Brooklyn, Baseball, and Broadway

Jackie Robinson has inspired an abundance of portrayals in popular culture, unsurprisingly.  Examples include Blair Underwood in the 1996 HBO tv-movie Soul of the Game, Chadwick Boseman in the 2013 movie 42, and the man himself in the 1950 movie The Jackie Robinson...

The Hall of Fame Case for Vada Pinson

Vada Pinson guarded the outfield grass at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field in the 1960s like a sentry guards on outpost—with determination, concentration, and resolve.  In his “Counterpoints” editorial for the November 13, 1995 edition of USA Today, Tony...

Oscar, Felix, Jack, and Tony

November 13th may be known as Felix Unger day, for that is the day, as stated in the opening credits of The Odd Couple, that “Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence.  That request came from his wife.  Deep down, he knew she was...

“L.A. Law” Retrospective (Part 6 of 8)

In Teleliteracy is Here…So Telefriend, Chapter 14 of his 1992 book Teleliteracy, television critic David Bianculli raises the issue of television programming rivaling literature for intelligence. “Authors of written literature reveal their own enthusiasms...

Origins: “Casablanca”

You must remember this:  Casablanca is a classic movie.  But did you know this?  Casablanca had less than auspicious beginnings. Casablanca began as a play titled Everybody Comes to Rick’s written by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison in the late 1930s.  Although...