On this day in music history - Bookends, by Simon & Garfunkel (1968):

Bookends

Album by Simon & Garfunkel,

released April 3, 1968.

Track list:

Bookends Theme; Save the Life of My Child; America; Overs; Voices of Old People; Old Friends; Bookends Theme (Reprise); Fakin’ It; Punky’s Dilemma; Mrs. Robinson (From “The Graduate” Soundtrack); A Hazy Shade of Winter; At the Zoo; You Don’t Know Where Your Interest Lies; Old Friends (Demo).

On this day in movie history - 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968):

2001: A Space Odyssey

directed by Stanley Kubrick,

written by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke,

based on the short story The Sentinel by Arthur C. Clarke,

was released in the United States on April 2, 1968.
Music by Aram Khachaturyan, György Ligeti, Johann Strauss and Richard Strauss.

Cast:

Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter, Leonard Rossiter, Margaret Tyzack, Robert Beatty, Sean Sullivan, Douglas Rain, Frank Miller, Edwina Carroll, Penny Brahms, Heather Downham, Alan Gifford, Ann Gillis, Chela Matthison, Vivian Kubrick, Kenneth Kendall.

Recommended reading - 2001: a Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke (1968):

2001: a Space Odyssey

By Arthur C. Clarke.

Published by Ace.

First published 1968.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0451452739

ISBN-13: 978-0451452733

Description:

The classic science fiction novel that captures and expands on the vision of Stanley Kubrick’s immortal film – and changed the way we look at the stars and ourselves.

From the savannas of Africa at the dawn of mankind to the rings of Saturn as man ventures to the outer rim of our solar system, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a journey unlike any other.

This allegory about humanity’s exploration of the universe – and the universe’s reaction to humanity – is a hallmark achievement in storytelling that follows the crew of the spacecraft Discovery as they embark on a mission to Saturn. Their vessel is controlled by HAL 9000, an artificially intelligent supercomputer capable of the highest level of cognitive functioning that rivals – and perhaps threatens – the human mind.

Grappling with space exploration, the perils of technology, and the limits of human power, 2001: A Space Odyssey continues to be an enduring classic of cinematic scope.

Born on this day – Andrew Pyper:

Andrew Pyper

Writer

March 29, 1968 – January 3, 2025

Credits:

Books:

1001 Names and Their Meanings (2012); Breaking and Entering (2012); Call Roxanne (2012); Camp Sacred Heart (2012); Dime Bag Girl (2012); House of Mirrors (2012); If You Lived Here You'd Be Home By Now (2012); Kiss Me (1996); Lost Girls (1999); Magnificent (2012); Oracle (2021); Sausage Stew (2012); The Author Shows a Little Kindness (2012); The Damned (2015); The Demonologist (2013); The Earliest Memory Exercise (2012); The Guardians (2011); The Homecoming (2019); The Killing Circle (2008); The Only Child (2017); The Residence (2020); The Trade Mission / aka Dark Descent (2002); The Wildfire Season (2005); Toronto Noir / Akashic Noir (2008); Unnerving Magazine: Issue #14 (2020); X-Ray (2012).

Television:

Biology of Story (2016); Oracle (2021); Oracle 2: The Dreamland Murders (2022); Shock Docs (2021).

Recommended reading - MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, by Richard Hooker (1968):

MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors

By Richard Hooker.

Filmed as M*A*S*H (1970), directed by Robert Altman.

Published by William Morrow Paperbacks.

First published 1968.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0688149553

ISBN-13: 978-0688149550

Description:

Before the movie, this is the novel that gave life to Hawkeye Pierce, Trapper John, Hot Lips Houlihan, Frank Burns, Radar O'Reilly, and the rest of the gang that made the 4077th MASH like no other place in Korea or on earth. The doctors who worked in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) during the Korean War were well trained but, like most soldiers sent to fight a war, too young for the job. In the words of the author, "a few flipped their lids, but most of them just raised hell, in a variety of ways and degrees."

For fans of the movie and the series alike, here is the original version of that perfectly corrupt football game, those martini-laced mornings and sexual escapades, and that unforgettable foray into assisted if incompleted suicide – all as funny and poignant now as they were before they became a part of America's culture and heart.

Recommended reading - The Instant Enemy by Ross Macdonald (1968):

The Instant Enemy

By Ross Macdonald.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

ASIN: B07R5PYF7Q

Published by Alfred A. Knopf.

First published 1968.

First Edition.

Hardcover.

Description:

“Moves fast and is full of surprises. . . . The best work Macdonald has done in years.” – The New York Times.

“A more serious and complex writer than Chandler and Hammett ever were.” – Eudora Welty.

“Archer has seldom been in better form, and neither has his estimable creator.” – The New Yorker.

“Lew Archer is back, careening down the bloody trail of women who were beaten to death, a murdered cop, and a dead hobo who is the key to a 15-year-old family secret that won't die. "(The) American private eye, immortalized by Hammett, refined by Chandler, brought to its zenith by Macdonald". – New York Times Book Review.

Lew Archer is hired by Keith Sebastian, a Los Angeles business executive, to find his daughter Sandy, a high-school senior who has run off with a homeless boy. Sebastian and his wife, living on the on the edge of affluent bankruptcy, seem unable to communicate with their daughter. Archer finds the runaways easily enough, but before he can return Sandy to her parents, she has participated in a violent crime. Archer’s efforts to save the girl from the consequences of her actions, and to understand those actions, involve him in a savage plot twisting deep into the past. At least one old murder and some new ones confound him and the police. Archer himself is very nearly killed by an ex-cop who wants to keep the case closed, but he finally manages to open it and let some daylight in. The Instant Enemy is Lew Archer at his toughest, and Ross Macdonald at his most trenchant in his observations of California society.

