ABC News Worthily Names Kirk Douglas Person Of Week

  ABC NEWS concluded the workweek on a happy note citing the Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas for contributing to Helping to Break Blacklist in 1960, by starring as Spartacus. A role all these years later, he’s now most proud of. Douglas, 95, though shaky from surviving a stroke, was more than eager to reveal a story he waited decades to tell when news anchor David Muir visited his home to film the interview. Mr. Muir’s narration described 1950s Hollywood as consumed by the communist blacklist. Writers, producers and actors were called before Congress amid rational and irrational fear of Communists. Mentioning names was enough to end a career and in some cases it can be construed that the commie label was manipulated to stifle competition from noncommunists who were union members.

  Douglas told ABC News, “It was the worst time in Hollywood. Everybody told me I was crazy.” Because as a producer of “Spartacus” Douglas put his own career on the line hiring a writer on the blacklist. Dalton Trumbo, author of the novel, Johnny Got His Gun.

  Trumbo had been hiding in Hollywood under an assumed name and ABC’s report showed Trumbo’s wife, Cleo, remembering the warnings. Saying people told Douglas, “If you do it you’ll never work in this town again. You will be declared a Communist.” But Douglas hired Dalton Trumbo anyway, and “Spartacus” became the top movie even President Kennedy went to see. The movie was box-office and so instrumental in breaking the blacklist. 

  Dalton Trumbo

  And today ABC made their own small contribution.

6/29/2012

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ABC News Worthily Names Kirk Douglas Person of Week

6/29/2012 concluded: Trumbo had been hiding in Hollywood under an assumed name and ABC’s report showed Trumbo’s wife, Cleo, remembering the warnings. Saying people told Douglas, “If you do it you’ll never work in this town again. You will be declared a Communist.” But Douglas hired Dalton Trumbo anyway, and “Spartacus” became the top movie even President Kennedy went to see. The movie was box-office and so instrumental in breaking the blacklist.

Dalton Trumbo

And today ABC made their own small contribution.

Person Of The Week, ABC, June 29, 2012

February 10 - March 21, 2017

Maybe It's Not Me Carried Away By The Subject Matter

  Wow. Let Dalton Trumbo and Roy Cohn rest can be said. The twists and turns of their eras vs. now, don't curve how they did for them and, only seem just as twisted?

  This book, pictured left, Dalton Trumbo's 1939 parody of war's results is what he should be more known for than is. ...

War's tragic reality laid bare. The purposeful mayhem shattered by its' logic's futility. No matter how heroic our patriotisms are, when life's sacrificed, some unfairly 

corrupt things are, at the core, involved after all. That should be dealt with, rather than sacrificing futures for ruthless wisdom's glory. 

"And that's the way it," mostly, "is."

Walter Conkrite

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Meandered Avenues

  The articles, linked under this paragraph, describe the contention Kirk Douglas assumed a, not completely accurate, mantle of glorification for standing up to the 1950's Communist Blacklist. But bottom line. It was in popular commercial culture that Mr. Douglas stood up to the ostracization. Of course Otto Preminger's Exodus, released the same year, included Mr. Trumbo's name. But Kirk Douglas was a star and the business is stars. Imagine how so much life's shaped by shading truth. Darn right, Kirk Douglas should have been the star of breaking that corrupt blacklist.

  But, I suggest seeing the following articles for fuller explanations. The tag Paul Harvey coined "The Rest Of The Story." 

The Atlantic - July 5, 2012

How Kirk Douglas Overstated His Role in Breaking the Hollywood Blacklist 

by John Meroney and Sean Coons 

Deadline Hollywood - November 19, 2015

Kirk Douglas On ‘Trumbo’: “I Was Threatened That Using A Blacklisted Writer Would End My Career” 

by Pete Hammond

Los Angeles Times - November 5, 2015

Trumbo sisters took part in telling the story 
of their Communist Party member father 

by Susan King 

Howard Fast broke the blacklist, marketing himself. branded 

LA Times Dalton Trumbo

John Wayne Speaks For Himself

Amazon sold novel out?

              capitalist socialist?                 "distract people all the time"

Los Angeles Times July 1, 1989

Death of I.F. Stone, 'Conscience of Investigative Journalism'

by Frank Wilkinson

Izzy's credit for launching successful campaign to abolish the old House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).

  Based on a little noticed U.S. Supreme Court decision (Watkins vs. U.S.) at that time, where Chief Justice Earl Warren pointedly asked, "Who can define the meaning of Un-American activities?", the Weekly devoted an issue on the HUAC question and Izzy was on the phone to friends all over the nation, including the writer, insisting that not another day be lost. -

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Everyone pays a price for naiveté and some more than others.

  To heroically walk on others is grandstanding. Therefore not the best legacy despite engaging mandates support. Pragmatic calls for distasteful compromise. While pragmatism yearns distaste's end. ...

