Gaslight Digest Friday, January 29 1999 Volume 01 : Number 037


In this issue:


   Re: "The Music Essence"
   Re: "The Music Essence"
   More on Ludlow
   College ties that bind (Ludlow)
   Re: "The Music Essence"
   Today in History - Jan. 26
   [MSG Error sending mail]
   Mata Hari (fwd)
   Re:  Mata Hari (fwd)
   Chat:  Happy Birthday, Charles
   Re:  Chat:  Happy Birthday, Charles
   Today in History - Jan. 27
   [MSG Error sending mail]
   _The Bells_ again
   Re: Arno Press
   Today in History - Jan. 28
   Fox sisters' "spook"
   Re: Fox sisters' "spook"
   Re:  Today in History - Jan. 28
   Re:  Today in History - Jan. 28
   Re: Colette

-----------------------------THE POSTS-----------------------------

Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 16:39:34 -0700 (MST)
From: John Woolley <jwoolley(at)dna420.mcit.com>
Subject: Re: "The Music Essence"

Richard L. King writes:
> Bob wrote:
> > What impressed me as well about this story is that neither Margaret
> > nor the other students at the school are presented as pathetic. Indeed,
>
> Can you imagine how Dickens would treat a deaf asylum?

When I read "The Music-Essence", I was reminded of chapter
3 of _American Notes_, much of which is about the Perkins
Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, and is
remarkably sober in tone, at least for Dickens.  It's well
worth reading.

Of course, if Dickens had set a *novel* in such an Institute,
he would have pulled out all the stops.  Little Nell, Tiny Tim,
move over.

- -- Fr. John

===0===



Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 22:49:47 -0500
From: "S.T. Karnick" <skarnick(at)INDY.NET>
Subject: Re: "The Music Essence"

Richard's and Robert's comments on "The Music Essence" are interesting and
have much merit. I haven't much to say about the story myself, pressed for
time as I happen to be at the moment, but I recommend it highly. Ludlow's
descriptive powers are immense, especially his ability to convey characters'
physical sensations and their sense of the presence of divinity. As Richard
noted, there is a sensual and emotional immediacy to the story that reminds
one of Woolrich, although the author's intent and philosophy are far
different. And as Robert notes, the evocation of the 19th century mentality
is gratifying both on its own terms and as an antidote to the deficiences of
that prevalent today. I agree strongly with Richard's observation that the
tendency to ignore religion in today's fiction exemplifies the latter's
utter failure to to present life as it is really lived. "The Music Essence"
succeeds at that and thereby succeeds at very much more. Read it.

Best w's,

S.T. Karnick

- -----Original Message-----
From: Richard L. King <rking(at)INDIAN.VINU.EDU>
To: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Cc: gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA <gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA>
Date: Friday, January 22, 1999 9:21 AM
Subject: Re: "The Music Essence"


>Bob wrote:
>
>> the reason you mention, Richard: Ludlow, for all his wondrous tales,
>> was, to a great extent, a realist. This realism might extend even to
>
>I suppose this is why I see this story as a 19th century noir work, or
>certainly fiction with an edge.
>
>>
>> the fanciful part of the tale, the construction of the _kaleidophone_.
>> What we have hear, it seems to me, is a mechanical representation
>> of the synesthetic experience, which Ludlow might well have known from
>> his hashish experiments.
>
>Not to mention the hashish as adding to noirish attitudes.
>
>> What impressed me as well about this story is that neither Margaret
>> nor the other students at the school are presented as pathetic. Indeed,
>
>Can you imagine how Dickens would treat a deaf asylum?
>
>>
>> As for the religious element in "The Music Essence," the perspective
>> that the narrator and Margaret bring to it would not have been at all
>> uncommon in America at this period--and yet in much of the literature
>> from the time we read nowadays it seems missing. Here is another aspect
>
>This is very true. Modern fiction often doesn't have people doing things
people
>do: attend church, have families, drive their son/daughter to choir
practice at
>7 a.m., check out books at the library, generally being happy. I suppose it
is
>because these aspects of life are considered boring and don't make good
copy.
>Modern fiction is a fiction of unhappiness and the Creating Writing Lab,
>perhaps? Who would want to read a novel about...me?
>
>>
>> of Ludlow's story that I appreciate: I find that I'm in the presence
>> of real 19th century Americans, or at least ones that I can identify
>> and have empathy for.
>
>Richard King
>rking(at)indian.vinu.edu
>
>

