"TALKIN' BASEBALL" (Willie, Mickey and the Duke)

by George Haloulakos

Springtime marks the beginning of baseball season and this year's new season brings forth a very special celebration: the 40th anniversary of Terry Cashman's song "Talkin' Baseball."  Mr Cashman wrote and performed this song in 1981 in which he describes the history of Major League Baseball (MLB) from the 1950s to the very early 1980s.  Released in the midst of a nearly 2-month MLB strike, the song provided a wistful remembrance of the summer game as fans eagerly awaited the return of their heroes on the diamond.  Inspired by the memory of when New York ruled the baseball world from the late 1940s through the late 1950s -- [from 1947-1956 either the Yankees, Giants and Dodgers were in the World Series] -- with each of the teams having a star center fielder [Willie Mays with the Giants, Mickey Mantle for the Yankees and Duke Snider of the Brooklyn Dodgers], it was the perfect blend of nostalgia and celebrating excellence.  

Roger Kahn, a famed newspaper columnist and best selling author who was a native New Yorker, wrote a wonderful book on the subject in which fans debated which of these eventual Hall of Fame center fielders was truly the best at their craft.All three of these wonderful players (appropriately known just by their first names) were enormously gifted athletes, personally popular and accessible to fans everywhere, but especially in New York, where they lived and played.  Mr Cashman's song begins with the first ten notes (in a synthesizer version) of the song "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" before he begins singing.  

What makes "Talkin' Baseball" so compelling is the many players and managers referenced throughout the song, some by their full name while others it is either a partial name or nickname -- all them instantly recognizable, even to the most casual baseball fan.  

In short order, one is treated to over three decades of baseball history through the prism of the many wonderful, iconic players from that era.  Here is a very small sampling:

                                                              - "The Man" (Stan Musial)

- "The Barber" (Sal Maglie)

- "The Newc" (Don Newcombe)

- "One Robbie Going Out" (Jackie Robinson) 

  - "One Robbie Coming In" (Frank Robinson)

-  Hank Aaron

-  George Brett

Mr. Cashman also manages to pay tribute to his childhood friends in the song by referring to them as "The Bachelor" (Mike Green) and "Cookie" (Bobby Cook).  Iconic teams (the "Whiz Kids" - a nickname for the Philadelphia Phillies 1950 National League Champions), great moments ("Bobby Thomson had done it" - the Giants winning the pennant in the final inning of their 1951 final playoff game versus the Dodgers) and great managers ("Well Casey was winning" - referring to Casey Stengal piloting the Yankees to 7 World Series Championships and 10 American League pennants in 12 years) are all mentioned in this song, along with much more.

The much more includes a couple of US Presidents:  "And Ike was the only one winning down in Washington '' (Dwight Eisenhower - POTUS - 1953-61 -- while the Washington Senators were a perennial loser in the same period).  "And the great Alexander is pitchin' again in Washington" is a double reference to Ronald Reagan (POTUS - 1981-89) who was inaugurated shortly before the release of Cashman's song and who in his former career as an actor portrayed Alexander in the 1952 motion picture "The Winning Team."

In the years since its release, "Talkin' Baseball" gained such great popularity that not only was Cashman honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011 but the original sheet music is a part of the Baseball Hall of Fame Collection in Cooperstown, New York.  In addition, Mr Cashman has written many alternate versions that are team-specific while being periodically updated and rewritten to reflect lineup changes or major events.  No matter the version, the song brings a smile to the listener's face as baseball marks the return of yet another spring season, that is immediately followed by summer and autumn!

Are any of your favorite players mentioned in the original version?  If so, who are they?  Is there a particular memory of one of those players that stands out above all others?  Who do you think is the best among the Hall of Fame New York center fielder trio that make up the subtitle of this song: Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle or Duke Snider?

Please share your thoughts and memories via posting on to the Galaxy FACEBOOK page (and be sure to "like" us when doing so) or via e-mail to the GNN web site.  Likewise, I am always receptive to hearing from our wonderful Galaxy audience and/or connecting via LinkedIn.

View my LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rev-protodn-george-haloulakos-cfa-bab6b43  

"THE HUSTLER" Winning and Losing: On and Off the Pool Table

by George Haloulakos

This year marks the 60th anniversary of The Hustler, a modern classic film featuring Paul Newman as "Fast" Eddie Felson, a pool hustler who seeks fame and fortune by staking his talent and ambition against the formidable odds associated with this high-stakes / high-rolling indoor sport.  The Hustler was both a financial and critical success for its exploration of winning and losing through the prism of Eddie as he strives to break into the "major league" of professional pool hustling while ultimately paying an enormous personal price.

