Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Born on this day – Jean Craighead George:


Jean Craighead George


Writer

July 2, 1919 – May 15, 2012

Credits:

Books:

A Special Gift for Grammy (2013); Acorn Pancakes, Dandelion Salad and Other Wild Dishes (1995); All Upon a Sidewalk (1974); All Upon a Stone (1971); Animals Who Have Won Our Hearts (1994); Arctic Son (1997); Autumn Moon (2001); Beastly Inventions (1970); Books You Can Sink Your Teeth Into (1997); Brave Quail (1985); Bubo, the Great Horned Owl (1954); Call from the Swamp (2008); Charlie's Raven (2004); Cliff Hanger (2002); Coyote in Manhattan (1968); Crowbar (2015); Dear Katie, the Volcano Is a Girl (1998); Dear Rebecca, Winter Is Here (1993); Dipper of Copper Creek (1956); Elephant Walk (1998); Everglades (1995); Everglades Wildguide (1972); Exploring the Out-Of-Doors (1983); Fire Storm (2003); Frightful's Daughter (2002); Frightful's Daughter Meets the Baron Weasel (2007); Frightful's Mountain (1999); Galapagos George (2009); Giraffe Trouble (1998); Going to the Sun (1976); Goose and Duck (2008); Gorilla Gang (1999); Gull Number 737 (1964); Hold Zero (1966); Hole in the Tree (1957); Hook a Fish, Catch a Mountain (1975); How To Talk to Your Animals (1985); How to Talk to Your Cat (1986); How to Talk to Your Dog (2000); Ice Whale (2014); Incredible Animal Adventures (1994); Journey Inward (1982); Julie (1994); Julie of the Wolves (1972); Julie's Wolf Pack (1997); Look to the North (1997); Luck (2006); Masked Prowler (1950); Meph, the Pet Skunk (1952); Morning, Noon, and Night (1999); Mountain Climbing Picture Book (2005); My Side of the Mountain (1959); Nutik & Amaroq Play Ball (2001); Nutik, the Wolf Pup (2000); On the Far Side of the Mountain (1990); One Day in the Alpine Tundra (1996); One Day in the Desert (1983); One Day in the Prairie (1986); One Day in the Tropical Rain Forest (1995); One Day in the Woods (1988); Pocket Guide to the Outdoors (2009); Red Robin, Fly Up! (1963); Rhino Romp (1998); River Rats, Incorporated (1979); Shark Beneath the Reef (1989); Snow Bear (1999); Snow Tracks (1959); Snowboard Twist (2004); Spring Comes to the Ocean (1965); Spring Moon (2002); Summer Moon (2002); The American Walk Book (1979); The Buffalo Are Back (2010); The Case of the Missing Cutthroats (1996); The Cats of Roxville Station (2009); The Cry of the Crow (1980); The Eagles are Back (2013); The Fire Bug Connection (1993); The First Thanksgiving (1993); The Grizzly Bear with the Golden Ears (1982); The Last Polar Bear (2009); The Missing 'gator of Gumbo Limbo (1992); The Moon of the Alligators (1991); The Moon of the Bears (1970); The Moon of the Chickarees (1992); The Moon of the Deer (1970); The Moon of the Fox Pups (1992); The Moon of the Gray Wolves (1991); The Moon of the Moles (1992); The Moon of the Monarch Butterflies (1993); The Moon Of The Mountain Lions (1968); The Moon of the Owls (1993); The Moon of the Salamanders (1967); The Moon of the Wild Pigs (1992); The Moon Of The Winter Bird (1969); The Summer of the Falcon (1962); The Talking Earth (1983); The Tarantula in My Purse (1996); The Wentletrap Trap (1977); The Wild Wild Cookbook (1982); The Wolves Are Back (2008); The Wounded Wolf (1978); There's an Owl in the Shower (1995); To Climb a Waterfall (1995); Tree Castle Island (2002); Vison the Mink (1949); Vulpes the Red Fox (1948); Water Sky (1987); Who Really Killed Cock Robin? (1971); Winter Moon (2001).

Recommended reading: The Great Escape, by Paul Brickhill (1950):


The Great Escape

By Paul Brickhill.

Filmed as The Great Escape (1963), directed by John Sturges.

Published by W. W. Norton & Company.
Published 1950.
ISBN-10: 0393325792
ISBN-13: 9780393325799

Description:

"One of the great true stories of the war, and one of the greatest escape narratives of all time." – San Francisco Chronicle.

"Absorbing... spine-tingling... puts the average war book so far in the shadow it's not even funny." – Dallas Times Herald.

