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Olivia de Havilland, a world treasure
Posted on January 31, 2015 by Louis Kraft
I recently heard from a good source that Olivia de Havilland had become frail and spent time in and out of the hospital. But what is frail? … Although I admit that "frail" can be of major importance to all of us, everything is a matter of degrees and all of us are different. As far as hospital visits go, I've had 12 operations and I'm still enjoying walking on our earth. Just so everyone knows I'm slow with everything that I write, and this blog is no exception. Sometimes this agitates and angers some of the people that I work with (I'm not talking about my key editors, Chuck Rankin at the University of Oklahoma Press or Greg Lalire at Wild West magazine). Hey, this is just how I am—a slow writer so accept it. Two days ago a friend sent me a link to an interview/article on Ms. de Havilland that went live on January 29 (Entertainment Weekly interviews Olivia de Havilland). This article/interview with Ms. de Havilland left me with the following: She is still active, very positive, and is looking forward to her 100th birthday in 2016.
As Olivia turns 99 years young on July 1, 2015, I want to say some words about this special lady, … this special lady who has kindly shared a small part of her life with me over the years.
Olivia's Elizabeth Bacon Custer & Errol Flynn's George Armstrong Custer
As a boy I saw They Died with Their Boots On (Warner Bros., 1941), wherein she played Elizabeth Bacon Custer ("Libbie," and this is the correct spelling of her nickname) and Errol Flynn played George Armstrong Custer. This film, which has been ripped for historical accuracy, grabbed my interest and never let go. Not to this day. It started me reading about Custer and his Libbie: First young reader books, then biographies, and eventually primary source material in print form or on microfilm. This film all by itself eventually led me to writing and speaking about the American Indian wars.
A Spanish mini poster for They Died with Their Boots On. (Louis Kraft personal collection)
Olivia, or "Livvie," became my favorite actress and Flynn became my favorite actor. I will deal with their acting and life and times during their working years together in Errol & Olivia. If you follow me on other social media you know that this book is moving toward becoming my primary writing project. There is a reason for the extended length of time I take to write nonfiction books. Mainly that I must know what I'm going to write about before I write it, and most of the information that I use comes from primary source material. These searches are exhausting, but mandatory for me to complete any nonfiction books.
Livvie and Flynn are still my favorite actors, although there are modern actors that have given performances that have grabbed me and won't let go no matter how often I study these films. Yes, that's right, "study." But also enjoy, and if the "enjoy" fades away it raises the question of why? Why does a film no longer hold up against the test of time? Only a few modern actors—less than twelve—have more than two films that I bother to view more than once or twice.
This kissing scene between Olivia de Havilland's Elizabeth Bacon (before she married GAC) and Errol Flynn's George Armstrong Custer will be featured in Errol & Olivia (Louis Kraft personal collection)
Back to They Died with Their Boots On, and the lack of historical accuracy. I'm going to say two things about this: 1) Warner Bros. feared lawsuits in 1941, and because of this real participants in the Custers' lives were dropped from the film and historical events were fictionalized to protect the studio. 2) Go back to the primary source information on Custer (and there is a massive amount available to those who really do research) and also read the three books that Libbie Custer wrote about her time on the frontier during her marriage to George Custer. Match what you find (and trust me, this will take time to find and digest it) and then watch the film again. You will be amazed. I've discussed this in print on several occasions and I have spoken about it numerous times.
Enough said, other than to say that They Died with Their Boots On has given us Olivia's and Flynn's best performances together. It was also their last, but that only came to be because of future events (which will also be dealt with in Errol & Olivia).
I can't speak for Bob Utley or Paul Hutton or anyone else who had been influenced by this film (and I know a lot of people that have been), but for me the film grabbed me when Olivia's Libbie and Flynn's Custer relocated to the frontier. Actually, it started when Flynn's Custer stood up to the fictional Senator Sharp and his son Ned Sharp, and when Olivia's Libbie accepts that they won't become rich. This image of Olivia and Flynn is on the porch outside their quarters at Fort Lincoln, Dakota Territory, and it easily symbolizes both the real and the fictional General and Mrs. Custer. (Louis Kraft personal collection)
Before moving from Olivia's Libbie and Flynn's Custer let me say this. The film not only influenced my future but it has also influenced friends and Indian wars historians Robert M. Utley and Paul Andrew Hutton (among others) big time. Paul Hutton has said in print and to me personally that he fell in love with Olivia the first time he saw her play Libbie Custer, and that this has never changed for him. In his memoir (Custer and Me: A Historian's Memoir. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004, page 8), Bob Utley wrote: "Flynn and de Havilland seared themselves into my mind's eye, planted themselves deeply in my psyche, and treated me repeatedly to the thrilling denouement of the Last Stand.1 … For in 1942, especially in the climate of military celebration created by World War II, I found my obsession." Livvie and Flynn's performances led to his long career in the U.S. National Park Service (where I believe Bob retired as chief historian). No matter, for his long list of first-class books dealing with the Indian wars has been inspirational for many historians and would-be historians over the decades.
1 For those of you that don't know, George Armstrong Custer died during the Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana Territory on June 25, 1876, when he and his regiment attacked a Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho village. This was the greatest victory of the Plains Indians against the white invasion of their lands, but it also marked the end of their days of freedom for like the defeat of the Alamo in 1836, the attack on Peal Harbor in 1941, and the heinous murder of over 3000 U.S. citizens on September 11, 2001, it would resonate as a rallying cry.
An introduction into Ms. de Havilland's world
In 1995 my book, Custer and the Cheyenne: George Armstrong Custer's Winter Campaign on the Southern Plains was published (Upton and Sons, El Segundo, Ca.). That June I spoke about Custer riding into Cheyenne chief and mystic Stone Forehead's village in the Texas Panhandle to discuss ending war in March 1869 in Amarillo, Texas, which is the subject of the Custer book.
Errol Flynn as George Armstrong Custer and what I consider the quintessential portrait of the real Custer by Matthew Brady and Company in 1864. Flynn's Custer is about to set out from Fort Abraham Lincoln in Dakota Territory on May 17, 1876, for what would become his final Indian campaign. The real Custer died at the Battle of the Little Bighorn a little over a month later, on June 25. (photos in Louis Kraft personal collection)
During the convention several busses transported us to the Washita River, where Custer's 7th Cavalry attacked a Cheyenne village, and although many people died, Custer did what he could to prevent the wanton murder of women and children. This site, now the Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, was then on private property. During a stop for lunch, my daughter Marissa and I ate with an historian/professor named Eric Niderost. Just an introduction, but Eric followed up and our brief time together would lead to a long-time friendship that thrives to this day.
In 1995 I decided to write a book about Errol Flynn. Eric knew this. He also had Olivia de Havilland's address in Paris, France, which has been her home since the 1950s, and in 1996 asked if I'd like to have it. Would I! That year I began writing Ms. de Havilland letters of introduction with absolutely no response. After three or four letters, and many months (a year?) passed I realized that I wasn't proceeding in a good way.
I decided to turn on my charm (I know, I know, since when has Kraft had charm?), and I began sending the lady birthday cards and Christmas cards and gifts. Time passed, but eventually my "charm" and long-distance wooing wore the lady down and she responded. Without going back to check I believe she may have answered a question or two. The correspondence continued into the new century, but I must say that Olivia cherry-picked the questions she would answer. The others she flat-out ignored. I am a gentleman and I never brought up the subject of sex and or love. She would do this for me and in so doing shot holes through bullshit books that create fiction and sell it as fact (sorry, but this is for Errol & Olivia).
Sometime in the late 1990s I agreed to write an article for Persimmon Hill that dealt with They Died with Their Boots On, and questions became specific to this film. From this time forward I would read, and eventually listen to and see, Ms. de Havilland's view on events surrounding this film change, for suddenly what I had brought up took hold within her and created a life of its own.
Errol & Olivia becomes reality
During these early years of our communication I realized that like the biography of Lt. Charles Gatewood and his participation in the Apache wars that I had been writing since 1995 needed something else. In Gatewood's case the book needed the Bedonkohe Apache mystic and war leader Geronimo. The Flynn book needed Olivia de Havilland, and sometime around 2002 Errol & Olivia became reality.
I like the art used on this 1979 American Classic Screen magazine cover. At first I didn't, but it has grown on me. … I already know what image I want on the cover of Errol & Olivia. Will I or the publisher be able to obtain usage rights? I don't know. If not, we'll move to plan B, which isn't in place at the moment. There is a good possibility that if the original art for this cover can be tracked down that it might be included in plan B, but only if I think that the book title and the author credit won't hurt the artwork. … I'm sorry, for if you don't know of Ms. de Havilland and Mr. Flynn's acting careers, this film, Captain Blood (Warner Bros.-First National Pictures, 1935), made them stars overnight. My favorite scene is the slave auction wherein Olivia's Arabella Bishop purchases an innocent man, Flynn's Dr. Peter Blood, who has been convicted of treason in England and shipped to Jamaica where he'll spend the rest of his life in bondage. Flynn's Blood would escape and become the most infamous pirate in the Caribbean Sea. Warner Bros. quickly realized that the film-going public fell in love with these young actors and smartly teamed them again and again. Their film relationship has since grown to legendary proportions.
I need to say something here, I take my time with research and a book isn't completed until I think I have enough information for the book to be published. Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn fans have been pounding me for years on when will the book be published. Add to that, Olivia hasn't been too pleased with my slowness. Let me say this, I began researching and writing a book on Ned Wynkoop in 1985; the book, Ned Wynkoop and the Lonely Road from Sand Creek was published in 2011 (University of Oklahoma Press). I don't have all the answers on Olivia de Havilland or Errol Flynn for what I need to make Errol & Olivia shine. Until I answer what I consider mandatory questions the book is in the works. That said, Errol & Olivia will be my prime book after Sand Creek and the Tragic End of a Lifeway is published (and for the record I have been researching Sand Creek since 1985). I don't create history like some unscrupulous writer/historians, who do everything to dupe their readers and create hateful, and sometimes racist nonfiction, that is not accurate or truthful. Some of their words are little more than piss-poor fiction. BTW, this will be an upcoming blog (whenever I have the guts to post it).