Featured with Mr Newman is fellow Academy Award winner George C. Scott as Eddie's unscrupulous manager Bert Gordon.  Jackie Gleason delivers a tour de force performance as the legendary Minnesota Fats, the best pool player of them all.  Piper Laurie plays Sarah, the love interest of Eddie.  Along with these wonderful actors, the viewer will see famed boxer Jake LaMotta (known to sports and movie aficionados as "Raging Bull") portraying a bartender where the high-stakes pool games are played.  Also seen in a cameo is 15-time World Pool Champion Willie Mosconi as the character Willie who holds the stakes for Eddie and Fats's games.  Throughout the film, the various pool games provide the venue to witness the strengthening or rather hardening of Eddie's character while also exploring his dynamic relationships with Bert, Sarah and Fats.   Filmed in Black & White, The Hustler has a rather harsh and brutal edge, reflecting the enormous personal cost Eddie endures to fulfill his ambition.  In the interest of eliciting interest rather than being a spoiler, let us simply observe that the grand finale in which Eddie and Fats face off is a reminder that the very best rivalries in life as well as sports are when both rivals are made better through their competition while having mutual respect.  

While Eddie and Fats demonstrate great sportsmanship by genuinely complimenting each other as players, the viewer feels great sadness having witnessed the enormous price that both men must pay in order to be the best at what they do.

In the years that followed, a nationwide resurgence in the popularity of pool unfolded as championship billiards games were seen on ABC's Wide World of Sports and later on ESPN.  Yours truly recalls that Time Magazine featured a major story on the 1972 World Pool Championship between Irving "The Deacon" Crane and Lou "Machine Gun" Butera. During the 1990s on ESPN, Jeanette "The Black Widow" Lee earned accolades as the world's number one female pool player.

While Baby Boomers associate Newman's portrayal of "Fast" Eddie with The Hustler, Generations X and Y are more likely to associate Mr Newman with this very same lead character in the 1986 sequel The Color of Money.  There are many film critics and cinema buffs who believe that Mr Newman won the Academy Award for Best Actor in The Color of Money as much belated recognition for his performance in The Hustler.  What do you think?  Let's have a conversation on this and any recollections you have about the wonderful game of pool!

Please share your thoughts and memories via posting on to the Galaxy FACEBOOK page (and be sure to "like" us when doing so) or via e-mail to the GNN web site.  Likewise, I am always receptive to hearing from our wonderful Galaxy audience and/or connecting via LinkedIn.

View my LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rev-protodn-george-haloulakos-cfa-bab6b43  

"WAR AND REMEMBRANCE" 30th Anniversary of The Gulf War (Operation Desert Shield/Storm)

by George Haloulakos

Believe it or not, this month marks the 30th Anniversary of Victory in Operation Desert Shield/Storm for a US led military coalition that liberated Kuwait while exemplifying courage, honor, sacrifice and striving to do the right thing.  The passage of time and selective memory tends to obscure the uncertainty and challenges associated with this war, including the threat of biological and chemical weapons on a massive scale.  Operation Desert Shield/Storm is unique in American history for having occurred not only between the Vietnam War and the War on Terror, but coming into play as the Cold War was reaching its climax with the dissolution of the USSR.

A memorial to Desert Shield/Storm is scheduled to open later in 2021 in the National Mall in Washington, DC and so we take this opportunity to pay tribute to all those who served and fulfilled this mission three decades ago.  A topic such as this cannot be fully appreciated in a short column such as this, but we can, so to speak, offer a "sniff of the cork" in reflecting upon a couple of outcomes associated with The Gulf War that resonate to this day.

Our parents experienced war through radio news broadcasts (some of which were transmitted live by Edward Murrow and his colleagues covering the London Blitz and D-Day in World War II).  The weekly news magazines such as Time and Life carried in-depth war coverage as well.  As baby boomers, we watched vintage newsreel footage of World War II combat integrated into major dramatic films and TV shows.  In our coming of age, we can recall seeing the Vietnam War shown on the prime time evening network TV news broadcasts with commentary from correspondents on the scene.  Similarly, the aforementioned news magazines offered detailed insights.  Few of these accounts we or our parents were tracking via print, radio and TV were unfolding in real time.  We were learning after the fact.

