Catastrophe, and order

The television images, from Los Angeles, have been terrifying, apocalyptic.

It has felt, at moments, as if you've been witnessing the end of the world.

And then, on Thursday, as the fires continued, you watched the funeral service for President Carter, at Washington's National Cathedral.

There was the precise and calm order of the funeral. The gathering of the Carter family. The sequence, notably, of the seating arrangements for the President and the First Lady, the Vice President and the Second Gentleman, the Clintons, the Bushes, former President Obama, the former Vice Presidents, and former Second Ladies, and the soon-to-be-restored President, and the returning First Lady.  

There was the quietly moving order of the scriptural readings, and prayers; the music (choral singing, and the lovely solo rendition of "Amazing Grace"); the affecting tributes--including those from President Biden; from Rev. Andrew Young; from Steven Ford, delivering a eulogy his late father, Gerald Ford, had written years ago for his good friend; the warmly personal words from Jason Carter, grandson of the late President.

The funeral for President Carter, at the cathedral--this counterpoint to the devastation and trauma in California--had a soothing effect: the honoring of Mr. Carter's life of service, and devotion, to his family, and his faith, to his community in Plains, to his country, and to the world.

President Carter

Earlier today, in Washington:  the casket carrying Jimmy Carter arrived outside the Capitol building, and then was brought into the Rotunda.

 

January 6th

Today is, of course, the fourth anniversary of the 2021 assault on the United States Capitol, by supporters of Donald Trump.  During the attack, some 140 law enforcement officers were injured.

Yesterday, The New York Times published the following story about January 6th, and its aftermath: 

‘A Day of Love’: How Trump Inverted the Violent History of Jan. 6

The secondary headline of the story read:  

The president-elect and his allies have spent four years reinventing the Capitol attack — spreading conspiracy theories and weaving a tale of martyrdom to their ultimate political gain.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/05/us/politics/january-6-capitol-riot-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.m04.Ws_E.myinCSrSr2dR&smid=url-share

Two "Your Hit Parade" pictures, 1951 & 1952

I've posted the following photographs before--the first in January of 2012, and the second in December of 2010.  

Both photos are from the Hit Parade television show, on NBC, which came to TV in 1950, after having been heard on radio since 1935; the pictures are of rehearsals of the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

The song was written by Johnny Marks (who also wrote "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" in the late 1950s, and "A Holly Jolly Christmas" in the 1960s). "Rudolph" first became a hit during the Christmas season of 1949, sung by Gene Autry, accompanied by the vocal group The Pinafores.

Additional versions of "Rudolph" were released in 1950 and 1951 by several other performers, including Bing Crosby, Spike Jones, Sammy Kaye, and Sugar Chile Robinson. The song became a hit, again, during the 1950, 1951, and 1952 Christmas seasons.

The song appeared on the the Hit Parade's survey of top-seven songs twice in December of 1951, and once in January of 1952.

In the January 5, 1952 performance of the song--seventy-three years ago yesterday--my mother, singer Sue Bennett, was accompanied by the Hit Paraders choral/vocal group--though two of the three performers seen in front of her, at the left, and the right, look like they might be Hit Parade dancers Virginia Conwell and Bobby Trelease--both of whom regularly appeared (in addition to their significant dancing roles on the show) in non-speaking, non-dancing acting roles.  Perhaps the Hit Paraders vocal group was singing off-screen, during this number.

Sue Bennett singing on Your Hit Parade, January 5, 1952

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For one of the show's December 1951 performances of "Rudolph," my mother sang the song with Snooky Lanson, one of the Hit Parade's primary stars.  

In the rehearsal photograph, below, my mother and Mr. Lanson are seated together.  Members of the Hit Parade Dancers are seated or stretched out on the floor of the stage in front of them--including Dusty McCaffrey (far left), and Carmina Cansino (wearing hat, second from right). The two dancers near the center of the picture, closest to the camera but facing away from it, are likely Virginia Conwell (left) and Bobby Trelease (right).  

A section of the December 29, 1951 script, for the telecast (also seen below), shows announcer Andre Baruch's introduction to the song, which also featured the Hit Paraders choral group.  The group may, as indicated previously, have sung off-camera during this particular number (although the Hit Paraders, during the life of the program, were routinely featured on-camera, in both singing, and acting roles).

Snooky Lanson and Sue Bennett singing on December 29, 1951 telecast of Your Hit Parade, accompanied by the Hit Parade Dancers.  (Copyright for both photos, above, held by Lost Gold Entertainment, Inc.)

Happy Holidays

 Merry Christmas...

And Happy Chanukah...

Norman Mailer, 1963, writing about live television

The paragraph, above, is from Norman Mailer's non-fiction collection The Presidential Papers, published in 1963.

The paragraph is from a brief section in the book dated January, 1963.  In it, Mr. Mailer refers to the period of "five, six years ago"--which means that he was writing, here, of 1957 or 1958--and was recalling, certainly, appearances he made on interview programs.

 (The Presidential Papers, Berkley Medallion paperback edition, 1963)

Murder, and the responses to it

I wanted to write, briefly, about the December murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare.

There is, today, the inability (the shocking inability), on the part of some--actually, it appears, on the part of more than some--to make moral distinctions. 

If there is distrust of, anger about, resentment toward the United States health care industry, that is one thing.  

To murder the CEO of America's largest health care company, because of that anger, is another.

The various perverse, hideous responses, in online videos and posts/reactions, to the shooting death of Mr. Thompson in Manhattan, have been breathtaking--the cold-hearted expressions of approval, the jokes, the justifying of the murder, the open admiration of the alleged gunman, Luigi Mangione. 

Merchandise has appeared online--t-shirts, for example, and mugs--in support of Mangione. Online selling platforms have, fortunately, been taking such merchandise off of their sites.

Today, Mangione was extradited from Pennsylvania to New York, to face charges in the December 4th killing.

As one who lived in Philadelphia for years (and who continues to follow press coverage about the city, and about the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania), I'll make note of comments made by Pennsylvania's Governor Josh Shapiro, in reaction to the abysmal online responses to the murder.  The Governor, as noted in a December 9th Philadelphia Inquirer story,

decried online comments celebrating the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as "deeply disturbing."

"Brian Thompson was a father to two. He was a husband and he was a friend to many, and yes, he was the CEO of a health insurance company in America," Shapiro said.

"We do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint. I understand people have real frustration with our healthcare system, and I have worked to address that throughout my career, but I have no tolerance, nor should anyone, for one man using an illegal ghost gun to murder someone because he thinks his opinion matters most in a civil society."