A Helping Hand

I'd like to help you out;
Which way did you come in.
--Anonymous

I'm Smart (Haiku)

A fountain of knowledge
Spouting facts and opinions
Proving it ... to me.

Character Study: Professor Plum in Clue, The Musical

I am Robert E. Peabody, also known as Professor Plum.  I was born on March 27, 1959 in Springfield Massachusetts.  My parents were rather well to do and I had what could be considered to be a privileged childhood.  I attended parochial school, an all-boys catholic high school, Boston College to work on my BA but with difficulty I finished it at Springfield College, a local teachers college.

Upon graduation I went to work for the Springfield Mass school system at the Alfred E. Glickman elementary school where I taught 7th Grade.

After seven frustrating years of working with pubescent teenagers, I switched to teaching Composition and Rhetoric at the senior level at Commerce High school.

I had the dream of becoming the principal of a school and worked towards that through extracurricular activities in the community.  I became friends with the Chairperson of Academy Hill High School and she saw to it that I was hired there, then helped me advance to a position of prominence in the school.

When my parents died they left me a considerable inheritance and I bought my way into the school and persuaded my patron and her colleagues to make me the headmaster.

In carrying out my fundraising obligations to keep the school afloat, I was introduced to the CEO of an oil company, both she and the company will be nameless here for privacy reasons, and we became lovers.

She saw to it that there were donations made to the school from the company and it was a quite cozy relationship.

Then about five years ago along came Mr. Boddy and, through loathsome chicanery, he drove down the stock price of the patron company, caused my CEO paramour to get fired and the donations to my school were stopped.

Needless to say, the school fell upon hard times, I lost a lot of money and prestige as a result and harbor much ill will towards Mr. Boddy.

I was introduced to Mr. Boddy as a certain Professor Plum; he hired me to write a book for him about the government involvement in the oil industry.  He wasn't too careful about checking my credentials and, since I am quite adept at writing in English, the ruse was successful.

He agreed to pay me handsomely for my efforts but never did.

My objective here at Boddy Manor is to kill Mr. Boddy with the monckey wrench, because he threw a monckey wrench into my life, in the study since that's my line of work.

Some other interesting facts about me:

1. I am not and have never been married

2. I enjoy the company of a variety of women, especially strong and powerful women

3. I am always on the prowl for new conquests

4. I have had a few longer term relationships, the most recent being the CEO of the patron company

5.  I am rather taken by me

There are other guests here at Boddy Manor and I suspect that they will be getting in my way as I go about achieving my objective.

As the action starts, I am in the study reading a book.  I hear and see the other guests, introduce myself and listen to their introductions.

I see that I will have to be interacting with them throughout the events of the evening as I attempt to achieve my main objective of killing Mr. Boddy.

Character Study of Joe Cabot in Reservoir Dogs

Up until the beginning of the action which commences in 1992:

I have been successful at planning and executing robberies that require more than one person.

The way I do it:

  

  .    Do the research required to know all about the place and how it operates

3.    Arrange for the sale of the stolen goods

4.    Assemble a team of people who don’t know one another and keep it that way

5.    Carry out the plan and disburse the team

6.    Fence the goods

7.    Pay off the team

My robberies have been so successful that the police have made it a mission to catch me, not one of my teams but me, in the act of carrying out the plan.  Once previously, they implanted an undercover cop in one of my teams.  He was discovered and killed before we could be arrested.

About me:

I was born in 1927 in North Saint Louis and grew up there.  I went to Holy Cross School and McBride High School and worked part time at Scruggs, a downtown department store.  There I was associated with a variety of people.   I found out early that there were two paths down which one could walk, the high ground or the low.  The low ground was easier, required a lot less work, and more lucrative when I was a kid so that’s what I did.

When I got out of high school I started working for a group of men who controlled a neighborhood and made sure that the residents were protected from any undue outside influence.  The businesses were independent proprietorships that offered few complaints about the somewhat reasonable amounts we were asking.  My job was collecting the premiums on this “insurance” and making sure that they were paid.  

Occasionally I would have to step up to resistance, which wasn’t often but easily overcome by brute force.  I am a big guy so it didn’t happen all that often.  Toughening up to be able to handle even the most arduous task was important and I killed another for the first time when I was 27.  The event was hailed by my boss and coworkers and I was kind of proud of myself.