By the early 1990s, 24/7 cable TV news coverage became part of the many offerings available to consumers of news content.  Therefore, the Gulf War is remembered by most people as an event that was viewed by millions of viewers worldwide as events unfolded in real time.  This had a dramatic effect that has only accelerated now in the Internet Age, namely that print media found itself replaced by 24/7 cable TV news as the primary source of information for mass market consumption.  As such, subscription rates and readership for the iconic news magazines and major newspapers declined sharply in the decades since causing many such publications to either rebrand / restructure themselves for the digital age or simply cease operation!  If one includes both Desert Shield/Storm together, the Gulf War essentially began in the summer of 1990 and ended in February 1991, or roughly six months.  Yet the continuous 24/7 news coverage made it seem much longer if not more intense compared with how we followed similar events in prior generations!  If you had friends or loved ones who were deployed, the passage of time marking their absence seemed interminable.

Another memory of the Gulf War was the full unveiling of the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk Stealth attack aircraft that has forever changed our national defense capabilities.  Who can forget seeing the nighttime coverage shown of the F-117s in the midst of a hornet's nest of anti-aircraft fire in which the Nighthawks delivered their ordnance on target and with little or no collateral damage while returning all of the pilots safely home?  As one who vividly recalls reading or watching classic newsreel footage of World War II bombing groups (B-17s, B-24s and B-29s) and watching news accounts of the B-52 bombing missions in the Vietnam War, I was struck by the enormous attrition or loss rate of those historic aircraft and their brave crews.  While bracing myself to expect the same with the Gulf War, the highly advanced F-117 stealth aircraft completely and forever changed that scenario.

I started this Blog noting that it was hard to believe it has been 30 years since Desert Shield/Storm.  Now I will close by sharing a poem that reflects this observation.

" It lasted so long
it went so fast
it seems like yesterday

it seems like never. " 

— “A Career,” from Days Like This, by Dan Quisenberry  

What are your memories about Desert Shield/Storm?  Please share your thoughts and memories via posting on to the Galaxy FACEBOOK page (and be sure to "like" us when doing so) or via e-mail to the GNN web site.  Likewise, I am always receptive to hearing from our wonderful Galaxy audience and/or connecting via LinkedIn.

View my LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rev-protodn-george-haloulakos-cfa-bab6b43  

"REPEAT PERFORMANCE" Reliving the Year All Over Again (Film Noir Style)

by George Haloulakos

As we ring in the New Year, have any of you ever wondered what would happen if you could relive the prior year with the goal of trying to avoid repeating the mistakes made?  This theme of reexamining one's past is found in both literature (e.g. Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol) and film (e.g., Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life).  The outcome of such stories typically enable the central character to come to terms with the past while looking to the future with renewed faith and optimism.  It is usually during the Holiday Season when such journeys of the mind and spirit take flight due to the confluence of nostalgia, self reflection and making New Year's resolutions!

  While the aforementioned titles are well known to fans of both great literature and film, we would like to add Repeat Performance -- a film noir set in a "noir-ish" New York City Broadway Theater society setting from the same era -- to your list of must-see film classics.  The film opens on New Year's Eve 1946 with a woman named Sheila (played by Joan Leslie) killing her husband Barney (Louis Hayward) with a gun.  Sheila fervently wishes she could relive 1946 and avoid the mistakes she made throughout the year that led to such a tragedy.  Since Sheila made her wish exactly at the stroke of 12 midnight, her wish is magically granted and she is transported back in time to the beginning of 1946 with her husband alive.  As such, Repeat Performance is a fusion of film noir crime with fantasy / paranormal elements.

  Our heroine (or perhaps more accurately, anti-heroine) attempts to relive the year without making the mistakes both she and her friends made throughout the year, but numerous events repeat themselves despite her best efforts to avoid missteps, leaving her to wonder whether her fate is permanently cast in stone.  Classic film buffs will observe how Repeat Performance evokes the image of Alfred Hitchcock's Rope by immediately opening with the murder and then as the central character attempts to relive the year with the goal of achieving a happier ending, we witness parallels to All About Eve and A Star is Born with its voyeuristic view of the ego maniacal worlds of stage and film.  Along with Joan Leslie and Louis Hayward in the lead roles, there are some truly stellar performances by other very familiar actors:

> Tom Conway as John, the producer;

> Virginia Field as Paula, the haughty playwright;

> Richard Basehart as William, an unhappy poet but a very loyal friend to Sheila;

> Natalie Schafer as Eloise, a very wealthy, but treacherous and nasty patron of the arts.