===0===



Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 01:39:20 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: More on Ludlow

Fitz Hugh Ludlow was himself a music critic who established a reputation
not only among readers of his columns on music but among some first-rate
musicians as well.  Among his friends he counted the composer and pianist
Louis Moreau Gottschalk.  Here is a brief excerpt from Don Dulchinos's
biography about their meeting that is apropos to our story:

<<
Fitz Hugh's reviews were the beginning of friendship with Gottschalk
himself.  The pianist was moved to write to Fitz Hugh, and the February
14 column of "Masks and Music" [which Ludlow wrote for a New York
newspaper called the _Home Journal_] includes a letter from Gottschalk
to "my dear L.", agreeing with Fitz Hugh that while Beethoven was
great, not everything he wrote was of the same caliber. Gottschalk
had spent time compiling Voodoun music in and around New Orleans,
and he and Fitz Hugh may have compared notes about African American
spirituality. After one show, Fitz Hugh and Rosa were invited backstage,
and Rosa later recounted that Gottschalk "averred that he perceived music
through every sense." This recalls _The Hasheesh Eater_ and the story
"The Music Essence."
<<

Much of Ludlow's criticism, as readers of the story might be able to
guess, dealt with opera, which he considered to be the ultimate artistic
experience.

Ludlow died at age thirty-six, but managed to crowd a great deal of living
into that period. For instance, he was deeply involved in developing a
cure for opium-addiction, which afflicted many ex-soldiers of the Civil
War.  (Wounded soldiers were often given opium as as anaesthetic, their
doctors  apparently having little notion of its addicting power.)  His
essay for _Harper's  Monthly_, "What Shall They Do to Be Saved," was the
first to draw attention  to this problem. Ludlow also "went West" with his
wife Rosalie and the painter  Alfred Bierstadt, and produced a book on his
experiences there, _The Heart of  the Continent_. Ludlow, in fact,
travelled a great deal, and wrote copiously about his travels. He knew a
number of the great and the merely famous of his  time, including Mark
Twain, the actor Edwin Booth (a particular friend), and
the actress Adah Menken.  He alsi went through a divorce and a second
marriage, and battled not only his own drug problem (hashish) but the
ravages of tuberculosis.  (By the time of his death, I should add, Ludlow
finally made peace with the God of his fathers; he was much pursued, as
you might guess from "The Music Essence," by "the hound of Heaven.")

Btw, it's difficult to tell from "The Phial of Dread" and "The Music
Essence" but a great number of Ludlow's stories are lighthearted and
comical.  In fact, most of his contemporary readers would probably have
recognized him as this  kind of writer, a man with a satirical bent. (I
may well send along some of Don Dulchinos's synopses of these tales at
some later point).

I'm glad that "The Music Essence" has struck a chord with Richard, Sam,
and Father John--and, I hope, many other Gaslighters.  It is quite an
original story.

Bob C.


_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity

Those who are alive receive a mandate from those
who are silent forever.  They can fulfill their
duties only by trying to reconstruct precisely
things as they were and by wresting the past
from fictions and legends.
                         --Czeslaw Milosz

rchamp7927(at)aol.com       robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

===0===



Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 01:58:45 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: College ties that bind (Ludlow)

Ludlow went to Union College in Schenectedy <sp?> New York. This
was in the 1850s. He is remembered there to this day, as the
following item from Union's webpage attests:

Fitz Hugh Ludlow Day: This once-a-year celebration is dedicated to the
memory of Fitzhugh Ludlow, an 1856 graduate of Union College who is noted
for composing our alma mater, Song to old Union.

