Where Was I?

 

What the hell?  This all slipped by me.

But, then again, back about 15 or so years ago, the medium of television had evolved into a reality-drive nightmare.  Prime time TV was a cesspool of shows that displayed the underbelly of society.  People being "voted off" left and right.

Because I didn't partake in this frenzy, a lot happened off my radar screen.   One of them was a program on NBC called "To Catch a Predator." Some schlock "journalist" named Chris Hansen used actors as teenage decoys to catch those poor shlubs who were descending on innocent children.   This show, according to IMDB, ran three seasons.

Huh?

Well, it really did exist and now there's a Hollywood movie about all this and it goes off the air when one of the sting operations...well...end badly.  So this could have easily been a documentary but it's not.  Robert Pattinson plays Hansen, who apparently has a few skeletons in his closet.   My research shows he is still working and has...gulp...a few Emmy awards.  Meanwhile, the real Hansen did not participate in the making of this movie and hasn't had anything nice to say about it.  I wonder why.

So, since this was all new to me in 2026, the story...and movie...were fascinating to me.   It is told not only from the perspective of Hansen, but also one of the "actors" who would pose as a teenager to catch these creeps.   Indeed, I thought that kid's story was the real compelling one.   

Overall, the film feels real and, to that point, then-NBC News head honcho Jeff Zucker is a character.   As I watched the movie, I wondered out loud how they found an actor who looked so much like Zucker.  Imagine my surprise when I read the closing credits and saw that Jeff was playing himself.

Yes, the movie "Primetime" feels dirty and sleazy.  But somebody was going to eventually go after the reality TV onslaught from back when.   It might as well be this offering from director Lance Oppenheim.

LEN'S RATING:  Three stars.

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

This Date in History - September 30

 

Happy birthday, Angie Dickinson.  Why do I think she doesn't exactly look like this picture any more?  Because I saw her at a screening...that's why.

737:  BATTLE OF THE BAGGAGE - TURGESH DRIVE BACK AN UMAYYAD INVASION OF KHUTTAL AND CAPTURE THEIR BAGGAGE TRAIN.

The smart money is on the garment bag.

1541:  SPANISH CONQUISTADOR HERNANDO DE SOTO AND HIS FORCES ENTER TULA, WHICH IS PRESENT-DAY WESTERN ARKANSAS.

So Bill Clinton used to be governor of Tula?

1791:  THE NATIONAL CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY IN PARIS IS DISSOLVED.

Like an Alka Seltzer tablet.

1860:  BRITAIN'S FIRST TRAM SERVICE BEGINS IN BIRKENHEAD, MERSEYSIDE.

Lord have mersey.

1882:  THOMAS EDISON'S FIRST COMMERCIAL HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT BEGINS OPERATION IN WISCONSIN.  

This guy did it all.

1888:  JACK THE RIPPER KILLS HIS THIRD AND FOURTH VICTIMS.

On the same day.  Must have been a day/night doubleheader.

1903:  THE NEW GRESHAM SCHOOL IS OPENED BY SIR EVELYN WOOD.

How fast did you read that last line?

1921:  ACTRESS DEBORAH KERR IS BORN.

She died in 2007.  So, from here to eternity.

1924:  AUTHOR TRUMAN CAPOTE IS BORN.

Then his blood was warm.

1927:   BABE RUTH BECOMES THE FIRST BASEBALL PLAYER TO HIT 60 HOME RUNS IN ONE SEASON.

Steroids!  Steroids!!

1931:  ACTRESS ANGIE DICKINSON IS BORN.

Don't you really want to know what she was doing in that JFK White House?

1932:  BASEBALL STAR JOHNNY PODRES IS BORN.

Pitched the Brooklyn Dodgers to their first World Series win in 1955.

1935:  THE HOOVER DAM IS DEDICATED.

Dedicated to...holding back water.

1935:  SINGER JOHNNY MATHIS IS BORN.

My writing partner had a whole conversation with him in the super market.  A nice guy.

1938:  THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS UNANIMOUSLY OUTLAWS "INTENTIONAL BOMBINGS OF CIVILIAN POPULATIONS."

What?  No ruling about the designated hitter?

1939:  NBC BROADCASTS THE FIRST TELEVISED AMERICAN FOOTBALL GAME BETWEEN THE WAYNESBURG YELLOW JACKETS AND THE FORDHAM RAMS, WHO WON.

Wait???  My alma mater of Fordham???  How cool???  And they won??????!!!

1947:  PAKISTAN AND YEMEN JOIN THE UNITED NATIONS.

Make sure their dues checks don't bounce.

1947:  THE WORLD SERIES BETWEEN THE NY YANKEES AND THE BROOKLYN DODGERS IS TELEVISED FOR THE FIRST TIME.

Except my team won't win until...well, see above reference for Johnny Podres.

1954:  ACTOR BARRY WILLIAMS IS BORN.

Oh, Greg.

1955:  ACTOR JAMES DEAN DIES IN AN AUTO ACCIDENT.

This guy's career would have been phenomenal.

1962:  MEXICAN-AMERICAN LABOR LEADER CESAR CHAVEZ FOUNDS THE GROUP WHICH WOULD LATER BECOME THE UNITED FARM WORKERS.

Cesar, I love your ravine.

1962:  JAMES MEREDITH ENTERS THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI, DEFYING SEGREGATION.

First stop: the book store.

1965:  THE PILOT EPISODE OF THUNDERBIRDS AIRS IN ENGLAND FOR THE FIRST TIME.

A show about marionette pilots.  My writing partner's favorite show when he was a kid.

1968:  THE BOEING 747 IS ROLLED OUT AND SHOWN TO THE PUBLIC FOR THE FIRST TIME.

