1022-39-21

1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment

The 1st Minnesota Infantry performed one of the most critical actions of the battle during Longstreet’s Assault of July 2nd. Sickles’ Corps was falling back in disarray. Longstreet’s men were advancing to penetrate the center of the Union line, which had been dangerously thinned to prop up other sectors. General Hancock rode up to the 1st Minnesota, the only organized Union troops at hand, pointed at the advancing Confederates, and ordered them to “Take those colors!” Their sacrificial charge against overwhelming odds halted the Confederate advance. It bought desperately needed time for the center of the Union line to reform. the result was that Lee was forced into one last desperate gamble the next day with Pickett’s Charge.

The regiment entered the field 420 strong. Company L’s 32 men served as skirmishers and Company C’s 56 men were detached on July 2.

Colonel William Colvill, an attorney and newspaper owner from Red Wing, led the men into action. He was wounded during the July 2 charge. Captain Nathan Messick took over command only to be killed the next day during the repulse of Pickett’s Charge. Captain Wilson B. Farrell briefly took over until he was also killed. Finally Captain Henry C. Coates took over command. The regiment lost 50 men killed, 173 wounded and 1 missing.

The Eastern European People know their history and their nation's long struggles with vicious Muslim armies. This is why they are so aware of the deadly danger Islam poses to the European Peoples, and why they will not knuckle under to the Leftist Elites of the European Union. They are also familiar with living at the whim of dictators, such as their recent experience under the Soviet boot. The European Union Leftist Elites are the same as the communist apparatchiks of the Soviet Bloc.

[to enlarge the picture, click the >< in the upper right hand corner. To enlarge even further, hover your mouse over the picture and click your mouse. Click again to go back to the original size]

[You can send this meme to a friend by clicking the curved arrow in the lower right hand corner]

[There are two written pieces below the picture that are excellent overviews.

The first is titled, ‘the Polish Husaria - the Most Lethal Cavalry in History’.

It is the story of the Husaria, which is shown in the picture above.

The second presentation, ’The Third World Mass Migration Must End’, is an excellent overview of the disaster, and argument which shows the insanity of the Leftist Movement's 'Open Border' agenda for what it is.

It is simply impossible to allow this Mass 3rd World Migration/Invasion to continue without totally destroying the cultural and ethnic heritage of the Western Nations, and their peaceable civil societies and economic prosperity for their native inhabitants. This second presentation has links to two great video presentations showing the impossibility of allowing the Mass Migration to continue, as the population in the third world explodes.

It is a ‘Must Read’, and needs to be shared with friends and family, if we are to counter the ‘Open Borders’ propaganda of the Leftist Cult Movement which has managed to capture most governments of the Western Nations, as well as the cultural and educational institutions of the same nations]

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The Husaria - the Most Lethal Cavalry the World has Ever Known

The above picture is of the Husaria, the famed Polish Heavy Cavalry, made up of Elite Polish noblemen who were used like tank brigades during the middle ages. In the picture above, they look to be in the beginning of a charge toward a line of enemy infantry, whom they will certainly crush.

The Husaria were almost undefeated over 200 years in crushing enemy formations of infantry by charging the enemy lines in very close formation, using their 20 foot lances to cut through infantry lines like a knife through butter.

No infantry could stand up to their irresistible charge, and their commander, the Hetman, would choose the precise moment to launch these elite shock troops.

They wore 'wings' comprised of a frame with feathers attached to their saddles or armour, to create a frightening noise when they charged, which would further spook their adversaries, and their adversaries' horses.

Each nobleman in the Husaria needed to be wealthy, as he was responsble to equip himself with a number of large and strong horses, and bring a number of assistants into the field to manage the horses and the equipment. However, this was not a problem, as the wealthiest Polish noblemen had huge estates comprising many villages, and vast acreage of wheat fields and other staple crops. As the world ran on horse power in those days, wheat was the 'oil' of the middle ages. And, the richest Polish Noblemen were the wealthiest men in Europe.

Each Hussar had a number of deadly weapons, including a curved saber for sword work in the saddle, as well as a hammer with a long spike on one end, which would be used to spike through the helmet of an enemy.

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[A cavalryman of the Husaria, wielding his spiked hammer, designed to penetrate the helmet of his enemies. In this case, his enemy appears to be a Saphi cavalryman, the elite cavalry of the Ottoman Empire]

The Husaria were the key weapon that the Polish army used to crush their enemies, even though they were often outnumbered dramatically. Because of the Husaria's devastating charge, the enemy was almost invariably routed, and the losses suffered by the Husaria were generally very minor, and the enemies losses were huge, as the cavalry mopped up the enemy while they were fleeing.

The reason the Husaria's loses were tiny compared to their enemies, on the order of one to ten or even smaller, was because the Husaria only exposed themselves to enemy fire during their charge. They would start out at a slow trot, lined up abreast of each other, horse to horse. These horses were large horses, as well.

The Husaria would remain in close formation, and gradually increase the speed, until they came within a few hundred feet of the enemy line. Then, the Husaria would charge full speed ahead on their huge mounts, lowering their 20 foot lances at the enemy.

Because of their rapid charge, the Husaria would only be exposed to two or three volleys of musket fire, which wasn't all that accurate, anyway, and the Husaria's casualties would be minimal.

Because their lances were so long, they over reached any spikes of the enemy set in the ground to thwart a cavalry charge. The Husaria's lances would smash into the enemy line, and blow them over in one instant.

The lances would disintegrate on impact with the objects they struck, as they were hollow inside to make the weight of the lance manageable. However, the lances would have accomplished their mission, and invariably the infantry line would have been smashed, and the infantry soldiers running away in total disarray, to save their lives, dropping their weapons, often. This is when the Husaria used their many other weapons [their curved sabers, spiked hammers, bows and arrows, muskets], as they pursued their routed enemies, slaughtering them as they ran for their lives.

And, this is why the losses of the Husaria would be so minimal, and the losses of the enemies devastating. This is why the Husaria was never defeated over a two hundred year period [except for one instance, were the Husaria attempted their charge across a shallow river, and up the muddy banks on the far side, after a long night of heavy rain, which bogged the horses down in mud, and the Cossack enemy shot the Husaria out of their saddles]

King Jan Sobieski was the leader of this combined army sent to save Vienna from the long siege. When the Polish army arrived after their long march, he took charge of the combined forces. He was greatly feared by the Muslims, and was called the 'Lion of the North'.

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[Map of the immense Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the time of the siege of Vienna]

The Polish troops were well seasoned, as they were engaged in continuous battle over the vast lands of the combined Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which included the Baltic states, the Ukraine, White Russia, Poland, and the Prussian lands on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. The Polish army was mainly cavalry, as they had to cover such vast lands. They were constantly at war with Cossacks, Tartars, Russians, Ottomans, Swedes, and Teutonic Knights. The Cossacks and Tartars were constant raiders, looking for women and children to take back on a long trek to the slave market in Istanbul. They were the terrorists of that time.

Much of the day to day fighting of the Polish army was similar to that of the American West and the Indian fighting, as they would be fighting raiding bands, called 'Tschambuls' by the Tartars, raiding bands of a few hundred mounted men. However, the Tartars and Cossacks would have made the American Indian tribes look like child's play. The campaigns in real wars against organized armies was much different than fighting raiders, but the Poles had plenty of experience in that type of warfare, too.

The upshot was that the Polish cavalry, of all types, was the most versatile and experienced, as well as devastating, cavalry in the world. And this is why the American cavalry during the Revolutionary War was formed and trained by a Polish Nobleman, Casimir Pulaski.

The Ottoman Empire was immensely strong at the time of the siege of Vienna. They were at the nadir of their power. In putting Vienna to siege with an immense army, they were confidant they would take the capital of the Austrian lands, and then, it would just be a matter of time for them to conquer the heartland of Europe, including Rome and the Western European lands.

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[map of the Ottoman Empire at the height of it's power]

In coming to the aid of Vienna, The Polish king had marched his forces over heavily wooded low mountains, after crossing the Danube undetected, and surprised the Muslim forces, when the Polish forces emerged form the woods, ready for battle.

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[King Jan Sobieski III arrives on the battlefield at the siege of Vienna with the famed Husaria, and the rest of the Polish army, including light cavalry units]

The German, Austrian and Polish infantry battled for hours with the Jannisaries, the elite infantry of the Ottoman Empire, which were recruited as boys from Balkan families, and raised as professional soldiers by the Muslim state. The Jannisaries were a feared adversary during those times.

Again, at the precise time, King Sobieski launched the Husaria, and the other cavalry, when the infantry had cleared the path for the final charge to be launched across favorable terrain.

Once again, the Husaria cut through the Jannisaries like a knife through butter, and the whole Muslim army, one of the largest forces ever assembled during those times, was routed, fleeing for their lives.

The elaborate Muslim camp, lavishly appointed with huge luxurious tents, retainers, harem women, other slaves, great wealth in coins and gems, and beautiful Arabian horses, were captured by the Polish troops and their allies, mainly German and Austrian infantry, and cavalry, too. Many of the allied troops gained great wealth in booty, that day, including fine Arabian horses. Thousands of slaves were saved from captivity, many of them European women who had been captured by Muslim, Cossack, and Tartar raiding in the plains of Eastern Europe, and the coasts of the Mediterranean.

This was the beginning of the end of the Ottoman Empire, which had been a powerful, expanding force, bent on conquering the European heartland. They never attempted to invade Europe in a concerted invasion again.

The Polish cavalry continued as a force to protect Poland and the rest of Europe from the threat of the Muslims during those times, and the Muslim forces were mightily fearful of them.

If you are interested in fantastic swashbuckling novels, find those written by Henryk Sankiewicz, who wrote a series of historic based novels about the various wars of Poland. He received the Pulitzer prize around 1900 for his novels, and his novels inspired the Polish People to fight to revive their nation of Poland, which had been divided up by their enemies, Russia, Germany, and the Austro-Hungrarian Empire.

The Eastern European People know their history and their nation's long struggles with vicious Muslim armies. This is why they are so aware of the deadly danger Islam poses to the European Peoples, and why they will not knuckle under to the Leftist Elites of the European Union. They are also familiar with living at the whim of dictators, such as their recent experience under the Soviet boot. The European Union Leftist Elites are the same as the communist apparatchiks of the Soviet Bloc.

BOX DATE: 2013

MANUFACTURER: Mattel

MISSING ITEMS: Stairs, couch, bed/vanity, room divider, blanket, pillow, Olaf, teapot, perfume bottle, jar, stool

PERSONAL FUN FACT written by my sister: Often when I see something that is not immediately identifiable, I get a hope that it is something I really want. I saw this at a shelf in a secondhand store one day, in July 2019, on the way to get Shelly's oil changed. (The oil change wound up being a fiasco, which led us to aimlessly cruising eBay and buying Melody Ellison.) A quick background story on the shop--There were originally two locations. The one we liked smelled like a toilet and, strangely, blueberry muffins. It was messy and things were in a disarray. We loved treasure hunting in its squalor. Most importantly, the prices were cheap--so good they made the Salvation Army look expensive. The other location was swanky. It was in a barn and all fancy. The prices were steep. Around Christmas 2018, they closed the good store and combined the two. At first, the other one started getting better, priced more reasonably and the toys were relocated to the basement. However, on the day we went, things ranged from "the right person would think that was fair" to "there's no way in the world anyone in their right mind would want to pay that." I spied this castle on a shelf and asked Shelly if it was the Frozen castle. She said she believed so. I went to look at the price. It was weirdly marked at a dollar which, given that similar items on either side of it were marked as high as $30, this made no sense. Shelly didn't want to take it to the register, because she thought it was a mistake. I was like, "Well, it's got two stickers on it that say it's only a dollar. If it's a mistake, it's not my fault." We took it to the register and, sure enough, the cashier thought it was shady. She took a picture of it so that she could complain later about who was pricing things. Then she tuts and says she has to honor the sticker, even though she didn't want to. I was thinking, "Lady, with what you're charging, would it hurt to give someone a REAL bargain for once?" I left pleased with my purchase of the Frozen Castle for exactly one dollar. Thoughts of it comforted me during the oil-change ordeal we suffered that afternoon. The outside of the castle is really cool. The doors look very regal. If you close it and face the doors, the snow looks cool rising up behind them. However, if it's open and you're only looking at the castle side, it looks like an ordinary, elegant castle. I'm very thankful that the doors are still intact. I like the snowy side especially. I love how it has a slide. It reminds me of the part of the movie where Anna and Kristoff are sliding down the mountain. I love the way it is sculpted to look like snow! The sparkles in the white are gorgeous too.

A wolf of the Grant Creek pack linage, taken in the Highway Pass area of Denali National Park.

The Grant Creek Pack is in some disarray right now. A trapper trapped the alpha female this spring and the loss of an alpha can disrupt the entire pack of the alpha male doesn't pick a new mate in the pack. I heard both that the pack was disbanding and that the outcome was still undertain this weekend.

If they disband it will be unfortunate as this pack has worked alongside the road for the last several years and is the source of most of the wolf sighings in Denali.

Under restoration by Alister Glover, Bespoke Bicycle Repairs.

The History of Glen House by Dr. A. Whiteford

Glen House

Glen House, the solid two-storey, stone built house that stands alone on the corner of Willowglen Road at Manor Farm, is now about 160 years old. The house stands in a commanding position at the north-west corner of the Lews Castle Grounds; its secluded south-facing position, its large and spacious bright rooms, and its open garden with a stream running close by, have ensured it has always been a desirable residence for the town’s folk:

“Glen House has the dignity, facilities and amenities compatable with the position of a senior official.”

So wrote one applicant (out of the 59 applications received) for the tenancy of Glen House when responding to an advert placed in the Stornoway Gazette by the Stornoway Trust in early spring 1956. Alas, this applicant was unsuccessful as were applications by officials from the Customs and Excise, the Post Office, the Meteorological Office, the Air Ministry, the Castle Technical College, school teachers, as well as weavers, painters and decorators.

The origins of Glen House are speculative, but it was most likely brought into the present form by Sir James Matheson in the late 1840s/early 1850s. There is no indication of a building on the site in either John Wood’s Town Plan of Stornoway of 1821 or James Chapman’s Map of Stornoway of 1840. The first census of 1841 makes no specific mention of the house, only the people living in the individual properties on Mill Street as the present-day one-way section of Willowglen Road was then named. The Admiralty Chart of Stornoway Harbour for 1846 also covers the town and indicates a small building at the site of Glen House marked ‘school’. In 1833 there were no less than 13 schools of one type or another in Stornoway and it was the time of the Circulating Schools, schools that popped up for six to eighteen months to encourage people to read and write. They were organised by the Edinburgh Society for the Support of Gaelic Schools and teaching was based on the Scriptures.

By the late 1840s the Ordnance Survey were making progress in mapping Lewis under the patronage of Sir James Matheson, who had purchased the island in 1844. 1849 saw the survey of Stornoway: the first edition six inch map shows a large building to be standing on the site of Glen House. A couple of years later the enumerator of the 1851 census records the last entry in Mill Glen simply as: “Mill Glen” (he had proceeded from Marybank) and the house was occupied by the carter Alex Macdonald, his wife Christina and their family. The Ross and Cromarty Valuation Roll of 1855 refers to Mill Glen Farm (as distinct from Manor Farm which stood on the opposite side of the road) with the tenant as Alex Macdonald. This suggests that the house was perhaps a farm house with a small holding.

Speculation ceases after 1857! In his manuscript ‘The Beginning and the End of the Lewis Chemical Works 1857-1864’, the stonemason Donald Morison makes repeated reference to the building as “The Glen House” - always with the definite article. In 1857, Henry Caunter, a close friend of Sir James Matheson, moved to Lewis as Matheson’s man of science to investigate and exploit the islands’ vast peat lands to produce the newly discovered fuel, paraffin, for the lighting oil market. Caunter was very much a man of standing, coming from the rich merchant class of Devon and Matheson had Glen House improved for him, probably around 1855, as Morison records:

“Mr Caunter resided at the Castle while The Glen House was under repair.”

It was the author of these words, the stonemason Donald Morison, who built the single-storey extension at the eastern end of the building as a laboratory for Dr Benjamin Paul, the sharp young chemist who was appointed by Matheson in 1858 to develop Caunter’s fledgling works into a large scale manufactory. Morison again:

“There was a laboratory built and fitted up (adjoining The Glen House where Mr Caunter resided) where Dr Paul conducted the analysis of peat tar.”

It was in Glen House that an incident occurred that was to eventually wreck one of Matheson’s plans for Lewis. Matheson was very interested in science and an opportunist; he saw the new developments in science as the way forward. In a welcoming address at a dinner given by the town’s folk in Stornoway, Regius Professor Gordon of Glasgow University spoke of the ‘vast importance’ Matheson held for the ‘application of the doctrines of science in the practical Arts’. However, as one of his industrial ventures, the Lewis Chemical Works was thrown into disarray just as the venture was showing great promise when Dr Paul unexpectedly left. One evening in April 1862 in Glen House, Henry Caunter, recently promoted as the Manager of the Chemical and Brick Works, was discussing an advert for a new chemist with Donald Morison, as well as the continued employment prospects of James MacFadyen, an itinerant brick-maker with an over-fondness for drink.

MacFadyen, on learning of Caunter’s quest for a new chemist to fill the able Dr Paul’s shoes, turned his wits, charm and blarney up to full volume, as Morison recalls:

“James MacFadyen thanked Mr Caunter for delaying his dismissal, rising to leave the room proved that he had a mind above brick and clay. Congratulated Mr Caunter as his advancement as Manager, added with emphasis ‘When a chemist comes to the works you will be only Manager in name. Why get a chemist when I can do it?’. Wonderful to relate, instead of laughing at the Irish brick-maker for his audacity Mr Caunter replied by saying ‘Well James in that case a chemist need not be advertised for the refinery’.”

The rest, as they say, is history or as Morison puts it:

“Thus on the evening of the 22nd of April 1862, the ruinous failure of the Lewis Chemical Works was pronounced in Glen House. H Caunter Esq and James MacFadyen to take the place of Dr B Paul.”

Under proper guidance and despite the recent discovery of crude oil in the USA in 1859, subsequent events strongly suggest that Glen House could have been the nerve centre of a thriving enterprise instead of the scene of its downfall.

Henry Caunter continued to occupy Glen House with his house keepers - Helen Ross and subsequently Annabella McLeod - and a succession of young men whose status, according to the census forms, was raised from ‘stable boy’ to ‘groom’ to ‘coach man’ as Caunter (the Head of the Household) advanced in years. In his final years, his daughter Sarah - a spinster who lived in Edinburgh - came to stay at Glen House to nurse her father in his last days. Caunter had become a widower in the early 1840s and passed away in 1881.

Although Morison always refers to the property in his manuscript of 1897 as ‘The Glen House’, official records refer to the house variously as ‘Millburn Cottage’, ‘Mill Glen Cottage’, ‘Caunter’s House’, ‘Willow Glen Cottage’, and ‘Glenvilla’.

Sir James Matheson died in 1878 and his wife became the proprietrix of Glen House. She was a close friend of Henry Caunter and they shared musical interests. After Caunter’s death, Glen House continued its musical connection; by 1885 Thomas Mackay, the Matheson’s piper, had taken up residence. Records show that he was succeeded as tenant by Hughina Mackay followed by Mrs Donald Mackay who were possibly related to the piper. By 1901, when the estate had passed to Major Duncan Matheson, Glen House was briefly uninhabited.

By 1905, Glen House was again the preserve of estate staff with Hugh Macleod, the Lewis Factor, being in occupation until 1913. He was followed by James Parker Anderson, a teacher at The Nicolson Institute, but his tenancy was short lived as he was killed in the First World War.

Records covering the next twenty years are scarce, but by the 1930s the family of Hugh Matheson the baker (who owned the shop on Frances Street, now Superdrug) occupied the house. Hugh Matheson Jnr. (known as Shark’s Teeth) passed away early in the spring of 1942 as war raged in Europe.

By this time Glen House was in public ownership: Lewis had been gifted to the people of Lewis by the last landowner, Lord Leverhulme, in 1923. Stornoway and its surrounding districts were now under the stewardship of the Stornoway Trust. Applications for the lease were invited and with the shortage of accommodation due to the war, there were a number of applicants including the Sheriff Substitute, Ross and Cromarty County Council who required accommodation for a Road Surveyor, and from a number of individuals, some offering to pay high rents perhaps wishing to escape the privations of war-time mainland living.

In the event the lease was offered to Ross and Cromarty County Council. However, the war intervened before the Surveyor could move in as, on the 20th of July 1942, the Admiralty formally requisitioned Glen House for occupation by the naval officer in charge at Stornoway: by this time the town and harbour had become an important Naval and Fleet Air Arm base,

The fog of war was about the descend on Glen House and many feathers were ruffled by this action. The keys were handed over to the Admiralty on the 27th of July, but occupation was not immediately taken up. With the housing shortage in Stornoway and the continued inoccupation of the building there were strong protests local and from Ross and Cromarty County Council. The Admiralty stone-walled that Glen House was essential for security.

As the tide of war turned and 1944 came to a close, derequisition loomed and the Stornoway Trust again sought a new tenant. In December 1944 John M Macleod was granted a lease, the building being released from requisition in July 1945 as the war was ending. A couple of years later Janet McLeod - possibly a relative - applied for the tenancy which she held until 1956.

1956 was the year of the 59 applicants for the lease. The lucky tennant was another Nicolson Institute teacher, Albert Nicoll, who was the school’s Depute Rector for many years. The unique position of Glen House - within the Castle policies - meant that it was technically outside the Burgh boundary but the resourceful Albert Nicoll managed to rent a garage in the town to enable him to qualify to stand for election as a councillor. It was during his occupation of Glen House that one of the large stone pillars at the entrance to the driveway onto the main road in Willow Glen was removed to improve access and exit; the post had been damaged by traffic. The other pillar remains.

Albert Nicoll’s lease ran from Whitsunday 1956 until May 1963 when the Trust decided to use Glen House as the estate factor’s residence, and they set about making alterations to the laboratory extension which had long since become the kitchen.

In 1964 the old kitchen chimney was removed, a strange looking structure on the north facing wall of the extension, next to the road. When Donald Morison built the extension/laboratory in 1857, the square, stone-built chimney rose about six feet above the wall. Being in the lee of the main building, the chimney must have provided poor drafting and so, at a later date, the chimney was extended to twice its height but using brick rather than stone, the brickwork being built on top of the chimney cope, with a new cope being added. The brick most likely came from the brickworks at Garrabost: by the 1870s Henry Caunter was manager of these works which continued to operate until at least the mid-1880s.

D M Smith, the estate factor, lived in Glen House from the mid-1960s but by the late 1970s the building was starting to feel its age and the Trust decided to set about improving the property. By 1980, the loft had been insulated and treated by Rentokil and storage heaters installed to improve the heating.

In May 1980, the house was surveyed inside and out, with many of the fixtures and fittings recommended for renewal or attention notably the roof, windows, walls and guttering. However, the writing was on the wall, or rather on the floor. Movement of the massive floor timbers in the dining room suggested a major problem of rotting wood.

Sometime later the shutters went up and Glen House fell empty. Over the years its walls had witnessed many a tale but its interior was now silent. Walking around its spacious, bright rooms, corridors and elegant stiarcase, it is easy to imagine a tearful, gout-ridden Henry Caunter lamenting James MacFadyen’s naughty deeds as the chemical works collapsed, or, the skirl of the bagpipes, or, a fleet of naval officers relaxing over a drink and talking of the war, or, the homely delights of family life.