Louis Kraft talking about the Santa Fe Trail (Warner Bros., 1940) film premier in Santa Fe, N. Mex., in the Western Writers of America tent at the Festival of the West in Scottsdale, Ariz., on 19mar2005. When I gave the talk I realized that I had gold—pure gold. Luckily the talk wasn't taped (actually I hate saying that, for that means it is lost to time). Regarding this talk, which I consider my favorite, I retired it before I drove home. Usually if I like a talk it continues to live. Not this time, for the talk had to be reworked to fit into Errol & Olivia (I realized that it would become a featured piece in the manuscript). (photo by my good friend and great writer Johnny D. Boggs)
Errol & Olivia means a lot to me, and I absolutely refuse to write about something that I can't confirm. End of story. Everyone who reads my writing knows that patience is key. … For the record I have stopped writing for the software world (since 2012), which means two things: 1) I have turned my back on paydays that would make you sick (read I now count pennies), and 2) I have stopped delivering talks across the U.S. unless I receive my full salary and all expenses (talks cost me a lot of time; their absence has freed up a lot of time for books). I will probably sell a few articles in the coming years, but they (and the photos/artwork) are for pay (which is now needed). My focus are my books. Trust me, and actually bet on the books becoming reality for they will. I work seven days a week, and I don't have to put in fifty or sixty hours per week plus two+ hours of driving time per day before I go to work on my projects. I now write for me and my reading pubic.
Ladies and gentlemen, sometime in the future that isn't as distant as you might believe, you will have the opportunity to read Errol & Olivia. Trust me, for the future is closing in on joining hands with reality.
Years passed and my communication with Olivia continued. I realized that to keep our long-distance relationship alive I needed to throw something new into the mix. What? And then it hit me: My daughter Marissa. Believe it or not, this proved to be brilliant on my part.
An invitation by Olivia
In 2002 Olivia invited my daughter Marissa and I to visit her in 2003. I immediately wrote back that we'd love to meet her. No reply, absolutely no reply. In 2003 I realized that I needed an operation If I wanted to continue walking the earth (actually there would be a follow-up operation four and a half months later that played a major role in me actually "walking"). By April 2003 flying to France ceased to be an objective and I forgot about the visit.
But then in fall 2003 Olivia sent me a letter scolding me for not visiting during the previous summer. I quickly replied and we set the date for 2004. As the date neared and with all preparation in place we shared phone numbers. Ms. de Havilland told me that she preferred that I speak with her secretary as her hearing on the phone wasn't the best, and we set the visit during a 16-day trip to France. At that time Marissa was studying art and her favorites were Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh. Paris has a wealth of great art museums. We would see them and track van Gogh and Monet.
In Olivia's last communication to me before our flight to France, she wrote: "You are bringing Marissa, aren't you?" I quickly responded with a short missive. "Yes, ma'am."
I didn't know what to expect in France. Heck, I had heard that a lot of the French hate the Americans and that we'd be treated badly. Really? Only once in two prolonged trips to France did I encounter anything like this, and those words were spat at me by an ancient women bent over her cane as we walked past her (can't remember the name of the town). We're not going to talk about Paris or France here, but I will say this: I would gladly move to France (even with the hateful crimes that are currently taking the lives of innocent people) as I love Paris and all of the outlying cities and towns that I have visited. Alas, I believe that it is too expensive and my car of choice would hate the French, for they, and certainly in Paris, have a habit of bouncing off the car in front and then the car in the rear when Parisians attempt to parallel park (they perform this process in reverse when exiting the parking spot).
We stayed in a five-star hotel across the street from the French congress named the Meridian, and it was walking distance to Olivia's home (which is similar to a brownstone in the eastern United States). A day before our visit I walked from the hotel to Olivia's home as I wanted to take a few photos of it, and more important I wanted to know exactly where it was located. I always enjoy walking in Paris.
A 2004 visit with Olivia de Havilland
(My 35 mm Canon camera went belly up.)
On June 29 the Meridian Hotel called a taxi for Marissa and I. I was loaded down with gifts including flowers, and paper and pens as Olivia didn't want me to record the interview(s). On this day, Olivia's then assistant, Laura, joined us in the garden and this made for a nice foursome. Marissa and I sat on each side of Olivia and Laura sat across from her. Fidel, her manservant, served champagne, which Olivia likes.
Marissa took this image of me at Musée Louvre in Paris on July 1, 2004, two days after we visited with Olivia de Havilland. (photo © Louis & Marissa Kraft 2004)
After the introductions we moved to small talk as Olivia looked at and enjoyed her gifts. She does have a lot of my writing from books to plays to articles. I know she's read some of the material for her comments are such that she had to be familiar with the subject matter. My reason went beyond egotism or anything like this; what I wanted was for her to know that I knew how to create biographies, knew how to research, and could write (it's shocking that many so-called writers can't write).
I always go into an interview prepared with questions, and almost always move away from them and go with the flow of where the conversation leads. I prefer this approach as I'm interested learning what I can of the person I'm interviewing and this allows the conversation to move in directions that are of interest to them.
I should say this up front, Olivia is a marvelous hostess. She is open, kind, and attentive. Marissa was fighting perhaps the beginning of a cold and Olivia provided her with medications that could stop what might happen before it did. The pills worked. Olivia also made a point of pulling Marissa into the conversation.
Certainly I did have more questions about her portrayal of Libbie Custer and of the film being the last that she did with Errol Flynn. We spent a long time on this and later that night Olivia returned to it. And clearly her view had begun to change (and even more so than questions she had answered regarding the film years back). What I observed and what has been printed and placed on film is in conflict with the facts. That said, this film was as alive for Olivia de Havilland on that June day in 2004 as it had been for her in 1941. Actually this day appeared to do wonders for the attraction and perhaps love that she and Flynn felt for each other off and on during their working relationship. Alas, events, constantly blocked anything from happening between them. As she later and rightly stated a relationship between them would have ruined her (this is a paraphrase) and I believe this. … All of this said, the love for Errol Flynn that I saw in Olivia de Havilland's eyes that June 29 was unmistakable.
Fidel positioned himself just inside the house and peeked through the curtains of the French door. When one of us sipped champagne he magically appeared and filled the glass. At one point Olivia asked Marissa why she hadn't tried the champagne. Shy but not wanting to offend, Marissa lifted the glass to her lips and wet her tongue (and Castro refilled her glass). Although Marissa never said it, Olivia realized that she didn't drink.
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex is based upon Maxwell Anderson's 1930 verse play Elizabeth the Queen. The character of Penelope Gray, a fictional character, was also in Anderson's play. Susan Goulet's original art of Olivia as Penelope Gray is currently in the Louis Kraft personal collection, but I am considering placing it in the Louis Kraft Collection once Errol & Olivia is published.
One of the gifts I gave Olivia that June 29 was a painting of her as Lady Penelope Gray in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (Warner Bros., 1939). She knew immediately who she portrayed in the image and was delighted with it. I'm not going to go into details about the film or the difficulties Olivia struggled through during filming other than to say it has a great backstory. I will say this, she was vibrant and alive in her scenes and I think delivered the best performance in the film. Errol & Olivia will deal with the making of this film and Olivia's and Flynn's lives at this time. … And with The Adventures of Robin Hood (Warner Bros., 1938), the late thirties set in motion changes to their careers and lives, changes that had actually begun when Captain Blood (Warner Bros.-First National Pictures, 1935) became an instant hit at the box office, changes that would be firmly in place before the end of 1944. These changes would affect the rest of Olivia's and Flynn's lives.
Since the late author Charles Higham played high and loose with facts in two books of importance to Olivia, Sisters: The Story of Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine (Coward-McCann, Inc., New York, 1984) and Errol Flynn: The Untold Story (Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York,1980) I attempted to get her to comment on stated events (these were included on my list of questions). I had requested information about Higham's accuracy in the past through the mail and she wrote one comment: "Charles Higham is an unscrupulous man." Olivia remained firm; she would not talk about Higham or his inflammatory accusations that had no basis in fact. "Charles Higham never contacted me, not once," Olivia said (this is a paraphrase as the interview is safely stored). My interviews with Olivia will be made available in the Louis Kraft Collection after Errol & Olivia is published.
Olivia de Havilland with Mary Jane Ward, author of the semi-autobiographical best selling novel The Snake Pit (New York: Random House, 1946) before principle filming began. It appears that they are looking at a draft of the script for the film. A hardbound copy of The Snake Pit with a battered dust jacket is under the script. (Louis Kraft personal collection)
On more of a positive note, Olivia asked me which of her performances did I like the best. I told her that I thought her best performance was as Virginia Cunningham in The Snake Pit (20th Century Fox, 1948). Her performance is extraordinary as she struggles with fears and doubts that have torn apart her married life and led to her confinement in a mental institution wherein psychiatric care is at times less than humane. Olivia smiled and informed me that it was her favorite role.
Before the evening ended we moved away from Flynn and Olivia's film world, replacing it with world politics and a little digging into her life. Olivia shied away from her personal life before Hollywood and of her sister, actress Joan Fontaine's autobiography, No Bed of Roses (William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, 1978).
At this time of the year it remains light in Paris until about 10:00 PM, and it was close to or just after midnight when Marissa and I hugged Olivia goodbye (and I kissed her on the cheek).