Anyone looking at me would think I was a working stiff.  I had a wife and family, a modest house in Baden, one son, and went to church regularly.  I was in the Knights of Columbus and the Holy Name society at church and we went regularly to Mass.  

Anyone who asked where I worked or what I did was told I was in the insurance business.  There were those who knew but they also knew not to say anything. 

There was this guy who move into the parish who was sort of sanctimonious and put two and two together about me.  He started talking about me behind my back.  Late in October, near Halloween, I waited for him to come home.  When he got out of his car I approached him, beat the shit out of him and told him to forget about me and about my business or his family would miss him terribly.  There was never any more trouble out of anybody, period.

As I matured I looked for a way to become more independent.  I didn’t want to give up my job in the mob but I wanted exercise my people and planning skills.  I didn’t start thinking this way right away, I was content with what I was doing in the mob until I was in my early thirties.   

My first job set the pattern for all that followed.  I went to the south west part of the county and looked at the possibilities.  It was a more affluent area, around Kirkwood, where the security was not as good as in the city.  I found a couple of places that had good merchandise, small staffs, and regular hours.  I asked a couple of guys who didn’t know each other to join me in a “project,” a hold up.  Then I met with them individually to tell them the general ground rules and plan; then a team meeting where they all saw each other for the first time.

It was important that they not know each other because I was operating outside the organization, on my own.  Also because if any one of them were to get id’d and arrested they wouldn’t be able to identify anyone else on the team.  They could have id’d me, of course, but that would have been a death sentence for them.  This was made clear in my first meeting with each of them.

For the past 40 years, I have been able to successfully implement this arrangement.  I have done well for myself and for those who team up with me.  So much so that applicants are continuously contacting me to participate in one of my capers.

I’ve not been greedy, I’ve taken 50% of the fenced amount and split the other 50% among the team.  This meant that the “take” had to be considerable and the team kept to a minimum because with a team of five, each would get 10% of the take.  I put a downside limit of $100K so each would get $10K.  That’s not bad for a day’s work.

Character Study, Harry Trevor playing Baptista Minola in Kiss Me Kate

Harry Trevor (1903) New York NY

Harry Trevor was born in Manhattan, New York at 10:20 AM on December 24, 1893 to John and Mary Trevor.  He was a normal, healthy baby boy weighing in at 8 lbs 12 ounces.

A word about John and Mary Trevor.  They were vaudevillians who became acquainted on the circuit.  They started out separately, met,  and one romantic night fell into each other’s arms.  John did the honorable thing when Mary told him she was pregnant and they were married on June 2, 1893, a Tuesday because they were performing on the weekends. 

They rented an apartment in midtown Manhattan and John continued his performing in the city, whenever possible, and on the circuit the rest of the time.  Mary took the baby with her to wherever he was until it was time for Harry to go to school.

Harry attended public school in Manhattan until he finished 8^th Grade.  That was the extent of his formal education.  He and his mother joined his father on the road and Harry became part of the act with his father.  The act varied from melodrama, to comedy sketches, to song and dance; whatever the house required.  His mother was more of a supporter than performer.  The three of them had a good life together.

As the years passed and Harry matured out of the act and vaudeville came to an end; he went into the legitimate theater.  There, he found a ready market for his ability to portray a variety of characters; for whatever the script called.  He never aspired to top billing, or even second, third, or fourth line billing.  He was satisfied to support the stars and collect his pay.

Thus he gained a good reputation among producers and directors in the theater district and played every house of note in the city.  He often traveled with the troupe to the minor markets to hone a show and get it ready for the “big white way.”  His credits were significant and he enjoyed the respect of the more noted “stars” on Broadway.

As for his personal life; Harry was as lackluster as the roles he played.  At 44 he was still unmarried and, although he enjoyed the company of women, had no intention of marrying and/or starting a family.  His own experiences, though not bad, were not enough to engender such a desire in him.  He managed to keep an ever changing list of girlfriends, the changing coming when one became too clutching.

Among the guys, Harry was always up for a good time but eschewed overindulging in liquor and gambling.  He’d seen too many shipwrecks in his lifetime to get sucked into that.  Not a teetotaler, he enjoyed a drink as much as the next guy, but never overindulged.  The same with gambling, he loved the track and boxing but the $2 bet was his favorite.

As for finances; here again he didn’t aspire to stardom.  He knew that there was no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow so he religiously put aside 10% of his earnings, in cash, in a valise that he kept in his room or apartment wherever he was.  This seemed foolish to him during the 20’s but then after 1929 he congratulated himself over and over again.

