Days after print publication, Bill Knight’s syndicated newspaper column, which moves twice a week, will appear here. The most recent will appear at the top. (Columns before Sep. 11, 2017, are archived at http://billknightcolumn.blogspot.com/).

Sunday, December 30, 2018

My annual New Year’s letter to my son


Bill Knight column for Dec. 27, 28 or 29, 2018

Dear Russell:
I realize you’re not a regular churchgoer, but among hundreds of observations and memories I cherish from your youth was the day of your Confirmation, when this anxious dad turned from receiving the Eucharist and saw you in the front pew, waving and smiling in a reassuring way, as if to say, “Hey! How’s it going?”
I thought of this when I happened upon a rerun of “Gone with the Wind,” where Rhett Butler famously dismisses Scarlett O’Hara, saying, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
You’re no Rhett Butler, thank God. You care. Your passion always showed compassion. However, you and your generation have been pummeled by times so fraught with anxiety and stupidity that helplessness and fury, frustration and exasperation can erode anyone’s knack for compassion.
So, please, in this yearly note, let me return the favor of reassurance.
Most of us now deal with fear, indifference or isolation, and it doesn’t matter if it’s because of Donald Trump or Artificial Intelligence. An effective shield is empathy, when people identify with, try to understand, and share others’ situations, to “sense the hurt or the pleasure of another,” as psychologist Carl Rogers said, “as if [you] are hurt or pleased.”
Feeling others’ needs, pains and joys helps societies hold together, and helps victims get by and species survive. We can care about our fellow citizens, whether victims or villains, participants or witnesses, taxpayers or asylum-seekers, “us” or “them” – Others.
Humans instinctively empathize and feel common ground, at church or the gym, with social groups or about sports, in checkout lines or places like the Chicago “speakeasy” you frequent. But dangers and divisions threaten such instincts, so empathy needs nurturing – especially as the country faces climate change, authoritarianism, income inequality, attacks on unions or immigrants, voter suppression, etc.
Such problems – such crises – can force us inward, to a “safe zone” inside our heads, separate from outsiders, literally: Others. It’s increasingly common. As progressive evangelical Christian Jim Wallis said in Sojourners, “Our country has developed a very large empathy deficit.”
However, your empathy – to family and friends, animals and colleagues, clients and strangers – was noticeable for decades. You always gave money to beggars, for instance; other fond recollections are your caressing infants when you were just a toddler and taking the initiative to visit a younger kid in the hospital when you were an adolescent.
A widespread decline in empathy can lead to “social Darwinism,” that cutthroat version of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection that “only the strongest survive.” Indeed, as British novelist J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter author, said, “Those who choose not to empathize enable real monsters, for without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.”
Turning to Scripture (bear with me), Mark reported that Jesus “saw a great crowd and he had compassion.” Luke wrote, “When the Lord saw her, he had compassion.” James’ letter noted, “mercy triumphs over judgment.” And 1 Peter preached, “All of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart and a humble mind.”
From this father’s perspective, you’ve always shown empathy, however heartfelt, hilarious or irreverent it’s been expressed. You’ve looked to appreciate all walks of life, too, which reminds me of the comment by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who said in 1956 (the year Mom was born), “If you are called to be a street sweeper, sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and Earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well!’ ”
Wallis outlined the challenge of maintaining compassion, saying, “Empathy can only be accomplished through the forging of authentic relationships between people of different races, classes, gender, sexual orientations and political views.”
You’re accomplishing a lot from work as a lawyer to play as a Cubs season-ticket holder, and as I praise your heart, I encourage your mind to resist the temptation of jaded detachment and restore the eager/innocent empathy you’ve shown for years.
“How’s it going?”
Love,
Dad

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Basil Rathbone was the classic Sherlock Holmes


