Born on this day – Charles Willeford:

Charles Willeford

Writer

January 2, 1919 – March 27, 1988

Credits:

Miami Blues (1984); New Hope for the Dead (1985); Sideswipe (1987); The Way We Die Now (1988); High Priest of California (1953); Pick Up (1954); Wild Wives (1956); The Black Mass of Brother Springer (aka Honey Gal) (1958); Lust Is a Woman (aka Made in Miami) (1958); The Woman Chaser (1960); Deliver Me from Dallas (aka The Whip Hand) (1961); Understudy for Death (1961); Cockfighter (1962); No Experience Necessary (1962); The Hombre From Sonora (aka The Difference) (1971); The Burnt Orange Heresy (1971); Kiss Your Ass Goodbye (1987); The Shark Infested Custard (1993); The Machine in Ward Eleven (1963); Everybody's Metamorphosis (1988); Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s (1997); The Second Half of the Double Feature (2003); Poontang (poems) (2011); The Ordainment of Brother Springer (play) (2009); The Old Man at the Bridge (2009); Strange (2011); Sentences (2013); Off the Wall (1980); Something About a Soldier (1986); New Forms of Ugly (1987); I Was Looking for a Street (1988); Cockfighter Journal (1989); The Collected Memoirs of Charles Willeford (2000); Writing and Other Blood Sports (2000); Wild Wives / High Priest of California (1956); Charles Willeford Omnibus (1991).

Happy New Year 2025!

#HappyNewYear #2025

Carl Sagan, on books and writing:

 

What an astonishing thing a book is.

It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles.

But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years.

Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you.

Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions,
binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs.

Books break the shackles of time.

A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.
 
- Carl Sagan.

James Patterson, on reading and writing:

 

I learnt to love reading.
And then I started scribbling stories, and I liked that even more.
- James Patterson.

Recommended reading - Film Noir Compendium

 

Film Noir Compendium

Key Selections from the Film Noir Reader Series

by Alain Silver and James Ursini.
 
Published 2016.
Published by Limelight.
Illustrated edition.
Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1495058980
ISBN-13: 978-1495058981
 
Description:
 

In this essential study of film noir, editors Alain Silver and James Ursini select the most significant and influential articles on the movement from their highly respected Film Noir Reader series and assemble them into a single, convenient, heavily illustrated volume. Still included, of course, are many rare early articles and such seminal essays as Borde and Chaumeton's “Towards a Definition of Film Noir” from Panorama du Film Noir Americain, Paul Schrader's “Notes on Film Noir ” and “Paint It Black: the Family Tree of the Film Noir” by Raymond Durgnat. With newer studies such as “Lounge Time” by Vivian Sobchack, “Manufacturing Heroines in Classic Noir Films” by Sheri Chinen Biesen, and “Voices from the Deep: Film Noir as Psychodrama” J. P. Telotte, this collection of over 30 articles probes this most influential American film movement from varying angles: formalist, feminist, structuralist, sociological, and stylistic; narrative-thematic historical, and even from the point of view of a pure aficionado. There is something in this volume for every student or devotee of film noir. Plus like the readers that have proven an invaluable tool for academics planning a syllabus, it can serve as the most complete core text for any of the myriad of film noir courses taught throughout the world.

Born on this day – Frank Stokes:

Frank Stokes

Blues singer

Guitarist

Songwriter

January 1, 1877 – September 12, 1955

Credits:

Albums:

Creator of the Memphis Blues (1977); Downtown Blues (2010); Frank Stokes with Dan Sane & Will Bats 1927–1929 (1968); The Best of Frank Stokes (2005); The Remaining Titles (1984); The Victor Recordings in Chronological Order 1928–1929 (1990).