Bob C.



_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity

Those who are alive receive a mandate from those
who are silent forever.  They can fulfill their
duties only by trying to reconstruct precisely
things as they were and by wresting the past
from fictions and legends.
                         --Czeslaw Milosz

rchamp7927(at)aol.com       robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

===0===



Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 07:41:22 -0500
From: "Richard L. King" <rking(at)INDIAN.VINU.EDU>
Subject: Re: "The Music Essence"

"S.T. Karnick" wrote:

> that prevalent today. I agree strongly with Richard's observation that the
> tendency to ignore religion in today's fiction exemplifies the latter's
> utter failure to to present life as it is really lived. "The Music Essence"
> succeeds at that and thereby succeeds at very much more. Read it.

The discussion of the absence of religion or religious beliefs in modern
fiction (Graham Greene not withstanding--I recently read BRIGHTON ROCK, for
instance, which was written over 50 years ago!) brings to mind John Updike's IN
THE BEAUTY OF THE LILIES (one of his latest novels), which is relevant to
Gaslight because he begins the book in our period with a minister who suddenly
loses his faith at the same time Mary Pickford faints while making a film not
far away. Updike continues with a fictionalized history of 20th C. America, in
which he shows that film/entertainment/television has replaced religion as a
major force in our society/culture, the mainstream religions dying out (such as
Presbyterianism) and being replaced by fringe cults. There is an *assumption*
in Ludlow's story that his readers' would share (or at least understand or at
least view as important) his religious mindset (such as music being God or
God-inspired) that I can't recall seeing today much in literature (though I
expect people are as religious in an inner way as they ever have been).

Richard
rking(at)indian.vinu.edu

===0===



Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 09:37:19 -0700
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Today in History - Jan. 26

            1861
                Louisiana secedes from the Union.
            1863
                President Lincoln names General Joseph Hooker to replace 
Burnside as commander of the
                Army of the Potomac.
            1875
                Pinkerton agents, hunting Jesse James, kill his 18-year-old 
half-brother and seriously injure
                his mother with a bomb.
            1885
                General *Chinese* Gordon is killed on the palace steps in 
Khartoum by Sudanese
                Mahdists in Africa.

     Born on January 26
            1826
                Julia Dent Grant, First Lady and wife of Ulysses Grant.
            1880
                Douglas MacArthur, U.S. general in World War I, where he was 
the youngest general in
                the U.S. Army; World War II, where he was the commander of all 
U.S. Army forces in the
                South Pacific; and Korea, where he commanded all United Nations 
forces.
            1893
                Bessie Coleman, first black airplane pilot.

===0===



Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 10:38:34 -0600 (CST)
From: MISTI Gateway at dsbs32 <postmaster(at)dsbs32.itg.ti.com>
Subject: [MSG Error sending mail]

The MSG system returned the following response when attempting to send the 
attached message:

MSGD537 - TAG=BLQMBNBL ID=MFTM
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MSG         SMLW &
FROM=MFTM ID=A0000000 TAG=BLQMBNBL NONTI=Y

  To: gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA            <gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA>

From: Jerry Carlson                     <owner-gaslight(at)mtroyal.ab.ca>

Subj:  Today in History - Jan. 26

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===0===



Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 01:06:32 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Mata Hari (fwd)

One of my recurring Gaslight interests is the case of Mata Hari, the
exotic dancer who passed herself off as an Asian woman performing the
traditional dances of her native Java (the name Mata Hari means "eye
of dawn" in Javanese).  Recently, some M15 papers have been released
that touch on Mata Hari's execution as a spy. In the following brief
article from the _Times_ of London, the theoy is put forward that
she was a "fantasist" who had no real status as a spy and thus
died for naught. In the article a military expert at Cambridge
hypothesizes that she might simply have been struck by the glamour
of being a spy. But there is at least one other explanation for this
career change.

