THE FIX IS OFF (for now)
Something has come up to postpone my out-of-town daughter’s Father’s Day visit until the following weekend ….so my browser problem will remain on hold, and without resolution, until the (offspring’s) fix is in. Meanwhile, back at the rant, I’ve finished reading the outspoken CARROLL O’CONNOR’s autobiography wherein he vents about many things. So, to fill in, let’s take up where my last post left off. After all, it’s All In The Family.
O’Connor had a very varied pre-Archie Bunker life. Like many in their early adult years, he couldn’t find his niche. “I could not shake off a feeling of foolishness—a man of 26 plodding through the days and months with no plan, no answer for anyone who might ask “What are you going to do with yourself?” The eventual answer, after many dead-end turns, turned out to be acting….and, finally, stardom (which came with an Archie Bunker mentality).
I — no doubt like most who read autobiographies — do so primarily to learn more about the author, his/her life and times. But I’ll also admit to the guilty pleasure of learning what the author thought of well-known contemporaries — in fact, such opinions may offer insights into other personalities and professions, which broaden (for better or worse) what I thought I knew about them. So, what were O’Connor’s impressions of….
JOHN WAYNE: “He perceived America as the preeminent hero-nation, virtually a land of heroes in which he himself felt heroic (and actually was, as I knew him) and infused that perception into all his roles as naturally as if it were one of the primary emotions.”
JEAN STAPLETON: “Jean’s idea of Edith Bunker was not only original and perfectly suited to the American audience, but very comical and emotionally moving. If ever anything on television changed the country, not radically, not even obviously, it was the performance of Jean and the example of Edith. Did our series effectively attack bigotry and racism? We thought so at the time –”
HARRY TRUMAN: “Nobody expected Truman to take part in a Korean civil war, if one should begin. His military chiefs had no battle plan; on the contrary, they had a plan for getting out of the way — withdrawing to Japan. I thought Truman was totally wrong — his political vision faulty, his practical leadership unintelligent, his moral justification false. For me, the issue of morality in war– whether or not it is a “just war” — turns on the question of choice. When you wage war because you have no choice you are acting justly. But when you have a reasonable choice and choose to wage war, you can’t call your war just.”
MOVIE WRITERS, “though marvelously reliable in inventing space creatures — shriveled humanoids and hugely swollen insects — are unreliable in depicting intelligent life on earth.”
AGENTS “are generally shrewd, knowing, clever people; good company, good friends. They have made my career; they make all careers; they are the most important people in the business.”
ACTORS: “I shall never forget my first professional play rehearsal at The Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, in the spring of 1951 — the immediate cordiality of my new friends the actors: they greeted me like an intimate. Now after all these years I am still unfailingly comforted, encouraged and elated in the company of actors. There is something about the work these dear neurotics do, investigating every kind of human character, that develops in them an extraordinary tolerance, forgiveness and good humor. I commend their company even to normal folk.”
….and I commend this book of Carroll’s to you.
waywardsparkles 1:50 am on June 19, 2020 Permalink |
Those were the days watching All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and Maude! Ya know, I can’t remember a single episode of any of them; but I loved how Archie continued to open up as the show went on. Wait a minute, do you remember the episode when Archie had to get a transfusion? I do remember that episode. That was genius! Thanks for sharing about Carroll O’Connor’s autobiography, MM. Mona
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mistermuse 7:42 am on June 19, 2020 Permalink |
I vaguely remember that episode, Mona, but like you, I mainly remember the series in general, as a whole, not for individual programs. The same, I think, applies to MASH, although re-runs appear regularly on local TV and refresh memories of specific episodes much more readily.
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blindzanygirl 2:42 am on June 19, 2020 Permalink |
Aww. Sad your fix is off. But this is a very interesting post
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mistermuse 7:45 am on June 19, 2020 Permalink |
Thanks, Lorraine. It was an interesting post to put together.
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calmkate 2:56 am on June 19, 2020 Permalink |
sorry your daughter is delayed, but she will get there!
So JW was just being himself, explains why he was monotonously the same in everything he appeared in … Carroll’s shares some good insights, particularly about war! Thanks for the review 🙂
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mistermuse 7:56 am on June 19, 2020 Permalink |
Thank you, Kate. I have several dozen biographies/autobiographies on my bookshelves, and O’Connor’s is one of the best.
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calmkate 8:51 am on June 19, 2020 Permalink
that’s good to know, but blogging sucks all my reading time …
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obbverse 4:03 am on June 19, 2020 Permalink |
Don’t panic! Help sounds like its on the way. Autobiographies seem to become more interesting the older we get. Something to do with the human condition, or trying to understand it.
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mistermuse 8:08 am on June 19, 2020 Permalink |
I agree, o.v. The ‘search’ for understanding is never-ending (until the end), but to paraphrase an old saying, “’tis better to have searched and come up short than never to have searched at all.”
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Carmen 6:44 am on June 19, 2020 Permalink |
That book sound very interesting — what a character! Hope you get your fix soon, mister muse! 🙂
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mistermuse 8:57 am on June 19, 2020 Permalink |
I hope so too, Carmen. The problems are getting worse (for example, my computer is increasingly ‘freezing’ on me — usually in the middle of writing a post or comment — requiring that I shut down and re-start). I wonder if it would help if I put my computer outside in the hot weather? 😉
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Rivergirl 7:15 am on June 19, 2020 Permalink |
People always think of Archie when they think of O’Connor, but he really was so much more.