Songs:

Ain't Goin' to Do Like I Used to Do; Beale Town Bound; Bedtime Blues; Blues in 'D'; Chicken You Can Roost Behind the Moon; Downtown Blues; Fillin' in Blues; Frank Stokes' Dream; Half Cup of Tea; How Long; Hunting Blues; I Got Mine; I'm Going Away Blues; It Won't Be Long Now; It's a Good Thing; Jazzin' the Blues; Jumpin on the Hill; Last Go Round; Memphis Rounders Blues; Mistreatin' Blues; Mr. Crump Don't Like It; Nehi Mama; Old Sometime Blues; Right Now Blues; Rockin' on the Hill Blues; South Memphis Blues; Sweet to Mama; Tain't Nobody's Business if I Do; Take Me Back; Wasn't That Doggin' Me; What's the Matter Blues; You Shall.

Born on this day – Edward Dillon:

Edward Dillon

Actor

Director

Writer

January 1, 1879 – July 11, 1933

As actor:

Sherlock Holmes (1932); The Golden West (1932); Young Ironsides (1932); Week Ends Only (1932); While Paris Sleeps (1932); The Trial of Vivienne Ware (1932); The Nickel Nurser (1932); Love Pains (1932); Sob Sister (1931); Catch-As Catch-Can (1931); Let's Do Things (1931); The Iron Man (1931); Thundering Tenors (1931); Reducing (1931); Looser Than Loose (1930); Fifty Million Husbands (1930); Caught Short (1930); Whispering Whoopee (1930); Hot for Paris (1929); The Locked Door (1929); The Broadway Melody (1929); Lilac Time (1928); The Skyrocket (1926); America (1924); The Lady Drummer (1916); A Calico Vampire (1916); Intolerance (1916); The French Milliner (1916); Laundry Liz (1916); Bedelia's Bluff (1916); Mr. Goode, Samaritan (1916); The Two O'Clock Train (1916); Don Quixote (1915); Shocking Stockings (1915); Only a Messenger Boy (1915); Faithful to the Finish (1915); The Fatal Finger Prints (1915); The Deacon's Whiskers (1915); A Chase by Moonlight (1915); Beppo, the Barber (1915); Where Breezes Blow (1915); Brave and Bold (1915); Ethel's Romance (1915); Ethel's Disguise (1915); Ethel's Doggone Luck (1915); A Costly Exchange (1915); Ethel Gets Consent (1915); Bill Turns Valet (1915); A Flurry in Art (1915); A Flyer in Spring Water (1915); His Lesson (1915); The Record Breaker (1914); Bill and Ethel at the Ball (1914); The Housebreakers (1914); Mr. Hadley's Uncle (1914); Ethel Has a Steady (1914); Casey's Vendetta (1914); Bill Joins the W.W.W.'s (1914); Dizzy Joe's Career (1914); The Million Dollar Bride (1914); Bill Manages a Prizefighter (1914); Foiled Again (1914); Bill Organizes a Union (1914); A Physical Culture Romance (1914); Bill Saves the Day (1914); The Mix-Up at Murphy's (1914); Ethel's Teacher (1914); Search, the Scientific Detective (1914); Leave It to Smiley (1914); The White Slave Catchers (1914); Fatty and the Heiress (1914); The Deceiver (1914); Hubby to the Rescue (1914); Nell's Eugenic Wedding (1914); Home, Sweet Home (1914); The Right Dope (1914); When a Woman Guides (1914); The Fatal Dress Suit (1914); The Doctor's Trust (1914); Judith of Bethulia (1914); An Interrupted Séance (1914); A Desperate Hero (1914); The Faddists (1914); Buy Wool (1914); The Mystery of the Milk (1914); The Suicide Pact (1913); Oh, Sammy! (1913); The Troublesome Mole (1913); Mixed Nuts (1913); An Evening with Wilder Spender (1913); Aunts, Too Many! (1913); The Lady in Black (1913); Among Club Fellows (1913); Edwin's Badge of Honor (1913); The Work Habit (1913); The Suffragette