Lara Parker, actress.
Other credits include the good “Hawaii Five-O”, “Sword of Justice”, “Kolchak: The Night Stalker”, and “The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo”.
Joanna Merlin, actress. Other credits include “All That Jazz”, “The Killing Fields”, and “City of Angels”.
I’m aware of Suzanne Somers, but all the obits I’ve seen so far have been preliminary. I think I’ll wait until tomorrow on this one.
Other credits include two episodes of the 1985-1986 “Twilight Zone” revival, “The Bunker”, “The Eleventh Hour” and “Breaking Point” (both of which I was just recently reading about, and which I would love to see on home video), and three episodes of “St. Elsewhere”.
Colette Rossant, cookbook author and popularizer of French food. She may have been a bit obscure for most of you: I know of her because she was a great friend of Calvin Trillin, and he wrote about her multiple times in “The Tummy Trilogy”.
In a 1981 article in The Times with the headline “The Inspirations of a Global Cook,” Craig Claiborne, the newspaper’s august food critic, wrote that he “found it impossible to refuse an invitation to a Rossant meal, which turned out to be a feast,” including a blend of fresh and smoked salmon christened with rillettes of fish as an appetizer, a roast of veal “cooked to a savory state in milk” and other delicacies.
Mr. Claiborne noted that Mr. Trillin, the celebrated author, humorist and food writer, had once written that whenever he was invited to dine at Ms. Rossant’s, his wife, Alice, was “forced to grab me by the jacket two or three times to keep me from breaking into a steady, uncharacteristic trot.”
Tommy Gambino, of Gambino family fame.
He was the nephew of “Big Paul” Castellano, who succeeded Carlo as the head of the family but was rubbed out in 1985 on the orders of eventual Gambino godfather John Gotti.
Tommy Gambino arrived at Sparks Steakhouse on East 46th Street just moments after Castellano and his driver, Tommy Bilotti, were gunned down outside the eatery.
Tommy Gambino, once described as the a “quintessential Mafia prince of New York City,” was convicted in 1993 of two counts of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy for controlling gambling and loan sharking operations in Connecticut.
He served in federal prison from 1996 to 2000.
The prosecution’s evidence in his trial included secretly recorded conversations with Mafia turncoat Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano.
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-17:
Carolina
Next week, Carolina and Houston (along with a few other teams) have a bye week.
I call out Carolina and Houston specifically because they play each other in week 8 (on October 29th): it will be a home game for Carolina. As I write this (and with the understanding that this is two weeks out) Houston is favored.
State Fair time has rolled around again. And I have been negligent in covering this year’s offerings.
Various people have sent me links to stories, so it isn’t anyone’s fault but mine. I think I’ve just been too busy naval gazing.
Anyway, by way of the paper of record, I have learned that there’s a scandal at the State Fair.
Ms. Le, a vendor at the fair, is being accused of stealing their deep-fried pho recipe.
Yes, you read that correctly. You are not having a stroke. “Deep-fried pho”.
It’s a little more complicated, though: Cris and John were offered a slot at the fair, but they would have had to close on Saturday (that seems like a non-starter), and Ms. Le apparently offered to work with them before the fair. However, Ms. Le also says she’s been working on deep-fried pho since 2011.
Also: gratuitous photo of “cheesecake swaddled in chocolate and Biscoff cookie crumbs”. On a stick. Of course.
Other credits include “Quincy M.E.”, “Adam-12”, “Perry Mason”, and (the original) “The Fugitive”.
Louise Glück, poet and winner of the Nobel Prize (also the Pulitzer and the National Book Award).
Mike the Musicologist sent this over to me, asking if it counted as flames. I told him I thought it was worth noting, but didn’t think it was a flaming hyena. To which MtM responded “It’s your publication. You make the call.”
Inna Vernikov is a councilwoman from Brooklyn. She’s a Republican from a “conservative” district. She’s also Jewish. And she has a concealed carry permit.
Councilwoman Vernikov went to a “pro-Palestinian rally” at Brooklyn College yesterday.
