Handle with Care

“Reputations changeable
Situations tolerable.”
“George Harrison, “Handle with Care”

The George Clooney movie “Ides of March” held my interest despite a rather weak plot line. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti are fantastic as rival campaign managers, and Marisa Tomei shines as a nosey reporter. More memorable was a three-hour documentary directed by martin Scorsese of Beatle George Harrison entitled “Living in the Material World.” Harrison had a spiritual side and a carnal side and could be both caring and ruthless. I loved the part where the Traveling Wilburys, including Roy Orbison, are rehearsing. George got the title to my favorite song, “Handle with Care” from a box that was in the room. George’s wife describes the home invasion and attempted assassination in horrifying detail.

Beatle Paul McCartney, three months younger than I, got married for the third time to a 51 year-old socialite, Nancy Shevell, who reputedly is as rich as he is. Maybe richer, considering his last wife took him pretty good to the cleaners.

Time magazine stopped the presses to put Steve Jobs, who died of cancer, on the cover. Nice touch for a man who ranks with Henry Ford and Thomas Edison as one of the great innovators of all time. On a lesser note Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis kicked the bucket. Though he was one of the most hated men in the sport, you would never know it from the tributes he is getting.

At some Values Conference put together by evangelicals, a minister who introduced Texas governor Perry referred to Mormonism, Romney’s religion, as a cult. Even though fewer than a third of all Americans support the Tea Party, Republican candidates dare not even hint at being anything but orthodox when it comes to so-called family values. In an email to Ray Smock I made reference to Hank Williams, Jr., leaving Monday Night Football after comparing Obama’s golf outing with John Boehner to Hitler playing golf with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I wrote: “The last Saturday Night Live had a couple funny skits, especially one about Hank Williams, Jr., refusing to apologize for comparing Obama to Hitler and the other about Chris Christie explaining why he isn’t running. The show has been pretty bad since Tiny Fey stopped doing Palin and Obama got in – it’s hard to mock the Prez and even though the guy who does him has the mannerisms down, most skits just fell flat. Governor Mitt Romney seems more and more like what Eisenhower was to the Republican Party on the 1950s – the Eastern establishment candidate trying to keep the crazies from taking over the Grand Old Party. It is amazing how much the yokels hate him even though Mr. Sincerity has SLICK written all over him.”

I picked up a biography of Clarence Darrow at the Chesterton library subtitled “Attorney for the Damned.” Author John A Farrell wrote the 2002 biography “Tip O’Neill and the American Century” that I reviewed for Magill’s Literary Annual. One of Darrow’s first unpopular cases was trying to save the life of crazed assassin Patrick Prendergast, who killed Chicago mayor Carter Harrison in 1893. It was the last time one of his clients was executed. In a chapter called “Free Love” Farrell writes that Darrow was a rake but not a heel. Like Bill Clinton, he took interest in and respected those he seduced and didn’t lead them on. Many were young Hull House workers who were not lesbians like Lady Jane.

It was a bad sports weekend with the Phillies knocked out of the playoffs, IU bowing to Illinois and the Eagles’s so-called “Dream Team” falling to 1 and 4. Tiger Woods finished thirtieth in a golf tournament, and a fan got arrested for throwing a hot dog at him.

By happy coincidence most Court One condo residents were outside when I took out the garage container and recycle bins. The couple in Unit 411 normally walks two dogs but only had one with them. The other evidently splits time with a former spouse. One person suggested we have a group yard sale. I’ll find out at the next board meeting if we can.

Shannon Pontney called for our address because she’s getting married in December. She appreciated my mention in v.41 of her and her dad, Rich, who died unexpectedly after a fall. I haven’t met the fiancé; her old boyfriend, Maury, I kept calling Rory until it got to be a standing joke. She said she’d understand if I didn’t come all the way to Fort Wayne for the wedding, and I told her I’d come even if it were in California (where, in fact, we’re headed next weekend for Jimmy Satkoski’s nuptials.

Budd Ballou dropped by the Archives and, having read volume 41 over the weekend, asked how I knew his friend, attorney Clyde Compton. I drew a blank for a moment and then recalled how he attended my talk to the Ogden Dunes Historical Society and noticed I had dedicated my Postwar issue to Art Daronatsy and other “Old Lefties.” He was a big admirer and friend of Art.

Sent this email to Chris Young: “I had a chance to read “Gentle Power of Opinion: The Federalist Campaign against the Massachusetts Constitutional Society” over the weekend and found it, as expected, very insightful and well-written. O thought the sub-headings were very useful in introducing the various sections. How about that eerie picture of Jedidiah Morse – what type of reproduction is that, an artist’s rendering, perhaps? He looks like a truly scary individual.”