Johnny Staccato

            My apartment was stifling hot when I got up on Thursday, November 17^th because the heat was on full blast. I had to open every window just to not be overwhelmed.

I had hoped to get started on my two term essays. My Aesthetics paper was due in one week but I hadn’t even made any notes towards it. For my Canadian Poetry essay I’ve at least jotted down a few ideas but that paper’s deadline isn’t until the beginning of December. I’ve really got to get started on the second one for Philosophy. I may have gotten an A on the first one, but that’s no guarantee for the last.

            I watched a Jackie Gleason special from 1973 that featured a return of the Honeymooners, with Art Carney back as Ed Norton but with Sheila MacRae as Alice and Jane Kean as Trixie. Gleason was based in Miami Beach at the time and it was weird to see Jackie Gleason in colour with such a deep brown tan playing a New York City bus driver. MacRae and her hairstyle looked surprising a lot like Katey Sagal would look fourteen years later on Married With Children. The episode was entitled “Women’s Lib” and Alice told Ralph she wanted her rights. Ralph said, “I’ll give you your rights …” then he made a fist and said, “I’ll give you couple of lefts too!”

            Then I watched the first episode of a late 50s detective show called “Johnny Staccato” in which John Cassavettes played a jazz pianist that moonlighted as a private investigator. The cinematography was great, with a lot of film noire style shots. The guest star was Michael Landon, but I didn’t recognize him at first, as he was so young and had a pompadour. He played an Elvis type rock star that was being blackmailed.