A Long and Busy Day in Edinburgh

Fringe Crowd
The Royal Mile

The crowd grew progressively greater as the day went on.
By evening I felt like an extra in War & Peace or Braveheart, we were so tightly packed together.

North Bridge

My cousin Allan Ramsay (the Elder) opened a bookshop just west of here in 173o .

(Note Arthur's Seat in the background and the roof of the train station in the foreground.)

A detail from the Parliment Building
Holyrood

A most heinous piece of governmental misery disguised as a building

Edinburgh Castle
From below the northern end

Till's Bookshop
The Meadows

A fine used bookstore
(taken on an earlier visit)

Holyrood Palace
Home of Mary, Queen of Scots

Are ye Mary Queen of Scots?
I am.
Smash. break. punch. scream, etc....
I think she's dead.
I'm not dead yet....

Arthur's Seat

This magnificent hulking volcanic lump rises from Holyrood park at the end of the Royal Mile
Best views of the city, for those with the energy to climb it.
The sunrises are said to be spectacular

Anchor Close
Off the Royal Mile

Edinburgh Castle

Princes Street & Gardens
From the Castle
(taken on an earlier visit as it proved impossible even to get near the Castle this time)

Botanic Gardens
Leithwater

Blissfully uncrowded and near Princes Street.
Heavenly.

A Favorite Place

Stylish Parkbench
Edinburgh, Scotland

Poem of the Day

To Night by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Swiftly walk o'er the western wave,
Spirit of Night!
Out of the misty eastern cave,
Where, all the long and lone daylight,
Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear,
Which make thee terrible and dear--
Swift be thy flight!

Wrap thy form in a mantle gray,
Star-inwrought!
Blind with thine hair the eyes of day;
Kiss her until she be wearied out,
Then wander o'er city, and sea, and land,
Touching all with thine opiate wand--
Come, long-sought!

When I arose and saw the dawn,
I sighed for thee;
When light rode high, and the dew was gone,
And noon lay heavy on flower and tree,
And the weary day turned to his rest,
Lingering like an unloved guest,
I sighed for thee.

Thy brother Death came, and cried,
Wouldst thou me?
Thy sweet child Sleep, the filmy-eyed,
Murmured like a noontide bee,
Shall I nestle near thy side?
Wouldst thou me?--And I replied,
No, not thee!

Death will come when thou art dead,
Soon, too soon--
Sleep will come when thou art fled;
Of neither would I ask the boon
I ask of thee, beloved Night--
Swift be thine approaching flight,
Come soon, soon!

Happy Birthday

Robert Crumb (1943- )

American artist and illustrator

Signs his work "R. Crumb".

Crumb was one of the founders of the underground comics movement, and is often regarded as its most prominent figure. His entire career has unfolded outside the mainstream comic book publishing industry.

Huey Pierce Long (1893 – 1935)

American politician

Known as "The Kingfish,"

Governor of Louisiana , Senator and a presidential hopeful before his assassination on the steps of the state capitol building

A populist who is often alleged to have had many dictatorial tendencies, he was beloved by the poor and downtroden of his state

Model for the protagonist of Robert Penn Warren's brilliant novel, All The King's Men.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 – 1851)
English novelist

Author of Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus

The first book intentionally written as science fiction
(as opposed to mythology, religious allegory or political satire)

New Blog Meme

from Roxanne via Creek Running North:
(could any meme have a more distinguished bloggish hyperpath?)

Instructions:

Go here, search on the year of your high school graduation, and when the results come up, choose the "list of the 100 most popular songs."

Format according your opinion of the tunes.

In my case:

Those in blue I either still like or have grown to appreciate.

Italics mark songs I liked then but have no idea why now.

Bolded songs are the ones I considered dreck then, and still dislike.

I remain indifferent to the charms of those in plain text, just as I was in 1968.



