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Nostalgia from Educated Retirement Show

July 21, 2021

National Vanilla Ice Cream Day

The month of July is National Ice Cream Month.  Tip your hat to the second most popular flavor of ice cream in America, Vanilla!  The third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, introduced this flavor to the states and may have discovered it while visiting France.  He produced a handwritten copy of the vanilla ice cream recipe in the 1780’s.  Only ten copies remain, in fact, the Library of Congress houses one copy that has a cookie recipe on the flip side.  The ice cream parlor at Mr. Rushmore in South Dakota serves the same recipe.  Jefferson also discovered ‘mac and cheese’ in France and first served it at a state dinner in 1802.  He even sketched a ‘macaroni machine’…and among other things it is said that he was even responsible for the popularization of French Fries in America.

 

Did you know?

*It is said that the Ice Cream cone was invented by Charles E. Menches at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis Missouri…on this day.

*The world record for the largest ice cream cone ever made was in 2015 in Norway with a cone over 10 feet high.

*New Zealand consumes more ice cream than any other country.

*After saffron, vanilla is the most expensive spice in the world.

*Some of the strangest flavors of ice cream are avocado, garlic, chili, hot dog, licorice, stilton cheese and bacon.

*NASA once said that ice cream is within the top 3 foods astronauts miss the most.

So go out for some ice cream today and make it vanilla.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Day

Harry Reese worked on a dairy farm owned by Milton Hershey, (the Hershey chocolate king) and in 1928 Harry began working with the idea of mixing peanut butter and chocolate in cups. 

At one point Reese was under pressure to support his 10 children (with one on the way) so he took a paper mill job in Pennsylvania and a second job as a butcher, and third job canning vegetables. By 1928 he invented the prized candy and an automated manufacturing process and soon was packaging 120 individually wrapped pieces per box that sold for a penny per cup.  He founded the H.B. Reese Candy Co.  Today Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups is the number two best-selling candy product behind M&M’s.

 

 

Birthdays….. July 23

Philip Seymour Hoffman…July 23,1967-2014

Hoffman was an American actor and director best known for his distinctive roles as typically lowlifes, eccentrics, bullies and misfits.

Philip was born in Fairport, New York to his mother (a school teacher becoming a family court judge), and, his father (who worked for Xerox Corporation).  His parents divorced when he was nine. Living with his mother he saw a stage production and he said…. “ I was permanently changed by that experience. It was like a miracle to me.” He had developed a love for the theater.  He joined a drama club and said… “I loved the camaraderie of it, the people, and that is when I decided this is what I wanted to do.”  He attended the NY State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga Springs and later applied for several drama degree programs.

After graduating he worked in ‘off Broadway’ theater and made additional money doing customer service jobs.  He made his screen debut in a “Law and Order” TV episode, small film roles followed.  Once he starred in the film “The Scent of a Woman” with Al Pacino he abandoned his job in a delicatessen to become a professional actor.  He continued to do stage work between films, and later worked as a waiter, grocery store clerk and even a lifeguard to pay bills.

Following a string of roles in successful films in the late 90’s Hoffman had established a reputation as a top supporting player who could be relied on to make an impression.  He was recognized as a great theatre actor as well, starring in 10 stage productions and directed 19.

Philip starred in over 50 films and was nominated for four AA awards and won one Oscar for the film “Capote”.

Short List of Philip Seymour Hoffman films

Twister…1996…director Jan de Bont, co-starred Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt, film was nominated for 2 AA awards

Boogie Nights…1997..director Paul Thomas Anderson, co-starred Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore film nominated for 3 AA awards

The Talented Mr. Ripley..1999, director Anthony Minghella, co-starred Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, film nominated for 5 AA awards

Magnolia…1998, director Paul Thomas Anderson, co-starred Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, Jason Robards, film nominated for 3 AA awards

The Big Lebowski…1998..directors Coen Bros., co-starred Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, John Turturro

Flawless…1999..diresctor Joel Schumacher, co-starred Robert De Niro

Almost Famous…2000..director Cameron Crowe, co-starred Kate Hudsom, Frances McDormand,  Jimmy Fallon

Capote…2005…director Bennett Miller, film nominated for 5 AA awards and won one for Best Actor…(Philip Seymour Hoffman)

Charlie Wilson’s War…2007…director Mike Nichols, co-starred Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Amy Adams, film nominated one AA award for best Supporting Actor (Philip Seymour Hoffman)

The Master…2012..director Paul Thomas Anderson, co-starred Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams, film nominated for 3 AA awards

His favorite TV show was “Breaking Bad” while his favorite film was “Goodfellas”.  His performance in three Broadway plays “True West”, “Long Days Journey Into Night” and “Death of a Salesman” all led to Tony Award nominations.

