Jack Vance, on reading:

 

I read and read and read.

I read everything.

- Jack Vance.

Recommended reading - The Hot Rock

The Hot Rock

by Donald E. Westlake.

 

Book # 1 in the Dortmunder series.

 

Published by Simon & Schuster.

First published 1970.

First Edition.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0671205412

ISBN-13: 978-0671205416

Description:

John Archibald Dortmunder is the archetypal criminal manque. Brought up in an orphanage in the Midwest, he is 37 years old, served in the "police action" in Korea, was arrested twice for robbery following his release from the service, and was briefly married to a nightclub entertainer named Honeybun Bazoom from whom he was granted an uncontested divorce. For reasons totally beyond his comprehension, Dortmunder is chosen to lead a gang of master hoodlums. Their job: to steal an emerald valued at $500,000. Their employer: Major Patrick Iko, a mustached African diplomat whose country has just lost the gem through a thoughtless political decision. The specialists Dortmunder selects for his impossible mission include: Kelp: an ex-con with a penchant for stealing cars with MD license plates. Stan Murch: a crook who lives with his mother, a cab driver, and collects stereo records of "Sounds of Indianapolis." Roger Chefwick: the railroad nut, a skinny man of late middle age, whose three H-O gauge trains constantly couple and uncouple on H-O gauge track in a waist-high plywood platform in his basement. What follows in this delightful new novel by Donald E. Westlake is an unparalleled mixture of laughter and thrills, featuring a car crash into the New York Coliseum, a free-swinging helicopter attack on a police station, and a wild breakout from an insane asylum on a Tom Thumb locomotive stolen from a nearby amusement park.

Born on this day – Anne Jeffreys:

 

Anne Jeffreys

Actress

Singer

January 26, 1923 – September 27, 2017

Credits:

Getting On (2013); Sins (2012); Empire State Building Murders (2008); Richard III (2007); General Hospital (1984–2004); Port Charles (1999–2003); Baywatch (1993–1998); Clifford (1994); A Message from Holly (1992); L.A. Law (1992); Murder, She Wrote (1986); Finder of Lost Loves (1984–1985); Hotel (1984); Matt Houston (1983); Falcon Crest (1982–1983); Fantasy Island (1978–1982); Mr. Merlin (1982); Beggarman, Thief (1979); Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979); Vega$ (1979); Battlestar Galactica (1979); Flying High (1978); Southern Double Cross (1976); Police Story (1975–1976); The Delphi Bureau (1972–1973); Love, American Style (1972); Bright Promise (1969); My Three Sons (1969); Panic in the City (1968); Tarzan (1967); Ghostbreakers (1967); The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1966); Bonanza (1966); Two's Company (1965); Dr. Kildare (1965); Boys' Night Out (1962); Wagon Train (1957–1962); The Bob Cummings Show (1959); Lux Playhouse (1959); Love That Jill (1958); Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1958); Telephone Time (1957); Cavalcade of America (1957); The 20th Century-Fox Hour (1957); The Red Skelton Hour (1956); Star Stage (1956); Lux Video Theatre (1956); Max Liebman Presents: Dearest Enemy (1955); Topper (1953–1955); Max Liebman Presents: The Merry Widow (1955); Musical Comedy Time (1951); All Star Revue (1951); Return of the Bad Men (1948); Riffraff (1947); Trail Street (1947); Reno (1946); Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946); Genius at Work (1946); Step by Step (1946); Ding Dong Williams (1946); Dick Tracy (1945); Sing Your Way Home (1945); Those Endearing Young Charms (1945); Zombies on Broadway (1945); Dillinger (1945); Nevada (1944); Step Lively (1944); Hidden Valley Outlaws (1944); Mojave Firebrand (1944); Death Valley Manhunt (1943); Overland Mail Robbery (1943); Wagon Tracks West (1943); Bordertown Gun Fighters (1943); The Man from Thunder River (1943); Crime Doctor (1943); Calling Wild Bill Elliott (1943); Chatterbox (1943); X Marks the Spot (1942); Flying Tigers (1942); The Old Homestead (1942); Joan of Ozark (1942); I Married an Angel (1942); Olaf Laughs Last (1942); Moonlight Masquerade (1942); Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942); Yokel Boy (1942); Billy the Kid Trapped (1942).