First, Mata Hari was no longer the beautiful young woman who had bedazzled
Europe with her dancing.  She had also fallen victim to a host of
imitators, and her dancing jobs over time had become fewer and fewer. At
the same time, she was a spendthrift who seldom spared herself any luxury;
and she had taken a lover, a young Russian officer named, rather
grandly, Vadim de Masloff, on whom she lavished money. Thus, she turned
to spying, partly at least, to earn the money to keep her in the
style to which she (and Masloff) had become accustomed.

To the very morning of her execution, Mata Hari did not believe that
the French would be ungallant enough to shoot a woman.  But she had
underestimated her value as propaganda.  Things were going badly for
the French in the war, and a good deal of these troubles were placed
at the door of double-agent Mata Hari.  It was all nonsense, which
Mata Hari probably knew (and which may have been the source of her
confidence); but when someone is looking for a scapegoat no one
is safe.

I once wrote a long poem about the death of Mata Hari, who lived a
most theatrical life--and died a most theatrical death.

Bob C.


January 27 1999  MI5 PAPERS
 ?
Mata Hari about to face a firing squad in Paris in 1917. The spy had carried
gentleman's boots and spurs in her luggage on the only occasion she attempted
to visit England

[Bob note: the above is the caption for a photograph that appears in the
_Times_; it is presented as a photo of the actual event, but actually
comes from a early film made about her.}


Mata Hari 'was just a fantasist'


BY MICHAEL EVANS, DEFENCE EDITOR

MATA HARI, the exotic dancer who became a spy, may have lost her life
needlessly, according to the evidence of MI5 files released yesterday.
The dazzling beauty, real name Margarete Zelle, never fell into the hands of
MI5 but was covertly monitored. A Paris-based officer, Lieutenant Colonel H.A.
Packenham, was given access to her French dossier. He described her as a femme
forte, and reported that she told French interrogators that she had passed on
information "of every kind procurable" to Germany.

Despite her pretensions to be a romantic spy, however, there is no evidence in
the files that she was ever a genuine secret agent capable of damaging
national security or the operational effectiveness of the Allies.

Christopher Andrew, a Cambridge University authority on wartime intelligence,
yesterday said that Mata Hari may have been a fantasist who was seduced by the
imaginary glamour of being a spy.

She made only one visit to England, in December 1915. Files reported that her
luggage included a pair of gentleman's boots, a pair of spurs, two brass
shells and 30 pairs of stockings.

She was described as a "handsome, bold type of woman" who called herself "an
international character". She was denied entry, and returned to the Continent,
where she was executed by firing squad two years later.

_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity

Those who are alive receive a mandate from those
who are silent forever.  They can fulfill their
duties only by trying to reconstruct precisely
things as they were and by wresting the past
from fictions and legends.
                         --Czeslaw Milosz

rchamp7927(at)aol.com       robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@














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===0===



Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 08:32:47 -0500 (EST)
From: Zozie(at)aol.com
Subject: Re:  Mata Hari (fwd)

Good morning Bob...

One of my grad student advisees did her thesis production (developed a musical
theatre piece for presentation) on Mata Hari.  Student did a lot of research,
and she thought -- as you indicate -- Mata Hari was a scapegoat.  A&E also did
a biography on her.  Did you see that one?

Interesting critter.

best
phoebe

===0===



Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 08:54:33 -0700
From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)gloaming.com>
Subject: Chat:  Happy Birthday, Charles

Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson).  January 27, 1832

In February one of the major tv stations is doing a new version of ALICE IN
WONDERLAND, same director as the MERLIN.  So many "live" versions of these
have been done but they all seem to dwell on the novelty of the actors they
got to star as characters than the story itself.  Oh look, Carol Burnett or
W. C. Fields--but it's not the character they're playing, it's themself.