Although Glen House bears the scars of decay, it is being given a fresh dignity as it is revitalised to provide new amenities for the town and Castle Grounds. With this new lease of life, the interior is being remodelled to provide a café/cycle repair shop, somewhere to relax after enjoying the Castle Grounds. The new tenant - Alistair Glover of BeSpoke Bicycles- with the help of the Stornoway Trust, is making sure that the iconic building will survive for a good many years to come.

Ali Whiteford

Bibliography

‘Lewis’ by Donald Macdonald, Gordon Wright Publishing, Edinburgh, 1978.

‘The Castles of the Lews’ by Peter Cunningham, Acair, Stornoway, 2008.

Census Returns, 1851-1911.

Ross and Cromarty County Council Valuation Rolls

National Library of Scotland website

Scotland’s People website

Acknowledgements

Iain Maciver and staff at the Stornoway Trust.

Malcolm Macdonald and Ken Galloway of Stornoway Historical Society.

Librarians of Stornoway Library

My studio has been in disarray for a few months now. I finally had time to redress most of my pullips and rearrange things so I could display the new additions I got over the holidays.

One of three Gray Wolves that were along the road to Eielson Visitor Center. Unfortunately, the remnants of this now defunct pack are in disarray after the alpha female was trapped outside of the park. Denali National Park, AK - 29 July 2012

Thank you very much for the visit and comments. Cheers.

At the Emerald Airport under a fig tree, Queensland, Australia, on a 44C day. We gave it a good spray with the hose to cool it down.

European Hare

History in Australia: The European hare was introduced to Australia in the late 1830s in Tasmania, although this initial attempt to establish wild populations failed. The first successful colony of hares to establish in Australia was on the shores of Westernport Bay in 1862. The following year another hare colony was established on Phillip Island by the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria for the use in the sport 'coursing'. Hares released on the mainland thrived with limited hunting pressure. The hare became a widespread species throughout much of south-east Australia by 1870. Spreading at an approximate rate of 60 kilometres per year, hares crossed the Murray River in 1875, where they made their way along the western slopes and tablelands of New South Wales. By 1900, hares had reached the Queensland border and become a major agricultural problem in easter, rural Australia.

Appearance: The European hare belongs to the family Leporidae, along with the rabbit. The male European hare is called a 'Jack' while the female is called a 'Jill'. Offspring under one year are referred to as 'leverets'. Male hares are generally smaller than females. Leverets are born with hair and their eyes open and are able to move about soon after birth. Similar to rabbits, juvenile hares have a white star on their forehead. Hares have similar physiology to rabbits but are much bigger. Hares have larger ears, often with black tips which play a large part in controlling their body temperature. In hot weather, the ears are held away from their bodies and appear flushed, while in cooler weather, the exposed areas of the ears are held close to the body to prevent heat loss. Like the rabbit, the hareâs hind limbs are longer than its front limbs.The fur of the European hare has a flecked appearance, made up of tan, black and white hairs, ruddy brown or grey above and white below. This allows the hare to blend in well with dry grass. Like rabbits, hares have 28 teeth with the lower tooth rows being closer together than the upper rows. In the upper jaw, the hare has two pairs of continuously growing, enamel covered upper incisors; the front long pair has a cutting edge, while the peg teeth located behind these do not have a cutting edge. At birth, the hare has three sets of incisors, but the outer pair is lost soon after birth. Hares have unique upper teeth consisting of a pair of gnawing hypsodont teeth (which grow continuously) with a pair of peg teeth hidden behind. This double pair of upper teeth is found only in rabbits and hares and cause a very distinctive, 45 degree angle cut on browsed vegetation.

Behaviour: Hares, like rabbits, are most active in the late afternoon and at night. Hares are solitary animals but do tend to come together while grazing as a response to predation. Hares grazing in groups tend to receive fewer interruptions than those who graze alone. Hares will travel up to 3-4 km to feed on a wide range of food types. Hares hide and can accelerate to high speed when disturbed or threatened. When approached, the hare will remain still in its form until the predator is within 1-2 metres. The hare will then break cover and sprint away at high speed. A hare will confuse predators by doubling back on its tracks to leave a disarrayed trail. This will often involve a large leap sideways to break its scent trail. A hareâs heart is big for the size of its body. Although it can drive the animal's legs at a pace that many other other animals can't match, its heart will not support the animal when stressed. Hares are easily stressed, panicked or traumatised. European hares are primarily solitary animals but may form hierarchies with both male and female members. Unlike rabbits, hares do not shelter in warrens or burrows. Instead they rest in a shallow depression in the ground called a âformâ. A hareâs form is usually found amongst long grass, rocks, logs or branches, oval in shape and around 400 mm x 200 mm in dimension. Leverets are born into a type of nest created within a form. Unlike rabbits hares are born above ground.

Diet: Hares are primarily herbivorous and feed mainly after sunset. The diet of hares consists of leaves, stems and rhizomes of dry and green grasses. They also eat herbaceous plants, cereals, berries, vegetables, wood and bark, seeds, grains, nuts and some fungi. Like rabbits, caecotrophy (the reingestion of faecal material from the caecum) is a behaviour that is used by European hares in order to gain the maximum amount of nutrients from their food as possible.

Preferred habitat: The preferred habitat of hares is open country with the presence of tussock or rocks to hide amongst. They are widespread in grasslands, woodlands, agriculture and urban areas.

Predators: Hares are vulnerable to predators both as leverets and as adults. Foxes will hunt adult hares and leverets, while wedge-tail eagles are a major threat to adult hares and feral cats pose a major threat to leverets.

Reproduction: Under favourable conditions, hares may produce more than four litters (each of two to five young) annually. Research has found that the more litters hares have, the smaller the litter size tends to be. Little is known about the breeding habits of European hares in Australia. European hares have an average 42 day gestation period but this ranges from 38-46 days. At birth, leverets are fully furred, 13-17 cm in length and weigh 80-180 g. Their eyes are open at birth and are precocial, meaning they are able to move around soon after birth. Leverets are born into a form and are hidden within dense vegetation. The mother will visit to suckle the young once every 24 hours. After around three days, the young will disperse from their birth place and find separate hiding locations. Young from the same litter will return to a central space to suckle.

(Source: www.dpi.vic.gov.au)

Chris Burns 2013

__________________________________________

© All rights reserved.

This image may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded,

displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic,

mechanical, photocopying and recording without my written consent.

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What a day at the monthly antique show! This is a strange tintype. A woman wearing an apron looks down at a bouquet of flowers. A bunch of flowers are pinned to the front of her apron and her hair is in some disarray. It is not your usual neatly dressed and carefully coiffured portrait subject. Is she the studio maid or the photographer's mother pressed into service for a test tintype?

I'll post more of the nine images tomorrow.

Summon the Swarm

"Summon the Swarm and prepare to move to Korhal" The Queen of Blades ordered.

"The Swarm is in disarray and will not answer your call." Izsha replied.

This is a personal remake of the scene in StarCraft 2 when Sarah Kerrigan comes back to the Leviathan to claim her ownership of the Swarm and speaks with Izsha, the Zerg who were made to store all ideas and memories of the Queen.

Models:

The Queen of Blades: myself

Izsha: Zephyra Gilgandra

In the far reaches of northern Scotland, within a village where time meanders at its own tranquil pace, a series of images unfolds, painting a tableau of life's relentless march amidst the shadows of climate's dismay and the distant rumbles of war that threaten to engulf Europe. It is a Wednesday evening, draped in the quietude of rainfall, a scene reminiscent of an Edward Hopper collection—imbued with solitude, emptiness, yet a profound continuance.

A Poem:

In this hamlet 'neath Scottish skies so wide,

Where the rains whisper and the winds confide,

Looms the spectre of a world in disarray,

Yet within these bounds, life finds its way.

Upon the cusp of night, shadows merge and dance,

In the pub's warm glow, eyes steal a glance.

The hearth's soft crackle, a comforting song,

In this northern retreat, where hearts belong.

The world outside may churn and roar,

With climates wracked and the drums of war.

Yet here we stand, in this time-suspended place,

Where tomorrow's worries are but a trace.

The local pub, our living room, our sphere,

A sanctuary from doubt, from dread, from fear.

We'll return come dusk, as sure as the tide,

In the rhythm of the ordinary, we take pride.

For what are we, but passengers in time,

Through days mundane, through nights sublime?

The question lingers, in the air, it floats,

Is this all there is? In whispers, it denotes.

Yet, as we stand 'neath the gentle pour,

We find beauty in the repeat, in the encore.

For in these moments, life's essence we distill,

In the quiet of the village, in the peace, so still.

A Haiku:

Rain veils the night's face,

Quiet pub bids farewell—

Life's quiet march on.

Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the interacting galaxies NGC 7764A. Color/processing variant.

Original caption: The subject of this image is a group of three galaxies, collectively known as NGC 7764A. They were imaged by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, using both its Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). The two galaxies in the upper right of the image appear to be interacting with one another — indeed, the long trails of stars and gas extending from them both give the impression that they have both just been struck at great speed, thrown into disarray by the bowling-ball-shaped galaxy to the lower left of the image. In reality, however, interactions between galaxies happen over very long time periods, and galaxies rarely collide head-on with one another. It is also unclear whether the galaxy to the lower left is actually interacting with the other two, although they are so relatively close in space that it seems possible that they are. By happy coincidence, the collective interaction between these galaxies have caused the two on the upper right to form a shape, which from our Solar System's perspective, ressembles the starship known as the USS Enterprise from Star Trek! NGC 7764A, which lies about 425 million light years from Earth in the constellation Phoenix, is a fascinating example of just how awkward astronomical nomenclature can be. The three galaxies are individually referred to as NGC 7764A1, NGC 7764A2 and NGC 7764A3, and just to be really difficult, an entirely separate galaxy, named NGC 7764, sits in the skies about a Moon’s distance (as seen from Earth) away. This rather haphazard naming makes more sense when we consider that many of the catalogues for keeping track of celestial bodies were compiled well over 100 years ago, long before modern technology made standardising scientific terminology much easier. As it is, many astronomical objects have several different names, or might have names that are so similar to other objects’ names that they cause confusion.

modeatoutprix.blogspot.fr/2013/09/421-steampunk.html

Filmed in Xaara Private Room The Red Room. "What do you do when it's falling apart / And you knew it was gone from the very start / / Do you close your eyes and dream about me"

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Xaara%20North/127/121/1598

Negligee is: Ardente - Rouge & Noir - (Red & black)

marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Ardente-Rouge-Noir-Red-black...

Shoes are: Gift Heels Easter L$1

marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Gift-Heels-Easter/17110874

Collar is: **RE** Inked Collar RLV * ENGRAVABLE * MESH * (*LUX** Collection*)

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Beautiful negligee in red and black, with and without panty. When you want to turn up the heat...

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"Upside Down"

The Muffs

And I said hello

I ran into you the other day

And you looked away

Another halo

The only thing you're gonna need

If you wanna be

Another face and you're inviting

But you're frightening

And it's only make believe

When you're upside down

Another playboy

You wanted to think you're really something

But you're really nothing

Ever dayglo

You're probably all in disarray

Nothing much to say

A candy face and paint by numbers

Even dumber

And it's only make believe

When you're upside down

Candy's wanting you and now I can't take it

Candy's wanting to now please don't fake it

A candy face and paint by numbers

Even dumber

And it's only make believe

When you're upside down

And it's only make believe

When you're upside down

Upside down

Upside down

Upside down

www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/muffs/upsidedown.html

I dropped Robin off at her parents' house and stayed the night, then left to go back to Chicago. I wanted to make a few diversions along the way, though. Nothing extensive; we'd spent too much money driving my daughter to Colorado for me to go to West Virginia or Delaware or anything. It'd be just a round-about path up through Ohio. But first, I drove down to Gallatin County, KY, to check on Robin's parents' old river house and see if it had fallen in the river or been blown up by road construction guys who hadn't been informed it was there. (There's an ongoing saga about that.)

Interstate 71 runs past the Kentucky Speedway, a 1.5-mile cookie-cutter oval race track that's been around since the year 2000 and started hosting an annual NASCAR Cup stock car race in 2011. If you've been following this page for a while, you might recall that we went to this race in 2014. We borrowed Robin's parents' Winnebago and Winnebago-camped in the campground just the other side of this sign (which wasn't as much fun as I'd hoped).

The Speedway meant to hold its NASCAR race last year, too, but then ... well, It didn't. For obvious reasons. The Plague tossed the NASCAR schedule (and the schedule for all sports) into disarray, and July 9-11 was way too early in the process for the race officials and the speedway owners and the Kentucky Department of Public Health to work anything out. NASCAR did eventually run a partial schedule at a lot of their tracks, and toward the end of the season, they even let limited numbers of socially-distanced fans in to watch some of the races. But they never came back to Kentucky. This sign advertises a doomed race that never ran.

It's worse than all that, though, at least if you're a fan of the Kentucky NASCAR race. (And who isn't?) NASCAR has long been thinking of rejiggering its schedule anyway, and the hammer was likely to fall on at least a few race tracks when various contracts came up in 2022. But they took the Plague as an opportunity to jump that up a year and cut various tracks out of the loop early. Chicagoland down in Joliet was one of them. Kentucky Speedway was another. The Speedway had fought a decade to get this race, and they ran it 8 years, then lost it. Which makes a lot of people in Gallatin County very sad, as they thought the race would make them rich. (It didn't.)

Now, I have a few suspicions about this, and one is that NASCAR pulled out of places with governors who had instituted strong restrictions against the Plague. NASCAR was likely unsure whether Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois or Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky would allow them to have fans at their tracks, so they just took the races in these states away. But it's also true that neither race was really a Big Thing on the NASCAR schedule, and people had been talking about the Kentucky race going away for a while. Either way, I don't know that I think the race is all that big of a loss, though I wonder how long this sign will stand here in passive-aggressive response.

Model: Colleen

I recently wrote a poem called 'Withered Blossom'. Thought it would be fitting to include it:

Withered Blossom:

She did not have many worldly possessions,

save for the ornate blue and white vase kept tucked away

in the far corner of the room

Once they held blossoms,

given to her by the men who would only come in the night

But the vase had stayed empty for years now

(If this perturbed her, she did not show it)

Pinning back her streaked raven black hair

with a comb that had been her mother’s

She began to hum a haunting yet familiar tune,

one she had long forgotten the words to.

As she stared at her distorted reflection

in the mirror that hung above her vanity,

she took great pleasure

in how the jagged shards

created the appearance of chasms

on her weathered skin.

In her prime, her complexion had rivaled

that of the purest ivory

and the finest porcelain,

or so she’d been told

by the crowds that would gather

to hear a voice so sweet

Even the nightingales fell silent to listen

Yet these days no one seemed eager to hear

from this old crow

It was a bitter winter when her daughter returned to the home,

wrinkling her nose at the state of disarray,

swearing when a restless mouse

decided to make his presence known.

A bespectacled man by the door paced impatiently

as she rummaged through the drawers before

declaring the items to be worthless cluster

Her chilly stare fell on the gleaming vase

which stuck out like a sore thumb in such a decrepit room

It was what she had presumably came for, after all.

To fulfill the departed woman’s last wish

When the ash had finally settled

in the confines of the chamber

All that remained was

kept hidden away inside the ornate blue and white vase,

where it solemnly sits in the abode of her callous daughter.

Still in this darkest hour,

when the pale moon sits upon

the upmost branch of a rotting tree

the nightingales cannot bring themselves to sing.

Grytviken is situated on the sub-antarctic island South Georgia, where Norwegian whalers established a small community.

Rusty storage tanks, dilapidated whale catcher boats and old industrial machinery lay in disarray everywhere.

uk.weather.com/story/travel/whaling-ghost-towns-south-geo...

www.jsricephotography.com

this is the fourth image in a series entitled "the slow goodbye".

my wife and her sister are in the process of a slow goodbye -- their father is 90 years old, his health is beginning to fail, and the only place they ever knew as home is the farm their father now struggles to maintain. he can't maintain it for long, and so we all realize we are in the midst of the slow goodbye.

this series commemorates those special things about home that stick in your mind after home is gone -- the small details that seem inconsequential until you can no longer see them or touch them. all of us who remember our childhood home and long for one more look at it, one more familiar smell, one more chance to get back what we never will be able to recover, will perhaps relate to this series.

for a farmer, chains are an indispensable item. a farmer can find a thousand uses for a log chain and for those of you who grew up on a farm or have been around a farm, you know how true this is.

it was poignant for me to see this log chain laying in disarray with pine needles covering much of it. in better days my father-in-law would use that chain far too often for it to "collect dust", so to speak.

his daughters continue to witness the "chains" that now bind their father -- knees with no cartilage that barely bend; legs too weak to carry him very far; skin so thin with age that with the slightest abrasion a horrible skin tear occurs and an open, seeping wound exists for days; poor balance that leaves him at risk for a serious fall at any time.

the chains of age are starting to collect pine needles of their own, just like the pine needles that cover the old, reliable log chain in this image.

as the diagonal shadows fell across the forgotten chain, it was a sharp reminder of the slow goodbye.

Circus approximans. Seen at Werribee Park, Victoria, Australia.

A Swamp Harrier was doing it's rounds looking for a feed whilst I was down on the river. Saw him (her?) on and off all through the morning.

At one point the Swamp Harrier was set upon by a Magpie, who seemed to take the Harrier completely by surprise. I think Maggie actually made contact, becuase suddenly the Swamp Harrier was in disarray and was upside down. The Harrier was really spooked, and beat a hasty retreat, with Maggie in hot pursuit for a while.

DSC_4824_00001

In the far reaches of northern Scotland, within a village where time meanders at its own tranquil pace, a series of images unfolds, painting a tableau of life's relentless march amidst the shadows of climate's dismay and the distant rumbles of war that threaten to engulf Europe. It is a Wednesday evening, draped in the quietude of rainfall, a scene reminiscent of an Edward Hopper collection—imbued with solitude, emptiness, yet a profound continuance.

A Poem:

In this hamlet 'neath Scottish skies so wide,

Where the rains whisper and the winds confide,

Looms the spectre of a world in disarray,

Yet within these bounds, life finds its way.

Upon the cusp of night, shadows merge and dance,

In the pub's warm glow, eyes steal a glance.

The hearth's soft crackle, a comforting song,

In this northern retreat, where hearts belong.

The world outside may churn and roar,

With climates wracked and the drums of war.

Yet here we stand, in this time-suspended place,

Where tomorrow's worries are but a trace.

The local pub, our living room, our sphere,

A sanctuary from doubt, from dread, from fear.

We'll return come dusk, as sure as the tide,

In the rhythm of the ordinary, we take pride.

For what are we, but passengers in time,

Through days mundane, through nights sublime?

The question lingers, in the air, it floats,

Is this all there is? In whispers, it denotes.

Yet, as we stand 'neath the gentle pour,

We find beauty in the repeat, in the encore.

For in these moments, life's essence we distill,

In the quiet of the village, in the peace, so still.

A Haiku:

Rain veils the night's face,

Quiet pub bids farewell—

Life's quiet march on.

Antibes was founded as a 5th-century BC Greek colony settled by Phocaeans from Massilia,[1] called Ἀντίπολις, Antípolis which literally means the "city across" as the city was situated across the sea from "Νίκαια", the main Greek city at that time. Due to its naturally protected port, the town of Antibes has long been an important trading centre.

Rome gradually increased its hold over the Mediterranean coast and in 43 BC, Antipolis was officially incorporated in the propraetorial (senatorial from 27 BC) province of Gallia Narbonensis in which it remained for the next 500 years. Antipolis grew into the largest town in the region and a main entry point into Gaul. Roman artifacts such as aqueducts, fortified walls and amphoræ can still be seen today.

After the Western Roman Empire disintegrated in 476 AD various barbarian tribes seized Antibes. This resulted in destruction and a long period of instability. In the 10th century, Antibes found a protector in Seigneur Rodoart, who built extensive fortified walls around the town and a castle in which to live. For the next 200 years, the town experienced a period of renewal.

Prosperity was short-lived, as the whole region fell into disarray for several centuries. The inhabitants of Antibes stayed behind their strong city walls as a succession of wars and epidemics ravaged the countryside. By the end of the 15th century, the region was under the protection and control of King Louis XI of France. Relative stability returned, but the small port of Antibes fell into obscurity.

From around the middle of the 19th century the Antibes area regained its popularity, as wealthy people from around Europe discovered its natural beauty and built luxurious homes here.

In 1926, the old Château Grimaldi in Antibes was bought by the local municipality and later restored for use as a museum. Pablo Picasso came to the town in 1946, having visited his friend and fellow painter Gerald Murphy and his wife Sara there in 1923, and was invited to stay in the castle. During his six-month stay Picasso painted and drew as well as crafting ceramics and tapestries. When he departed Picasso left a number of his works to the municipality. The castle has since become the Picasso Museum.

167 2759 WWISD "Heeresgruppen-Kommando Feldmarschall von Boroevic" Udine 1918. Privatna - obiteljska zbirka Antikvara - knjižara Saše Dmitrovića World War I WWI WW1 First World War Great War. Original photography.

Knight of Soca and Schwarzgelb General—A Hero and Villain of Slavdom

Svetozar Boroevic was born in the village of Umetic near Kostajnica on 13 December 1856. His family was Krajina Serb of the Orthodox faith. Both sides of his family had served the Croatian Military Frontier, and so young Svetozar was imbued with the traditional frontier guardsman code of loyalty to the Kaiser, honour, duty unto death, and mercilessness in combat. At the age of 14, he entered a military school as a cadet, and soon joined the infantry.

He participated in Austrian occupation of Bosnia in 1878, and received a bravery award after the storming of Sarajevo. After this, he entered and completed the Military Academy. Boroevic was transferred to the Supreme Command of the Austro-Hungarian Army and then in 1887, he became a teacher at the Military Academy for a few years before returning to the regiments. From 1904, he was commander of the Hrvatsko Domobranstvo (Croatian Home Defense), regiment No. 12. During his years of commanding, the "Domobranstvo" regiment became a real national army for the Croatians. He remained there until 1912, when he took command of the VI. Army Corps. See The Rising Star article below.

During military training in Agram in spring 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand confided to Boroevic that Croats had to be proud because their troops performed the best of any he had ever seen. Ironically, few days after this, the pro-Slav Franz Ferdinand was killed by the pro-Serb assassin Gavrilo Princip, and soon, Croatian units, including the Domobranstvo, went to war.

In August 1914, Boroevic led his VI. Army Corps on Galician Front. He turned this capable force over to GdI Artur Arz in September to pick up the collapsed 3. Army from GdK Rudolf Brudermann. As commander of the 3. Army, on 10. October 1914, his forces liberated the besieged fortress of Przemysl, driving Radko Dmitriev’s Russian 3. Army back in disarray. After a renewed Russian offsensive in early November threw a new siege around Przemysl and advanced on Krakau, Boroevic halted the Russian Army’s left near Limanowa in December 1914. His troops held positions on Carpathian ridges through a brutal winter and prevented a Russian breakthrough to Preßburg and Budapest.

In 1915, he was commander of the new 5. Army on the Isonzo Front. Because of his victories—or rather, because of his denying the Italians victory—he was nicknamed by his Croatian fellows "the Knight from Soca" (Soca or Isonzo is a river near the Italian frontier before WW1). Boroevic became famous because he stopped or stunted 11 Italian offensives and had defeated the Italian Army in the military by being a stubborn defender with often a 3-to-1 or 5-to-1 odds in favour of the attacker.

Boroevic's HQ was the only one in Austro-Hungarian Army where the official language was Croatian and Boroevic was called "our Sveto" by admiring Croatian Domobrans and Slovenian soldiers on the Italian Front. He was derided as "Bosco" by fellow officers of other armies and at Army HQ, mostly because his determined stubbornness was costing unusually high numbers of lives on the Isonzo.