An invitation to Olivia's big night in 2006
In 2006 I wrote for the now dead company Sun Microsystems. That January my sister, Linda Kraft-Morgon, informed me that she had six weeks left to live. My then manager, Sudeshna Ghosh, did one of the kindest things anyone has ever done for me—she allowed me to come into the office early two to three times per week, drive to Lake Arrowhead to spend two or three hours with my sister, and drive back to the office to work into the night. That gave me four to five days of seeing my sister each week until the end. During the drives up the mountain headaches began to pound. They became so bad that often I had to pull to the side of the road and wait for them to pass and still they affected me once I arrived. I thought that this was just stress.
January 15, 2006, was a day that I'll never forget. Linda and her husband Greg were supposed to come to Tujunga House for Christmas and her birthday (December 24) but I was under the weather and Linda's immune system could not be put at risk. On this day we celebrated the birth of Christ and her last BD. it was a special day for me. It was also the first day of the few I still had to capture my last memories of her in a handful of stolen hours. (photo © Louis Kraft 2006)
But after my sister's death on March 1 the headaches didn't go away; in fact they increased and this included at lower altitudes. … In April I had sinus surgery that included some nasty things and required two weeks recovery with follow-ups with the surgeon.
Just before the surgery I learned that the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California, planned to honor Olivia de Havilland in June. Wonderful news, and long overdue for the two-time Academy Award winner.
One of her nominations was for The Snake Pit (20th Century Fox, 1948),
a film in which she should have won the Oscar as her portrayal
as Virginia Cunningham is extraordinary. I have strong views about
how award winners are selected and for the most part my
views are a little less than laudatory (I hope that the hint of sarcasm
shines through here). I was thrilled for her, and that was that
for I had no intention of asking for an invitation.
My then girlfriend and her son took care of me at their home during the two weeks of recovery. When I finally returned home I had a massive amount of emails and phone messages requesting and then demanding invitations to Olivia's June event. In one particular case a professor and Errol Flynn historian who had become a decent long-distant confidant in all subjects related to Flynn and to a lesser degree Olivia. The messages turned angry and then bitter and sarcastic. I emailed him, saying that I was away and recovering from an operation and that I had no plans to ask for myself or anyone else. "Give me de Havilland's address and/or phone number!" he demanded. "No!" "Why the bleep not?" "I promised Olivia that I wouldn't share her private information and I'm not going to share it." "What about doing this for Deidre Flynn [Flynn's oldest daughter]; hell, you worked with her?" "I already told you what I'm not going to do." "You're no f—ing friend!" "It seems to me that you aren't either."
I thought about it and recontacted the professor, who was a good writer and he had certainly done a lot of great research on Flynn. He had one problem; he couldn't stop polishing his Flynn manuscript that he had told me he had finished writing four or five years before; that is roughly at the time we came in contact with each other. In the email I told him that I would forward Deidre's information to Olivia if he supplied me with it. He did and I did.
But the relationship had ended. People wonder why I shy away from close relationships with writer/historians who write about the same subjects as I. Well, you've just seen one example of why. … Don't get me wrong, for I've got some great writer/historian friends in this small world of Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn (David DeWitt and Thomas McNulty to name two) and I certainly have more good friends in my Indian wars world.
Weeks later a surprise arrived in the mail. Olivia had secured an invitation for me to attend her event at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
On the left is the invitation to the tribute honoring Olivia de Havilland. On the right is the cover of the invitation (actually the black and gray border opens to reveal a larger image of Livvie). … Ms. de Havilland, thank you again for inviting me to your special night. I enjoyed every minute of the event.
A lady is honored
lk soon after entering the main lobby of the Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences building in Beverly Hills on 15jun2006. (photo © Louis Kraft 2006)
On the early evening of June 15, 2006, the sidewalk in front of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences on Wilshire Boulevard was crowded with people dressed in gowns and suits, and in one case a tuxedo. While my then girlfriend and I waited I saw the professor/historian in the crowd. Deidre Flynn accompanied him. He looked as he did in pictures that I had seen of him, but I didn't look as I did on the dust jacket of Lt. Charles Gatewood & His Apache Wars Memoir (University of Nebraska Press, 2005), which he had. The doors opened at a quarter to seven in the evening. Immediately the large lobby bubbled with excitement as the guests mingled and chatted. Caterers brought out platters of absolutely magnificent food. There was an open bar. The Academy had gone all out for Olivia de Havilland's night of honor.
Diane Moon, my girlfriend, ate with me, but then wandered as she snapped photographs with a cell phone. I drifted about as I enjoyed a glass of wine only to halt. Before me stood Patrice Wymore Flynn. She sipped wine and nibbled. I watched her for a moment, but then stepped forward and began talking with her. After about 10 minutes she looked at me quizzically. "You don't know who I am," she said. "Yes I do, Mrs. Flynn." She liked that and the conversation continued. During the course of the night we spoke several more times. I liked her. Diane caught some candids of our initial meeting.
The top of this collage is of Patrice Wymore Flynn and Louis Kraft shortly after we met for the first time. As you can see in the image Pat is moving, and so is LK (but not as quickly). It is actually a color photo, but I thought it would work better here as a grayscale image. Later the professor/historian Lincoln Hurst and I got together. Pat joined us and we had a great roundabout conversation. (photo © Louis Kraft 2006)
For additional thoughts about Patrice Wymore Flynn, see Classy lady Patrice Wymore Flynn dies + a Sand Creek "thank you".
Later I saw the professor/historian chatting with Robert Osborne, the primary host of Turner Classic Movies. I joined them and introduced myself. Osborne was polite while Lincoln Hurst was taken by surprise. Soon Osborne excused himself and Hurst and I spent a good part of the rest of the evening together. Neither of us mentioned the past April, and it was almost as if we were long-time friends who hadn't seen each other in a while. I enjoyed hanging out with him. Diane captured some pictures, and then more when Pat Wymore Flynn joined us.
About an hour after the doors opened at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Olivia de Havilland made her entry and greeted the crowd. (image © Louis Kraft 2006)
Olivia arrived with a bunch of gentlemen in suits, none of whom I recognized. Soon after the Academy set her up in a room to greet those she had placed on a list. Diane and I got into the line. When we reached the front of it one of the two wanna-be football players asked for my name. I gave it to him. "You're not on the list." "Take another look." He did. "You're not of the list." I spelled my name and he looked again. "You're not on the list." Could the SOB read? Trying to control my anger I said: "Look, I don't know anyone here and the only reason I'm here is because Olivia de Havilland invited me." "You're not on the list. Step out of the line!" I peered beyond him and could see Olivia greeting people. "Why don't you trot over to Ms. de Havilland and ask her if I'm on the list." Surprisingly he did. "Please accept my apologies, Mr. Kraft," he said when he returned to me. "You are on the list."
When it was our turn to be with Olivia, I went down on one knee and kissed her hand as Diane hovered nearby. "She's gorgeous," Olivia whispered into my ear, and she was. These minutes passed quickly, so quickly that I can't remember what we talked about (I wrote notes of the event, so hopefully I jotted information about our brief time together—I need to check).
After kissing Olivia de Havilland's hand I introduced her to my then girlfriend. (photo courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
Pat Wymore Flynn and Deidre Flynn had been in front of us in the line and they remained in the room after spending time with Olivia. I joined them. By this time Pat and I had hit it off and enjoyed each other's company. I had worked with Deidre on a miniseries called Robert Kennedy and His Times back in 1983 or 1984. We had been polite to each other, but at that time she was dealing with a god-awful miniseries about her father (she refused to work for the company) and I gave her room. She had no idea I even knew who her father was. I had heard that her sister, Rory, attended the event but I didn't see her.
Later Lincoln Hurst, Diane, and I hung out together. An announcement proclaimed that it was time for the event to begin. He excused himself but then soon rejoined us. He couldn't find Deidre and assumed that she was with Pat. The three of us sat together during the rest of the evening. I had an absolutely terrific time with him. Alas, that was it. I never saw him again, I never had contact with him again, and unfortunately he died a little over two years later. His book on Flynn was never published. This is a shame for I think it would have been a first-class book.
A portrait of Olivia de Havilland, Diane Moon, and Louis Kraft on the evening of 15jun2006. (photo courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
Robert Osborne served as host for the event (he may have been Olivia's choice for she had told me that he was a good friend). Without checking notes (which are in a secure location) I can't remember if the question and answer portion of the evening was first or the film clips. Regardless of my memory, Olivia walked down the long walkway from the rear of the theater to the stage and sat with Osborne. BTW, the theater was filled. Olivia and Osborne chatted, and I'm certain that the questions came first. Although she obviously got along well with Osborne, the questions had been pre-selected for Olivia did not have to dig into her memory to answer them.
I believe the event was filmed. I hope so, but if yes, I've never seen it. I should check.
On this night, or soon after, Olivia gave me an open invitation. "If ever you are again in Paris, let me know so that I can invite you to visit." These words lived with me for the next two and a half years.
In spring 2009 I contacted Olivia and informed her that I planned a trip to France and England. As she had offered in 2006 she invited me to visit, that we'd agree upon a date once I knew the dates of my time in Paris. Diane Moon accompanied me on this trip to visit Olivia.
Before leaving for Europe a writer contacted me via email and asked if I could put in a good word for him. He had written a coffee table book that dealt with Flynn and others. He explained that he had sent his book to Olivia and hoped to visit her since he was also writing a book about her and Flynn. I had already heard this and agreed to do what I could to help him in a return email.
