My Top 10:

The ultimate femme fatale: Barbara Stanwyck in Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944)

1. Double Indemnity
2. Gaslight
3. The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
4. Hail the Conquering Hero
5. Arsenic and Old Lace
6. Ministry of Fear
7. Laura
8. The Princess and the Pirate
9. Kismet
10. The Seventh Cross

Academy Awards:

• Best Picture:  Going My Way
• Best Director:  Leo McCarey  (Going My Way)
• Best Actor:  Bing Crosby  (Going My Way)
• Best Actress:  Ingrid Bergman  (Gaslight)
• Best Supporting Actor:  Barry Fitzgerald  (Going My Way)
• Best Supporting Actress:  Ethel Barrymore  (None But the Lonely Heart)
• Best Screenplay:  Going My Way
• Best Original Screenplay:  Wilson
• Best Original Story:  Going My Way

Consensus Awards:

• Best Picture:  Going My Way
• Best Director:  Leo McCarey  (Going My Way)
• Best Actor:  Alexander Knox  (Wilson)
• Best Actress:  Ingrid Bergman  (Gaslight)
• Best Supporting Actor:  Barry Fitzgerald  (Going My Way)
• Best Supporting Actress:  Agnes Moorehead  (Mrs. Parkington)

Top 5 Films  (Top 1000):

• Double Indemnity -  #94
• Meet Me in St. Louis -  #220
• Laura -  #304
• The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek -  #593
• Arsenic and Old Lace -  #868

Top 5 Awards Points:

1. Going My Way -  1045
2. Wilson -  491
3. Gaslight -  346
4. Since You Went Away -  285
5. Double Indemnity -  240

AFI Top 100 Films:

• Double Indemnity -  #38  (1998)  /  #29  (2007)

Nighthawk Awards:

Charles Boyer was Oscar-nominated for Gaslight while Ingrid Bergman won her first Oscar. They both win Nighthawk Awards.

• Best Picture:  Double Indemnity
• Best Director:  Billy Wilder  (Double Indemnity)
• Best Actor:  Charles Boyer  (Gaslight)
• Best Actress:  Ingrid Bergman  (Gaslight)
• Best Supporting Actor:  Clifton Webb  (Laura)
• Best Supporting Actress:  Angela Lansbury  (Gaslight)
• Best Adapted Screenplay:  Double Indemnity (from the novel by James M. Cain)
• Best Original Screenplay:  The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
• Best Foreign Film:  Torment

Nighthawk Notables:

• Best Film to Watch Over and Over:  The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
• Best Scene:  When Bob Hope loses the girl in The Princess and the Pirate
• Best Line:  “Insanity runs in my family.  It practically gallops.”  (Arsenic and Old Lace – Cary Grant)
• Best Ending:  The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek

Ebert Great Films:

• Double Indemnity
• Laura

Was it because of the war?  Or was it just a bad year for film?  Yes, there is Double Indemnity and the great double whammy of Preston Sturges.  But outside of that?  Easily the two big films going into the awards were Going My Way and Wilson and has either aged well?  Wilson was such a big film in that year and it was so hard for me to find in college that I expected great things from it, and rarely have I felt so let down.  Then there is Going My Way.  The big winner of all the year’s awards and yet it can’t even make the Top 1000?  Or AFI?  Clearly I am not the only one who thinks it is over-rated.  After the top 5, things fall off pretty quickly and this is one of the few years where I couldn’t even find 10 films at the **** or ***.5 level.  Even Laura, which I find to be a much better film than 3 of the 5 Oscar nominees I don’t feel really earns its placement on Ebert’s list.

Film History: Olivia de Havilland wins her case in Los Angeles Superior Court, freeing her from her contract in perpetuity and begins the end of the Studio System.  Lauren Bacall makes her screen debut in To Have and Have Not (which will not be Oscar eligible until 1945); it is still the only film to ever involve two Nobel Prize winning authors — Hemingway, who wrote the original novel and Faulkner who wrote the screenplay.  Paramount makes a 30 minute promotion for The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, the first television advertisement for a film.  Torment debuts, the first film written by Ingmar Bergman.  RKO releases Days of Glory, a film in which nearly every actor in it is making their screen debut; the experiment is a failure and the film flops but one actor goes on to stardom: Gregory Peck.

Academy Awards: Barry Fitzgerald manages the bizarre, getting nominated as both the lead and supporting for the same performance in Going My Way and he wins Best Supporting Actor.  Leo McCarey also gets double nominated – winning both his nominations, for Best Director and Best Original Story, the first person to win two Oscars in one night.  In this, the first year for 5 Best Picture nominees, all 5 are nominated for a lead acting award, something that will not happen again for 20 years.  With the drop in Best Picture nominees, comes the split with Best Director.  For the first time since 1931, more than one Best Director nominee is from a film that fails to get nominated for Best Picture.  This year is the worst for me — with the second most feature film nominations (145), I have only seen 123 (84.83%), my lowest score since 1930.  With 65 different feature films that earn nominations, it ties 1941 for the most.  Going My Way becomes only the second film to win Best Picture and Best Actor (after It Happened One Night), but begins a trend.  The next two Best Pictures will, like Going, win Best Picture, Director, Actor and Screenplay and four of the next five Best Pictures will win Best Actor.

• Worst Oscar:  Best Editing for Wilson
• Worst Oscar Nomination:  Best Special Effects for Wilson
• Worst Oscar Omission:  Best Song for Meet Me in St. Louis (“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”)
• Worst Oscar-Nominated Film:  Dragon Seed
• Worst Oscar Category:  Best Editing – none of the nominees deserved nominations
• Best Oscar Category:  Best Actress
• Best Oscar Nomination:  The double nomination for Preston Sturges two great screenplays: The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek and Hail the Conquering Hero
• Oscar / Nighthawk Awards Agreements:  Best Actress, Best Interior Decoration – Black and White, Best Special Effects

Golden Globes: Going My Way is again the biggest film, winning Best Picture, Supporting Actor and the initial award for Best Director.  Ingrid Bergman takes home a Golden Globe to go with her Oscar while Oscar nominees Alexander Knox (Wilson) and Agnes Moorehead (Mrs. Parkington) take home Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

Awards: Going My Way becomes the most awarded film of all-time, winning 3 awards from the New York Film Critics (Picture, Director, Actor) to go along with its 7 Oscars and 3 Golden Globes.  Tallulah Bankhead makes it back to back years that the NYFC Best Actress fails to get an Oscar nomination.  The National Board of Review, in the first year of 5 Oscar nominees for Best Picture only manages to find room for 2 of them in its top 10 (Going My Way and Wilson), though it does list 1943 nominee The Song of Bernadette.  In their final year of having a long list of the Best Acting, they manage to mention three of the Oscar winners, though not Barry Fitzgerald who wins Best Actor over Bing Crosby from the NYFC.

Bob Hope on his own in The Princess and the Pirate (1944)

Under-appreciated Film of 1944:

The Princess and the Pirate (dir. David Butler)

I never would have suspected how much I would enjoy this.  Growing up in the seventies and eighties, Bob Hope was the guy who did the U.S.O tours, someone who seemed conservative and friendly with Reagan in the same way that Charlton Heston and Frank Sinatra were.  His film history, starring in the Road movies with Bing Crosby, were completely unknown to me.  Nor could I have imagined his enjoyable screen persona of the lovable coward.

