Fail Safe Sex

Nancy Berg, as Ilsa Wolfe, toys with Cold War death wizard Professor Groeteschele (Walter Matthau) in director Sidney Lumet's 1964 nuclear crisis drama Fail-Safe.

Ballinger's Ride

I have finally finished watching like 117 episodes of M Squad with Detective Lt. Frank Ballinger (Lee Marvin) driving his Ford around the late 1950s streets of Chicago. Most of it is second unit insert stuff, but you can tell Marvin is driving a lot of it. There are even a few examples of in-car process shots where Ballinger is driving and yet his own car can be seen through the rear window in the background. Sort of like Ballinger tailing Ballinger (which would be a whole other sci-fi plot, of course). There are winter shots filled with snow and slush, which I as a Rust Belter appreciate immensely. And Chi-Town looks like I remember it. If you're a native of Chicago, you might want to check out the TV series. Even if you're not as old as I am.

I especially like these two shots of the old Randolph Street Greyhound station. Spent a little time there. Back in the day.
(Also see Chuckman's Collection of Chicago postcards and What Makes The Pie Shops Tick flickr photostream.)

1951 Drive-In

It's Friday.
What say we go to the drive-in?

We'll take my car.

I once worked a concession stand like this one. I made popcorn and snow cones. See the drain in the floor? It's so you can hose the place out in the morning.

I was a projectionist, too, for a very short time. Those projectors didn't have bulbs. They had white-hot carbon arcs. It was so hot that it had to have its own housing and chimney (on the right in the photo).

How about we go see Jan Sterling and whatshisname in Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole?

Sounds like a fun time.

Paget Replay

You might remember this from a February 2008 post.

1957 Car Show Girls

With all the latest accessories.







Photos by Walter Sanders for Life magazine.

Driven to Distraction

Today's New York Times printed an article called Drivers and Legislators Dismiss Cellphone Risks by Matt Richtel (whose last name sounds like the name of a cell phone company). MSN reprinted it this morning and included a video of a texting bus driver crashing into a line of stopped cars. The article is all about why drivers continue to use cell phones when they know it's distracting. Texting is distracting. Hands-free phoning is distracting. Cell phone conversations in general are distracting. And it's costing lives. When you're on the road, you're surrounded by other driver's who are inattentive time bombs, just waiting to kill you. Like drunk drivers. Anyway, the article says, "Why do people, knowing the risk, continue to talk while driving? The answer, they say, is partly the intense social pressures to stay in touch and always be available to friends and colleagues...They also show signs of addiction--to their gadgets." The article quotes John Ratey, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard, who says "...the modern brain is being rewired to crave stimulation." It is what he calls "acquired attention deficit disorder" and says, "We need that constant pizzazz, the reward, the intensity." Matt Richtel's piece is apparently part of a series called Driven to Distraction. Just thought I'd share that.

A Public Service Announcement

Wear Your Seat Belt.

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