Olivia de Havilland and Louis Kraft chatted while she opened her birthday card and looked at her gifts. That is the champagne bottle on the table but unfortunately we can't see the label. The book is an anthology called Custer and His Times, Book Five (Cordova, TN: Little Big Horn Associates, Inc., 2008). It contains an article of mine, "Ned Wynkoop's Lonely Walk Between the Races." John P. Hart is the editor, and it is an excellent publication. (photo © Louis Kraft 2009)
On July 3 Diane and I arrived at Olivia's home after a taxi drive across the city of Paris. Her current assistant, Emily, greeted us at the door (Fidel wasn't present). She would spend some time with us, but also took care of other business including a meal which was similar to my first visit (finger food that was tasty and easy to eat without interrupting Olivia's and my time together). As it was just two days past her birthday her gifts (other than the usual) included flowers and champagne. The three of us chatted while she delighted in the gifts. Knowing she liked champagne, we brought what we had been told was one of the best American brands. Olivia was thrilled, but I told her not to open it. She agreed and said she'd open it on Errol's 2010 birthday. I liked her words.
All this time, which probably took half an hour, Olivia had the writer's book on her lap.2 She wanted to know what I thought of the book. I told her that I thought it was okay for what it was, a coffee table book, while adding that I didn't see any noticeable errors in it. Olivia then turned to a page that had a not-frequently seen photo of Nora Eddington on it. Nora was Flynn's second wife (whom Olivia told me that she had never met), and the photo was indeed of Nora. Olivia didn't think so and we went on about this for five minutes or more. The photo was of Nora and I assured her that the writer wasn't in error. Finally she accepted this.
Olivia de Havilland and Louis Kraft discuss the coffee table book that deals with Errol Flynn and others. (photo © Louis Kraft 2009)
"I'm helping you," she stated. "How can I also help him?" "Simple," I replied, "help him." "What about you?" "Help me too." This seemed beyond her comprehension, although I did encounter this in my dark past.
In the early 1970s Patric Knowles, who had acted with Olivia and Flynn in three films, was a patient of my father-in-law. … Patric readily agreed to spend time with me so that I could interview him. Mr. Knowles was as he appeared on screen, a gentleman. We got along fabulously, and kept in contact for years after meeting. However, during the interview he refused to discuss anything associated with Errol Flynn, especially The Adventures of Robin Hood. Frustrated I finally asked why. He had been paid a fee to supply information for a book that was in process.
Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian in The Adventures of Robin Hood. The setting is an archery contest, but it is little more than a trap to capture Robin Hood. These are tense moments for Olivia's Marian for she has realized that it is a trap. She also knows that Errol Flynn's Robin Hood is present. If you've never seen this film, do yourself a favor and see it. (Louis Kraft personal collection)
I believe that the book was Tony Thomas's Cads and Cavaliers: The Film Adventurers (A. S. Barnes and Company, South Brunswick and New York, 1973), but I didn't bother to note the author that Knowles helped. Even though Knowles isn't recognized in the Acknowledgments of this book I believe that it is the book in question as it deals with him taking Flynn up in his plane during the filming of Robin Hood and this is exactly where I directed my questions. The second time was when I approached my boyhood baseball hero, Duke Snider, to write a book about his life and career. I had already written two or more articles about him which he had seen, but he declined as another writer had beaten me to the punch (Duke Snider and Bill Gilbert, The Duke of Flatbush, Citadel Press Books, New York, 1988).
One of the portraits of Olivia de Havilland and Louis Kraft in her garden on 3jul2009. (photo © Louis Kraft 2009)
Back to Olivia, who pressed that she could only help one person. I didn't agree with this and I still don't. "Two books are better than one, three books are better than two, and four books are better than three," I stated. "Why?" "Because it gives readers a choice. They'll figure out which are good books and which aren't."
She accepted this and we moved on.
Hattie McDaniel (who won the best supporting actress Academy Award for her portrayal as Mammy), Olivia de Havilland (who was nominated, and rightfully so for her portrayal as Melanie), and Vivien Leigh (who won the Academy Award for best actress as Scarlett O'Hara) in Gone with the Wind. (Louis Kraft personal collection)
On this visit I had an extensive list of questions and there was no way we could deal with all of them. On this trip I wanted to gather information about key people in her life other than Flynn during her time at Warner Bros. She talked some, good stuff, but I don't have dates on some of it. The search goes on, for I must confirm stories and place them where they belong in time and not a year before or two years after. Ladies and gentlemen, this is time consuming. Trust me, I track all leads. Without going back and checking, it was on this visit that I asked about Olivia being cast as Melanie in Gone with the Wind (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1939). I've read numerous stories about how Olivia landed the role, most likely the most important role she ever played in her career. She told me her story. When I said that it didn't agree with the other stories she told me that the other stories were wrong.
Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn as Lady Penelope Gray and Robert Devereaux, the 2nd Earl of Essex in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (Warner Bros., 1939). The film had a great director who knew how to move plot, Michael Curtiz, and good acting, especially by Olivia, Flynn, and the supporting cast (I will deal with Bette Davis's performance as Queen Elizabeth I of England in Errol & Olivia). But—always that damned but—but the screenwriters couldn't free themselves from playwright Maxwell Anderson's stilted verse/prose in Elizabeth the Queen, producer Hal Wallis also flailed about when usually he had a deadeye for good scripts, and finally Mike Curtiz remained silent. Numerous Academy Award nominations aside, the slow-moving film could have been a glorious adventure/love story turned tragical. What could have been would never be. (Louis Kraft personal collection)
More important, her being cast as Melanie placed her front and center with Jack Warner and Hal Wallis, who, like it or not, were the most powerful people in her aspiring film career. Even though Warners would receive great compensation for her loan-out these men did not like rebels. They handed down punishment to whomever they considered a contractual slave at Warner Bros. Olivia had as much as committed treason. She would be punished, and big time. They also did what they could to humiliate her and here they also succeeded. But she fought back with anger, some good performances, and when her seven-year contract ended she told them goodbye. They said no, that she owed them for the time she spent on suspension (that was time with no salary and no work at the studio). When Olivia refused to buckle and crawl back to them and beg forgiveness they blacklisted her. They sent out a letter that demanded that no film or theater company in the United States hire her. Warner Bros. wielded power, the threat clear, and Olivia de Havilland ceased to earn her living as an actress in the USA (do I dare to say, in "the land of the free"?).
On February 29, 1940, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences held their awards ceremony for the year 1939. Olivia did not win a supporting actress award for her portrayal of Melanie in Gone with the Wind, losing to Hattie McDaniel for her wonderful portrayal as Mammy in the same film. You can't tell by this photo but the loss hurt—big time. Later, Olivia would say that she was thrilled that Hattie won the award. At the left of the image is Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., who accepted a special award for his father, Douglas Fairbanks, who had died the previous December. In the center is Vivien Leigh, who won an Oscar for her portrayal as Scarlett O'Hara. I'm not certain about the seating during the night's festivities, but some swapping of seats did happen that night for I have seen several images of Lawrence Oliver sitting to Leigh's right on this night (Leigh and Oliver married on 31aug1940). I've always enjoyed Doug Jr.'s performances (much more so than his father's), and it is too bad that he never acted with Olivia or Flynn. (Louis Kraft personal collection)
Olivia did not fall to the ground and creep away never to be heard of again. Instead she sued Warner Bros., and in 1944 she won a major decision, since known at the "de Havilland Decision." Free! She was free to seek acting employment elsewhere. This decision would play a role in the beginning of the end of the studio system as it was in the early 1940s, … and ultimately it contributed to the major freelance film contracts that now earn stars millions of dollars for a film performance. Actors of the last 40+ years (perhaps longer) need to send Olivia de Havilland a letter thanking her for her courage.
Oh, we did spend some time with Mr. Flynn, and for me this was key time, especially with two events in both their lives. One I can date, and the other I can't although I know the three other key players involved in this star-studded event. Also, she surprised me with her comments about the management heads at Warner Bros., and this was an eye opener.
Diane grew tired and bored. She excused herself and joined Emily in the house while Olivia and I continued to chat and enjoy each other's company. I didn't want to leave but realized that the hour now hovered close to midnight. I excused myself, found Emily, and asked her to call a cab. I then returned to Olivia to enjoy my remaining time with her.
2 I have comments regarding what happened with the writer who asked me to pitch him to Olivia. These will appear in another blog (maybe, or maybe not).
Olivia de Havilland, a special lady
I pray God that Olivia's health remains good. I have just sent her a card stating this, and it is from my heart.
Ms. de Havilland, although early I want to wish you a wonderful 2015 birthday
and hope that you enjoy your special day with your loved ones and friends.
Olivia de Havilland is a multifaceted person. She is intelligent, beautiful, charming, funny, sexy as hell, political, caring, and courageous. Oh, and I don't want to forget this: She is a great actress. Ms. Olivia de Havilland, God bless you for all you have done to make the world a brighter place. … I do hope that I can again cross the Atlantic Ocean and spend more time with you.
A good way to conclude this blog is with an Olivia de Havilland film that I have not yet seen. It costars Gilbert Roland (pictured with Olivia), and Paul Scofield as King Phillip II of Spain. The film is That Lady (20th Century Fox, 1955) and it has an interesting plot summary that sounds as if it includes swordplay, unconsummated love, jealousy, and might end in tragedy. (Louis Kraft personal collection)
Posted in Errol & Olivia, Errol Flynn, Kraft writing & life, Louis Kraft, Olivia de Havilland, Patrice Wymore Flynn	| Tagged Errol & Olivia, Errol Flynn, Louis Kaft, Olivia de Havilland, Patrice Wymore Flynn	| 10 Replies
« Nov Apr »


The Forum is not just the home of Bath City Church but is also one of the largest venues in the south west of England.
"This art deco building is a hidden jewel," says Bryn Williams, who manages the Forum Venue. "We have opened up the building not only to charity & social related events but also for concerts of all descriptions. We have had some prestigious musicians and artists here. More and more we are developing our links with the local business, social and arts community, to serve them with this fabulous facility".