Recommended reading: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (1968):

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

By Philip K. Dick.

Filmed as Blade Runner (1982), directed by Ridley Scott.

ASIN: 0586036059

Published by Voyager.

First published 1968.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0006482805

ISBN-13: 978-0586036051

Description:

21st Century Bounty Hunter.

Through the mean streets of a grim 21st century megalopolis, bounty hunter Rick Deckard stalked, searching out the renegade replicants who were his prey. But this assignment involved Nexus-6 targets and as a result Deckard quickly found himself involved in a nightmare kaleidoscope of violence and subterfuge – and the threat of death for the hunter rather than the hunted…

“A marvelous and complex book, simply written but leaving all kinds of resonance in the mind.” – Brian W. Aldiss.

December in movie history - Assignment to Kill (1968):

Assignment to Kill

directed and written by Sheldon Reynolds,

was released in the United States in December, 1968.
Exact release date unknown.
Music by William Lava.

Cast:

Patrick O'Neal, Joan Hackett, John Gielgud, Herbert Lom, Eric Portman, Peter van Eyck, Oskar Homolka, Leon Greene, Kent Smith, Philip Ober, Fifi D'Orsay, Éva Szörényi, Cynthia O'Neal, Betty Bresler, Karl Bruck, Albert D'Arno, Walter Friedel, Walter Janovitz, Joanne Ludden, Martin Miller, Ann Prentiss, Charles H. Radilak, Erik Sorenson.

On this day in movie history - Lady in Cement (1968):

Lady in Cement

directed by Gordon Douglas,

written by Marvin H. Albert and Jack Guss,

based on the novel by Marvin H. Albert,

was released in the United States on November 20, 1968.

Music by Hugo Montenegro.

Cast:

Frank Sinatra, Raquel Welch, Richard Conte, Martin Gabel, Lainie Kazan, Pat Henry, Dan Blocker, Steve Peck, Virginia Wood, Richard Deacon, Frank Raiter, Peter Hock, Alex Stevens, Christine Todd, Mac Robbins, Tommy Uhlar, Rey Baumel, Pauly Dash, Andy Jarrell, Al Algiro, Robert 'Buzz' Henry, Lanita Kent, Joe E. Lewis, Charlene Mathies, Shirley Parker, B.S. Pully, Jilly Rizzo, Chris Robinson, Coz Serrapere, Dick Sterling, Bunny Yeager.

On this day in movie history - They Came to Rob Las Vegas (1968):

They Came to Rob Las Vegas

directed by Antonio Isasi,

written by Antonio Isasi, Lluis Josep Comeron, Jorge Illa and Jo Eisinger, based on the novel by André Lay,

was released in Spain on October 31, 1968.
Music by Georges Garvarentz.

Cast:

Gary Lockwood, Elke Sommer, Lee J. Cobb, Jean Servais, Georges Géret, Jack Palance, Fabrizio Capucci, Roger Hanin, Gustavo Re, Daniel Martín, Maurizio Arena, Enrique Ávila, Gérard Tichy, Rubén Rojo, Ingrid Spaey, Carlos Ballesteros, Luis Barboo, Rossella Bergamonti, Antonio Casas, Beni Deus, Fernando Hilbeck, José Marco, Julio Pérez Tabernero, George Rigaud, Lorenzo Robledo.

Recommended reading - The Valachi Papers (1968):

The Valachi Papers

By Peter Maas.

Published by Harper Perennial.

First published 1968.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 006050742X

ISBN-13: 978-0060507428

Description:

“As fascinating as fiction, a bloody history of the Mafia as lived by one of its members." – New York Times Book Review.

The First Inside Account of the Mafia.

The Valachi Papers is a biography written by Peter Maas, telling the true story of former mafia member Joe Valachi, a low-ranking member of the New York based Genovese crime family, was the first ever government witness coming from the American Mafia itself. His account of his criminal past revealed many previously unknown details of the Mafia. The book was made into a film (The Valachi Papers), released in 1972, starring Charles Bronson as Valachi. In October 1963, Valachi testified before Senator John L. McClellan's congressional committee on organized crime, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate Committee on Government Operations. In the so-called Valachi hearings he gave the American public a firsthand account of Mafia activities in the United States.

In the 1960s a disgruntled soldier in New York's Genovese Crime Family decided to spill his guts. His name was Joseph Valachi. Daring to break the Mob's code of silence for the first time, Valachi detailed the organization of organized crime from the capos, or bosses, of every Family, to the hit men who "clipped" rivals and turncoats. With a phenomenal memory for names, dates, addresses, phone numbers – and where the bodies were buried – Joe Valachi provided the chilling facts that led to the arrest and conviction of America's major crime figures.

The rest is history.

Never again would the Mob be protected by secrecy. For the Mafia, Valachi's name would become synonymous with betrayal. But his stunning exposé broke the back of America's Cosa Nostra and stands today as the classic about America's Mob, a fascinating tale of power and terror, big money, crime. . . and murder.

The bloody history of the Mafia as lived by one of its members.

“A highly readable narrative…. A story littered with bodies and unsolved crimes, betrayals and beatings, oaths, ritual, and revenge.” – Newsweek.

“A classic on crime.” – Life.