1. Hey Jude, The Beatles
2. Honey, Bobby Goldsboro (If DeptHomeSec ever wished to torture me, having me listen to this heinous uulation for an hour would not only have me confessing to killing Jimmy Hoffa, I'd be leading them to his body and Judge Crater's as well.)
3. Love Is Blue, Paul Mauriat
4. (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay, Otis Redding (damn, this is a great song)
5. People Got To Be Free, Rascals
6. Sunshine Of Your Love, Cream
7. This Guy's In Love With You, Herb Alpert
8. Stoned Soul Picnic, Fifth Dimension
9. Mrs. Robinson, Simon and Garfunkel
10. Tighten Up, Archie Bell and The Drells
11. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, Hugo Montenegro
12. Little Green Apples, O.C. Smith (Lord, this is one prime piece of musical sewage)
13. Mony, Mony, Tommy James and The Shondells
14. Hello, I Love You, The Doors (Hated The Doors then. Hate them now. Thankfully some things never change.)
15. Young Girl, Gary Puckett and The Union Gap
16. Cry Like A Baby, Box Tops
17. Harper Valley P.T.A., Jeannie C. Riley (Oh the Humanity!)
18. Grazing In The Grass, Hugh Masekela (still as tasty as ever)
19. Midnight Confessions, The Grass Roots
20. Dance To The Music, Sly and The Family Stone
21. The Horse, Cliff Nobles and Co. (Why can't I remember this one? I'm usually the one with the recorder brain.)
22. I Wish It Would Rain, Temptations
23. La-La Means I Love You, Delfonics
24. Turn Around, Look At Me, Vogues
25. Judy In Disguise (With Glasses), John Fred and His Playboy Band
26. Spooky, Classics IV
27. Love Child, Diana Ross and The Supremes
28. Angel Of The Morning, Merrilee Rush (Get it out of my head! Please.)
29. The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde, Georgie Fame
30. Those Were The Days, Mary Hopkin (This song has the power to make me want to tear out my own eardrums rather than listen to it. My. Single. Least. Favorite. Song. Ever.)
31. Born To Be Wild, Steppenwolf (a personal power song)
32. Cowboys To Girls, Intruders
33. Simon Says, 1910 Fruitgum Company (Jaybus, this is bad.)
34. Lady Willpower, Gary Puckett and The Union Gap
35. A Beautiful Morning, Rascals
36. The Look Of Love, Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66
37. Hold Me Tight, Johnny Nash
38. Yummy, Yummy, Yummy, Ohio Express (This song set back the sexual revolution for 10 years, at the very least)
39. Fire , Crazy World Of Arthur Brown (A favorite of the asshats in my college dorm. Usually played at top volume at 3AM after everyone else had gone to sleep)
40. Love Is All Around, Troggs
41. Playboy, Gene and Debbe
42. (Theme From) Valley Of The Dolls, Dionne Warwick (Oh dear ghod, make it stop!)
43. Classical Gas, Mason Williams
44. Slip Away, Clarence Carter (Mighty fine)
45. Girl Watcher, O'Kaysions
46. (Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone, Aretha Franklin
47. Green Tambourine, Lemon Pipers
48. 1, 2, 3, Red Light, 1910 Fruitgum Company
49. Reach Out Of The Darkness, Friend and Lover
50. Jumpin' Jack Flash, The Rolling Stones
51. MacArthur Park, Richard Harris
52. Light My Fire, Jose Feliciano (another personal power song)
53. I Love You, People
54. Take Time To Know Her, Percy Sledge
55. Pictures Of Matchstick Men, Status Quo
56. Summertime Blues, Blue Cheer
57. Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
58. I Got The Feelin', James Brown and The Famous Flames
59. I've Gotta Get A Message To You, Bee Gees (Another prime example of music that can drive the listener to self-mutilation)
60. Lady Madonna, The Beatles
61. Hurdy Gurdy Man, Donovan
62. Magic Carpet Ride, Steppenwolf
63. Bottle Of Wine, Fireballs
64. Stay In My Corner, Dells
65. Soul Serenade, Willie Mitchell
66. Delilah, Tom Jones (Enough to make you wish the damn Martians had got him)
67. Nobody But Me, Human Beinz
68. I Thank You, Sam and Dave
69. The Fool On The Hill, Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66
70. Sky Pilot, Eric Burdon and The Animals
71. Indian Lake, The Cowsills (The sheer inanity of this song leaves the listener breathless. Or maybe you just feel like you're smothering in all that fluff)
72. I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
73. Over You, Gary Puckett and The Union Gap
74. Goin' Out Of My Head / Can't Take My Eyes Off You, The Lettermen
75. Shoo-Bee-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day, Stevie Wonder
76. The Unicorn, The Irish Rovers (These guys should have been tried for crimes against humanity for recording this song)
77. (You Keep Me) Hangin' On, Vanilla Fudge
78. Revolution, The Beatles
79. Woman, Woman, Gary Puckett and The Union Gap (Thought it was sexist drivel then. Still do.)
80. Elenore, Turtles
81. Sweet Inspiration, Sweet Inspirations
82. The Mighty Quinn, Manfred Mann (A personal alltime fav)
83. Baby, Now That I've Found You, Foundations
84. White Room, Cream
85. If You Can Want, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles
86. Cab Driver, The Mills Brothers (tasty, tasty, tasty)
87. Time Has Come Today, The Chambers Brothers (another personal power song)
88. Do You Know The Way To San Jose, Dionne Warwick (Please, please stop playing this song. I'll be good. I promise.)
89. Scarborough Fair / Canticle, Simon and Garfunkel
90. Think, Aretha Franklin (A personal theme song)
91. You're All I Need To Get By, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
92. Here Comes The Judge, Shorty Long
93. I Say A Little Prayer, Aretha Franklin
94. Say It Loud, I'm Black And I'm Proud
95. Sealed With A Kiss, Gary Lewis and The Playboys
96. Piece Of My Heart, Big Brother and The Holding Company
97. Suzie Q., Creedence Clearwater Revival (dancing.dancing.dancing.)
98. Bend Me Shape, American Breed
99. Hey, Western Union Man, Jerry Butler
100. Never Give You Up, Jerry Butler

