To Absent Friends - Lacey, Trixie, and Melanie

It's a crowded Departure Lounge this month, so let's catch up on three Absent Friends, listed in the order in which they left us.

Cindy Morgan

Cindy Morgan

1951-2024

The name Cindy Morgan may not ring a bell to you, but if you are an avid, or even a not so avid golfer, I am betting that the name "Lacey Underall" does.  In her acting debut, the then 29 year old Morgan played the character of Lacey, Judge Smails' (Ted Knight) not-so-innocent niece in the classic movie comedy, "Caddyshack" (1980).

A native of the Chicago area, Morgan started out as a television weather person and disco jockey in Rockford, IL.  She moved to the west coast in the late 1970's and got a job as the "Irish Spring Girl" in television commercials.  As I said, "Caddyshack" was her first feature film role.  There are not a whole lot of acting credits listed for her in IMDB, but she did appear in a sci-fi movie "Tron" (1982), and of course, there was also an appearance on "Love Boat."

Cindy Morgan will never be confused with Meryl Streep, but there is a lot to be said for achieving some degree of immortality by being in a Cult Classic comedy movie.  Please enjoy this clip of MORGAN AND CHEVY CHASE FROM "CADDYSHACK".

Joyce Randolph

Joyce Randolph

1924-2024

There are not a lot of acting credits in IMDB for Joyce Randolph, who left us this month at the age of 99, but talk about immortality!  Randolph was the last surviving cast member of one of television's most iconic sitcoms, "The Honeymooners".

Randolph appeared as Trixie Norton the wife of Ed Norton, and the Nortons were, of course, the best friends of Alice and Ralph Kramden.  "The Honeymooners" ran as a sketch piece on various iterations of Jackie Gleason's variety shows throughout the 1950's with the cast of Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows, and Randolph.  In the middle of that time frame, "The Honeymooners" was a stand alone thirty minute sitcom that ran of only one season, thirty-nine episodes in all, "The Classic Thirty-Nine" as they have come to be known. I own a DVD set of the Classic Thirty-Nine, and while Ralph's misogynistic tendencies (even though Alice ALWAYS had the last word) might not play so well here in the 2020's, no one can deny that they aren't really, really funny.

One interesting factoid that I picked up while researching Ms. Randolph was that in 1950, her pre-Honeymooners days, she appeared in Louisville, KY in a stage production of "No, No Nanette" with, among others, Audrey Meadows.

Gleason, Carney, Meadows, Randolph

"The Honeymooners"

Melanie Safka

Melanie

1947-2024

Melanie Safka was a singer-songwriter, who was quite popular in the early 1970's, and she was well known for singing at Woodstock in 1969.  She appeared and recorded under the name of Melanie.  She was popular at the time, and I owned one or two Melanie albums during my college days.  When news of her death at age 76 arrived yesterday, I was amazed to see that she never really went away and that at the time of her death, she was in the process of recording what would have been her thirty-second album.

Her most known songs were "Lay Down" and "Brand New Key", but I will leave you with this live version of her "LOOK WHAT THEY'VE DONE TO MY SONG."  After listening to this yesterday, memories of her clear and beautiful voice came rushing back.  Enjoy.

RIP Cindy Morgan, Joyce Randolph, and Melanie.

    

"When Harry Met Pablo" by Matthew Algeo

In May of 1958, former President Harry Truman, his wife Bess, and their friends Sam and Dorothy Rosenman did what many retired folks do - they took a cruise vacation.   They crossed the Atlantic on the luxury liner USS Independence,  and then spent ten days vacationing in the south of France and on the French Riviera.

During that trip, they spent an entire afternoon visiting famed artist Pablo Picasso.   It was visit between two towering figures of the twentieth century who, apart from their fame, could not have been more unalike.  Truman hated modern art.  Picasso was "modern art's" foremost practitioner.  Picasso was an avowed Communist, and Truman hated Communists.  Picasso was withdrawn and private.  Truman was a gregarious and as open as could possibly be.

