Beck Jones

On October 7, 1975, a Federal judge reversed a deportation order for John Lennon. The next year he was issued this green card.

Nixon and Strom Thurmond (natch!) cooked up the deportation in 1972 as Lennon became more involved in anti-war activities. They were afraid that he would sway the "youth vote." The INS did their bit and started proceedings. Lennon fought back in court.

#ICE #immigration

Image of the original book cover for Howl by Allen Ginsberg. Headline is, "THE BEAT GOES ON." Text below is "On this day in 1955, Allen Ginsbert first performed "Howl" at City Lights Bookstore. One year later, City Lights Books published it. In 1957, the City Lights Bookstore manager along with poet and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti were arrested and charged with selling obscene materials. They won in court."

Howl won in court, and eventually won the respect of the literary establishment. But the happy ending was just prologue to the story (of book banning and challenges) that goes on and on. And who knows? The Supremes could revive obscenity trials! Why not?

#booksky #writers #poetry.

Black and white publicity phot of Carole Lombard. Adjacent text is "Fabulous & Funny. Carole Lombard."

#botd in 1908, Lombard's angelic looks (which belied her ability to curse like the proverbial sailor) combined with crack timing made her perfect screwball heroine before her death at 33 in a plane crash. Before Gable, she was marred to William Powell, and they remained friends.

#moviesky #film

Still from the film Days of Heaven, in which a solitary figure stands in a vast field at twilight. The headline beneath is "HEAVENLY LIGHT" and text below that is "Days of Heaven, which premiered on this day in 1978, is a msterpiece of mood and natural light. Director Terrence Malick shot much of it during "mage" hour to achieve the heavenly effect."

"Magic hour" is really about a half hour; extended filming meant Haskell Wexler had to shoot roughly half the film when Nestor Almendros (who got the Oscar) had another commitment. The filming of a locust plague is a story in itself. In a theater the film is an experience.

#moviesky #film

As the main contributor to the Encyclopedie, Diderot, #BOTD in 1713, was harassed by Church (the work is skeptical of Biblical miracles) and would have died broke if Catherine the Great hadn't offered patronage. 300 years later America is flushing knowledge down the drain.

#booksky #writers

Book cover for Clive Barker's "The Hellbound Heart" with adjacent text "Today raise some hell. It's Clive Barker's birthday."

#booksky #moviesky #writers #horror

Black and white drawing of Snoopy. Adjacent text is "On this day in 1950, America got a new best friend."

#dogs #cartoons #television

I would like to read Myra Breckinridge also--think about writing that back in 1968! The doc has been out for good while, but I only saw it recently and it made me want to read so much more of his work. We need more voices like his today.

Black and white still from the movie trailer, with the title "Maltese Falcon" in the foreground filling the screen in front of a shadowy statue of the falcon in the background. Text below is "Premiered on this day in 1941. Movies were never the same again."

It took 3 tries to get it right. The '31 version was too racy for Hayes; the second, starring Bette Davis, was dull. George Raft was offered the Spade part but turned it down because he didn't want to be in a remake or work with an inexperienced director. (It was Huston's debut).
#moviesky #filmsky

Black and white photo of writer Gore Vidal as a young man. Adjacent text is a quote from him: "Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn."

Let me use the occasion of Gore Vidal's birthday ( #botd in 1925) to once again recommend the documentary Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia. Learn a little about how "we got here." Or just enjoy Vidal's witty and erudite company. A public intellectual--imagine that.

#booksky #writers

Shouldn't the headline be "demands" instead of "asks"? Trump never "asks" for anything.

Film poster for The Bridge On the River Kwai.

A hugely successful (and great) war movie that premiered #OTD in 1957, scrambling the binary categories of War Good-Men Brave or War Bad. A second "Bridge" film--A Bridge Too Far--premiered 20 years later, scrambling the paradigm and was rejected. By then people wanted certainty.

#moviesky #film

Reproduction of Twilight Zone logo. Text below is "Premiered on this day in 1959. Reboot began January 20, 2025."

Submitted for your approval.

#television #twilightzone #OTD

Photo of a red-winged black bird. Adjacent text is "How many ways can we look at poet Wallace Stevens born on this day in 1879*" Below the asterisk text is "Besides as the author of 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird."

The guy that launched a bajillion "13 Ways of Looking" titles? Or as the poet who was also an insurance executive? Or the tourist who loved Key West? Or the guy who tried to mix it up with Hemingway and ended up knocked on his assonance with a broken hand?

#booksky #writers #poets

Black and white photo of actor/singer Richard Harris. Adjacent text is "For God's sake, don't leave the cake out in the rain, because it's the birthday of Richard Harris. (Also it took so long to bake it and we'll never have the recipe again."

When it comes to Richard Harris, #botd in Limerick in 1930, indeed we will never have a recipe for a guy like him again: Terrific actor on stage and screen, popular singer and prodigious drinker. The reference below is to MacArthur Park, a top 40 hit in 1967.