Philip struggled with drug addiction as a young adult and died in 2014 of combined drug intoxication.

Raymond Chandler ….July 23,1888-1959

Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American British novelist and screenwriter.  He is a founder of the ‘hard-boiled’ school of detective fiction along with Dashiell Hammett.  Raymond was born in Chicago to an alcoholic civil engineer who worked for the railway and who eventually abandoned his family.  His Mother moved them to Ireland and his uncle (a successful lawyer) reluctantly supported them while they lived with his maternal grandmother.

Chandler later became a reporter for the Westminster Gazette and was unsuccessful as a journalist but published reviews and continued writing poetry.  He borrowed money from his uncle to return to America where he took a correspondence course in bookkeeping.  Later he and his Mother moved to Los Angeles in 1913 where he strung tennis rackets, picked fruit and found employment with the Los Angeles Creamery.  He traveled to Vancouver and enlisted in The Canadian Expeditionary Force, saw combat in trenches in France and was hospitalized twice with the Spanish Flu.

He later returned to LA and taught himself to write pulp fiction and tried to imitate Erle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason author).

Chandler’s first big novel was “The Big Sleep” published in 1939 featuring, Philip Marlowe detective.  His second Marlowe novel “Farewell, My Lovely” became the basis
 for three movie versions including the film in 1944 “Murder My Sweet”. 

Chandler became in demand as a screenwriter.  He and Billy Wilder co-wrote “Double Indemnity” which starred Barbra Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray and was nominated for an Academy Award.  His only produced original screenplay was “The Blue Dahlia.”  He collaborated on the screenplay of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Strangers On a Train.”  In 1946 he moved to La Jolla and wrote two more Philip Marlowe novels one of which was “The Long Goodbye”

Raymond Chandler quotes

*He looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food cake.

*The streets were dark with something more than night.

*I was as hollow and empty as the spaces between stars. (from The Long Goodbye)

*It seemed like a nice neighborhood to have bad habits in…(from The Big Sleep)

Films adapted from Raymond Chandler stories

The Big Sleep…1946..director Howard Hawks, starred Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall

The Long Goodbye…1973..director Robert Altman, starred Elliott Gould

Double Indemnity…1944, director Billy Wilder, starred Fred Mac Murray and Barbara Stanwyck

Farewell, My Lovely..1975, director Dick Richards, starred Robert Mitchum

Murder, My Sweet…1944..director Edward Dmytryk,  starred Dick Powell, Claire  Trevor

Lady in the Lake…1947…director by and starred Robert Montgomery

The Blue Dahlia…1946..director George Marshall starred Alan Ladd and William Bendix

Strangers On A Train…1951…director Alfred Hitchcock, starred Farley Granger and Robert Walker

 

Woody Harrelson…July 23, 1961

Woodrow Tracy Harrelson is an American actor and playwright.  He was born in Woodland, Texas to his Mother who was a secretary and Father a convicted hitman who received a life sentence for the killing of a federal judge.  Harrelson’s family was poor and relied on his mother’s wages.  The family moved to Ohio where he graduated from HS and worked at an amusement park during the summer.  He received a BFA in theatre and English in college.

Woody started his career in TV sitcoms such as “Cheers”, “Frasier” and “Will and Grace”.  His first feature film was a football comedy “Wildcats” in 1986 with Goldie Hawn.

Over the years Harrelson made over 84 films and was nominated for 3 Oscars, and for 9 Primetime Emmys and won one Primetime Emmy for “Cheers”.

Did you know ….

Woody was arrested a few times for disorderly conduct in Ohio for dancing in the middle of the street, also in London in a police chase after an incident in a taxi, clashed with a photographer outside a club in Hollywood grabbing his camera and in Kentucky for planting hemp seeds challenging the state law regarding marijuana.

Once he traveled to the West Coast on a bike along a caravan with a hemp oil fueled biodiesel bus for a documentary film.  And….in case you didn’t know he also briefly owned an oxygen bar in West Hollywood.

Woody is a fan of chess and attended the first game of the World Chess Championship in London in 2018 and played the ceremonial first move for the previous Championship in New York.  He also practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu having received the first stripe on his white belt.

Harrelson was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Hanover College in 2014.

 

Short List of Woody Harrelson films

Natural Born Killers…1994..director Oliver Stone, co-starred Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr. and Tommy Lee Jones, story by Quentin Tarantino

Kingpin…1996..director Farrelly Bros, co-starred Randy Quaid and Bill Murray

The Thin Red Line…1998..director Terrence Malick, co-starred Sean Penn and Nick Nolte, film had 7 AA award nominations

A Scanner Darkly…2006..director Richard Linklater based on the novel by Philip K. Dick, co-starred Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey ,Jr.