Disappointment for Singapore on the second day of play in the Women's Team event at the 2018 Asian Games in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarata; it was a quarter-final exit.
On the penultimate day of action, Friday 31st August, for one member of that outfit it was the same emotion, for another, it was quite the reverse. Feng Tianwei departed the Women's Singles event in round three; Yu Mengyu reserved a medal, she progressed to the semi-final stage.
Bronze medallist four years ago in Incheon when beaten by China's Zhu Yuling, the eventual silver medallist, Feng Tianwei, the no.4 seed, suffered at the hands of Korea Republic's Jeon Jihee, the no.9 seed (13-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8).
Problems for Feng Tianwei, for Yu Mengyu, the no.14 seed, it was quite the reverse; she excelled all expectations. In the third round she accounted for Hong Kong's Doo Hoi Kem, the no.6 seed (5-11, 13-11, 11-8, 7-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6), before causing one of the biggest upsets in the whole tournament. She recorded a quarter-final success against Chinese Taipei's Cheng I-Ching, the no.3 seed (11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 11-4, 11-3).
Hard earned success, especially against Doo Hoi Kem but if any player secured a hard earned third round Women's Singles victory it was Japan's Miyu Kato, the no.7 seed. She recovered from a three games to nil deficit to beat DPR Korea's Kim Song I by the very narrowest of seven game margins (7-11, 2-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-4, 14-12).
A dramatic win for Miyu Kato, in the next round she was beaten by Jeon Jihee in a contest that was even more dramatic. Once again a seventh game beckoned; Jeon Jihee led 9-8 in the decider, the stage at which the umpire called "Time", the game having lasted ten minutes. The Expedite Rule was invoked. Jeon Jihee proceeded to win the next two points and the match (5-11, 10-12, 11-6, 7-11, 14-12, 11-8, 11-8) in a situation where the service alternates and the receiver wins the point if making an effective 13th return.
Success for Jeon Jihee and Yu Mengyu; now China awaits. At the semi-final stage Jeon Jihee meets Chen Meng, the top seed; Yu Mengyu opposes Wang Manyu, the no.2 seed (11-8, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7).
Impressively, at the quarter-final stage Chen Meng beat Chinese Taipei's Chen Szu-Yu, the no.10 seed (11-5, 11-6, 11-3, 11-5) and Hong Kong's Lee Ho Ching, the no.8 seed (11-8, 12-10, 11-7, 12-10); Wang Manyu accounted for India's Manika Batra, the no.15 seed (11-2, 11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 11-4) and Korea Republic's Su Hyowon, the no.5 seed (11-8, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7).
Play concludes in Jakarta on Saturday 1st September.


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Mastering Services FAQ
How Much Will It Cost to Professionally Record and Release an Album?
There are a lot of variables that go into the cost of professionally recording and releasing an album. Whether you self-produce or hire a professional producer, how many modern production techniques you use, and how much perfection you seek in your takes all play a role and make it difficult to give you a one-size-fits-all number.
However, there are some commonalities in what I'd consider a "typical" recording process that can help you get on the dartboard, if not hit the bullseye, when estimating the cost of your next album. So, I will focus this article on a "typical" situation, giving you the caveat that mileage may vary in your particular situation.
This approach assumes that you'll be recording with an engineer, but not a separate producer. A producer, in a professional sense, takes a very hands-on approach with the artist: co-writing and arranging songs, changing parts, rehearsing and coaching performances, etc. The compensation for that type of pro producer is usually quite high and, therefore, will not be a part of this calculation.
First, let's talk about four variables that you need to get values for before beginning the calculation of your recording and release costs. Those are:
A. Studio Hourly Rate (SHR): Most more professional studios will charge an hourly rate, many of which range between $50 and $75 per hour. If it's a studio where noteworthy national acts record, that rate can go way up. Some studios may only offer "blocks" of hours, like a half day/4 hours or full day/8 hours. In those cases, just divide the block cost by the number of hours you get to determine the hourly rate. We'll be doing a lot of multiplying by the SHR, so make sure you get actual numbers and don't assume what you'll be charged.
B. Number of Songs (NS): This is simple - how many songs are you going to record?
C. Number of Drum Days (NDD): In the recording of many albums, usually drums are tracked first and tracked all at once as opposed to the band laying down a whole song before starting a new song. One of the reasons for this is that drum set up takes a long time. We'll get to that in more detail in a minute. But, for now, focus on estimating the number of days you will spend recording drums. This may vary but, in my experience, five songs is kind of the maximum number of average-length songs for which you can track drums in a single day. So, even if you only are recording six songs, if you use five songs as the max per drum day, you will need two drum days. There is no fraction of a drum day...if you set the drums up, it's a full drum day.
D. Number of Parts (NP): Now, you need to think of breaking down the number of parts your songs have. A drum track is one part. A bass track is one part. Each guitar track is one part. An overdubbed guitar solo is one part. A lead vocal track is one part. A backing vocal track where all members of the band sing at the same time is one part. If you have harmony vocals where three different band members will record three different parts separately, those would be three parts. Whatever instrument or voice needs to be recorded on its own track represents a discrete part for the purpose of this calculation.
Now that you've determined values for these variables, you can start plugging those variables into a calculation. The calculation is a master calculation separated into sub-calculations for five of the phases of recording and releasing music: Tracking, Editing, Mixing, Mastering and Distribution.
1. The Cost of Tracking
First, you need to calculate the set up time for the drums. For first time recorders, this cost can be an unpleasant surprise as it can often take around two hours just to set up the drums, get them mic'd, get them sound checked, etc.
So, multiply the number of drum days by the studio hourly rate by two: NDD x SHR x 2.
This is your drum set up cost.
Next, understand that - in my experience - it takes around an average of a half-hour per part per song if you're reasonably prepared. If you're not, it can take much longer. So, let's count on you being reasonably prepared.
So, multiply your number of songs by the number of parts by the studio hourly rate by 0.5 (i.e., a half-hour): NS x NP x SHR x 0.5
This is your parts recording cost.
Add the drum set up cost to the parts recording cost to get your cost of tracking. Expressed algebraically, this would be
((NDD x SHR x 2) + (NS x NP x SHR x 0.5))
2. The Cost of Editing
Editing involves a lot of things. Taking noise out in the silence between parts, tuning vocals, quantizing drums and other things. In my experience, the average song requires about two hours of editing.
(NS x SHR x 2)
3. The Cost of Mixing
Mixing times can vary. I've witnessed professional mixing done in as little as three hours per song (for a full band) to as many as 10 hours per song. I will plug three hours into the formula. Ask your recording engineer for the typical amount of mixing time he/she/they spend and use that number instead.
4. The Cost of Mastering
Mastering costs can vary wildly. The mastering studios that major labels use can run thousands of dollars per song. The mastering studios that indie labels and independent artists use will typically run between $50 and $150 per song. Before and After Music Group's mastering services, are on the lower end of that price scale but the upper end of the quality scale.
As I've written about before, there is a huge benefit to identifying your preferred mastering studio BEFORE you even begin recording. So, reach out to a mastering studio sooner rather than later and learn your price.
(NS x Per Song Mastering Cost)
5. The Cost of Distribution
There are several digital music distribution service providers out there who can get your music on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, etc. Their prices are often in the form of a per-album fee or an annual subscription. Per album fees can be lower but, if you are planning several releases in the same year, an annual subscription may make more sense. There are other differences, so I encourage you to research the many options and go with the one that fits best with your objectives.
Because both per album and annual subscription rates top out at around $30 (US), just use $30 for the sake of calculating the cost of distribution.
The Master Calculation
You need to add the costs of Tracking, Editing, Mixing, Mastering and Distribution together to come up with an estimate of the total cost of your project (not including the manufacture of physical products like CD's or vinyl).
Combined together, the calculation (in US dollars) is:
((NDD x SHR x 2) + (NS x NP x SHR x 0.5)) + (NS x SHR x 2) + (NS x SHR x 3) + (NS x Per Song Mastering Cost) + 30
Because many musicians don't release how long it takes to set up drums, or how long it takes to track a three-minute song, or how much editing is involved, this calculation may make it seem like it is more expensive than anticipated to record and release an album. But, hopefully, having this calculation - put together after lots of experience - will enable you to more accurately estimate your costs and avoid unpleasant surprises.
Before and After Music Group specializes in music mastering. We'd love for you to consider us to help get your music to reach its sonic potential. Contact us!
When I was running a local studio, my rule of thumb for your typical local rock band was to budget 10 hours per song to record and mix a local release or demo. You can't be too prepared to go into the studio. Pre-production is free. Know the songs, know your parts, and be able to execute them. Make sure your instruments are studio ready too. Vibe > Perfection.
Chip Dominick link
Great rule of thumb, Garry! Preparation is definitely an X factor...prepare too little and you'll spend more money and time in the studio.
Thanks for chiming in!
Chip Dominick is the CEO and head mastering engineer for Before and After Music Group
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Vol. 1 - No. 7 October, 2019 Nooseletter Home SUBMIT AN ARTICLE
Well, we did it; not without substantial work from many of our members. Thanks go to all of you that helped promote the show, as well as those that did security, photography, videography, and all the others who served in various capacities before, during, and after, to make it happen. We cannot do this without your support. Take a much needed rest. You all deserve it and much more. So, the award show is now over. I was told by many of you that you had a good time, in spite of the little things that did not go as planned. Now to plan for next year's show.
In the meantime, I have created a digital copy (PDF) of the program book so you can view it on your phones, tablets, computers, etc. It is for sale on the Silver Spur Awards website. Hopefully, by the end of the year, we will have the DVDs available as well. I have added the honorees to the Reel Cowboys member list. Soon, I will have thier biography pages up along with the demo reels we saw at the show.