The meeting of these two makes for an interesting story, to be sure, but check out the subtitle of the book:  "Truman, Picasso and the Cold War Politics of Modern Art".  Indeed, about two-thirds of the book is spent on the history of Art in America, and more specifically, on how "modern art", however one might define that term, was received in America.  Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, "modern art" was used as a flashpoint for far right political extremists and as a bogeyman for communism and as something that would undermine "all that is good for America", however one might define that term.  When the forces of Joe McCarthy were looking under every bed and in every closet for Commies, the Arts did not escape this shameful episode in our history.   This crusade was especially espoused by member of the House of Representatives named George Dondero (R-Michigan).    I had never heard of him, and he is primarily remembered today, if he is remembered at all, for being one of the sponsors of the legislation that led to the creation of the St Lawrence Seaway.  However, in his zeal for going after Art and those who created it, were he alive today, he would no doubt be wearing a red baseball cap and leading the charge to ban books in schools and libraries across the United States.  It was this aspect of the book where I learned something and was again reminded of the old axiom that those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.

As far as Truman meeting with Picasso, some may have seen it as the former President seizing the opportunity to give a Presidential middle finger to the forces of people such as McCarthy and Dondero.  If there was one thing that Truman hated more than communists, it was people who sought to infringe upon the most  basic of American Constitutional rights.

The other one-third of the book focuses on the Trumans' vacation.  As he did in his terrific book "HARRY TRUMAN" EXCELLENT ADVENTURE", Algeo follows the steps of the Trumans' trip.  He was able to track down people whom the President encountered on the cruise ship crossing the Atlantic, visited the same spots in France that the Trumans did, and even discovered some of the people that the President encountered while there.  For example, there is a story of the Truman party inadvertently crashing a wedding reception in one of the French towns, and Harry ended up posing for pictures with the bride and groom.

He also visited the same spots where the Truman Party and Picasso met and toured, and recreated some of the same poses that the Trumans, Rosenmans, and Picasso stood for.  Interestingly enough, any pictures of the event were personal photos taken by Sam Rosenman.  There were no news photographers present.  The visit itself was barely noted in American newspapers at the time, and David McCullough's massive and definitive biography of Truman makes no mention of it all.  Can you imagine if a visit by the Clintons, Bushes, or Obamas was made to an artist of such status (say, Taylor Swift?) took place today?   The world would be bombarded by news coverage of such an event.

The Trumans never undertook another such vacation again.  The following year, the Rosenmans invited them to join them on a trip to Japan.  Harry declined saying "I would love to, but I don't dare."  As the President who authorized the use of atomic weapons against Japan, he felt that he would be less than welcome in that country.  Kind of sad when you think about it.

I loved the scene that Algeo used to close the book.  It was of himself waiting in an automobile dealership while his car was being serviced.....

"Decorating the drab gray walls of the waiting room are two generic abstract paintings, black-and-gray squiggles on white canvas, no doubt purchased from a wholesaler who specializes in furnishings for such public spaces.  Modern art is mundane now.  Some would argue that it's not even modern anymore."

As with all of Algeo's books, I learned a lot by reading "When Harry Met Pablo", and I learned it by reading this most entertaining account of a little known aspect of Presidential history.  History can be taught in an entertaining and informative manner,  It does not have to be delivered in massive, drab, and forbidding historical tomes.  If you type the name "Matthew Algeo" in the search box of this blog, you will find my reviews of his other books.  All are worth reading.

The Algeo Catalog

Every one of them a damn good read!

I give "When Harry Met Pablo" Three and One-Half Grandstander Stars.

Steelers Season Ends; Playoffs Thoughts, and the GPR

So, do we really need to rehash the Steelers 31-17 loss to Buffalo in the opening round of the NFL Playoffs this past Monday afternoon?  A loss that was exemplified by Bills' QB Josh Allen's 52 yard run through the Steelers's defense?

I think not, but I do have a thought to offer on that Allen TD scamper.

Remember the ACC Championship game of a few years back when Pitt's Kenny Pickett scored a similar touchdown run through the Wake Forest defense?  During the course of that run, Pickett faked a slide, which caused the defenders to pull up, which enabled Pickett to run into the end zone.  It was an act, the fake slide, that was considered so heinous that the Lords of Football outlawed it almost immediately.   Does that rule apply only to college football or is it applicable in the pros as well, because I could have sworn that Allen faked a slide on his run by executing a deke that would have made Sydney Crosby envious.

And how about that Bills receiver picking up a Gatorade bottle on the Steelers sideline and taking a drink from it?  If that doesn't fit into the definition of "taunting" and "unsportsmanlike conduct", it should. No flag was thrown on that one either.

Not that it matters, because the Bills were and are clearly a better team than the Steelers.   They are also a team that is easy to like, and I believe that my rooting interest will attach itself to the Buff Bills throughout the balance of the Playoffs.