It was a successful tactic, but few commanders were more willing than Boroevic to order suicidal actions for what amounted to square metres of terrain. When officers complained of his brutal casualties, Boroevic confidently replied that his command of 3. Army in the Carpathians suffered far worse casualties under his command, and yet achieved its goals. How could one argue with that?

In November 1918, he is to have said "Croatia yes, Jugoslavia no." For that, the Knight of Soca was branded the "Schwarzgelb General," a unrepentant supporter of the Habsburg Emperors, and he was banished from Jugoslavia.

Svetozar Boroevic von Bojna died 23 May 1920 in Klagenfurt, in poverty. He was buried in Vienna, in the Zentralfriedhof with all honours as Austrian Field-Marshal. Many historians and military experts think that he was the best commanding General in WWI. If his sanguinary bloodletting on the Isonzo was not considered the best, then he was definitely the most determined commander of the war.

www.rainerregiment.at/joomla/images/stories/geschichte/sc...

Restoring Perfection

The train swayed gently along the tracks, the rhythmic clatter filling the cabin. Clara remained in Freddy’s embrace for a moment longer, basking in the warmth of his touch, the lingering traces of his kisses still imprinted upon her. Her body still tingled beneath its elegant confines, her senses heightened by the undeniable pleasure of what had just transpired.

She let out a slow breath, her gloved fingers smoothing over the fabric of his shirt as she tilted her head back against the seat. Her reflection in the small mirror across the cabin caught her attention, and a quiet gasp escaped her lips.

Freddy had undone her. Completely.

Her once-pristine appearance was now a tantalizing mess. Her deep red lipstick was smeared, her blush uneven, her previously perfect eye makeup smudged in the aftermath of their passion. A few strands of her hair had escaped the disciplined confines of her chignon, slipping from beneath the silk headscarf that now hung slightly askew. Her crisp white blouse, once so rigidly tucked, had slipped free from the waistband of her skirt, its structured lines softened. Her stockings had twisted beneath her skirt, the garters still taut against her thighs but no longer perfectly aligned.

Clara let out a dramatic sigh, peeling herself away from Freddy’s grasp and slowly rising to her feet. The restriction of her skirt and stockings made the movement a challenge, and she took a steadying breath before turning to him, her hands settling on her hips.

“Look at what you’ve done,” she scolded playfully, gesturing to her disheveled state. “I was a vision of elegance, and now I look utterly undone.”

Freddy smirked, lounging back against the seat, utterly unbothered. “And yet, I have never seen you look more beautiful.”

Clara scoffed, rolling her eyes before turning her attention to the full-length mirror in the compartment. She took in her reflection, exhaling as she assessed the work that needed to be done.

With deliberate movements, she reached up, unfastening her blazer and sliding it from her shoulders, draping it neatly over the seat. Next came her blouse, which she carefully unbuttoned, letting it slip from her frame with a shiver of relief before straightening her undergarments beneath. She ran her hands slowly over her body, savoring the sensation of her smooth, freshly shaved skin. Her underarms, untouched by even the slightest stubble, tingled against the cool air, the sensation heightened by the contrast of having been enclosed for so long. The delicate lace of her bra, still perfectly in place, hugged her torso in firm embrace, and she allowed herself a moment to revel in the newfound coolness before reaching for the blouse once more.

She dressed again with practiced precision, smoothing the fabric over her arms, fastening each button with care, tugging the hem firmly back into the waistband of her skirt. The collar, stiff and unyielding, was restored to its upright dominance, its top button closed with a satisfying finality.

She rolled her stockings gently down her legs, savoring the smoothness of her freshly shaved skin beneath her fingertips. The sensation of the cool air against her bare thighs sent a shiver through her, a stark contrast to the disciplined embrace of her stockings and garters. She ran her hands over her calves, appreciating the silken perfection before straightening the delicate nylon and refastening each garter with a precise tug, ensuring their discipline was restored. Her blazer followed, sliding back into place, its structured lines once again hugging her figure. She fastened the buttons at her waist, smoothing the lapels, every detail falling into place once more.

Finally, she turned to the vanity. With a practiced hand, she wiped away the smudged lipstick, reapplying the deep red hue with slow, careful strokes. Her powder followed, erasing any trace of her previous disarray. Her eyes, now sharp and refined once more, were lined with precision. Satisfied, she reached for her silk headscarf, adjusting it neatly, tucking each stray strand of hair beneath its embrace before tying the knot beneath her chin, restoring her pristine composure.

She slid her hands back into her white kid leather gloves, pressing the soft material snugly against her fingers before buttoning them at the wrists. With a final glance in the mirror, she reached for her trench coat, slipping it back on, cinching the belt at her waist, securing herself completely.

Freddy watched her in admiration, his eyes dark with appreciation. “As if nothing ever happened,” he mused.

Clara turned to him, lips curving into a knowing smile. “Precisely,” she said, smoothing her gloves one final time. She was once again composed, controlled, untouched.

But deep within, beneath every perfectly arranged layer, she still burned.

WRIGHT, ALEXANDER WHYTE, militiaman, journalist, labour leader, reformer, office holder, and political organizer; b. 17 Dec. 1845 in Upper Canada, son of George Wright and Helen Whyte; m. 26 Jan. 1876 in Guelph, Ont., Elizabeth Runciman Simpson (d. 1913), and they had a daughter; d. 12 June 1919 in Toronto.

The son of Scottish immigrants, A. W. Wright was probably born near the settlement of Almira in Markham Township, though some sources give his birthplace as Elmira in Waterloo County. He attended public school in New Hamburg in the 1850s and after brief employment as a drugstore clerk he entered the woollen industry, in which his family was engaged. He started in 1863 in Linwood and subsequently worked in Preston (Cambridge), St Jacobs, and Guelph. Active in athletics and lacrosse in his youth, he joined the Orange order and the Waterloo militia. He saw action with the 29th (Waterloo) Battalion of Infantry against the Fenians in 1866 and participated in the Red River expedition of Colonel Garnet Joseph Wolseley in 1870–71 as a sergeant-major in the 1st (Ontario) Battalion of Rifles.

Sometime in the late 1860s Wright became a printer. He started his career in journalism with the Guelph Herald and progressed to editorial positions with the Orangeville Sun, the Stratford Herald, and County of Perth Advertiser, and the Guelph Herald. As an editor and Tory fixer, he promoted nationalism and industrial development but combined them with an inclination to radical economic solutions involving government ownership, and currency and labour reform. Wright advanced these positions not only in print, but as a highly skilled platform speaker. In the federal by-election in Guelph in 1876, for instance, he spoke on behalf of the Conservatives’ protectionist candidate, James Goldie. “When dealing with a subject with which he was familiar,” wrote one biographer, “he was unsurpassed. He had bright, incisive style and a talent for keen analysis. He was at his best when heckled. He courted interruption, for no one could get the better of him in a clash of wits.”

After he moved to Toronto in 1878 as editor of the National, Wright used it to promote the National Policy of Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald*. Perhaps the most intellectually interesting of the plethora of Toronto newspapers of the 1870s, the National had been the vehicle for prominent radical Thomas Phillips Thompson*. Both he and Wright were heavily influenced by the producer ideology of Isaac Buchanan* of Hamilton. Indeed, Wright worked as a pro-protection lecturer for Buchanan’s Dominion National League in the National Policy election of 1878. In the aftermath of the Tory victory, Wright schemed with Buchanan to imbue the Workingmen’s Liberal Conservative Union with the ideas of currency reform and government ownership. In a typical attempt to bridge the leadership of the Conservative party and the members espousing reform ideology, Wright sought Macdonald’s support for both the National and his proposal to author a popular biography of the prime minister. Neither scheme came to fruition.

The financial difficulties of the National led Wright and his partner, Henry Edward Smallpiece, to take over the Guelph Herald in the summer of 1879. As its editor and co-producer, Wright promoted a scheme to have the Canadian Pacific Railway built publicly through a complicated mechanism of financing that involved radical currency reform. In addition, he joined Buchanan in reorganizing the Financial Reform League of Canada as the Currency Reform League, of which he became secretary and William Wallace* chairman. Still active in the WLCU, Wright continued his efforts to use this innovative Tory organization to transform the working-class vote into a vehicle for his radical ideas, including advocacy of the Beaverback cause, a Canadian variant of the American greenback movement and an amalgam of protection for native industry, the government’s resumption of the right to issue monetary notes, and a system of paper money based on the credit of the dominion. After Wright returned to Toronto in 1880 to edit the Commonwealth, a Beaverback paper that promoted land, labour, and currency reform, he gained the backing of the WLCU for his Beaverback candidacy in the federal by-election in Toronto West. Although he won only a little more than one per cent of the vote, Wright’s independent stand prefigured labour’s political challenges to Tory hegemony in Toronto during the 1880s.

After stumping through the northeastern and mid-western United States for the National Greenback Labor campaigns later in 1880, Wright came back to Toronto to become an editorial writer at the Tory World. As secretary of the Ontario Manufacturers’ Association in 1882–86, he worked hard for the Tory party in traditional ways. In 1885, with publisher Frederic Nicholls*, he compiled a commemorative volume on the massive conventions held to honour Sir John A. Macdonald’s 40 years in public life. But Wright also continued to focus his attention on the working-class vote. In the following decade, he would emerge as the main Canadian leader of the Knights of Labor, the major North American reform organization; in the process Wright would help undercut the labour revolt of the 1880s in Ontario and aid in the restoration of the Tory party’s working-class base. How he arrived at these ends is a complex reconstruction of back-room intrigue, at which Wright became a master.

In 1883 Wright had joined the Knights, probably Excelsior Local Assembly 2305, since it was the only local in Toronto to encompass various occupations. In June 1886 he switched to the new Victor Hugo Local Assembly 7814, which featured mainly journalists and other “brainworkers” and included figures such as Phillips Thompson and Wright’s brother-in-law and fellow journalist, Robert Lincoln Simpson.

Wright’s profile in the Knights remained low until 1886. Upon his return that year from Europe, where he had represented Canada as a government agent at expositions in Antwerp and London, he set out to activate schemes he had proposed two years earlier. In 1884 he had suggested to Prime Minister Macdonald that, if given adequate financial support, he could arrange to take over one of the new labour reform newspapers. Like many of his schemes, this one did not find initial favour, but during the bitter Toronto Street Railway strike of 1886, in which Tory interests were damaged by the involvement of Frank Smith*, a Conservative senator, Wright began publication on 15 May of the Canadian Labor Reformer, with R. L. Simpson and George Roden Kingsmill as managers. Although Wright proposed to Macdonald that it “be conducted editorially on a purely labour platform, even antagonizing the Conservative Party where it could be done harmlessly,” ultimately, he said, “it would do good” for the party.

Wright went even further, and devised stratagems to weaken the Knights’ Grit-oriented Local Assembly 2305, controlled by Daniel John O’Donoghue*. He suggested the establishment of a Toronto district assembly of the Knights, a proposition denounced by O’Donoghue as potentially divisive. Wright was successful, however, and District Assembly 125 was chartered on 17 May, at the height of the street railway strike. Not surprisingly, Wright was elected secretary, from which position he launched the next phase of his career in labour reform.

The Ontario election of late 1886 and the federal election of early 1887 were hard-fought affairs in which the working-class vote was hotly contested. As well, a number of labour reform candidates ran and, at the Ontario level, enjoyed some success. Political intrigue was rife and Wright was at the centre. In the provincial election, claiming to be a labour candidate supported by the Knights, he ran unsuccessfully in Lambton West against Liberal cabinet minister Timothy Blair Pardee*. In the aftermath of these elections, a war of accusations concerning partyism rose in a crescendo as O’Donoghue, in the pages of his Labor Record, and Wright, in his Labor Reformer, denounced each other. The cause of independent labour politics was the major casualty.

Wright none the less continued to scheme. With Samuel McNab, the district master workman of District Assembly 125, he promoted the idea of a Canadian general assembly separate from the American-based General Assembly that governed the entire order. First proposed by Hamilton District Assembly 61 in 1885, the idea resurfaced in January 1887 when London District Assembly 138 went on record in support of a Canadian assembly. American general master workman Terence Vincent Powderly fuelled this nationalist sentiment when he unthinkingly urged all Knights to celebrate the 4th of July in 1887. In September Knights from all over Ontario met in Toronto at the call of Wright and McNab to discuss “Home Rule.” The convention endorsed the creation of a dominion assembly, with the proposition to be taken to the Knights’ General Assembly in Minneapolis that fall. Powderly, however, forewarned by O’Donoghue, derailed the movement by conceding the idea of provincial assemblies for Ontario and Quebec and a legislative committee to lobby in Ottawa. In a determined effort to keep his rival off this committee, O’Donoghue suggested that Powderly appoint Wright instead as a lecturer for the Knights.

Powderly acted on this recommendation the following year and Wright became lecturer and examining organizer for Ontario. At the General Assembly of 1888, in Indianapolis, he captured Powderly’s trust, gained election to the general executive board (the first Canadian to achieve such high office in the order), and thereafter displaced O’Donoghue as Powderly’s major Canadian adviser. In his new role Wright made sure that the new Canadian legislative committee did not contain any hold-overs from the previous year. By late 1890 the order in Canada was in disarray and Powderly eventually allowed the legislative committee to lapse.

Charges and countercharges of partisanship and of “politicians in the Order” were certainly among the causes of its decline in Canada, and Wright played a prominent role in this mêlée, which helped eliminate the Knights as the major political voice of organized labour. As editor of the Journal of the Knights of Labor (Philadelphia) from 1889 and as a member of the general executive board, he participated too in the destructive leadership battles that tore the order apart in the United States and led to Powderly’s downfall at the General Assembly of 1893. Indeed, Wright’s various moneymaking schemes, such as the Labor Day annual and an accident claims association, his laxness as editor, and a certain looseness in his accounts of his personal finances all became issues in the struggle for control between Powderly and John W. Hayes. The triumph of the latter brought Wright’s opportunism and role in the order to an end.

Wright continued to plot with Powderly and others to regain control, but nothing came of these manœuvres. Similarly, his efforts to launch a newspaper in labour’s interest, but funded by the Republican party, were unproductive. He busied himself in the Ontario election of 1894 with support for the agrarian revolt of the Patrons of Industry [see George Weston Wrigley*], no doubt (at least partially) because of the havoc it would wreak on the Grit government of Sir Oliver Mowat*. Wright’s pen, partially disguised by the pseudonym Spokeshave, promoted agrarian dissent in the Canada Farmers’ Sun until he abandoned the cause to return to Tory ranks in 1896.

Wright would trade on his labour connections for the rest of his life. In October 1895 the federal Conservative government of Sir Mackenzie Bowell appointed him lone royal commissioner to investigate the sweating system in Canadian industry. A series of public meetings exposed evidence of horrific conditions in the garment trades. Issued in March 1896, a few months before a federal election, Wright’s report called only for the extension of provincial factory acts to cover all places of work, including homes, where outwork was performed. The Conservatives, who had reputedly set up the commission for electioneering purposes, declined to act, and there were even charges that Wright campaigned for the party during or just after the inquiry.

Later in 1896 Wright worked as a propagandist in the presidential campaign of William McKinley in the United States. Recommended by Powderly, he was placed in charge of economic materials aimed at the working-class vote. The following year he appeared in New York City as editor of the Union Printer and American Craftsman. Before long he was again recruited by the federal Tory party in Canada: in July 1899 he became one of three organizers in Ontario, with responsibility for the southwestern part of the province. And once again Wright became deeply involved in intrigue. He supported his old journalist mate William Findlay Maclean* in his efforts to challenge the provincial Tory leader, James Pliny Whitney, and arrest what they saw as a “policy of drifting” in the Ontario party. By the summer of 1901, however, Wright, working out of a home in Niagara (Niagara-on-the-Lake), was using his exceptional skills to ensure Conservative victories in several key ridings in the next provincial election. Three years later Robert Laird Borden*, the Conservative leader in Ottawa, appointed Wright and a long-time organizational cohort, Thaddeus William Henry Leavitt, to turn their attention to federal organization in Ontario.

After this employment, Wright remained on the public stage. A strong proponent of public control of hydroelectric development and the refining of nickel, from 1907 he championed “People’s Power” as president of the Canadian Public Ownership League. The politically astute Wright had little sympathy for supporters, among them Francis Stephens Spence, who saw the cause as a means to moral reform, in forms such as temperance. In the provincial election of 1908 Wright ran as an independent in Toronto West on a slate that included socialist, labour, Liberal, and Conservative candidates, and on this occasion he finished third, with 21 per cent of the vote. In his campaign literature he described himself as a Liberal Conservative who supported the Whitney government, although some elements of his platform, including public control of nickel refining, citizens’ initiation of and voting on legislation, civil service and tax reform, and enactment of workmen’s compensation, went beyond government policy at that time.

After a sojourn in Britain in 1910–11 as a propagandist for imperial preferential trade, Wright returned to Canada. Here he publicly turned his advocacy of imperial unity against reciprocity in the federal election of September 1911 and appeared as a Conservative speaker in the provincial election in December. When he was not deriving income from his public and organizational efforts, Wright seems to have found periodic employment in journalism and business. In 1909–14 he edited a Tory labour newspaper, the Toronto Lance, and in 1912 he was manager of the Toronto Fire Brick Company Limited. The Whitney government rewarded his many years of service in 1914 by appointing him vice-chairman of the new Workmen’s Compensation Board. He never completely recovered from a slight stroke suffered in 1918 in Niagara-on-the-Lake and he died the following year at his home on Macdonell Avenue in Toronto. A Presbyterian, he was buried in Prospect Cemetery.

Wright’s career took him from small-town Ontario to the heights of North American labour reform as a major leader of the Knights of Labor. A man who lived by his wit and writing, in all aspects of his life he delighted in intrigue and manipulation. The Orangeism and militarism of his youth were two of his major identifications and they flowed easily into his support for the Conservatives. Although his economic beliefs encompassed a certain radicalism, he almost always placed party loyalty first. An important Canadian example of a mediator who linked the working class and the traditional political party, he exemplifies that strain of Canadian conservatism which espoused reform.

Summer Saturday timetable and only early morning and all is in disarray.

Imagine this real life scenario: you walk into Target or Walmart or Barnes&Noble or a LEGO Brand Retail location or wherever you buy your CMF’s from in person, and you see a box that has the obvious signs of already being rifled through: the packs are in disarray, there are wrinkles all over the bag […]

www.fbtb.net/lego-marvel-super-heroes/2021/09/17/the-marv...

Drink cooler at the Sheetz store at the intersection of US 70 and NC 568 in Goldsboro, North Carolina. I found it notable that the store was out of a lot of product. However, I wasn't able to determine whether this was caused by a supplier issue, or if it was just due to the popularity of certain items. We did not see this occur at other Sheetz locations that we visited on this day.

More at The Schumin Web:

www.schuminweb.com/life-and-times/north-carolina-and-hamp...

Ben Schumin is a professional photographer who captures the intricacies of daily life. This image is all rights reserved. Contact me directly for licensing information.

i was doing these shots at 1.36 his morning, alone, and in a semi-strange place.

i had to stop because i was goddamn freaking myself out.

especially when i whipped that fuckin' plastic bag out. :/

regardless, those are asprin and the whiskey bottle was filled with h20.

and i spit them right back out because pills and i are not mates and i was scared to even have them in my mouth. i don't even take asprin. :/

alcohol and drug overdoses are fascinating to me.

i find a sense of beauty in the disarray.

there's something romantic about flinging yourself off into the oblivion.

Never the trees on the banks were more beautiful than they are now, only the bouquets of branches emerging. Above them a Nicolas Poussin sky.

The flooded plain is itself another sky, expanded domain of wild swans and fishermen installed along the dykes. Both are capable of ignoring, torn from the banks, the jetsam washed up against the fences, caught on the stakes.

The magnitude of a valley allow us to banish from our gaze the tide of rubbish from a world in disarray. There remain the main outlines, the overall framework and all those reflections indicating a patching up of the pools at the bottom of the expanded river.

You could imagine, if the climate were more agreeable, in all urbanity, a crowd of bathers having fun swimming in the lake so temporary.

Temporary sprawl, oscillating between gray and sepia. Appearing motionless, only a slight seething indicates forward motion.

The night improvises another story : the earth and the water being offered incense by the moon and the shadows.

Landscapes with Angels

Poems from Taize

Pierre Etienne

Another move by the U.S. is the passing of the CHIPS Act in an attempt to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the country. I highly doubt we can succeed on that. The $1.7 million price tag for a single small public toilet in San Francisco clearly shows the high costs and inefficiency on doing just about anything in the U.S.

Besides, it's estimated that we will need 50,000 new engineers in the next 5 years in order to fill our reshoring needs. One university, Perdue, is supposed to increase their engineering graduates from 150 per year to 1,000 per year. As shown in the just released National Education Assessment Report, students math score declined in all 50 states. Where will we find these 50,000 new engineers? Can we really import so many of them?

finance.yahoo.com/news/san-francisco-building-single-publ...

San Francisco building single public toilet that will cost $1.7 million and won't be completed until 2025

finance.yahoo.com/news/why-us-tech-controls-on-china-coul...

Why US tech controls on China could end up hurting American semiconductors

When the US first banned sales of certain tech products to Chinese tech firm Huawei three years ago, it crippled a once-proud national champion and sent ripples across the US semiconductor industry. In the quarters following that export ban in May 2019, top American chipmakers reported a median revenue decline of 4% to 9%.

The Biden administration’s latest tech controls threaten to accelerate those losses, throwing the global semiconductor sector into disarray. And Chinese companies targeted by the new regulations won’t be the only ones feeling the pain.

“If China really wants to be as aggressive as the US and retaliate, there could be a lot of impact for other companies in the US,” said Edith Yeung, Race Capital General Partner, in an interview with Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “This is beyond impact on revenue for Intel (INTC) or Qualcomm (QCOM) or NVIDIA (NVDA).”

The US has long been a global leader in semiconductors, commanding roughly 45% to 50% market share. However, that leadership has been built on global demand for its products, with China consuming roughly 75% of semiconductors sold globally.

Chinese device makers alone accounted for roughly a quarter of global semiconductor demand in 2018, according to a study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

'More than just a preventative tool'

That innovation cycle is at risk of being picked apart, with the Biden administration’s sweeping tech controls, aimed at freezing China’s semiconductor development and dramatically limiting critical technology exports from the US

“Technology export controls can be more than just a preventative tool,” said National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, ahead of the administration’s announcements. “If implemented in a way that is robust, durable, and comprehensive, they can be a new strategic asset in the US and allied toolkit to impose costs on adversaries, and even over time degrade their battlefield capabilities.”

'A sea change' in policy

Specifically, the new measures block sales of semiconductors critical to the development of artificial intelligence, supercomputers, and other advanced technologies, unless companies receive exemptions. It also expands an existing ban to sell advanced chip-making equipment to Chinese firms.

In a broad escalation, the Biden administration’s actions also restrict US firms and citizens, including permanent residents, from supporting China’s development of advanced chips.

The restrictions announced earlier this month have already created a chilling effect.

At least 43 senior executives are American citizens working with 16 publicly listed Chinese semiconductor companies, according to the Wall Street Journal. Western firms like Dutch equipment maker ASML Holding NV have suspended American employees from working as a precaution, while they seek further clarity. What's more, Apple temporarily halted plans to use memory chips from China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. in products, according to Nikkei Asia.

“This is really a sea change in policy… the U.S. is imposing a freeze-in-place strategy toward China's indigenous chip development,” said Reva Goujon, Rhodium Group Director. “[The semiconductor sector] is an interdependent, interlocking ecosystem where all the parts kind of have to be in place for things to work to be able to upgrade to more and more advanced levels. So, if you cut the legs out from under that production cycle, you can really cause a lot of disruption, which is exactly what the US intent is.”