~ Jennifer Wiley
Cowboys in Stetsons and chaps trot down a muddy street lined by 19th century Texan buildings. Others play poker and drink whiskey in the saloon while the womenfolk cook over glowing embers or make new dresses.
With wood to be chopped daily and the nights lit by candles and paraffin lamps, life is hard here. But no one in town would dream of complaining.
Welcome to Laredo in the Wild West... of Britain. Sited a few miles from London, it is a retreat where cowboy enthusiasts get to...
Thompson-Sterling Shootout
It was the summer of 1873 in Ellsworth, Kansas. The temperatures were in the nineties. A lack of buyers was causing the cattle to pile up. And since the drovers had to stick around until they were sold, the taverns were packed with bored cowboys.
Ben Thompson and his brother Billy were in town. Ben had already developed a reputation as a gambler, gunman and general hard case. And his "no good" brother was even worse.
Reel Cowboys Meeting
(at Lulu's Restaurant on Roscoe in Van Nuys)
California Avacado Festival
85th Annual Fall Festival
- event flyer - map /directions -
Pismo Beach Clam Festival
Calabases Pumpkin Festival 2019
Bonanza's Dan Blocker's Children
~by Jane Kenny
Dan Blocker was an American television actor best known for his role as Hoss Cartwright on Bonanza. Blocker was born December 10th, 1928 in Texas and would attend Texas Military Institute. Following that, he would serve two years in the military before going on to pursue a master's degree in the dramatic arts.
It wasn't until 1959 when his big break came along, his role in Bonanza. He would play the role for 415 episodes until his death on May 13th, 1972, at the age of 43. His kids, Dirk and David Blocker, still carry on their late father's legacy.
Michael Landon's Son
~ MeTV Staff
Michael Landon was a family man through and through, both on and offscreen.
On Bonanza, we met him as Ben Cartwright's youngest son Little Joe, then on Little House on the Prairie, we got to see him play "Pa" to little Laura Ingalls. Well in the actor's life, he married three times, becoming father to nine kids, many of whom got involved in dad's business, growing up to become screenwriters, actors and directors themselves.
It was his son Michael Landon Jr., however, who'd get introduced to...
click here to read more... click here to read more...
20 Greatest Western Movie Stars
by Jennifer Borama
Nothing is more iconic in American film and television than the Western genre. Everything about the American Old West is now considered a classic, and while we no longer see true and new Westerns anymore, our fascination for the genre continues. Westerns have them all—action, drama, strong characters, excellent plot lines, and more. They were the predecessors to some of the most common plots in film altogether. Westerns introduced us all to gang plots and revenge stories. They also featured some of the first stories. They were also the first films to introduce the idea of exploring and conquering frontiers...
Top Wild West Fun Facts
~by Amanda Littlejohn
We can define the Wild West by both time and place. Geographically, it was that part of the United States of America to the west of the Mississippi River. Historically, it was the period in the latter half of the 19th century and the early 20th century.
Before the outbreak of the Civil War, a common expansionist political doctrine known as Manifest Destiny swept through the country. The principle, promoted by the United States government, said it was an inevitable and divinely ordained movement to claim and settle the lands westward. So we are looking at the land between the...
Stagecoach: Defining a Western
~by David A. Punch
The western genre might be the most important American contribution to cinema. With Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery (1903) typically cited as the first of the genre, westerns are as old as the craft of filmmaking itself, and would remain one of the most popular genres until the late 60s. Themes of morally righteous men doling out justice and paving the path of the American frontier resonated strongly with audiences, and had a profound impact that is still evident in the stories of today. The western hero has transcended the medium and become an icon of integrity and gallantry...
High Lonesome
~ by Michael Ursell
I've heard Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler" twice already since I landed in Elko, and I think I might be hearing it again in the Star Hotel. This place and its restaurant opened in 1910 to cater to a northern Nevada Basque immigrant clientele who shepherded here. Now, its big neon sign is a beacon on top of a two-story box of a building for folks in town for the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.
There are a lot of us. I've only ever been here at this time of year, so the scene is just as I remember it: standing-room only and loud, with all red-vinyl bar stools occupied. There's a lodge feel, with dark wood paneling, decades-old framed pictures, paintings of horses everywhere...
Which Reel Cowboy is this? Charles & Grandson


The software offered on this page is provided "as-is" with no warranty expressed or implied. I have tested the clock on Windows 7x64 and 8x64 only.
Click HERE to download the .zip file. If you notice any bugs (it's a feature!) or have any requests feel free to contact me.
Q: Does the 'show desktop button' work in the lower right corner of the screen?
A: On Windows 8: YES. On Windows 7: NO (you can still use WIN+D keys).
Q: Does this support Aero transparency?
Q: Will you be opensourcing this?
A: Yes! You can now download the initial code on Bitbucket. Feel free to fork it and add/remove/alter whatever you want.
Initial release, may contain bugs or incomplete features. Beta software.
This is a simple thermostat that will turn on an LED when it gets too hot in the room, notifying you to turn on a desk fan perhaps. Once the temp goes back down the LED will turn off. To set a desired temp, you simply twist the potentiometer.
If you wish, you can replace the LED with something like a PowerSwitch Tail which will let you connect the Arduino to any standard electrical device which can automate the turning on and off of a desk fan.
Allows a user to set a desired temperature.
When the desired temp is reached a light will turn on.
I will describe how I use CSS to number lines of code for display.
You will not be able to just paste in code as it is, you will need to encode special characters such as < or > before you wrap the <code> tags around the code itself, this will prevent the browser from trying to interpret the characters as special formatting.
I recommend you paste your code into a website that will encode the text for you such as HTML Entities or if you use Sublime Text as your text editor you can select the block of text and then open the command palette using CTRL+SHIFT+P or CMD+SHIFT+P (on OS X), then if you type enc you should see an option listed as HTML: Encode Special Characters which will encode the text for you.
You will also need to escape any escape characters (use double slashes) such as the slash in front of the n on line 5 of first example.
The easiest way to enclose each line of code inside <code> tags is to select every line of code in Sublime Text and then press CTRL+SHIFT+L or CMD+SHIFT+L (on OS X), this will allow you to edit multiple lines of code at the same time. You can then press END and then type in </code> then press HOME (you may have to press it more than once if there are tabs at the beginning of your code to force the cursors to the very beginning of the line) and then you can type in the beginning <code> tags. Then press ESC to stop editing multiple lines and save.
Golf Island is a game where you play the role of a golf ball looking for his lost change.
Your name is Gary the golf ball and after a long day at work you are ready to settle down for the night. Unfortunately you seem to have misplaced your hard earned money! Travel around the island and try to find the missing coins, can you find all 18? Be careful though, because you never learned how to swim! After you find them all, try and beat your own high score!
Golf Island (Premium) removes the ads from the free version and also includes the updates listed below. The cost is about $1.
Real Dice Roll is an application that allows you to roll various sided die on a virtual tabletop.
Perfect to replace or compliment and dice you use for the following games: Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), Yahtzee, Cee-lo, Craps, and any other game that uses dice.
Most dice rollers are nothing more than random number generators with simple pictures of dice. This program rolls the dice using a built-in physics engine which makes it more life like. The dice bounce and roll on the table similar to real life.
Real Dice Roll (Premium) removes ads from the free version and also includes the updates listed below. The cost is about $1.


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RTF Awards, the award for excellence in architecture and design
The architecture awards have an increasing role across the planet and among them, stand out awards such as the RTF Awards, one of the most recognized in the field of architecture and design. This year, the RTF Awards celebrate their 10th edition with the launch of Rethinking The Future Awards 2021, their most recent architecture award.
What are the RTF Awards?
The RTF Awards (Rethinking The Future Architecture) was born a decade ago with the aim of recognizing the best architecture and design works from around the world. In the words of Vikas Pawar, founder of Rethinking The Future, "Fostering independent thinking and architectural innovation has been one of the guiding principles since the inception of RTF. The aim of these awards is to raise awareness of the strategies that architects and designers from around the world are employing to face contemporary global challenges and to bring to light the best of such projects to inspire the next generation".
In this latest edition, the RTF Awards are hosting projects belonging to a wide range of categories, although the most prominent are architecture, interior design, landscape design, product design, exhibition, architectural lighting and urban design.
The projects will be evaluated by a jury made of established academics, creative design professionals, members of the press and entrepreneurs with experience in the architecture and design sector.
The winners will be announced on August 15, 2021 and the lucky ones will become part of various public relation campaigns. In addition, their names will appear on a large number of platforms both print and digital.
The participation of Minimal Studio in the RTF Awards
We, at Minimal Studio, have not wanted to miss the opportunity to participate in the RTF Awards with two of our projects: Ca'n Rudayla, an impressive house located in a gorge on the island of Ibiza; and Lledoner, a very special project that is located in a remote place in the north of Mallorca.
"Minimal Studio will participate in the RTF Awards with Ca'n Rudayla and Lledoner"
After the success obtained with the presentation of Chloe and Ca'n Rudayla to the A'Design Award & Competition awards, where we obtained the Iron A'Design Award, we are once again committed to promoting the recognition of our architecture and design studio by participating in the tenth edition of the RTF Awards.
Design and architecture competitions in 2021
Maderó Atelier by Minimal Studio
In Praise of the Shadows, an Essay on Beauty
El German Design Council distingue la excelencia en arquitectura de Minimalstudio


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The quote says it all. CPS officials maintained a secret list to track requests from politicians, businessmen and other VIPs who wanted to get students admitted to one of the city's elite high schools. Most parents didn't know they could appeal to Duncan's office for a closer look, and that's the way school officials wanted it.
It's one more example of how things are done in Illinois: One set of rules for people with clout, another set for everyone else.