Bill Knight column for Dec. 24, 25 or 26

The newest cinema version of Sherlock Holmes will be released this week, when Will Ferrell assumes the role of the detective and John C. Reilly takes over the part of Dr. John Watson. Co-starring Ralph Fiennes as Professor Moriarty and Hugh Laurie as Mycroft Holmes, “Holmes and Watson” follows others’ interpretations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character, from Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Jr., to Jonny Lee Miller and actors ranging from Ian McKellen and Peter O’Toole to Jeremy Brett and Matt Frewer.
For generations, however, the thinking-person’s crime fighter was Basil Rathbone, who made “Holmes infallible, virtuous, eccentric – a fixed point in a changing age,” according to Tom Soter in Video magazine. “He makes sense of the nonsensical, brings order where there was chaos, and overcomes problems instead of letting them overcome him.”
In 60 mysteries, mostly short stories, Doyle created the iconic figure from 221B Baker St. who drew praise from fans including Mark Twain, O. Henry and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
More than the stories were some 130 movies, and Rathbone is still the actor most closely identified with Holmes the violinist, boxer, swordsman, chemist and amateur sleuth.
“There was nothing lovable about Holmes,” Rathbone said. “He seemed capable of transcending the weakness of mere mortals such as myself, understanding us perhaps, accepting us and even pitying us, but only purely and objectively.”
Rathbone created Hollywood’s best-remembered Holmes in 14 movies and 273 radio shows. As an actor, Rathbone could be villainous, too, playing cads in “The Mark of Zorro” and “The Adventures of Robin Hood.” He earned Oscar nominations for his work in 1936’s “Romeo and Juliet” and 1938’s “If I Were King.”
The next year he became Holmes in Fox’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” which was enough of a hit to generate a sequel, “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” the best of the bunch. Rathbone nailed the role – and created enjoyable chemistry with co-star Nigel Bruce as Watson.
After the first two for Fox, the series moved to Universal, which changed the setting from Victorian England to contemporary times to battle Moriarty or Nazis. Available on video or online, here are the Rathbone classics, in alphabetical order:
“The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” (1939). The last series movie set in the 1800s, this has George Zucco as Moriarty, whose machinations wind up at the Tower of London. Ida Lupino co-stars.
“Dressed to Kill” (1946). The Bank of England is missing currency printing plates, and Holmes and Watson tie them to a collection of music boxes. The feature was the last in the Rathbone/Bruce partnership.
“Hound of The Baskervilles” (1939). Rathbone and Bruce’s debut as Holmes and Watson has them tracking down the demonic dog that’s haunted a clan for centuries. The cast includes John Carradine, Richard Greene and Lionel Atwill.
“House of Fear” (1945). The “Good Comrades Club” has members getting murdered. Based on Doyle’s “Adventure of the Five Pips” story, it co-stars Dennis Hoey.
“Pearl of Death” (1944). A string of murders baffles Scotland Yard, and Holmes must intercede – and deal with “the Creeper” (Rondo Hatton, one of Hollywood’s most memorable villains).
“Pursuit to Algiers” (1945). Holmes and Watson accompany a foreign prince home after his father is murdered.
“The Scarlet Claw” (1944). Serial murders in a Canadian village draw in Holmes and Watson – in North America for a conference on the supernatural.
“Sherlock Holmes Faces Death” (1943). Watson is in charge at a mansion housing wounded soldiers, and murders begin. It co-stars Milburn Stone (Doc Adams from TV’s “Gunsmoke”) and Hillary Brooke.
“Sherlock Holmes and The Secret Weapon” (1942). Moriarty and Holmes race to get a bomb sight that might mean victory in World War II. Lionel Atwill is Doyle’s sinister villain.
“Sherlock Holmes and The Voice of Terror” (1942). Nazi conspirators wreak havoc in Great Britain. Reginald Denny and Henry Daniell co-star.
“Sherlock Holmes in Washington” (1943). Secret World War II documents have ended up in North America, and the Londoners must retrieve them, but American criminals prove as heinous as Europe’s. George Zucco, Henry Daniell and Marjorie Lord (from TV’s “Make Room for Daddy”) co-star.
“Spider Woman” (1944). Holmes and Watson investigate a series of suicides, but Gale Sondergaard steals this film as the title character, who uses poisonous spiders to kill. It’s one of the best Holmes pictures – with Rathbone facing death in various ways.
“Terror by Night” (1946). Sort of a train version of “Pursuit to Algiers,” this revolves around the murder of a fellow passenger, the owner of a cursed jewel.
“Woman in Green” (1945). Moriarty is behind a series of weird “finger murders” not unlike a modern Jack the Ripper.

