Fall from grace: Ronda Rousey
Irredeemably bad: Ken Starr, now trying to rehabilitate himself with an evasive memoir.
Was not mentioned: Robert Kennedy, POSSIBLY REAL BAD STUFF -- I do/don't believe it
Gone Kinda Crazy: Randy Quaid

Gone REALLY crazy: Jon Voight

So much has been said about Robert Kennedy, what specific bad stuff do you mean?

I've got to admit , I don't really know what I'm talking about, because I haven't read the books themselves, just articles about the books. My vague impression is that Bobby had freaked out when he learned that Marilyn, jilted, was going to spill the beans on their affair, so he sent his operatives to search her apartment and remove evidence. They are alleged to have done more than search. See? Just innuendo. Gut she showed no signs of depression or suicidal thoughts in previous days. Still, just conjecture.

quote:

Originally posted by mikewestphal:
I've got to admit , I don't really know what I'm talking about, because I haven't read the books themselves, just articles about the books. My vague impression is that Bobby had freaked out when he learned that Marilyn, jilted, was going to spill the beans on their affair, so he sent his operatives to search her apartment and remove evidence. They are alleged to have done more than search. See? Just innuendo. Gut she showed no signs of depression or suicidal thoughts in previous days. Still, just conjecture.

(For those who insist on Ray Bradbury connections, they appear in bold.)

Yeah, I figured this was some variation of certain very old stories. While waiting for your answer I did some searching and found a few things I didn't know about. https://www.bostonherald.com/2...y-kennedys-halo-yet/

I of course knew that Bobby Kennedy was in California the night Marilyn Monroe died, but I read that he was in an entirely different city and that placing him near Marilyn's home consisted of some neighbor of Marilyn's looking across the street in poor light and seeing someone they "swore" was Bobby Kennedy. Such eyewitness testimony is notoriously poor. There was a rumor all over my small town that I was seen entering the home of a known child molester with a little boy in tow! I had been no further than the porch of that house, to deliver papers, which I stopped leaving when he stopped picking them up, and I had NEVER had a little boy in tow since babysitting a friend's son YEARS earlier. I asked a neighbor of his who knew me well what the deal was and she said he was seeing a woman who, at a distance to someone who didn't know me well, bore some superficial resemblances, and she did have a little boy. I got the rumor stopped with his own relatives but don't know how many around town went on believing it. I assumed the I. D. of Bobby Kennedy was either something like this or just an attention-seeker making things up.

Much was made of Bobby's ex-brother-in-law Peter Lawford breaking into tears and saying something like, "I knew I should have gone over there," but that was dismissed as being a drugged Marilyn making a number of phone calls to friends including Lawford, in which she didn't sound right, and none of those friends went over--nothing to do with the Kennedys. If the former mayor of L. A. said Bobby Kennedy was there that night it lends much more credence to Bobby being in L. A. but little more connection to Marilyn. He and Ray Bradbury and a whole lot of other people were in L. A. that night unless some happened to be out of town for some reason.

I also knew about the Kennedys having Martin Luther King bugged but had no idea this was known so early. I assumed it came out years later, shortly before it was the subject of a Saturday Night Live sketch, and had no idea that was why Bobby lost the Oregon primary!

Two theories about Marilyn's death are that her own doctor and nurse killed her for their own motives--again, not connected to the Kennedys--or that she sometimes set up little rescue scenarios and this one went too far. Many lies are told about her death. One guy claimed he was present and tried to save her with an injection, but the autopsy showed no needle mark where this would have happened.

As for JFK having an affair with Marilyn--he undoubtedly had other girlfriends, but doubt has been cast on his actually being involved with Marilyn though that is accepted as gospel. A man named Donald Spoto who did extensive research into the whereabouts of Bobby and Marilyn claimed pretty conclusively that they were never together, which cast further doubts on rumors as to motivation--though Bobby may have been involved in something in protection of his brother, who was running for re-election in 1964.