Getting into one of Chicago's nine selective-enrollment high schools is a fiercely competitive process, with tens of thousands of students vying for a few thousand slots. Admission is based on a point system, but principals have limited discretion to enroll students who wouldn't normally make the cut.
For years, some parents have complained that well-connected neighbors were able to access those few spots through back channels. Last summer, a handful of public officials acknowledged they had used influence to get friends and relatives admitted. A federal investigation was launched in July, and Duncan's replacement, Ron Huberman, ordered an internal investigation and an outside audit. The district's clout list, maintained over several years under Duncan, was obtained by the Tribune this week.
Those on the list include House Speaker Michael Madigan, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, former White House social secretary Desiree Rogers and half of the Chicago City Council. The initials "A.D." — Arne Duncan, Pickens says — appear dozens of times. Duncan's mother and his wife also appear as sponsors.
Pickens says Duncan told him to create the list to centralize the calls that were previously fielded by principals. Pickens and his staff screened the requests and passed some of them on to principals, who are allowed to hand pick up to 5 percent of their students based on criteria including leadership, family hardship and extracurricular activities.
Pickens, now chief of staff to the Chicago Board of Education president, and Duncan, now U.S. secretary of education, say their referrals were not meant as directives to the principals to admit certain students.
That's the same argument made by defenders of the University of Illinois' "Category I" system, the shadow admissions track for politically connected applicants. Last year, the Tribune's "Clout Goes to College" series revealed that hundreds of them got special consideration because of pressure from lobbyists, lawmakers and other power brokers.
That scandal eventually led to the resignations of the university president, chancellor and six of nine trustees. But many of the politicians who intervened on behalf of applicants defiantly denied any wrongdoing. There was no arm-twisting, they insisted; it was all "constituent service." The documents showed otherwise: Category I applicants had higher acceptance rates, despite lower ACT scores and class ranks. In other words, clout trumped merit.
It's impossible to draw (or rule out) such a conclusion from the CPS list. Entries, which list the applicant's VIP sponsor and contain check-off boxes to track the progress of the request, are often incomplete or marked "pending." Among those that were completed, roughly 43 percent were marked "yes" or "done."
So, no, having an alderman for an uncle doesn't guarantee your kid will get into Whitney Young. It doesn't matter. The students whose names appear on that list have a leg up on those who don't. CPS has no business running that sort of racket.Selective-enrollment high schools are among the biggest incentives to keep parents from sending their kids to private schools or fleeing to the suburbs. But parents aren't going to stay if the system is being gamed. Competition is already steep, and the families who have no clout — or who decline to exercise it — are at a disadvantage. They deserve a fair and honest system. They didn't get one.
One big difference between the U. of I. and CPS: When Huberman learned about the problem, he moved immediately to fix it. He has taken significant steps to create a fair and transparent selection process. Principals are required to document contacts from anyone lobbying for an applicant, and classify the contact as appropriate or not. They have to document any contact from CPS brass. Their discretionary picks will be reviewed by a panel and the CPS inspector general will have a role in that review. Huberman's goal is to restore faith and preserve some discretion in the admissions process. He has taken good steps.
We haven't heard the last, though, about the history of clout in the schools.


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The Subtle Evolution and Marked Aging of Michael Smith's "Mike"
By Michael Vass • Reviews• September 14, 2015
Michael Smith, "Mike's House" (installation with video "It Starts at Home"), Whitney Museum of American Art, 1982
Michael Smith, "Memory Lane," 2015.
Michael Smith, "Excuse me!?! ... I'm looking for the 'Fountain of Youth'," 2015. Photo: Gustavo Murillo.
Michael Smith, installation view, "Excuse me!?! ... I'm looking for the 'Fountain of Youth'," Greene Naftali, New York, 2015. Courtesy of the artist and Greene Naftali, New York. Photo: Gustavo Murillo.
Michael Smith, "Open House," 1999. In collaboration with Joshua White. Courtesy of the artists, New Museum, and Greene Naftali, New York. Photo: Fred Scrutin.
Michael Smith belongs to the first wave of artists who made extensive use of mass-media imagery and formats in their work. His conceptually-minded peers in the so-called Pictures Generation (including Cindy Sherman, Sherrie Levine, and Jack Goldstein) employed a wide variety of aesthetic strategies, but even among this diverse group, Smith's satirical work has always stood out as an anomaly. Indeed, a carefully-calibrated, slightly-out-of-sync quality has long been one of his signatures – an approach that's both distinguished his work and diminished the attention it's been paid.
Many of Smith's contemporaries were influenced by punk and other sub-cultural movements in the late 1970s, taking the route of excess, exaggeration, and provocation when critically engaging with popular media. Figures like Paul McCarthy, Raymond Pettibon, and Mike Kelley continued to mine confrontational aesthetics throughout their careers, often in more amplified and baroque forms as their notoriety and budgets increased. At times this proved a productive strategy, as in the disorienting sensory overkill of Kelley's late installations. However, in the contemporary context, in which "subversion" has become a genre more than an act, it can often seem like the path of least resistance. Consider, for instance, McCarthy's use of obscene spectacle with his lurid explorations of pop-culture mythology in WS and Rebel Dabble Babble (both 2013), or Richard Prince's attempt to out-creep the kids with his Instagram re-prints, New Portraits (2014). Whatever its merits in terms of exposing societal hypocrisies and blind spots, the bleed-the-beast approach, which intentionally blurs the line between criticality and collusion, increasingly serves artists who wish to partake in the very culture they're supposedly critiquing.
Smith has explored some similar thematic territory as the artists mentioned above. In fact, one of his best-known works was a collaboration with Kelley. That project, A Voyage of Growth and Discover (2009), revolved around Smith's long-running character Baby Ikki, a man-sized infant in a diaper and sunglasses who Smith performs with unsettling verisimilitude (Kelley and Smith sent Baby Ikki to Burning Man, testing the limits of the festival's principal of "radical self-expression"). There is a punk-confrontational aspect to Baby Ikki, but it has more to do with challenging conventions of public behavior and interaction than media culture.
Although Smith has been performing Baby Ikki since the late 1970s, the majority of his work has revolved around another character, a painfully normal American everyman named "Mike." It's mainly through Mike that Smith has explored popular media. However, in contrast to some of his peers, Smith's media appropriations and incursions have focused on banality and failure rather than indulgence and spectacle. With Mike as his avatar/Trojan horse, Smith has aimed not to shock but to underwhelm, deflating the persuasive power of the media while exposing the fallacies of its appeal. Smith's slow-burn methodology doesn't stoke extreme responses or court controversy, but his work has been consistently original and incisive, especially in its cumulative impact.
An archetypal naïf, Mike is the definition of a static character, but Smith has proven remarkably adept at creating new situations and contexts for him that continue to yield fresh insights. Smith's latest "Mike" exhibition, Excuse me!?!…I'm looking for the "Fountain of Youth" at Greene Naftali, offered an iteration of Mike that built on the character's previous appearances while also extending Smith's thematic reach in surprising ways. The show also included a brief but significant appearance by Baby Ikki – a rare instance in which the two characters have been featured in the same work.
Mike has often been presented as an artist or entrepreneur who is frequently launching new creative/business endeavors that make use of emerging media. Smith's satirical method has generally been to let Mike articulate his doomed plans and comically low-ambition fantasies in such a way that their pathetic nature becomes transparent. As curator Annette DiMeo Carlozzi puts it, Mike is "a kind of ever-hopeful Candide, adrift in a world of rapid technological advances that he seems incapable of fully comprehending, and stymied by the depersonalization and isolation that have accompanied late-twentieth-century life." Mike seems to fail perpetually but never spectacularly, enduring his mediocrity through a mixture of obliviousness, delusion, and futile industriousness. (It's no surprise that Beckett is one of Smith's oft-cited influences.)
Smith's satirical target is not Mike himself but the cultural values by which he too innocently abides. Mike is an affably empty cypher for the vacant notions about life that he's inherited from the world around him, and which he ineptly tries to put to practice. Smith's video works are often ostensibly self-produced by Mike, such as Interstitial, the artworld talk show Mike hosted on the public-access television in the late 1980s. Other works play more like TV-mediated expressions of Mike's fantasies about himself and his humdrum life, as with the music video Go For It Mike (1985) and the commercial spoof MIKE (1987). Smith is a master of skewering various media formats by filtering them through Mike's uncomplicated psyche and limited talents.
Although the "Mike" works usually have a narrative component, there isn't any overarching story linking them all together. However, there has been a gradual shift in tone over the years. Smith's style of performing Mike has become subtler and more nuanced, and his investment in the character seems to have deepened. Mike's appearances in the last two decades have usually taken the form of elaborate installations that come with extensive fictional back-stories, as with Open House (1999) and QuinQuag (2001). Projects like these downplay the earlier works' absurd stylization of media formats, instead creating more believable simulations for Mike to inhabit while also placing him in more specific social contexts. One factor in this shift may be the diminished role of television in American society. In the 1980s and '90s, Mike's view of the world, and our view of him, was mediated through TV conventions. This has clearly become a less relevant tactic. While Smith's later projects have involved the internet, he seems to have chosen to focus more on Mike's character than the medium itself. Mike has increasingly been presented with more pathos, and his imminent failures have become more realistic and affecting. Smith's satire, by turn, has become gentler as well as denser, filled with insidious details about Mike's world, and ours.
Excuse me!?!…I'm looking for the "Fountain of Youth" continued further in this direction while simultaneously making something of a departure. Through thematically-related works across various media, a loose narrative emerged from the exhibition: Mike, now an office worker and Sudoku enthusiast, embarks on a vacation, possibly a retirement trip, which becomes linked in various ways to the mythological search for the fountain of youth. On the more literal side of this conceit, two photo-essays present the puzzled Mike visiting youth-themed tourist destinations – a faux-historical site in Florida called the Fountain of Youth, and the São Paulo theme park KidZania, which offers a child-sized replica of a contemporary metropolis. However, the centerpiece of the show was a three-act ballet on video, which offered a more abstract, hallucinatory narrative in which Mike competes with younger co-workers around the office water-cooler, imagines himself as a medieval knight searching for the fountain of youth, and struggles to pass through airport security on vacation.