But Bob Hope brings something to the screen.  He was never a particularly talented actor and certainly he would always come off worse when paired with Crosby, but he had a goofy charm, a charisma that could explain why people would flock to him.  In a sense, he was a forebear of the early Woody Allen roles; he was the loser who kept hoping to get the girl when he knew he absolutely wasn’t going to get the girl.

So here we have one of Hope’s most effortless performances.  He is one his own and he makes sly digs at his studios, at his fellow Hollywood stars, and certainly at himself.  He is a coward who ends up protecting the princess who keeps talking about how much she wants to get back home to the soldier that she loves (he’s a commoner, so she fled because she can’t marry him), only to find herself drawn closer and closer to Hope.  By the end of the film, Hope has done enough, saved her, comforted her, befriended her, to hope that perhaps something might come out of this, that he might not end up alone and losing like always.

Then something happens which I won’t describe except to say that it made me laugh so hard that I had to pause the film.  It is an ending so absolutely perfect for the film, such a charming, brilliant way to capture all this goofy romantic energy and send it packing on its way.  If all you can think of when you think of Bob Hope is those same U.S.O shows, then give this a try.  Even if you’ve seen a lot of the Road films, watch this anyway.  It’s charming and sweet and really funny and a reminder how enjoyable the movies can be.

This won’t last long at auction…see sweetcottagecharm EBAY link at right. 

 A very old antique chart / graph advertising collectible.   An ultra rare and very generously sized historical relic that nicely presents in graph form very interesting early U.S. economy facts, statistical information, detailed flow charts, etc. regarding Business Booms and Depressions from the time period of 1775 – 1944.

This fantastic authentic original old advertising collectible features additional detailed text under the chronological chart regarding:

- National Income

Not only does this phenomenal piece offer a multitude of interesting data from a much earlier era, but also offers a spectacular presentation with excellent graphic content and nicely aged coloring.  Very large sized measuring just under four feet wide with framed dimensions of 46” wide, 10 ½” tall. 

A really exceptional old piece that will likely be of special interest to collectors of interesting old historical relics, antique Stock Market and early Democrat and Republican political memorabilia as well as collectors of unique old financial accounting and/or antique advertising displays.  “American Credit Indemnity Company of New York, Baltimore, Maryland. Guarantees Payment of your Accounts Receivables” is printed at bottom center.

Professionally framed in the original antique wood frame under glass with the original old aged nails holding the frame’s backing in place.  The piece is in great vintage condition throughout showing age with some expected paper yellowing and a couple of ubobtrusive water spots that are commensurate with advanced age.

Other highly detailed charted information includes:

 War – France and England - French Hostilities / 4 year Civil War / the Cotton Boom / 3 Year War 1812 / Commodity Price Index / Income at 677 Million / National Income / Stock Prices / Stock Market / Silver Campaign Depression – and much, much more.

Heading: Business Booms & Depressions since 1775.

Sub-heading includes:

George Washington (Federal), John Adams (Federal), Thomas Jefferson (Republican), James Madison (Republican), James Monroe (Republican), John Quincy Adams (Republican), Andrew Jackson (Democrat), Martin Van Buren (Democrat), Harrison (Whig), Tyler (Democrat), James Polk (Democrat), Taylor / Fillmore (Whig), Franklin Pierce (Democrat), James Buchanan (Democrat), Abraham Lincoln (Republican), Andrew Jackson (Democrat), Ulysses Grant (Republican), Rutherford Hayes (Republican), Garfield / Arthur (Republican), Grover Cleveland (Democrat), Benjamin Harrison (Republican), William McKinley (Republican), Theodore Roosevelt (Republican), William Taft (Republican), Woodrow Wilson (Democrat), W. G. Harding (Republican), Calvin Coolidge (Republican), Herbert Hoover (Republican), and Franklin Roosevelt (Democrat).

A tremendous authentic original for display for a business, a private office or the home – also very nice for the wall in a study in an ART DECO home.  This fabulous original early American antique relic will be gone in just a few days…dont’ miss it!

Started in 1893, American Credit Indemnity Company is the oldest insurer of this type in the world.  It writes approximately 70 percent of the business credit insurance in North America, covering more than $70 billion of annual sales. The company is licensed in all 50 U.S. states and in several Canadian provinces, and operates through offices located throughout the U.S. and Canada. In early 1997, ACI acquired Trade Indemnity Canada (a Euler affiliate), adding to its asset position and bolstering its already significant market leadership in North America.

I have in front of me my Today’s History Lesson spreadsheet.  In it are a series of pages…one page per year, one event (occasionally two) per day.  Some days have events running out to 2016, which still surprises me.  History is big.

But today is Christmas Eve, and a quick look at the spreadsheet (which shows topics, for this day, through 2011) , doesn’t really include anything that conveys the spirit of this season.  So, I think I’ll ditch those on the list (actually, I’ll just push them all out another year), and talk briefly about something I read just this afternoon.

I’m just about finished with Charles Whiting’s book Ardennes: The Secret War.  His story of the Battle of the Bulge is told largely from the German perspective, and it makes for interesting reading.  In describing the last Christmas Eve of the war, he writes, “As night descended upon war-torn Europe, it brought with it a strange kind of respite from the bloody struggles of the day and the new ones of the morrow.”

The town of Malmedy enjoyed, relatively speaking, a “sleep in heavenly peace” from the ravages of war.  Just a week before, nearly 100 captured American soldiers had been slaughtered in one of the more infamous atrocities of the war.  In the ensuing days, it had been recaptured by the Americans as the German advance reached its zenith, far short of its intended goals.

And then disaster struck Malmedy again, this time courtesy of the U.S Ninth Air Force.  Unable to find their primary target on December 23rd, the B-29 Superfortresses of the 322nd Bombardment Group headed for their secondary target, the town of Lommersum.  Still lost, they inadvertantly bombed Malmedy instead.  To make matters worse, they didn’t just bomb the town once, but three times.

Malmedy was a shambles, with dozens of American soldiers and hundreds of civilians killed.  The following evening, December 24, 1944, Red Cross trucks showed up at the hospital with gifts for the injured children.  The nuns tending the children stopped their work and sang Silent Night to the soldiers bringing the gifts.

They may not have realized it (and I’m digressing a bit), but the nuns were celebrating the anniversary of one of the most famous Christmas carols ever written.  On December 24, 1818, Josef Mohr (a German priest and the carol’s lyricist) sat down with Franz Gruber (an organist who composed the music) in Gruber’s apartment and, for the first time, put words and music together.  They would introduce it at Midnight Mass as evening turned to morning that night.

Back in Malmedy, however, another drama was unfolding.  Two German soldiers volunteered to sneak into town and bring back their dead comrades lying about.  Moving as quietly as possible, they took each dead soldier to their jeep, working ever closer to the American positions.

Whiting then continues…

“Suddenly, just as they had freed yet another body…, there was the crunch of a boot on the hard snow.  They froze.  The noise came closer.  Dark shapes appeared out of the night.  The two men found themselves staring into the faces of an American patrol, waiting for the first angry challenge to be followed by the shots that would surely kill them.

Nothing happened.  The Americans took another look at the two Germans, then proceeded silently on their way, like neighbors passing each other in the night.”

