Cast Of Shadows

The outcome looks bleak, turning grim
The morals are murky and dim
Noir lurks in the dark
in lighting so stark
the chances of daylight are slim

For You I Die

It's not that I'm that kind of guy
but something says For You I Die
I'm sharp and too vital
to fall for that title
But somebody here has to fry

A not-quite-noir, For You I Die is an atmospheric
melodrama directed by John Reinhardt from 1947.

Jack Cardiff, R.I.P.

From mountain drop dizzying steep
to lipstick red ravishing deep
D.P.'s patron saint
with film stock would paint
bold colour to make the eyes weep



Jack Cardiff, a master of Technicolor, was the director of
photography on A Matter Of Life and Death, Black Narcissus
(pictured) and The Red Shoes, as well as many other films.

Bleed Dating

When wielding a gore dripping axe
a feller just has to face facts
At dinner his dates
won't finish their plates
They find it too hard to relax.

Uncomfortably Crumb

Crumb's comic books lifted the lid
exposing his innermost id
These underground works
are full of his quirks
and fetishes formed as a kid



Take Weirdo, Joe Blow or the Snoid
Self-censorship Crumb has destroyed
In big bulbous shoes
he trampled taboos
It’s ‘Bigfoot’ imagined by Freud

Lost and Sound

Guitarist straight out of Nantucket
did not use a pick--he'd just pluck it
But, ear to the ground
he picked up a sound
He'd found the lost chord and he struck it

Pigskin Charade

With her I'd like playing so much

Don't care if it's tackle or touch

I'd jack up the score

and I'd be so sore

My equipment would need its own crutch

I, Miss Uniroyal

This dame's nearly eighteen feet tall!
They say her name's "Vanna White Wall"
Peoria's lass
is all fiberglass
Please mind where you stand, she might fall

To read about Peoria's "Vanna", go here

Maxine Cooper, R.I.P.

As Velda, worked under Mike Hammer
providing the "Woo Bait" and glamour
The Kiss Me Dead star
did not go too far
but just far enough to enamor

Maxine Cooper Gomberg, a Chicago-born actress best known
for playing the secretary in the 1955 film noir classic "Kiss Me
Deadly," has died. She was 84.

In "Deadly," private detective Mike Hammer specilaizes in
divorce cases. His secretary Velda lures men into compro-
mising postions for Hammer to photograph.

Ms. Gomberg was also a social activist, helping to organize
actors, writers and executives to march in the 1960s with
the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Montgomery, Ala. She
also marshaled the entertainment community to participate
in protests against the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons,
among other causes.

Happy-Go-Yucky

I'm happy and don't give a damn
As happy, perhaps, as a clam
A mollusk, if moody
would bollocks this foodie,
as apt to cram bivalves I am

Red Velvet Mood Swing

It seems our Depression Week frown
did nothing but bring readers down
And so, we take heed
and turn, like Candide
to play Pagliacci-ish clown

Walter Brennan Embraces Islam

A Real McCoy talks with a limp
A fish by a buoy will stalk shrimp

The whirlish was derved

So butterflies swerved

With joy just to gawk at a blimp

Paradise Tossed

It's his side of heaven, not hers

And man wants what woman avers

What shes find to taste
the hes think is waste
Though lesbians each side prefers

Surly Knott