Impact on US chipmakers

The disruption may not be limited to Chinese firms. A 2020 study by BCG estimated that US companies could lose 18% of their global market share and 37% of their revenues over the same period if the US completely bans semiconductor companies from selling to Chinese customers.

The measures have already prompted chip equipment maker Applied Materials to cut fourth-quarter estimates for net sales by approximately $400 million. Q4 non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) adjusted diluted EPS (Earnings per Share) is expected to range from $1.54 to $1.78, compared to the prior range of $1.82 to $2.18.

While the restrictions are limited to next-generation chips now, NVIDIA, the largest US chipmaker by market value, warned in August that new licensing requirement on advanced chip shipments to China could cost the firm as much as $400 million in quarterly sales.

“There’s certainly a chance this could have a much bigger waterfall effect but I think these companies have already looked at the situation, they’re assessing it,” said Daniel Newman, Founding Partner and Principal Analyst at Futurum Research. “I’m not overly alarmed that it’s going to be the whole portfolio [of chips]... I think this is about leading the arms race for the next generation of technology in areas like supercomputing, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence.”

Containing technology 'where they need to be'

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has reiterated as much, highlighting in a recent address at Stanford University, that only “a small number of countries” are manufacturing or making tools to manufacture the highest-end semiconductors.

“We want to make sure that we keep those where they need to be,” Blinken said, without singling out China.

But Goujon argues that US firms, particularly equipment makers, face the risk of losing market share and revenue to competitors in countries that have historically had friendlier relations with the US, including Japan and South Korea. If companies there find a workaround for the Biden administration’s measures, Goujon said the new controls could end up backfiring on the US

“Foreign competitors to US [equipment makers] have an opportunity here, of course, to try to capture more market share in China if they can displace US persons and US linkages, which is possible in some areas,” she said.

“The US is applying heavy bilateral and plurilateral pressure for partners to follow its lead, and it's sending the signal that look, This package contains extraterritorial measures and we will add more if needed. But here's the window to try to basically align with our controls. So that's really going to be an important question now.”

www.cnn.com/2022/10/18/tech/us-chip-manufacturing-semicon...

The US is spending billions to boost chip manufacturing. Will it be enough?

United States does not currently have the same talent and supply chain pipeline as some Asian markets do to support a robust homegrown industry.

... the shortcomings are real. "When it comes to foundries, which are the manufacturing side of semiconductors, the U.S. has not really been a major player for many, many years," said Columbia Business School professor Dan Wang. While it very much used to be, manufacturing began migrating to Asia during the 1980s and '90s, Wang said. "One of the big reasons for this is that the cost of labor is lower, and it's just far cheaper to produce at a very massive scale, integrated circuits and chips, in those parts of the world," Wang added. Morris Chang, the founder of TSMC, said that it costs 50% more to manufacture chips in the U.S. than in Taiwan.

Now, simply having the facilities already set up to produce or expand chip manufacturing gives Asia a big advantage.

Moreover, the manufacturing of semiconductors requires a range of specialized inputs, including pure chemicals such as fluorinated polyimide, and etching gas, chip etching machines, and more. In places like Taiwan and Fukuoka, Japan, supply chains have developed where the providers of these products are located close to the semiconductor factories. There are also one or two companies that produce vital inputs and that have been trustworthy suppliers to companies in Asia for a long time. This is not yet the case in places like Arizona and Ohio, where plans to build massive chip manufacturing plants are already underway.

You also need a labor force willing and able to do the work.

In the United States, there is both a shortage of new graduates and experienced workers with the technical and engineering knowledge necessary to manufacture semiconductors.

"If we were to today, snap our fingers and have ten new fabs with the world's leading chips, we probably wouldn't have enough people to staff them," Scott Kennedy, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said. "That's the biggest bottleneck to the expansion of America's fab capacity, not capital."

Intel has tried to establish close relations with Arizona State University to recruit engineers, but it is unclear whether it and other companies building fabs in America will be able to hire enough trained engineers and technicians. If not, even the billions of dollars committed by the private and public sector may not be enough to reshore semiconductor manufacturing.

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/23/engineer-sho...

Economic future of U.S. depends on making engineering cool

Purdue University races to expand semiconductor education to fill yawning workforce gap that threatens reshoring effort

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — On a recent afternoon, an unusual group of visitors peered through a window at Purdue University students tinkering in a lab: two dozen executives from the world’s biggest semiconductor companies.

The tech leaders had traveled to the small-town campus on the Wabash River to fix one of the biggest problems that they — and the U.S. economy — face: a desperate shortage of engineers.

Leading the visitors on a tour of the high-tech lab, Engineering Professor Zhihong Chen mentioned that Purdue could really use some donated chip-making equipment as it scrambles to expand semiconductor education.

“Okay, done. We can do that,” Intel manufacturing chief Keyvan Esfarjani quickly replied. Just weeks before, his company broke ground on two massive chip factories in Ohio that aim to employ 3,000 people.

By some estimates, the United States needs at least 50,000 new semiconductor engineers over the next five years to staff all of the new factories and research labs that companies have said they plan to build with subsidies from the Chips and Science Act, a number far exceeding current graduation rates nationwide, according to Purdue.

“This is recurrently one of the top, if not the number one, long-term concerns that [chip companies] have,” Mung Chiang, Purdue’s president-elect and former engineering dean, said in an interview.

Chip companies aren’t alone in worrying about the problem — or in looking to Purdue, one of the country’s biggest engineering schools, for answers. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who is overseeing the chip subsidies program, visited campus last month to hear about the courses and labs Purdue is adding to rapidly expand semiconductor education. Several Defense Department officials also have traveled lately to Purdue, located halfway between Chicago and Indianapolis, to discuss workforce training.

Engineer shortages have long plagued the U.S. tech sector, with Google, Apple and others complaining that immigration restrictions made it difficult to find employees. They’ve spent years pushing for an expansion of the H1B visa program for highly skilled foreign workers, to little avail.

As more production migrated to Asia, fewer U.S. students studied semiconductor engineering. At the same time, the rise of social media and other software-focused companies shifted more students to those sectors, where starting salaries were often higher than in the chip business, engineers say.

By rapidly expanding chip education, Purdue is aiming to graduate 1,000 semiconductor engineers annually as soon as possible — up from perhaps 150 a year today

today, takes everything you got... wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you wanna go...True Story about a snapping turtle's journey. He tried to make his way to the canoe pond. I thwarted his efforts and instead gave him a more suitable spot in the backyard pond. The pond is in disarray but I believe the turtle prefers it that way. Cheers!

Quarteira-Loulé

www.facebook.com/HvcPhotography

A recent email from a friend in Myanmar prompted me to create something to help promote awareness of the situation there. I’d rather not make reference to the gender of my friend, as from what I have heard the crack downs are much more severe than what we hear about via the little news that is getting out of the country. I honestly hope my friend's email can not be traced back some how. It sounds like other forms of equipment such as cameras and cell phones are being confiscated in large numbers, and who knows what this repressive government would do if they read someone’s email regarding worrisome news of the situation there. The more alarming thing is the number of “disappearances” of people in the middle of the night, when it is harder for anyone to witness or record what is happening, with only the signs of disarray and violence left to tell the story in the morning. With the police driving around by day saying things such as “we have your photo, we are searching for you and you will be punished for what you have done.” And there are whispers of history repeating itself and the government crematoriums carrying out mass cremations.

The design is inspired by the words of Aung San Suu Kyi, may one day she get to that “negotiation table.”

I have been a member of CafePress since 2006 and never really used it, but decided last night that there wasn't a better time to use it and possibly help generate more awareness of this situation. www.cafepress.com/keithakelly/3817478

A friend just forwarded me this link, for those that are interested. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UqQaizM15Q

The Lost World (20th Century Fox, 1960).

youtu.be/h1CLA-gJbmA?t=5s Trailer

Irwin Allen, the producer who would go on to make the disaster film a huge success in the seventies, brought us this Saturday afternoon fodder with giant lizards posing as dinosaurs. Starring Michael Rennie, David Hedison, Claude Rains and Jill St. John.

Intended as a grand sci-fi/fantasy epic remake of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel. The first film adaptation, shot in 1925, was a milestone in many ways, but movie making and special effects had come a long way in 35 years. Irwin Allen's Lost World (LW) & 20th Century Fox version was derailed on the way to greatness, but managed to still be a respectable, (if more modest) A-film. Allen's screenplay followed the book fairly well, telling of Professor Challenger's expedition to a remote plateau in the Amazon upon which dinosaurs still lived. Aside from the paleontological presumptions in the premise, there is little "science" in The Lost World. Nonetheless, dinosaur movies have traditionally been lumped into the sci-fi genre.

Synopsis

When his plane lands in London, crusty old professor George Edward Challenger is besieged by reporters questioning him about his latest expedition to the headwaters of the Amazon River. After the irascible Challenger strikes reporter Ed Malone on the head with his umbrella, Jennifer Holmes, the daughter of Ed's employer, Stuart Holmes, offers the injured reporter a ride into town. That evening, Jenny is escorted by Lord John Roxton, an adventurer and big game hunter, to Challenger's lecture at the Zoological Institute, and Ed invites them to sit with him. When Challenger claims to have seen live dinosaurs, his colleague Professor Summerlee scoffs and asks for evidence. Explaining that his photographs of the creatures were lost when his boat overturned, Challenger invites Summerlee to accompany him on a new expedition to the "lost world," and asks for volunteers. When Roxton raises his hand, Jenny insists on going with him, but she is rejected by Challenger because she is a woman. Ed is given a spot after Holmes offers to fund the expedition if the reporter is included. The four then fly to the Amazon, where they are met by Costa, their guide and Manuel Gomez, their helicopter pilot. Arriving unexpectedly, Jenny and her younger brother David insist on joining them. Unable to arrange transportation back to the United States, Challenger reluctantly agrees to take them along. The next day, they take off for the lost world and land on an isolated plateau inhabited by dinosaurs. That evening, a dinosaur stomps out of the jungle, sending them scurrying for cover. After the beast destroys the helicopter and radio, the group ventures inland. When one of the creatures bellows threateningly, they flee, and in their haste, Challenger and Ed slip and tumble down a hillside, where they encounter a native girl. The girl runs into the jungle, but Ed follows and captures her. They then all take refuge in a cave, where Roxton, who has been making disparaging remarks about Jenny's desire to marry him solely for his title, angers Ed. Ed lunges at Roxton, pushing him to the ground, where he finds a diary written by Burton White, an adventurer who hired Roxton three years earlier to lead him to the lost diamonds of Eldorado. Roxton then admits that he never met White and his party because he was delayed by a dalliance with a woman, thus abandoning them to certain death. Gomez angrily snaps that his good friend Santiago perished in the expedition. That night, Costa tries to molest the native girl, and David comes to her rescue and begins to communicate with her through sign language. After Gomez goes to investigate some movement he spotted in the vegetation, he calls for help, and when Roxton runs out of the cave, a gunshot from an unseen assailant is fired, nearly wounding Roxton and sending the girl scurrying into the jungle. Soon after, Ed and Jenny stray from camp and are pursued by a dinosaur, and after taking refuge on some cliffs, watch in horror as their stalker becomes locked in combat with another prehistoric creature and tumbles over the cliffs into the waters below. Upon returning to camp, they discover it deserted, their belongings in disarray. As David stumbles out from some rocks to report they were attacked by a tribe of natives, the cannibals return and imprison them in a cave with the others. As the drums beat relentlessly, signaling their deaths, the native girl reappears and motions for them to follow her through a secret passageway that leads to the cave in which Burton White lives, completely sightless. After confirming that all in his expedition perished, White tells them of a volcanic passageway that will lead them off the plateau, but warns that they must first pass through the cave of fire. Cautioning them that the natives plan to sacrifice them, White declares that their only chance of survival is to slip through the cave and then seal it with a boulder. After giving them directions to the cave, White asks them to take the girl along. As the earth, on the verge of a volcanic eruption, quakes, they set off through the Graveyard of the Damned, a vast cavern littered with dinosaur skeletons, the victims of the deadly sulfurous gases below. Pursued by the ferocious natives, Roxton takes the lead as they inch their way across a narrow ledge above the molten lava. After escaping the natives, they jam the cave shut with a boulder and, passing a dam of molten lava, finally reach the escape passage. At its mouth is a pile of giant diamonds and a dinosaur egg. As Costa heaps the diamonds into his hat, Challenger fondles the egg and Gomez pulls a gun and announces that Roxton must die in exchange for the death of Santiago, Gomez' brother. Acting quickly, Ed hurls the diamonds at Gomez, throwing him off balance and discharging his gun. The gunshot awakens a creature slumbering in the roiling waters below. After the beast snatches Costa and eats him alive, Ed tries to dislodge the dam, sending a few scorching rocks tumbling down onto the monster. Feeling responsible for the peril of the group, Gomez sacrifices his life by using his body as a lever to dislodge the dam, covering the creature with oozing lava. As the cave begins to crumble from the impending eruption, the group hurries to safety. Just then, the volcano explodes, destroying the lost world. After Roxton hands Ed a handful of diamonds he has saved as a wedding gift for him and Jenny, Challenger proudly displays his egg, which then hatches, revealing a baby dinosaur. The End.

The 50s had seen several examples of the dinosaur sub-genre. LW is one of the more lavish ones, owing to color by DeLuxe and CinemaScope. The A-level actors help too. Claude Rains plays the flamboyant Challenger. Michael Rennie plays Roxton, perhaps a bit too cooly. Jill St. John and Vitina Marcus do well as the customary eye candy. David Hedison as Malone and Fernando Lamas as Gomez round out the bill.

The first film version of LW was a silent movie shot in 1925: screenplay by Marion Fairfax. The film featured stop-motion animated dinosaurs by a young Willis O'Brien. Fairfax followed Doyle's text, but Fairfax added a young woman to the team, Paula White. Ostensibly trying to find her father from the first failed expedition, she provided the love triangle interest between Malone and Roxton.

Allen's screenplay tried to stick to Doyle's text as much as Hollywood would allow. It carried on Fairfax's invention of the young woman member of the group as triangle fodder. Fairfax had Doyle's ape men (ape man) but omitted the native humans. Allen had the natives, but no ape men. Allen revived the Gomez/revenge subplot, which Fairfax skipped. Doyle's story had Challenger bringing back a pterodactyl. Fairfax made it a brontosaur who rampaged through London streets (spawning a popular trope). Allen suggested the baby dinosaur traveling to London.

Willis O'Brien pitched 20th Century Fox in the late 50s, to do a quality remake of LW. He had gained much experience in the intervening 35 years, so his stop-motion dinosaurs were to be the real stars. Fox bass liked the idea, but by the time the ball started rolling, there was trouble in studioland. Fox's grand epic Cleopatra was underway, but was already 5 million dollars over budget. Cleo would nearly sink 20th Century Fox when it was finally released in 1963. To stay afloat, all other Fox films' budgets were slashed. Allen could no longer afford the grand O'Brien stop-motion.

Allen's production is often criticized for its "cheap" dinosaurs, which were live monitor lizards and alligators with fins and plates and horns glue onto them. (more on that below) These were already a bit cheesy when used in the 1940 film One Million B.C.. O'Brien is still listed on the credits as "Effects Technician," but all Allen could afford was lizards with glued on extras. Somewhat amusingly, the script still refers to them as brontosaurs and T-Rexes.

The character of Jennifer Holmes starts out promising. She's a self-assured to the edges of pushy, and is said to be able to out shoot and out ride any man. Yet, when she gets to the Amazon jungle, she's little more than Jungle Barbie, dressed in girlie clothes and screaming frequently. She even does the typical Hollywood trip-and-fall when chased by the dinosaur, so that a man must save her.

Bottom line? FW is a finer example of the not-quite-sci-fi dinosaur sub-genre. The actors are top drawer, even if some of their acting is a bit flat. Nonetheless, FW is a fair adaptation of Doyle's

classic adventure novel, given the constraints of Hollywood culture.

The Movie Club Annals … Review

The Lost World 1960

Introduction

There was absolutely nothing wrong with Irwin Allen's 1960 production of The Lost World. Nothing. It was perfect in every way. I therefore find myself in the unique and unfamiliar position of having to write a rave review about a Movie Club movie that was entirely devoid of flaws.

Faced with such a confounding task, I half-heartedly considered faking a bad review, then praying my obvious deceptions would go unnoticed. But the patent transparency of my scheme convinced me to abandon it posthaste. After all, leveling concocted criticisms at such an unassailable masterpiece would be a futile and tiresome exercise, the pretense of which would escape nary a semi-cognizant soul.

Thus, having retreated from my would-be descent into literary intrigue, I start this review in earnest by borrowing a quote from the legendary Shelly Winters, spoken during the 1972 filming of Irwin Allen's The Poseidon Adventure:

"I'm ready for my close up now, Mr. Allen.” Shelly Winters, 1972

Review

A bit of research into the casting choices of Irwin Allen, who wrote, produced, and directed The Lost World, begins to reveal the genius behind the virtuosity.

The first accolades go to Irwin for his casting of Vitina Marcus, the immaculately groomed Saks 5th Avenue cave girl with exquisite taste in makeup, jewelry, and cave-wear. No finer cave girl ever graced a feature film.

Vitina Marcus, as The Cave Girl

She was the picture of prehistoric glamour, gliding across the silver screen in her designer bearskin mini-pelt, her flawless coiffure showing no signs of muss from the traditional courting rituals of the day, her perfect teeth the envy of even the most prototypical Osmond. Even her nouveau-opposable thumbs retained their manicure, in spite of the oft-disagreeable duties that frequently befell her as an effete member of the tribal gentry.

By no means just another Neanderthal harlot, Vitina had a wealth of talent to augment her exterior virtues. Her virtuoso interpretation of a comely cave girl in The Lost World certainly didn't escape the attention Irwin Allen. In fact, he was so taken with her performance that he later engaged her services again, casting her as the Native Girl in episode 2.26 of his Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea TV series.

Leery of potential typecasting, Vitina went on to obtain roles with greater depth and more sophisticated dialogue. This is evidenced by the great departure she took from her previous roles when she next portrayed the part of Sarit, a female barbarian, in episode 1.24 of Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel TV series.

Vitina, as Sarit

Vitina's efforts to avoid typecasting paid off in spades, as she was soon rewarded with the distinctive role of Girl, a female Tarzanesque she-beast character, in episode 3.14 of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV series.

Lured back from the U.N.C.L.E. set by Irwin Allen, Vitina was next cast in the role of Athena (a.k.a. Lorelei), the green space girl with the inverted lucite salad bowl hat, in episodes 2.2 and 2.16 of the revered Lost in Space TV series.

And with this, Vitina reached the pinnacle of her career. For her many unparalleled displays of thespian pageantry, she leaves us forever in her debt as she exits the stage.

For those who would still question the genius of Irwin Allen, I defy you to find a better casting choice for the character of Lord John Roxton than that of Michael Rennie. Mr. Rennie, who earlier starred as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still, went on to even greater heights, starring as The Keeper in episodes 1.16 and 1.17 of the revered Lost in Space TV series. Throughout his distinguished career, Mr. Rennie often played highly cerebral characters with

unique names, such as Garth A7, Tribolet, Hasani, Rama Kahn, Hertz, and Dirk. How befitting that his most prolific roles came to him through a man named Irwin, a highly cerebral character with a unique name.

The selection of David Hedison to play Ed Malone was yet another example of Irwin's uncanny foresight. Soon after casting him in The Lost World, Irwin paved Mr. Hedison's path to immortality by casting him as a lead character in his Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea TV series. Although Voyage ended in 1968, Mr. Hedison departed the show with a solid resume and a bright future.

In the decades following Voyage, Mr. Hedison has been a veritable fixture on the small screen, appearing in such socially influential programs as The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Knight Rider, The Fall Guy and The A Team. Mr. Hedison's early collaborations with Irwin Allen have left him never wanting for a day's work in Hollywood, a boon to the legions of discerning fans who continue to savor his inspiring prime time depictions.

Irwin selected Fernando Lamas to play Manuel Gomez, the honorable and tortured soul of The Lost World who needlessly sacrificed himself at the end of the movie to save all the others. To get a feel for how important a casting decision he was to Irwin, just look at the pertinent experience Mr. Lamas brought to the table:

Irwin knew that such credentials could cause him to lose the services of Mr. Lamas to another project, and he took great pains to woo him onto the set of The Lost World. And even though Mr. Lamas never appeared in the revered Lost in Space TV series, his talent is not lost on us.

Jay Novello was selected by Irwin Allen to play Costa, the consummate Cuban coward who perpetually betrays everyone around him in the name of greed. In pursuing his craven calling, Mr. Novello went on to play Xandros, the Greek Slave in Atlantis, The Lost Continent, as well as countless other roles as a coward.

Although Mr. Novella never appeared in the revered Lost in Space TV series, his already long and distinguished career as a coward made him the obvious choice for Irwin when the need for an experienced malingerer arose.

Jill St. John was Irwin's pick to play Jennifer Holmes, the "other" glamour girl in The Lost World. Not to be upstaged by glamour-cave-girl Vitina Marcus, Jill played the trump card and broke out the pink go-go boots and skin-tight Capri pants, the perfect Amazonian summertime jungle wear.

Complete with a perfect hairdo, a killer wardrobe, a little yip-yip dog named Frosty, and all the other trappings of a wealthy and pampered prehistoric society, Jill's sensational allure rivaled even that of a certain cave girl appearing in the same film.

With the atmosphere rife for an on-set rivalry between Jill and Vitina, Irwin still managed to keep the peace, proving that he was as skilled a diplomat as he was a director.

Claude Rains, as Professor George Edward Challenger

And our cup runneth over, as Irwin cast Claude Rains to portray Professor George Edward Challenger. His eminence, Mr. Rains is an entity of such immeasurable virtue that he is not in need of monotonous praise from the likes of me.

I respectfully acknowledge the appearance of Mr. Rains because failure to do so would be an unforgivable travesty. But I say nothing more on the subject, lest I state something so obvious and uninspiring as to insult the intelligence of enlightened reader.

Irwin's casting of the cavemen mustn't be overlooked, for their infallibly realistic portrayals are unmatched within the Pleistocene Epoch genre of film. Such meticulous attention to detail is what separates Irwin Allen from lesser filmmakers, whose pale imitations of his work only further to underscore the point.

To be sure, it is possible to come away with the unfounded suspicion that the cavemen are really just a bunch of old white guys from the bar at the local Elks lodge. But Irwin was an absolute stickler for authenticity, and would never have allowed the use of such tawdry measures to taint his prehistoric magnum opus.

In truth, Irwin's on-screen cavemen were borne of many grueling years of anthropological research, so the explanation for their somewhat modern, pseudo-caucasian appearance lies obviously elsewhere. And in keeping with true Irwin Allen tradition, that explanation will not be offered here.

1964 - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Season One, Episode 7 - "Turn Back the Clock", featuring Vitina Marcus as The Native Girl. Produced by Irwin Allen.

And then there was Irwin Allen's masterful handling of the reptilian facets of The Lost World, most notably his inimitable casting of the dinosaurs. His dinosaurs were so realistic, so eerily lifelike, that they almost looked like living, breathing garden variety lizards with dinosaur fins and horns glued to their backs and heads.

The less enlightened viewer might even suppose this to be true, that Irwin's dinosaurs were indeed merely live specimens of lizards, donned in Jurassic-era finery, vastly magnified, and retro-fitted into The Lost World via some penny-wise means of cinematic trickery.

But those of us in the know certainly know better than that, as we are privy to some otherwise unpublished information about The Lost World. The lifelike appearance of the Irwin's dinosaurs can be attributed to a wholly overlooked and fiendishly cunning approach to the art of delusion, which is that the dinosaurs didn't just look real, they were real.