Oooh.  Aaah.

1972:  ROBERTO CLEMENTED RECORDS THE 3,000TH AND FINAL HIT OF HIS CAREER.

Off the Mets' Jon Matlack if I am not mistaken.

1982:  CYANIDE-LACED TYLENOL KILLS SEVEN PEOPLE IN CHICAGO.

Must have been the Extra Strength.

1977:  SINGER MARY FORD DIES.

Attached to that Les Paul guitar guy.

1978:  ACTOR EDGAR BERGEN DIES.

Eulogy by Charlie McCarthy.

1996:  THE US CONGRESS PASSES AN AMENDMENT THAT BANS THE POSSESSION OF FIREARMS FOR PEOPLE WHO WERE CONVICTED OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

Duh.

1998:  BASEBALL PITCHER DAN QUISENBERRY DIES.

Any comment from Count Chocula?

2017:  TV HOST MONTY HALL DIES.

Should have taken Door #2.

2024: BROADWAY STAR GAVIN CREEL DIES.

Got to see him several years in the Bette Midler "Hello Dolly."  Horrible loss at a young age.

2024:  BASEBALL STAR PETE ROSE DIES.

What were the odds?

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

Hollywood Then and Now - September 2026

Few movie theater come.  Most go.   Indeed, we are going to have a bit of a resurgence shortly.  The Westwood Village and the Bruin are classic movie houses and they are headed to re-opening.   The same goes for the Arclight Hollywood and adjoining Cinerama Dome which shut down the first weekend of the COVID pandemic in March of 2020.  That venue re-opens in 2028.

But there are a few that never close.   They just evolve.   We salute the Laemmle theater chain for keeping as many screens open as possible.  One such place is the Royal right down the block from my home.

Here it is many years ago.  And today?  It's been carved up into four screens.   But it remains open and we applaud vociferously.

God bless.

Dinner last night: Sandwich.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - September 28, 2026

 Blucher!

Dinner last night:  Sausage, peppers, and onions.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - The Blank Side of the Family Tree

 

Unfortunately, this Memory Drawer is empty.  And the fact that it prompts, of all things, some memories.

Confused?

A few years ago, I was watching the season finale of the TNT reboot of "Dallas."  And I noted the plot developments.

We learn that J.R. Ewing had a daughter.   And that John Ross Ewing, his son, is now aware that, somewhere in the world, he has a sister.

To find such close relatives at such a point in your life.  How unsettling, miraculous, and fun that can be simultaneously. 

I thought about it all.  Indeed, if you are regular visitors to this on-line nonsense, you've heard a lot of tales about my family as I grew up.  My paternal grandparents who owned the house that my parents and I lived in.  You've seen a lot of old photos of my family's holiday gatherings.  There have been no mysteries.  My life has been an open blog.

Alas, amidst all those Technicolor photos, you have seen very little evidence or information about the other side of the family.  My mom's.   Hence, the empty picture frame that adorns the top of today's entry.

There are no pictures because I never saw any.   I'm not sure if my mom even had photos of her parents.  If she did, they might have been stored way back in her own memory drawer.

I know this.   My mom and her older sister were born in New York City.  Depending upon how she felt on a given day, the actual year of birth would change by one or two.  Their parents were named John and Esther.  As the slim story goes, they both got sick with influenza about that time in our history when such an ailment was a fatal disease.  Allegedly, they died practically in succession.  One apparently got sick and then gave it to the other.  And out.  My mom was about ten.  Her sister was about twelve.

I know they both wound up in the Leake and Watts orphanage that I still believe exists in Yonkers, New York.  As a matter of fact, my mom had to contact them for some records when she was filing some official documents when she retired.  She was on their mailing list.  How long were she and my aunt there?  No clue. 

When the inquisitive me asked questions about any of this, my mom's standard response was sort of like a press representative for a politician.

"I have no information at this time."

Or something like that.

Do you have any photos? 

"No."

What did they do for a living?

"I was too young."

Were there any other relatives?

"I don't think so."

Hmmm.  I don't think so.

Back when I was a kid, there was a common resource when you wanted information from one parent.  You asked the other one.

Dad was no help.

"Your mother doesn't want to talk about any of that."

Okay, so that means he asked the question, too.

Opening the curtain on our lives even further, I can tell you that, in later years, both my mother and my aunt had...well...a love of beer.  I wouldn't say they were out-and-out alcoholics but there were frequent evenings with multiple buzzes going.  If we went to visit my aunt and her family out on Long Island, both women were fairly fuzzy within the first two hours. 

Hmmm.  What is behind that?

I never knew it.  And was only left to purely speculate.

Years later, I tried to broach the issue again coming at it from my status as a full-grown adult.  Not long before she passed away, my mom got the question again.

"It was complicated."

Today that's why people use Facebook to describe their relationship status.  Back then, it was my family's way of avoiding a question and/or an issue.

So, now you know why my mind was working overtime in the middle of the Dallas season finale.   John Ross has a sister. 

Are there any relatives I am missing?  Did John and Esther have brothers and sisters?   This would have given my mother and my aunt cousins.  Maybe it gives me second and third cousins removed.  A whole extended family.   I mean, my maternal grandparents weren't aliens from outer space who just showed up on Planet Earth.

I've used Ancestry.com and 23andMe to flesh things out.   If I spit in a cup, I connect with some cousins several times removed.  I learned that my mom's mother had a maiden name of Larson.  But the people I connected with were just as confused as I am

More stuff I will never know.

And likely never will.

Dinner last night:  Hot dog at the movies.

Classic Movie Trailer of the Month - September 2026

Hard to believe it came out 30 years ago this month.   And I forgot Rob Reiner was in it.

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

Open For Business

 

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.