It’s a shame all differences aren’t handled like that.

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Recommended Reading: Ardennes: The Secret War

„Hanukkah was approaching. The spiritual leaders of the house, rabbis and teachers, tried to make an evening or two become holiday in spite of the hard situation. Though the mood was depressed, bombs fluttered around the Vadász utca, it was dangerous enough to make a stay in the assembly room upstairs, many were curious about the evening holiday. The holiday was introduced by the traditional candles lightning, then doctor Richtmann’s sermon came.

The audience in the assembly room listened to his words fighting against their tears and soundlessly. You might see the piety of the festive hour what they didn’t feel a long time ago. Then Teri Gács, the excellent poetess came. Or rather she would have come, but, even then, when she wanted to begin reciting one of her ad hoc poems – The List 7800 –, a bomb fell to the firewall of the next house with great noise. The Glass House trembled, a huge amount of plaster streamed from the ceiling to the necks of the audience.

I wasn’t at home, I came back late at night from the Szabadság square. Some good friends led by Arthur Weiss waited for me in the small room. In the corner some nutshells, oil and wicks in each, were lined up on a stick which was put on a chair. One by one I lit the small oil lamps. I will never forget that holiday feeling what descended upon us, and I will even less forget the dinner what my wife made on this occasion. She took out some potato lángos from the pot under the table which I didn’t know how she had fried, and, especially, from what she had fried. Especially as that there wasn’t any potato in the Glass House since months. There was a little fat on the cold lángos. I never eat so delicious potato lángos since then.”

(from the book of Mihály Salamon: “Keresztény” voltam Európában. [I was a "Christian" in Europe])

The Battle of the Bulge was an offensive born of desperation.  As its creator, Adolf Hitler may have, in the back of his mind, suspected it was a gamble.  But his subordinate generals, closer to reality than their weakening leader, knew without question that it was a last gasp.  Field Marshal Walter Model asked one of his commanders, tasked with a parachute drop, if he believed his chances of success were at least 10 percent.  The commander, completely honest, replied between 10 and 20 percent.  “I wish the whole offensive had the same kind of chance,” said Model. “Then it is necessary to make the attempt, since the entire offensive is the last remaining chance we have of concluding the war favorably.  If we don’t make the most of that ten percent chance, Germany will be faced by certain defeat.”

The German offensive was really a race…a race to reach Antwerp and Brussels before the fuel ran out.  All those divisions that lined up and shoved off against the Allies?  Many of them didn’t have enough fuel to reach their goals unless they could somehow capture it.  That meant overwhelming the British and Americans and destroying their ability to fight without actually destroying the fuel dumps and depots along the way.  It also meant capturing them before the Allies figured out the German weakness.

And so, on the surface, these factors may have helped explain the events at Malmedy, which occurred on December 17, 1944, just one day into the offensive.  It was here that the American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion had an unplanned meeting with Kampfgruppe Peiper.  Peiper’s forces were part of Dietrich’s Sixth SS Panzer Army we mentioned yesterday, and they were already behind schedule, having been held up in the hamlet of La Glieze under heavy artillery fire.  But reinforcements had helped them punch through, and they came ripping into Malmedy…and the 285th.

These American troops were about as unseasoned as could be, and had little time to react before Peiper’s lead armor began turning their convoy trucks to burning hulks.  Armed with rifles and a machine gun or two, there was no hope of a successful fight or even retreat, so the 100+ men surrendered.  Peiper himself (and his lead elements) drove through Malmedy.  He wanted to capture an American general, and rumor had one located up the road in Ligneuville.

The remaining Germans marched the captured men of the 285th into a field and summarily executed them.  When the Germans left the scene, a handful of survivors (those who had played dead or fell under dead comrades), made their escapes, returning to safety with a terrible story to tell.  Between 80 and 90 men remained, their bodies turning white and cold under the falling snow.

I said before, desperation may have been a cause for this.  But the facts seem to show otherwise.  First, this wasn’t the first such action in Operation Watch on the Rhine, in just its second day.  There were numerous reports of captured soldiers and civilians being murdered.  Furthermore, Kampfgruppe Peiper had been in Poland, Russia, Italy, and now the regions of Normandy…these men had a fearsome reputation.  Everywhere they went, stories like this followed them.  There were the executions of intellectuals in Poland, Jews in Russia, and Jews in Italy.  Now, it was American soldiers.

And while it would take nearly two months for the site of the massacre to be uncovered, it took just hours for word of the Massacre at Malmedy to make its way through the Allied ranks.  President Roosevelt was quoted as saying, “Well now the average GI will hate the Germans just as much as do the Jews.”  The President was at least partly right.  Numerous soldiers (some instructed by their superiors) enacted a policy of not taking members of the SS alive (Pieper’s men were part of an SS Division), so they simply killed those who surrendered.

It was still early, and the British and Americans were reeling on the Ghost Front, but retribution for Malmedy would become one of the battle cries that winter.

Recommended Reading: The Longest Winter

When people talk about “the battle of the bulge”, it generally has something to do with weight.  One might refer to the struggle to control his or her waistline.  Possibly it’s a discussion of some new exercise equipment.  Or it’s a conversation around the water-cooler about the latest episode of the many weight-loss programs that occupy our television screens, most notably The Biggest Loser.

If you, as a budding history buff, were to jump in and say something like, “Did you know that the phrase ‘the battle of the bulge’ comes from the last major German offensive, launched in late 1944?”, you might get a nod or two, that four- or five-second span of awkward silence, and then a response like, “Did you see how totally mad Jillian got at the black team for, like, sneaking Twinkies into their beds?!?”.

Don’t worry, stuff like that happens all the time to fans of history…we’re lone wolfs in a world of “right now.”

At 5:29am on December 16, 1944, the term “battle of the bulge” didn’t yet exist.  The area around the hills and forests of the Ardennes region (Belgium, Luxembourg, and northern France) was quiet.  There had been little military activity in the region.  So little, in fact, that the area on the Allied side was primarily defended by two groups of soldiers – those with little actual battle experience (as a way to gain it), and those with much experience in need of rest and recuperation.

The winter of 1944 had, in northern Europe, been a little harsher than previous years, and the battlelines, which mostly ran a little to the west of the Rhine River, seemed to be in hibernation.  Adolf Hitler had brought back Field Marshal von Rundstedt, but he was an old-school tactician who would likely fight a purely defensive action.  The Allied plans of “German defeat by Christmas” were pretty much shot, but there was little doubt that the Germans were not capable of a serious offensive action.  As a result, many Allied generals were taking a well-earned Christmas break.  Montgomery was off polishing up his golf game.  Bradley and two of his subordinates (Generals Hodges and Quesada) were in Spa, Belgium, being fitted for custom shotguns.  Eisenhower had his valet’s wedding to attend.

There were some minor Allied concerns.

There had been little or no intelligence activity in the last couple of months.  ULTRA, the Allied code-breaking system, had seen fewer and fewer intercepts floating through the airwaves.  Some chalked it up to the Wehrmacht running out of steam.  There was that one message intercepted back in late October, calling for English-speaking German soldiers to report to Otto Skorzeny, but that was apparently a big nothing.