He kept up with the news and could see that reforms were going in place to make banks safer so he opened an account at The Manhattan Company Bank and continued to add to his “nest egg.”   Then during WWII he regularly bought war bonds and was now looking ahead to a comfortable retirement.

One could almost sum up Harry Trevor as an ordinary fellow; one who never knew his full potential.  On the other hand, he was a good fellow to have around.

When his agent called with an audition for Kiss Me, Kate, he said, “Sure.” Went in and got the role of Baptista Minola, Katharine’s father.  He knew the company as one that was a little threadbare; some thought it to be taking its last breath.  The director was a bit of an egomaniac in that he was also the star of the show.  The leading lady was almost a has-been.  She and the director were divorced but there was still a lot of emotion in their relationship, both positive and negative.

Knowing this, Harry went in with his eyes and ears open, and his mouth shut.  He fit in very nicely as the man who wasn’t there.  He did his job, played his part, said his lines with Shakespearian flair and bowed appropriately when the curtain came down.

Meanwhile, there is a fetching, not-so-young member of the ensemble that is catching his attention.

The Basics (Haiku)

Where can I put it?
The question on all mens' minds.
It is that simple.

What could he be like?
The question on womens' minds.
Also that simple.

Character Study of John Holt (Pop) in The Honey Harvest

The Honey Harvest

Author Liz Fentress

The playwright's  description:

Time, the present.  John Holt (Pop) Mel’s father, a slender man, who has just been released from the hospital where he was treated (unsuccessfully) for psychotic depression; he suffers from a disabling lack of faith in life and in himself.  A meek, gentle man he is most at home in the natural world.  He is in his mid-sixties and retired.                                   

John Holt character back story by John Lina:

John Holt was born on Christmas Eve in 1951 in Janesville Wisconsin at Mount Mercy Hospital to Mary Jones Holt and Joseph Kenneth Holt.  Mary died during his birth.  His father was helped with raising John, and his four brothers, by his paternal grandmother, Ann.  Joseph’s father had already died at the time of John Holt’s birth.  Joseph never remarried.

His grandmother was a kind and sincere woman, religious to the point of distraction and put things into the “hands of God” as she tried to cope with the shenanigans of the five boys.  She often left the discipline to Joey when he got home from a long day of working at the local grain elevator.  

Discipline was often severe because he was tired and not in a mood to put up with both sides of the story.  He wasn’t, however, cruel and only handed out corporal punishment for particularly brazen breaches of rules.

John was the youngest by 2 years and as a result was often the butt of his brothers need for superiority.  He, like many youngest boys, was not treated kindly by his brothers.  His third older brother, Clarence, was often his protector and he could count on Clarence to defend him from harsh treatment from the others.

This is not to say that it was always bad for John.  As a brother in the family he could count on all of his brothers to uphold, protect, and defend him in situations outside the home.  If anyone picked on any of the Holt boys, he had to be prepared to take on all of them.  This boded well for all of them and they rarely had trouble from anyone.

John attended St Williams Catholic Elementary school in Janesville and was a good student.   He graduated from St Mary’s High school in 1968.  He took well to math and science, had little interest in literature or art.   He then went to University of Wisconsin-Rock County for two years and finished his four year Civil Engineering degree at U of WI-Madison.  

He worked in Janesville for Rock County as an Engineer for 40 years, retiring at age 62.  As an engineer for the county he participated in the design, review, and supervised construction of all the Civil Engineering projects in the county.

He married Jeanne Addington when he was 37 years of age and she was 33.  She was a clerk of the Rock County court and they’d known each other for 15 years before finally falling in love and getting married.  

They tried for a long time to have a child and were finally successful when Melissa was born in 1996 when John was 45 and Jeanne was 41.  The pregnancy was not without its difficulties but the birth was normal and easy.

As the birth day approached, John became more and more worried about Jeanne, probably harking back to the fact that his mother died during his birth.  His worries, however, were unfounded because both mother and daughter were fine.

Melissa was raised in a loving home by parents who treated her well.  They attended Mass every Sunday at St Patrick’s church, she attended parochial school there and went to high school at Joseph H Craig, which was still relatively new at the time.  She graduated and went away to college at U of WI-Madison.

Jeanne, meanwhile, was diagnosed with uterine cancer when Melissa was still in grade school.  She died when Melissa was in her second year of high school.  John seemed to handle the situation well, at first.  He grieved but seemed to adjust to her death after a short time; some friends thought too short of a time.  