I didn't know Bobby was anti-Semitic. I did know he was a homophobe, as I read a lot about his children and it was Bobby who steered Bobby, Jr. away from an interest in plants towards animals so he wouldn't like flowers and possibly be gay. Well, he got his wish in spades, Bobby Jr. is one of the worst womanizers on this planet! He could give certain presidents a run for their money and I allude to both liberal and conservative presidents! But at that time half the guys on the planet were homophobes. Rod Serling was a rabid one and I believe this was the real problem, or one of the main problems, between him and Ray Bradbury but again conjecture, no proof.

If the 1956 Russian note is genuine and not a forgery, that IS pretty bad. Bobby was married only six years earlier and already had between four and five children depending on what month this was in 1956. If Ethel was pregnant with Courtney rather than having given birth to Courtney, that makes it worse, that is assuming these things have degrees.

Ray Bradbury connections are:

--Ray Bradbury and Marilyn Monroe not only both lived in L. A., they are buried almost opposite each other in different corners of the same small cemetery.

--Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, which figures in the Ray Bradbury story "By the Numbers."

--An article by Ray Bradbury, "Watcher of the Runners and Jumpers," about attending the 1968 Olympics, appears in the same issue of Life magazine memorializing Bobby Kennedy. I have a copy somewhere.

If Ray Bradbury ever met Marilyn Monroe or the Kennedys I am unaware of it but would be interested to hear about it.

Well, that's comprehensive.

quote:

Originally posted by mikewestphal:
Well, that's comprehensive.

On subjects I know something about, it generally is.

This picture is probably from Spring 1957, as Courtney appears to be six or eight months old:



This is one of the last pictures of the family together:

This message has been edited. Last edited by: dandelion,

Time for some kinder, gentler rants not directed at individuals.



Okay, pet peeve time here. Know what REALLY destroys me? We have to have the TV captions on all the time for Mom and sometimes I even need to see what was said, but there are times when I KNOW the captions are wrong and wonder what the captioner was thinking, if they/it were even human and not a machine. This occurs not only on obscure films which might be hard to check, but on classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird where most of the movie dialogue is not only straight from the hugely bestselling book, but the script is also online! The line we could never get in The Quiet Man is “one if by land, two if by sea, and if it’s ta Danaher’s I’ll fire the lot, horse, foot, and artillery.” I had to write some John Ford archive to learn this, but the captions shown on TCM say “horse, foot, and ashes.” They couldn’t check!?! Recently TCM showed Hope and Glory and had Billy saying “my little soldiers” when it was clearly “my lead soldiers.” Of course with his accent when he said “German jam” it sounded exactly like “jam and jam”!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: dandelion,

Close. "Wrapped up like a deuce, you know the runner in the night."

I've very recently been informed I've been singing "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" (who was "badder than old King Kong," not "a honky tonk") and "Bennie and the Jets" (who I am utterly crushed to learn had a mohair suit, not a motor suit--I still think someone should invent one!) wrong, and it wasn't so long ago I learned that the words to "Rocket Man" are "burning out his fuse up here alone" rather than "burning out of juice I tear along." Singing lyrics wrong for 45 years is a hard habit to break.

I'm off to find Ramona the Pest and her dawnzer lee light now.

While I'm here, third rant about audiovisual recording media. I have half a house full of VHS tapes and am able to get rid of things I recorded off the TV only when I have either a commercial VHS or DVD of the same thing, which a majority of the time I don't, and that's not the worst of it. The worst is I can't record ANYTHING now! Not only does everything go to some invisible DVR/Genie I wouldn't WANT to find if I could, but what happens if the device gets full or breaks and has to be replaced? You have NO permanent copy of what you tried to save--unlike my VHS tapes which still play!