  Anyway, so. There it is. What can be said, can be dismissed. Understood, confused. Rehearsed, manipulated. Coerced, finagled. Power is leverage is power, period. What's meant by life not being fair. Reality's reality. Facts are hard. Responsibility, the dogged one. 

Finished 2nd reading of The Autobiography of Roy Cohn. 
A likable pugnacious portrait written by Sidney Zion.

And multilayered American Pie - 

the novel's time @ 39 East 68

2016

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Alexander Hamilton's Grave

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  Sense life's dancing on graves. The compelling narrative. This led to that. Then. Esoteric? 

  Even nuance misses. Though the clarity of assessment's disputable in this video, left. (And this essay, I presume.) Some fairly reasonable perspective is explained. The You Tube page's comments cover reactions to this Patrick Wanis 2016 film, George Orwell's 1984 Predicted Donald Trump & Alternative Facts.

  Speculation's everyone's wrong more than anyone's right. Theories soar toward evaporation. Whipping past at phenomenal speed. If head over heels concern for "enemies of the people" is recited by a claimant not to read? Who could hardly be expected to have, at least, listened, really, when a teacher happened to review Ibsen within earshot. Signaling nothing more than the exploitation of the nation's, and world's, sycophantic drift. Meaning demolishing intellectuals is no intellectual affair. Power and leverage can't stop to think. Just expound, pound and compound. 

  When jargon's the complete sentences. Dialogue's gagged as if hammered. Theoretically, then, it's contend-able, the present Stalinesque-ian environment's so caked in celebrity, charade's the crux of not facing shame. 

  So, in our presently embellished politically cultural context, why not address the projected increase, in military spending, as reminiscent of Ronald Reagan's patriotically enshrined standing down of an already disabled, crumbling Soviet Empire? As an ideal? State capitalism wasn't a real political threat anymore. And both's bloated exploitations of patriotism were so much smoke, mirrored sycophantism became marks of sophistication. Trending: 

  Now, entering Spring 2017, as announced earlier, our president, who's spoken against telegraphing intentions to enemies, exhibited no problem alerting the Military Industrial Complex to increased spending's "come again." ... "Great again." 

  Which brings to mind my poor student's belief, at the time, that President Reagan could have lied and spent the money elsewhere. Guaranteed the Soviet's Military Industrial Complex couldn't stop any more than ours.  ... But there's more to patriotism than exploiting loyalty's central theme. Except awareness trends, and momentum's carried away. Just as cents on the dollar grinds wealth, wilting fortune away. We're our own worst ruthless enemies holds true every which-a-way.

Smug's the word of disgust for today. 

  Calling the same, change, is the kicker. So, by all means, resume. Re-invigorate the cultural war. The custom whereby everyone's nearly enough enemies to be under suspicion. After all, short term? Presidents are excused. But all ruthlessness, as pragmatic as it might be, is just the same shallow jargon. Man. Independence. Kafka just glimpsed the tip of the corporation/government, conspiracy of individuals, bureaucratic nightmare.     

  Yes things are portrayed as being handled in a somewhat open manner. Holding forth in constant, entertainment, promotion mode that deflects any skeptical response to the vast injustices of the ruthless Criminal Enterprise System. Better system? Sir, your serotonin's out of your mind. 

  Painful, what's panned out. An authoritarian outlook on eliminating chemical use. Using misshapenly defined cultural war as substitute for dialogue in political exchange. For good or bad a reality. The grand diatribe of jargon people are trapped by. Strapped into intolerant political views and told its moral. Balderdash. Fostering festering crime's the business. Eliminating an aspect of life you disrespect is not jurisprudence but the law for the state at the detriment to the population. End the Criminal Enterprise System. 

  The Soapbox View was started with the hope that any political persuasion could read and think for themselves. Satire sliced Slant. However, on the big screen, arrogant vitriol's trending. 

  So noticing what the polishers of public imagery suggest, the State of the Union address talked about issues. What's obvious is everything's, as usual, just mentioned. Just more polish. The peanut gallery chose the response - "Ooo-ooo."

Jingoism's out of its shell. 

For racism deniers.

When the true face of ruthlessness rules with impunity. 

  This is a timely, relevant overview of Russian/American cultural history in -

The New York Times

Angels and Demons in the Cold War and Today 

Stephen Boykewich

Nobel Prizes For Everybody

Kirk Douglas

Each day, without having an inclination toward what I'll write, starting is easy. Click New Post for a blank page. Then NY Times so their top stories appear. Libya Attack Gains Steam as Issue in Race for President. So, since what I previously wrote suffices until my first Wednesday in November criticism of the Presidential Race winner, I move on through as many sources of journalism as necessary. The most difficult part is generally what to write about. A few times I've had to find a different topic, and the latest I've ever made the choice is 7:00 PM, when desperate, the conclusion of ABC's World News with Diane Sawyer, substitute hosted by David Muir, honored Kirk Douglas.