While it would appear that the year 1946 will have the exact same tragic ending as before, a few twists are in store.  Sheila's repeated efforts at altering the mistakes that occurred during the year end up leading her abusive husband Barney to believe that she wants to destroy him.  On New Year's Eve Barney has a violent confrontation with Sheila.  It turns out that the only person who actually believed Sheila's account about reliving 1946 and the climactic murder that would occur at the end of the year was William, the aforementioned unhappy poet but loyal friend (played by Richard Basehart).  This is the crucial element in Repeat Performance for it is William who emerges upon the scene when Barney is about to harm Sheila, and it is William that ends up shooting Sheila's husband with her gun!  Thus Sheila's wish comes true, but with far greater difficulty than expected!

   Repeat Performance is a much darker film than either the film versions of Dickens' A Christmas Carol or the variants of Capra's It's A Wonderful Life.  This haunting and hypnotic film noir classic is something that would fit nicely into Rod Serling's Twilight Zone.  Moreover, fans of classic TV will enjoy seeing Natalie Schafer (most famous as Mrs Thurston Howell III from Gilligan's Island) initially taking Richard Basehart (known for playing Admiral Nelson on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) under her patronage but then doing him great harm.  This tour de force from the film noir era is a glamorous if perhaps under appreciated treasure.  As we ring in the New Year, take a walk down film noir memory lane by checking out Repeat Performance.

If you wonder what it would be like to relive a specific year all over again, please share your thoughts and memories via posting on to the Galaxy FACEBOOK page (and be sure to "like" us when doing so) or via e-mail to the GNN web site.  Likewise, I am always receptive to hearing from our wonderful Galaxy audience and/or connecting via LinkedIn.

View my LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rev-protodn-george-haloulakos-cfa-bab6b43  

 

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DECEMBER 2020

A "HAPPY DAYS" CHRISTMAS

The Original and Best

On December 17, 1974, ABC aired a Christmas themed program for Episode 11 in Season 2 of its eventual long-running Happy Days  situation comedy series (1974-1984) titled "Guess Who's Coming to Christmas."  In order to fully appreciate the magnitude of this milestone Christmas episode, full historic context is required.  Happy Days initially made its debut as an episode of the ABC sit-com Love American Style (February 25, 1972) -- appropriately titled "Love and the Happy Days" -- and then began its network TV run in January 1974 as a midseason replacement to capitalize on the enormous commercial success of the 1973 nostalgic motion picture "American Graffiti."  Ron Howard was the lead actor in all three variants of this 1950s nostalgic motif.  In its first season and a half, Happy Days was filmed with a single camera, featured a laugh track and had a movie-look instead of taping in front of a live studio audience (which began in Season 3).  During its early run, Henry Winkler, who starred as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli was largely a supporting character that was a fusion of the 1950s film star personas portrayed by Marlon Brando ("The Wild One") and James Dean ("Rebel Without a Cause") with a touch of the hot-rod racer persona portrayed by Paul Le Mat in "American Graffiti."  As such, Winkler's Fonzie character had an edgy air of mystery and danger that implied he would sometimes engage in activities that were outside the law.  At the time Happy Days began its network TV run, Winkler could also be seen portraying an identical if not very similar character in the 1974 motion picture "The Lords of Flatbush" (that featured Winkler playing alongside future "Rocky" star Sylvester Stallone and TV star Perry King as the lead actors).  This cult classic is still remembered for its famous group shot of the aforementioned actors in its publicity poster displayed in movie theaters (and included in this Blog).  The simultaneous big and small screen presence of Winkler's tough guy persona in a supporting but critical role added something extra special to this family TV show.

It is this context, and more, that is important to include if one is to fully appreciate the wonderment and poignancy of this Happy Days Christmas episode -- long before Winkler's Fonzie was made into a more central character that led to him becoming a TV icon.  Since Fonzie was a combination biker / high school dropout / expert auto mechanic, his presence gave various early Happy Days episodes an element of danger as well as cool since he often was shown giving advice to the squeaky clean teenagers -- especially the Richie Cunningham character played by Ron Howard -- who were seen on TV as approaching coming of age milestones.  Set in mid-1950s Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this Christmas episode reveals a very serious side by reminding the viewing audience on the true meaning of Christmas: when we celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we are reminded of God the Father's Love expressed through the person of His Son Jesus Christ sent forth into the world in the Holy Spirit.  It is the birth of Christ that gives each of us renewal as God's love fills our heart and soul so that we, in turn, can reflect and share that divine love with others.

