Sappho, on words:

 

Although only breath,

words which I command are immortal.
- Sappho.

Recommended reading - Deadlier Than the Male

Deadlier Than the Male

by James Gunn.

Introduced by Curtis Evans.

Filmed as Born to Kill, aka Lady of Deceit and Deadlier Than the Male (1947), directed by Robert Wise.

Published by Stark House Press.

Film Noir Classics, 7.

First published 1942.

Paperback.

ISBN-13: 979-8886010824

ASIN: B0CW22PDN7

Description:

“Deadlier Than the Male is truly one of the strangest of all American crime novels. In fact it’s one of the strangest of all American novels… It is in no way a pleasant read but it is fascinating in a bizarre, morbid and very unsettling way. Gunn’s style is as extreme and as offbeat as his plotting. This is psychological noir at its darkest.” – Vintage Pop Fictions.

DEADLIER THAN THE MALE.

Helen is in Reno for her second divorce and staying with Mrs. Krantz and her daughter Rachel at their boarding house. Mrs. Krantz’s drinking companion, Laura Pollicker, lives next door. That night she is murdered, and Helen discovers the body—and wastes no time in returning to the San Francisco house she shares with his sister Georgia. How could she know that the very man who meets and marries her sister only days later is the same man who had slit Mrs. Pollicker’s throat.

Sam Wild is a powerful man, tall, muscular, with very little control over his emotions. His friend Mart watches out for him, but Sam sometimes just can’t help himself—he has to kill. Now he’s got a rich wife with an attractive sister, and he’s just biding his time until he can take over Georgia’s money and get rid of her, too. But that’s when Helen steps in with some plans of her own.

Born on this day – Denison Clift:

 

Denison Clift

Writer

Director

May 3, 1885 – December 17, 1961

Credits:

A Bill of Divorcement (1922); A Girl in Bohemia (1919); A Woman of No Importance (1921); All That Glitters (1937); And a Still Small Voice (1918); Bentley's Conscience (1922); City of Play (1929); Diana of the Crossways (1922); El impostor (1931); End of the Road (1944); Firebrand Trevison (1920); Flames of Desire (1924); Gambling in Souls (1919); Great Diamond Mystery (1924); Her Honor the Mayor (1920); High Seas (1929); His Birthright (1918); Honor Among Men (1924); Lost Money (1919); Man About Town (1932); Out to Win (1923); Paradise (1928); Phantom Ship (1935); Ports of Call (1925); Power Over Men (1929); Rose of the West (1919); Scotland Yard (1930); Secrets of Scotland Yard (1944); Snares of Paris (1919); Sonia (1921); Square Shooter (1920); Taxi for Two (1929); The Bride of the Colorado (1928); The Call of the Soul (1919); The Challenge of the Law (1920); The Coming of the Law (1919); The Danger Zone (1918); The Diamond Necklace (1921); The Divorce Trap (1919); The Hell Ship (1920); The Iron Heart (1920); The Last Adventurers (1937); The Last Straw (1920); The Little Wanderer (1920); The Love That Dares (1919); The Loves of Mary, Queen of Scots (1923); The Midnight Patrol (1918); The Old Wives' Tale (1921); The Speed Maniac (1919); The Spirit of Good (1920); The Splendid Sin (1919); The Tattlers (1920); The Woman Disputed (1928); The Yankee Clipper (1927); This Freedom (1923); Warn London (1934); Wedlock (1918); What Would You Do? (1920); When Fate Decides (1919); Why Men Forget (1921); Wolves of the Rail (1918).

Born on this day – Dodie Smith:

Dodie Smith

Writer

May 3, 1896 – November 24, 1990

Credits:

Books:

The Hundred and One Dalmatians (1956); The Starlight Barking (1967); Look Back with Love (1974); Look Back with Mixed Feelings (1978); Look Back with Astonishment (1979); Look Back with Gratitude (1985); I Capture the Castle (1948); Girl from the Candle-lit Bath (1961); The New Moon With the Old (1963); The Town in Bloom (1965); It Ends with Revelations (1967); Tale of Two Families (1970); The Midnight Kittens (1978); Service (1932); Autumn Crocus (1933); Touch Wood (1934); Call it A Day (1936); Bonnet Over the Windmill (1937); Dear Octopus (1938); Lovers and Friends (1947); Letter from Paris (1954); Amateur Means Lover (1962).