While the world abounds with middling minds who cannot fathom such a reality, we must follow Irwin's benevolent leanings and temper our natural feelings of contempt for this unfortunate assemblage of pedestrian lowbrows. In spite of Irwin's superior intellect, he never felt disdain toward the masses that constituted his audiences. He simply capitalized on their unaffectedness, and in the process recounted the benefits of exploiting the intellectually bereft for personal gain.

The purpose of all this analysis, of course, is to place an exclamation point on the genius of Irwin Allen, the formation of his dinosaur exposé being a premier example. Note how he mindfully manipulates the expectations of his unsuspecting audience, compelling them to probe the dinosaurs for any signs of man-made chicanery. Then, at the palatial moment when the dinosaurs make their entry, he guilefully supplants the anticipated display of faux reptilia with that of the bona fide article.

Upon first witnessing the de facto dinosaurs, some in the audience think they've been had, and indeed they have. Irwin, in engineering his masterful ruse, had used reality as his medium to convey the illusion of artifice. His audience, in essence, was blinded by the truth. It was the immaculate deception, and none but Irwin Allen could have conceived it.

Indeed, the matter of where the live dinosaurs came from has been conspicuously absent from this discussion, as the Irwinian technique of fine film making strongly discourages the practice of squandering time on extraneous justifications and other such trite means of redundant apologia. For the benefit of the incessantly curious, however, just keep in mind that Irwin Allen wrote and produced The Time Tunnel TV Series, a fact that should provide some fair insight into his modis operandi.

Carl R.

The Lost World (20th Century Fox, 1960).

youtu.be/h1CLA-gJbmA?t=5s Trailer

Irwin Allen, the producer who would go on to make the disaster film a huge success in the seventies, brought us this Saturday afternoon fodder with giant lizards posing as dinosaurs. Starring Michael Rennie, David Hedison, Claude Rains and Jill St. John.

Intended as a grand sci-fi/fantasy epic remake of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel. The first film adaptation, shot in 1925, was a milestone in many ways, but movie making and special effects had come a long way in 35 years. Irwin Allen's Lost World (LW) & 20th Century Fox version was derailed on the way to greatness, but managed to still be a respectable, (if more modest) A-film. Allen's screenplay followed the book fairly well, telling of Professor Challenger's expedition to a remote plateau in the Amazon upon which dinosaurs still lived. Aside from the paleontological presumptions in the premise, there is little "science" in The Lost World. Nonetheless, dinosaur movies have traditionally been lumped into the sci-fi genre.

Synopsis

When his plane lands in London, crusty old professor George Edward Challenger is besieged by reporters questioning him about his latest expedition to the headwaters of the Amazon River. After the irascible Challenger strikes reporter Ed Malone on the head with his umbrella, Jennifer Holmes, the daughter of Ed's employer, Stuart Holmes, offers the injured reporter a ride into town. That evening, Jenny is escorted by Lord John Roxton, an adventurer and big game hunter, to Challenger's lecture at the Zoological Institute, and Ed invites them to sit with him. When Challenger claims to have seen live dinosaurs, his colleague Professor Summerlee scoffs and asks for evidence. Explaining that his photographs of the creatures were lost when his boat overturned, Challenger invites Summerlee to accompany him on a new expedition to the "lost world," and asks for volunteers. When Roxton raises his hand, Jenny insists on going with him, but she is rejected by Challenger because she is a woman. Ed is given a spot after Holmes offers to fund the expedition if the reporter is included. The four then fly to the Amazon, where they are met by Costa, their guide and Manuel Gomez, their helicopter pilot. Arriving unexpectedly, Jenny and her younger brother David insist on joining them. Unable to arrange transportation back to the United States, Challenger reluctantly agrees to take them along. The next day, they take off for the lost world and land on an isolated plateau inhabited by dinosaurs. That evening, a dinosaur stomps out of the jungle, sending them scurrying for cover. After the beast destroys the helicopter and radio, the group ventures inland. When one of the creatures bellows threateningly, they flee, and in their haste, Challenger and Ed slip and tumble down a hillside, where they encounter a native girl. The girl runs into the jungle, but Ed follows and captures her. They then all take refuge in a cave, where Roxton, who has been making disparaging remarks about Jenny's desire to marry him solely for his title, angers Ed. Ed lunges at Roxton, pushing him to the ground, where he finds a diary written by Burton White, an adventurer who hired Roxton three years earlier to lead him to the lost diamonds of Eldorado. Roxton then admits that he never met White and his party because he was delayed by a dalliance with a woman, thus abandoning them to certain death. Gomez angrily snaps that his good friend Santiago perished in the expedition. That night, Costa tries to molest the native girl, and David comes to her rescue and begins to communicate with her through sign language. After Gomez goes to investigate some movement he spotted in the vegetation, he calls for help, and when Roxton runs out of the cave, a gunshot from an unseen assailant is fired, nearly wounding Roxton and sending the girl scurrying into the jungle. Soon after, Ed and Jenny stray from camp and are pursued by a dinosaur, and after taking refuge on some cliffs, watch in horror as their stalker becomes locked in combat with another prehistoric creature and tumbles over the cliffs into the waters below. Upon returning to camp, they discover it deserted, their belongings in disarray. As David stumbles out from some rocks to report they were attacked by a tribe of natives, the cannibals return and imprison them in a cave with the others. As the drums beat relentlessly, signaling their deaths, the native girl reappears and motions for them to follow her through a secret passageway that leads to the cave in which Burton White lives, completely sightless. After confirming that all in his expedition perished, White tells them of a volcanic passageway that will lead them off the plateau, but warns that they must first pass through the cave of fire. Cautioning them that the natives plan to sacrifice them, White declares that their only chance of survival is to slip through the cave and then seal it with a boulder. After giving them directions to the cave, White asks them to take the girl along. As the earth, on the verge of a volcanic eruption, quakes, they set off through the Graveyard of the Damned, a vast cavern littered with dinosaur skeletons, the victims of the deadly sulfurous gases below. Pursued by the ferocious natives, Roxton takes the lead as they inch their way across a narrow ledge above the molten lava. After escaping the natives, they jam the cave shut with a boulder and, passing a dam of molten lava, finally reach the escape passage. At its mouth is a pile of giant diamonds and a dinosaur egg. As Costa heaps the diamonds into his hat, Challenger fondles the egg and Gomez pulls a gun and announces that Roxton must die in exchange for the death of Santiago, Gomez' brother. Acting quickly, Ed hurls the diamonds at Gomez, throwing him off balance and discharging his gun. The gunshot awakens a creature slumbering in the roiling waters below. After the beast snatches Costa and eats him alive, Ed tries to dislodge the dam, sending a few scorching rocks tumbling down onto the monster. Feeling responsible for the peril of the group, Gomez sacrifices his life by using his body as a lever to dislodge the dam, covering the creature with oozing lava. As the cave begins to crumble from the impending eruption, the group hurries to safety. Just then, the volcano explodes, destroying the lost world. After Roxton hands Ed a handful of diamonds he has saved as a wedding gift for him and Jenny, Challenger proudly displays his egg, which then hatches, revealing a baby dinosaur. The End.

The 50s had seen several examples of the dinosaur sub-genre. LW is one of the more lavish ones, owing to color by DeLuxe and CinemaScope. The A-level actors help too. Claude Rains plays the flamboyant Challenger. Michael Rennie plays Roxton, perhaps a bit too cooly. Jill St. John and Vitina Marcus do well as the customary eye candy. David Hedison as Malone and Fernando Lamas as Gomez round out the bill.

The first film version of LW was a silent movie shot in 1925: screenplay by Marion Fairfax. The film featured stop-motion animated dinosaurs by a young Willis O'Brien. Fairfax followed Doyle's text, but Fairfax added a young woman to the team, Paula White. Ostensibly trying to find her father from the first failed expedition, she provided the love triangle interest between Malone and Roxton.

Allen's screenplay tried to stick to Doyle's text as much as Hollywood would allow. It carried on Fairfax's invention of the young woman member of the group as triangle fodder. Fairfax had Doyle's ape men (ape man) but omitted the native humans. Allen had the natives, but no ape men. Allen revived the Gomez/revenge subplot, which Fairfax skipped. Doyle's story had Challenger bringing back a pterodactyl. Fairfax made it a brontosaur who rampaged through London streets (spawning a popular trope). Allen suggested the baby dinosaur traveling to London.

Willis O'Brien pitched 20th Century Fox in the late 50s, to do a quality remake of LW. He had gained much experience in the intervening 35 years, so his stop-motion dinosaurs were to be the real stars. Fox bass liked the idea, but by the time the ball started rolling, there was trouble in studioland. Fox's grand epic Cleopatra was underway, but was already 5 million dollars over budget. Cleo would nearly sink 20th Century Fox when it was finally released in 1963. To stay afloat, all other Fox films' budgets were slashed. Allen could no longer afford the grand O'Brien stop-motion.

Allen's production is often criticized for its "cheap" dinosaurs, which were live monitor lizards and alligators with fins and plates and horns glue onto them. (more on that below) These were already a bit cheesy when used in the 1940 film One Million B.C.. O'Brien is still listed on the credits as "Effects Technician," but all Allen could afford was lizards with glued on extras. Somewhat amusingly, the script still refers to them as brontosaurs and T-Rexes.

The character of Jennifer Holmes starts out promising. She's a self-assured to the edges of pushy, and is said to be able to out shoot and out ride any man. Yet, when she gets to the Amazon jungle, she's little more than Jungle Barbie, dressed in girlie clothes and screaming frequently. She even does the typical Hollywood trip-and-fall when chased by the dinosaur, so that a man must save her.

Bottom line? FW is a finer example of the not-quite-sci-fi dinosaur sub-genre. The actors are top drawer, even if some of their acting is a bit flat. Nonetheless, FW is a fair adaptation of Doyle's

classic adventure novel, given the constraints of Hollywood culture.

The Movie Club Annals … Review

The Lost World 1960

Introduction

There was absolutely nothing wrong with Irwin Allen's 1960 production of The Lost World. Nothing. It was perfect in every way. I therefore find myself in the unique and unfamiliar position of having to write a rave review about a Movie Club movie that was entirely devoid of flaws.

Faced with such a confounding task, I half-heartedly considered faking a bad review, then praying my obvious deceptions would go unnoticed. But the patent transparency of my scheme convinced me to abandon it posthaste. After all, leveling concocted criticisms at such an unassailable masterpiece would be a futile and tiresome exercise, the pretense of which would escape nary a semi-cognizant soul.

Thus, having retreated from my would-be descent into literary intrigue, I start this review in earnest by borrowing a quote from the legendary Shelly Winters, spoken during the 1972 filming of Irwin Allen's The Poseidon Adventure:

"I'm ready for my close up now, Mr. Allen.” Shelly Winters, 1972

Review

A bit of research into the casting choices of Irwin Allen, who wrote, produced, and directed The Lost World, begins to reveal the genius behind the virtuosity.

The first accolades go to Irwin for his casting of Vitina Marcus, the immaculately groomed Saks 5th Avenue cave girl with exquisite taste in makeup, jewelry, and cave-wear. No finer cave girl ever graced a feature film.

Vitina Marcus, as The Cave Girl

She was the picture of prehistoric glamour, gliding across the silver screen in her designer bearskin mini-pelt, her flawless coiffure showing no signs of muss from the traditional courting rituals of the day, her perfect teeth the envy of even the most prototypical Osmond. Even her nouveau-opposable thumbs retained their manicure, in spite of the oft-disagreeable duties that frequently befell her as an effete member of the tribal gentry.

By no means just another Neanderthal harlot, Vitina had a wealth of talent to augment her exterior virtues. Her virtuoso interpretation of a comely cave girl in The Lost World certainly didn't escape the attention Irwin Allen. In fact, he was so taken with her performance that he later engaged her services again, casting her as the Native Girl in episode 2.26 of his Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea TV series.

Leery of potential typecasting, Vitina went on to obtain roles with greater depth and more sophisticated dialogue. This is evidenced by the great departure she took from her previous roles when she next portrayed the part of Sarit, a female barbarian, in episode 1.24 of Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel TV series.

Vitina, as Sarit

Vitina's efforts to avoid typecasting paid off in spades, as she was soon rewarded with the distinctive role of Girl, a female Tarzanesque she-beast character, in episode 3.14 of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV series.

Lured back from the U.N.C.L.E. set by Irwin Allen, Vitina was next cast in the role of Athena (a.k.a. Lorelei), the green space girl with the inverted lucite salad bowl hat, in episodes 2.2 and 2.16 of the revered Lost in Space TV series.

And with this, Vitina reached the pinnacle of her career. For her many unparalleled displays of thespian pageantry, she leaves us forever in her debt as she exits the stage.

For those who would still question the genius of Irwin Allen, I defy you to find a better casting choice for the character of Lord John Roxton than that of Michael Rennie. Mr. Rennie, who earlier starred as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still, went on to even greater heights, starring as The Keeper in episodes 1.16 and 1.17 of the revered Lost in Space TV series. Throughout his distinguished career, Mr. Rennie often played highly cerebral characters with

unique names, such as Garth A7, Tribolet, Hasani, Rama Kahn, Hertz, and Dirk. How befitting that his most prolific roles came to him through a man named Irwin, a highly cerebral character with a unique name.

The selection of David Hedison to play Ed Malone was yet another example of Irwin's uncanny foresight. Soon after casting him in The Lost World, Irwin paved Mr. Hedison's path to immortality by casting him as a lead character in his Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea TV series. Although Voyage ended in 1968, Mr. Hedison departed the show with a solid resume and a bright future.

In the decades following Voyage, Mr. Hedison has been a veritable fixture on the small screen, appearing in such socially influential programs as The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Knight Rider, The Fall Guy and The A Team. Mr. Hedison's early collaborations with Irwin Allen have left him never wanting for a day's work in Hollywood, a boon to the legions of discerning fans who continue to savor his inspiring prime time depictions.

Irwin selected Fernando Lamas to play Manuel Gomez, the honorable and tortured soul of The Lost World who needlessly sacrificed himself at the end of the movie to save all the others. To get a feel for how important a casting decision he was to Irwin, just look at the pertinent experience Mr. Lamas brought to the table:

Irwin knew that such credentials could cause him to lose the services of Mr. Lamas to another project, and he took great pains to woo him onto the set of The Lost World. And even though Mr. Lamas never appeared in the revered Lost in Space TV series, his talent is not lost on us.

Jay Novello was selected by Irwin Allen to play Costa, the consummate Cuban coward who perpetually betrays everyone around him in the name of greed. In pursuing his craven calling, Mr. Novello went on to play Xandros, the Greek Slave in Atlantis, The Lost Continent, as well as countless other roles as a coward.

Although Mr. Novella never appeared in the revered Lost in Space TV series, his already long and distinguished career as a coward made him the obvious choice for Irwin when the need for an experienced malingerer arose.

Jill St. John was Irwin's pick to play Jennifer Holmes, the "other" glamour girl in The Lost World. Not to be upstaged by glamour-cave-girl Vitina Marcus, Jill played the trump card and broke out the pink go-go boots and skin-tight Capri pants, the perfect Amazonian summertime jungle wear.

Complete with a perfect hairdo, a killer wardrobe, a little yip-yip dog named Frosty, and all the other trappings of a wealthy and pampered prehistoric society, Jill's sensational allure rivaled even that of a certain cave girl appearing in the same film.

With the atmosphere rife for an on-set rivalry between Jill and Vitina, Irwin still managed to keep the peace, proving that he was as skilled a diplomat as he was a director.

Claude Rains, as Professor George Edward Challenger

And our cup runneth over, as Irwin cast Claude Rains to portray Professor George Edward Challenger. His eminence, Mr. Rains is an entity of such immeasurable virtue that he is not in need of monotonous praise from the likes of me.

I respectfully acknowledge the appearance of Mr. Rains because failure to do so would be an unforgivable travesty. But I say nothing more on the subject, lest I state something so obvious and uninspiring as to insult the intelligence of enlightened reader.

Irwin's casting of the cavemen mustn't be overlooked, for their infallibly realistic portrayals are unmatched within the Pleistocene Epoch genre of film. Such meticulous attention to detail is what separates Irwin Allen from lesser filmmakers, whose pale imitations of his work only further to underscore the point.

To be sure, it is possible to come away with the unfounded suspicion that the cavemen are really just a bunch of old white guys from the bar at the local Elks lodge. But Irwin was an absolute stickler for authenticity, and would never have allowed the use of such tawdry measures to taint his prehistoric magnum opus.

In truth, Irwin's on-screen cavemen were borne of many grueling years of anthropological research, so the explanation for their somewhat modern, pseudo-caucasian appearance lies obviously elsewhere. And in keeping with true Irwin Allen tradition, that explanation will not be offered here.

1964 - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Season One, Episode 7 - "Turn Back the Clock", featuring Vitina Marcus as The Native Girl. Produced by Irwin Allen.

And then there was Irwin Allen's masterful handling of the reptilian facets of The Lost World, most notably his inimitable casting of the dinosaurs. His dinosaurs were so realistic, so eerily lifelike, that they almost looked like living, breathing garden variety lizards with dinosaur fins and horns glued to their backs and heads.

The less enlightened viewer might even suppose this to be true, that Irwin's dinosaurs were indeed merely live specimens of lizards, donned in Jurassic-era finery, vastly magnified, and retro-fitted into The Lost World via some penny-wise means of cinematic trickery.

But those of us in the know certainly know better than that, as we are privy to some otherwise unpublished information about The Lost World. The lifelike appearance of the Irwin's dinosaurs can be attributed to a wholly overlooked and fiendishly cunning approach to the art of delusion, which is that the dinosaurs didn't just look real, they were real.

While the world abounds with middling minds who cannot fathom such a reality, we must follow Irwin's benevolent leanings and temper our natural feelings of contempt for this unfortunate assemblage of pedestrian lowbrows. In spite of Irwin's superior intellect, he never felt disdain toward the masses that constituted his audiences. He simply capitalized on their unaffectedness, and in the process recounted the benefits of exploiting the intellectually bereft for personal gain.

The purpose of all this analysis, of course, is to place an exclamation point on the genius of Irwin Allen, the formation of his dinosaur exposé being a premier example. Note how he mindfully manipulates the expectations of his unsuspecting audience, compelling them to probe the dinosaurs for any signs of man-made chicanery. Then, at the palatial moment when the dinosaurs make their entry, he guilefully supplants the anticipated display of faux reptilia with that of the bona fide article.

Upon first witnessing the de facto dinosaurs, some in the audience think they've been had, and indeed they have. Irwin, in engineering his masterful ruse, had used reality as his medium to convey the illusion of artifice. His audience, in essence, was blinded by the truth. It was the immaculate deception, and none but Irwin Allen could have conceived it.

Indeed, the matter of where the live dinosaurs came from has been conspicuously absent from this discussion, as the Irwinian technique of fine film making strongly discourages the practice of squandering time on extraneous justifications and other such trite means of redundant apologia. For the benefit of the incessantly curious, however, just keep in mind that Irwin Allen wrote and produced The Time Tunnel TV Series, a fact that should provide some fair insight into his modis operandi.

Carl R.

My studio has been in disarray for a few months now. I finally had time to redress most of my pullips and rearrange things so I could display the new additions I got over the holidays.

"..and the cathedral will be more packed with sand, than space is with stars." (James Jeans)

Ants have made their home under the asphalt driveway apron next door, and after a couple of rain-free days, they have been busy rebuilding their little mounds. To me, they resembled a tiny constellation of galaxies in a sea of stars..

Or maybe somebody spilled a box of mini donuts..

But I loved the quote illustrating the vastness of space. It's hard to imagine, when we look up and there's not an inch of sky that's not filled with stars and galaxies. And since we can only see a tiny, tiny fraction the stars that are actually there, it's hard to imagine how stars don't crash into one another every night.

Hell, we poor humans can't even imagine how big our own solar system is, or how far it is between planets, even though we can see a few of them with our naked eye. How can we imagine how sparsely the universe must be populated?

We pretty much know for sure now that although there may be bacteria growing somewhere on the moons of Jupiter, or deep in crevices on Mars, there are no hidden civilizations on Venus, no parties being thrown among the rings of Saturn..

Oh well... It's probably just as well, with our immigration policy in disarray as it is right now. We have time to work things out before anyone lands on the White House lawn, demanding amnesty. Lots of time..

In the far reaches of northern Scotland, within a village where time meanders at its own tranquil pace, a series of images unfolds, painting a tableau of life's relentless march amidst the shadows of climate's dismay and the distant rumbles of war that threaten to engulf Europe. It is a Wednesday evening, draped in the quietude of rainfall, a scene reminiscent of an Edward Hopper collection—imbued with solitude, emptiness, yet a profound continuance.

A Poem:

In this hamlet 'neath Scottish skies so wide,

Where the rains whisper and the winds confide,

Looms the spectre of a world in disarray,

Yet within these bounds, life finds its way.

Upon the cusp of night, shadows merge and dance,

In the pub's warm glow, eyes steal a glance.

The hearth's soft crackle, a comforting song,

In this northern retreat, where hearts belong.

The world outside may churn and roar,

With climates wracked and the drums of war.

Yet here we stand, in this time-suspended place,

Where tomorrow's worries are but a trace.

The local pub, our living room, our sphere,

A sanctuary from doubt, from dread, from fear.

We'll return come dusk, as sure as the tide,

In the rhythm of the ordinary, we take pride.

For what are we, but passengers in time,

Through days mundane, through nights sublime?

The question lingers, in the air, it floats,

Is this all there is? In whispers, it denotes.

Yet, as we stand 'neath the gentle pour,

We find beauty in the repeat, in the encore.

For in these moments, life's essence we distill,

In the quiet of the village, in the peace, so still.

A Haiku:

Rain veils the night's face,

Quiet pub bids farewell—

Life's quiet march on.

A bit of an internal debate today: the north of The Netherlands is in total disarray because of rather extreme weather conditions and that would normally call for a face-down in the midst of it. It's not extremely cold, but there is so much ice that no kind of moving (except on one's behind) possible. People are literally iceskating (fast and professionally) on country roads. It was impossible for me to get to work and therefore it is equally impossible to get somewhere photogenic enough for a face-down.

Plus, I've been excited about uploading this ever since taking it, because this was so much fun.

Bit of a 'Where's Wally' going on, but look way down, in front of the screen. Another one with 'ghosts' - funny how I would not know how to consciously do it but now I've had three accidental ghost shots in a month. I love how from the screen, even though you can't read it, it's immediately clear (to many of us) that this is Star Wars. I am once again in awe of Jacco's face-down ethic: he was already totally up for it before the movie started, with 50+ people looking at him. I asked him to wait until after because I wanted a cleaner shot plus I didn't want people to think I was one of those people that tapes movies in theatres and to a regular person my tripod setup might look half-professional. Plus, I must admit it: I felt uncomfortable. Yes, one of the admins of this group feels more uncomfortable than her husband who only got FDT as a sort of nuptial condition...

This goes well for this month's theme ('bring a friend') but in all fairness: this was taken in December. Still, it is special because Jacco and I get maybe five Tuesdays a year together, so we had to make the most of it.

From today's US&J:

The Lost Sights and Sounds of Lockport

Editor’s note: This article was first published in the Union-Sun & Journal on Dec. 19, 1992. It is reprinted here upon the invitation of Mr. Godfrey, who still lives in and loves Lockport.

The time? Early 1950s. My hometown: Lockport, New York. Harry S Truman is in the White House and television is something new. Very few homes in America have a TV. Radio shows play the major role in family entertainment.

There is a grocery store in every neighborhood and our large markets consist of the Mohican, Loblaws and the A&P.