Melissa and he carried on without Jeanne; John buried himself in his work and did engineering projects in the area that were, more or less, gratis for people he knew.  Melissa continued without mom; she had a full and normal social life there in Janesville and had many friends.

When Melissa left for college, John began a steep decline into depression.  His work didn’t falter but his mood and attitude were noticeably changed.  He seemed not to care very much about what was going on around him.  He dropped out of the Rotary Club and only occasionally went to church, usually when Melissa came home for the weekend and during the summer.  He just didn’t seem to be interested in anything except the design projects had did around the county for friends.

One weekend Melissa came home to find him sitting in his recliner chair, not watching TV, not reading, not doing anything, just sitting there; he was non-committal in his responses to her.  She became alarmed when he continued this behavior after her trying her best to get through to him.  She called the family physician and was told to take him to the ER at Mercy Health and Trauma center.

Dr. Gillespie met them there and diagnosed John with Major Depression and arranged to have him admitted to the hospital for observation.  During the time he was being observed, several alarming factors emerged and the diagnosis was escalated to Psychotic Depression. 

His grief for Jeanne was festering in his mind, he felt guilty about his strong desire for her to have a child; that somehow this triggered her illness.  We was doing okay until Feb/Mar when he even considered ending it all to give Melissa a good start in life with an inheritance that would have been significant.  He went missing.

Dr. Gillespie had treated him with medication but it no longer seemed to be effective; he reluctantly concluded that ECT was indicated as a last resort.  It seemed to work.  John was stable and less symptomatic but needed some time to recover.

Melissa was concerned about him and so sure that she could bring him back to normal that she arranged to have him come home under her care.  She arranged to be away from college for a while, as long as it took, to take care of him.  He helped her move home in January but then the March episode triggered a relapse and back into the hospital he went.  Now it was May and, as of yesterday, he  was home again. 

She decided on a long-dormant desire to keep bees as something they could do together that would pique his interest and hasten his recovery.  Where she got that from he didn’t know; was she not aware of the allergic reaction he’d had to a bee sting as a youth?  

Postcards (Haiku)

Facebook like postcards

Ha Ha, I'm here and your not

People do not change much

Person (Haiku)

I am not black or white
Red, yellow, or whatever
I'm my own person

Think About It? (Haiku)

One can overthink
Embellish to an extreme
And do way too much

Thinking's not a waste
But effort can be wasted
Thinker's and others

Sometimes decision
Good, bad, or indifferent
Is necessary

When finally made
Don't abide the question why
That opens the door

Delusion (Haiku)

Voice in the shower
Sounded pretty good to me
Then I took lessons

Auditions for roles
Wound up with non-singing parts
Still taking lessons

Waiting for the day
To audition in full voice
And still get the part

Celebrity (Haiku)

Unremarkable
Many of us are like that
Living quietly

Not seeking lime light
We do what we want to do
And do it our way

Some attention starved
Get caught only to be seen
It's aggravating

Yet we read the news
About others' excesses
And sit here amazed

Could it be envy
Not when closely examined
They can be the news

We will get our kicks
Doing what we want to do
Without getting caught

The Daily News (Haiku)

Obituaries
The rest of the newspaper
Means nil to this list

Guiding Principles (Haiku)

The moral compass
Is affected by money
As iron the real

Expectations (Haiku)

Give me a warm beer
Put it in a dirty glass
Order what I get

Acceptance (Haiku)

Have expectations?
They probably won't be met
So get over it.

Expectations met
Allow for satisfaction
A joyful feeling

It is what it is
Not good, not bad, not ugly
This is acceptance

Development Gone Awry (Haiku)

Seeing it again
Like termites eating nature
A subdivision

Fields of corn and trees
Stripped graded desolated
Paved sodded landscaped

Leaving far behind
A crater once a city
But one can't escape

Termites have a queen
Ours is envy fear and greed
It cannot be stopped

The Mystery of Life (Haiku)

"There are currently seven billion people alive today and the Population Reference Bureau estimates that about 107 billion people have ever lived. This means that we are nowhere near close to having more alive than dead. In fact, there are 15 dead people for every person living.Feb 4, 2012"

Life-- is seen in us
Then discards us when finished
Life-- goes on

Our Cat Butchie (Haiku)

It's not what you've got
But rather how you use it
That's what counts the most

When my son brought her home after rescuing her from neighborhood ruffians, he thought she was a male cat and named her Butch.  Sometime later we found out she was not and changed her name to Butchie.  She had a litter of kittens, from the tomcat next door, I'm sure.  There were four of them.
She had them out of doors in the front yard one afternoon when a neighborhood dog, several times her size, became curious and came towards her and her litter.  Butchie became twice her size, every hair on her body seemed to stand straight out; her tail was straight up and likewise inflated in size.  She hissed and charged the dog with claws extended.  The dog went scurrying away.

