While still on my Floridian visit, I have collected not only interesting books but entertaining movies as well. I have put together some unusual connections. I hope you see these as enjoyable.
Let me start with cowboys, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” from 1962. This western movie starred John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Lee Marvin. Without spoiling the ending, Liberty Valance was killed with a Winchester Model 1892 rifle.
The corresponding book is “Whispers of Redemption: Decoding the Secrets of the Winchester House”, written by Becky Kildea, 2023. This house built by Sarah Winchester, the widow of William Wirt Winchester, the son and heir of the Oliver Winchester, founder of Winchester Repeating Arms Corporation. Because of her husband’s money, she was able to build the home of her dreams-Llanada Villa.
This is a most unusual mansion to tour. Sarah Winchester kept adding on more and more rooms, and renovating until she died in 1922. She began the remodel in 1886 after buying an 8 room farmhouse. When she died, she left a seven-story mansion with 160 rooms, staircases to nowhere, 2000 doors, 13 bathrooms, 10,000 windows, along with other crazy architectural designs. Some say that she was worried about the spirits of those killed by Winchester rifles. She thought they could not haunt her if she kept constantly building her home, making it more mazelike. Whether true rumor or not, Winchester did keep remodeling up to her death.
We also have Indian stories, with the movie “Tomahawk”, 1951. It is story of Jim Bridger and a fight with the Sioux Indians. Yvonne De Carlo (who later was Lily Munster in the TV show) acted along side Van Heflin.
I matched it up with the book I just bought “Cahokia, City of the Sun” by Claudia Gellman Mink, published in 1992 by the Cahokia Mounds Museum Society. This is a good book about the Cahokia Indian mounds just outside St Louis, in Cahokia, Illinois. The Indian village around years 1100 had a population of over 20,000. I have visited the Cahokia museum several times.
I move to “The Bells of St. Mary’s” 1945, with Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman. There is a bit of a power struggle between Father Charles O’Malley and Sister Mary Benedict as they try to save their church school from being condemned and torn down. In the movie, Sister Mary Benedict teaches a young boy to box (who rings her bells with an errant swing!). There is a great relationship between Father and Sister as they navigate the goals of the church.
The book is “Cinderella Man: James J. Braddock, Max Baer, And The Greatest Upset In Boxing History” by Jeremy Schaap, published in 2005. Braddock was a 10-to-1 underdog against Max Baer, the then current champion. Braddock had injured his right hand, and had to stop fighting during the depression, working then as a longshoreman. That work had him develop his left hand even more than his right. He then retrained, and defeated Max Baer in 1935 for the World Heavyweight title, earning the name “Cinderella Man”.
An interesting sidenote was Max Baer had a son he named Max Baer Jr.. That Max Baer is known the world over as Jethro Bodine from the TV series The Beverly Hillbillies.
My last movie today is “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” from 1975, with Jack Nicolson and Louise Fletcher. In the film, Randle McMurphy is committed to a medical institution, and has a few disagreements with Nurse Ratched, and fellow inmates. There is a gut-wrenching ending. One wonders what actually is crazy after watching this movie.
The two books are about something that drives me crazy down here in Florida-bug bites. The bugs that have terrorized me are not simple mosquitos, but No-See-Ums, or biting midges. These Diptera Ceratopogonidae, or Five O’s (they come out to bite around 5:00 PM) are bloodsucking beasts that leave bumps that itch like crazy for over a week. What is worse is that they are really small, only between 1 and 3 mm in size. One can hardly see them. Why don’t these b******s pick on my wife too, not just me?
The First book is “Prevention of Bug Bites, Stings, and Disease” by Daniel Strickman, Stephen P. Frances, and Mustapha Debboun in 2009. There are several entries and suggestions about preventing and treating Biting Midges, but nothing that shows me how I can completely irradiate them.
The second book is for my collection of bibliographies, “A Bibliography and Keyword Index of the Biting Midge” by William R. Atchley, published in 1981 by the U.S> Department of Agriculture. I will use this book later to see if can find some old books on this horrible biting insect. There is a whole section in my library focusing on bibliographies.
While here in Florida, I will continue to shop for movies and books, along with covering my bare skin from blood-thirsty micro bugs.
Swat happens, keep smiling. (and reading.)
Librarytomes 