Lee Lowenfish

I have no complaints about the late August weather in my beloved home town of NYC.  Humidity has been a constant issue but, fortunately, temps have remained in manageable 80s.  I haven't posted too much since my return from another glorious week teaching about baseball culture at Chautauqua because I'm heading in for left knee replacement surgery on Fri the 28th. Getting my apartment cleaner and paths open for walking without stumbling have taken high priority. I'm approaching a 50th anniversary of living in the shadows of Riverside Park and a mere 1/2 mile from my undergraduate alma mater Columbia (where, incidentally, the always-contending women's basketball team just returned from 10 days in Japan, giving clinics, playing a very competitive exhibition against the Japanese national team, and exploring many of the remarkable points of interest in that island-nation.)  

 

What does "Laura" have to do with all of this?  Well, TCM devoted much of yesterday M Aug 24 to the films of Dana Andrews. I had seen at least a couple of times the 1944 film "Laura" (produced/directed by Otto Preminger with David Raksin's title tune and effective accompanying score) which was a breakthrough for both Andrews and Gene Tierney who played the title character. I've always been fascinated that in the film's first scene Andrews as a detective investigating a murder is doodling with a hand-held game "Baseball" as he interrogates supercilious radio personality Clifton Webb.  I didn't realize until last night that there is a second scene with the Baseball game during which Webb complains that the game is "getting on my nerves" and sneers that it must have been "something you confiscated in a raid on a kindergarten."  Andrews replies calmly, "It keeps me calm."  (Exploration for future research:  Whether Vera Caspary's original story had anything like a miniature hand-held Baseball game or any baseball reference.)

 

Baseball probably was simpler in the days of "Laura," especially diluted wartime baseball with most of the stars in military service.  Because there is nothing calm about the wacky MLB season especially in the under-achieving American League where there is a good chance that the third wild card might have an under-.500 record.  A longtime Tigers fan disses his division as the AL Comedy Central. As for me, I have basically given up any hope that my Orioles can ever reach .500 in the 30+ games remaining in the regular season.  Whenever I think they are ready to make a push towards the respectability of .500, they fall backwards. The biggest problem IMHO is that I see no hunger in the so-called "core" of players that Mike Elias the "President of Baseball Operations Who Needs No General Manager Below Him" claimed nearly three years ago were ready for "liftoff". 

 

I sometimes wonder if Elias picked up the term "liftoff" from his right hand man Sig Mejdal who prior to his baseball career worked for NASA.  I may be wrong but I don't think Mejdal has been very visible these days. The Elias crew does deserve credit for the addition of slugging Pete "Polar Bear" Alonso who has excelled in every aspect of the game, not least team leadership. Credit must also be given for picking up their utilityman Blaze Alexander from Arizona where he was stuck behind Ketel Marte (who unfortunately missed a Dbacks game recently and was discovered to be at a casino - all of MLB and its fans must hope that a gambling problem is not at the root of Marte's problem).  Despite the plusses of Alonso and Alexander (BTW Blaze is his real name, a homage his father paid to a minor leaguel teammate), I think a change after 8 years of this front office crew is merited after the season. 

 

The problem is that the lockout by the owners is almost definitely occurring on December 1.  If prior lockouts are any guide to the future, no baseball business of any kind will be allowed after December 1 until ?   I for one have never believed that the entire 2027 season will be wiped out even though the hard core owners want a salary cap and salary floor at any price.  But no one knows for sure.  Maybe the only truth about baseball has always been, "Every season is different," lockout or not.   

 

I want to close on a positive note.  There have been many great individual exploits this season, often associated with contending teams.  High on my list is 6' 8"

RHP Jacob Misiorowski of the Brewers. He is only 24 and in his FIRST FULL SEASON in MLB, he is setting astounding strikeout records. More importantly, Mis is showing a maturity rare in today's baseball  He doesn't want to keep throwing harder in the 100+ mph range.  I just hope he stays healthy and doesn't succumb to media pressure to break mph records.  The same good wishes to the young pitcher Mis has currently eclipsed, Pittsburgh's Paul Skenes.  Also only 24, Skenes seems to have a good head on his shoulders and more power to him as he tries to work out the reasons for his declining velocity. What may be a key is that Skenes may weigh around 260 pounds, more than 50 pounds heavier than Misiorowski.  It may be that his kind of huge athletic body needs somewhat of a reshaping.  Just a guess on my part.  As Tom Seaver said in THE ART OF PITCHING that I collaborated on over 50 years ago, "Every pitch has velocity, movement, and location, and velocity is the least important." 

 

See you sometime in September and always remember Stay Positive Test Negative, and Take It Easy But Take It!  

It is sad but not surprising that the baseball lockout is impacting spring training.  

The greatest words in English language, "pitchers and catchers are reporting to spring training," mean nothing to the powers in baseball ownership intent on rolling back salaries and letting the hired help realize at long last who is Boss.  

 

MLB Opening Day on March 31, another special occasion, looks threatened, too. Let me be clear, though, that there will be baseball on other levels soon. In fact, the Fordham Rams open their season on Fri Feb 23 at 3P against Sacred Heart of Fairfield, CT, at Houlihan Stadium at Jack Coffey Field.  

 

The park is a little treasure located behind the football stadium and across the street from the New York Botanical Garden.  And if you are into a healthy walk, it's just a little over a mile walk east on Fordham Road to the Bronx's Little Italy on Arthur Avenue.    