Saturday, December 22, 2018

A Broun Christmas lesson: ‘Even to Judas’


Bill Knight column for Dec. 20, 21 or 22

Heywood Broun is remembered as a celebrated columnist, author and playwright, a socialist and founder and first president of The Newspaper Guild labor union. Besides his progressive views, his passions ranged from sports and books to poker and, especially, Christmas.
            In his career Broun worked as a sportswriter, critic, war correspondent and columnist for the likes of ex-gunfighter and sports editor Bat Masterson at the New York Morning Telegraph, for the conservative New York Tribune and Pulitzer’s liberal New York World, plus Scripps-Howard’s Telegram, which syndicated his column, and the Post, which printed one of his pieces before he unexpectedly died at the age of 51.
            Inducted into both the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., and the International Labor Hall of Fame in Detroit, Broun was eulogized by Mine Workers head John L. Lewis, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, actor Edgar G. Robinson, and author Lewis Gannett, who said, “It was precisely because Heywood played the races, visited the bread lines, produced a Broadway play, ran for Congress, walked picket lines, organized the Guild, and joined a church that he and his column stayed young.”
            Also ageless are his Christmas columns, often printed independently in addition to newspapers, such as the following excerpt published in the New York World-Telegram 80 years ago this week, when President Roosevelt also read it live on the radio that Christmas Eve. It’s called “Even to Judas” –

            We were sitting in a high room above the chapel and although it was Christmas Eve my friend the pastor seemed troubled. That was strange, for he was a man extremely sensitive to the festivities of his faith.
            The joys and sorrows of Jesus were not to him events of a remote past, but more current than headlines in the newspapers. At Christmas he seems actually to hear the voice of the herald angels.
            He is an old man, but this was the first time the Nativity failed to rouse him to ecstasy. Something was wrong.
            “Tomorrow,” he said, “I must go down into that chapel and preach a Christmas sermon. I must speak of peace and good will toward men. I know that our world is one of war and hate. Others keep insisting that before there can be brotherhood there must be the bashing of heads. You are all for good will to men, but you want to note very many exceptions.  I am still hoping and praying that in the great love of God, the final seal of interdiction must not be put on even one. You may laugh, but right now I am wondering about how Christmas came to Judas Iscariot.”   
            It is the habit of my friend, when he is troubled by doubts, to reach for the Book, and he did so. He said, “Will you assist me in a little experiment? I’ll close my eyes and you hold out the Bible to me. I will open it at random and run my fingers down a page. You read me the text which I blindly select.”
            I did as he told me and he happened on the 26th chapter of St. Matthew and the 24th verse. I felt sorry for him, for this was not part of the story of the Birth of Christ, but instead an account of the great betrayal.
            “Read what it says,” asked the clergyman.
            I did: “Then Judas, which betrayed Him, answered and said, ‘Master, is it I?’ He said unto him, ‘Thou hast said’.”
            My friend frowned. Then he looked at me -- in triumph.
            “My hand is not as steady as it used to be,” he said. “You should have taken the lower part of my finger and not the top. Read the 27th verse. It is not an eighth of an inch away. Read what it says.
            And I read, “And He took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink ye, all of it’.”
            “Mark that!” cried the old man exultantly. “Not even to Judas, the betrayer, was the wine of life denied. I can preach my Christmas sermon now, and my text will be ‘Drink ye all of it.’ Good will toward men means good will to every last one of us.
            “Peace on Earth means peace to Pilate, peace to the thieves on the cross, and peace to poor Iscariot.”
            I was glad, for he had found Christmas, and I saw by his face that once more he heard the voice of the herald angels.

            Merry Christmas!

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