Movies and television:

101 Dalmatian Street (2020); 101 Dalmatians (1996); 101 Dalmatians 2: Patch's London Adventure (2002); 101 Dalmatians: Escape from DeVil Manor (1997); 101 Dalmatians: The Series (1997–1998); 102 Dalmatians (2000); 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue (2000); Autumn Crocus (1934); BBC Sunday-Night Play (1960); BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1952); Call It a Day (1937); Call It a Day (1948); Call It a Day (1956); Chris & Don: A Love Story (2007); Cruella (2021); Darling, How Could You! (1951); Dear Octopus (1943); Dear Octopus (1953); Der erste Frühlingstag (1956); Der erste Frühlingstag (1962); Der erste Frühlingstag / Call it a Day (1961); I Capture the Castle (1954); I Capture the Castle (2003); ITV Play of the Week (1959); ITV Playhouse (1972); ITV Television Playhouse (1957); Jackanory (1986); Looking Forward (1933); Matinee Theatre (1956–1957); One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961); Primo giorno di primavera (1955); Redefining the Line: The Making of One Hundred and One Dalmatians (2008); Schoolgirl Rebels (1915); The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1961); The Glorious Adventure (1922); The Madhouse on Castle Street (1963); The Prudential Family Playhouse (1950); The Uninvited (1944); To Each His Own (1946); Zo maar een dag in de lente (1960).

Born on this day – Aline MacMahon:

 

Aline MacMahon

Actress

May 3, 1899 – October 12, 1991

Credits:

Actor's Choice (1970); Ah Wilderness! (1935); All the Way Home (1963); Babbitt (1934); Back Door to Heaven (1939); Big Hearted Herbert (1934); Camera Three (1978); Celanese Theatre (1952); Cimarron (1960); Complicated Women (2003); Compression (2024); Diamond Head (1962); Dragon Seed (1944); Five Star Final (1931); For the Use of the Hall (1975); Frontiers of Faith (1952–1955); Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933); Gold Diggers: FDR's New Deal... Broadway Bound (2006); Great Performances (1974); Guest in the House (1944); Heat Lightning (1934); Heroes for Sale (1933); Hollywood and the Stars (1964); Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies and the American Dream (1998); I Could Go on Singing (1963); I Live My Life (1935); Kind Lady (1935); Kraft Theatre / The Philco Television Playhouse (1950); Lamp Unto My Feet (1957–1961); Life Begins (1932); Mary Jane's Pa (1935); NET Playhouse (1969); Once in a Lifetime (1932); One Way Passage (1932); Out of the Fog (1941); Play of the Week (1959); Pulitzer Prize Playhouse (1952); Reward Unlimited (1944); Roseanna McCoy (1949); Seeds of Freedom (1943); Side Streets (1934); Silver Dollar (1932); Stage Door Canteen (1943); Studio One (1957–1958); The Defenders (1963–1964); The Doctors and the Nurses (1964); The Ed Sullivan Show (1961); The Eddie Cantor Story (1953); The Flame and the Arrow (1950); The Heart of New York (1932); The Lady Is Willing (1942); The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933); The Man from Laramie (1955); The Merry Frinks (1934); The Mighty McGurk (1947); The Mouthpiece (1932); The Movie Crazy Years (1971); The Search (1948); The Shade of the Tree (1956); The Tonight Show (1956); The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar (1958); The World Changes (1933); The Young Doctors (1961); Tish (1942); Twenty Years After (1944); Week-End Marriage (1932); When You're in Love (1937); While the Patient Slept (1935).

Born on this day – Mary Astor:

 

Mary Astor

Actress

May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987

Credits:

A Kiss Before Dying (1956); A Stranger in My Arms (1959); A Successful Calamity (1932); A Trip Through the Paramount Studio (1927); Across the Pacific (1942); Act of Violence (1948); Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1958–1959); All But Forgotten (1978); American Cinema (1995); And So They Were Married (1936); Any Number Can Play (1949); Backstory (2001); Beau Brummel (1924); Behind Office Doors (1931); Ben Casey (1963); Blonde Fever (1944); Breakdowns of 1941 (1941); Brigham Young (1940); Brother of the Bear (1921); Buick-Electra Playhouse (1960); Bullets or Ballots (1921); Burke's Law (1963); Cass Timberlane (1947); Catalogue of Ships (2008); Checkmate (1962); Claudia and David (1946); Climax! (1955–1957); Convention City (1933); Cynthia (1947); Danger (1954); Desert Fury (1947); Dinky (1935); Dodsworth (1936); Don Juan (1926); Don Q Son of Zorro (1925); Dr. Kildare (1962–1963); Dressed to Kill (1928); Dry Martini (1928); Easy to Love (1934); Enticement (1925); Fiesta (1947); Forever After (1926); Front Row Center (1955); Frontier Justice (1959); General Electric Theater (1959); Heart to Heart (1928); High Steppers (1926); Holiday (1930); Hollywood (1923); Hollywood (1980); Hollywood and the Stars (1963); Hollywood My Home Town (1965); Hollywood Without Make-Up (1963); Hollywood: The Golden Years (1961); Home Stories (1990); Hope (1922); Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964); I Am a Thief (1934); In the Good Old Summertime Intro (2004); Inez from Hollywood (1924); James Dean's Lost Slideshow (2013); Jennie Gerhardt (1933); John Smith (1922); Justice (1955); Kraft Theatre (1951–1954); Kraft Theatre / The Philco Television Playhouse (1954); Kraft Theatre / The United States Steel Hour (1955–1960); Ladies Love Brutes (1930); Lady from Nowhere (1936); Listen, Darling (1938); Little Women (1949); Lux Video Theatre (1956–1957); Man of Iron (1935); Matinee Theatre (1956); Meet Me in St. Louis (1944); Meet the Stars #3: Variety Reel #1 (1941); Men of Chance (1931); Midnight (1939); My Lady o' the Pines (1921); New Year's Eve (1929); Nihon eiga no hyaku nen / Century of Cinema (1995); No Place to Go (1927); No Time to Marry (1938); Northern Exposure (1994); Oh, Doctor! (1925); Okay for Sound (1946); Other Men's Women (1930); Page Miss Glory (1935); Paradise for Three (1938); Person to Person (1960); Playhouse 90 (1957–1960); Playing with Souls (1925); Playwrights '56 (1956); Ponds Theater (1955); Producers' Showcase (1955); Puritan Passions (1923); Rawhide (1961); Red Dust (1932); Red Hot Tires (1935); Return of the Terror (1934); Return to Peyton Place (1961); Robert Montgomery Presents (1956); Romance of the Underworld (1928); Rose of the Golden West (1927); Sailors' Wives (1928); Scarlet Saint (1925); Screen Snapshots Series 15, No. 12 (1936); Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Memories (1951); Second Fiddle (1923); Sentimental Tommy (1921); Show of Shows (1929); Smart Woman (1931); Some of the Greatest (1955); Star Stage (1956); Stay Tuned (1992); Straight from the Heart (1935); Studio 57 (1956); Studio One (1954–1958); Success (1923); That's Entertainment, Part II (1976); The Angelus (1922); The Beggar Maid (1921); The Best of Broadway (1954); The Bright Shawl (1923); The Case of the Howling Dog (1934); The Confession (2018); The Defenders (1963); The Devil's Hairpin (1957); The Dick Cavett Show (1971); The Ed Sullivan Show (1956); The Elgin Hour (1955); The Fighting American (1924); The Fighting Coward (1924); The Great Lie (1941); The Hollywood Gad-About (1934); The Hurricane (1937); The Kennel Murder Case (1933); The Lash (1930); The Little Giant (1933); The Lost Squadron (1932); The Maltese Falcon (1941); The Man Who Played God (1922); The Man with Two Faces (1934); The Marriage Maker (1923); The Murder of Dr. Harrigan (1935); The Pace That Thrills (1925); The Palm Beach Story (1942); The Philadelphia Story (1959); The Power and the Prize (1956); The Price of a Party (1924); The Prisoner of Zenda (1937); The Rapids (1922); The Rough Riders (1927); The Royal Bed (1931); The Rules of Film Noir (2009); The Runaway Bride (1930); The Sea Tiger (1927); The Sin Ship (1931); The Sunset Derby (1927); The Twentieth Century (1959); The Wise Guy (1926); The Woman from Hell (1929); The World Changes (1933); The Young Painter (1922); There's Always a Woman (1938); This Happy Feeling (1958); Those We Love (1932); Thousands Cheer (1943); Thriller (1960); 3-Ring Marriage (1928); To the Ladies (1923); Tomorrow Coast to Coast (1974); Trapped by Television (1936); Turnabout (1940); Two Arabian Knights (1927); U.S. Marshal (1958–1960); Unguarded Women (1924); Upperworld (1934); WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1926 (1926); White Shoulders (1931); Wings of the Border (1921); Woman Against Woman (1938); Woman-Proof (1923); Yesterday and Today (1953); Young Ideas (1943); Youngblood Hawke (1964); Zane Grey Theatre (1957).

Born on this day – Norman Corwin:

Norman Corwin

Writer

Producer

Director

Professor

May 3, 1910 – October 18, 2011