Born on this day – Paul Newman:

Paul Newman

Actor

Director

January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008

Credits:

The Meerkats (2008); Mater and the Ghostlight (2006); Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1 (2006); Cars (2006); Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon (2005); Empire Falls (2005); Freedom: A History of US (2003); Our Town (2003); Road to Perdition (2002); The Simpsons (1989); Where the Money Is (2000); Message in a Bottle (1999); Twilight (1998); Nobody's Fool (1994); The Hudsucker Proxy (1994); Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990); Blaze (1989); Fat Man and Little Boy (aka Shadow Makers) (1989); The Color of Money (1986); Harry & Son (1984); The Verdict (1982); American Playhouse (1982); Absence of Malice (1981); Fort Apache the Bronx (1981); When Time Ran Out... (1980); Quintet (1979); Slap Shot (1977); Two by Dove (1976); Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976); Silent Movie (1976); The Drowning Pool (1975); The Towering Inferno (1974); The Sting (1973); The MacKintosh Man (1973); The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972); Pocket Money (1972); Sometimes a Great Notion (aka Never Give an Inch) (1971); WUSA (1970); Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969); Winning (1969); The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968); Cool Hand Luke (1967); Hombre (1967); Torn Curtain (1966); Harper (aka The Moving Target) (1966); Lady L (1965); The Outrage (1964); What a Way to Go! (1964); The Prize (1963); A New Kind of Love (1963); Hud (1963); Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962); Sweet Bird of Youth (1962); The Hustler (1961); Paris Blues (1961); Exodus (1960); From the Terrace (1960); The Young Philadelphians (1959); Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958); The Left Handed Gun (1958); The Long, Hot Summer (1958); The Eighty Yard Run (Playhouse 90 (1958); The Helen Morgan Story (1957); Until They Sail (1957); The Kaiser Aluminum Hour (1956); Kraft Theatre (1954–1956); Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956); The Rack (1956); Playwrights '56 (1955); Producers' Showcase (1955); Kraft Theatre (1955); Appointment with Adventure (1955); The Silver Chalice (1954); Danger (1954); Armstrong Circle Theatre (1954); Goodyear Playhouse (1954); The Mask (1954); The Man Behind the Badge (1953); The Web (1950); You Are There (1953); Suspense (1949); Tales of Tomorrow (1951); The Aldrich Family (1952-1953).

Born on this day – William Redfield:

William Redfield

Actor

Writer

January 26, 1927 – August 17, 1976

Credits:

Mr. Billion (1977); Spencer's Pilots (1976); Rich Man, Poor Man - Book II (1976); Medical Center (1976); The Bob Newhart Show (1972–1976); One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975); Maude (1972–1975); Fear on Trial (1975); Death Wish (1974); For Pete's Sake (1974); The Odd Couple (1974); The Hot Rock (1972); Such Good Friends (1971); A New Leaf (1971); Dragon Country (1970); NET Playhouse (1970); The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker (1970); Companions in Nightmare (1968); Androcles and the Lion (1967); All Woman (1967); Fantastic Voyage (1966); Duel at Diablo (1966); Bewitched (1965); Morituri (1965); Instant Love (1964); The Defenders (1963–1964); Mr. Broadway (1964); Hamlet (1964); Armstrong Circle Theatre (1952–1963); Naked City (1961); Great Ghost Tales (1961); The Connection (1961); The Million Dollar Incident (1961); Frontiers of Faith (1961); Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1957–1961); Gunsmoke (1961); Encounter (1960); The Comedy Spot (1960); Wrangler (1960); Deadline (1960); General Electric Theater (1959); Startime (1959); Kitty Foyle (1958); Colgate Theatre (1958); Kraft Theatre (1952–1958); I Married a Woman (1958); True Story (1957); Modern Romances (1957); Goodyear Playhouse (1954–1957); Studio One (1956–1957); The Big Story (1951–1957); The Kaiser Aluminum Hour (1957); Omnibus (1957); The Proud and Profane (1956); As the World Turns (1956); Kraft Theatre (1954–1956); Robert Montgomery Presents (1956); The Alcoa Hour (1955); Mr. Citizen (1955); Conquest of Space (1955); Justice (1954–1955); The Elgin Hour (1954–1955); Producers' Showcase (1955); The Marriage (1954); Jimmy Hughes, Rookie Cop (1953); Family Affair (1952); Lux Video Theatre (1952); Lights Out (1952); Tales of Tomorrow (1952); Suspense (1950–1952); Mr. District Attorney (1952); The Web (1951–1952); Schlitz Playhouse (1952); Somerset Maugham TV Theatre (1951); Hands of Mystery (1951); Pulitzer Prize Playhouse (1951); Treasury Men in Action (1950); The Ford Theatre Hour (1950); Kraft Theatre (1949); Actor's Studio (1948–1949); Back Door to Heaven (1939).