No Country for Old Men…2007..director the Coen Bros, co-starred Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, film had 8 AA award nominations and won 4 of them including Best Picture

Zombieland…2009..director Ruben Fleischer

2012….2009…director Roland Emmerich, co-starred John Cusack and Danny Glover

War for the Planet of the Apes…2017..director Matt Reeves, co-starred Andy Serkis

 

Daniel Radcliffe…July 23, 1989

Daniel is an English actor best known for his role of Harry Potter in the film series.  Daniel was born in London to a ‘very working class’ family.

He was interested in acting at age five and at age 10 he made his debut in a BBC-TV adaptation of David Copperfield in 1999 and made his film debut in The Tailor of Panama.  He was asked to audition for the role of Harry Potter as director Chris Columbus saw the video of him in David Copperfield he said “This is what I want…This is Harry Potter!”  Daniel’s parents originally turned the offer down because they had been told it would involve 6 films to be shot in Los Angeles, instead the studio offered Radcliffe a two film contract with shooting in the UK (as a start).

Short List Daniel Radcliffe films

7 Harry Potter Films starting with “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”

The Woman In Black…2012..director James Watkins

Horns…2013…director Alexandre Aja

Kill Your Darlings…2013..director John Krokidas, (Daniel played young Allen Ginsberg)

Pinocchio (upcoming…2022 or later).director Guillermo del Toro..This stop motion animated musical fantasy film also stars Ewan McGreger, Ron Perlman, John Turturro, and Tom Waits, Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett.  This will be Guillermo’s first animated film and is based on the original designs of the 1883 Italian novel.

 

 

 On This Day

Plan 9 From Outer Space released, July 22, 1959

Director Ed Wood, starred Bela Lugosi, Vampira (Maila Nurmi), The Amazing Criswell, Tor Johnson.  This film is celebrated as the worst movie ever made.  Critics love to mock everything from the film’s comical dialogue and quirky special effects yet these same things are what endears the film to its fans.

It was Lugosi’s last film,  a Chiropractor played Lugosi’s double.  Those flying saucers were store bought toys. Vampira would put on her vampire makeup and costume at home and then take a bus to the soundstage.  Lugosi used his own old Dracula costume.  The screenplay was written in less than two weeks and one of the locations used for footage was the home of Tor Johnson.  Criswell wrote all of the film’s narration himself, this was also his film debut.

 

The film “Ed Wood” starred Johnny Depp was released in 1994 and directed by Tim Burton.  This was a portrayal of Ed’s struggles in the film industry including the creation of “Plan 9 From Outer Space”.  Martin Landau starred in  the role of Bela Lugosi and won two AA awards…Best Actor Martin Landau and Best Makeup notably Rick Baker.

 

 

Strangers On A Train released June 30, 1951

Director Alfred Hitchcock, screenplay co-written by Raymond Chandler and starred Farley Granger, Robert Walker and Ruth Roman.  The film was nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar.  Several writers turned down the chance to write the screenplay such as Thornton Wilder, John Steinbeck and Dashiell Hammett.  Grace Kelly was Hitchcock’s first choice for main female lead (Ruth Roman’s part).  Regarding the carousel scene…An actual Carousel operator (not a professional stuntman) volunteered to be the one to crawl under it to stop it from spinning out of control.

It Conquered the World released July 14, 1956

Directed by Roger Corman, starred Peter Graves, Beverly Garland, Lee Van Cleef

This film was inspired by the success of “Day the World Ended” also directed by Corman.

The creature was mounted on wheels and the actor had to crouch inside the costume to enable to move the creature.  Originally, it was supposed to be in a dark cave but Roger decided it would be more effective if the creature would make an appearance outside its hiding place.  The creature’s working pinchers were broken on the first day of shooting.  When Beverly Garland first saw the creature she laughed and said “I cold bop that monster over the head with my handbag, it’s not a monster, it’s a table ornament.”

The film was released as a double bill with “The She-Creature”.  The film originally could only be seen by adults in the UK because the scene of the creature being destroyed by a blow torch was considered animal cruelty; however, the producer Samuel Z. Arkoff convinced the British film board that the violence was against an otherworldly person not an animal thus earning the film passing the board after all.

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Jay Kaplan
This is the place to share. Share news, updates and opinions. The reverse is the most misunderstood item in the lending and financial home ownership arena; we need more exchange of ideas. This area is for questions and, I hope; answers. Please keep the dialogue going in the name of education, and that goes both ways. Please see that I have added two categories from The Educated Retirement show for Nostalgia and Wisdom
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