Update:

I'm reminded by one of my betters (Doghouse Riley over to Bats Left, Throws Right) that I need to pick a favorite one from the list. It's a hard choice between the nuttiness and joy of Manfred Mann's The Mighty Quinn and the elegant forceful musicality of Aretha Franklin's Think, but Aretha wins.

Clone of handdrummer 3

Kees van Toorn

Dutch SMOF*
Chairman of ConFiction, the 1990 Worldcon in The Hague

The white sheep of the handrummer clones

*(Secret Master of Fandom)

(Shown here with author Joe Haldeman in Glasgow at InterAction, the 2005 World SF Convention.)
(Thanks Chaz, for the photo)

Happy 75th Anniversary!

Hooray For Captain Spaulding, the African Explorer
(Don't you ever call him schnorer)
Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

The Truth at Last Revealed

All Hail the Flying Spaghetti Monster!

Hellhowdooya!

I've been washed in the juice of the vine and become a Pastafarian!

RAmen!

with thanks going to ae at arse poetica for her prayers for my saladation

When Will It All End?

Much inarticulate snarling and sputtering about. And yet more. And once again, still some more...

Pinch me lord, for I am surely dreaming....

from arse poetica:

University of California Sued Over Creationism.

LOS ANGELES -- A group representing California religious schools has filed a lawsuit accusing the University of California system of discriminating against high schools that teach creationism and other conservative Christian viewpoints.

The Association of Christian Schools International, which represents more than 800 schools, filed a federal lawsuit Thursday claiming UC admissions officials have refused to certify high school science courses that use textbooks challenging Darwin's theory of evolution. Other rejected courses include "Christianity's Influence in American History."

According to the lawsuit, the Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta was told its courses were rejected because they use textbooks printed by two Christian publishers, Bob Jones University Press and A Beka Books.

Wendell E. Bird, a lawyer for the association, said the policy violates the rights of students and religious schools.

"A threat to one religion is a threat to all," he said.

UC spokeswoman Ravi Poorsina said she could not comment, because the university had not been served with the lawsuit. Still, she said the university has a right to set course requirements.