Born on this day – Roger Vadim:

Roger Vadim

Writer

Director

Producer

Artist

Actor

January 26, 1928 – February 11, 2000

Born on this day – Jules Feiffer:

Jules Feiffer

Cartoonist

Writer

Production designer

January 26, 1929 – January 17, 2025

Credits:

Books:

A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears (1995); Backing into Forward: A Memoir (2010); Bark, George (1999); Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl (1961); Feiffer on Civil Rights (1966); Feiffer on Nixon, the Cartoon Presidency (1974); Feiffer's Album (1963); Feiffer's Children (1986); Feiffer's Marriage Manual (1967); Harry: The Rat with Women, a Novel (1963); Hold Me! (1962); I Lost My Bear (1998); Jules Feiffer's America: From Eisenhower to Reagan (1982); Kill My Mother (2014); Knock Knock (1976); Marriage Is an Invasion of Privacy and Other Dangerous Views (1984); Meanwhile— (1997); Passionella and Other Stories (1959); Pictures at a Prosecution (1971); Ronald Reagan in Movie America (1988); Sick, Sick, Sick (1958); Smart George (2020); Tantrum (1979); The Explainers (1960); The Feiffer Album (1962); The Ghost Script (2018); The Great Comic Book Heroes (1965); The Man in the Ceiling (1993); The Penguin Feiffer (1966); The Unexpurgated Memoirs of Bernard Mergendeiler (1964).

 

Movies and television:

A Broadway Lullaby (2012); ABC News Close-Up (1962); American Masters (1996–2017); Another Day, Another Doormat (1959); Bark, George (2003); Bernard and Huey (2017); Bird of Steel! (2025); Boomtown (1985); Carnal Knowledge (1971 / 1980); Cartoon College (2012); CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley (2011); Comedy Zone (1984); Dad Strangelove (2025); Day to Day Affairs (1985); Faerie Tale Theatre (1985); Far Out Isn't Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story (2012); Foofle's Train Ride (1959); Funny Already: A History of Jewish Comedy (2004); God's Will (2000); Great Performances (1985); Hand Drawn Life - The History and Influence of Newspaper Comic Strips (2019); Happy Endings / Segment: Kidnapped (1975); Herblock: The Black & the White (2013); He's Way More Famous Than You (2013); Hold Me! (2018); Horizon (2006); Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time (1992); I Lost My Bear (2005); I Want to Go Home (1989); Jules Feiffer's Hold Me (1981); Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1994); Les Chroniques du Mea (2014); Little Murders (1971); Little Murders: Random Acts of Violence with Jules Feiffer (2018); Maya Angelou And Still I Rise (2016); Mord i det hvite hus (1972); Munro (1961); Oh! Calcutta! (1972); Popeye (1980); Quest (1962); Reputations (1982); Shoestring Theatre (1964); Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle (2013); TCM Guest Programmer (2012); That Was the Year That Was – 1976 (1976); The Dancer Films (2011); The David Frost Show (1971); The Fifties (1997); The First Amendment Project: No Joking (2004); The Jewish Americans (2008); The Larry Solway Show (1976); The Legacy Project (2014); The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story (1996); The Merv Griffin Show (1970); The Naked Brothers Band (2008); The Nudnik Show (1991); The Phantom Tollbooth: Beyond Expectations (2012); The Tale of a Dog (1959); The Young Set (1965); Theater Talk (2010); To Live & Dialogue in LA (2019); Un alma pura (1965); VD Blues (1972); Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist (2007).

Born on this day – Brian Garfield:

Brian Garfield

Writer

Historian

January 26, 1939 – December 29, 2018

Credits:

Books:

A Badge for a Badman (1967); Apache Canyon (1963); Arizona (1968); Arizona Rider (1962); Big Country, Big Men (1969); Brand of the Gun (1968); Bugle and the Spur (1966); Call Me Hazard (1966); Checkpoint Charlie (1981); Complete Guide to Western Films (1980); Danger Money / Romanov Succession / Horn of Roland (1974); Death Sentence (1975); Death Wish (1972); Deep Cover (1972); Devil's Butte / Badge for a Badman (1967); Dragoon Pass (1963); Etruscan Smile / Slippery Step / Recoil (1976); Fear in a Handful of Dust (aka Fear) (1978); Gangway (1973); Gundown (1969); High Storm (1963); Hopscotch (1975); Hopscotch: Screenplay (1979); Justice at Spanish Flat (aka Range Justice) (1960); Kolchak's Gold (1973); Line Of Succession (1972); Lynch Law Canyon (1965); Manifest Destiny (1989); Massacre Basin (1961); Mr. Sixgun (1964); Necessity (1984); Rails West (1964); Recoil (1977); Relentless (1972); Rio Chama (1967); Rio Concho (1964); Savage Guns (1968); Seven Brave Men (1962); Shotgun Settlement (1969); Sliphammer (1970); Suspended Sentences (2012); Sweeny's Honor (1971); Target Manhattan (1975); The Arizonans (1961); The Big Snow (1962); The Bravos (1966); The Crime of My Life (1984); The Hit (1970); The Hit and The Marksman (2003); The Last Bridge (1966); The Last Hard Men (aka Gun Down) (1971); The Last Outlaw (1964); The Lawbringers (1962); The Lusty Breed (1966); The Marchand Woman (1979); The Meinertzhagen Mystery (2007); The Night It Rained Bullets (1965); The Paladin (1980); The Proud Riders (1967); The Rimfire Murders (1962); The Romanov Succession (1974); The Thousand Mile War (1969); The Threepersons Hunt (1974); The Vanquished (1964); The Villiers Touch (1970); The Wolf Pack (1966); Trail Drive (1962); Tripwire (1973); Valley of the Shadow (1970); Vultures in the Sun (1963); Western Films (1988); What of Terry Conniston? (1971); Wild Times (1978).

Movies and television:

24th Street (2009); Blown Away (1988); Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen (2013); Crime Writers (1978); Death Sentence (2007); Death Wish (1974 / 2018); Death Wish 3 (1985); Death Wish 3 / Video game (1986); Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987); Death Wish II (1982); Death Wish: The Face of Death (1994); Fleshburn (1984); Hopscotch (1980); Hopscotch: Interview with Director Ronald Neame and Screenwriter Brian Garfield (2002); Legs (1983); Relentless (1977); Stepfather 3 (1992); Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy (1989); Tales of the Unexpected (1985); The Great Canadian Culture Hunt (1976); The Last Hard Men (1976); The Stepfather (1987 / 2009); The Stepfather Chronicles (2009); Wild Times (1980).

Born on this day – LeRoy Lad Panek:

LeRoy Lad Panek

Writer

January 26, 1943 – November 5, 2021

Credits:

Books:

After Sherlock Holmes: The Evolution of British and American Detective Stories; An Introduction to the Detective Story; Before Sherlock Holmes: How Magazines and Newspapers Invented the Detective Story; Early American Detective Stories: An Anthology; New Hard-Boiled Writers: 1970s-1990s; Nineteenth Century Detective Fiction: An Analytical History; Probable Cause: Crime Fiction in America; Reading Early Hammett: A Critical Study of the Fiction Prior to the Maltese Falcon; The American Police Novel: A History; The Essential Elements of the Detective Story, 1820-1891; The Origins of the American Detective Story; Watteau's Shepherds: The Detective Novel in Britain, 1914-1940.

Born on this day – Eddie Van Halen:

Eddie Van Halen

Musician

Songwriter

January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020

On this day in music history - Bridge Over Troubled Water, by Simon & Garfunkel (1970)

Bridge Over Troubled Water

by Simon & Garfunkel,

was released on January 26, 1970.

Track list:

Bridge over Troubled Water; El Condor Pasa (If I Could); Cecilia; Keep the Customer Satisfied; So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright; The Boxer; Baby Driver; The Only Living Boy in New York; Why Don't You Write Me; Bye Bye Love; Song for the Asking.

On this day in music history - Kids in America, by Kim Wilde (1981)

Kids in America

by Kim Wilde,

was released on January 26, 1981.

On this day in movie history - Under the Gun (1951)

Under the Gun

directed by Ted Tetzlaff,

written by George Zuckerman,

based on a story by Daniel B. Ullman,

was released in the United States on January 26, 1951.

Music by Milton Rosen.

Cast:

Richard Conte, Audrey Totter, John McIntire, Sam Jaffe, Shepperd Strudwick, Gregg Martell, Phillip Pine, Donald Randolph, Royal Dano, Richard Taber, Dabbs Greer.

On this day in movie history - The Hot Rock (1972)

The Hot Rock

directed by Peter Yates,

written by William Goldman,

based on the novel by Donald E. Westlake,

was released in the United States on January 26, 1972.

Music by Quincy Jones.

Cast:

Robert Redford, George Segal, Ron Leibman, Paul Sand, Moses Gunn, Zero Mostel, William Redfield, Topo Swope, Christopher Guest, Graham Jarvis, Lynne Gordon, Charlotte Rae, Harry Bellaver.