Another Hero Died Young (Haiku)

He's cool, he uses
Another hero is dead
You can be this cool

Sure it is poison
You can use it all the time
Just a little bit

If you want to die
Why not do it feeling good
This is your ticket

Pushers marketeers
Supply the feel good substance
Leaving fans to weep

Pushers marketeers
Getting rich from temptation
Go ahead, give in

You can be cool too
All you have to do is take this
See, I told you so

It can go for years
A few seconds off the clock
But it does add up

A Faustian deal
The devil comes for his due
Death is the end game

Richard III a Character in Richard III by WS

I

Richard Plantagenet was born on 2 October 1452 at Fotheringhay Castle in Northampton shire, the youngest son of Richard, Duke of York, and his wife, the former Cecily Neville.

Richard’s brother, Edward, seized the throne of England in March of 1460 and defeated the Lancastrians at Towton on 29 March 1460.

Richard, was created duke of Gloucester at the age of eight and entered the household of his cousin, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, to begin his education as a nobleman.

Richard accompanied Edward to the continent and on their return to England in 1471 the eighteen-year-old duke was given command of the vanguard at the Battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. These battles were resounding Yorkist victories and both Warwick and the Lancastrian heir, Prince Edward of Wales, were killed. The former king, Henry VI, died a few days later in London.

Richard now assumed the responsibilities of his position. He had been admiral of England since 1461 and he was now appointed constable. King Edward granted Richard many of Warwick's forfeited estates and the following year the duke married Warwick's younger daughter Anne, who was the widow of Prince Edward who was killed at Tewkesbury.

He remained in the North and tended to his estates; defending the North against an invasion of the Scots.  He left on occasion to help his brother in an invasion of France and again to attend parliament.

On 9 April 1483, a year of great importance to Richard, King Edward died, a few days short of his forty-first birthday. There had been no time to prepare for a transition of power and the heir, another Edward, was twelve years old.

Richard was called to London and moved quickly and decisively to get into a position of power.  He was given responsibility for the protection of the two young princes.  The children were shortly thereafter declared illegitimate heirs to the throne and within four days, Richard was acclaimed King of England

On Christmas Day 1483, in Rennes Cathedral, Henry Tudor declared his intention of marrying King Edward IV's eldest daughter, the Lady Elizabeth, when he became king of England. He then spent the next eighteen months planning his invasion.

The invasion came in August of 1485 and on August 22, on Bosworth Field in Leicestershire, Richard was killed in battle.  He was not yet 33 years old.

A documentary on the finding of his remains, under a parking lot at the location of the Abbey to which his body was reportedly taken, revealed that he died of wounds received in close, hand to hand combat on the battle field.  He was indeed a man of war.  The picture above is based on the skull of the skeleton that was unearthed.

To his credit he instituted the philosophy of being innocent until proven guilty as well as reforming the jury system used in England at that time.  

The source of this information is various websites for Richard III

Brutus Character from Julius Ceaser

BRUTUS

Brutus Marcus Junius, celebrated Roman, born in 85 B. C.; committed suicide in 42; at the age of 43. 

In early manhood he was devoted exclusively to literary pursuits and did not interest himself in the political discussions of Rome until he had attained a mature age. During the civil war between Pompey and Caesar he sympathized with the former, but after the Battle of Pharsalia he became friendly with Caesar and was made governor of Cisalpine Gaul, and later of Macedonia.

After returning to Rome, he was divorced from his wife with the design of marrying Portia, daughter of Cato, of whom he was a supporter. Later he was influenced by Cassius to join the conspiracy against Caesar, which ended in his assassination. However, the people were enraged at Caesar's death and Brutus fled from Rome and later from Italy.

He was successful in joining Cassius and subjugating the Lycians and Rhodians. The triumvirs, Octavianus, Antony, and Lepidus, successfully occupied Rome and organized to defeat the conspirators. Brutus and Cassius, having gathered a large army in Asia Minor, crossed the Hellespont and fortified themselves at Philippi in Macedonia. Antony completely defeated Cassius. 