And where was the Sixth SS Panzer Army?  Commanded by General Sepp Dietrich and composed of at least five armored Panzer divisions, there was no agreement among the Allies as to its location, and no way (with the poor weather) to get solid reconnaissance.

But still, at 5:29am, there was little concern and only a few dangling questions.

At 5:30am, there were no more questions…just a massive barrage of artillery…German artillery.  By 8:00am, the first of nearly 30 German division had smashed into the Allied lines.  That lack of intelligence gathering?  The German Army, now mostly in its own country, had reverted to using standard telephone lines.  Those English-speaking Germans?  They were now behind the Allied lines, wreaking havoc and confusion among the American and British soldiers, already dazed and confused.  The conservative von Rundstedt?  Merely a figurehead…Operation Watch on the Rhine (as the Germans called it…even the name sounds defensive in nature) was Hitler’s baby from the get-go.  And those missing Panzer divisions?  Dietrich’s forces were among the first to come smashing into the forests of the Ardennes.

The goals of this massive last gasp by the Wehrmacht were pretty simple.  They wanted to split the British and American forces, capture Brussels and the Belgian port (and major Allied supply depot) of Antwerp, and hope the British and Americans would accept a peace treaty that was separate from the Soviet Union.  If that happened, the end of hostilities in the west would allow the Germans to concentrate all their attention on stopping the Soviet advances in the east.

Operation Watch on the Rhine (which came to be known as The Battle of the Bulge) got off to a smashing start for the Germans.  In the introduction to his book Ardennes: The Secret War, Charles Whiting writes, “…the Germans pulled off a tremendous intelligence coup.  Never before had they been able to do anything like it – and they would never do it again.  The Allied high command had been caught napping.  Later they made frantic efforts to re-establish their reputations.  No episode in the whole course of the war caused so much public polemic, personal vituperation and self-vindication.  They attempted to show that they had expected the attack in the Ardennes;  hadn’t been fooled at all; had taken that “calculated risk” that top brass was always talking about, a risk that was never apparent to the soldiers who had to pay the “butcher’s bill.”…But in the end, in spite of the bluster, the name-calling, the passing of blame to others, there was no denying the fact that the enemy had well and truly surprised the generals.”

Only time, and blood, would determine if the Allies could stem this winter avalanche.

Recommended Reading: Ardennes: The Secret War

I am now currently watching Arsenic and Old Lace on TCM. I love this movie. It is one of my all time favorites. Quite humorous. If you have never seen it, I will give a small synopsis of it: 1944 Frank Capra film, starring Cary Grant, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Priscilla Lane, John Alexander, Jack Carson, John Ridgely, Edward McNamara, James Gleason, Edward Everett Horton.
A drama critic and confirmed bachelor, Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant), has written a number of books describing marriage as an old-fashioned superstition. Nevertheless, he falls in love with and marries Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane), who grew up next door to his old family home in Brooklyn.

Immediately after the wedding – on Halloween, as it happens – Mortimer visits the bizarre relatives who still live there, his elderly aunts Abby (Josephine Hull) and Martha (Jean Adair) and his brother Teddy (John Alexander). Teddy thinks he’s Theodore Roosevelt; each time he goes upstairs he blows a bugle, yells “Charge!”, and takes the stairs at a run (an imitation of Roosevelt’s famous charge up San Juan Hill).

Mortimer finds a corpse hidden in a window seat and suspects Teddy, but his aunts explain that they are responsible They have developed the “very bad habit” of ending the presumed suffering of lonely old bachelors by serving them elderberry wine spiked with arsenic, strychnine and cyanide. The bodies are buried in the basement by Teddy, who believes he is digging locks for the Panama Canal and burying yellow fever victims.

To complicate matters further, Mortimer’s brother Jonathan (Raymond Massey) arrives with his alcoholic accomplice, plastic surgeon Dr. Herman Einstein (Peter Lorre). Jonathan is a psychotic murderer trying to escape the police and find a place to dispose of the corpse of his latest victim, a certain Mr. Spenalzo. Jonathan’s face, as altered by Einstein while drunk, resembles that of Boris Karloff in his makeup as Frankenstein’s monster. Jonathan, upon finding out his aunts’ secret, decides to bury Spenalzo in the cellar and soon declares his intention to kill Mortimer.

Mortimer makes increasingly frantic attempts to stay on top of the situation as his bride waits for him at her family home next door, including multiple efforts to alert the bumbling local cops to the threat Jonathan poses, as well as have the paperwork filled that will have Teddy declared legally insane and committed. He worries whether he will go insane like the rest of the Brewster family, or as he puts it “Insanity runs in my family, practically gallops!”. While explaining this to Elaine, he claims they’ve been crazy since the first Brewster’s came to America as pilgrims. But eventually Jonathan is arrested, while Teddy and the two aunts are safely consigned to an asylum. In the end, Mortimer is overjoyed to learn that he was adopted and is not biologically related to the Brewsters after all. He is actually the son of a sea cook, exclaiming: “Elaine, Elaine, Where are you? Can you hear me? I’m not really a Brewster. I’m a son of a sea cook!”

Hilarious as it is. It can be very crazy. I would love to see the play that it was adapted from. I love when Cary Grant begins poking the character of Jonathan in the leg with a fork.

Ah Cary Grant…. I love him, one of my favorite actors. So charming at times, as in That Touch of Mink with Doris Day, and in An Affair to Remember with Deborah Kerr. Or his wry sense of Humor very evident in Arsenic and Old Lace, and Monkey Business with Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe. The first movie that I ever watched that made me fall in love with Cary Grant movies was Father Goose, with Leslie Caron, (another favorite as far as actresses are concerned, Daddy Long Legs and Gigi.) After that was Operation Petticoat with Tony Curtis.
It is so easy to sit and watch a Cary Grant movie. Its somewhat calming. Laughably so. lol

The winter of 1944/45 wasn’t an age of peace, happiness and love. Millions were in arms in Europe and the Far-East. Some parts of the world were waking up from the hell of the war, and some parts were waiting for the fulfillment of their fate.

Budapest, the capital of Hungary became a battlefield. It was decided that it would be sacrificed on the altar of the war – as Leningrad, Stalingrad or Warsaw were. The operations on Hungarian territory began in September, but the Soviet Army encircled Budapest only during the Holidays.

Hundreds of thousands listened to the sounds of arms as the front approached their homes. Tens of thousands were crowded in the Last Ghetto of Europe in Budapest. Thousands and thousands of people had to hide.

The Christmas candles were the bullets. The silent nights were loud because of the artilleries, guns and cannons. The “holiday dinner” was overshadowed by the fear that they would run out of food, water and other supplies.

The people were waiting for the future with fear and doubtfulness and hope of survival. The latter would have been the greatest present for them. We hope that we, our contemporaries and successors never have to live through anything like that.

We must never forget what was happened then. And we mustn’t let it happen again. All the people have the right to live in peace, happiness and love.

We wish a Happy Hanukkah, a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays every people in the World!

Very recently we welcomed a trio from America, Patrick, Kathy and Rita, who came to this area searching for more information on a particular time in their family’s history. 

Patrick and Kathy were trying to retrace their father’s journey through Italy as a soldier in the US 351st Infantry 88^th “Blue Devil” Division. 

Patrick is currently writing a book about his father’s experiences during this period.  His father sent home many descriptive letters to his new bride, who he had only married the day before his departure from America.