I am now six years old and my brother is two years younger. In MIss Waters’ first grade class, at Charlotte Cross School, we start every day with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Each of our varnished desks has an empty ink well in the upper right hand corner and we wonder: why?

It is Dec. 1 and the Christmas season is just beginning. In our home, we start decorating for the Yuletide right after Thanksgiving.

Each window is adorned with a lighted wreath, evergreen boughs encircle the front door, red paper bells dangle quietly in each archway, and the smell of Christmas cookies baking is already tickling our taste buds.

The living room furniture is in disarray and an empty corner awaits the fresh-cut tree that will light up our hearts.

After supper, we prepare for our annual Christmas bus ride downtown. Everyone loves to see the city in all its festive glory, especially mom.

In this era, Lockport’s Main Street is the hub of activity. It is lined with stores and shops of every kind, with something for everyone.

There is the Crystal Confectionery, Sweet-Brophy Drug Co., Kipp’s Cigar Store, Carnahan-Swanson Men’s & Boy’s Wear, Sacca Fruit Store, Anstead Furniture, Things Shoe Store, Federal Meat Market, Steffen Music Store, Morrisons Women’s Apparel, Rhulman Brothers Hardware and Noah’s Ark Auto Accessories, just to name a few.

People come from miles around to do their shopping in this busy little municipality.

Unlike 1992, downtown is not filled with parking lots. There is curb parking along all the main and side streets, but quite often one has to circle the block several times to find a space.

Besides two cab companies, Star and K&M, Lockport boasts the finest mode of transportation available, the Lockport Bus Lines.

Three buses run regularly for more than 12 hours a day, from early morning ‘til early evening. They stop at each corner downtown and bring people in from every part of the metropolis. Our bus picks us up at the corner of West Avenue and Bristol.

Late afternoon brought a thick blanket of snow to the area, so we are bundled up with boots, leggings, heavy coats, wool hats, mittens and scarves.

As we leave the house and start for the bus stop, our noses are tingled by the cold night air and wisps of pungent wood smoke drifting from rooftop chimneys.

Warm yellow lights pour from Trybulec’s Grocery and paint amber shadows across the new fallen snow. The scraping of steel against concrete echoes up and down the avenue as the neighbors, meticulously, shovel their sidewalks.

The man next door, Mr. Mulcairn, is spreading furnace ashes on his walkway to make for better footing. He greets us with a friendly smile and a cheery “Hello!” We return his salutation and continue to catch snowflakes on our tongues.

As the bus approaches, we can see that is is filled with friendly faces and smiling eyes. All these city folk sit anxiously awaiting their turn to embark on a search for downtown Christmas treasures.

We are fascinated as the driver makes change from a coin dispenser on his belt. We think it may be filled with enough pennies for a lifetime of one-cent Double-Bubble gum.

Mom pays our fare as we search out window seats in the back of the coach.

The lumbering omnibus roars and vibrates as it pulls away toward town. The seats jiggle and jerk, the gears grind, and we press our noses against the cold glass to watch the kaleidoscope of passing colors.

House after house is decorated with warm lights of red, green, yellow and blue. Against a backdrop of crystal snow, a glistening village wonderland unfolds before us.

We all sit in awe as the sweet scent of an old gentleman’s pipe encircles our heads.

The bus fills with excitement and chatter as we enter the flow of downtown traffic. Upper Main Street rises before us like a large humpbac whale surfacing for air.

The thoroughfares are crisscrossed with multicolored lights and sparkling tinsel.

Frosted store windows glow with gifts and goodies for young and old alike, street lights twinkle, shoppers huddle on corners with their arms full of packages, cars creep along bumper to bumper, a policeman blows his whistle to move traffic, the Farmers and Mechanics Bank looms in the distance, carolers stroll along serenading the shoppers, Salvation Army bells jingle, car horns toot, the snow swirls and everyone just keeps bustling along.

Suddenly a loud “whoo-l-osh!” from the air brakes signals our stop at Market and Main.

The south side of Main Street, between Locust and Pine, is always the busiest because of the five-and-ten cent stores and department stores.

They include: S.S. Kresge, W.T. Grant, F.W. Woolworth, J.J. Newberry and the Carl Co. Mom takes our hands as we cross at the intersection and we delight in shuffling our galoshes through the slush.

People look at each other and smile, Christmas wishes are exchanged and everyone feels warm inside.

Our first stop is Williams Brothers, the largest department store on the block. We patiently wait our turn in the magic revolving doors and fantasize just hanging on and going ‘round-n-’round like a whirligig.

But alas, under the watchful eye of mom, it is definitely out of the question. We are finally flung into an emporium filled with grandeur. Our senses are overcome with the aroma of fresh roasted peanuts, new clothes, perfumes, colognes, wood floors, steam heat, cinnamon candy and a hodgepodge of interesting scents.

The narrow aisles are crowded as we slowly make our way to the elevators. This is a real adventure.

We wiggle in anticipation of a wild ride to the moon or, better yet, the toy department on the third floor. The doors open and the operator shouts, “Going up!” This is it.

We crowd in, back against the wall, squeeze mom’s hand tightly and stare, wide-eyed, at the brass arrow hovering on the number 1.

The doors close. Everyone is silent. The ancient shuttle drops slightly then, with a jerk, begins its hundred-mile-an-hour climb. Our stomachs turn over with butterflies as we gasp for breath. Just before we pass out, the ascending craft jolts to a halt and our hearts are catapulted into our throats. What a ride!

Our knees weakened, we wobble from the elevator into Santa’s workshop and on to another wild escapade in the wondrous world of childhood.

These are but a few of the lost sights and sounds of Lockport that we keep alive in our most cherished memories. By recalling the nostalgia and memorabilia of the past, we can temporarily rekindle the happiness of yesterday.

But what about today? How can we mold the hopes and dreams of tomorrow?

Simply: By opening our hearts, letting our lights shine and sharing our dreams. If we reach out to someone in need and give the gift of ourselves, we will plant the seeds of charity and surely reap the harvest of love.

Just think — your Christmas treasure may be as close as a stranger’s hand, in the eyes of a child, or in the tears of a lonely soul.

When you walk down the street, instead of looking away, look directly into the eyes of a passerby, smile and wish him or her a happy holiday. You have a chance to really make a difference and change a life. You can help put an end to man’s inhumanity to man.

If you make one person happy, he or she will inevitably pass it on to others. It would be like a domino effect with endless possibilities.

Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing, to know that we, together, here in Lockport, played a part in renewing “peace on earth, goodwill toward all!”

Season’s greetings to you and yours, and may God bless.

The Lost World (20th Century Fox, 1960).

youtu.be/h1CLA-gJbmA?t=5s Trailer

Irwin Allen, the producer who would go on to make the disaster film a huge success in the seventies, brought us this Saturday afternoon fodder with giant lizards posing as dinosaurs. Starring Michael Rennie, David Hedison, Claude Rains and Jill St. John.

Intended as a grand sci-fi/fantasy epic remake of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel. The first film adaptation, shot in 1925, was a milestone in many ways, but movie making and special effects had come a long way in 35 years. Irwin Allen's Lost World (LW) & 20th Century Fox version was derailed on the way to greatness, but managed to still be a respectable, (if more modest) A-film. Allen's screenplay followed the book fairly well, telling of Professor Challenger's expedition to a remote plateau in the Amazon upon which dinosaurs still lived. Aside from the paleontological presumptions in the premise, there is little "science" in The Lost World. Nonetheless, dinosaur movies have traditionally been lumped into the sci-fi genre.

Synopsis

When his plane lands in London, crusty old professor George Edward Challenger is besieged by reporters questioning him about his latest expedition to the headwaters of the Amazon River. After the irascible Challenger strikes reporter Ed Malone on the head with his umbrella, Jennifer Holmes, the daughter of Ed's employer, Stuart Holmes, offers the injured reporter a ride into town. That evening, Jenny is escorted by Lord John Roxton, an adventurer and big game hunter, to Challenger's lecture at the Zoological Institute, and Ed invites them to sit with him. When Challenger claims to have seen live dinosaurs, his colleague Professor Summerlee scoffs and asks for evidence. Explaining that his photographs of the creatures were lost when his boat overturned, Challenger invites Summerlee to accompany him on a new expedition to the "lost world," and asks for volunteers. When Roxton raises his hand, Jenny insists on going with him, but she is rejected by Challenger because she is a woman. Ed is given a spot after Holmes offers to fund the expedition if the reporter is included. The four then fly to the Amazon, where they are met by Costa, their guide and Manuel Gomez, their helicopter pilot. Arriving unexpectedly, Jenny and her younger brother David insist on joining them. Unable to arrange transportation back to the United States, Challenger reluctantly agrees to take them along. The next day, they take off for the lost world and land on an isolated plateau inhabited by dinosaurs. That evening, a dinosaur stomps out of the jungle, sending them scurrying for cover. After the beast destroys the helicopter and radio, the group ventures inland. When one of the creatures bellows threateningly, they flee, and in their haste, Challenger and Ed slip and tumble down a hillside, where they encounter a native girl. The girl runs into the jungle, but Ed follows and captures her. They then all take refuge in a cave, where Roxton, who has been making disparaging remarks about Jenny's desire to marry him solely for his title, angers Ed. Ed lunges at Roxton, pushing him to the ground, where he finds a diary written by Burton White, an adventurer who hired Roxton three years earlier to lead him to the lost diamonds of Eldorado. Roxton then admits that he never met White and his party because he was delayed by a dalliance with a woman, thus abandoning them to certain death. Gomez angrily snaps that his good friend Santiago perished in the expedition. That night, Costa tries to molest the native girl, and David comes to her rescue and begins to communicate with her through sign language. After Gomez goes to investigate some movement he spotted in the vegetation, he calls for help, and when Roxton runs out of the cave, a gunshot from an unseen assailant is fired, nearly wounding Roxton and sending the girl scurrying into the jungle. Soon after, Ed and Jenny stray from camp and are pursued by a dinosaur, and after taking refuge on some cliffs, watch in horror as their stalker becomes locked in combat with another prehistoric creature and tumbles over the cliffs into the waters below. Upon returning to camp, they discover it deserted, their belongings in disarray. As David stumbles out from some rocks to report they were attacked by a tribe of natives, the cannibals return and imprison them in a cave with the others. As the drums beat relentlessly, signaling their deaths, the native girl reappears and motions for them to follow her through a secret passageway that leads to the cave in which Burton White lives, completely sightless. After confirming that all in his expedition perished, White tells them of a volcanic passageway that will lead them off the plateau, but warns that they must first pass through the cave of fire. Cautioning them that the natives plan to sacrifice them, White declares that their only chance of survival is to slip through the cave and then seal it with a boulder. After giving them directions to the cave, White asks them to take the girl along. As the earth, on the verge of a volcanic eruption, quakes, they set off through the Graveyard of the Damned, a vast cavern littered with dinosaur skeletons, the victims of the deadly sulfurous gases below. Pursued by the ferocious natives, Roxton takes the lead as they inch their way across a narrow ledge above the molten lava. After escaping the natives, they jam the cave shut with a boulder and, passing a dam of molten lava, finally reach the escape passage. At its mouth is a pile of giant diamonds and a dinosaur egg. As Costa heaps the diamonds into his hat, Challenger fondles the egg and Gomez pulls a gun and announces that Roxton must die in exchange for the death of Santiago, Gomez' brother. Acting quickly, Ed hurls the diamonds at Gomez, throwing him off balance and discharging his gun. The gunshot awakens a creature slumbering in the roiling waters below. After the beast snatches Costa and eats him alive, Ed tries to dislodge the dam, sending a few scorching rocks tumbling down onto the monster. Feeling responsible for the peril of the group, Gomez sacrifices his life by using his body as a lever to dislodge the dam, covering the creature with oozing lava. As the cave begins to crumble from the impending eruption, the group hurries to safety. Just then, the volcano explodes, destroying the lost world. After Roxton hands Ed a handful of diamonds he has saved as a wedding gift for him and Jenny, Challenger proudly displays his egg, which then hatches, revealing a baby dinosaur. The End.

The 50s had seen several examples of the dinosaur sub-genre. LW is one of the more lavish ones, owing to color by DeLuxe and CinemaScope. The A-level actors help too. Claude Rains plays the flamboyant Challenger. Michael Rennie plays Roxton, perhaps a bit too cooly. Jill St. John and Vitina Marcus do well as the customary eye candy. David Hedison as Malone and Fernando Lamas as Gomez round out the bill.

The first film version of LW was a silent movie shot in 1925: screenplay by Marion Fairfax. The film featured stop-motion animated dinosaurs by a young Willis O'Brien. Fairfax followed Doyle's text, but Fairfax added a young woman to the team, Paula White. Ostensibly trying to find her father from the first failed expedition, she provided the love triangle interest between Malone and Roxton.

Allen's screenplay tried to stick to Doyle's text as much as Hollywood would allow. It carried on Fairfax's invention of the young woman member of the group as triangle fodder. Fairfax had Doyle's ape men (ape man) but omitted the native humans. Allen had the natives, but no ape men. Allen revived the Gomez/revenge subplot, which Fairfax skipped. Doyle's story had Challenger bringing back a pterodactyl. Fairfax made it a brontosaur who rampaged through London streets (spawning a popular trope). Allen suggested the baby dinosaur traveling to London.

Willis O'Brien pitched 20th Century Fox in the late 50s, to do a quality remake of LW. He had gained much experience in the intervening 35 years, so his stop-motion dinosaurs were to be the real stars. Fox bass liked the idea, but by the time the ball started rolling, there was trouble in studioland. Fox's grand epic Cleopatra was underway, but was already 5 million dollars over budget. Cleo would nearly sink 20th Century Fox when it was finally released in 1963. To stay afloat, all other Fox films' budgets were slashed. Allen could no longer afford the grand O'Brien stop-motion.

Allen's production is often criticized for its "cheap" dinosaurs, which were live monitor lizards and alligators with fins and plates and horns glue onto them. (more on that below) These were already a bit cheesy when used in the 1940 film One Million B.C.. O'Brien is still listed on the credits as "Effects Technician," but all Allen could afford was lizards with glued on extras. Somewhat amusingly, the script still refers to them as brontosaurs and T-Rexes.

The character of Jennifer Holmes starts out promising. She's a self-assured to the edges of pushy, and is said to be able to out shoot and out ride any man. Yet, when she gets to the Amazon jungle, she's little more than Jungle Barbie, dressed in girlie clothes and screaming frequently. She even does the typical Hollywood trip-and-fall when chased by the dinosaur, so that a man must save her.

Bottom line? FW is a finer example of the not-quite-sci-fi dinosaur sub-genre. The actors are top drawer, even if some of their acting is a bit flat. Nonetheless, FW is a fair adaptation of Doyle's

classic adventure novel, given the constraints of Hollywood culture.

The Movie Club Annals … Review

The Lost World 1960

Introduction

There was absolutely nothing wrong with Irwin Allen's 1960 production of The Lost World. Nothing. It was perfect in every way. I therefore find myself in the unique and unfamiliar position of having to write a rave review about a Movie Club movie that was entirely devoid of flaws.

Faced with such a confounding task, I half-heartedly considered faking a bad review, then praying my obvious deceptions would go unnoticed. But the patent transparency of my scheme convinced me to abandon it posthaste. After all, leveling concocted criticisms at such an unassailable masterpiece would be a futile and tiresome exercise, the pretense of which would escape nary a semi-cognizant soul.

Thus, having retreated from my would-be descent into literary intrigue, I start this review in earnest by borrowing a quote from the legendary Shelly Winters, spoken during the 1972 filming of Irwin Allen's The Poseidon Adventure:

"I'm ready for my close up now, Mr. Allen.” Shelly Winters, 1972

Review

A bit of research into the casting choices of Irwin Allen, who wrote, produced, and directed The Lost World, begins to reveal the genius behind the virtuosity.

The first accolades go to Irwin for his casting of Vitina Marcus, the immaculately groomed Saks 5th Avenue cave girl with exquisite taste in makeup, jewelry, and cave-wear. No finer cave girl ever graced a feature film.

Vitina Marcus, as The Cave Girl

She was the picture of prehistoric glamour, gliding across the silver screen in her designer bearskin mini-pelt, her flawless coiffure showing no signs of muss from the traditional courting rituals of the day, her perfect teeth the envy of even the most prototypical Osmond. Even her nouveau-opposable thumbs retained their manicure, in spite of the oft-disagreeable duties that frequently befell her as an effete member of the tribal gentry.

By no means just another Neanderthal harlot, Vitina had a wealth of talent to augment her exterior virtues. Her virtuoso interpretation of a comely cave girl in The Lost World certainly didn't escape the attention Irwin Allen. In fact, he was so taken with her performance that he later engaged her services again, casting her as the Native Girl in episode 2.26 of his Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea TV series.

Leery of potential typecasting, Vitina went on to obtain roles with greater depth and more sophisticated dialogue. This is evidenced by the great departure she took from her previous roles when she next portrayed the part of Sarit, a female barbarian, in episode 1.24 of Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel TV series.

Vitina, as Sarit

Vitina's efforts to avoid typecasting paid off in spades, as she was soon rewarded with the distinctive role of Girl, a female Tarzanesque she-beast character, in episode 3.14 of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV series.

Lured back from the U.N.C.L.E. set by Irwin Allen, Vitina was next cast in the role of Athena (a.k.a. Lorelei), the green space girl with the inverted lucite salad bowl hat, in episodes 2.2 and 2.16 of the revered Lost in Space TV series.

And with this, Vitina reached the pinnacle of her career. For her many unparalleled displays of thespian pageantry, she leaves us forever in her debt as she exits the stage.

For those who would still question the genius of Irwin Allen, I defy you to find a better casting choice for the character of Lord John Roxton than that of Michael Rennie. Mr. Rennie, who earlier starred as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still, went on to even greater heights, starring as The Keeper in episodes 1.16 and 1.17 of the revered Lost in Space TV series. Throughout his distinguished career, Mr. Rennie often played highly cerebral characters with

unique names, such as Garth A7, Tribolet, Hasani, Rama Kahn, Hertz, and Dirk. How befitting that his most prolific roles came to him through a man named Irwin, a highly cerebral character with a unique name.

The selection of David Hedison to play Ed Malone was yet another example of Irwin's uncanny foresight. Soon after casting him in The Lost World, Irwin paved Mr. Hedison's path to immortality by casting him as a lead character in his Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea TV series. Although Voyage ended in 1968, Mr. Hedison departed the show with a solid resume and a bright future.

In the decades following Voyage, Mr. Hedison has been a veritable fixture on the small screen, appearing in such socially influential programs as The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Knight Rider, The Fall Guy and The A Team. Mr. Hedison's early collaborations with Irwin Allen have left him never wanting for a day's work in Hollywood, a boon to the legions of discerning fans who continue to savor his inspiring prime time depictions.

Irwin selected Fernando Lamas to play Manuel Gomez, the honorable and tortured soul of The Lost World who needlessly sacrificed himself at the end of the movie to save all the others. To get a feel for how important a casting decision he was to Irwin, just look at the pertinent experience Mr. Lamas brought to the table:

Irwin knew that such credentials could cause him to lose the services of Mr. Lamas to another project, and he took great pains to woo him onto the set of The Lost World. And even though Mr. Lamas never appeared in the revered Lost in Space TV series, his talent is not lost on us.

Jay Novello was selected by Irwin Allen to play Costa, the consummate Cuban coward who perpetually betrays everyone around him in the name of greed. In pursuing his craven calling, Mr. Novello went on to play Xandros, the Greek Slave in Atlantis, The Lost Continent, as well as countless other roles as a coward.

Although Mr. Novella never appeared in the revered Lost in Space TV series, his already long and distinguished career as a coward made him the obvious choice for Irwin when the need for an experienced malingerer arose.

Jill St. John was Irwin's pick to play Jennifer Holmes, the "other" glamour girl in The Lost World. Not to be upstaged by glamour-cave-girl Vitina Marcus, Jill played the trump card and broke out the pink go-go boots and skin-tight Capri pants, the perfect Amazonian summertime jungle wear.

Complete with a perfect hairdo, a killer wardrobe, a little yip-yip dog named Frosty, and all the other trappings of a wealthy and pampered prehistoric society, Jill's sensational allure rivaled even that of a certain cave girl appearing in the same film.

With the atmosphere rife for an on-set rivalry between Jill and Vitina, Irwin still managed to keep the peace, proving that he was as skilled a diplomat as he was a director.

Claude Rains, as Professor George Edward Challenger

And our cup runneth over, as Irwin cast Claude Rains to portray Professor George Edward Challenger. His eminence, Mr. Rains is an entity of such immeasurable virtue that he is not in need of monotonous praise from the likes of me.

I respectfully acknowledge the appearance of Mr. Rains because failure to do so would be an unforgivable travesty. But I say nothing more on the subject, lest I state something so obvious and uninspiring as to insult the intelligence of enlightened reader.

Irwin's casting of the cavemen mustn't be overlooked, for their infallibly realistic portrayals are unmatched within the Pleistocene Epoch genre of film. Such meticulous attention to detail is what separates Irwin Allen from lesser filmmakers, whose pale imitations of his work only further to underscore the point.

To be sure, it is possible to come away with the unfounded suspicion that the cavemen are really just a bunch of old white guys from the bar at the local Elks lodge. But Irwin was an absolute stickler for authenticity, and would never have allowed the use of such tawdry measures to taint his prehistoric magnum opus.

In truth, Irwin's on-screen cavemen were borne of many grueling years of anthropological research, so the explanation for their somewhat modern, pseudo-caucasian appearance lies obviously elsewhere. And in keeping with true Irwin Allen tradition, that explanation will not be offered here.

1964 - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Season One, Episode 7 - "Turn Back the Clock", featuring Vitina Marcus as The Native Girl. Produced by Irwin Allen.

And then there was Irwin Allen's masterful handling of the reptilian facets of The Lost World, most notably his inimitable casting of the dinosaurs. His dinosaurs were so realistic, so eerily lifelike, that they almost looked like living, breathing garden variety lizards with dinosaur fins and horns glued to their backs and heads.

The less enlightened viewer might even suppose this to be true, that Irwin's dinosaurs were indeed merely live specimens of lizards, donned in Jurassic-era finery, vastly magnified, and retro-fitted into The Lost World via some penny-wise means of cinematic trickery.

But those of us in the know certainly know better than that, as we are privy to some otherwise unpublished information about The Lost World. The lifelike appearance of the Irwin's dinosaurs can be attributed to a wholly overlooked and fiendishly cunning approach to the art of delusion, which is that the dinosaurs didn't just look real, they were real.

While the world abounds with middling minds who cannot fathom such a reality, we must follow Irwin's benevolent leanings and temper our natural feelings of contempt for this unfortunate assemblage of pedestrian lowbrows. In spite of Irwin's superior intellect, he never felt disdain toward the masses that constituted his audiences. He simply capitalized on their unaffectedness, and in the process recounted the benefits of exploiting the intellectually bereft for personal gain.

The purpose of all this analysis, of course, is to place an exclamation point on the genius of Irwin Allen, the formation of his dinosaur exposé being a premier example. Note how he mindfully manipulates the expectations of his unsuspecting audience, compelling them to probe the dinosaurs for any signs of man-made chicanery. Then, at the palatial moment when the dinosaurs make their entry, he guilefully supplants the anticipated display of faux reptilia with that of the bona fide article.

Upon first witnessing the de facto dinosaurs, some in the audience think they've been had, and indeed they have. Irwin, in engineering his masterful ruse, had used reality as his medium to convey the illusion of artifice. His audience, in essence, was blinded by the truth. It was the immaculate deception, and none but Irwin Allen could have conceived it.

