StanleyWheeler

Throw together Alec Guinness, Maureen O'Hara, Burl Ives, Ernie Kovacs, Ralph Richardson, and assorted other actors into a pot of Batista Era Havana, Cuba, stir in the Cold War arms race, add a household appliance, and simmer on low heat in black and white for just under two hours, and you'll have Our Man in Havana (1959), directed by Carol Reed and written by Graham Greene. Wormold (played by Guinness) is an expatriate Brit running a vacuum cleaner shop in Havana. His daughter Milly doesn't understand that money doesn't grow on trees, and she wants a horse. She has also caught the eye of Police Captain Segura (Kovacs). A British agent is recruiting contacts and offers Wormhold steady money and expenses to observe, make reports, and recruit other contacts.  Wormold has no interest in the intelligence game, but he needs funds. He makes an effort to recruit an agent at the country club, a college professor. The professor happened to be seated at the table with a drunk pilo...

  First, I've got a flash fiction contest going for my newsletter subscribers. Go get signed up . Here are the contest terms:   Flash Fiction Contest: Submit a story of 500 words or less. The story must include a pool table OR a piece of farm machinery. Submit your story in the body of your email, or you may attach it as a .docx or pdf. The winner will be awarded his/her choice of one of my autographed paperbacks (delivery in continental U.S. only). I retain no rights to any stories presented. If the winner and runner(s) up consent, I'll post their stories on my webpage. Fair warning: Don't exceed a PG-13 rating. Let's make March 20 the deadline to submit your story. You can subscribe to the newsletter now, and submit your story with your reply to the March 1 newsletter. Fun Fact: Let's take a break from the French and Indian War to take a peek at the Revolutionary War. In July 1776, the British sent a huge fleet and more than 34,000 troops to New York. In Au...

  The gif above fails to convey the magnitude of the epic catastrophe that is the inspiration for the drivel below. Behold the tale of ravage and ruin, desolation and disruption. Look upon these works, ye mighty, and despair: The old theater had hosted many a play. High drama and low comedy had pranced upon the well-worn boards. Tempers had often flared, on stage and off, and laughter had rattled through the rafters. Over the years the veteran hall had seen it all--or so we thought. It could not know--being a thing of wood and stone--and neither could we, the sentient beings and players upon her stage--that all the guns of World War I would soon commence to bray.  It began with the lull that precedes the fray--the silence before the thunder. One walked away, sad and discontented, leaving the rest to wonder. A galaxy of wrath ensconced in feeble clay returned, fury and the human form full-blended. The opening barrage of the pitiless attack made peace of mind draw back. Invectiv...

 Fun Fact: After arriving with several regiments in Boston in September 1758, Major General Amherst marched to Abercromby's camp at Fort Edward to find the force there in no condition to mount a winter strike against Ticonderoga. The Major General heard New York, New York calling his name, and retired to that city for the winter. There's no report on what Broadway shows were playing. In March 1759, Amherst dispatched Robert Rogers with 90 rangers, 200 regulars, and 50 Mohawk allies to reconnoiter the defenses of Ticonderoga. The garrison Forbes left at Fort Pitt had retained the fort, but the supply line was subject to attack from enemy regulars, militia, and their Indian allies. Commandant Lignery had retreated from Duquesne a hundred miles away to Venango to gather forces for a planned lightning attack down the Allegheny to retake Fort Pitt.  To take pressure off Fort Pitt, Amherst dispatched a force to attack Fort Niagara under newly appointed General John Prideaux. He took...