Councilwoman Vernikov was carrying a “Smith & Wesson 9-millimeter pistol”.
She was “observing a pro-Palestine protest” when she was seen with the butt end of a firearm “protruding from the front portion of her pants”…
She couldn’t afford a decent IWB holster?
Cutting to the chase, the councilwoman has been charged with “criminal possession of a firearm”.
You see, even though she had a concealed carry permit, it seems like:
1. Being seen with the butt of the gun protruding from her pants isn’t “concealed carry”.
2. Quoth the tabloid of record, “Although Vernikov has a concealed carry permit, it is illegal in New York state to have a firearm at sensitive locations such as protests or school grounds.”
So why no flaming hyena? I question her judgement in not using a good, discreet holster. I halfway want to question her judgement in going to the rally armed in the first place (“Avoid stupid people in stupid places doing stupid things”) but she may have felt obligated to as a politican, and may have felt she needed to be armed for her protection.
And: I Am Not A Lawyer, But: I think the ban on having firearms at “sensitive locations” is very likely to get overturned if it ever goes to the appellate level. And as I’ve said before, it’s hard for me to sling imprecations at someone who’s committing a crime that I don’t believe should be a crime.
Walt Garrison, legendary Dallas Cowboy, rodeo competetor, and Skoal endorser.
His best season was 1971, where he scored 10 touchdowns and had 1,174 total yards, and it was capped off by a 24-3 Super Bowl victory over Miami. He was named to the Pro Bowl that season.
A knee injury Garrison suffered while steer wrestling in 1975 ultimately ended his NFL career. He retired from Dallas as the third-leading rusher and fourth-leading receiver in team history.
Phyllis Coates, actress. Other credits include three appearances on “Perry Mason”, “Midnight Caller”, “The Untouchables”, and “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”.
Jeff Burr, director. IMDB. (Hattip: Lawrence.)
Michael Chiarello, celebrity chef.
Rudolph Isley, of the Isley Brothers.
Running a little behind here, but: the Red Sox fired Dave Bush (pitching coach) and Carlos Febles (third-base coach) on Monday.
This is an…interesting…story. John Roth, “chief operating officer” of both the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres, has been fired. Also fired: Kathryn D’Angelo, “general counsel and senior vice president of business administration” for the Bills.
The alleged reason? Roth and D’Angelo were allegedly involved in a “romantic relationship”. Which, once again, consenting adults, etc.
But: D’Angelo apparently was one of Roth’s direct reports. It seems like dating one of your subordinates is generally frowned upon in this establishment. As a matter of fact, I think it’s generally frowned upon in most ethical workplaces.
(I apologize for not linking to “The Athletic”. While I apparently have “limited” access to the site as a NYT subscriber, it wants me to “customize my feed” before I do anything. To heck with that.)
My regular readers know that one of the obsessions of this blog is the Inverted Jenny.
Inverted Jenny #49 is going up for sale again.
Here are some good images of it.
In other news, I had an interesting discussion at my local gun shop last night. I went in on Monday because I got hosed out of going on Saturday (NOT THAT I’M BITTER OR ANYTHING.)
The used gun buyer was there. He’d been out sick for a couple of weeks, so this is the first time in a while that I’d seen him, and we spent some time catching up.
My regular readers also know that one of the obsessions of this blog is the pre-1964 Model 70 Winchester. They’ve had one on the shelf for a few weeks: based on the serial number, it’s a 1949 gun complete with a Lyman Alaskan 4x scope. I jokingly referred to it as “the Jack O’Connor starter kit”.1
The gun buyer told me, “Oh, yeah. That gun belonged to some famous Hollywood guy. Give me a minute and I’ll tell you who.” So he went back through his emails and eventually found it. That Model 70 previously belonged to…
Sid Caeser.
Yes, Sid “Your Show of Shows” Caeser. Sid “dangled Mel Brooks out of an 18th story window” Caeser. Sid “punched a horse” Caeser. That one.