Indeed, the matter of where the live dinosaurs came from has been conspicuously absent from this discussion, as the Irwinian technique of fine film making strongly discourages the practice of squandering time on extraneous justifications and other such trite means of redundant apologia. For the benefit of the incessantly curious, however, just keep in mind that Irwin Allen wrote and produced The Time Tunnel TV Series, a fact that should provide some fair insight into his modis operandi.

Carl R.

The Lost World (20th Century Fox, 1960).

youtu.be/h1CLA-gJbmA?t=5s Trailer

Irwin Allen, the producer who would go on to make the disaster film a huge success in the seventies, brought us this Saturday afternoon fodder with giant lizards posing as dinosaurs. Starring Michael Rennie, David Hedison, Claude Rains and Jill St. John.

Intended as a grand sci-fi/fantasy epic remake of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel. The first film adaptation, shot in 1925, was a milestone in many ways, but movie making and special effects had come a long way in 35 years. Irwin Allen's Lost World (LW) & 20th Century Fox version was derailed on the way to greatness, but managed to still be a respectable, (if more modest) A-film. Allen's screenplay followed the book fairly well, telling of Professor Challenger's expedition to a remote plateau in the Amazon upon which dinosaurs still lived. Aside from the paleontological presumptions in the premise, there is little "science" in The Lost World. Nonetheless, dinosaur movies have traditionally been lumped into the sci-fi genre.

Synopsis

When his plane lands in London, crusty old professor George Edward Challenger is besieged by reporters questioning him about his latest expedition to the headwaters of the Amazon River. After the irascible Challenger strikes reporter Ed Malone on the head with his umbrella, Jennifer Holmes, the daughter of Ed's employer, Stuart Holmes, offers the injured reporter a ride into town. That evening, Jenny is escorted by Lord John Roxton, an adventurer and big game hunter, to Challenger's lecture at the Zoological Institute, and Ed invites them to sit with him. When Challenger claims to have seen live dinosaurs, his colleague Professor Summerlee scoffs and asks for evidence. Explaining that his photographs of the creatures were lost when his boat overturned, Challenger invites Summerlee to accompany him on a new expedition to the "lost world," and asks for volunteers. When Roxton raises his hand, Jenny insists on going with him, but she is rejected by Challenger because she is a woman. Ed is given a spot after Holmes offers to fund the expedition if the reporter is included. The four then fly to the Amazon, where they are met by Costa, their guide and Manuel Gomez, their helicopter pilot. Arriving unexpectedly, Jenny and her younger brother David insist on joining them. Unable to arrange transportation back to the United States, Challenger reluctantly agrees to take them along. The next day, they take off for the lost world and land on an isolated plateau inhabited by dinosaurs. That evening, a dinosaur stomps out of the jungle, sending them scurrying for cover. After the beast destroys the helicopter and radio, the group ventures inland. When one of the creatures bellows threateningly, they flee, and in their haste, Challenger and Ed slip and tumble down a hillside, where they encounter a native girl. The girl runs into the jungle, but Ed follows and captures her. They then all take refuge in a cave, where Roxton, who has been making disparaging remarks about Jenny's desire to marry him solely for his title, angers Ed. Ed lunges at Roxton, pushing him to the ground, where he finds a diary written by Burton White, an adventurer who hired Roxton three years earlier to lead him to the lost diamonds of Eldorado. Roxton then admits that he never met White and his party because he was delayed by a dalliance with a woman, thus abandoning them to certain death. Gomez angrily snaps that his good friend Santiago perished in the expedition. That night, Costa tries to molest the native girl, and David comes to her rescue and begins to communicate with her through sign language. After Gomez goes to investigate some movement he spotted in the vegetation, he calls for help, and when Roxton runs out of the cave, a gunshot from an unseen assailant is fired, nearly wounding Roxton and sending the girl scurrying into the jungle. Soon after, Ed and Jenny stray from camp and are pursued by a dinosaur, and after taking refuge on some cliffs, watch in horror as their stalker becomes locked in combat with another prehistoric creature and tumbles over the cliffs into the waters below. Upon returning to camp, they discover it deserted, their belongings in disarray. As David stumbles out from some rocks to report they were attacked by a tribe of natives, the cannibals return and imprison them in a cave with the others. As the drums beat relentlessly, signaling their deaths, the native girl reappears and motions for them to follow her through a secret passageway that leads to the cave in which Burton White lives, completely sightless. After confirming that all in his expedition perished, White tells them of a volcanic passageway that will lead them off the plateau, but warns that they must first pass through the cave of fire. Cautioning them that the natives plan to sacrifice them, White declares that their only chance of survival is to slip through the cave and then seal it with a boulder. After giving them directions to the cave, White asks them to take the girl along. As the earth, on the verge of a volcanic eruption, quakes, they set off through the Graveyard of the Damned, a vast cavern littered with dinosaur skeletons, the victims of the deadly sulfurous gases below. Pursued by the ferocious natives, Roxton takes the lead as they inch their way across a narrow ledge above the molten lava. After escaping the natives, they jam the cave shut with a boulder and, passing a dam of molten lava, finally reach the escape passage. At its mouth is a pile of giant diamonds and a dinosaur egg. As Costa heaps the diamonds into his hat, Challenger fondles the egg and Gomez pulls a gun and announces that Roxton must die in exchange for the death of Santiago, Gomez' brother. Acting quickly, Ed hurls the diamonds at Gomez, throwing him off balance and discharging his gun. The gunshot awakens a creature slumbering in the roiling waters below. After the beast snatches Costa and eats him alive, Ed tries to dislodge the dam, sending a few scorching rocks tumbling down onto the monster. Feeling responsible for the peril of the group, Gomez sacrifices his life by using his body as a lever to dislodge the dam, covering the creature with oozing lava. As the cave begins to crumble from the impending eruption, the group hurries to safety. Just then, the volcano explodes, destroying the lost world. After Roxton hands Ed a handful of diamonds he has saved as a wedding gift for him and Jenny, Challenger proudly displays his egg, which then hatches, revealing a baby dinosaur. The End.

The 50s had seen several examples of the dinosaur sub-genre. LW is one of the more lavish ones, owing to color by DeLuxe and CinemaScope. The A-level actors help too. Claude Rains plays the flamboyant Challenger. Michael Rennie plays Roxton, perhaps a bit too cooly. Jill St. John and Vitina Marcus do well as the customary eye candy. David Hedison as Malone and Fernando Lamas as Gomez round out the bill.

The first film version of LW was a silent movie shot in 1925: screenplay by Marion Fairfax. The film featured stop-motion animated dinosaurs by a young Willis O'Brien. Fairfax followed Doyle's text, but Fairfax added a young woman to the team, Paula White. Ostensibly trying to find her father from the first failed expedition, she provided the love triangle interest between Malone and Roxton.

Allen's screenplay tried to stick to Doyle's text as much as Hollywood would allow. It carried on Fairfax's invention of the young woman member of the group as triangle fodder. Fairfax had Doyle's ape men (ape man) but omitted the native humans. Allen had the natives, but no ape men. Allen revived the Gomez/revenge subplot, which Fairfax skipped. Doyle's story had Challenger bringing back a pterodactyl. Fairfax made it a brontosaur who rampaged through London streets (spawning a popular trope). Allen suggested the baby dinosaur traveling to London.

Willis O'Brien pitched 20th Century Fox in the late 50s, to do a quality remake of LW. He had gained much experience in the intervening 35 years, so his stop-motion dinosaurs were to be the real stars. Fox bass liked the idea, but by the time the ball started rolling, there was trouble in studioland. Fox's grand epic Cleopatra was underway, but was already 5 million dollars over budget. Cleo would nearly sink 20th Century Fox when it was finally released in 1963. To stay afloat, all other Fox films' budgets were slashed. Allen could no longer afford the grand O'Brien stop-motion.

Allen's production is often criticized for its "cheap" dinosaurs, which were live monitor lizards and alligators with fins and plates and horns glue onto them. (more on that below) These were already a bit cheesy when used in the 1940 film One Million B.C.. O'Brien is still listed on the credits as "Effects Technician," but all Allen could afford was lizards with glued on extras. Somewhat amusingly, the script still refers to them as brontosaurs and T-Rexes.

The character of Jennifer Holmes starts out promising. She's a self-assured to the edges of pushy, and is said to be able to out shoot and out ride any man. Yet, when she gets to the Amazon jungle, she's little more than Jungle Barbie, dressed in girlie clothes and screaming frequently. She even does the typical Hollywood trip-and-fall when chased by the dinosaur, so that a man must save her.

Bottom line? FW is a finer example of the not-quite-sci-fi dinosaur sub-genre. The actors are top drawer, even if some of their acting is a bit flat. Nonetheless, FW is a fair adaptation of Doyle's

classic adventure novel, given the constraints of Hollywood culture.

The Movie Club Annals … Review

The Lost World 1960

Introduction

There was absolutely nothing wrong with Irwin Allen's 1960 production of The Lost World. Nothing. It was perfect in every way. I therefore find myself in the unique and unfamiliar position of having to write a rave review about a Movie Club movie that was entirely devoid of flaws.

Faced with such a confounding task, I half-heartedly considered faking a bad review, then praying my obvious deceptions would go unnoticed. But the patent transparency of my scheme convinced me to abandon it posthaste. After all, leveling concocted criticisms at such an unassailable masterpiece would be a futile and tiresome exercise, the pretense of which would escape nary a semi-cognizant soul.

Thus, having retreated from my would-be descent into literary intrigue, I start this review in earnest by borrowing a quote from the legendary Shelly Winters, spoken during the 1972 filming of Irwin Allen's The Poseidon Adventure:

"I'm ready for my close up now, Mr. Allen.” Shelly Winters, 1972

Review

A bit of research into the casting choices of Irwin Allen, who wrote, produced, and directed The Lost World, begins to reveal the genius behind the virtuosity.

The first accolades go to Irwin for his casting of Vitina Marcus, the immaculately groomed Saks 5th Avenue cave girl with exquisite taste in makeup, jewelry, and cave-wear. No finer cave girl ever graced a feature film.

Vitina Marcus, as The Cave Girl

She was the picture of prehistoric glamour, gliding across the silver screen in her designer bearskin mini-pelt, her flawless coiffure showing no signs of muss from the traditional courting rituals of the day, her perfect teeth the envy of even the most prototypical Osmond. Even her nouveau-opposable thumbs retained their manicure, in spite of the oft-disagreeable duties that frequently befell her as an effete member of the tribal gentry.

By no means just another Neanderthal harlot, Vitina had a wealth of talent to augment her exterior virtues. Her virtuoso interpretation of a comely cave girl in The Lost World certainly didn't escape the attention Irwin Allen. In fact, he was so taken with her performance that he later engaged her services again, casting her as the Native Girl in episode 2.26 of his Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea TV series.

Leery of potential typecasting, Vitina went on to obtain roles with greater depth and more sophisticated dialogue. This is evidenced by the great departure she took from her previous roles when she next portrayed the part of Sarit, a female barbarian, in episode 1.24 of Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel TV series.

Vitina, as Sarit

Vitina's efforts to avoid typecasting paid off in spades, as she was soon rewarded with the distinctive role of Girl, a female Tarzanesque she-beast character, in episode 3.14 of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV series.

Lured back from the U.N.C.L.E. set by Irwin Allen, Vitina was next cast in the role of Athena (a.k.a. Lorelei), the green space girl with the inverted lucite salad bowl hat, in episodes 2.2 and 2.16 of the revered Lost in Space TV series.

And with this, Vitina reached the pinnacle of her career. For her many unparalleled displays of thespian pageantry, she leaves us forever in her debt as she exits the stage.

For those who would still question the genius of Irwin Allen, I defy you to find a better casting choice for the character of Lord John Roxton than that of Michael Rennie. Mr. Rennie, who earlier starred as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still, went on to even greater heights, starring as The Keeper in episodes 1.16 and 1.17 of the revered Lost in Space TV series. Throughout his distinguished career, Mr. Rennie often played highly cerebral characters with

unique names, such as Garth A7, Tribolet, Hasani, Rama Kahn, Hertz, and Dirk. How befitting that his most prolific roles came to him through a man named Irwin, a highly cerebral character with a unique name.

The selection of David Hedison to play Ed Malone was yet another example of Irwin's uncanny foresight. Soon after casting him in The Lost World, Irwin paved Mr. Hedison's path to immortality by casting him as a lead character in his Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea TV series. Although Voyage ended in 1968, Mr. Hedison departed the show with a solid resume and a bright future.

In the decades following Voyage, Mr. Hedison has been a veritable fixture on the small screen, appearing in such socially influential programs as The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Knight Rider, The Fall Guy and The A Team. Mr. Hedison's early collaborations with Irwin Allen have left him never wanting for a day's work in Hollywood, a boon to the legions of discerning fans who continue to savor his inspiring prime time depictions.

Irwin selected Fernando Lamas to play Manuel Gomez, the honorable and tortured soul of The Lost World who needlessly sacrificed himself at the end of the movie to save all the others. To get a feel for how important a casting decision he was to Irwin, just look at the pertinent experience Mr. Lamas brought to the table:

Irwin knew that such credentials could cause him to lose the services of Mr. Lamas to another project, and he took great pains to woo him onto the set of The Lost World. And even though Mr. Lamas never appeared in the revered Lost in Space TV series, his talent is not lost on us.

Jay Novello was selected by Irwin Allen to play Costa, the consummate Cuban coward who perpetually betrays everyone around him in the name of greed. In pursuing his craven calling, Mr. Novello went on to play Xandros, the Greek Slave in Atlantis, The Lost Continent, as well as countless other roles as a coward.

Although Mr. Novella never appeared in the revered Lost in Space TV series, his already long and distinguished career as a coward made him the obvious choice for Irwin when the need for an experienced malingerer arose.

Jill St. John was Irwin's pick to play Jennifer Holmes, the "other" glamour girl in The Lost World. Not to be upstaged by glamour-cave-girl Vitina Marcus, Jill played the trump card and broke out the pink go-go boots and skin-tight Capri pants, the perfect Amazonian summertime jungle wear.

Complete with a perfect hairdo, a killer wardrobe, a little yip-yip dog named Frosty, and all the other trappings of a wealthy and pampered prehistoric society, Jill's sensational allure rivaled even that of a certain cave girl appearing in the same film.

With the atmosphere rife for an on-set rivalry between Jill and Vitina, Irwin still managed to keep the peace, proving that he was as skilled a diplomat as he was a director.

Claude Rains, as Professor George Edward Challenger

And our cup runneth over, as Irwin cast Claude Rains to portray Professor George Edward Challenger. His eminence, Mr. Rains is an entity of such immeasurable virtue that he is not in need of monotonous praise from the likes of me.

I respectfully acknowledge the appearance of Mr. Rains because failure to do so would be an unforgivable travesty. But I say nothing more on the subject, lest I state something so obvious and uninspiring as to insult the intelligence of enlightened reader.

Irwin's casting of the cavemen mustn't be overlooked, for their infallibly realistic portrayals are unmatched within the Pleistocene Epoch genre of film. Such meticulous attention to detail is what separates Irwin Allen from lesser filmmakers, whose pale imitations of his work only further to underscore the point.

To be sure, it is possible to come away with the unfounded suspicion that the cavemen are really just a bunch of old white guys from the bar at the local Elks lodge. But Irwin was an absolute stickler for authenticity, and would never have allowed the use of such tawdry measures to taint his prehistoric magnum opus.

In truth, Irwin's on-screen cavemen were borne of many grueling years of anthropological research, so the explanation for their somewhat modern, pseudo-caucasian appearance lies obviously elsewhere. And in keeping with true Irwin Allen tradition, that explanation will not be offered here.

1964 - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Season One, Episode 7 - "Turn Back the Clock", featuring Vitina Marcus as The Native Girl. Produced by Irwin Allen.

And then there was Irwin Allen's masterful handling of the reptilian facets of The Lost World, most notably his inimitable casting of the dinosaurs. His dinosaurs were so realistic, so eerily lifelike, that they almost looked like living, breathing garden variety lizards with dinosaur fins and horns glued to their backs and heads.

The less enlightened viewer might even suppose this to be true, that Irwin's dinosaurs were indeed merely live specimens of lizards, donned in Jurassic-era finery, vastly magnified, and retro-fitted into The Lost World via some penny-wise means of cinematic trickery.

But those of us in the know certainly know better than that, as we are privy to some otherwise unpublished information about The Lost World. The lifelike appearance of the Irwin's dinosaurs can be attributed to a wholly overlooked and fiendishly cunning approach to the art of delusion, which is that the dinosaurs didn't just look real, they were real.

While the world abounds with middling minds who cannot fathom such a reality, we must follow Irwin's benevolent leanings and temper our natural feelings of contempt for this unfortunate assemblage of pedestrian lowbrows. In spite of Irwin's superior intellect, he never felt disdain toward the masses that constituted his audiences. He simply capitalized on their unaffectedness, and in the process recounted the benefits of exploiting the intellectually bereft for personal gain.

The purpose of all this analysis, of course, is to place an exclamation point on the genius of Irwin Allen, the formation of his dinosaur exposé being a premier example. Note how he mindfully manipulates the expectations of his unsuspecting audience, compelling them to probe the dinosaurs for any signs of man-made chicanery. Then, at the palatial moment when the dinosaurs make their entry, he guilefully supplants the anticipated display of faux reptilia with that of the bona fide article.

Upon first witnessing the de facto dinosaurs, some in the audience think they've been had, and indeed they have. Irwin, in engineering his masterful ruse, had used reality as his medium to convey the illusion of artifice. His audience, in essence, was blinded by the truth. It was the immaculate deception, and none but Irwin Allen could have conceived it.

Indeed, the matter of where the live dinosaurs came from has been conspicuously absent from this discussion, as the Irwinian technique of fine film making strongly discourages the practice of squandering time on extraneous justifications and other such trite means of redundant apologia. For the benefit of the incessantly curious, however, just keep in mind that Irwin Allen wrote and produced The Time Tunnel TV Series, a fact that should provide some fair insight into his modis operandi.

Carl R.

The Lost World (20th Century Fox, 1960).

youtu.be/h1CLA-gJbmA?t=5s Trailer

Irwin Allen, the producer who would go on to make the disaster film a huge success in the seventies, brought us this Saturday afternoon fodder with giant lizards posing as dinosaurs. Starring Michael Rennie, David Hedison, Claude Rains and Jill St. John.

Intended as a grand sci-fi/fantasy epic remake of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel. The first film adaptation, shot in 1925, was a milestone in many ways, but movie making and special effects had come a long way in 35 years. Irwin Allen's Lost World (LW) & 20th Century Fox version was derailed on the way to greatness, but managed to still be a respectable, (if more modest) A-film. Allen's screenplay followed the book fairly well, telling of Professor Challenger's expedition to a remote plateau in the Amazon upon which dinosaurs still lived. Aside from the paleontological presumptions in the premise, there is little "science" in The Lost World. Nonetheless, dinosaur movies have traditionally been lumped into the sci-fi genre.

Synopsis

When his plane lands in London, crusty old professor George Edward Challenger is besieged by reporters questioning him about his latest expedition to the headwaters of the Amazon River. After the irascible Challenger strikes reporter Ed Malone on the head with his umbrella, Jennifer Holmes, the daughter of Ed's employer, Stuart Holmes, offers the injured reporter a ride into town. That evening, Jenny is escorted by Lord John Roxton, an adventurer and big game hunter, to Challenger's lecture at the Zoological Institute, and Ed invites them to sit with him. When Challenger claims to have seen live dinosaurs, his colleague Professor Summerlee scoffs and asks for evidence. Explaining that his photographs of the creatures were lost when his boat overturned, Challenger invites Summerlee to accompany him on a new expedition to the "lost world," and asks for volunteers. When Roxton raises his hand, Jenny insists on going with him, but she is rejected by Challenger because she is a woman. Ed is given a spot after Holmes offers to fund the expedition if the reporter is included. The four then fly to the Amazon, where they are met by Costa, their guide and Manuel Gomez, their helicopter pilot. Arriving unexpectedly, Jenny and her younger brother David insist on joining them. Unable to arrange transportation back to the United States, Challenger reluctantly agrees to take them along. The next day, they take off for the lost world and land on an isolated plateau inhabited by dinosaurs. That evening, a dinosaur stomps out of the jungle, sending them scurrying for cover. After the beast destroys the helicopter and radio, the group ventures inland. When one of the creatures bellows threateningly, they flee, and in their haste, Challenger and Ed slip and tumble down a hillside, where they encounter a native girl. The girl runs into the jungle, but Ed follows and captures her. They then all take refuge in a cave, where Roxton, who has been making disparaging remarks about Jenny's desire to marry him solely for his title, angers Ed. Ed lunges at Roxton, pushing him to the ground, where he finds a diary written by Burton White, an adventurer who hired Roxton three years earlier to lead him to the lost diamonds of Eldorado. Roxton then admits that he never met White and his party because he was delayed by a dalliance with a woman, thus abandoning them to certain death. Gomez angrily snaps that his good friend Santiago perished in the expedition. That night, Costa tries to molest the native girl, and David comes to her rescue and begins to communicate with her through sign language. After Gomez goes to investigate some movement he spotted in the vegetation, he calls for help, and when Roxton runs out of the cave, a gunshot from an unseen assailant is fired, nearly wounding Roxton and sending the girl scurrying into the jungle. Soon after, Ed and Jenny stray from camp and are pursued by a dinosaur, and after taking refuge on some cliffs, watch in horror as their stalker becomes locked in combat with another prehistoric creature and tumbles over the cliffs into the waters below. Upon returning to camp, they discover it deserted, their belongings in disarray. As David stumbles out from some rocks to report they were attacked by a tribe of natives, the cannibals return and imprison them in a cave with the others. As the drums beat relentlessly, signaling their deaths, the native girl reappears and motions for them to follow her through a secret passageway that leads to the cave in which Burton White lives, completely sightless. After confirming that all in his expedition perished, White tells them of a volcanic passageway that will lead them off the plateau, but warns that they must first pass through the cave of fire. Cautioning them that the natives plan to sacrifice them, White declares that their only chance of survival is to slip through the cave and then seal it with a boulder. After giving them directions to the cave, White asks them to take the girl along. As the earth, on the verge of a volcanic eruption, quakes, they set off through the Graveyard of the Damned, a vast cavern littered with dinosaur skeletons, the victims of the deadly sulfurous gases below. Pursued by the ferocious natives, Roxton takes the lead as they inch their way across a narrow ledge above the molten lava. After escaping the natives, they jam the cave shut with a boulder and, passing a dam of molten lava, finally reach the escape passage. At its mouth is a pile of giant diamonds and a dinosaur egg. As Costa heaps the diamonds into his hat, Challenger fondles the egg and Gomez pulls a gun and announces that Roxton must die in exchange for the death of Santiago, Gomez' brother. Acting quickly, Ed hurls the diamonds at Gomez, throwing him off balance and discharging his gun. The gunshot awakens a creature slumbering in the roiling waters below. After the beast snatches Costa and eats him alive, Ed tries to dislodge the dam, sending a few scorching rocks tumbling down onto the monster. Feeling responsible for the peril of the group, Gomez sacrifices his life by using his body as a lever to dislodge the dam, covering the creature with oozing lava. As the cave begins to crumble from the impending eruption, the group hurries to safety. Just then, the volcano explodes, destroying the lost world. After Roxton hands Ed a handful of diamonds he has saved as a wedding gift for him and Jenny, Challenger proudly displays his egg, which then hatches, revealing a baby dinosaur. The End.

The 50s had seen several examples of the dinosaur sub-genre. LW is one of the more lavish ones, owing to color by DeLuxe and CinemaScope. The A-level actors help too. Claude Rains plays the flamboyant Challenger. Michael Rennie plays Roxton, perhaps a bit too cooly. Jill St. John and Vitina Marcus do well as the customary eye candy. David Hedison as Malone and Fernando Lamas as Gomez round out the bill.

