Scents Memory

Our memories, triggered by smells
ring long ago dinnertime bells
Aromas of foods
stir far away moods
where childhood nostagic'lly dwells

Arnold Stang, R.I.P.

The late, very great, Arnold Stang
was stuck with a nasally twang
His comical looks
had him playing schnooks
On radio who gave a dang?



Arnold Stang, a character actor whose bespectacled, owlish face and nasal urban twang gave him a singular and recognizable persona, whether on radio or television, in the movies or in advertisements, or even in cartoons, died on Sunday.

Mr. Stang considered himself a dramatic actor who could play serious roles. But even he was aware that with his signature heavy glasses and a manner that could be eagerly solicitous, despondently whiny or dare-you-to-hit-me pugnacious, his forte was comedy.

Mr. Stang was a natural for roles requiring a milquetoast, a pest or a nerd. At 5 foot 3 and never much more than 100 pounds, he once said of himself, “I look like a frightened chipmunk who’s been out in the rain too long.”

“He loved the cartoons, and he liked doing commercials, too,” his wife, JoAnne Stang said of her husband. “But most of all, he loved radio. It offered him such a span of roles.” --Excerpted from his New York Times obit.

Photos: Stang in 1961; With Robert Alda and James Gleason in Two Gals and a Guy (Alfred E. Green, 1951).

Whiz the Season

I'm Santa, come sit on my knee

What should I put under your tree?

What gift--game or toy--

would please such a boy?

Oh Christmas--the squirt took a pee!

Citizen's Arrested Develoment

What lies in a word someone said
the moment before they dropped dead?
Some dark, hidden meaning
that one should be gleaning
or simply an old wooden sled?

Murder Most Fowl

The murder took place by the pool
where climate was kept very cool
The murderer's credo:
To kill in tuxedo
But Hildegarde took him to school



Penguin Pool Murder (George Archainbaud, 1932)
starred Edna Mae Oliver as Hildegarde Withers, an
elderly schoolteacher turned sleuth who solves crimes
to the constant annoyance of Police Inspector Oscar
Piper, played by character actor James Gleason.

Behind the Date-Ball

Now ladies, look deep in my ball
Its crystalline depths will enthrall
I'm sure you'll surmise
its relative size
implies my prediction's not small.

Actor Warren William peers into his future with several starlets in this still for The Mind Reader (1933). Photo from Starlet Showcase. 

Jennifer Jones, R.I.P.

For Jennifer I've had a jones
Her looks and her soft, dulcet tones
My mad love desire

I'll take to her pyre

and there in the fire jump her bones

Norm Knott

Actress Jennifer Jones in Love Letters (William Dieterle, 1945). Thanks to Doctor Macro. You'll find a touching and personal tribute to the actress here.

Hurry Up and Waitress

The boys want to do something rash
to siren who's slinging the hash
Her register rings
for things money brings
She won't accept love--only cash



Linda Darnell and Dana Andrews in Fallen Angel (Otto Preminger, 1945). A tip of the snap brim fedora to the blog Coffee, Coffee and more Coffee.

Hinge Benefit

A secret's like locking a door
to a suite of forbidden decor
Through its keyholes we peek,
for what's hidden we seek
Intrigued, we've a need to explore

Surly Hack


You step through completely alone
A portal into the unknown
How will you survive
or get out alive
forgetting to bring your cell phone?!

Norm Knott

Secret Beyond the Door (Fritz Lang, 1948)

Junior Highs

Today kids drop drugs while at 'raves'
But back in the day they were slaves
The pushers would hook 'em
and teen-agers took 'em
and ended in premature graves

Grief--It's What's for Sinners

Insidious notions on sin
have burrowed down under my skin
I've Catholic guilt
right up to the hilt
self-loathing that eats from within

Ferry Scary

When crossing the swamp never tarry
The ferryman's haunting the ferry
This ghost on the loose
had hung from a noose:
The swampland's too soggy to bury


And here is the thing, he looks just like Ming...
Charles Middleton, who played Ming the Merciless in the
Flash Gordon serials is a spectral strangler in the moody,
low budget expressionism that is Strangler of the Swamp
(Frank Wisbar, 1946). Click poster to enlarge.

Gun Lazy

I guess it's a popular pose
A standby photographers chose
A thriller film still
that's filling the bill
when studios want "more of those."


Top to bottom: Dick Powell and Micheline Cheirel in Cornered;
Ray Danton and somebody in something; Edmund O'Brien and
Joanne Dru in 711 Ocean Drive; Victor Mature and Collen Gray
in Kiss of Death. All photos snatched from Starlet Showcase.