Month: June 2009

On a Shoestring, Part II

Mark Noonan

Ed. Note: This was among the papers of George Childs Noonan, Jr. upon his death and was written by his father, George Childs Noonan, Sr., at a date uncertain. Given the sort of paper it is typed upon and the sort of print, it was probably written some time prior to 1970. It is incomplete, comprising 17 type-written pages. Whether there ever was anything else to this biographical essay is unknown.

Part I may be read here.

Before moving on, let me relate a thing that happened to me. A thing, I think, that could happen only in Hollywood in the picture business.

On the surface it is pretty hard sometimes to tell a no-talent from the real McCoy and so I was able to fast-talk myself into a job on the writing staff of the Hal Roach studio. They had several units, Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang, All Star etc. continuously in production making two reel comedies and it was the job of the writing staff to come up with stories and gags for them. They hired me on at the minimum salary of $500 a month. It took them about four months to find out that I was a no-talent, whereupon they let me go.

Here’s the thing: Shortly after being canned from the Roach studio, a fellow came up to me in the lobby of the Christie hotel, “you’re Georgie O’Neil who worked on the Roach lot?”. “That’s right”. “Well, I’m Jack Adolphi and I have a package contract to write and direct a series of comedies over at the Educational studio – if you’ll help me put together a couple of quickies I’ll get you on the payroll as my assistant”. We went up to my room and hashed it out. Adolphi thanked me for my contribution and promised to call me in a couple of days.

Weeks went by and no word from Adolphi. I figured he tried but was unable to deliver on my behalf. I understood – some exec’s son-in-law was given the job, par for the course in Hollywood. Then one day I got a call out of the blue. It was from Ivan Kahn, the actors agent, “DeMille studio has been calling all over town for you”.

I hustled out to the studio and was greeted like I was a big shot and in hushed confidence, “the picture stinks. It needs some laughs to save it – see what you can do – they are shooting some war scenes down on the back lot – don’t crack to anyone – just sit around and observe and catch the rushes for a couple days and we’ll get together later”.

Before the end of the week a messenger from the front office came to the set to escort me to the front office, “Georgie, what’s your salary – what did they pay you at Roach?”. “Five hundred”, I replied. “O.K., then, $500 it is”. When my pay check was delivered to me at the end of the week it was for $500 – I was on the payroll for $500 per week, not $500 a month!

What happened was this: DeMille studio had a sick picture on its hands and needed a gag man to help doctor it up, a writer expert in comedy construction. They did the natural thing in calling a comedy lot to recommend someone. They called Educational studio and Jack Adolphi just happened to be in his office – he gave me a big buildup as a Hal Roach staff writer and for the work I had done for him. At $500 per week I was able to bluff it through long enough to end up with enough loot to get married and go on a honeymoon – first cabin.

Next Week – Part III

Side Note: Two of George Childs Noonan, Sr’s sisters were Hollywood actresses:

Molly O’Day

Sally O’Neil

Twitter Updates for 2009-06-20

Matt Margolis

President Obama Finally Starts Acting Like an American

Mark Noonan

Not enough, but at least better than the mewling poltroonery thus far:

Obama directly addresses the Iranian government for the first time after a day of violence in Iran:

The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.

Now, Mr. President, get in touch with those Iranian security forces which might be willing to flip and take the side of the Iranian people – do it, and do it now.

Shia Travis and the Necessity of Rebuilding American Civilization

Mark Noonan

Shia Travis? Have you heard of her? I’ll bet most people outside metro Las Vegas haven’t heard of her. For those who haven’t heard:

The man accused of killing his girlfriend’s baby and dumping the body in a trash bin also is being charged with sexually assaulting the 21-month-old girl, Las Vegas police said Monday.

William Marshall, 37, was arrested late Saturday in Phoenix and charged in the death of Shia Travis, whose body was discovered last week by two homeless men rummaging through an apartment trash bin near the Strip.

Police said the toddler died from blunt force trauma to her head that occurred during a beating.

Marshall also has been charged with one count of sexual assault with a minor under 14 years old. Shia had suffered injuries “consistent with forced penetration,” according to the police report.

Authorities on Saturday also detained Darrean Williams, Shia’s 20-year-old mother, in Phoenix for questioning.

Williams is not facing charges, but that could change as the investigation continues, Metropolitan Police Department officer Jay Rivera said Monday.

“Right now, she has not been arrested,” he said.

Marshall will be extradited to Southern Nevada, police said.

Williams is a prostitute who traveled to Phoenix to work, her sister, Nicole Farmer, told police. Williams had left Shia in Marshall’s care when she went to Arizona, Farmer said in the police report…

…Her death is reminiscent of that of 3-year-old Crystal Figueroa, who in 2006 was found dead in a trash bin in a southeast valley apartment complex.

Crystal’s mother and her mother’s boyfriend received life sentences for the slaying.(emphasis added)

Horrific. But its actually worse:

The grandparents of Shia Travis describe this ordeal as a “horrific reality”.

Their son is the biological father of the toddler, who they say is devastated …

Despite the overwhelming heartache they’re coping with, both grandparents choose to remember Shia in a positive light.