Charles Logan was just 22 years old when he was drafted into the army and sent to fight in Italy along the infamous GUSTAV Line.  His Division disembarked at Naples and was then transported to the town of Piedimonte d’Alife (now known as Piedimonte Matesse)  for combat training.

The 351st Infantry Division was then sent to the GUSTAV Line, on the western flank of the main Fifth Army, to relieve the 5th British Division in the Minturno area in Operation Diadem. The 88^th “Blue Devils”, encountering stiff German resistance, took part in a particularly bitter and bloody battle, which lasted almost 3 days, to seize the village of Santa Maria Infante. 

The capture of this position  on the 14^th May 1944, proved to be a defining moment, finally breaking through the GUSTAV line and forcing a German retreat. 

The French Expeditionary Corps of Morrocan Goumiers*, who were skilled in mountain warfare, continued to make their way forward over the seemingly impassable terrain of the Aurunci Mountains, while the 88^th surged ahead, taking the seaward facing villages of Spigno Saturnia, Castellonorato, Trivio, Maranola, then on through Formia, Itri, Fondi, Monte San Biagio to Roccagorga.

Continuing northward some of the 88^th Divison made contact with  Allied units breaking out of the Anzio beach-head on 29^th May and they were the first to enter Rome on the 4 June 1944.

We had the great pleasure of acting as Patrick’s guide and driver during their stay, and we visited Cassino and  Montecassino and many of the above mentioned towns and villages, travelling some 500 miles during the week.

We learned so much about the historical significance of these places through this traumatic  period of the Second World War.  From the picturesque little villages that we see today, it is hard to imagine what it would have been like for the local people and the opposing  Allied forces during this terrible time.

The Italians had suffered greatly under German occupation, having to endure persecution, reprisals and famine.  Prior to their liberation these villages also had endured heavy land and naval bombardments by the Allied forces which resulted in catastrophic damage, and hundreds of innocent civilian deaths and casualties.

* Yet there was more suffering to come – The French General Alphonse Juin, before the final battles to the breach the German GUSTAV  line, he was said to have promised the Morrocan Goumier troops the following:

“For 50 hours you will be the absolute masters of what you will find beyond the enemy. Nobody will punish you for what you will do, nobody will ask you about what you will get up to.” 

When the Goumiers swarmed over the mountain villages they subjected thousands of Italian women and even young girls to merciless violence and rape, and reportedly any men who fought to save  their wives and daughters from harm were ruthlessly murdered. 

A novel, “La Ciociara”, was penned, based on this subject of mass rape, by the author Alberto Moravia.  This was subsequently made into a film also called “La Ciociara” or  ”Two Women”, directed by Vittorio de Sica, and starred Sophia Loren. In 1960, for this role, she was awarded an Academy Award for Best Actress.

We would just like to wish Patrick Logan good luck with the writing of his book about his father’s war time experiences, and we very much look forward to the book’s publication.

We would be interested to hear from anyone else who had family members who fought in Italy during World War II, along this area of the German GUSTAV Line.

For more information about some of  the towns and villages in SOUTH LAZIO that were positioned along the GUSTAV Line, please click on the following links:

Montecassino

Castelforte

Santi Cosma e Damiano 

Minturno 

Spigno Saturnia 

Castellonorato

Trivio

Maranola

Formia

Gaeta 

Itri

Campodimele

Fondi

Monte San Biagio

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

6th June 1944:

In November, 1943, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met together in Teheran, Iran, to discuss military strategy and post-war Europe. Ever since the Soviet Union had entered the war, Stalin had been demanding that the Allies open-up a second front in Europe. Churchill and Roosevelt argued that any attempt to land troops in Western Europe would result in heavy casualties. Until the Soviet’s victory at Stalingrad in January, 1943, Stalin had feared that without a second front, Germany would defeat them.

Stalin, who always favoured an offensive strategy, believed that there were political, as well as military reasons for the Allies’ failure to open up a second front in Europe. Stalin was still highly suspicious of Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt and was worried about them signing a peace agreement with Adolf Hitler. The foreign policies of the capitalist countries since the October Revolution had convinced Stalin that their main objective was the destruction of the communist system in the Soviet Union. Stalin was fully aware that if Britain and the USA withdrew from the war, the Red Army would have great difficulty in dealing with Germany on its own.

At Teheran, Joseph Stalin reminded Churchill and Roosevelt of a previous promise of landing troops in Western Europe in 1942. Later they postponed it to the spring of 1943. Stalin complained that it was now November and there was still no sign of an allied invasion of France. After lengthy discussions it was agreed that the Allies would mount a major offensive in the spring of 1944.

General Dwight Eisenhower was put in charge of what became known as Operation Overlord. Eisenhower had the task of organizing around a million combat troops and two million men involved in providing support services.

The plan, drawn up by George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, Bernard Montgomery, Omar Bradley, Bertram Ramsay, Walter Bedell-Smith, Arthur Tedder and Trafford Leigh-Mallory, involved assaults on five beaches west of the Orne River near Caen (codenamed Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha and Utah) by the British 2nd Army and the American 1st Army. Follow-up forces included the Canadian 1st Army and the American 3rd Army under Lt. General George Patton.

Juno was assigned to the Canadian Army. Canada contributed 110 ships to the invading force, 14,000 troops, including paratroopers, and 15 RCAF squadrons of fighters and fighter-bombers. It is estimated that Canada contributed about 10 percent of the D-Day invading force.

The invasion was preceded by a massive aerial bombardment of German communications. This resulted in the destruction of virtually every bridge over the Seine.

On 6th June, 1944, 2,727 ships sailed to the Normandy coast and on the first day landed 156,000 men on a front of thirty miles. It was the largest and most powerful armada that has ever sailed.

The Allied invasion was faced by 50 divisions of the German Army under General Erwin Rommel. At Omaha, steep cliffs favoured the defenders and the US Army suffered 2,500 casualties.

The Allies also sent in three airborne divisions, two American and one British, to prepare for the main assault by taking certain strategic points and by disrupting German communications. Of the 23,000 airborne troops, 15,500 were Americans and of these, 6,000 were killed or seriously wounded.

Over the next couple of days 156,215 troops were landed from sea and air in Normandy, at a cost of some 10,300 casualties.

Soldiers waiting to be parachuted in France (6th June, 1944)

And the rest is history……..listen closely to the words of “Say Goodbye To It All” by Chris de Burgh……study the photo above closely, imagine what they imagine……think their thoughts……. and it will bring a tear to your eye……if it doesn’t you are a sad, lost, and empty soul…..Fox.

In this job market, who hasn’t considered padding their resume? But resume padding can come back to haunt you as Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyk) discovers in the classic Christmas comedy of errors Christmas In Connecticut.

One moment Elizabeth Lane is at the top of her profession writing an enormously popular feature for the magazine Smart Housekeeping, the next she facing the prospect of unemployment all because her boss thinks she is a wonderful cook who has a husband, a farm, and a baby in Connecticut.  But Elizabeth Lane, America’s favorite homemaker, is really a single, New York career woman who can’t cook, doesn’t have a baby, and lives in a small apartment that doesn’t even have a window box. What she does have is a newly purchased mink coat, a true friend in her “Uncle” Felix (S.Z. Sakall), and a boring architect, would-be fiancé John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner) who keeps proposing despite her numerous rejections. But all that is about to change.

