'
assistant managing editor, Allan Siegel, acknowledges 'that we were wrong. Checking the
facts took a bit longer that I might have liked, but I'm pleased that we are able to correct
the record.' 'On June 25, 1998, in an editor's note on page two of the newspaper, it reported that
assertions that Hoover was a cross-dresser come from a single, uncorroborated source
quoted in a 1993 book and should not have been presented as fact.'
Chapter 51
"Be like J. Edgar Hoover running around in a dress."
In an article published in the May 22, 1998, issue of the New York Times, author
Michael Kimmerman describes the late director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover,
as a 'cross-dresser' as if that were a known fact, by writing, 'We smile at the delicious
publicity photographs of J. Edgar Hoover, top G-Man, and now we know, cross-dresser.'"
John G. Devine of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, Inc., took issue with
the patently erroneous and gratuitous statement in a letter to the New York Times
publisher, Arthur Schultzberger, Jr., when he wrote, 'On what basis does Mr.
Kimmerman offer proof that there's one scintilla of evidence to support his irresponsible
remark?' " "Devine points out that the source of the wild and widely-spread malice about J. Edgar
Hoover stems from a single and disreputable quote by Susan Rosenspiel, a
convicted perjurer, in a 1993 book. In his reply to Devine's letter, the New York Times'
assistant managing editor, Allan Siegel, acknowledges 'that we were wrong. Checking the
facts took a bit longer that I might have liked, but I'm pleased that we are able to correct
the record.' 'On June 25, 1998, in an editor's note on page two of the newspaper, it reported that
assertions that Hoover was a cross-dresser come from a single, uncorroborated source
quoted in a 1993 book and should not have been presented as fact.'
Chapter 52
"If this be treason," he said slowly, "let us make the most of it."
May 29, 1765 - In May, in Virginia, Patrick Henry presents seven
Virginia Resolutions to the House of Burgesses claiming that only the
Virginia assembly can legally tax Virginia residents, saying,
"If this be treason, make the most of it." Also in May, the first
medical school in America is founded, in Philadelphia.
Chapter 52
"If this be treason," he said slowly, "let us make the most of it."
May 29, 1765 - In May, in Virginia, Patrick Henry presents seven
Virginia Resolutions to the House of Burgesses claiming that only the
Virginia assembly can legally tax Virginia residents, saying,
"If this be treason, make the most of it." Also in May, the first
medical school in America is founded, in Philadelphia.
Chapter 53
"Ah ha indeed, my good man," Hawk said, "The game's afoot."
The Adventure of the Abbey Grange
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot.
Not a word! Into your clothes and come!
Chapter 53
We could have kicked the door in while singing Verdi's "Othello"...
Long-lived Guiseppi Verdi (I813-1901), helped to change the face of 19th century opera
by rejoicing in melodramatic situations and expressing the emotions arising out of
them in easyflowing melody and passages of laryngeal athletics. Then with Aida I87I),
written for Cairo, he turns to a more genuinely dramatic treatment with a great emphasis
on the element of spectacle, and with Othello (1887) he rises to true greatness of scope
and vision, expressing a noble drama in appropriate music, and adopting some of
the technical resources of his contemporary Wagner.
Chapter 54
It came all at once. Gestalt. The whole thing.
The term Gestalt was coined by the philosopher
Christian von Ehrenfels in 1890, to denote experiences that require more than the
basic sensory capacities to comprehend.
Chapter 55
"Knowledge is power," I said.
Francis Bacon
1561-1626
Knowledge is power.--Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est.
In addition:
A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.--Proverbs xxiv. 5
Knowledge is more than equivalent to force.--Samuel Johnson: Rasselas, chap. xiii
Chapter 56
"My God," said the little guy with the big glasses, "he sounds like on of nature's noblemen. And we're denying him tenure?"
George A. McCall
Letters from the Frontiers
1826
"Tuko-see-mathla is one of nature's noblemen. He is nearly six feet two inches in height; finely formed; his figure combining
strength with gracefulness; or, I might say, perfect ease in all his attitudes and gestures. The expression of his fine open
countenance is habitually mild; but as he grows earnest in conversation, you see arise within him that glow of fervid feeling
warming into the determined energy which characterizes the man."
Spenser's Libations
Spenser's Libations and Sustenance
CH 2: Office: Hawk makes Coffee
CH 15: Office: Coffee
CH 16: Susan's: Beer (Blue Moon?)
CH 19: Henry's Office: New Amsterdam Black and Tan (Electrolytes)
CH 18: Office: Coffee and donuts
CH 20: Brunch with Susan at her home: Huevos rancheros with mild green chilis with linguica sausage
CH 25: Saugus Dunkin Donuts: Coffee and donuts.
CH 29: Limerick with Lee Farrell: Beer
CH 31: Fleet Center with Hawk: raught beer
CH 32: Home: Sam Adams White Ale and a sandwich
CH 32: Home: Ham sandwich on light rye with dark mustard
CH 33: Casablanca with Lillian: Draught beer
CH 36: Susan's: A scotch and soda
CH 36: Coffee and a couple of donuts
CH 37: Office (with Hawk and Bobby Nevins): Coffee and corn bread
CH 38: Home: Scotch and soda
CH 38: Home Alone :Black beans, garlic, sherry, and cilantro with linguine
CH 39: Office: Coffee
CH 41: Gay bar with Walt: Draught Brooklyn Lager
CH 43: College Faculty Cafeteria with Robinson: Half decaf, half caf coffee
CH 46: Office with Susan: Coffee and Key Lime cookies
CH 47: Legal Seafood with KC: Lobster salad
CH 50: Sanibel Steak House (with Susan): Steak, Martinis, Red Wine
CH 51: Henry's Office: Beer - More electrolytes (Probably New Amsterdam Black and Tan)
CH 53: Ritz cafe with Susan: Beer
CH 55: Office (with pearl): Donuts
CH 57: Office with Susan: Egg salad on light rye, coffee, key lime cookies.
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