Composer Lalo Schifrin

Lalo Schifrin, no doubt best known for composing the theme to the 1960s and 1970s television series Mission: Impossible--for which he received a Grammy Award--died last week, at age 93. 

The theme song was also used in a 1988-1990 version of the TV show--and in the Mission: Impossible series of films, beginning in 1996, starring Tim Cruise.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/arts/music/lalo-schifrin-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.TE8.uffQ.8PnO8iaVY2rL&smid=url-share

Mr. Schifrin, as The New York Times noted in its obituary, also wrote the scores for such films as Bullitt, Cool Hand Luke, Voyage of the Damned, and Dirty Harry. During his career, six of his movie scores were nominated for Academy Awards.

Reporter Jeré Longman wrote this, in the Times obituary:

Perhaps Mr. Schifrin’s most provocative movie moment came in “Bullitt” (1968), with what The Washington Post described as “a radical absence of music.” As Mr. McQueen famously squealed through the streets of San Francisco in his Ford Mustang during a 10-minute car chase, there was no background music.

When the movie’s director, Peter Yates, objected, Mr. Schifrin is said to have responded, “Silence is also music.”

June 19th

 Happy Juneteenth...

"Good Night, and Good Luck."

On Saturday (from 7-9 p.m., Eastern time), CNN will be broadcasting--live, from Broadway--the drama Good Night, and Good Luck.

The play, which had its debut at the Winter Garden Theatre the first week of April, will have its final performance on Sunday.

The show stars George Clooney, as the legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow.  The play concerns Mr. Murrow's 1950s CBS television news/documentary program See it Now, and the 1954 episodes of the program which Mr. Murrow and producer Fred Friendly (played by Glenn Fleshler) aired about Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Good Night, and Good Luck originally appeared as a 2005 film--directed by Mr. Clooney, and co-written by Mr. Clooney and Grant Heslov.  The film starred David Strathairn, as Edward R. Murrow; Mr. Clooney portrayed Fred Friendly.

The play was written by Mr. Clooney and Mr. Heslov. Its director is David Cromer.

During television's live era, many Broadway performers appeared on dramatic programs on TV.  According to CNN, however, this is the first time a Broadway performance has been aired on live television.

Mr. Clooney has had prior experience with live television. During the time he was a star of the NBC medical drama ER (1994-2009), an episode of the show (the first episode of the 1997-1998 season) was performed live.

In 2000, as well, Mr. Clooney was an Executive Producer of the CBS live television special Fail Safe, the nuclear-oriented drama, which was a remake of the 1964 film directed by Sidney Lumet (which itself was based on the 1962 novel Fail Safe, by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler). Mr. Clooney also acted in the production.

On Saturday, from 6:30-7 p.m., CNN will air a pre-show special about the 7-9 p.m. telecast.

Memorial Day

Today, in a Washington Post piece about Memorial Day, the subject of language, regarding the observance of the holiday, was briefly addressed--specifically, the use of the phrase "Happy Memorial Day."

A link to the website of the Wounded Warrior Project was included in the Post story; the site has a page devoted to Memorial Day.

The page includes the following:

On Memorial Day, it's important to remember we are honoring our fallen. For many, this day is not a happy occasion but a solemn one. Here is some guidance on the appropriate messages to convey:

• Rather than “Happy Memorial Day,” say something like “Have a meaningful Memorial Day."
• It’s also not appropriate to thank a service member for their service on this day, as it is a day for remembering and honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
• Take a moment to recognize and remember. You can even say, “Today and always, I’m remembering [name]."  

The Wounded Warrior web page also includes this:

Memorial Day is a reminder of the brave men and women who served our country and gave their lives for our freedom.

It's not just a day off; it's a time to think about why we remember these heroes. For veterans, it's a chance to honor those who are no longer here.

Use this day to show how grateful we are for their bravery, and as a promise that we'll always remember their courage and sacrifice.

An American Tragedy

Remembering George Floyd, who died--so terribly, so cruelly--five years ago today.

Truth, in fiction

Novelist Anne Tyler released her 25th novel, Three Days in June, in February; it is published by Alfred A. Knopf.

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Days-June-Anne-Tyler-ebook/dp/B0D3Z7X54Y/ref

Elizabeth Egan, a writer and editor at the New York Times Book Review, interviewed Ms. Tyler at the time, for a Times article.

Ms. Egan wrote, of Ms. Tyler:

She quit writing reviews years ago. “That was my one foray into nonfiction,” Tyler said. “If I’m writing fiction and I get deep enough into it, all of a sudden it feels like I’m telling the truth. If I’m writing nonfiction, I write down something I absolutely believe, and it’ll look like a lie.” (bold type added above--as well as below)

Ms. Tyler's remarks put me in mind of an interview the novelist (and essayist) Cynthia Ozick gave to The Atlantic, in May of 2023; the interview was an adjunct to a short story she published in The Atlantic the same month.

She was interviewed by Oliver Munday, an associate creative director at The Atlantic.

Ozick: Writing for me is hard labor, no matter the length or the form. I start out in fear and doubt, and continue in this state of prolonged discontent and conscious forcing, until certain unpredictable moments of excitement take over, when the thing begins to know itself and its own trajectory. In the long-distance run of a novel, this can come as late as three-quarters of the way through. The short story at times knows what it intends to happen from the start, but is wholly perplexed as to how to get there. When the dam suddenly breaks, even the words find themselves...

Munday: Aside from short stories, what are you currently working on?

Ozick: How not to lie when writing make-believe.

"The Last Picture Show," by Larry McMurtry

The Last Picture Show was one of the best-known novels by the noted writer Larry McMurtry (1936-2021).  It was published by The Dial Press in 1966. 

Mr. McMurtry's 1985 novel, Lonesome Dove, published by Simon & Schuster, was awarded the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The Last Picture Show, which takes place in a small Texas town in the early 1950s, was made into the much-admired 1971 film of the same name, directed by Peter Bogdanovich (1939-2022); Mr. Bogdanovich and Mr. McMurtry wrote the film's screenplay.

Here are two paragraphs, from late in the novel.  One of the two characters referred to is Sonny, a teenager in the town.

After a while [Sonny] went over to the picture show and watched a funny movie with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.  The movie took his mind off things, but afterward, when he was buying a bag of popcorn from Old Lady Mosey, he got another disappointment.  She told him they were going to have to close the picture show sometime in October.

"We just can't make it, Sonny," she said. "There wasn't fifteen people here tonight, and a good picture like this, Jerry Lewis. It's kid baseball in the summer and school in the winter. Television all the time.  Nobody wants to come to shows no more."