Octavianus, though defeated temporarily, succeeded in gaining a victory over Brutus. When his ultimate defeat became apparent, he fell upon his sword, which was held by his friend Strabo, and thus ended his life. In speaking of Brutus, Shakespeare alludes to him as "the greatest Roman of them all." Unhappily, this estimate of his life will not bear scrutiny.

The main source of this information is from a website

Ah the Adverb (Haiku)

Why is it so hard
In modifying the verb
To use the adverb

Not "I made it safe"
But rather "made it safely"
It just sounds better

Some already are
Such as in "The ball flew fast"
There is distinction

Incorrectly used
Such as, "That is a fast girl"
But well understood

(To make it safe would have different meaning, such as something dangerous, like a loaded gun, was made not so, as in unloading it.)

An Eclipse Story from 1970

As we approach August 21, 2017 and the total eclipse of the sun makes its path across the USA and especially the state of Kentucky, this historical mote about an eclipse of 47 years ago may be of interest to some.

An inveterate blogger, logger, writer; I’ve been keeping a log for many years now.  Here’s an entry from March 7, 1970 when we lived at 5 Matoaka Lane in Newport News, Virginia:

“Saturday, March 7, 1970                                                           Newport News, VA

The big news today is a total eclipse of the sun for about one and a half minutes.  It was quite spectacular to see the corona around the sun as the moon covered it.  The sky was very clear and blue, it went dark with an orange horizon.  The moon was a black disk which completely covered the sun.

The birds went to the tree tops and were quiet.  The street lights went on as did the Esso station lights and the crocus in the flower bed closed their flowers.

Then it passed; all went back to normal for a bright Saturday afternoon.  Theresa, Johnny, Margret, and I were out for the entire show.  Carola was worried for our eyes.”…

Then the next day:

“Sunday March 8, 1970                                                                Newport News, VA

During the eclipse yesterday, the thermometer on the bank went from 52 degrees F to 50 degrees F and it took only a few minutes.  It took several hours for it to return to 54 degrees F.  Lends credence to the idea of Earth having a relatively low specific heat.”  …

A slight shrug as I tell you that I worked as an engineer at the shipyard.

Conversation (Haiku)

A conversation
Is much like a game of catch
You throw, catch, and throw

Not knowing the game
A throw is made and not caught
The game is over

Quiet then intrudes
Those present are at a loss
 Embarrassed silence

Another throw made
If not too far off the mark
Finally returned

Then with persistence
The game continues apace
Until it's over

See the Stars (Haiku)

Stars not seen in the night
Hidden by bright city lights
Seen in wilderness

Our understanding
Hidden by our distractions
Given when we think

Distractions the lights
Thinking and meditation
Like the wilderness

The starlight is seen
The understanding is made
When it is allowed

Financial Advice (Haiku)

Budget just your cash
Account for all your spending
Look before you leap

Shylock a character from The Merchant of Venice

Shylock (Background for a character in The Merchant of Venice)

I am a Jew and live with the other Jews on an isle more or less in the middle of Venice, where a foundry once was.  It was established  before I was born, to segregate the Jews from the rest of Venice.  We Jews must be there every night when the gates are locked.  I go to the main part of Venice every day because that is where I do business.

I was born here in 1543 to Joachim and Rebecca.  Because we are Jews, our family names are not usually used.  I am commonly known only by the name Shylock.  I am 53 years old this year.  I’ve spent my whole life here in greater Venice and people know me, although not many outside of the temple know me very well.

I have no brothers nor sisters and my parents are gone.  My home life was good as I grew up.  My mother was a typical doting Jewish mother and my parents made sure I understood from whence I came and that I not have any expectations that were beyond the possibility of a Jew in Italy at this time.

“I have a daughter, sir, named” Jessica.  Her mother is no longer with us and I raised her as best I could.  She has different values than mine and she has romantic intentions with a young Christian man about town.  She has been a constant source of irritation to me and now I think she has made off with a great deal of my money to be with her lover.  

I don’t really care if she ever comes back but I would like to have the money returned to me.  Women, after my wife, and romance is of no interest to me.  My desires lay with the more tangible, gold.