"For sheer suspense, puts the fictioneers to shame." – Boston Globe.

"A tense, thrilling, fabulous tale." – Philadelphia Inquirer.

They were American and British air force officers in a German prison camp. With only their bare hands and the crudest of homemade tools, they sank shafts, forged passports, faked weapons, and tailored German uniforms and civilian clothes. They developed a fantastic security system to protect themselves from German surveillance.

It was a split-second operation as delicate and as deadly as a time bomb. It demanded the concentrated devotion and vigilance of more than six hundred men – every one of them, every minute, every hour, every day and night for more than a year.

Made into the classic 1963 war film of the same name starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough.

16 pages of photographs.

Ursula K. Le Guin, on books and reading:


As you read a book word by word and page by page, you participate in its creation, just as a cellist playing a Bach suite participates, note by note, in the creation, the coming-to-be, the existence, of the music.

And, as you read and re-read, the book of course participates in the creation of you, your thoughts and feelings, the size and temper of your soul.

– Ursula K. Le Guin.

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

July in movie history - Cage of Evil (1960):


Cage of Evil

directed by Edward L. Cahn,
written by Orville H. Hampton,
based on a story by Orville H. Hampton and Alexander Richards,
was released in the United States in July, 1960.
Exact release date unknown.
Music by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter.


Cast:

Ronald Foster, Patricia Blair, Harp McGuire, John Maxwell, Preston Hanson, Doug Henderson, Hugh Sanders, Helen Kleeb, Robert Shayne, Owen Bush, Ted Knight, Howard McLeod, Eve Brent, Henry Darrow, Abel Franco, Joseph Hamilton, Jack Kenney, Gregg Martell, Patrick Miller, Ralph Neff, Ralph Sanford, Jack Tesler.

July in movie history - Chicago Syndicate (1955):


Chicago Syndicate

directed by Fred F. Sears,
written by Joseph Hoffman,
based on a story by William Sackheim,
was released in the United States in July 1955.
Exact release date unknown.

Cast:

Dennis O’Keefe, Abbe Lane, Paul Stewart, Xavier Cugat, Allison Hayes, Richard H. Cutting, Chris Alcaide, William Challee, John Zaremba, George Brand, Hugh Sanders, Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra, Nina Borget, John Breen, Al Cantor.

On this day in movie history - The Mask of Dimitrios (1944):


The Mask of Dimitrios

directed by Jean Negulesco,
written by Frank Gruber,
based on the novel A Coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Ambler,
was released in the United States on July 1, 1944.
Music by Adolph Deutsch.

Cast:

Sydney Greenstreet, Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson, Peter Lorre, Victor Francen, Steven Geray, Florence Bates, Eduardo Ciannelli, Kurt Katch, Marjorie Hoshelle, Georges Metaxa, John Abbott, Monte Blue, David Hoffman.

Born on this day – Andre Braugher:


Andre Braugher


Actor

Producer

July 1, 1962 – December 11, 2023

Credits:

The Good Fight (2022); She Said (2022); American Experience (1993–2022); Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013–2021); Spirit Untamed (2021); BoJack Horseman (2017); New Girl (2016); Emily & Tim (2015); Axe Cop (2015); Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2011–2015); The Gambler (2014); Last Resort (2012–2013); The Baytown Outlaws (2012); House (2009–2012); Men of a Certain Age (2009–2011); Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010); Salt (2010); Miami Medical (2010); Passengers (2008); The Andromeda Strain (2008); Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007); The Mist (2007); Live! (2007); Poseidon (2006); Thief (2006); The Jury (2004); Salem's Lot (2004); Hack (2002–2004); Soldier's Girl (2003); Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002); 10,000 Black Men Named George (2002); West Point: The First 200 Years (2002); American Masters (2002); One from the Heart (2001); Gideon's Crossing (2000–2001); The Practice (2001); Jackie Chan Adventures (2000–2001); A Better Way to Die (2000); Duets (2000); Frequency (2000); Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (2000); Homicide: The Movie (2000); All the Rage (1999); Love Songs (1999); Passing Glory (1999); Thick as Thieves (1999); Louisville (1998); Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–1998); City of Angels (1998); Get on the Bus (1996); Primal Fear (1996); Law & Order (1996); The Tuskegee Airmen (1995); Striking Distance (1993); Without Warning: Terror in the Towers (1993); Class of '61 (1993); The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson (1990); Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture (1990); Kojak: None So Blind (1990); Murder in Mississippi (1990); Kojak: It's Always Something (1990); Kojak: Flowers for Matty (1990); Glory (1989); Kojak: Fatal Flaw (1989); Kojak: Ariana (1989).