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mistermuse 9:19 am on June 19, 2020 Permalink |
Absolutely, Rg. If he were still alive today, it’s not hard to imagine Archie supporting King Trump and O’Connor railing against him as the emperor who has no clothes.
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Don Ostertag 10:44 pm on June 19, 2020 Permalink |
I spent a week at Leonard Nimoy’s house which was across the street from O’Connor’s. That entire week, Carroll O’Connor cut his grass. He would finish with the lawn and start over again. I wanted to go and meet him, I heard he was a kind and intelligent person, but I never had the time. The Nimoys said he was a great neighbor.
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mistermuse 12:42 am on June 20, 2020 Permalink |
Very interesting. The Nimoys must have had the fast growing grass in town. I mow my lawn once a year whether it needs it or not. 😉
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Don Ostertag 1:17 am on June 20, 2020 Permalink
Not the Nimoy’s lawn.., It was Carroll O’Connor cutting the O’Connor lawn.
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mistermuse 7:47 am on June 20, 2020 Permalink
Thanks for the clarification — I took “cut his grass” to mean that, because he was “a great neighbor,” O’Connor cut Nimoy’s lawn while Nimoy was away for a week. Out of even lesser misunderstandings, yards have been known to turn into battlefields!
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annieasksyou 12:01 am on June 20, 2020 Permalink |
Interesting, mistermuse—especially O’Connor’s takes on Truman and John Wayne. Did he say why he felt Wayne was heroic?
I don’t think computers like hot weather one whit, but I’m perhaps a tad more tech-adept than you, based on your description, so don’t byte a single bit of info I provide.
Enjoy Father’s Day. Is this an actual —as opposed to virtual—visit?
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mistermuse 8:16 am on June 20, 2020 Permalink |
When he knew Wayne, O’Connor wasn’t as liberal as he later became, so I assume that was how he felt then, before he ‘matured.’
My daughter’s visit will be “actual” in order to install a new browser, as I am virtually blogging “up a creek without a paddle” on my outdated browser (at least, I assume that’s the cause of the problems I’m having — if not, I’m thinking of drowning my sorrow, and I don’t mean in the creek).
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annieasksyou 9:21 am on June 20, 2020 Permalink |
I hope your daughter rescues you forthwith. If not, I assume you mean drowning your sorrow in a “spirited” manner, to which I say “bottoms up.”
I switched from Safari to Firefox at WP’s suggestion, only to learn that Firefox, for reasons I can’t comprehend, will not let me grab images the way Safari does. So I do my image search with Safari and my writing with Firefox. I am way beyond creek depth now with no daughter available to paddle me to safe land. Best of luck!
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mistermuse 2:18 pm on June 20, 2020 Permalink |
It so happens that my daughter plans to switch me to Firefox. Before she does, I’ll bring your experience to her attention. She’s the head computer technician at the university where she works, but she doesn’t blog, so she may not be familiar with the idiosyncrasies of the various browsers when it comes to blogging. Thanks for the ‘heads-up.’
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annieasksyou 2:35 pm on June 20, 2020 Permalink |
You’re welcome. It happened to me with Google Advanced Image Search, which I use a lot, and with YouTube. But maybe your daughter the pro will be able to show you how to overcome my problem. And then maybe you can tell me!
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magickmermaid 5:20 pm on June 21, 2020 Permalink |
I hope you are having a nice Father’s Day!
There was a Microsoft update this past week in which the new version of the Edge browser was installed. Much to my surprise it’s super-fast!
I forgot to mention something regarding the “like” problem. If you have your Enhanced Tracker Setting for your browser set for “custom” or “strict”, that prevents “liking” on certain blogs. Just click on the shield icon in the address bar and you can uncheck the tracking. You will then be able to “like”. 🙂
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mistermuse 6:08 pm on June 21, 2020 Permalink |
Thanks. I AM having a nice Father’s Day — made all the nicer by my neighbor mowing my lawn this weekend (he is the father of the (no longer) little girl my wife and I took care of years ago while he and his wife worked). Now that’s what I call a good neighbor!
P.S. I will pass your tip on to my daughter next weekend when she installs a new browser, as I will not be publishing any more posts until then.
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josephurban 3:57 pm on June 22, 2020 Permalink |
Nice article. If you like autobiographies I suggest the Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. I am currently reading it after watching a History Channel 3 part series on Grant. Fascinating.
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mistermuse 7:11 pm on June 22, 2020 Permalink |
Grant was born not far from where I live — I’ve been there twice (the second time with visiting relatives who had an interest in Grant). This may interest you:
http://www.usgrantbirthplace.org/
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Silver Screenings 3:23 pm on July 5, 2020 Permalink |
This looks like a truly interesting, well-written book with lots of insight. I think I need to find a copy.
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mistermuse 5:42 pm on July 5, 2020 Permalink |
I don’t think you’ll be disappointed, SS. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the book.
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