Who could have anticipated all the trouble and excitement that would enter Elizabeth’s orderly life when a nurse in a faraway naval hospital thinks that if her sailor hero fiancé could only spend Christmas with America’s favorite homemaker he will stop dragging his feet and set the date for their wedding? Unable to talk her overpowering boss, publishing giant Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet), out of sending her a sailor for Christmas, Elizabeth embarks on an elaborate, last-minute charade to protect her magazine editor and give this war hero his picture-perfect Christmas in Connecticut.

This charade, however, is not without cost. Elizabeth is finally persuaded to accept John Sloan and marry him on Christmas Eve at his farm in Connecticut. All that is needed to complete the illusion of domestic bliss is a borrowed baby, but when the handsome sailor, Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan), lands on Elizabeth’s Connecticut doorstep—suddenly the prospect of marrying the stable but dull John Sloan is the last thing on Elizabeth’s mind. How does a girl win the man of her dreams when he thinks she’s married to another man? To find out, I suggest you spend your Christmas in Connecticut.

Random Facts:

Christmas in Connecticut

· In 1944 when Christmas in Connecticut was filmed, Barbara Stanwyck was so successful that she was the highest-paid woman in the United States.

· Stanwyck was a four-time Academy Award nominee but she didn’t take home Oscar until 1982 when she was given an Honorary Award.

· Sydney Greenstreet, who plays the indomitable publisher Alexander Yardley in Christmas in Connecticut, also appears in the films Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon.

· Budapest-born actor S.Z. Sakall who plays Felix Bassenak in Christmas in Connecticut was also known as S.Z. “Cuddles” Sakall.

· Christmas in Connecticut was remade for television in 1991 starring Dyan Cannon, Kris Kristofferson, and Tony Curtis, it was directed by Arnold Schwarzenagger.

· The movie set used to depict John Sloan’s country home in Christmas in Connecticut is the same set that was used in the 1938 comedy Bringing up Baby.

Christmas in Connecticut Party Plan

My fellow Starlet and I love this movie and have been known to watch it at all times of the year, but there are all sorts of fun ways you can tie this movie into your holiday party or as a special dinner-and-movie event.

· Flippin’ flapjacks. The menus Elizabeth Lane writes in her magazine feature are elaborate and gourmet, but it is flipping a single flapjack that nearly gets her caught. Take a page out of the movie and invite your friends over for a pancake and pajamas party before you watch Christmas in Connecticut. As host, you can provide the pancake batter, have your friends pitch in and bring their favorite toppings like strawberries, peaches, and whipped cream, then get cozy and watch Elizabeth Lane work her magic in the kitchen.

· Old fashioned Christmas. Christmas in Connecticut was released by Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. in 1945 when World War II was just concluding. Get your viewing party into the spirit of the time with music from the 1940s like Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman. Research menus and recipes from that era—maybe even find out what one of Elizabeth Lane’s recipes would cost. Mix up some retro cocktails.

· “The things a girl will do for a mink coat!” Elizabeth Lane has promised herself a mink coat all her life and, feeling confident in the success of her feature, she buys herself one. Have your guests arrive for your viewing party wearing fur or faux fur coats just like Elizabeth Lane.

Pancake Recipe

Introduced to the market in 1931, by 1945 when Elizabeth Lane is flipping her first flapjack Bisquick was a staple in American homes. Uncle Felix, true gourmet that he is, might have turned his nose up at using a mix, but for novice and busy cooks Bisquick was a handy convenience food. In keeping with that spirit, here is the pancake recipe from Betty Crocker’s Bisquick Cookbook.

Ingredients

2 cups Original Bisquick

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1. Heat griddle or skillet; grease if necessary.
2. Stir all ingredients until blended. Pour batter by a little less than ¼ cupfuls onto hot griddle.
3. Cook until edges are dry. Turn; cook until golden brown.

5 servings (three 4-inch pancakes each)

House of Frankenstein is an American monster horror film produced in 1944 by Universal Studios as a sequel to Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man the previous year. This monster rally approach would continue in the following film, House of Dracula, as well as the 1948 comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.

 Tagline: FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER! WOLF MAN! DRACULA! HUNCHBACK! MAD DOCTOR!

Trivia:

• Despite the title, this is the first of the Universal Frankenstein films in which a member of the Frankenstein family does not appear.

Buy the Soundtrack!

• Bela Lugosi was slated for the role of Dracula, but the film was dependent upon the presence of Karloff being released from tour of “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Shooting was delayed, and John Carrdine was cast instead of Lugosi, who had a prior engagement: ironically, playing Karloff’s “Jonathan Brewster” role in another touring company of “Arsenic and Old Lace.”
• Originally Kharis the mummy, another Universal “classic monster”, was to be in the movie but was removed because of budget restrictions.
• Originally titled ‘The Devil’s Brood’, this was given a $354,000 budget and a relatively generous (by Universal standards) 30-day shooting schedule. Star Boris Karloff earned $20,000 and Lon Chaney Jr. received a flat $10,000 for his third appearance as the Wolf Man. John Carradine and J. Carrol Naish were both paid $7,000 each. Lionel Atwill earned $1750 and George Zucco was paid $1500. Glenn Strange was paid $500 for his role as Frankenstein’s monster.

Boris Karloff Collection Only $19.49

• The title “House of…” could refer to the ruins/house owned by Ludwig Frankenstein, the second son of Henry Frankenstein (portrayed by Cedric Hardwicke) in The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942). It’s also the same “house” where Lawrence Talbot discovers the Monster in ice in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943); and, of course, where Neiman discovers the Wolfman and the Monster in this film. (The castle is entirely washed away in the flood at the climax of ” – Meets the Wolf Man,” but is inexplicably semi-intact here.
• Glenn Strange was the fourth actor to play the Monster in Universal’s Frankenstein series. The actor who played the original Monster, Boris Karloff, was also present in the film, playing the role of Dr. Niemann. Being on the set, Karloff was able to personally coach Strange in the way the Monster should be played.
• Universal employed an actress to dub actress’s screams for their horror films, but Elena Verdugo’s scream worked so well, it was retained in the final version.

This scene is a must.
And if you haven’t seen this movie, well…
…your call, but it’s a fine example of what they call a classic.

From “To Have and Have Not” (1944), directed by Howard Hawks.
Here’s Bacall teaching Bogie how to whistle.

—

—

The post’s title is the name of a song from the same movie.

I love posting old songs in this blog. Here is a song that is old even by the standards of this blog. This song is from “Laal Haweli” (1944). Those were the days when the actors sang their sons themselves and the recordings were often live.

This song is sung and picturised on Noor Jehaan, who was then the undisputed female singing star of the time. Shams Lucknowi is the lyricist and Mir Saheb is the music director.