Minstrels (1913); An Indian's Loyalty (1913); Cupid and the Cook (1913); Mr. Spriggs Buys a Dog (1913); While the Count Goes Bathing (1913); Pa Says (1913); The Sweat-Box (1913); A Sea Dog's Love (1913); The Noisy Suitors (1913); An Old Maid's Deception (1913); Faust and the Lily (1913); Master Jefferson Green (1913); A Compromising Complication (1913); The Mothering Heart (1913); The Rise and Fall of McDoo (1913); Almost a Wild Man (1913); Jenks Becomes a Desperate Character (1913); Red Hicks Defies the World (1913); Just Kids (1913); The Trimmers Trimmed (1913); Cinderella and the Boob (1913); A Rainy Day (1913); A Horse on Bill (1913); He Had a Guess Coming (1913); The Little Tease (1913); A Lesson to Mashers (1913); Their One Good Suit (1913); Edwin Masquerades (1913); The Old Gray Mare (1913); All Hail to the King (1913); The Power of the Camera (1913); A Delivery Package (1913); Tightwad's Predicament (1913); The Spring of Life (1913); Broken Ways (1913); A Queer Elopement (1913); Look Not Upon the Wine (1913); Love in an Apartment Hotel (1913); An Up-to-Date Lochinvar (1913); There Were Hoboes Three (1913); Oh, What a Boob! (1913); What Is the Use of Repining? (1913); Kissing Kate (1913); The Bite of a Snake (1913); Bill Bogg's Windfall (1912); The Massacre (1912); She Is a Pippin (1912); Jinx's Birthday Party (1912); After the Honeymoon (1912); An Absent-Minded Burglar (1912); The Informer (1912); Their Idols (1912); Hoist on His Own Petard (1912); His Auto's Maiden Trip (1912); The Club-Man and the Crook (1912); A Real Estate Deal (1912); At the Basket Picnic (1912); A Limited Divorce (1912); A Ten-Karat Hero (1912); Love's Messenger (1912); Stern Papa (1912); Blind Love (1912); Getting Rid of Trouble (1912); Through Dumb Luck (1912); Mr. Grouch at the Seashore (1912); The Baron (1912); An Interrupted Elopement (1912); The Baron (1912); The Would-Be Shriner (1912); Willie Becomes an Artist (1912); The Speed Demon (1912); One Round O'Brien (1912); The Baron (1912); The Spirit Awakened (1912); The Baron (1912); Algy the Watchman (1912); A Close Call (1912); The Baron (1912); When the Fire-Bells Rang (1912); The Leading Man (1912); The Baron (1912); Won by a Fish (1912); Their First Kidnapping Case (1912); Help! Help! (1912); Those Hicksville Boys (1912); Oh, Those Eyes (1912); A Voice from the Deep (1912); The Baron (1912); The Root of Evil (1912); A String of Pearls (1912); Priscilla's Capture (1912); A Blot on the 'Scutcheon (1912); With a Kodak (1912); For His Son (1912); The Old Bookkeeper (1912); Did Mother Get Her Wish? (1912); The Engagement Ring (1912); The Baby and the Stork (1912); The Voice of the Child (1911); Caught with the Goods (1911); Taking His Medicine (1911); The Failure (1911); Why He Gave Up (1911); Sunshine Through the Dark (1911); Her Mother Interferes (1911); The Adventures of Dollie (1908); The Miser's Heart (1911); Their First Divorce Case (1911); The Long Road (1911); Through His Wife's Picture (1911); Josh's Suicide (1911); The Making of a Man (1911); Too Many Burglars (1911); When Wifey Holds the Purse Strings (1911); A Convenient Burglar (1911); The Baron: The Villain Foiled (1911); The Diving Girl (1911); An Interrupted Game (1911); The Adventures of Billy (1911); Bobby, the Coward (1911); The Jealous Husband (1911); Fighting Blood (1911); The Delayed Proposal (1911); Bearded Youth (1911); Enoch Arden: Part II (1911); Enoch Arden: Part I (1911); Their Fates 'Sealed' (1911); Dave's Love Affair (1911); Curiosity (1911); Dutch Gold Mine (1911); The Crooked Road (1911); The Manicure Lady (1911); Misplaced Jealousy (1911); The Two Sides (1911); A Knight of the Road (1911); Madame Rex (1911); The Chief's Daughter (1911); Priscilla and the Umbrella (1911); The Spanish Gypsy (1911); Cured (1911); Priscilla's April Fool Joke (1911); The Lonedale Operator (1911); A Decree of Destiny (1911); Fisher Folks (1911); What Shall We Do with Our Old? (1911); Priscilla's Engagement Ring (1911); Three Sisters (1911); The Poor Sick Men (1911); Fate's Turning (1911); The Midnight Marauder (1911); The Italian Barber (1911); When a Man Loves (1911); After the Ball (1910); White Roses (1910); The Lesson (1910); His Sister-in-Law (1910); Turning the Tables (1910); Happy Jack, a Hero (1910); Effecting a Cure (1910); A Plain Song (1910); Sunshine Sue (1910); Simple Charity (1910); The Fugitive (1910); Waiter No. 5 (1910); Two Little Waifs (1910); The Message of the Violin (1910); The Banker's Daughters (1910); The Masher (1910); A Lucky Toothache (1910); That Chink at Golden Gulch (1910); A Gold Necklace (1910); Examination Day at School (1910); Rose o' Salem Town (1910); The Oath and the Man (1910); A Summer Tragedy (1910); In Life's Cycle (1910); A Mohawk's Way (1910); Little Angels of Luck (1910); Muggsy Becomes a Hero (1910); The Affair of an Egg (1910); The Modern Prodigal (1910); Wilful Peggy (1910); The Sorrows of the Unfaithful (1910); The Usurer (1910); A Salutary Lesson (1910); Her Father's Pride (1910); An Arcadian Maid (1910); The Call to Arms (1910); As the Bells Rang Out! (1910); A Flash of Light (1910); A Child's Faith (1910); A Midnight Cupid (1910); Muggsy's First Sweetheart (1910); A Child's Impulse (1910); The Marked Time-Table (1910); The Face at the Window (1910); In the Border States (1910); A Victim of Jealousy (1910); The Purgation (1910); The Impalement (1910); A Change of Heart (1909); The Little Teacher (1909); One Busy Hour (1909); The Suicide Club (1909); The Salvation Army Lass (1909); The Brahma Diamond (1909); The Welcome Burglar (1909); The Reckoning (1908); The Feud and the Turkey (1908); After Many Years (1908); Where the Breakers Roar (1908); Monday Morning in a Coney Island Police Court (1908); Deceived Slumming Party (1908); The Tavern Keeper's Daughter (1908); The Black Viper (1908); The Fight for Freedom (1908); The Stage Rustler (1908); The Kentuckian (1908); At the Crossroads of Life (1908); At the French Ball (1908); Over the Hill to the Poorhouse (1908); The Outlaw (1908); The Man in the Box (1908); The Invisible Fluid (1908); Mixed Babies (1908); Ostler Joe (1908); The Romance of an Egg (1908); Thompson's Night Out (1908); His Day of Rest (1908); The Sculptor's Nightmare (1908); Hulda's Lovers (1908); Old Isaacs, the Pawnbroker (1908); At the Crossroads of Life  (1908); The Boy Detective, or the Abductors Foiled (1908); The Princess in the Vase (1908); Bobby's Kodak (1908); Classmates (1908); Lonesome Junction (1908); Falsely Accused! (1908); The Village Cutup (1906); The Nihilist (1905).