It is in this spirit that Richie and his family are able to give Fonzie a true Christmas -- one that warms the heart and soul by dispelling darkness, loneliness and despair while affirming the virtues of faith, hope and love.  After Fonzie repairs the Cunningham family car, he claims to have plans of spending Christmas with relatives in nearby Waukesha to cover up the truth that he will be spending the Christmas Holiday Season by himself!  In a very sad, poignant moment, Fonzie is shown cooking a canned meal over a hot plate with a forlorn, tiny, tabletop Christmas tree nearby.  Having discovered the truth that Fonzie is all alone, Richie and his father (played by Tom Bosley) invite the Fonz to their home on the pretext that their mechanical Santa Claus (part of the outdoor Christmas display at the Cunningham residence) requires his mechanical expertise.  Thus Fonzie is able to join the Cunningham Christmas celebration while still maintaining his dignity and pride, if not his bravura.  Fonzie is welcomed by the Cunninghams, and he easily slips into the Christmas spirit by participating in various family activities including a reading of "A Visit from St Nicholas." In a most touching and fitting conclusion to this classic TV episode, Fonzie then leads the family in a Christmas prayer in which he bows his head and simply says "Hey God!  Thanks!" and then flashes that warm, friendly smile that would become part of his signature style in later years when Happy Days reached top-rated status.

Beyond the earlier background information shared,  the additional context that makes this early Happy Days Christmas episode unique is that it is very rarely if ever shown in syndication in the manner it was originally aired in 1974.  Typically it is seen as a flashback episode in two different variants (1975 and 1976) in which Fonzie is recounting this magical Christmas first with Arnold (Pat Morita) and later with Al (Al Molinaro).  The original version marked the first Happy Days episode in which the Fonzie character was completely featured.  As such, his concise manner of expression along with his street gang style of dress was given a touch of humanity but without being overly sentimental.  This rather thoughtful, somewhat reflective tough guy Fonzie seemed far more genuine and real than the superstar icon he later became in which he was shown repeatedly saying the one word catch phrase "Aaay" to convey reaction to everything from humor to seriousness.  This is not to denigrate either the popular Fonzie character nor the 11-season commercial success enjoyed by the Happy Days series (plus its many spin-offs) but rather a reminder that often the most touching episodes from classic TV come when a series is either struggling for ratings or trying to secure its niche in the early going while its principal characters are not caricatures but real people growing and becoming more relatable to the audience.  The original, and in my opinion, the best Happy Days Christmas episode still resonates more than 45 years after its network TV debut.

In this season of Holy Advent, please take time to view this very special Happy Days Christmas episode that reminds us all that family is that which makes you feel loved.  Please share your thoughts and memories of the Holiday Season via posting on to the Galaxy FACEBOOK page (and be sure to "like" us when doing so) or via e-mail to the GNN web site.  Likewise, I am always receptive to hearing from our wonderful Galaxy audience and/or connecting via LinkedIn.

View my LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rev-protodn-george-haloulakos-cfa-bab6b43  

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NOVEMBER 2020

TOM DEMPSEY - Remembering an Inspired Life

In 1969, the 50th year of the National Football League, a very special man signed with the New Orleans Saints as a non-drafted player.  Thomas John Dempsey -- born without toes on his right foot and fingers -- joined the Saints as a placekicker.  In his rookie season, despite these physical challenges and playing for an expansion team (the Saints joined the league in 1967) in a very fast, violent sport, Tom Dempsey immediately showed he belonged with the NFL's best as he achieved both All-Pro and Pro-Bowl honors for the 1969 season.  Such individual honors meant even more in yesteryear as such awards were often the difference makers in securing a spot on the active roster and earning a cash bonus that determined whether or not a player had to work in the off-season to make financial ends meet.  ESPN and 24/7 cable TV sports coverage were more than a decade away, so a player like Tom Dempsey who was playing at the highest level in a physically demanding contact sport often toiled in relative obscurity.  This was especially true with expansion teams like the Saints playing in comparatively small media markets and struggling to achieve respectability.

