Consortium of Seven: Year 4

In  Part One and  Part Two of this short series on Marie and Hilaire Belloc, sister and brother and both writers -- we've looked at Marie's works and the various adaptations of The Lodger and The Story of Ivy . Now we turn to Hilaire's life and work.  When researching people who lived in the late 19th century or early 20th century, I've discovered that the images of people are often odd. There was little candid photography then. Pictures were taken at historic events or as formal portraits, using cumbersome technology and long exposures and the glare of flash powder in an open pan.  But having said that, I still feel that in their portraits the Bellocs both look a bit like members of The Addams Family --  Hilaire in particular. He had a distinctly Lurch-like look in his younger days. Hilaire looks more human in this next photo, taken twelve years later. But which human?  This portrait looks like a cross between Anthony Hopkins and Simon Cowell. What did Hilaire Belloc

Because I'm focused on Kay Kemble: The Lady With the Gold Baton ,  I am side-stepping generational fights about "cursive," which we used to call "handwriting" when I was in school.   Like many young women of her era, Kay went to teachers' college -- at that time women could work professionally  as teachers or nurses -- and penmanship was an important part of the curriculum.    This short 1963 movie, "Your Handwriting Is Important," is the kind of instructional film I watched in my Hoosier classrooms.     In the 1940s, the art of calligraphy, especially using a quill, was dying out, apparently, and this British Pathe film features an expert who was reviving the art. Interesting to see the ways the pointy end of the quill was trimmed and sharpened.  Apparently Europe is the place to learn how to write with modern (or modern-ish) implements, if you think the ability to write by hand is of any value in these tech-filled times!    

We wasted time last week by digging around in Top Adult Songs , Joel Whitburn’s compiling of the Billboard chart now called Adult Contemporary, looking at that chart’s top five acts and top five records during both the 1960s and 1970s. In the spirit of never letting a good idea go to waste, we’re going to do the same thing this morning for the Top 40, as listed in Whitburn’s Top Pop Singles .  The top five acts of the Sixties were:  The Beatles Elvis Presley Ray Charles Brenda Lee The Supremes  Not really any surprises there. Well, maybe Brenda Lee. Before I looked at the list in Top Pop Singles , hers is not a name that would have come to mind. But Lee’s individual entry tells the tale: During the Sixties, she had fifty-seven records either in the Hot 100 or bubbling under, with eleven of them – all between 1960 and 1962 – reaching the Top Ten. Her biggest hit, of course, is “I’m Sorry,” which spent three weeks at No. 1 in 1960.  Whitburn uses a point system to rank the d

sun·dry /ˈsəndrē/ noun plural noun :  sundries various items not important enough to be mentioned individually. "a drugstore selling magazines, newspapers, and sundries" More photos from New Hampshire and Boston. That air!  UFO incident from 1961 Cute cabins near the sight of the UFO abduction.  Up the street from our Airbnb You can’t blame the aliens gor wanting to check out New Hampshire.  Cute house with bike  Sallie and Janko’s cat Alto Guthrie’s hat hung at the Wang theater

sun·dry /ˈsəndrē/ noun plural noun :  sundries various items not important enough to be mentioned individually. "a drugstore selling magazines, newspapers, and sundries" More photos from New Hampshire and Boston. That air!  UFO incident from 1961 Cute cabins near the sight of the UFO abduction.  Up the street from our Airbnb You can’t blame the aliens gor wanting to check out New Hampshire.  Cute house with bike  Sallie and Janko’s cat Alto Guthrie’s hat hung at the Wang theater

A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. (Wikipedia) Recently I watched a lengthy documentary about the life of Frida Kahlo. I’m not a fan of Frida, but I try to be attentive to all arty things whether I like them or not. It always gives up something interesting & you can always learn something.  In all honesty, I knew about her husband Diego Rivera long before I knew about her. I arrived at Frida because of Diego. But in the case of this documentary, it was the other way round. Diego was twenty years older than Frida & much is made of the difficult nature of their relationship; its complications, affairs & yearnings are not things I could cope with in everyday life. The drama of Frida’s misfortunes, illnesses & injuries is offered up as subject matter, with very little left to the imagination at times. That aspect of her

      Here in the States, a great many of us are looking at a holiday weekend, with Memorial Day extending the time off by a day. Hypothetically, more time for whatever one wants to do, within one's budget of money and energy. Ideally a mix of activities, some indoor, some out, but hopefully with few to no workplace obligations until Tuesday, there may be more time to find something to watch.        Today sees the series finale for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime, something I expect to get to before the day's out. This final season's incorporated a variety of flash-forwards, allowing us to see where key characters land decades later than the series' primary focus of the end of the '50s and early '60s. I'll be sad to see them go, but am more interested in seeing how the details work out for them than I am in artificially putting off the goodbyes.       This Sunday will see the series finale for Bill Hader's HBO series Barry . Whil