Even though I personally love Disney's version, Disney himself wasn't
pleased with the result.  ALICE IN WONDERLAND was one of his favorite
stories and for 10 years he had had the writers rework it till the last
version was finally acceptable--he still didn't think it had captured the
magic. (But the diversions the writers had taken at the beginning had only
stunned him--that they could take what he considered a masterpiece and then
REWRITE IT?).

One of the few versions that I've seen that really captures the eerier
qualities was done by Czech stop-action director Jan Svankmajer.  His Alice
is very bizarre and probably only suitable for stranger children (I would
have loved it as a kid).  The story is done with stop action figures but
the white rabbit is a stuffed real rabbit that leaks sawdust, many of the
animals are skeletal composites and the caterpillar is a real surprise, not
to mention the toad footman's tongue!!  But it's wonderful. If you want to
see clips, here is a Svankmajer site that offers several real-time clips of
the movie.

http://www.awn.com/heaven_and_hell/SVANK/svank2.htm

But if you want your own copy the best deal going is from Amazon--yes, they
actually have it.

Deborah

Deborah McMillion
deborah(at)gloaming.com
http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html

===0===



Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 13:34:52 -0500 (EST)
From: Zozie(at)aol.com
Subject: Re:  Chat:  Happy Birthday, Charles

In a message dated 1/27/99 4:03:10 PM, deborah wrote:

<< So many "live" versions of these
have been done but they all seem to dwell on the novelty of the actors they
got to star as characters than the story itself.  Oh look, Carol Burnett or
W. C. Fields--but it's not the character they're playing, it's themself.
>>

As the American theatre critic George Jean Nathan wrote (Mr George Jean Nathan
Presents, 1917):

A good actor is one who is successful in completely immersing his own
personality in the role he is playing.  A star actor is one who is successful
in completely immersing the role he is playing in his own personality.

best
phoebe

===0===



Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 13:35:17 -0700
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Today in History - Jan. 27

            1825
                Congress approves Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), 
clearing the way for forced
                relocation of the Eastern Indians on the "Trail of Tears."
            1862
                President Abraham Lincoln issues General War Order No. 1, 
setting in motion the Union
                armies.Lincoln's War Order was aimed mainly at McClellan who 
commanded the army of
                the Potomac.
            1900
                Foreign diplomats in Peking fear revolt and demand that the 
Imperial Government discipline
                the Boxer Rebels.
            1905
                Russian General Kuropatkin takes the offensive in Manchuria. 
The Japanese under General
                Oyama suffer heavy casualties.
            1916
                President Woodrow Wilson opens preparedness program.
            1918
                Communists attempt to seize power in Finland.

     Born on January 27
            1756
                Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian musical genius and composer 
whose works included
                The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute.
            1850
                Samuel Gompers, first President of American Federation of Labor.
            1859
                Kaiser Wilhelm II, emperor who ruled Germany during World War I 
but was forced to
                abdicate in 1918.
            1900
                Hyman Rickover, American admiral who is considered the "Father 
of the Atomic
                Submarine."

===0===



Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 14:35:14 -0600 (CST)
From: MISTI Gateway at dsbs32 <postmaster(at)dsbs32.itg.ti.com>
Subject: [MSG Error sending mail]

The MSG system returned the following response when attempting to send the 
attached message:

MSGD537 - TAG=ILUJBFCS ID=MFTM
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MSG         SMLW &
FROM=MFTM ID=A0000000 TAG=ILUJBFCS NONTI=Y

  To: gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA            <gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA>

From: Jerry Carlson                     <owner-gaslight(at)mtroyal.ab.ca>

Subj:  Today in History - Jan. 27

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Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 18:19:58 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: _The Bells_ again