Tom Dempsey was born January 12, 1947 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin but raised in California where he attended San Dieguito High School (excelling in both wrestling and football) and then matriculating to nearby Palomar College.  At Palomar College he started out playing collegiate football as a defensive lineman but then transitioned into a placekicker, thereby creating an opportunity to play in the NFL.  In his second year with the NFL, Dempsey not only made history but became a legend of the game and an inspiration to people in all walks of life who were dealing with physical challenges.  On Sunday, November 8, 1970, Dempsey kicked a record-setting 63-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the game to give the Saints a 19-17 victory over the Detroit Lions - a playoff bound team that same season.  It was a home game for the Saints and instantly Dempsey was the toast of "The Big Easy."  The very next day on ABC's Monday Night Football (airing in its inaugural season) a nationwide TV audience celebrated Dempsey's record setting field goal as his gridiron feat was the highlight of ABC's half-time recap of the Sunday NFL games narrated by the one-and-only Howard Cosell.  Again, in those pre-ESPN days, such events on the highlight reel were often the only ones the TV viewing audience would ever see.  With Cosell's powerful voice describing the action, the viewers were made to feel as if they were witnessing the uncovering of a secret treasure.  In the case of Tom Dempsey, this moment in time and the man himself were treasures of inspiration for everyone.  His record field goal stood for several decades and Dempsey became a legend of the game.

He played for a total of eleven seasons (1969-1979) starring with the New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams, Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills.  In a career that spanned 127 regular season games Dempsey scored 729 points with a field goal percentage of 61.6% and extra point percentage of 89.4%.  But these are just numbers.  To fully appreciate the magnitude of Dempsey's moment in time and his inspired life, one had to see him play in person.  Yours truly, along with my father, saw Tom Dempsey in person less than a month after his record-setting field goal when the Saints played the Rams at the LA Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, December 6, 1970.  While the hometown Rams prevailed 34-16, a capacity crowd roared its approval and admiration as Dempsey accounted for 10 of those 16 New Orleans points with three field goals (24, 50 and 54 yards) plus one point-after-touchdown.  I vividly recall the murmur in the crowd as the 54 yard field goal easily cleared the goal post giving many who were there (including my father) good reason to claim that the kick could have gone another 10 to 15 yards!  In other words, we had all witnessed what could have an even greater record setting gridiron event.  But more importantly, the conversation about Dempsey (we sat with regular season ticket holders) continued throughout the entire game as people talked about his life's journey and overcoming obstacles that likely would render most people to the sidelines.  He received a standing ovation following each of his field goals -- thereby showing that not all Southern California sports fans at major events are laid back or lackadaisical.  Dempsey was inducted into the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame in 1989.  In the context of sports, it is often said that heroes get remembered, but legends never die.  Tom Dempsey was a legend whose gridiron presence was transcendent and inspiring to all who face enormous difficulties but aspire to accomplish great things in life.  Earlier this year (April 4, 2020) Tom Dempsey passed away after having battled dementia in his final years.

This month, please join us in celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Tom Dempsey's record setting field goal as a reminder that dreams can come true for those who never give up and stay in the game!  Please share your thoughts and memories via posting on to the Galaxy FACEBOOK page (and be sure to "like" us when doing so) or via e-mail to the GNN web site.  Likewise, I am always receptive to hearing from our wonderful Galaxy audience and/or connecting via LinkedIn.

View my LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rev-protodn-george-haloulakos-cfa-bab6b43  

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OCTOBER 2020

LON CHANEY - Universal's Best Classic Monster Star

October is the month we celebrate Halloween and so therefore it is appropriate to pay tribute to the best monster star in Universal Studios Classic Monster roster:  Lon Chaney.

If we were to play "Jeopardy" we would begin with the following answer: He is the only actor to have portrayed all four of Universal's monsters (horror characters): The Wolf Man, Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and The Mummy.  And the question would be: Who was Lon Chaney?

