Saturday, August 27, 2016
Friday, August 26, 2016
Lost TV -- The Della Reese Show
Decades Before Oprah, Della Reese was the First Black Woman to Host a Talk Show: The digital remains are down to two 10-minute clips on YouTube. One is an episode with singer Eric Burdon of the Animals; another is with comedian Lou Alexander. No other trace has surfaced of a show that sits as an entry in the Lost Media Wiki, a crowd-sourced compendium of history’s abandoned media artifacts. Its disappearance has inspired curiosity as to whether these episodes will emerge from obscurity, resulting in at least one man’s dogged efforts to recover the show’s full archive.
FFB: Cross the Red Creek -- Harry Whittington
Stark House has done it again -- a triple-decker of Harry Whittington westerns that includes Trouble Rides Tall, Cross the Red Creek, and Desert Stake-Out, with an excellent and informed introduction by the Whittington expert, David Laurence Wilson. I've said this again and again, but it's even more true this time: The introduction is worth the price of the book.I first read Cross the Red Creek in an Avon paperback long ago. It presents a situation that Whittington excelled at, a man in trouble who just keeps on getting deeper and deeper in the hole. Jim Gilmore, looking for a fresh start, is headed for the town of Kiowa City when he's surrounded by a posse and accused of robbing a bank. He escapes, but then in one of the story's first twists, turns himself in. A jury can't prove he's guilty, but only a couple of people in Kiowa City believe he's innocent. He doesn't care. He decides to stay, send for his wife, and settle there. Complications ensue.
Plenty of action, some complex relationships, and some tense scenes that would be great on film, particularly a shootout in a burning barn. Although the story is ostensibly a mystery, you won't ever be in any doubt about who the villain is. That doesn't detract from the enjoyment, however, because what matters is the human relationships in the story and what Jim Gilmore comes to realize about himself and other people. If you're looking for a solid traditional western, you can't go wrong with Cross the Red Creek of the other two in this volume. Highly recommended.
Thursday, August 25, 2016
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