I have a circle of friends with whom I socialize, converse, and discuss the situations that come up in our everyday lives.  These are all Jews and we belong to the same temple.  We have an influence on each other that we probably don’t even recognize because our discussions are intellectually stimulating and even sometimes loud.

As Jews, we are prohibited from doing work using tools of any kind so I learned the basics of money lending from my father and continue to do that now.  I know the Christians are forbidden to lend money but they do.  They say they provide this service or that instead of saying they charge interest but, in fact, they are lending each other money at interest all the time.  These transactions are usually for large amounts of money, for building or ship construction or major trade expansion.  

My lending is usually for lesser amounts to those who are not connected to the big families here.  Because the loans I make have a higher risk of failure to repay, I usually charge a higher amount of interest.

My days are spent in the square around San Marco cathedral where people seek me out to make loans or repay loans that are due.  I don’t have many friends among the goya but those needing money find me by word-of-mouth when they need me.  I am known to be fair and reasonable but don’t default on a loan from me because I have people who will see to it that you understand how serious it is to repay the loan.

When Bassanio came to me for a loan, I didn’t want to give it to him because first of all I didn’t like him very much and secondly, it was more risky than I usually like.  He asked Antonio, a friend of his, to guarantee the loan.  I didn’t know either of them well enough but they pleaded with me.

I recognized them as being arrogant young men who thought they were better than me, or anyone else for that matter.  As a matter of fact, Antonio has expressed opinions of Jews that are salacious. So to teach them a lesson in respect, I exacted a special form of collateral.  I would make the loan but if it wasn’t repaid Antonio would have to give me a pound of his flesh.  That ought to teach him a little respect.

Now I am faced with a default situation.  We will have to see how it plays out but I am stressing that I want my pound of flesh.  That these young upstarts can be so disrespectful to me and mine has to be taken into account as we settle this debt of honor.

Entre les Scénes ('Tween Scenes)

This is Kiss Me, Kate and we are doing our 6th performance, it is the matinee on Sunday.  After Act 1 I have a long time before I go on again for the final scene of the play.  I am writing this as I wait.

The show is good, won Emmy Awards in the 50's and was revised in the 90's.  It is played often in theater and high school productions.  Ours does not take a back seat to any.

The cast, except for me is young.  My guess is mid 20's and three a little older, maybe 40-45.  They are talented and energetic.  Directors don't rely on auditions alone for casting but have many names and talents in mind and on file upon whom to call.

We have had three directors due to circumstances and only three weeks rehearsal to put it on.  Yet, the play is a tremendous success because of the talented cast and hard working crew.

Costume are from inventory and appropriate to the play.  Since this is a play within a play we all have at least two, Shakespearean and contemporary.

The set is artistically designed and built to change easily from "play" to "backstage." It was constructed for this play only and will be struck after the last show.  It is bitter-sweet  to see sets struck.

We have four more performances and then six more in Central Park, in Louisville.  The Shakespeare stage there will be a new experience for me, outdoors in Central Park.  There will have been a grand total of 16 performances of the same show; I'll know it by then.

Hidden Limitation (Haiku)

Capability
Limited by what we know
Imagination

The visionary
Imagines beyond the known
A true futurist

Limited we are
By what we can't imagine
Where to get a clue?

Woe is Me, Woe is Me (Haiku)

Why is it okay
For everyone else to do
But never for me

Harry Trevor (Character in Kiss Me, Kate) Backstory 1948

Note: Every character, real and in a play or film, has a back story; a life as lived until now.  The now in this case is 1948 when this one was cast in Kiss Me, Kate, a new musical by Sam and Bella Spewack with music by none other than Cole Porter.

Harry Trevor (1903) New York NY

Harry Trevor was born in Manhattan, New York at 10:20 AM on December 24, 1893 to John and Mary Trevor.  He was a normal, healthy baby boy weighing in at 8 lbs 12 ounces.

A word about John and Mary Trevor.  They were vaudevillians who became acquainted on the circuit.  They started out separately, met and, one romantic night, fell into each other’s’ arms.  John did the honorable thing when Mary told him she was pregnant and they were married on June 2, 1893, a Tuesday because they were performing on the weekends.

They rented an apartment in midtown Manhattan and John continued his performing in the city, whenever possible, and on the circuit the rest of the time.  Mary took the baby with her to wherever he was until it was time for Harry to go to school.