As for the Steelers, one topic seemed to be cleared up fairly quickly after the loss when Mike Tomlin said that he plans to return to coach the Steelers in 2024.  A lot of the sportswriters in the area as well as the talk radio hot take artists have just been itching to fire Tomlin as this season went on.  Many seemed disappointed that that the team rallied to win their final three games and make the Playoffs, as it weakened their case against HCMT.

As for me, I am glad that Tomlin isn't going anywhere.  He's a good coach, if not a great one.  Who currently coaching in the NFL is better?  Bill Belichick for sure, and maybe Andy Reid, and a few up-and-comers (John McVey, Kyle Shanahan) may get to that level someday, but it's not a long list.  And remember this: when you hire a new head coach, you are far more likely to end up with a Nathaniel Hackett or an Arthur Smith than you are a Chuck Noll or a Bill Cowher or a Mike Tomlin. 

Oh, and one person who has not chimed in Tomlin's status is the guy whose thought matters the most: Art Rooney II.   We'll wait and see how that plays out.

One thing that Tomlin faces in 2024 is an up-in-the-air quarterback situation.   The same scribes and on-air gasbags who want Tomlin fired are also ready to cut loose Kenny Pickett.  "He's failed; he hasn't shown us anything" say the critics of Pickett's now 25 game career.

Back in November, I wrote THIS PIECE on Pickett that pretty much said that it is way too soon to pull the plug on Pickett.   Those same pundits who wanted Mason Rudolph run out of town a few seasons back are now calling for him to replace Pickett as the Number One guy.

My thought is that Pickett needs to remain as number one, but that a guy like Rudolph (if he's still here; he's a free agent who made himself look attractive in the final weeks of the season) maybe deserves a better chance to compete for the job at St. Vincent's next summer.  I also think that a first round draft pick like Pickett deserves a shot to be the first among equals at camp, and I most certainly want to see how he plays under the guidance of an Offensive Coordinator who is not Matt Canada.

As for the remainder of the Playoffs, I was positively delighted to see that two of the professional sports teams that I just plain do not like and could not bring myself to root for, the Cleve Brownies and the Dallas Cryboys both got absolutely throttled in their opening round playoff games.  Those games were fun to watch.

What remains are eight teams that are all teams that I could find a reason to cheer for.  I think that I will start off by rooting for the Bills.  They have a history of Super Bowl heartbreak, they have Josh Allen, who sure if fun to watch, and they have Damar Hamlin, and here are other reasons to root for the remaining teams:

• Baltimore: A Super Bowl win will only add more juice to what is already the best rivalry in the NFL, Steelers-Ravens
• San Francisco: Christian McCaffrey
• Detroit:  How can you not pull for a team that hasn't won anything since the Eisenhower Administration?
• Kansas City:  Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.    And Andy Reid's mustache.
• Green Bay:  Who needs Aaron Rodgers, plus they spanked the Cowboys.
• Houston:  The CJ Stroud story is a great one
• Tampa Bay: The resurrection of Baker Mayfield

With all that said, I leave you with the Grandstander Power Rankings as we head into the Divisional Playoff Round this weekend.

1. Ravens
2. 49ers
3. Lions
4. Bills
5. Chiefs
6. packers
7. Texans
8. Bucs

"I'll See You On The Other Side....", and A Few Other Thoughts

Yes, I am stealing a quote for "Hamilton" as the title of this post today because tomorrow, Friday, January 12, I check into AHN Wexford Hospital to have surgery for a partial knee replacement.  I anticipate no problems, and frankly, I am anxious to get it done and have it behind me.  I anticipate that post-surgical pain, recovery, and rehab might keep me away from the keyboard for some period of time, but rest assured, I will back in The Grandstand pounding away at this as soon as I possibly can.

Big Coaching News

I cannot leave, though, without acknowledging two monumental bits of news that occurred within the last day.   Of course, I am referring to the resignation of Nick Saban at the University of Alabama and whatever it was in New England that has brought about the departure of Bill Belichick as head coach of the Patriots.

Arguably, the greatest College coach and the greatest NFL coach of all time are hanging up their whistles within twenty-four hours of each other.  I have always admired greatness in any form so over the years I have come to admire, and even root for both of these guys.  

I know, I know.  I live in an NFL city and cheer for a team that has been on the wrong side of Belichick's greatness too many times, but I had come to like Bilichick's single minded devotion to a cause - winning - and his, shall we say, iconoclastic behavior in the course of doing his job.