Mo Yan

Then, today, passing over the debate and region won Nobel Prize, I read this New York Times headline New Chinese Nobel Laureate Calls for Fellow Nobel Winner's Freedom. So if  Mo Yan, the new Nobel laureate for literature, who has strenuously avoided antagonizing the Communist Party during much of his career, stepped into a political minefield on Friday by calling for the release of Lu Xiabo, the imprisoned writer and fellow Nobel winner who is serving an 11-year sentence for subversion. How can I turn my back on this tale of a winner supporting the underdog? 

During a news conference the day after he won, not far from his family’s rural Shandong Province home where he set many of his epic novels, Mr. Mo, 57, told reporters, “I hope he can achieve his freedom as soon as possible,” according to The Times, calling his remarks spare and decidedly non-confrontational. 

Perhaps he was covering himself, humbly reminding the authorities to not be so trigger happy toward him. The Times implies he - suggest(ed) he was not an admirer of Mr. Liu’s pro-democracy essays that are likely to infuriate China's leadership, which has been exulting in the Swedish Academy’s decision to give a citizen of China its first Nobel in literature.

Liu Xiaobo's Nobel on empty chair, Oslo, December 10, 2010.

The Times states point blank - Beijing considers Mr. Liu a criminal, and his 2010 Nobel Peace Prize has long been seen as an effort to meddle in China’s internal affairs.

How offensive it must be regarded as perched behind curtains where its' unnecessary to face uncomfortable questions that the population can't when faced down by their mighty authoritarian government?

Red Sorghum, Japanese Edition

The Times prints then that - Despite the throng of Chinese reporters attending the news conference, Mr. Mo’s comments did not appear in the state-run media. But quickly spread via Twitter, electrifying Chinese literati, many of whom had been critical of his close relationship to the Communist Party, especially Mr. Mo’s role as vice chairman of the government-run Chinese Writers’ Association. 

Yesterday The Huffington Post was complimentary of Mo Yan's literature prize while citing critics criticism for his acceptance of totalitarianism. 

So today's defense of Lu Xiabo could be plain, old-fashioned, calculated, audience-expanding  commercialism? Except his work is exceptional literature according to the Nobel Prize committee. 
Red Sorghum, The Republic of Wine, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out.

Ai Weiwei
Artsy's Ai Weiwei page

Ai Weiwei, the dissident artist who was critical for Mr. Mo's cooperating and refusal to stand up for persecuted writers, said he was heartened by the remarks. In an interview Murong Xuecun, a prominent writer and frequent jouster with censors, mused Mr. Mo felt inoculated by his newly acquired Nobel mantle. “Maybe all the glory has made him more courageous and more outspoken.” 

Murong Xuecun

Then The Times speculates - It is unlikely Mr. Mo’s comments will derail his celebrity status, at least in the eyes of the government. Thursday, propaganda czar, Li Changchun issued a congratulatory letter heralding the prize as a sign China’s cultural influence was finally catching up to its size and economic heft. “Thus Chinese writers can contribute more to the prosperity and development of Chinese culture, as well as the progress of human civilization,” according to the official Xinhua News Agency. And The Times prints - On Friday, Mr. Mo’s face was splashed across the front pages of most Chinese newspapers. By morning, bookstores throughout the capital had already set up special display sections for his works. By the evening, many stores, as well as online commerce sites like Amazon, were already out of stock.

Li Changchun

The Party owned tabloid, Global Times described Mr. Mo as a “mainstream” writer suggesting the West doesn’t just embrace individuals against the Chinese system,” making the point the system is mainstream. 

Political Institutions defining culture is where I walk away.  

And The Times wraps up. - Eric Abrahamsen, a literary translator and publishing consultant in Beijing, noted that many of Mr. Mo's richly detailed stories are subversive in their depiction of Chinese officialdom, even if couched in the outlandish magical realism that has become his trademark style. “He doesn’t keep bashing himself against the wall by writing about forbidden topics but most of what he has written is critical of party politics. His work is essentially a chronicle of how the Communist Party has messed up China.” 

Conspiracies of individuals within organizations messed up China as all over the world. 

Ran Yunfei

And Ran Yunfei, a writer persecuted for pro-democracy, in a Friday microblog post, said he was glad Mr. Mo had stood up for Mr. Liu, but hoped that Mr. Mo would wield his Nobel armor to stand up for those who have dared to speak truth to power. “He has become very skilled at walking on a tightrope. Now that he has become a household name with the government’s backing, it’s only going to become harder for him to be a real critic of the government.” 

Imagining how hard it is to be critical, really, everyone deserves the Nobel Prize in China. 

While still, here in my home country, I'm not so excited American public opinion seems similar to a ping pong ball slapped back and forth between the same two paddles with the same indifferent spins that keep people wondering who'll win this round of The Politicians' Game.