 

Manhattan College - now playing home games in Pomona New York at the independent league Rockland Boulders ballpark - waits until March 4 to open its season against Fairleigh Dickinson of Teaneck.   

 

My Columbia Lions head to Jacob DeGrom country to open its season Feb 25 thru 27 against the Stetson Hatters in Deland, Fla.  Stetson is DeGrom's alma mater

where he started as a shortstop until he needed Tommy John surgery.  

 

Columbia's home opener is against Penn with a doubleheader on Sa March 26 starting at 1130A and Su Mar 27 a 12N single game. Satow Stadium at Robertson Field is located west of Broadway & 218 St. Like Fordham, the baseball field is down a little hill behind the football field and affords a lovely view of the Hudson River.   

 

Deland, Florida is the home town of David Fultz, a forgotten but important figure in MLB labor history. Briefly a major leaguer in the early 20th century, Fultz was a well-respected football referee, and the president of the short-lived Baseball Players Fraternity of America.

 

The Fraternity vied with the owners around the time of the Federal League third league challenge and won some small concessions  It died shortly after the Feds folded by the end of the 1915 season.

 

It seems my mind never strays that far from the perennial labor wars in MLB, but, Virginia, let me stress that there will be baseball this year.  Exactly when on the MLB scene is not clear. I still don't know - nor does anybody - who is capable of making a deal on either side.

 

"You Must Believe In Spring" remains one of my favorite mantras.  Thank you Michel LeGrand for your lovely melody with lyrics by the Bergmans, Alan and Marilyn.

 

Meanwhile, my favorite college basketball teams continue to bring me pleasure and hope.  Wisconsin enters a Lincoln's Birthday Feb 12 game against improving Rutgers with a

18-4 overall record and locked in a first place Big Ten tie with formidable Illinois and Purdue.

 

Columbia's women basketball Lions got spanked by defending Ivy League champion Princeton last Saturday, but they will have a rematch at home on Wed Feb 23 at 5p. 

Can't wait to bring my newly acquired cow bell as spectators are welcomed back. 

 

The women Lions can't afford to overlook games against tough Yale on road and Harvard and Dartmouth at home before tackling the mighty Tigers again.

 

And now some tips on the music and movie scenes:

I heard last night (Wed Feb 9) on WQXR's long running series, David Dubal's "Reflections from the Keyboard," his second show dedicated to pianist Arturo Benedetto Michelangeli.

 

Brahms' Second Ballade, an early work, and Chopin's First Ballade in G-Minor, op. 23 took my breath away.  Talk about harmonies that stir the emotions and open the heart!  

A rarely heard Chopin Op. 45 Prelude in C-Sharp Minor was a highlight of the first Michelangeli show.

 

Also featured in Tribute #2 was the slow movement from Beethoven's Piano Concerto #5. One of its melodies must have inspired Leonard Bernstein when he wrote "There's A Place For Us" for "West Side Story".  

 

The Michelangeli show will be rebroadcast on Sunday night Feb. 13 from 10-11P and streamed at wqxr.org   Maybe listen in and mute the Super Bowl which might still be going. 

 

On the live scene, "Friends of Mozart" returns for another season:  

Wed Feb 16 at 7P with a Mozart Oboe Quartet, Beethoven's Variations of "La Ci Da Rem La Mano" from Mozart's "Don Giovanni," & an early Beethoven trio for piano, violin, and cello.  

 

The concert will be at the comfortable and welcoming St. Stephen's Church at 120 W 69 St just east of Broadway. There is no admission charge but a contribution is suggested.

 

On the TCM front, the Noir Alley selections for the rest of February look enticing.

Sa midnight Feb 13 repeated 10A Sun - "Side Street" (1949) with Farley Granger

 

Sa Feb 20-Su Feb 21  "Cast A Dark Shadow" (1955) with Dirk Bogarde the Brit who was a heartthrob of my late sister Carol Norton. He plays a bad guy out to do violence against

Margaret Lockwood.

 

Sa Feb 27-Su Feb 28 "No Way Out" (1950) Sidney Poitier young doctor assigned to treat an unrepentant racist, Richard Widmark.  Also featuring Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally (who played one of the most hateful characters ever in "Johnny Belinda", Jane Wyman's Oscar.) Directed by Joseph Mankiewicz.

 

Other TCM films of note include:

 Th Feb 17 will be Gene Tierney night starting with: 

8P with "Laura" (1944) with Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price, directed by Otto Preminger.  I'm not a collector but I'd love to know the story of the "Baseball" ball bearing game that Andrews is noodling with as he interviews Webb at beginning of film. 

 

945P "The Ghost and Mrs Muir" (1947)

 

1145P "Whirlpool" (1949)

 

Back to Linda Darnell, the Museum of Modern Art has a Darnell festival through the end of March.  The alluring and talented actress, who died at 41 from injuries in a fire, stars in:

F Mar 4 at 130P with Rex Harrison in "Unfaithfully Yours" (1948)

 

F Mar 11 at 130p as part of the great cast in "A Letter to Three Wives" (1949)

 

W Mar 23 at 130p in Rene Clair's "It Happened Tomorrow" (1944) with Dick Powell, on his path from bobby soxer roles into full-fledged dramatic noir, and Jack Oakie who might never have exceeded his portrayal of a Mussolini character opposite Charlie Chaplin's Hitler in "The Great Dictator" but he was a talented and humorous actor who enjoyed a long career.

 

That's all for now.  Try to stay positive and test negative, and take it easy but take it!

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