Harry attended public school in Manhattan until he finished 8^th Grade.  That was the extent of his formal education.  He and his mother joined his father on the road and Harry became part of the act with his father.  The act varied from melodrama, to comedy sketches, to song and dance; whatever the house required.  His mother was more of a supporter than performer.  The three of them had a good life together.

As the years passed and Harry matured out of the act and as vaudeville came to an end he went into the legitimate theater.  There, he found a ready market for his ability to portray a variety of characters; for whatever the script called.  He never aspired to top billing, or even second, third, or fourth line billing.  He was satisfied to support the stars and collect his pay.

Thus he gained a good reputation among producers and directors in the theater district and played every house of note in the city.  He often traveled with the troupe to the minor markets to hone a show and get it ready for the “big white way.”  His credits were significant and he enjoyed the respect of the more noted “stars” on Broadway.

As for his personal life; Harry was as lackluster as the roles he played.  At 55 he was still unmarried and, although he enjoyed the company of women, had no intention of marrying and/or starting a family.  His own experiences, though not bad, were not enough to engender such a desire in him.  He managed to keep an ever changing list of girlfriends, the changing being made when one became too clutching.

Among the guys, Harry was always up for a good time but eschewed overindulging in liquor and gambling.  He’d seen too many shipwrecks in his lifetime to get sucked into that.  Not a teetotaler, he enjoyed a drink as much as the next guy, but never overindulged.  The same with gambling, he loved the track and boxing but the $2 bet was his favorite.

As for finances; here again he didn’t aspire to stardom.  He knew that there was no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow so he religiously put aside 10% of his earnings, in cash, in a valise that he kept in his room or apartment wherever he was.  This seemed foolish to him during the 20’s but then after 1929 he congratulated himself over and over again.

He kept up with the news and could see that reforms were going in place to make banks safer so he opened an account at The Manhattan Company Bank and continued to add to his “nest egg.”   Then during WWII he regularly bought war bonds and was now looking ahead to a comfortable retirement.

One could almost sum up Harry Trevor as an ordinary fellow; one who never knew his full potential.  On the other hand, he was a good fellow to have around.

When his agent called with an audition for Kiss Me, Kate, he said, “Sure.” Went in and got the role of Baptista Minola, Katharine’s father.

He knew the company as one that was a little threadbare; some thought it to be taking its last breath.  The director was a bit of an egomaniac in that he was also the star of the show.  The leading lady was almost a has-been.  She and the director were divorced but there was still a lot of emotion in their relationship, both positive and negative.

Knowing this, Harry went in with his eyes and ears open, and his mouth shut.  He fit in very nicely as the man who wasn’t there.  He did his job, played his part, said his lines with Shakespearean flair and bowed appropriately when the curtain came down.

 Meanwhile, there is a fetching, not-so-young female member of the ensemble that is catching his attention.

Imagination and Opinion (Haiku)

Imagination 
Impels us to take action
Opinion, the reins

The yellow brick road
Beckons us to freely run
Then we see the cliff

Emerald City
Still out there in the distance
Now we watch our step

Down the slippery slope
To the bottom of despair
Then accomplishment

Momentarily
Satisfied with the success
Imagination . . .

Show's Over (Haiku)

         The set has been struck

              Cast's gone it's separate ways

             The play is over

Daily Life (Haiku)

Plans are good to make
Memories  are mostly good
All I have is now

The Procrastinator (Haiku)

Always tomorrow
I will do it tomorrow
Forever 'til then

The Exit Ramp Waltz (Haiku)

Slow down to get off
Carefully merge in between
Speed up to get on

Driving Along (Haiku)

Doing the limit
Speeders passing right and left
There is no justice

A New Script (Haiku)

Saying it again
Finding total frustration
Learning a new script

Over and over
Repeating it to get it
Again and again

Over and over
Making beaucoup des erreurs
Again and again

And then finally
Getting it right the one time
And right one more time

Not remembering
Frustrating repetition
Sailing through the lines

Distraction (Haiku)

Listen radio
How will you be distracted
Watch television

Giving up your mind
To outside influences
Not a good habit

Procrastination (Haiku)

I know what it is
I don't feel like doing it
Emotion's the cause

The driver knows where
The carriage simply goes too
The horse motivates

Getting Along (Haiku)

It's a big mistake
To think you're smarter than she
Probably not true

It's a big mistake
To think she's smarter than you
Probably not true

Make no mistake
Meet her on an even keel
Both are happier

The Holidays (Haiku)

The house is quiet
Xmas this year is now passed
We two are so blessed