Considering how long back ago this song was created and picturised, I am pleasantly suprised at the quality of the clip. And I am thankful to those who have preserved a rare movie and have now made it available for sharing among fans. It is such a rare find, indeed.

song-Banti nazar aati nahin tadbeer hamaaari (Laal Haweli) (1944) Singer-Noor Jehaan,Lyrics- Shams Lucknowi, MD-Mir Sahab

Lyrics

banti nazar aati nahin tadbeer hamaari
tadbeer hamaari
banti nazar aati nahin tadbeer hamaari
tadbeer hamaari
mar jaayenge tab jaagegi taqdeer hamaari
mar jaayenge tab jaagegi taqdeer hamaari
taqdeer hamaari
banti nazar aati nahin tadbeer hamaari
tadbeer hamaari

kyun mast hawaaen hamen aa aa ke sataayen
kuchh yaad dilaayen bijli si giraayen
dil toot chukaa lut chuki jaageer hamaari
jaageer hamaari
dil toot chukaa lut chuki jaageer hamaari
jaageer hamaari
banti nazar aati nahin tadbeer hamaari
tadbeer hamaari

jee chaahtaa hai aag zamaane mein lagaa doon
duniyaa ko jalaa doon
duniyaa ko jalaa doon
baaki nahin ab aahon mein taaseer hamaari
taaseer hamaari
baaki nahin ab aahon mein taaseer hamaari
taaseer hamaari
banti nazar aati nahin tadbeer hamaari
tadbeer hamaari

Ma człowiek swoje “oczywiste oczywistości”, których gotów bronić wbrew faktom i logice, swój ciasny, ale własny horyzont myślowy – a tu czasami jedna lektura wystarczy, by czarno-biały obraz mocno się rozmazał.

Wielkiś mi pan, panie Tomaszu Łubieński, uczynił swoją książką we łbie zamęt. Jak też Panu nie wstyd pisać (to tak można?!) o tym, że Adolf Hitler, gdyby czytał jeszcze latem 1939 r. wyciągi z polskich gazet, mógłby “z przyjemnością smakować antysemickie cytaty“? Albo o swoim ojcu, który otrzymawszy od rządu na uchodźstwie Krzyż Walecznych za Kampanię Wrześniową, po zakończeniu wojny postanowił “zaangażować się w krajową rzeczywistość” (to tak można było?!) – i że generał Anders, wiedząc już o tej decyzji, nie zawahał się nazwać go porządnym człowiekiem. Albo jeszcze o tym, że w ponad rok po klęsce wrześniowej portrety marszałka Piłsudskiego wciąż wisiały – za zgodą okupanta! – w miejscach publicznych (w czym nie było, rzecz jasna, najmniejszej winy Marszałka; ale wymieniać ten fakt w publikacji, po którą z uwagi na objętość sięgnąć może co ambitniejszy licealista – to tak można?!).

A już te Pańskie uwagi na temat elit II RP, “byczej propagandy“, “udawania mocarstwa” w ich wykonaniu… I o tym, że wyższość moralna “żadną miarą” nie mogła uczynić Powstania Warszawskiego z wojskowego punktu widzenia mniej beznadziejnym… Nie, stanowczo nie sposób po takiej lekturze nadal posłusznie konsumować medialnej papki historycznej. To chociaż z Czytelnikami się podzielę, a co. Niech im też zamąci.

“Co z tego, że przeciwstawiali się kiedyś legendzie Powstania [Warszawskiego - RC] na przykład generał Władysław Anders, redaktor Jerzy Giedroyć, Stefan Kisielewski, ten ostatni nie dość, że pisarz, kompozytor, publicysta, to jeszcze uczestnik Powstania. (…) Ich prawda o Powstaniu rozmija się z legendą. Więc przegrywa z innymi wspomnieniami, które lepiej odpowiadają, przyjętemu za obowiązujące, społecznemu zamówieniu.
(…)
Niepopularne, krępujące słowa-hasła, jak: wina, błąd, lekcja, sąd historii, czy mówiąc zwyczajnie, historyczna recenzja potomnych, mają na przykładzie Września większe szanse, niż wobec Powstania. Które wciąż bywa traktowane namiętnie, osobiście, a także politycznie, nawet komercjalnie. Co w sumie nie sprzyja refleksjom ani ocenom.”

(s. 16-18)

“Gdzieś około 50. rocznicy Powstania zaproszony do telewizji słowami: “Bo pan jest przeciw Powstaniu“, znalazłem się w dyskusyjnej mniejszości. Żeby “co było do okazania” (przypomina się CBDO ze szkolnych zeszytów), okazało się, że niby tragedia, niby klęska, a tak naprawdę – Victoria. Patriotyczna, w każdym razie. Jak wiadomo, wszelkie znaki zapytania, trzykropki, tryb warunkowy, zdania złożone podrzędnie nie sprawdzają się w telewizyjnej gramatyce. Raczej zdecydowane pojedyncze kropki, a najlepiej wykrzykniki. Powiedzmy, że powoływałem się na liczbę ok. 200 tys. ofiar Powstania. Jakie około? Najwyżej 180 tysięcy – prostuje mój kompetentny antagonista, który więcej (naprawdę wiele) wie, niż rozumie. I już leci na ekranie następne pytanie.”

(s. 21)

“Innym razem szczęśliwy, bo ocalał w dobrym zdrowiu i dobrą pamięcią bohater Powstania, odpowiedział na moje narzekania, że o Powstaniu nie powinni wypowiadać się ci, którzy nie brali w nim udziału.

Ale ja przepraszam, czy to znaczy, że Powstanie ma być wyłączną własnością jego przedostatnich już weteranów? (…) A gdyby ktoś zaproponował odwrotnie, na przekór, że to właśnie akurat może kombatanci nie powinni zabierać głosu we własnej sprawie, tylko spokojnie, pozostając przy swoim, wysłuchać, jak też Powstanie postrzegane jest z dystansu? Ponieważ ich emocje, oceny, oparte na wspomnieniach będą zawsze subiektywne i powiedzmy sobie otwarcie: biologia zaciemnia, czy raczej nadmiernie rozjaśnia perspektywę.

(…) Oczywiście, niczego podobnego nie wypada głośno powiedzieć, a poza tym między uczestnikiem czy naocznym świadkiem historii z jednej, a krytycznym badaczem źródeł z drugiej strony toczą się klasyczne spory, czasami mocno nieprzyjemne. Ktoś pamięta wyraźnie i wydaje mu się, że działo się to wczoraj. Skąd strzelał, z jakiej broni, o której godzinie, czy już padało, czy jeszcze świeciło (…), kto się sprawdził, kto załamał. Tymczasem rozmaite relacje się nie zgadzają, z dokumentów też wynika inaczej. Ale one również mogą się mylić.

I oto młody historyk, krępująca sytuacja, poucza weterana, kiedy tamtego zawiodła pamięć, gdzie pomylił się, w którym momencie dopuścił się błędu, jak zachował się naprawdę, a jak powinien był. I oto w psychice kombatantów, którzy ryzykowali bezinteresownie, dla patriotycznej idei, w miarę upływu lat pogłębiają się roszczenia. Rodzą się pretensje do podziwu, posłuchu, oraz poczucie wyższości. To zrozumiałe, i co mogłem odpowiedzieć starszemu panu z rozetką Virtuti w klapie niemodnej marynarki, kiedy publicznie huknął na mnie, że wymyślam bzdury na temat porażki Powstania, podczas gdy on pamięta tę chwilę, kiedy nad Warszawą załopotała biało-czerwona flaga. I tej chwili nie zapomni aż do śmierci. Na szczęście we własnym łóżku.”

