The Note

T h e  N o t e 

Lacking a coherent idea for this The Note, I'm left to random snippets. 

Nicholas Sparks and Me

I'm pretty sure I've told you this story, but, if I have, it's been 30 issues ago or so...

A few years ago I was browsing in a large bookstore in Washington, very near the White House. Two women, in conversation, were browsing in my immediate area. Something about their demeanor and speech patterns suggested they were academics. Suddenly, one of them stopped talking, pointed at me, and practically shouted, "This man should be dragged out in the street and shot!"  I was fully startled. Then I realized that the woman's right hand was not pointing quite at me, but at something behind me. I turned and saw a large pyramid of hardcover copies of a book by Nicholas Sparks.  I think it was The Notebook. To this day, I believe these women were prepared to destroy Nicholas Sparks.

next

Nicholas Sparks; me (not pictured)

Adjacent Urinals and Third Party Candidates

Perhaps you've heard it said by people in the southeastern quarter of the USA that get to heaven (or hell) you have to endure a layover in Atlanta. I've spent a good bit of time in that airport and I went through this string of layovers there when I always saw some famous person. I saw Mickey Spillane reading a newspaper on the train. Saw Dave Brubeck in a wheelchair, being navigated to his concourse by assistants. I saw Geena Davis in sunglasses, unsuccessfully trying to avoid recognition. I spotted Run DMC one time and Vanilla Ice another. I walked into the men's room one time and stepped up to a urinal. The man standing at the urinal to my left seemed familiar in my peripheral vision. In violation of urinal etiquette, I turned and looked at him. Ross Perot.  

Ross Perot (L) and Run DMC (R)

What Do You Do When You're Branded?

I've been watching some episodes of the 1965-1966 TV Western series, "Branded." It's the story of Jason McCord, a Civil War officer who is the lone white survivor of the Battle Of Bitter Creek, massacre of troops by the Comanches or Apaches, but really they were just generic movie Injuns. The army concludes, falsely, that McCord’s survival was due to cowardice, and after a court-martial, he is stripped of his rank and forced to leave the army. Now, I was 9 and 10 years old when it ran and I've not seen a rerun in 45 years. I vividly remember, though, the opening title sequence. McCord stonily endures a ritual of having the buttons yanked from his uniform, his sabre snapped in half, and then cast out of the fort, the gate closing behind him. (He subsequently carries the bottom half of the sabre as he wanders The West, which is pretty cool.)  

Anyway, the opening sequence is completely arresting to watch. But, I couldn't remember a single thing from any of the episodes, except this opening sequence. Now, I'm watching some of the episodes and the quality is pretty uneven. Connors is pretty good. There's an array of pretty impressive guest stars, including June Lockhart, with no collies or spaceships anywhere near. But, the scripts are intermittently lame and all the wicked Comanches are played by Italians and Jews. Most of them look vaguely like Joey Bishop. Anyway, it didn't do well in the ratings. The Ed Sullivan Show was opposite it one network and "The FBI" on the other. It's a good thing Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. had the FBI series because, had he not, he might have ended up playing an Apache on "Branded."

Joey Bishop

Ok. Obviously I've got nothing.

Enjoy the issue and thanks to all contributors, all submitters, and my co-editors and the RHP readers

Dale