I will comment more upon that and on my other thoughts on both Saban and Belichick when I come off of the IR list and can devote more thought on the topic these two coach's careers.

My Favorite Movies of 2023

I usually devote extensive space at the end of a year to my favorite movies of that year.  In total, I saw twenty-two new movies in 2023, some of which were actually 2022 releases.  Professional movie critics have  to see every movie that comes out.  I am not one of those.  I see only the movies that I want to see, hence, I tend to like every movie that I do see. 

Herewith, then My Ten Favorite Movies of 2023:

1. Oppenheimer
2. Killers of the Flower Moon
3. No Hard Feelings
4. Emily The Criminal
5. All Quiet on the Western Front
6. She Said
7. Barbie
8. Yogi Berra, It Ain't Over
9. NYAD
10. BlackBerry

What was Number 22 on my list, you may ask?  Well, it was last year's Oscar winning Best Picture, "Everything Everywhere All At Once."   Unlike some years, where I actually hated the last movie on my list, I didn't hate this one.  It was...interesting, and the acting was great, but there were 21 movies ahead of it that I enjoyed more.

Movie viewing for 2024 got off to a rousing start two nights ago with a viewing of "The Holdovers".  I'll be surprised it that one isn't among my Favorite Ten for this year when all is said and done.

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Okay, that'll do it for awhile.  See you on the other side.

Movie: "The Holdovers"...Plus a Book Review

 "The Holdovers"

I had been wanting to see this one ever since I saw a trailer for it late last summer.  The movie stars Paul Giamatti and is directed by Alexander Payne, the same team that gave us the terrific "Sideways" back in 2004.  The movie was released in November to critical acclaim and made just about every Ten Best list for 2023.  However, it disappeared from theaters here in Pittsburgh as quickly as it appeared.  It became available on streaming almost immediately, and last night we watched it, and it is terrific.

Giamatti plays Paul  Hunham, a misanthropic history teacher specializing in "ancient civilizations" at  an exclusive boys boarding school somewhere in New England.  The Christmas holiday break is approaching and all of the boys are preparing to depart for the holiday.  For reasons I won't explain, but become clear as the movie unfolds, one boy, Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), needs to be left behind, or held over, at the school for the break.  By the luck of the draw, Hunham is the lone faculty member who will be held over to keep track of Angus and the school.  Also held over is the school's chief cook, Mary Lamb (Da'Vine Joy Randolph).  She is an African American single mother who took a job at the school many years before so her son could get a good education.

Nobody at the school - faculty, students, staff, nobody - likes Hunham, and Angus, while a good student, has many issues of his own, including family ones.  The two predictably clash, but as the holiday goes on, the three of them, Paul, Angus, and Mary form a bond of sorts and come to learn a lot about each other and of life.

Giamatti, unsurprisingly, is terrific in the roll, as is Randolph (she also played the homicide cop in "Only Murdrs in the Building), but the real star just might be 21 year old Sessa, a Carnegie Mellon alumnus in his first acting role.  The movie is also a treat to look at, as are all of Payne's movies.  The movie takes place in 1970, and Payne nails the details of that point in time perfectly.

Four Stars from The Grandstander.

"The Breakers" by Marcia Muller

Marcia Muller published her first novel featuring San Francisco private eye Sharon McCone in 1977, and she has written thirty-four McCone novels since and the thirty-fifth one will be published this year.   There was a time when I read every one of them, but my interest in the series waned, and I probably haven't read one since sometime in the '90s.  However, this one caught my eye sitting on a shelf at the library, so I checked it out and became reacquainted with Sharon McCone.

The story finds Sharon trying to locate a young woman, the daughter of a friend, who has gone missing.  It takes place in a rundown part of  the city and centers upon a seedy hotel/apartment building called The Breakers that the missing woman is in the process of rehabbing.   In the process of her investigation, she finds that there just may be a connection to the woman's disappearance and a serial killer known as "The Carver", who has been dormant for seven years.  Or has he?

The story is standard detective novel fare, and it does hold one's interest.  However, and I remember this when I was a regular reader, we become involved in the personal life of McCone as a human being with a full, albeit complicated personal life, just like all of us.  A lot has happened to Sharon since I left her sometime in the 1990's, and a major life event occurs in this one as well.  Muller has done an excellent job of telling the life story of her character.

Two and One-half Stars from The Grandstander.

