QUARANTINE BLOG # 50

May 19, 2020

Let’s open this QB Five-0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AepyGm9Me6w with some good news.  The Moderna coronavirus vaccine trial shows promising early results!

Eight healthy volunteers, ages 18 to 55, were injected with the experimental vaccine and their bodies then made antibodies that were tested in infected cells in the lab, and were able to stop the virus from replicating – the key requirement for an effective vaccine.

Two more age groups, 55 to 70, and 71 and over, are now being enrolled to test the vaccine.  Moderna has said that it is proceeding on an accelerated timetable, with the second phase involving 600 people to begin soon, and a third phase to begin in July involving thousands of healthy people.

If those trials go well, a vaccine could become available for widespread use by the end of this year or early 2021.  Dozens of other companies and universities are also rushing to create coronavirus vaccines, and several have also begun to test their candidates in human subjects, including Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, the Chinese company CanSino, and the University of Oxford, working with AstraZeneca.

Experts agree that it is essential to develop multiple vaccines, because the urgent global need for billions of doses will far outstrip the production capacity of any one manufacturer.

👉 Before we go to, as my Dad called them, “shoot ‘em up, bang bangs,” let me tell you that I watched “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” Sunday night.  It’s based on the Esquire article I recommended in QB 45.  Two thumbs up.

If you haven’t already read the article, watch the movie first, and then enjoy its source material.



👉  Next up in this week of Westerns is a series that many believe is the best cowboy TV show of all time – Gunsmoke.  It started on radio in 1952 and ran there until 1961.

CBS wanted a hard-boiled western series, a show about a “Philip Marlow of the Old West.”  Robert Conrad was cast as Matt Dillon.  The tone of the show was somber, and villains often got away with their crimes.  Episodes were aimed at adults, and featured some of the most explicit content of their time, including violent crimes, scalpings, massacres, and opium addicts.  One of the distinctions of Gunsmoke was the sound effects which were layered and gave listeners the feeling of being on the prairie.

Gunsmoke moved to television in 1955 with James Arness cast as Matt Dillon.  Robert Conrad’s obese stature disqualified him with the show’s producers to take the roll of Marshal Dillon to TV (Raymond Burr was rejected for the same reason).  Arness and Milburn Stone (Doc Adams) played their characters for the entire 20 year run of the series.  That record was finally eclipsed – both for the series and the characters – when “Law and Order: SVU” went into its 21st season in 2019, with the character of Olivia Benson, portrayed by Mariska Hargitay.

Dennis Weaver played Chester Goode, Matt’s deputy from 1955-64.  Chester’s stiff leg came about when the producer pointed out that sidekicks almost always have some failing or weakness that makes them less capable than the star.

Milburn Stone missed several episodes during the 1971 season because of illness.  His character’s first name was Galen, the ancient Greek physician, a name chosen by Stone.  On radio, the good doctor’s first name was Charles.  Doc Adams was educated in Boston, practiced for a year in Virginia, and when he fairly killed a man in a dual over a woman, he headed west where he was a doctor on a Mississippi steam boat, and became friends with Mark Twain.

Miss Kitty was played by Amanda Blake.  For the show’s first three seasons Miss Kitty Russell was just an employee at the Long Branch Saloon.  After that, she had half ownership in the establishment.

Marshall Dillon and Miss Kitty had a close relationship, but it was never a romantic one.  The closest they came to romantic evening together was in the episode “A Quiet Day In Dodge” when they tried to have dinner at the Long Branch. Unfortunately, Matt had been without sleep for over 30 hours, and when Kitty was distracted, he fell asleep.  Blake decided not to return for the show’s final season and Miss Kitty was said to have returned to her native New Orleans.

For most of its 20 year run, Gunsmoke was in the list of top 20 shows, number one during its first 4 years, and number 30 the year it was canceled.

One of the most unusual moments on Gunsmoke was in the first episode.  John Wayne introduced the new show whose star, he said, was “my good friend, James Arness.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXQmjDUFbUs A persistent rumor has it that the Duke was offered the roll, but Gunsmoke’s first director, Charles Warren, said Arness was always his choice.  John Wayne, as one of the leading actors in Hollywood, was too big a star to take a recurring television role.

One more thing: if you watched that clip with John Wayne, you know that “Star Wars: A New Hope” isn’t the only film with the nagging question of “Who shot first?”

**  In the past few weeks, Manila Bay in the Philippines has been transformed into the world’s biggest parking lot for cruise ships, none of which have any guests. More than 20 vessels are clustered off the coast of the capital, awaiting coronavirus clearance for more than 5,300 Philippine staff to return home from abandoned cruises, with no guarantee of a job at sea again.

👉 It has been a while since I’ve shared some cartoons, so here are a few:

I was only in Venice for a week, but that was long enough for it to become my second favorite city (I’m living in the first with my kids and grandkids).

👉 Mary B asked, “What’s the story behind ‘Be Thou My Vision,’ a song I dearly love, but few sing these days.”  Here’s what I found:

You’ve heard the fable of St. Patrick driving all the snakes out of Ireland, but do you  know the true story of Patrick’s missionary work in the Emerald Isle?  I should add it  to my cruise talk about pirates.

Patrick was born in A.D. 373 in Scotland.  When he was 16, Irish pirates raided his home town (where his father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest).  He was captured and taken to Ireland as a slave.  There he gave his life to Jesus.  He eventually escaped and returned home, but one night in a dream, reminiscent of Paul’s vision of the Macedonian man in Acts 16, Patrick saw an Irishman pleading with him to come and evangelize Ireland.

Patrick returned to his former captors, and began preaching.  He became one of the most fruitful evangelists of all time, planting 200 churches and baptizing multiple thousands.

In the 8th century, an unknown Irish poet wrote a prayer asking God to be his vision, his wisdom, and his best thought day or night.  In 1905, Mary Elizabeth Byrne  translated the poem into English.  Eleanor Hull set Bryne’s translation into verse with rhyme and meter.  It was then set to a traditional Irish folk tune.  The song, “Slane,” was named for an area in Ireland where Patrick preached the gospel to the Druids.  “Be Thou My Vision” is one of our oldest hymns, and a powerful song of worship of the Lord God Almighty.

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
Naught be all else to me save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be thou my Wisdom, and thou my true Word,
I ever with thee, and thou with me, Lord.
Thou my great Father, and I thy true son,
Thou in my dwelling, and I with thee one.

Riches I heed not, my victory won,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always.
Thou and thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

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