Another huge advantage to VHS was you could play once something you didn't want to keep forever and ever and then tape over it! I HATED when everything went to DVD! It's like, do I really want a PERMANENT copy of some program (not talking about home video), or if I can't watch while it's on would I rather just skip it? Even if something I really wanted to see was on, how am I supposed to know? The TV Guide has been useless for at least ten years in indicating what is on what channel when, and I can't check listings for 300 channels either on the TV itself or online, so it's very hit and miss what I watch and when. I finally obtained a connector cable to attach my laptop to the TV so if a show I like is online and my internet is fast enough I might actually be able to watch something I want rather than just what happens to be on or be stuck with DVDs I have to be in the mood to play.

This still doesn't answer my questions about sharing still pictures let alone videotapes. Never mind that I was loath to make CDs, which I was informed become corrupt anyway, and just didn't think of sending them to be made anyplace, so I entrusted my cherished digital images to Apple Photos which ATE a still-undetermined number! Some were on Facebook which of course reduced size and quality but at least I can still see them, others were just lost. (Still beats shooting film though.) On stills so far I've been attaching images, ten at a time, and emailing them to people who would be interested in hopes they will share with family and friends. But I have many things of local interest I would like to share with libraries, museums, or whatnot, and am told CDs (which I hated making anyway) have been out, not the thing for some time, and I am vague on what IS the thing, and whatever I do is sure to be wrong! I have now three funerals I taped for friends and only a vague idea of how to transfer them. Usually the only way anyone gets a copy of my tapes is if they have AV equipment and I take the camera (which I'm told is now also out of date) to their house and have them dub it. And I have half a houseful of mini DV tapes as well, so don't ask me where I keep them as well as my books. I need professional help with both house and yard which I couldn't afford even if it existed. There it is!

A second viewing of Rocketman has brought to light that what I was singing for around 45 years as

"'Till touchdown brings me down I get to find
Sometimes I think I am at home" is actually and always has been

"'Till touchdown brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home"

Not sure which I like better! My perceived version speaks of homesickness, perhaps a dreaming or dreamlike state of home to awake to find he's not at home where he longs to be. The actual lyrics could be interpreted several ways--either he is considered a hero at home when he does not see himself that way, or the people at home don't understand him and he only feels truly at home in space, which would be almost the opposite of the lyrics I've been hearing all these years, and could even describe an individual not truly at home anywhere. What do you think? Discuss.

P. S. It also took me till this point to understand in "Honky Cat" that "Believe in the Lord," not "Leave 'er alone" is the golden rule.

P. P. S. A friend from another site informs me that there is also an incorrect lyric in the film. Elton John sings, and it is printed on both the single and the album sleeves, "I miss my wife," but in the film Taron Egerton sings "I miss my life."

To which I replied:

Thanks, I wondered about that and assumed that "wife" was another mishearing on my part and he'd actually been singing "life" all along. In the Ray Bradbury story, the man was married and saw his wife and son infrequently. The song hints at both homesickness and conflicts about being home vs. at work.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: dandelion,

Hi, D! I see you're online.

Yes, I have been on and offline today.

I got "I'm not the man they think I am at home" right the first time, but thanks for clearing up some of "Honky Cat".

Related: years ago I did seasonal work in an amusement park setting. A loop of tape played Tex Ritter ("Jack o'Diamonds" and "Rye Whiskey") and Jean Opal's "Tennesee Courting Time" relentlessly through speakers that had seen better days. It took decades to locate the latter on iTunes (where they list her as "Opal Jean") and I could finally make out that "the boys are buzzing 'round like bees, shining up their novelties" was actually "Model T's".

Ach!

quote:

Originally posted by Roman_K2:
I got "I'm not the man they think I am at home" right the first time, but thanks for clearing up some of "Honky Cat".

Here it is with lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92s-MPAQBCU

In the movie, Taron Egerton sings "I miss my life" rather than "I miss my wife" as in the original "Rocket Man" song. Minor nitpick as the word is spelled the same but pronounced differently, in "Honky Cat," Elton John sings, "Well, I read some books and I read some magazines," in present tense, long "e", while Taron Egerton sings that line in past tense, short "e." Wonder if these differences were intentional!

That sounds like a slightly different take, from the 45 rpm single release. Slightly clearer words.