The first film version of LW was a silent movie shot in 1925: screenplay by Marion Fairfax. The film featured stop-motion animated dinosaurs by a young Willis O'Brien. Fairfax followed Doyle's text, but Fairfax added a young woman to the team, Paula White. Ostensibly trying to find her father from the first failed expedition, she provided the love triangle interest between Malone and Roxton.

Allen's screenplay tried to stick to Doyle's text as much as Hollywood would allow. It carried on Fairfax's invention of the young woman member of the group as triangle fodder. Fairfax had Doyle's ape men (ape man) but omitted the native humans. Allen had the natives, but no ape men. Allen revived the Gomez/revenge subplot, which Fairfax skipped. Doyle's story had Challenger bringing back a pterodactyl. Fairfax made it a brontosaur who rampaged through London streets (spawning a popular trope). Allen suggested the baby dinosaur traveling to London.

Willis O'Brien pitched 20th Century Fox in the late 50s, to do a quality remake of LW. He had gained much experience in the intervening 35 years, so his stop-motion dinosaurs were to be the real stars. Fox bass liked the idea, but by the time the ball started rolling, there was trouble in studioland. Fox's grand epic Cleopatra was underway, but was already 5 million dollars over budget. Cleo would nearly sink 20th Century Fox when it was finally released in 1963. To stay afloat, all other Fox films' budgets were slashed. Allen could no longer afford the grand O'Brien stop-motion.

Allen's production is often criticized for its "cheap" dinosaurs, which were live monitor lizards and alligators with fins and plates and horns glue onto them. (more on that below) These were already a bit cheesy when used in the 1940 film One Million B.C.. O'Brien is still listed on the credits as "Effects Technician," but all Allen could afford was lizards with glued on extras. Somewhat amusingly, the script still refers to them as brontosaurs and T-Rexes.

The character of Jennifer Holmes starts out promising. She's a self-assured to the edges of pushy, and is said to be able to out shoot and out ride any man. Yet, when she gets to the Amazon jungle, she's little more than Jungle Barbie, dressed in girlie clothes and screaming frequently. She even does the typical Hollywood trip-and-fall when chased by the dinosaur, so that a man must save her.

Bottom line? FW is a finer example of the not-quite-sci-fi dinosaur sub-genre. The actors are top drawer, even if some of their acting is a bit flat. Nonetheless, FW is a fair adaptation of Doyle's

classic adventure novel, given the constraints of Hollywood culture.

The Movie Club Annals … Review

The Lost World 1960

Introduction

There was absolutely nothing wrong with Irwin Allen's 1960 production of The Lost World. Nothing. It was perfect in every way. I therefore find myself in the unique and unfamiliar position of having to write a rave review about a Movie Club movie that was entirely devoid of flaws.

Faced with such a confounding task, I half-heartedly considered faking a bad review, then praying my obvious deceptions would go unnoticed. But the patent transparency of my scheme convinced me to abandon it posthaste. After all, leveling concocted criticisms at such an unassailable masterpiece would be a futile and tiresome exercise, the pretense of which would escape nary a semi-cognizant soul.

Thus, having retreated from my would-be descent into literary intrigue, I start this review in earnest by borrowing a quote from the legendary Shelly Winters, spoken during the 1972 filming of Irwin Allen's The Poseidon Adventure:

"I'm ready for my close up now, Mr. Allen.” Shelly Winters, 1972

Review

A bit of research into the casting choices of Irwin Allen, who wrote, produced, and directed The Lost World, begins to reveal the genius behind the virtuosity.

The first accolades go to Irwin for his casting of Vitina Marcus, the immaculately groomed Saks 5th Avenue cave girl with exquisite taste in makeup, jewelry, and cave-wear. No finer cave girl ever graced a feature film.

Vitina Marcus, as The Cave Girl

She was the picture of prehistoric glamour, gliding across the silver screen in her designer bearskin mini-pelt, her flawless coiffure showing no signs of muss from the traditional courting rituals of the day, her perfect teeth the envy of even the most prototypical Osmond. Even her nouveau-opposable thumbs retained their manicure, in spite of the oft-disagreeable duties that frequently befell her as an effete member of the tribal gentry.

By no means just another Neanderthal harlot, Vitina had a wealth of talent to augment her exterior virtues. Her virtuoso interpretation of a comely cave girl in The Lost World certainly didn't escape the attention Irwin Allen. In fact, he was so taken with her performance that he later engaged her services again, casting her as the Native Girl in episode 2.26 of his Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea TV series.

Leery of potential typecasting, Vitina went on to obtain roles with greater depth and more sophisticated dialogue. This is evidenced by the great departure she took from her previous roles when she next portrayed the part of Sarit, a female barbarian, in episode 1.24 of Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel TV series.

Vitina, as Sarit

Vitina's efforts to avoid typecasting paid off in spades, as she was soon rewarded with the distinctive role of Girl, a female Tarzanesque she-beast character, in episode 3.14 of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV series.

Lured back from the U.N.C.L.E. set by Irwin Allen, Vitina was next cast in the role of Athena (a.k.a. Lorelei), the green space girl with the inverted lucite salad bowl hat, in episodes 2.2 and 2.16 of the revered Lost in Space TV series.

And with this, Vitina reached the pinnacle of her career. For her many unparalleled displays of thespian pageantry, she leaves us forever in her debt as she exits the stage.

For those who would still question the genius of Irwin Allen, I defy you to find a better casting choice for the character of Lord John Roxton than that of Michael Rennie. Mr. Rennie, who earlier starred as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still, went on to even greater heights, starring as The Keeper in episodes 1.16 and 1.17 of the revered Lost in Space TV series. Throughout his distinguished career, Mr. Rennie often played highly cerebral characters with

unique names, such as Garth A7, Tribolet, Hasani, Rama Kahn, Hertz, and Dirk. How befitting that his most prolific roles came to him through a man named Irwin, a highly cerebral character with a unique name.

The selection of David Hedison to play Ed Malone was yet another example of Irwin's uncanny foresight. Soon after casting him in The Lost World, Irwin paved Mr. Hedison's path to immortality by casting him as a lead character in his Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea TV series. Although Voyage ended in 1968, Mr. Hedison departed the show with a solid resume and a bright future.

In the decades following Voyage, Mr. Hedison has been a veritable fixture on the small screen, appearing in such socially influential programs as The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Knight Rider, The Fall Guy and The A Team. Mr. Hedison's early collaborations with Irwin Allen have left him never wanting for a day's work in Hollywood, a boon to the legions of discerning fans who continue to savor his inspiring prime time depictions.

Irwin selected Fernando Lamas to play Manuel Gomez, the honorable and tortured soul of The Lost World who needlessly sacrificed himself at the end of the movie to save all the others. To get a feel for how important a casting decision he was to Irwin, just look at the pertinent experience Mr. Lamas brought to the table:

Irwin knew that such credentials could cause him to lose the services of Mr. Lamas to another project, and he took great pains to woo him onto the set of The Lost World. And even though Mr. Lamas never appeared in the revered Lost in Space TV series, his talent is not lost on us.

Jay Novello was selected by Irwin Allen to play Costa, the consummate Cuban coward who perpetually betrays everyone around him in the name of greed. In pursuing his craven calling, Mr. Novello went on to play Xandros, the Greek Slave in Atlantis, The Lost Continent, as well as countless other roles as a coward.

Although Mr. Novella never appeared in the revered Lost in Space TV series, his already long and distinguished career as a coward made him the obvious choice for Irwin when the need for an experienced malingerer arose.

Jill St. John was Irwin's pick to play Jennifer Holmes, the "other" glamour girl in The Lost World. Not to be upstaged by glamour-cave-girl Vitina Marcus, Jill played the trump card and broke out the pink go-go boots and skin-tight Capri pants, the perfect Amazonian summertime jungle wear.

Complete with a perfect hairdo, a killer wardrobe, a little yip-yip dog named Frosty, and all the other trappings of a wealthy and pampered prehistoric society, Jill's sensational allure rivaled even that of a certain cave girl appearing in the same film.

With the atmosphere rife for an on-set rivalry between Jill and Vitina, Irwin still managed to keep the peace, proving that he was as skilled a diplomat as he was a director.

Claude Rains, as Professor George Edward Challenger

And our cup runneth over, as Irwin cast Claude Rains to portray Professor George Edward Challenger. His eminence, Mr. Rains is an entity of such immeasurable virtue that he is not in need of monotonous praise from the likes of me.

I respectfully acknowledge the appearance of Mr. Rains because failure to do so would be an unforgivable travesty. But I say nothing more on the subject, lest I state something so obvious and uninspiring as to insult the intelligence of enlightened reader.

Irwin's casting of the cavemen mustn't be overlooked, for their infallibly realistic portrayals are unmatched within the Pleistocene Epoch genre of film. Such meticulous attention to detail is what separates Irwin Allen from lesser filmmakers, whose pale imitations of his work only further to underscore the point.

To be sure, it is possible to come away with the unfounded suspicion that the cavemen are really just a bunch of old white guys from the bar at the local Elks lodge. But Irwin was an absolute stickler for authenticity, and would never have allowed the use of such tawdry measures to taint his prehistoric magnum opus.

In truth, Irwin's on-screen cavemen were borne of many grueling years of anthropological research, so the explanation for their somewhat modern, pseudo-caucasian appearance lies obviously elsewhere. And in keeping with true Irwin Allen tradition, that explanation will not be offered here.

1964 - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Season One, Episode 7 - "Turn Back the Clock", featuring Vitina Marcus as The Native Girl. Produced by Irwin Allen.

And then there was Irwin Allen's masterful handling of the reptilian facets of The Lost World, most notably his inimitable casting of the dinosaurs. His dinosaurs were so realistic, so eerily lifelike, that they almost looked like living, breathing garden variety lizards with dinosaur fins and horns glued to their backs and heads.

The less enlightened viewer might even suppose this to be true, that Irwin's dinosaurs were indeed merely live specimens of lizards, donned in Jurassic-era finery, vastly magnified, and retro-fitted into The Lost World via some penny-wise means of cinematic trickery.

But those of us in the know certainly know better than that, as we are privy to some otherwise unpublished information about The Lost World. The lifelike appearance of the Irwin's dinosaurs can be attributed to a wholly overlooked and fiendishly cunning approach to the art of delusion, which is that the dinosaurs didn't just look real, they were real.

While the world abounds with middling minds who cannot fathom such a reality, we must follow Irwin's benevolent leanings and temper our natural feelings of contempt for this unfortunate assemblage of pedestrian lowbrows. In spite of Irwin's superior intellect, he never felt disdain toward the masses that constituted his audiences. He simply capitalized on their unaffectedness, and in the process recounted the benefits of exploiting the intellectually bereft for personal gain.

The purpose of all this analysis, of course, is to place an exclamation point on the genius of Irwin Allen, the formation of his dinosaur exposé being a premier example. Note how he mindfully manipulates the expectations of his unsuspecting audience, compelling them to probe the dinosaurs for any signs of man-made chicanery. Then, at the palatial moment when the dinosaurs make their entry, he guilefully supplants the anticipated display of faux reptilia with that of the bona fide article.

Upon first witnessing the de facto dinosaurs, some in the audience think they've been had, and indeed they have. Irwin, in engineering his masterful ruse, had used reality as his medium to convey the illusion of artifice. His audience, in essence, was blinded by the truth. It was the immaculate deception, and none but Irwin Allen could have conceived it.

Indeed, the matter of where the live dinosaurs came from has been conspicuously absent from this discussion, as the Irwinian technique of fine film making strongly discourages the practice of squandering time on extraneous justifications and other such trite means of redundant apologia. For the benefit of the incessantly curious, however, just keep in mind that Irwin Allen wrote and produced The Time Tunnel TV Series, a fact that should provide some fair insight into his modis operandi.

Carl R.

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St Andrew and St Patrick, Elveden, Suffolk

As you approach Elveden, there is Suffolk’s biggest war memorial, to those killed from the three parishes that meet at this point. It is over 30 metres high, and you used to be able to climb up the inside. Someone in the village told me that more people have been killed on the road in Elveden since the end of the War than there are names on the war memorial. I could well believe it. Until about five years ago, the busy traffic of the A11 Norwich to London road hurtled through the village past the church, slowed only to a ridiculously high 50 MPH. If something hits you at that speed, then no way on God's Earth are you going to survive. Now there's a bypass, thank goodness.

Many people will know St Andrew and St Patrick as another familiar landmark on the road, but as you are swept along in the stream of traffic you are unlikely to appreciate quite how extraordinary a building it is. For a start, it has two towers. And a cloister. And two naves, effectively. It has undergone three major building programmes in the space of thirty years, any one of which would have sufficed to transform it utterly.

If you had seen this church before the 1860s, you would have thought it nothing remarkable. A simple aisle-less, clerestory-less building, typical of, and indistinguishable from, hundreds of other East Anglian flint churches. A journey to nearby Barnham will show you what I mean.

The story of the transformation of Elveden church begins in the early 19th century, on the other side of the world. The leader of the Sikhs, Ranjit Singh, controlled a united Punjab that stretched from the Khyber Pass to the borders of Tibet. His capital was at Lahore, but more importantly it included the Sikh holy city of Amritsar. The wealth of this vast Kingdom made him a major power-player in early 19th century politics, and he was a particular thorn in the flesh of the British Imperial war machine. At this time, the Punjab had a great artistic and cultural flowering that was hardly matched anywhere in the world.

It was not to last. The British forced Ranjit Singh to the negotiating table over the disputed border with Afghanistan, and a year later, in 1839, he was dead. A power vacuum ensued, and his six year old son Duleep Singh became a pawn between rival factions. It was exactly the opportunity that the British had been waiting for, and in February 1846 they poured across the borders in their thousands. Within a month, almost half the child-Prince's Kingdom was in foreign hands. The British installed a governor, and started to harvest the fruits of their new territory's wealth.

Over the next three years, the British gradually extended their rule, putting down uprisings and turning local warlords. Given that the Sikh political structures were in disarray, this was achieved at considerable loss to the invaders - thousands of British soldiers were killed. They are hardly remembered today. British losses at the Crimea ten years later were much slighter, but perhaps the invention of photography in the meantime had given people at home a clearer picture of what was happening, and so the Crimea still remains in the British folk memory.

For much of the period of the war, Prince Duleep Singh had remained in the seclusion of his fabulous palace in Lahore. However, once the Punjab was secure, he was sent into remote internal exile.

The missionaries poured in. Bearing in mind the value that Sikh culture places upon education, perhaps it is no surprise that their influence came to bear on the young Prince, and he became a Christian. The extent to which this was forced upon him is lost to us today.

A year later, the Prince sailed for England with his mother. He was admitted to the royal court by Queen Victoria, spending time both at Windsor and, particularly, in Scotland, where he grew up. In the 1860s, the Prince and his mother were significant members of London society, but she died suddenly in 1863. He returned with her ashes to the Punjab, and there he married. His wife, Bamba Muller, was part German, part Ethiopian. As part of the British pacification of India programme, the young couple were granted the lease on a vast, derelict stately home in the depths of the Suffolk countryside. This was Elveden Hall. He would never see India again.

With some considerable energy, Duleep Singh set about transforming the fortunes of the moribund estate. Being particularly fond of hunting (as a six year old, he'd had two tutors - one for learning the court language, Persian, and the other for hunting to hawk) he developed the estate for game. The house was rebuilt in 1870.

The year before, the Prince had begun to glorify the church so that it was more in keeping with the splendour of his court. This church, dedicated to St Andrew, was what now forms the north aisle of the present church. There are many little details, but the restoration includes two major features; firstly, the remarkable roof, with its extraordinary sprung sprung wallposts set on arches suspended in the window embrasures, and, secondly, the font, which Mortlock tells us is in the Sicilian-Norman style. Supported by eight elegant columns, it is very beautiful, and the angel in particular is one of Suffolk's loveliest. You can see him in an image on the left.

Duleep Singh seems to have settled comfortably into the role of an English country gentleman. And then, something extraordinary happened. The Prince, steeped in the proud tradition of his homeland, decided to return to the Punjab to fulfill his destiny as the leader of the Sikh people. He got as far as Aden before the British arrested him, and sent him home. He then set about trying to recruit Russian support for a Sikh uprising, travelling secretly across Europe in the guise of an Irishman, Patrick Casey. In between these times of cloak and dagger espionage, he would return to Elveden to shoot grouse with the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. It is a remarkable story.

Ultimately, his attempts to save his people from colonial oppression were doomed to failure. He died in Paris in 1893, the British seemingly unshakeable in their control of India. He was buried at Elveden churchyard in a simple grave.

The chancel of the 1869 church is now screened off as a chapel, accessible from the chancel of the new church, but set in it is the 1894 memorial window to Maharaja Prince Duleep Singh, the Adoration of the Magi by Kempe & Co.

And so, the Lion of the North had come to a humble end. His five children, several named after British royal princes, had left Elveden behind; they all died childless, one of them as recently as 1957. The estate reverted to the Crown, being bought by the brewing family, the Guinnesses.

Edward Cecil Guinness, first Earl Iveagh, commemorated bountifully in James Joyce's 1916 Ulysses, took the estate firmly in hand. The English agricultural depression had begun in the 1880s, and it would not be ended until the Second World War drew the greater part of English agriculture back under cultivation. It had hit the Estate hard. But Elveden was transformed, and so was the church.

Iveagh appointed William Caroe to build an entirely new church beside the old. It would be of such a scale that the old church of St Andrew would form the south aisle of the new church. The size may have reflected Iveagh's visions of grandeur, but it was also a practical arrangement, to accommodate the greatly enlarged staff of the estate. Attendance at church was compulsory; non-conformists were also expected to go, and the Guinnesses did not employ Catholics.

Between 1904 and 1906, the new structure went up. Mortlock recalls that Pevsner thought it 'Art Nouveau Gothic', which sums it up well. Lancet windows in the north side of the old church were moved across to the south side, and a wide open nave built beside it. Curiously, although this is much higher than the old and incorporates a Suffolk-style roof, Caroe resisted the temptation of a clerestory. The new church was rebenched throughout, and the woodwork is of a very high quality. The dates of the restoration can be found on bench ends up in the new chancel, and exploring all the symbolism will detain you for hours. Emblems of the nations of the British Isles also feature in the floor tiles.

The new church was dedicated to St Patrick, patron Saint of the Guinnesses' homeland. At this time, of course, Ireland was still a part of the United Kingdom, and despite the tensions and troubles of the previous century the Union was probably stronger at the opening of the 20th century than it had ever been. This was to change very rapidly. From the first shots fired at the General Post Office in April 1916, to complete independence in 1922, was just six years. Dublin, a firmly protestant city, in which the Iveaghs commemorated their dead at the Anglican cathedral of St Patrick, became the capital city of a staunchly Catholic nation. The Anglicans, the so-called Protestant Ascendancy, left in their thousands during the 1920s, depopulating the great houses, and leaving hundreds of Anglican parish churches completely bereft of congregations. Apart from a concentration in the wealthy suburbs of south Dublin, there are hardly any Anglicans left in the Republic today. But St Patrick's cathedral maintains its lonely witness to long years of British rule; the Iveagh transept includes the vast war memorial to WWI dead, and all the colours of the Irish regiments - it is said that 99% of the Union flags in the Republic are in the Guinness chapel of St Patrick's cathedral. Dublin, of course, is famous as the biggest city in Europe without a Catholic cathedral. It still has two Anglican ones.

Against this background then, we arrived at Elveden. The church is uncomfortably close to the busy road, but the sparkle of flint in the recent rain made it a thing of great beauty. The main entrance is now at the west end of the new church. The surviving 14th century tower now forms the west end of the south aisle, and we will come back to the other tower beyond it in a moment.

You step into a wide open space under a high, heavy roof laden with angels. There is a wide aisle off to the south; this is the former nave, and still has something of that quality. The whole space is suffused with gorgeously coloured light from excellent 19th and 20th century windows. These include one by Frank Brangwyn, at the west end of the new nave. Andrew and Patrick look down from a heavenly host on a mother and father entertaining their children and a host of woodland animals by reading them stories. It is quite the loveliest thing in the building.

Other windows, mostly in the south aisle, are also lovely. Hugh Easton's commemorative window for the former USAAF base at Elveden is magnificent. Either side are windows to Iveaghs - a gorgeous George killing a dragon, also by Hugh Easton, and a curious 1971 assemblage depicting images from the lives of Edward Guinness's heir and his wife, which also works rather well. The effect of all three windows together is particularly fine when seen from the new nave.

Turning ahead of you to the new chancel, there is the mighty alabaster reredos. It cost £1,200 in 1906, about a quarter of a million in today’s money. It reflects the woodwork, in depicting patron Saints and East Anglian monarchs, around a surprisingly simple Supper at Emmaus. This reredos, and the Brangwyn window, reminded me of the work at the Guinness’s other spiritual home, St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, which also includes a window by Frank Brangwyn commisioned by them. Everything is of the highest quality. Rarely has the cliché ‘no expense spared’ been as accurate as it is here.

Up at the front, a little brass plate reminds us that Edward VII slept through a sermon here in 1908. How different it must have seemed to him from the carefree days with his old friend the Maharajah! Still, it must have been a great occasion, full of Edwardian pomp, and the glitz that only the fabulously rich can provide. Today, the church is still splendid, but the Guinesses are no longer fabulously rich, and attendance at church is no longer compulsory for estate workers; there are far fewer of them anyway. The Church of England is in decline everywhere; and, let us be honest, particularly so in this part of Suffolk, where it seems to have retreated to a state of siege. Today, the congregation of this mighty citadel is as low as half a dozen. The revolutionary disappearance of Anglican congregations in the Iveagh's homeland is now being repeated in a slow, inexorable English way.

You wander outside, and there are more curiosities. Set in the wall are two linked hands, presumably a relic from a broken 18th century memorial. They must have been set here when the wall was moved back in the 1950s. In the south chancel wall, the bottom of an egg-cup protrudes from among the flints. This is the trademark of the architect WD Caroe. To the east of the new chancel, Duleep Singh’s gravestone is a very simple one. It is quite different in character to the church behind it. A plaque on the east end of the church remembers the centenary of his death.

Continuing around the church, you come to the surprise of a long cloister, connecting the remodelled chancel door of the old church to the new bell tower. It was built in 1922 as a memorial to the wife of the first Earl Iveagh. Caroe was the architect again, and he installed eight bells, dedicated to Mary, Gabriel, Edmund, Andrew, Patrick, Christ, God the Father, and the King. The excellent guidebook recalls that his intention was for the bells to be cast to maintain the hum and tap tones of the renowned ancient Suffolk bells of Lavenham... thus the true bell music of the old type is maintained.

This church is magnificent, obviously enough. It has everything going for it, and is a national treasure. And yet, it has hardly any congregation. So, what is to be done?

If we continue to think of rural historic churches as nothing more than outstations of the Church of England, it is hard to see how some of them will survive. This church in particular has no future in its present form as a village parish church. New roles must be found, new ways to involve local people and encourage their use. One would have thought that this would be easier here than elsewhere.

The other provoking thought was that this building summed up almost two centuries of British imperial adventure, and that we lived in a world that still suffered from the consequences. It is worth remembering where the wealth that rebuilt St Andrew and St Patrick came from.

As so often in British imperial history, interference in other peoples’ problems and the imposition of short-term solutions has left massive scars and long-cast shadows. For the Punjab, as in Ireland, there are no simple solutions. Sheer proximity has, after several centuries of cruel and exploitative involvement, finally encouraged the British government to pursue a solution in Ireland that is not entirely based on self-interest. I fear that the Punjab is too far away for the British to care very much now about what they did there then.