Author Archives: Bert

This Board Game Will Probably Never Outsell Monopoly

What I Didn’t Get For Christmas

Expulsion The Board Game

Expulsion Board Game Get The Jews Out Of SpainThough it was only five dollars I somehow avoided buying “Expulsion” at the local thrift store for myself or as a gift. As the cover for Expulsion proclaims the game recreates Jewish Life in Spain from the Golden Age to 1492. It promised to be “an exciting and challenging game to play for the whole family.”

Then comes the big plus which was hard to resist. No previous background necessary to play. So you don’t need to be a Jew, an Islamic extremist, KKK member or Nazi to learn and enjoy Expulsion.

While wondering about the game, I couldn’t help thinking of the Mel Brooks film The History of the World Part 1, where Brooks does an over the top Busby Berkeley style homage to the Spanish Inquisition.

Is the object of Expulsion to get the Jews out of Spain?

According to Gabriella Geselowitz Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #102 – Sean Connery, Before He Was James Bond

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Before Being Cast As James Bond, Sean Connery Was Determined To Be A Star

Sean Connery 1960 photo The Picturegoer

James Bond is dead. At least to millions of movie fans who associate only one man, Sean Connery, with the role of Ian Fleming’s secret agent 007. Continue reading →

Cut Scene From A Classic Movie – Double Indemnity 1944

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Double Indemnity – The Pep-Up Speech That Never Was

aka: The “Benefits” Of Living & Working In Mid-Century America

The classic American film, Double Indemnity has a scene in which Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) is meeting with his boss, Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson) in Neff’s office. Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #97 – Mag Model Iris Bristol

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Iris Bristol At The Beach

Iris Bristol

Iris Bristol photo Al Greene and Associates

If you’ve never heard of Iris Bristol you’re not alone. Her most notable film appearance is in My Fair Lady (1964) in a brief uncredited role as a flower girl.  Iris, born in Worcester, England November 20, 1931 is more well known for gracing the covers of male libido boosting magazines in the 1950s and 1960s, than she is for movies. At five foot three with an hourglass figure, Iris’ décolleté was put on display frequently.

Mammary obsessed photographer and director Russ Meyer Continue reading →

The Lighthouse Without A Light

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 Sir John Barrow’s Unlit Lighthouse

Lighthouse or Memorial Sir John Barrow

Sir John Barrow Memorial Hoad Hill Ulverston Cumbria, UK

The “lighthouse” is in the town of Ulverston, a bucolic seaside town which hosts various festivals throughout the year. There’s an annual Dickens Festival each November in which many of the citizens dress in Victorian attire. Then there’s “Another Fine Fest” held in June. The title is a takeoff on the admonishing words “Well… that’s another fine mess you’ve gotten us into!” Oliver Hardy says these words in countless films to his comedic partner Stan Laurel. Ulverston’s modern claim to fame is as the birthplace of comedian Stan Laurel, who lived here until he was six-years-old.

Levity aside, viewed from afar, the 100 tower off the northern English coast of Cumbria sure looks like a lighthouse. Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #88 – Dracula, Bela Lugosi Wants To Be “Good”

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What Bela Lugosi’s Life Was Like In 1936

Bela Lugosi Dracula in street clothes

Bela Lugosi was not always Dracula

With today being Halloween we thought we’d do a story about Bela Lugosi and Dracula. Not many children dress as Dracula on Halloween anymore. You are not allowed to wear the cape and put fangs in your mouth unless you are a real vampire. This is because of the very vocal beyond-the-fringe maniacs who go into an uproar about “cultural appropriation.”  So, Dracula is off limits as a costume as far as certain groups have told us, such as ORVIL (Only Real Vampires In Life) .

For those who don’t realize it, I’m not serious, but sometimes it feels as if this is where mainstream society is headed unless somebody speaks up.

Bela Lugosi (1882-1956) the actor most identified with Dracula, loved and loathed the role at the same time. Dracula made Lugosi famous, but in the process it typecast him as being a horror star. Most people do not realize that prior to Lugosi being cast in Dracula in 1931, he had starred in the Broadway production of the play for three years. Previous to that he was a leading man with strikingly handsome features.

So who was the real Bela Lugosi? Continue reading →

Loyalty, Oaths, Patriotism & The Forgotten 1919 New York City High School, Anti-Bolshevik (& Everything Else Un-American) Pledge Of Allegiance

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Would Having Graduating High School Students Take An Oath Of Allegiance Be Held Unconstitutional Today?

New York City schools in September 1902, "Saluting The Flag" photo: Florence Maynard

New York City school children in a display of patriotism, September 1902, “Saluting The Flag” photo: Florence Maynard

After World War I and the Bolshevik uprising in Russia, declaring your loyalty to America was not taken lightly. In 1919, President of the New York City Board of Education, Anning S. Prall, set a requirement that all graduating New York City High School children recite a pledge of allegiance to the United States before receiving their diplomas. This is quite different than the pledge most Americans know by heart.

Prall’s pledge:

“I will reverence my country’s flag and defend it against enemies at home and abroad.”

“I will respect and obey the President of the United States and the law of the land.”

“I will support, in school and out, American ideals of justice and fair play, including the right of unhampered opportunity under the law for all.”

“I will hold the ideal of rational patriotism above loyalty to any individual, political party, social class or previous national connection.”

“I will actively oppose all revolutionary movements, such as Bolshevism, anarchism, I. W. W.-ism, or any movement antagonistic to the laws of the United States or tending to subvert the Constitution of the United States.”

How long Prall’s allegiance pledge was retained is undocumented. But in 2019, can a student refuse to say a pledge of allegiance in school? Continue reading →

Over The Last 20 Years Ebay Has Lost Its Original Customers

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Why Ebay Lost Its Original Customers

I remember when I was first was told about eBay 23 years ago. Ebay was a great platform to bid and possibly win at auction interesting, older items. Many times rare purchases could be won for a bargain.  Books, ephemera and unusual items. At least that’s how it started for me.

Over the years eBay evolved from a relatively small community user-based auction site to a worldwide commercial behemoth store. And it’s not a very good one. Along the way they lost their original customer base.

Why? Continue reading →

The Dangers of Celebrating & Embracing Diversity – Start Promoting Unity.

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“Diversity & Multi-Culturism Will Destroy America”

No, Its Not A Donald Trump Proclamation

Former Democrat Governor Richard Lamm’s Famous 2003 Speech

Colorado Governor Richard Lamm

Colorado Governor Richard Lamm photo: Denver Post

On October 18, 2003 at a Washington DC luncheon former Governor Richard Lamm made a remarkable speech. The topic was “How To Destroy America.”

We usually don’t cover a speech from almost two decades ago. But Richard Lamm’s speech is important to look upon at this point in history. Continue reading →