 

As director:

Kentucky (1926); Flame of the Argentine (1926); The Dice Woman (1926); The Danger Girl (1926); The Drums of Jeopardy (1923); Broadway Gold (1923); Women Men Marry (1922); The Beauty Shop (1922); A Heart to Let (1921); Sheltered Daughters (1921); The Education of Elizabeth (1921); The Frisky Mrs. Johnson (1920); Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1920); The Amateur Wife (1920); The Winning Stroke (1919); Putting One Over (1919); Help! Help! Police! (1919); Never Say Quit (1919); Luck and Pluck (1919); The Embarrassment of Riches (1918); Our Little Wife (1918); The Antics of Ann (1917); Might and the Man (1917); A Daughter of the Poor (1917); Rough Knight (1916); Glass Slide (1916); The Lady Drummer (1916); The French Milliner (1916); Skirts (1916); Laundry Liz (1916); Bedelia's Bluff (1916); Mr. Goode, Samaritan (1916); The Two O'Clock Train (1916); Sunshine Dad (1916); The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary (1916); Don Quixote (1915); The Jinx on Jenks (1915); Over and Back (1915); Shocking Stockings (1915); Faithful to the Finish (1915); The Fatal Finger Prints (1915); Father Love (1915); The Deacon's Whiskers (1915); Safety First (1915); A Chase by Moonlight (1915); Beppo, the Barber (1915); Where Breezes Blow (1915); Brave and Bold (1915); Ethel's New Dress (1915); By Fair Means or Foul (1915); Mixed Values (1915); Ethel's Doggone Luck (1915); Caught by the Handle (1915); Bill Gives a Smoker (1915); A Costly Exchange (1915); Ethel Gets Consent (1915); Music Hath Charms (1915); Bill Turns Valet (1915); Cupid and the Pest (1915); A Flurry in Art (1915); A Flyer in Spring Water (1915); Love and Business (1915); Ethel Gets the Evidence (1915); The Record Breaker (1914); Bill and Ethel at the Ball (1914); The Housebreakers (1914); Mr. Hadley's Uncle (1914); A Corner in Hats (1914); Ethel Has a Steady (1914); Out Again, in Again (1914); Ethel's Roof Party (1914); Casey's Vendetta (1914); Bill Joins the W.W.W.'s (1914); Dizzy Joe's Career (1914); Bill Spoils a Vacation (1914); The Million Dollar Bride (1914); Bill Manages a Prizefighter (1914); Foiled Again (1914); The Fire Chief's Bride (1914); Bill Goes in Business for Himself (1914); The Mascot (1914); Bill Organizes a Union (1914); A Physical Culture Romance (1914); Bill Saves the Day (1914); The Mix-Up at Murphy's (1914); Ethel's Teacher (1914); Bill Takes a Lady Out to Lunch... Never Again (1914); Search, the Scientific Detective (1914); Leave It to Smiley (1914); How Bill Squared It with His Boss (1914); It Was Some Party (1914); Wrong All Around (1914); Bill's Job (1914); The White Slave Catchers (1914); The Deceiver (1914); Hubby to the Rescue (1914); A Jonah (1914); The Last Drink of Whiskey (1914); An Exciting Courtship (1914); The Alarm (1914); Nell's Eugenic Wedding (1914); The Man in the Couch (1914); The Scene of His Crime (1914); Maniacs Three (1914); Izzy and the Bandit (1914); Nearly a Burglar's Bride (1914); The Right Dope (1914); The Fatal Dress Suit (1914); Skelley's Birthday (1914); After Her Dough (1914); Because of a Hat (1914); An Interrupted Séance (1914); Skelley and the Turkey (1914); Skelley Buys a Hotel (1914); Skelley's Skeleton (1914); Oh, Sammy! (1913); A Foul and Fearful Plot (1913); The Troublesome Mole (1913); How the Day Was Saved (1913); Binks' Vacation (1913); The Somnambulists (1913); A Circumstantial Hero (1913); He's a Lawyer (1913); A Cure for Suffragettes (1913); Mrs. Casey's Gorilla (1913); Mixed Nuts (1913); In the Hands of the Black Hands (1913); Boarders and Bombs (1913); A Barber Cure (1913); An Evening with Wilder Spender (1913); The Winning Punch (1913); A Fallen Hero (1913); McGann and His Octette (1913); Aunts, Too Many! (1913); Never Known to Smile (1913); Scenting a Terrible Crime (1913); Dyed But Not Dead (1913); With the Aid of Phrenology (1913); A Saturday Holiday (1913); The End of the World (1913); His Hoodoo (1913).

As writer:

Don Key (Son of Burro) (1926); Wandering Papas (1926); Faithful to the Finish (1915); Safety First (1915); A First Class Cook (1914); Skelley's Birthday (1914); Skelley Buys a Hotel (1914); Mixed Nuts (1913); Come Seben, Leben (1913); Cupid and the Cook (1913); The Divorcee (1912); The Leading Man (1912); The Romance of an Egg (1908); Lonesome Junction (1908).