#moviesky #film #broadway

Poet, anthologist and editor Louis Untermeyer, #BTOD in 1885, wrote or edited nearly 100 books, including well-regarded books for children. A noted wit, he was a panelist on What's My Line for a season before he was blacklisted in 1951. Below, his poem "Unfaithful."

#booksky #writers #poetry

Color photo taken at Yosemite National Park. Headline is "Yosemite National Park. Est. October 1, 1890.

Can our national parks survive? Project 2025 seeks to "prioritize" resource extraction, "downsize" national monuments and abolish the 1906 Antiquities Act, which is how past presidents (Democratic & Republican) have preserved lands of natural, cultural or scientific value. Worst people in the world.

All text post, "Re:the comedians who bemoan cancel culture in the U.S. yet take massive "bags" to perform in the Saudi "comedy" festival." Below in bold type "Listen, before you cast the first stone at these comedians, remember stoning is still legal in Saudi Arabia." And below that "Yuck you, fellas."

Nothing says a good time like a Saudi Arabian comedy festival. Did you hear the one about Dr. Bone Saw?

#comedythatkills

You NEED to listen to pre-eminent conductor and musician Leonard Slatkin tell us what we MUST do, right now, to protect the arts and to stand up for what is right.
It was an emotional, inspiring moment last evening, 9/28/25.
Elliott Forrest begins the closing remarks:
#music #arts #standfirm #resist

Black and white image of a younger Truman Capote holding a cigarette with his head in his hands. Adjacent text is a quote from Capote: "All literature is gossip." Truman Capote.

And Capote, #BOTD in 1924, would know. While it appears he took "creative license" with some the In Cold Blood material, he may have been too honest about "the Swans." Or just too gossipy. He spiraled, as the saying goes, and died at 59 of drugs and liver failure.

#booksky #writers

Caricature of Neville Chamberlain. Adjacent text is "On this day (at 1:30 am) in 1938, Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement. He thought it promised "Peace for Our Time." Adolf Hitler did not agree."

A timely reminder about deals with the Devil, as we head toward #shutdown #governmentshutdown with an authoritarian president and his lawless enforcers. Last week it was Brendan Carr; this week it's Russell Vought threatening to permanently fire government workers.

Film poster for The Red Shoes. Adjacent text is "Put on your red shoes today. It's Michael Powell's birthday. (Just dont' get too carried away with the dancing."

The Red Shoes, inspired by the dark fairy tale, was only one of the string of classics made by Powell, #BOTD in 1905, and Emeric Pressburger. Critical outrage at Powell's serial killer film Peeping Tom (made, ironically enough, the same year as Psycho) hamstrung his career.

#moviesky #film

Black and white publicity photo of Stanley Kramer. The headline is "Stanley Kramer: The art of the unabashedly socially conscious film." Underneath the photo the text is, "In other words, 'wok'" A list of films is on both sides of the photo: "Inherit the Wind, The Defiant Ones, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, On the Beach, Judgment at Nuremberg, Ship of Fools and High Noon (producer).

Producer/director Stanley Kramer apparently didn't get Goldwyn's memo (who supposedly said "Want to send a message, get Western Union). Nowadays it's easy to mock the sincerity of some of the films, but Kramer made movies like he thought they were important. And thus they still are.

#moviesky #film

A still of Greer Garson from Mrs. Miniver, and a still of Trevor Howard in The Third Man. Headline is "Cheers to great Britons!"

Below, Greer Garson, #botd in 1904, as the redoubtable Mrs. Miniver in the movie that inspired a nation during wartime. And Trevor Howard, #botd in 1913, as the redoubtable Lieutenant Callahan, the voice of reason in The Third Man, a peerless post-war thriller.

#moviesky #film

One of the things that makes him interesting is that he is both a man of the world and a man of the church; a man of science and a man of faith. Could do with more of those people!

Black and white still of the final scene from Blair Witch project showing character facing a dark stone wall in a basement. Adjacent text reads "Kindly stop with the 'taken a dark turn.' There are no more turns. We are here."

The question is how bad it will get and if we can get out of this. (For those who haven't seen or don't remember--below is the final, and best, scene from Blair Witch Project. Seemed kinda scary at the time, but we didn't know from scary.)

#comey #doj #ICE #tomhoman

Color image of Derek Jacobi, shown in closeup against a dark background, from his role as Brother Cadfael. Adjacent text is "We must lay the feast with all the right flavors! It's the anniversary of Ellis Peter's birth."

Edith Pargeter, AKA Ellis Peters, is best known for her 20 historical #mysteries featuring the monk Brother Cadfael. Cadfael's schtick, to put it crudely, was his skill as an herbalist (also solving mysteries). Derek Jacobi, shown below, starred in the television adaptations.

#booksky #writers #tv

Peter Finch, #BOTD in 1916. He died at age 60 just a few months before he got the Oscar for Network; iconic scene here--Mad as Hell and Not Gonna Take it Anymore. Funny thing: That used to describe MAGAs. Finch had a string of great roles later in life, a filmography to explore.

#moviesky #film

Let it go? Let. It. Epstein!