The intentionally amateurish ballet/video mixes middle-aged melancholy and befuddlement with awkward adolescence, featuring an ensemble of young apprentice dancers (apart from Smith, who is 64, no one in the cast looks much older than twenty). It plays like an anxiety dream about aging in which Mike finds himself in a PBS adaptation of a community-theater ballet starring an all-teenaged cast that refuses to cooperate with the plot he thinks he's following.
Much of the rest of the exhibition presents work loosely related to the ballet. The main gallery space was decorated as a medieval foyer, with a sculpture of a water-cooler flanked by large medieval pennons decorated with images of Sudoku games. Hanging at one end of the foyer was a large wool tapestry containing a picture-book depiction of Mike's vacation/quest as if it was an old fable. On the walls beneath the pennons were flat-screen monitors showing video tableaus of Mike searching his pockets for his reading glasses, struggling to unfold a tourist map, untangling his earphones, etc. Smith's perfectly-timed deadpan performances elevate these routine gestures of a solitary man in public into Tati-esque comic pantomimes of loneliness and unease.
The exhibition had a more ageless feel than usual for Smith. The main theme seemed to be the infantilizing process of aging – the expectations and fantasies that accumulate as one leaves the workforce, gives up their social function, and enters the nebulous post-adulthood stage of life, with its many similarities between childhood and adolescence. For someone like Mike, whose identity is so directly linked to his perceived social role, this process would be especially perilous and transformative. What emerged was a portrait of a character for whom every journey (to the water-cooler, out the office door, through airport security) is a quasi-mythical quest for discovery and renewal, a veiled search for the fountain of youth. As such, every trip, every effort, is doomed to fail. Failure has been one of the central themes of Smith's "Mike" work, and here it took on more cosmic/existential overtones than ever before.
This was signaled in the exhibition by a crucial moment in Act 2 of the ballet when Mike discovers the fountain of youth and is transformed into Baby Ikki. Within the ballet, this functions as a kind of nightmare wish-fulfillment: Ikki is no one's ideal of youth. However, in the broader context of Smith's body of work, the moment brings his two long-running personae together full circle. Mike and Ikki have always been flipsides of each other, representing opposite kinds of innocence. Mike is receptive, Ikki is reactive. Mike is socialized, embedded in contemporary America; Ikki has no language or culture. Mike does what he thinks he's supposed to do, and looks to the future; Ikki does what he wants impulsively in the moment. But both have always been solitary figures as well as blank slates for whom any kind of lasting meaning remains an elusive concept, if not a pressing concern. Now these similarities seem to be overtaking the differences as aging as Mike approaches the other side of the oblivion from which the Baby recently emerged.
This new phase of Mike's existence was reflected by a striking change from his previous appearances: this time he was completely silent. Without his characteristically upbeat but unconvincing verbiage, Mike shakes off much of the ironic characterization that definitively separated him from Smith and that provided some plausible deniability for viewers disinclined to identify too closely with his sad-sack ways. But if Mike's silence made it harder to feel superior to him, it also put him at something of a remove. For those of us who've become accustomed to regarding Mike as being more or less without an interior life, this was rather unsettling. On the other hand, for anyone unfamiliar with Smith's previous work, the character's silence, along with the muted quality of the show as a whole, may very well have registered as curiously sedate, if elaborately so. This is the trade-off of Smith burrowing so deeply into the character of Mike and his world. The richness of the work conceals rather than advertises itself.
One of the paradoxes of Smith's "Mike" works is that while they are usually positioned as comically out-of-step with the contemporary, they often come to seem prescient, in retrospect. When smart phones show up in Excuse me!?! … I'm looking for the "Fountain of Youth," they seem both baffling and quaint, glowing toy-like objects whose elevated purpose feels like a mystery from another time. This, of course, is how they might well seem to a 64-year-old retiree like Mike, but it's also how they'll surely appear to everyone a few decades from now. By filtering the present through Mike's hapless perspective, Smith portrays his historical moment the way it will inevitably appear to the future – as obsolete.
By Michael Vass
Michael Vass is a filmmaker and writer based in New York. His films have screened at many festivals and galleries, including TIFF, Anthology Film Archives, and ICA Philadelphia. His writings have appeared in Cinema Scope, CineAction, Canadian Art, MACHETE, The Rusty Toque, and C Magazine.
Latest Posts By Michael Vass
Annette DiMeo CarlozziBaby IkkiCindy ShermanExcuse me!?!...I'm looking for the "Fountain of Youth"Go For it MikeGreene NaftaliMichael SmithMikeMike KelleyPaul McCarthyPictures GenerationRaymond PettibonRichard PrinceSherri Levine
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Three months ago, I bought a CD of poetry from Johnny Marceland, a sixty-year-old Dene man who lives in my hometown of Saskatoon. Throughout…


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Handel in London tells the story of a young German composer who in 1712, followed his princely master to London and would remain there for the rest of his life. That master would become King George II and the composer was George Frideric Handel. Handel, then still only twenty-seven and largely self-taught, would be at the heart of musical activity in London for the next four decades, composing masterpiece after masterpiece, whether the glorious coronation anthem, Zadok the Priest, operas such as Giulio Cesare, Rinaldo and Alcina or the great oratorios, culminating, of course, in Messiah.
About the Author: Dr. Jane Glover is one of the world's most eminent conductors, and remains one of the few females in her profession. She was Music Director of the Glyndebourne Touring Opera from 1981-85, Artistic Director of the London Mozart Players from 1984-91, and has held Principal Conductorships of the Huddersfield and London Choral Societies. Jane Glover has conducted all the major symphony and chamber orchestras in Britain and is constantly in demand throughout the world. Highlights of her career to date include the South Bank series "Mozart Explored" and her 1995 performances of Britten's War Requiem at the BBC Proms and in Normandy. In opera, Jane Glover has conducted productions at Glyndebourne, the English National Opera, New York City Opera, Royal Danish Opera, Opera Australia, Teatro La Fenice, Venice and Chicago Opera Theater, to name only a few. Her many recordings feature a series of Mozart and Haydn symphonies for ASV with the London Mozart Players and recordings of Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Strauss, Britten and Walton with the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic and the BBC Singers. Her extensive broadcasting career includes the TV series Orchestra and Mozart, and the radio series Opera House and Musical Dynasties, all for the BBC. Jane Glover studied at St Hugh's College, Oxford, and did a PhD in 17th Century Venetian opera. She was created a CBE in the 2003 New Year's Honours. Jane lives in London.


Legal bookmakers offer football goals with many options. Bets on goals scored are common among bettors, because this is the main goal of the game. Let's look at the popular types of goals bets and find out which ones to use and which ones are better to refuse. If the outcome is logically justified and supported by analysis, then it is appropriate, and when an event cannot be predicted it is an adventure. Pin Up casino has a lot of different options so you can find something interesting for you.
1. Bets on the number of goals.
This is a bet on total. There are different types: half, whole, Asian, three-way, exact and others, but one thing unites them – the range of goals scored. In addition to standard totals, the office adds 0-1 goals to the list, 2-3 goals, and so on, but they are more risky. Put on a range of goals when you expect a base game in which teams will play 0: 0 or the maximum will be scored only once.
2. The exact number of goals.
It does not indicate the range or more and less than the selected value, but the exact number of goals scored. Avoid such bets, because one goal will erase the passage of the transaction. In football, crazy balls often fly, so bets on the exact total or score of the match will lead to a loss in the distance.
3. Goal of the team bet.
Will the club be able to arrange a goal – an analogue bet on the individual total is more (0.5). The opposite rate – the option "no", meaning that the selected team will not be able to score a goal.
4. Bets on goals by time.
These are the same bets, but in a separate half, and not a duel as a whole. For example, a goal in the 1st (2nd) time – yes / no, or goals in both halves. Comparing halves implies their effectiveness – in which half will be scored more. Make such a bet when you deeply understand the style of the game rivals. For example, the first half of the players are eyeing the enemy, but in the second they are activated in the attack. If this is observed regularly, put on 1<2 (the second is more than the first) or just on a goal in the 2nd half.
5. First and last goal.
This is a bet on a sequence of goals – which team will score first or last. When you predict an attacking game from the very beginning of one team, you can risk that it will score first, provided that the opponent doesn't counterattack badly.
What team will score the next goal. This can be the first, second, third, etc. It is desirable to use the bet in live, when there is the superiority of one of the parties and the goal is brewing. The main thing that the team wanted to score the ball and strive for this, as well as the remaining time. It is dangerous to bet on the next goal when there is 10 minutes left to play, even if the players create a lot of dangerous moments.
The offices accept betting at what time a goal will be scored. For example, from the 46th to the 60th or the first goal in the range of 1-15 minutes.
8. Total odd or not.
A bet on what the sum of goals will be odd or not. The market is adventurous, so ignore it. Not only because it's difficult to predict. Professionals do not use similar options.
Will a certain player score one or more goals? There is also a reverse bet – the football player will not be able to score. This is a risky outcome.
10. How a goal will be scored.
A meaningless market, even though a betting strategy has been created for it – the first goal with a foot. Of course, you can try to predict how teams will score a goal: with their foot, from a penalty kick, with their head or their own net. But this is an unnecessary risk. Do not complicate the rates – choose the obvious options.
From the considered bets, the totals and the comparison of the halves look great. It is advisable not to get involved in other markets. Find simple options that are supported by many factors.