Friday, October 12, 2007
On the flight to JFK yesterday morning I was looking for the Star Trek rerun when I cam across a black-and-white movie about college football. It had an eye-catching cast:John Barrymore as a populist governor, Jack Haley as his aide, George Murphy as the coach. Every now and then they would burst into a song and dance routine, and George M. Cohan's "H-A Double R-I-G-A-N" was prominently featured. A comic twist was that a co-ed was the place kicker. You think you have seen a lot of movies, but I'd never seen, or even heard of "Hold That Co-ed", supposedly a comic take on Huey Long's career, although a long way from "All the King's Men", what with featuring Jack Haley and all.
As dumb as it was, I have to say it sucked me in-- the magical escapism of the cinema. Depression-era stuff like this frequently works better than you'd think.
As dumb as it was, I have to say it sucked me in-- the magical escapism of the cinema. Depression-era stuff like this frequently works better than you'd think.
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