"These requirements were established after careful study by faculty and staff to ensure that students who come here are fully prepared with broad knowledge and the critical thinking skills necessary to succeed," Poorsina.

A Favorite Place

Ruin near Ettrick
dating to the time of the enclosures

Glasgow - Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Chancel
Queen Charlotte's Church

Main Facade
Glasgow School of Art

Entrance
Glasgow School of Art

Interior
School of the Martyrs

Entrance
Blythswood Club

Detail
Entrance
Blythswood Club

Piano
Music Room
House for an Artist

Wall Hanging
Dining Room
House for an Artist

Table
Dining Room
House for an Artist

Happy Birthday

Oliver Wendell Holmes the elder (1809 – 1894)

American writer

He was one of the best regarded American poets of the 19th century.

Ingrid Bergman(1915 – 1982)

Academy Award-winning Swedish actress

The most beautiful woman ever to appear on the screen, imho.

from Wikipedia:
Ingrid Bergman first came to fame when she starred as Ilsa Lund with Humphrey Bogart in the 1942 's Casablanca.

She received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the film, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943). The following year she won Best Actress for Gaslight (1944). She received a third consecutive nomination for Best Actress with her performance in (1945). She would receive another Best Actress nomination for The Bells of St. Mary'sJoan of Arc (1948).

Alfred Hitchcock who directed her in Notorious and Spellbound was known to be obsessed about her.

With her starring role in (1956)'s Anastasia, Bergman won Best Actress for a second time.

She would continue to alternate between performances in American and European films. She received her third Academy Award (and first for Best Supporting Actress) for her performance in Murder on the Orient Express (1975), but she publicly declared at the Academy Awards telecast that year that the award rightfully belonged to Italian actress Valentina Cortese.

In 1978 she played in Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata (also known as Höstsonaten) for which she received her seventh Academy Award nomination and made her final performance on the big screen. It is considered to be among her best performances.

She could speak Swedish, German, French, English and Italian fluently, which caused fellow actor John Gielgud's remark, "She speaks five languages, and can't act in any of them", which, given her prodigious talent, must have been a joke.

Ingrid Bergman was honored posthumously with an Emmy Award for Best Actress in 1982 for the television mini-series A Woman Called Golda, about the late Israeli prime minister Golda Meir.

Preston Sturges (1898-1959)

American film director & screenwriter

from Wikipedia:

Sturges took the screwball comedy format of the 1930s to another level, writing dialogue that, heard today, is often surprisingly naturalistic, mature, and ahead of its time, despite the farcical situations. It is not uncommon for one of Sturges' actors to deliver an exquisitely turned phrase and take an elaborate pratfall within the same scene. A love scene between Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck in "The Lady Eve" was enlivened by a horse, who repeatedly poked his nose into Fonda's head.

He won the first Academy Award ever given for Writing - Original Screenplay for the "Great McGinty" script.

Sturges received two screenwriting Oscar nominations in the same year (1944) , for "Hail the Conquering Hero" and "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek."

Four of his films were chosen among the American Film Institute's 100 funniest movies: "Miracle of Morgan's Creek, "The Lady Eve," "Sullivan's Travels" and "The Palm Beach Story." Their combination of sentiment and cynicism has kept them fresh for today's audiences.

Charlie Parker (1920-1955)

American jazz musician
The Absolute Master of the saxophone

Charles "Yardbird" Parker was an amazing saxophonist who gained wide recognition for his brilliant solos and innovative improvisations. He was, without a doubt, one of the most influential and talented musicians in jazz history.

A founding figure of bebop, Parker's innovative approach to melody, rhythm and harmony exerted an incalculable influence on jazz. Several of Parker's songs have become standards of the repertoire (listen).

Richard Attenborough (1923-)

British actor and film director

In 1982, he achieved his long-cherished ambition of completing a biopic of the life of the great Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi (1982), earning him the Best Director Oscar.

Poem of the Day

The Chanbered Nautilus by Oliver Wendell Holmes

THIS is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sails the unshadowed main,--
The venturous bark that flings
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,
And coral reefs lie bare,
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.

Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;
Wrecked is the ship of pearl!
And every chambered cell,
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,
Before thee lies revealed,--
Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!

Year after year beheld the silent toil
That spread his lustrous coil;
Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past year's dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
Built up its idle door,
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.

Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,
Child of the wandering sea,
Cast from her lap, forlorn!
From thy dead lips a clearer note is born
Than ever Triton blew from wreathèd horn!
While on mine ear it rings,
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:--

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!

From the sheer brilliance that is fafblog

FAFBLOG: So what's up, Democrats?
JOE BIDEN: What's up is the war in Iraq, which is terribly mismanaged, Fafnir.
FB: Oh wow! Are you guys against the war, too?
JOE LIEBERMAN: Oh no, we're not AGAINST the war!
HARRY REID: We're all FOR it!
BIDEN: It's the best worst idea in the world, and we're gonna run with it to victory!
HILLARY CLINTON: Watch me eat a bug!
FB: So we can actually win the war! That's great news!
LIEBERMAN: Yes!
REID: Sort of!
BIDEN: Maybe!
CLINTON: I can wrestle a buffalo!
FB: I'm confused.
REID: The problem is troop levels, Fafnir. The US invaded without enough boots on the ground!
LIEBERMAN: Just another couple hundred thousand soldiers on the ground and hey, we should have this thing wrapped up in no time!
BIDEN: Just like I told George Bush all along! I told him in the Oval Office, "You're gonna go in without enough troops and you're not gonna plan for the occupation and it's gonna be the biggest mistake of your presidency and I'm gonna vote for it!" (more)

Jon Stewart Confuses Hitchens

from Crooks & Liars via arse poetica:

Jon Stewart lays Drunken Ex-Trotskyite Anti-Semitic Bush Whore™ Christopher Hitchens out with one punch and then for the next 10 minutes proceeds to piss all over Hitchen's feeble arguments about the Iraq mess.

Why is it that this comedian is the bravest newsman in all of America?

Somedays I feel like I want to have Jon Stewart's baby (and I'm male)! [;>)>

handrummer's Thought for the Day

For those of us on the left, expecting the Democrats to ride to our rescue is a lot like repeatedly sticking your wet finger in an electric socket hoping that someday you will become a light bulb.

Lots of pain.

No enlightenment.

Operation 'If the Shoe Fits'

from my bestest blog buddy, ae at arse poetica:

Ann Telnaes has some suggestions for the Pentagon's recent announcement to put the war slogans intended to build public support on soldiers' tombstones in Arlington Cemetery.

How can we think it's anything but a macabre propaganda ploy when their defense for doing it is this:

The owner of the company that has been making gravestones for Arlington and other national cemeteries for nearly two decades is uncomfortable, too.

"It just seems a little brazen that that's put on stones," said Jeff Martell, owner of Granite Industries of Vermont. "It seems like it might be connected to politics."

What does this guy know? He's only been doing it for 20 years.

The Department of Veterans Affairs says it isn't. "The headstone is not a PR purpose. It is to let the country know and the people that visit the cemetery know who served this country and made the country free for us," VA official Steve Muro said.

Are we to think that the millions of visitors to the gravesites of the thousands of soldiers already buried in the cemetery won't know that those soldiers "served this country and made the country free for us"? What are they saying?

A Favorite Place

Our sweet and wonderful home

Poem of the Day

Coptic Song by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

LEAVE we the pedants to quarrel and strive,

Rigid and cautious the teachers to be!
All of the wisest men e'er seen alive

Smile, nod, and join in the chorus with me:
"Vain 'tis to wait till the dolt grows less silly!
Play then the fool with the fool, willy-nilly,--

Children of wisdom,--remember the word!"

Merlin the old, from his glittering grave,
When I, a stripling, once spoke to him,--gave

Just the same answer as that I've preferr'd;
"Vain 'tis to wait till the dolt grows less silly!
Play then the fool with the fool, willy-nilly,--

Children of wisdom,--remember the word!"