A couple of Christmases ago, Gaslighters will remember, we read _The
Bells_, the magnficent play that launched the career of Sir Henry Irving
(it remained in his repertoire for years after) and that concerns a
haunted burgomeister who has killed a Jewish merchant for his money. In
the current issue of _Classic Images_ there is a description of a 1926
film of _The Bells_ that I thought Gaslighters might find interesting, if
only for the changes that were made in the play and the actors who
appeared in the film.  The major changes, IMO, are the omission of any
reference to the merchant as a Jew and of the ghostly trial scene.  There
is also no mention here of Mathias disposing of the merchant's body in a
lime-kiln, an act which for a modern audience gives the play an eerily
prophetic tone.

Bob C.

<<"_The Bells_" (1926)

Cast: Lionel Barrymore as Mathias; Boris Karloff as the mesmerist; Gustav
von Seyfertitz; James Frank: John George; Lola Todd. Directed by James
Young.

   Lionel Barrymore and Boris Karloff, two big guns of the early sound
screen, star in this traditional ghost story of the silent era.
   Mathia (Barrymore) owns the local inn.  He wants to be appointed
Burgomeister and spend money and gives everyone credit to gain popularity.
He is in debt to Gustav von Seyfertitz who is willing to cancel the debt
if he can marry Mathias' daughter Annette.
   It is Fair day.  Annette spurns old Gustav in favor of a hand young
lieutenant. Mathias must now pay Gustav and must find a way to raise the
money. Karloff enters the scene.  He is a mesmerist, a hypnotist-magician.
He offers to hypnotize Mathias who refuses.
   A gypsy fortune teller read Mathias' hand; she is terrorized by what
she sees, refuses his money, and runs away.
   In the midst of the festivities a merchant friend comes to the tavern;
he has gold in a money belt. Mathias kills him with an axe and takes the
gold to repay Gustav.  The victim had been with a horse and a carriage
with sleigh bells. After the crime the sound of those bells is engraved in
Mathias' mind and begins to haunt him.
    Annett's young officer asks for her hand.  Mathias offers his daughter
a dowry of 30,000 francs in gold from the murdered man's money.  His hands
turn black as he handles the gold, and then the merchant's ghost appears.
Mathias promises to return the money but changes his mind when he sees
Annette together with her future husband.
   Mathias becomes Burgomeister.  Karloff arrives with the brother of the
murdered merchant who offers a 30,000 franc reward for the identification
of the murderer.  Karloff is to mesmerize the truth from any suspect.
   As Burgomeister Mathias presides over the court as the investigation
proceeds.  Karloff claims he can make the criminal confess.  Mathias,
claiming witchcraft, throws the case out of court.
   The bells keep haunting Mathias, and the merchant's ghost appears
again.  All this is starting to get to Mathias who is losing control.  He
even plays cards with the ghost.
   Wedding bells ring as the big day arrives.  However, sleigh bells
continue to prey on the mind of Mathias.  The ghost reappears at the post
nuptial celebration.  Mathias is slowing losing his mind as the merchant's
brother also reappears with the mysterious mesmerist, leading to an
unforgettable climax.
   _The Bells_ is an absorbing tale, and the talented cast throws an aura
of horror throughout this fascinating production.  Movie buffs are given
an unusual glimpse of the early screen careers of these veteran actors.
   The video is Kino excellent.  It's digitally remastered, color tinted,
and toned.  The picture and titles are sharp; the move is accompanied by a
top-grade orchestra score. Rene Clair's short, _The Crazy Ray_, is
addded as a bonus.
   _The Bells can be purchased from Kino for $24.95.