To be more accurate, it was Lon Chaney, Jr - the son of the famed silent film star who was known as the Man of a Thousand Faces.  Originally named Creighton, he later changed his name to Lon Jr in honor of his father who had passed away in 1930, and by 1942 at the behest of Universal Studios, he was simply billed as Lon Chaney.  The "Jr" was only used when published articles needed to distinguish between the two as both father and son were renowned for their portrayal of horror characters.  Unlike fellow Universal stars Bela Lugosi (Count Dracula) and Boris Karloff (Frankenstein's Monster and The Mummy), Lon Chaney was the more diverse and versatile of the trio.  Biographer Don G Smith, author of Lon Chaney Jr - Horror Film Star (1906-1973), noted that Chaney's best work was in such classic films as "Of Mice and Men," "High Noon" and "The Defiant Ones."  Smith affirmed that Chaney was not only more versatile than his fellow monster actors but the best of the Lugosi-Karloff-Chaney trio that enabled Universal to carve out its niche in the horror film genre.  Chaney provided a bigger-than-life onscreen presence that included inner turmoil within the characters he portrayed in film and television.  His ability to engender empathy from the film audience, even while portraying tortured characters, may have resulted from what Chaney himself described as a very difficult early life: his parents' troubled marriage and separation, being raised by deaf grandparents and his ambivalence on taking on his late father's film career and becoming an actor.  Perhaps Chaney was able to use acting as a means to express his personal travails experienced in his own family life.  Whatever the reasons, nearly half a century since his passing, Chaney's exemplary work remains a standard of excellence for connecting personally with the audience and engendering empathy if not sympathy while portraying horror characters.

Chaney portrayed The Mummy three times between 1942 and 1944, Frankenstein's Monster in 1942 and Count Dracula in 1943.  But it was as The Wolf Man that Chaney made his signature mark as a horror film star appearing as Larry Talbot, a man bitten by a werewolf who becomes one himself, and then seeks help to cure himself of this condition.  Between 1941 and 1948, Chaney appeared as The Wolf Man five times as the sequel proved to be a most effective film vehicle for bringing back to life the title character even after it appeared he had died!  The fifth film was a crossover that featured Chaney in his signature role along with Lugosi as Dracula in supporting roles as part of an Abbott & Costello comedy vehicle that allowed Universal to showcase its dynamic comedic duo and its Classic Monsters.

My personal favorite of the Lon Chaney Wolf Man franchise was "House of Dracula" (1945) in which Larry Talbot is finally cured of his werewolf syndrome through surgery.  Perhaps in tribute to the empathy that horror film fans had for the Talbot / Wolf Man character, he was able to help vanquish both Dracula and the Frankenstein monster in the film's exciting climax.  Appropriately this marked the last of the "dramatic" Universal movies that featured Frankenstein's monster, werewolves and vampires save for the aforementioned comedic entry "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1945) that featured all three horror figures.

The Wolf Man and Lon Chaney became woven into the popular culture of baby boomers due in large part to Universal Studios releasing its archive of classic horror films to television in 1957 and then the following year (1958) Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine regularly profiled all of the films featuring Universal's Classic Monsters in a monthly publication that could be found on the newsstands of every major grocery store chain throughout the USA.  Baby boomers came to view these classic films that had been originally released decades before as contemporary films, thereby creating generations of new fans, especially as local TV stations in various major markets (Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia) aired these films on weekends with hosts dressed for Halloween.  This tradition continues to this very day: think "Elvira - Mistress of the Dark" and "Svengoolie."

In 1997, the US Post Office paid official tribute to the Universal Classic Monsters with a series that featured Dracula (portrayed by Bela Lugosi), Frankenstein's monster and The Mummy (both with the likeness of Boris Karloff), The Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr) PLUS as a bonus -- The Phantom of the Opera (!) portrayed by ..... Lon Chaney -- father of Lon Jr!  Thus, father and son were reunited in the iconic film roles for which they were best known among horror film fans, with Lon Jr representing the "talkies" and Lon Sr representing the "silent film" era.

In closing this remembrance of Lon Chaney and his iconic role as The Wolf Man, here is the closing passage spoken by actress Maria Ouspenskaya (who played Maleva the Gypsy Woman who sought to help Larry Tolbot find a cure for his werewolf syndrome) as Talbot / Wolf Man lay dying at the end of "The Wolf Man" (1941):  "The way you walked was thorny, through no fault of your own, but as the rain enters the soil, the river enters the sea, so tears run to a predestined end. Now you will have peace for eternity."  Given the challenges Chaney had during his own lifetime, this would seem an appropriate epitaph for Universal's Best Classic Monster Star.

Please join us in paying tribute to Lon Chaney and all the Universal Classic Monster Stars by sharing your thoughts via posting on to the Galaxy FACEBOOK page (and be sure to "like" us when doing so) or via e-mail to the GNN web site.  Likewise, I am always receptive to hearing from our wonderful Galaxy audience and/or connecting via LinkedIn.

View my LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rev-protodn-george-haloulakos-cfa-bab6b43  

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