And on the Indian breeze as it booms,
And in the depths of Egyptian tombs,

Only the same holy saying I've heard:
"Vain 'tis to wait till the dolt grows less silly!
Play then the fool with the fool, willy-nilly,--

Children of wisdom,--remember the word!"

Happy Birthday

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832)

German novelist, dramatist, humanist, scientist, philosopher

Author of Faust and Theory of Colours
A brilliant writer, Goethe (pronounced ['gø tə]), was one of the paramount figures of German literature and European Neo-classicism and Romanticism in the late 18th and early 19th century.

Inspired Darwin with his independent discovery of the human premaxilla jaw bones and focus on evolution.

Leo Tolstoy (1828 – 1910)

Russian novelist, social reformer, pacifist, Christian anarchist, vegetarian, and moral thinker

One of the greatest of all novelists, particularly noted for his masterpieces War and Peace and Anna Karenina; in their scope, breadth and realistic depiction of Russian life, the two books stand at the peak of realistic fiction.

His ideas on nonviolent resistance through his work The Kingdom of God is Within You, greatly influenced Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

Reading The Kingdom of God is Within You at an early age (12) is one of the reasons I came to consider myself an anarchist . Though I no longer would claim to be a Christian, Tolstoy's proclaimation of individual worth and dignity remains just as compelling for me today.

Sheridan Le Fanu (1814 – 1873)

Irish writer of short stories and mystery novels.

An early practicioner of the genre of horror fiction in its modern form, virtue does not always triumph in his work and easy explanations for supernatural occurrences are not always forthcoming.

Le Fanu's plots are well-crafted and vivid. He specialised in tone and effect rather than shock horror. Still, tales such as the vampire novella Carmilla can be profoundly effective.

Carmilla greatly influenced Bram Stoker in the writing of Dracula.

Jack Kirby (1917 – 1994)

American comic book artist

from Wikipedia:

With Joe Simon he created the patriotic hero Captain America for Timely Comics (later Marvel Comics) 1941. Kirby's dynamic perspectives, ground-breaking use of center-spreads, cinematic techniques and exaggerated sense of action made the title an immediate hit and rewrote the rules for comic book art.

-------

Kirby had a hand in the creation of nearly every character for Marvel for the next several years. Some of the highlights include such characters and concepts as the Fantastic Four, Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, the original X-Men, the Silver Surfer, the Avengers, Doctor Doom, Galactus, Magneto, the Inhumans and their hidden city of Attilan, and the Black Panther and his African nation of Wakanda.

-------

Kirby was often co-plotter of the stories he drew, in the style of the so-called Marvel Method, leading him to introduce elements not mentioned in Lee's scripts; in particular, Kirby is credited as having created the Silver Surfer, who was not mentioned in Lee's plot outline for the character's first appearance. Apparently, Lee asked Kirby for the design of Galactus to be used as a God-like villain in Fantastic Four. Kirby thought that such a powerful villain should have a herald and added a comparatively small figure surfing the air. Lee asked about it, and the Silver Surfer eventually became one of Lee's favourite Marvel characters.

Charles Boyer (1899 –1978)

French actor.

Many to credit him with the never-heard line "Come with me to the casbah." (not uttered in Algiers (1938))

The absolute epitome of French suaveness, he is best known for his role in the 1944 film Gaslight in which he tried to convince Ingrid Bergman's character that she was going insane.

THE SWINE! I mean it's INGRID BERGMAN for ghod's sake! No man lucky enough to be married to her should even look at another woman.

Robertson Davies (1913-1995)

Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor.

One of Canada's best-known and most popular authors, and one of its most distinguished men-of-letters.

A personal favorite, his books reward repeated reading in a way that few others do.

Donald O'Connor (1925 – 2003)

American singer, dancer and actor

Came to fame in a series of movies in which he co-starred with Francis the Talking Mule.
Best known for his performance as Gene Kelly's fast talking sidekick Cosmo Brown in the movie musical Singin' in the Rain.

Be it Dead Man's Fang, Arizona or dear old Broadway, he could make us laugh, make us laugh, make us laugh.
Many thanks, Mr. O'Connor!