_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity

Those who are alive receive a mandate from those
who are silent forever.  They can fulfill their
duties only by trying to reconstruct precisely
things as they were and by wresting the past
from fictions and legends.
                         --Czeslaw Milosz

rchamp7927(at)aol.com       robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

===0===



Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 19:44:40 -0500
From: JDS Books <jdsbooks(at)ameritech.net>
Subject: Re: Arno Press

    Last November there was an off topic discussion of Arno Press,
publisher of a series of reprints in mystery, SF & other fields of interest
to gaslight members.  I recently discovered a website for Ayer Company
Publishers.  This is the company which bought out the unsold stock of Arno,
Books for Libraries Press, Irvington Publishers, & probably some others.
All
those books are still for sale, listed by categories & searchable by author
or
title at
                http://www.scry.com/

The prices are higher than they were on publication back in the 1970s, but
they
offer a 20% discount if you buy five or more books.
    Best in haste,

John Squires

===0===



Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 08:23:10 -0700
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Today in History - Jan. 28

1871 
                Surrounded by Prussian troops and suffering from famine, the 
French army in Paris
                surrenders. During the siege, balloons were used to keep 
contact with the outside world.
            1915
                The U.S. Coast Guard is founded to fight contraband trade and 
aid distressed vessels at
                sea.
            1915
                The German navy attacks the U.S. freighter William P. Frye, 
loaded with wheat for
                Britain.



===0===



Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 14:43:18 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Fox sisters' "spook"

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle must have read the following item (or at least
something like it in the British press) with some interest. The
Spiritualist movement, in its modern incarnation, starts with the
Fox sisters.

Bob C.

from the

Boston Journal
November 22, 1904

  ROCHESTER, N.Y., 1904: The skeleton of the man supposed to have caused the
rappings first heard by the Fox sisters in 1848 has been found in the walls of
the house occupied by the sisters, and clears them from the only shadow of
doubt held concerning their sincerity in the discovery of spirit
communication.
    The discovery was made by school children playing in the cellar of the
building in Hydesville known as the "Spook House," where the Fox sisters heard
the wonderful rappings. William H. Hyde, a reputable citizen of Clyde, who
owns the house, made an investigation and found an almost entire human
skeleton between the earth and crumbling cellar walls, undoubtably that of the
wandering pedlar who it was claimed was murdered in the east room of the
house, and whose body was hidden in the cellar.
    Mr. Hyde has notified relatives of the Fox sisters, and the notice of the
discovery will be sent to the National Order of Spiritualists, many of whom
remember having made pilgrimage to the "Spook House," as it is commonly
called. The finding of the bones practically corroborates the sworn statement
made by Margaret Fox, April 11, 1848.


_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity

Those who are alive receive a mandate from those
who are silent forever.  They can fulfill their
duties only by trying to reconstruct precisely
things as they were and by wresting the past
from fictions and legends.
                         --Czeslaw Milosz

rchamp7927(at)aol.com       robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

===0===



Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 13:08:14 -0700
From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)gloaming.com>
Subject: Re: Fox sisters' "spook"

>remember having made pilgrimage to the "Spook House," as it is commonly
>called. The finding of the bones practically corroborates the sworn statement
>made by Margaret Fox, April 11, 1848.

The "Spook House", or the Hydesville farmhouse that was owned by the Fox
sisters was moved to Lily Dale in 1916 as part of the Lily Dale Assembly,
New York, a retreat for Spiritualists founded in 1879.  During the boomof
Spiritualism in the 1880's the community prosepered and built new homes,
library, school, post office, hotel and meeting halls.  Although, sadly,
the Fox sisters' home burned down in 1955, the community is still there
with over 150 residents.  In order to practice as a registered medium you
must go through a rigorous screening by the town board.  In the summer they
are open to lectures and workshops.

My gallery received an interesting "Spirit Photography" brochure from Lily
Dale this last year, which was set aside for me (I can't imagine why) with
a beautiful picture of Kate and Margaret Fox (Leah, the oldest sister, was
not a medium, more their 'agent') from 1852.

Though they are credited with starting the whole table-rapping movement
their lives were very troubled (think of it, adolescent girls, lots of
poltergeist activity--what does that tell you?)  Their colloquial name of
the "Rappers from Rochester" would certainly have a different connotation
today.