“Beautiful little girl, smart, alert. No reason she should’ve had her life taken like that,” said Lawrence Gibbs.

They say they’ll always cherish their memories of their granddaughter…

They’ll cherish their memories of the little girl and their son, the biological father, is “devastated”…of course, he’s not so devastated that he actually considered the wisdom of having sex with a prostitute, nor the wisdom of having a child with said prostitute, nor once a child was born of the prostitute taking her away from that life and providing for his child and the mother of his child. And the grandparents? Ah, the grandparents: they’ll cherish their memories…but I doubt they’ll want to dwell on the fact that they left their grand child in the care of a prostitute.

What is wrong with us? How can we allow such things to happen? Because we’re cowards – because we cower in fear of those who make money off depravity. We dare not raise our voice against our masters – and so smut runs rampant in children’s entertainment, so no one will dare call the failing to account…and so a “man” can produce a child with a whore and then leave his child in that whore’s care who then becomes known for leaving her child in the care of the “man” she currently shacks up with while she heads out of town to pursue her trade…and not a single person lifts a finger to save the child! From grandparents on down, the whole family should be flogged! Ah, but then I’d have to have myself flogged, too. No truer words were ever spoken by a mere man than “treat each man as he deserves and who shall ‘scape whipping?” Once we’re done laying the cat to the backs of that family, we’d all have to take our turn – because each and every one of us is responsible for the death of Shia Travis, and thousands (millions?) like her over the years.

We’re no longer civilized – heck, to call us barbarians is an insult to savages. Its hard to describe what we are – well dressed, very well scrubbed degenerates. Perfumed shit. And its time we stopped being such – its time we started to stand up and act like men and women and simply not allow the people who profit off death to continue unchecked. Pornography has to stop. Gratuitous violence has to stop. “Don’t be judgmental” has to stop. Allowing pre-teens to dress like gangsters and whores has to stop. Allowing men to just impregnate one woman after another without consequences has to stop. Allowing women to have 5 children from 3 men without ever being married has to stop. We must become civilized – for the sake of the next Shia Travis, who will be raped and murdered tomorrow, because we allow this to go on too long, today.

Phrase of the Day

Mark Noonan

This answer usually suffices for people who ask hostile questions about God and religion:

Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable. – C S Lewis

Global Warming Update

Mark Noonan

What a shocker – environmentalists are lying…for the zillionth time…about global warming:

The new federal report on climate change gets a withering critique from Roger Pielke Jr., who says that it misrepresents his own research and that it wrongly concludes that climate change is already responsible for an increase in damages from natural disasters. Dr. Pielke, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado, asks:

[Why] is a report characterized by [White House] Science Advisor John Holdren as being the “most up-to-date, authoritative, and comprehensive” analysis relying on a secondary, non-peer source citing another non-peer reviewed source from 2000 to support a claim that a large amount of uncited and more recent peer-reviewed literature says the opposite about?

You can check out Dr. Pielke’s blog for a detailed rebuttal of how the report presents science in his area of expertise, the study of trends in natural disasters and their relation to climate change. While the new federal report (prepared by 13 agencies and the White House) paints a dire picture of climate change’s impacts, Dr. Pielke says that the authors of this new report, like those of previous reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Stern Review, cherrypick weak evidence that fits their own policy preferences.

Now, before you liberals start calling Dr. Pielke a paid shill for Big Oil, his credentials:

I am a professor of environmental studies at the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado at Boulder. I also have appointments as an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society at Oxford University’s Said Business School and as a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes at Arizona State University. Since 2008 I have also been a Senior Fellow of The Breakthrough Institute, a progressive think tank.

It is only by cherrypicking weak evidence and suppressing contrary evidence that anthropogenic global warming (AGW) can be built up into a large enough threat to call for massive changes in society. Given that the goal is massive changes, there is no chance that the advocates of AGW will ever do other than lie about what is going on. We have much to do and limited time and resources to do it – we’ve been wasting a great deal of time and resources on environmentalist whacko distortions, and its time we gave it a rest.

Twitter Updates for 2009-06-19

Matt Margolis

Iran's Supremely Insane Ruler: Don't Force Me to Kill You!

Mark Noonan

The ultimatum:

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Backers of beaten presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi will decide on Saturday whether to defy a stern warning by Iran’s top authority and stage mass protests over a disputed election.

(Editors’ note: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.)

Iran’s top legislative body holds an extraordinary session on Saturday morning to which it has invited Mousavi and the two other candidates who lost against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 12 election, which Mousavi wants annulled.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanded an end to the rallies on Friday, issuing a strong warning to leaders of the street protests that they will be responsible for any bloodshed.

I’m sorry, people of Iran, but the world’s oldest democracy will do nothing to help you. In fact, much to our shame, once you are either cowed or beaten into submission by your corrupt and inhuman overlords, our government will likely go out of its way to “engage” your murderers and oppressors. It is to be hoped that by 2012 we will elect a government worthy of the name “American government”, and then maybe a new settlement can be made in Iran.