QUARANTINE BLOG # 54

May 23, 2020

My political comment for today:

👉  Paladin, played by Richard Boone, was a gentleman gunfighter who worked as a mercenary.  He took his name from the foremost knights in Charlemagne’s court, comparable to the Knights of the Round Table in the King Arthur legend.  He charged $1000 per job, but he provided his services for free to poor people who need his help.  The television show was set after the Civil War.

Paladin was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and a veteran of the Civil War, in which he served as a Union cavalry officer.  His permanent place of residence was the Hotel Carlton in San Francisco, where he lived  the life of a successful businessman and bon vivant, wearing elegant custom-made suits, consuming fine wine, playing the piano, and attending the opera.  He was an expert chess player, poker player, and swordsman.  Skilled in Chinese martial arts, Paladin was highly educated, able to quote classic literature, philosophy, and case law, and spoke several languages.

Like most Western shows of this era, Paladin had a theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbeltSnyr3Y

The complete first episode is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDtkC71pR4g&list=PLoXLTb9MXwazYf147EoQJt-wmkuVKZVfc

Guest stars of the six year run included DeForrest Kelley who would create the Star Trek character Leonard H. McCoy, son of David; Jack Lord – Steve McGarrett from  the first Hawaii Five-0; Werner Klemperer – Col. Wilhelm Klink from Hogan’s Heroes; and Harry Morgan – Col. Sherman Potter from M*A*S*H.

Among the writers for the series who would go on to produce popular shows on their own were Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek, and Bruce Geller, Mission Impossible.

The line, “Have Gun – Will Travel,” has been copied by Robert A. Heinlein “Have Spacesuit – Will Travel,” Duane Eddy “Have Twangy Guitar – Will Travel,” Tom and Jerry “Have Mousetrap – Will Travel,” and by an Wheel of Fortune contestant whose business card reads “Have Suitcase – Will Travel.”

Next week TV Games Shows from the 50s to the 80s.

👉  While the coronavirus has us quarantined, we can still travel via the Internet.  One of my favorite things on the world wide web is the webcam, a camera placed in a strategic location, broadcasting live images.

Look in on San Marco Piazza in Venice: https://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/italia/veneto/venezia/piazza-san-marco.html

Or the Rialto Bridge and the Grand Canal in Venice:  https://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/italia/veneto/venezia/canal-grande-rialto.html

Or the Trevi Fountain in Rome:
https://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/italia/lazio/roma/fontana-di-trevi.html

This one isn’t a webcam, but a 360 degree camera.  Hold down the mouse to move around Red Square.  You can see the Kremlin, the GUM, and St. Basil’s Cathedral.  Bolshoi spacebo!  https://www.360cities.net/image/red-square-moscow-panorama

👉  On this day in 1934 Bonnie and Clyde were shot to death by Texas and Louisiana state police while driving a stolen car near Sailes, Louisiana.  Bonnie Parker met the Clyde Barrow when she was 19 years old and her husband (she married when she was 16) was serving time in jail for murder.  Shortly after they met, Barrow was imprisoned for robbery.  Parker visited him every day, and smuggled a gun into prison to help him escape, but he was soon caught in Ohio and sent back to jail.  When Barrow was paroled in 1932, he immediately hooked up with Parker, and the couple began a life of crime together.

👉 And now for you fans of Star Wars Episodes 7, 8, and 9, a song you can sing which is based on 7 of its characters.  The words are on the picture below.  To help your sing-along, click the link to get a karaoke:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha9LHgFInAA

👉 You may not know the poet who composed words of the hymn “I’d Rather Have Jesus,” but the chances are you know the man who wrote the melody, George Beverly Shea.  At least if you attended live or watched on television a Billy Graham crusade you know Bev Shea.

He was born in 1909 in Winchester, Ontario, where his father was pastor of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.  He started traveling with the Billy Graham evangelistic team in 1949.

One Sunday morning, he sat down at his mother’s piano to practice for the morning service, and noticed a clipping his mom had left for him.  It was a poem written by Mrs. Rhea F. Miller.  As Bev read the words, a melody came easily.  In church that morning he sung “I’d Rather Have Jesus” publicly for the first time.  It became his signature song.

I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold,
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands.
I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand,
Than to be the king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin’s dread sway.
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.

-30-