The past was another country, and lots of celebrities owned guns back then, so this shouldn’t be so surprising to me. I think it might be the odd combination of someone who you don’t think of as a gun guy owning guns, and that gun showing up in an Austin gun shop.
People often say, “You’re not paying for the gun, you’re paying for the story behind it.” So how do I know this story is true?
There’s backup for it. I checked the serial number, and it’s right.
I wasn’t considering purchasing it. The gun fund is a little tight, we’re planning to go to a gun show in November, and I’m lucky enough to already have temporary custody of one pre-64 Model 70 in .270 Winchester. But the associational element, combined with the price, is making me think.
The same shop also has a few more of Sid’s guns: there’s an older Husqvarna bolt gun in .308, a Sako (which they may have sold: the gun buyer couldn’t find it on the rack) and I think they also got a couple of Sid’s Browning shotguns.
1. As you know, Bob, especially if you’ve been around me long enough, Jack O’Connor was a big fan of the pre-64 Winchester Model 70, especially in .270 Winchester. And the very thinly disguised version of Jack O’Connor in Stephen Hunter’s Pale Horse Coming uses a pre-64 Model 70 in .270 Winchester with a Lyman Alaskan 4x scope to great effect.
Ellsworth Johnson passed away on September 30. He was 100.
Mr. Johnson was a member of one of the Operations Groups of the Office of Strategic Services in WWII. He was originally trained as a medic:
“My disappointment at being a medic was great,” he wrote in a memoir, “Behind Enemy Lines: The O.S.S. in World War II” (2019). “I knew that surgical training would at least keep me out of a ward where I could expect to be no more than a bedpan jockey.”
He drew a distinction between participating on the field of combat and treating its victims after the battle.
“I wanted to get into the fight,” he said in a television interview. “I didn’t want to see the results of the fight.”
…
In August 1944, he parachuted from the belly of a B-24 bomber 400 miles behind German lines to harass enemy troops and feed intelligence to London as the Allies were poised to invade southern France. His team and the French Resistance captured a vital dam and its hydroelectric power plant after forcing the German garrison guarding it to flee.
After serving in France for about a month, he and many of his comrades chose to transfer to the Pacific Theater as members of an Operations Group rather than be absorbed into the regular Army.
Joining recently trained Chinese paratroopers, Mr. Johnson and other Americans, all serving officially as advisers, jumped some 600 miles into Japanese-occupied territory in the summer of 1945.
“We learned to live under the noses of the enemy,” he wrote.
They successfully intercepted enemy supply lines and communications and inflicted casualties in an unsuccessful attempt to retake a town.
…
The OSS Operations Groups are considered a precursor to today’s Special Forces.
His death was confirmed by his daughter-in-law, Anna Johnson. It came four weeks after he was presented with an Army Special Forces tab and a Green Beret in a ceremony at the assisted living facility where he lived near Grand Rapids, Mich.
“This is an extremely rare event and, quite frankly, the last of its kind that will ever occur,” Major Russell M. Gordon, the director of public affairs for the 1st Special Forces Command, said of the ceremony.
And Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, the deputy commanding general of the Army Special Operations Command, said during the event: “Everything that he did in 1944 — we model ourselves on in our training and the operations that we conduct. It’s our origin story.”
Murray Stenson, cocktail guy.
…
…
I’ve made myself a Last Word a couple of times, and I’ve had them when I’m out and about and drinking. The ones I make at home seem just a little sweet to my taste: the ones I get elsewhere I think are better balanced. If I can find Mr. Stenson’s recipe, I’ll compare it to the ones I’m using.
Mr. Stenson did not consider himself a mentor. He did not write books or become a highly paid brand ambassador, as many successful bartenders do, especially once they reach middle age and their bodies start to rebel against hours of constant standing. Well into his 60s, and even after open-heart surgery in 2012, he worked up to seven nights a week.
“I enjoy being behind the bar,” he told Imbibe magazine in 2012. “That’s where you meet all the really interesting people.”
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-17:
Carolina
Not much more to say, really.