What a Great NFL Weekend; And a Season End GPR

Everyone Steelers fan worth his or her Terrible Towel knew what was at stake entering Week 18 of the season.  The Steelers could make the post season if several things happened:

• First and foremost, the Steelers had to beat the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday afternoon, which they did, 17-10, behind the the quarterbacking of Mason Rudolph and the running off Najee Harris, plus some strong defense.

And on Sunday....

• Tennessee needed to beat Jacksonville, OR
• Miami needed to beat Buffalo, OR
• Miami and Buffalo could tie

Tennessee had nothing to play for.  They were not making the post-season regardless of the outcome, and all Jacksonville had to do was win, and they would make the playoffs, win the division, and get a home game in the playoffs.  The Titans, playing for nothing but pride and, one could argue, the integrity of the game, laid one on the Jags, 28-20, and eliminated them from the post-season.

This rendered the results of the Bills-Dolphins game moot, from a Steelers standpoint, except to determine who and where the Steelers will play this weekend.  In an absolutely terrific, albeit not totally artistic, game, the Bills defeated the Dolphins, 21-14, and secured the #2 seed in the AFC.  Thus, the Steelers will travel to Buffalo on Sunday for the 1:00 game.  And if they win, they will once again head to Baltimore to take on the Ravens in the Divisional Round, and how delicious would that be?  

One step at a time, though.

As everyone knows, the Ravens team that Steelers defeated was not the Ravens team that at the moment appears to be the best team in the AFC, if not the entire NFL.  With nothing to play for, QB and presumptive MVP Lamar Jackson was only one of several notables to sit out this one.  The Ravens were not unique in this regard.  The 49'ers sat Brock Purdy, and Joe Flacco did not play for the Browns, and there were others throughout the League.  By the time Jackson and Purdy play in the Divisional round, it will have been three weeks since they would have played any real football.  Time will tell if this proves to be the right decision for these players and teams.

I will save my ruminations on who I think will win and advance to the next round for later in the week, but until then, here are the Grandstander Power Rankings including all fourteen playoff teams.

1. Ravens 13-4 (Last week - 1)
2. 49'ers 12-5 (2)
3. Lions 12-5 (3)
4. Cowboys 12-5 (6)
5. Bills 11-6 (7)
6. Browns 11-6 (4)
7. Rams 10-7 (9)
8. Dolphins 11-6 (5)
9. Chiefs 11-6 (10)
10. Eagles 11-5 (8)
11. Steelers 10-7 (unranked)
12. Packers 9-8 (unranked)
13. Texans 10-7 (unranked)
14. Bucs 9-8 (unranked)

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I would be remiss if I didn't make mention of tonight's College Football Playoff Championship Game between the Universities of Michigan and Washington.

I am looking forward to watching this one and can only hope that it will be prove to be as entertaining and as competitive as the two semi-final games that produced this matchup.  For what it is worth, I put some money on Michigan at -5.5.  

In actuality, what has been rolling around in my cranium for the last several weeks has been a column on the state of college football, which served to produce a bowl season of stunningly mediocre, boring, and downright lousy and meaningless games except for the two CFP semi-final games, and, we hope, the title game this evening.  However, the busy-ness of the Holiday season, a brief two night vacation, and the NFL have served to allow whatever ire I had over the whole thing to dissipate and made me put this idea on the shelf.  Perhaps for another day.

To Absent Friends - Shecky Greene

Shecky Greene

1926-2023

An Absent Friends post becomes The first Grandstander Post of 2024, and the 2,680th post since the inception of this Blog way back in 2010.  Who would have ever guessed that such a momentous post would involve legendary stand-up comic Shecky Greene?

Greene left this world on New Year's Eve at the age of 97.  He was the classic night club comic and are there any like him anymore?  He was headliner in Las Vegas, opening for acts such as Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.  He was famous not only for his written material, but for his ability to riff on any topic for as long as was necessary to sustain a bit.  As his 1950's and 1960's Vegas days morphed into the Seventies and Eighties, Greene became a  regular of the television and game show circuit and also did some acting gigs.

However, Greene deserves this Tribute from The Grandstander for two reasons.  One, how can you not recognize a guy with classic name like "Shecky", and two, it gives me the chance to put into print Greene's most famous joke:

"Did I ever tell you about the time Frank Sinatra saved my life??? There were 3 guys beating the hell out of me and then Frank said 'ok, that's enough.' "

Show biz legend has it that there might be a seed of truth to that joke.

RIP Shecky Greene.