(s. 23-24)

“Byłoby całkiem logiczne, że reżyserując moskiewską defiladę, Niemcy powierzyliby część kawaleryjską Polakom, mając ugruntowane przekonanie o polskich zamiłowaniach do wojskowego fechtunku i blichtru, napoleońskiej tradycji. Prezentując jednocześnie swoje nowoczesne wojsko, pancerne i zmotoryzowane, daliby Niemcy do poznania, do przemyślenia, jaki jest rzeczywisty układ sił między sygnatariuszami paktu antykominternowskiego w działaniu. I jaka przyszłość, jeśli w ogóle jakaś, rysuje się nad takim aliansem. O czym profesor Wieczorkiewicz już nie spekulował. Porwany swoim autorskim, przyznajmy, pomysłem defilady na Placu Czerwonym.”

(s. 45-46)

“Myślę, że Polska drogo zapłaciłaby za tamtą defiladę moskiewską wspólną z Niemcami. Gdyby w ogóle do niej doszło. Ale nie doszło, na szczęście. Zresztą Niemcy i tak musiały wojnę przegrać, bo ich plan polegał na podporządkowaniu sobie całego świata. Co się jeszcze nikomu nie udało. I Polska dzieliłaby z Niemcami klęskę w niesławie. Ale świat nie może się obyć bez Niemiec. Po obu wielkich wojnach, które Niemcy wywołały, karcono je, a potem troszczono się, aby doszły do równowagi. I Rosja, podobnie jak Niemcy, do końca świata musi istnieć, budząc strach i podziw, nadzieję czy potępienie.

Natomiast Polska, co wykazały zabory, panowie Mołotow z Ribbentropem, a także Jałta, wcale nie musi być dla świata niepodległa. (…) Obawiam się, że po nieuchronnym rozpadzie niemieckiego imperium (jeśliby takie zdążyło nawet powstać) nie znalazłby się polityk równie potężny i wspaniałomyślny jak Wilson, co by upomniał się o wskrzeszenie kłopotliwego państwa polskiego, któremu – to prawda – nie sprzyjała historia, ale samo też było sobie winne. I oto właśnie nie potrafiło się odpowiednio zachować, wiążąc się z hitlerowskimi Niemcami. Ale ów związek to, dzięki Bogu, tylko perwersyjna, alternatywna fikcja historyczna.”

(s. 48)

“Co Anschluss oznaczał dla Czechosłowacji, zupełnie nie martwiło ministra Becka. Zapewne nasi południowi sąsiedzi też nie grzeszyli elegancją mówiąc o Polsce, byli wobec Polski politycznie złośliwi, ale czasem trochę wstyd za naszego ministra, postać było nie było historyczną. (…) W czerwcu 1937 roku przewidywał, że “Czechosłowacja jako karykatura monarchii austro-węgierskiej, bez Habsburgów” nie utrzyma się dłużej niż półtora roku. Gdybyż Beck mógł przewidzieć, że spełnienie tego proroctwa oznaczać będzie katastrofę jego dotychczasowej polityki, że po Czechosłowacji Polska stanie się kolejną ofiarą Hitlera! Ale resentymenty wobec Czechosłowacji, o której Beck wyrażał się per “państewko“, były dla niego ważniejsze niż przewidywania.”

(s. 65)

“To prawda, że Europa zaczęła wstydzić się za Monachium. Ale Polska ze swoim bezwzględnym, niezręcznym, zupełnie nie w porę wystąpieniem była najmniej powołana, żeby pouczać innych. (…) Jakby pokrętnie tego nie tłumaczyć, Polska, cóż z tego, że na własną zgubę i na własną rękę, wzięła udział w rozbiorze Czechosłowacji. I zupełnie przy tej okazji pominęła własne rozbiorowe doświadczenia, którymi ze zmiennym szczęściem, ale przecież zawsze słusznie, zawstydzała opinię publiczną dobrze urządzonej przez cały XIX wiek Europy. “Manewr zaolziański” przypomniano sobie w 1968 roku, kiedy wojsko polskie w ramach Układu Warszawskiego wkraczało do Czechosłowacji. (…)

Zdarzało się podobno weteranom obu operacji z różnych wojskowych pokoleń wymieniać wrażenia. Jedni i drudzy nie wspominali dobrze tamtych zwycięstw. Hurrapatriotyczną propagandę z 1938 roku i patos internacjonalistycznego obowiązku 30 lat później, niemal w rocznicę. Jedno i drugie pod polskim sztandarem.”

(s. 92-93)

“Od paru miesięcy owe 300 metrów częściowo przewieszonej ściany należało do Rzeczypospolitej, podobnie jak szereg innych pięknych ścian tatrzańskich. Dla sportowców było to obojętne, może nawet krępujące, a w ogóle bez znaczenia; nie zważając na nieprzyjazne stosunki między sąsiadami poruszano się swobodnie po Tatrach w ramach konwencji turystycznej. Wojskowa akcja polska byłaby, gdyby nie straty w ludziach, groteskową demonstracją siły: podobno nawet wbrew naszej dyplomacji. Oczywiście na korzyść Hitlera; upokorzeni Słowacy, którzy właśnie z rąk niemieckich otrzymali swoją dwuznaczną niepodległość, zapamiętali ten polski sukces i z większym przekonaniem zbrojnie wkraczali do Polski 1 września u boku 14 Armii generała Lista. A podczas okupacji kurierzy, którzy kursowali przez Słowację, mieli ciężkie przejścia ze słowacką policją i strażą graniczną.”

(s. 108)

“A jednak może dałoby się powiedzieć, że polskie “nie” Hitlerowi, jakkolwiek do niego doszło, wypowiedziane nieoczekiwanie i w ostatniej chwili, “nie“, które kosztowało narodową klęskę, upadek państwa, klęskę, w której Polska została pozostawiona sama sobie, że ta ryzykowna świadoma decyzja podjęta w fatalnej sytuacji wojskowego okrążenia i egzotycznych praktycznie sojuszy okazała się, no, przyjmijmy, że była, protestem nie tylko przeciwko zaborczej, również zbrodniczej ideologii, której konsekwencją była Zagłada.”

(s. 54-55)

“Zaczęło się we Wrześniu… A kiedy skończyło? No, w czerwcu 1989 roku. Pół wieku: wojna, okupacja, niewola i półniewola, z której wybiliśmy się na niepodległość: “my naród“. Przy pomyślnym zbiegu okoliczności. Z tym, że okolicznościom trzeba było dopomóc. W samą porę. Byle nie za wcześnie, bo mogłoby się źle skończyć. I nie za późno, to oczywiste. Więc udało się? Zbyt łatwo? A co, za mało krwi? Jeszcze, znowu za mało? Oczywiście są ludzie, którym własne życie, jak również życie innych, wydaje się jakoś mało interesujące. Sięgają do przeszłości po mity, z których wynika, że należy im się więcej. Również w imieniu poprzednich pokoleń. (…)

Toksyczne jest rozsmakowywanie się w martyrologii jako polskim przeznaczeniu, w niezaspokojonej krzywdzie. W tym, że wszyscy chcą nas wykorzystać i porzucić. Bo kto chciałby żyć w kraju, gdzie albo się ginie, albo jest się oszukiwanym i wciąż podejrzewa się, że tak będzie.”

(s. 141-142)

Tomasz Łubieński, 1939. Zaczęło się we Wrześniu, Warszawa 2009.