Deborah

Deborah McMillion
deborah(at)gloaming.com
http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html

===0===



Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 21:14:11 -0500 (EST)
From: Zozie(at)aol.com
Subject: Re:  Today in History - Jan. 28

And it is Collette's birthday.

phoebe

===0===



Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 22:40:36 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Re:  Today in History - Jan. 28

Over the holiday I read _Claudine at School_, Colette's first novel,
an autobiographical work that she produced at the insistence
of the infamous Monsieur Willy (who published it under his own
name).  The book provides an interesting look at education in the
French provinces at the end of the last century, as well as an
engaging portrait of an average French town. (Not exactly holiday fare, I
realize, but I had bought the book several months back and was determined
to read it.)

If the young Sidonie Colette was anything like her heroine Claudine,
she was a handful!

I became aware of Colette when I saw the film _Gigi_ some years ago;
immediately thereafter I read _Cheri_ and _The Last of Cheri_, but
_Claudine at School_ was my first experience of her since. I doubt
if she would be to everyone's taste, but her enormous talent shines
through even in translation.

By the way, does anyone know where I might find a discussion of Cleo
Merode?

Bob C. (whose ancestors--some of them--came from Picardy and thus
feels a more than common interest in French literature)


On Thu, 28 Jan 1999 Zozie(at)aol.com wrote:

> And it is Collette's birthday.
>
> phoebe
>


_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity

Those who are alive receive a mandate from those
who are silent forever.  They can fulfill their
duties only by trying to reconstruct precisely
things as they were and by wresting the past
from fictions and legends.
                         --Czeslaw Milosz

rchamp7927(at)aol.com       robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

===0===



Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 08:22:54 -0600
From: athan chilton <ayc(at)UIUC.EDU>
Subject: Re: Colette

>If the young Sidonie Colette was anything like her heroine Claudine,
>she was a handful!

I bet she was.  After all, she went off & became a touring performer in the
music hall circuit, which probably shocked lots of people--but which gave
her ample material for later books.

I have read some of her other works.  One of the most moving is one of the
last ones she wrote, called 'Daybreak'.  It's well worth reading, for the
philosophical outlook in it as well as the quality of her writing.  Many of
her short stories are also enjoyable reading.

Am I too late to discuss "The Music Essence" (have I got the title right?)
I started reading it, finally, at the end of the work day yesterday, and it
is enchanting.  I have just reached the point where the narrator first
meets the 'leader' of the dance in the school... a magical story so far.
The atmosphere is haunting, pulling me in so gently I don't realize it is
happening... hope to finish the story today!

athan (who's always admired Colette and felt a secret kinship to her)
ayc(at)uiuc.edu

>
>I became aware of Colette when I saw the film _Gigi_ some years ago;
>immediately thereafter I read _Cheri_ and _The Last of Cheri_, but
>_Claudine at School_ was my first experience of her since. I doubt
>if she would be to everyone's taste, but her enormous talent shines
>through even in translation.
>
>By the way, does anyone know where I might find a discussion of Cleo
>Merode?
>
>Bob C. (whose ancestors--some of them--came from Picardy and thus
>feels a more than common interest in French literature)
>
>
>On Thu, 28 Jan 1999 Zozie(at)aol.com wrote:
>
>> And it is Collette's birthday.
>>
>> phoebe
>>
>
>
>_________________________________________________
>(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)
>
>Robert L. Champ
>rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
>Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity
>
>Those who are alive receive a mandate from those
>who are silent forever.  They can fulfill their
>duties only by trying to reconstruct precisely
>things as they were and by wresting the past
>from fictions and legends.
>                         --Czeslaw Milosz
>
>rchamp7927(at)aol.com       robertchamp(at)netscape.net
>_________________________________________________
>(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)(at)

------------------------------

End of Gaslight Digest V1 #37
*****************************