Posted by italyprof on 12/20/2017 5:00:00 AM (view original):
Has anyone read Bill James' crime book "The Man on the Train"?. Yes, THAT Bill James. I haven't, but crazystengel, might be a nice additon to your current reading.

Zora Neale Hurston (by the way largely responsible for much of what modern anthropologists do - she did almost all of Franz Boas' actual research), wrote crime stories?

James Ellroy is a master. Thurber always a nice read.

Hurston's piece was non-fiction, concerning the trial of a black woman, Ruby McCollum, who in 1952 killed a white doctor in Florida.

Thanks for the tip on the Bill James book. I see the guy at the top of this page gave it a pretty good review!

isn't that Fred McMurry, once known as the "cheapest man in Hollywood"?

That is Fred indeed. He was in a lot of cheesy movies, and in that one cheesy sitcom with the three sons and grouchy uncle or whatever. When I was a kid I would watch just about anything on TV, but I wouldn't watch that show. Of course he also starred in Double Indemnity, one of the all-time great film noirs.

What's the story with him being cheap? I'd never heard that.

I saw him in person once at a screening of Double Indemnity, it must have been around 1988. I think he was in a wheelchair, but he seemed really happy about being in front of an audience and taking questions about the movie and his career in general.

William Demarest claimed Fred MacMurray would still be bringing colored Easter Eggs in his lunch to the set of My Three Sons in June.

I had to Google that, since it sounds made up. Seems to be true!

Fred was a wise and shrewd investor in California real estate and became one of the wealthiest men in Hollywood. He was also one of the thriftiest. Co-star William Demarest, who played Uncle Charlie on My Three Sons, remembered, while most of the cast ate at the studio commissary, Fred would bring his lunch to the set in a brown paper bag. Co-star Barry Livingston (who played Fred’s son Ernie) corroborated the story, adding that Fred would bring dyed eggs long after Easter had passed, so they wouldn’t go to waste.

Posted by crazystengel on 12/29/2017 11:20:00 AM (view original):
I had to Google that, since it sounds made up. Seems to be true!

Fred was a wise and shrewd investor in California real estate and became one of the wealthiest men in Hollywood. He was also one of the thriftiest. Co-star William Demarest, who played Uncle Charlie on My Three Sons, remembered, while most of the cast ate at the studio commissary, Fred would bring his lunch to the set in a brown paper bag. Co-star Barry Livingston (who played Fred’s son Ernie) corroborated the story, adding that Fred would bring dyed eggs long after Easter had passed, so they wouldn’t go to waste.

crazy, I guess my knowing and pointing out that Fred McMurray was, shall we say "frugal" (as opposed to miserly) came from a perspective of things I'd heard in my many years on earth. I'm glad you found something on google to confirm my posthumous accusation of McMurray. I know, I know... we shouldn't speak ill of the dead.

redwingscup, I wasn't doubting that he had a rep for being cheap, just that I'd never heard it. What I found unusual was the Easter egg story. Those colored eggs are kind of gross to eat after a few days. I can't imagine anyone (let alone a wealthy actor) hanging onto them for two months.

hard boiled eggs are pretty much gross right after they're made, at least to my way of eating. I've seen where the dye melds into the white of a hard boiled egg after a certain, usually short, period of time. That alone makes me think Mr. McMurray was paying homage at the alter of false economies.

entered an open league nba basketball team...named it 12 ANGRY MEN.

The Invisible Man by HG Wells

Re-reading "Dreadnought"--Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War by Robert K. Massie

Finished "The Education of Little Tree" (again!) and am now reading Pete Decker's "Paris Trout".

going to start a book called traveler's rest by keith lee morris......very favorably compared to shirley jackson and twin peaks and the shining..........very trumpian.

I've been reading Philip Roth's Why Write: Collected Non-Fiction 1960-2013 and enjoying it, especially his views on (and interviews with) other writers.

The cover of the book cracks me up:



He looks like the elderly version of a current MLB pitcher.

Or am I the only one who sees that? Anyone else notice a resemblance?

i dont know the mlb player but he reminds me of harry lee stanton.