Remembering one of the great - albeit underappreciated - actors of the last half-century

 

Yesterday actor Tim Curry died in Los Angeles at the age of 80.  He'd been wheelchair-bound since a stroke in 2012, which curtailed his acting career.

Curry was an absolute master of different roles, characters and persona.  Here are just a few of his many roles over the years.  Of course, we have to start with the one that made him (in)famous:  Dr. Frankenfurter in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".

(Read on to the bottom of this article to see an extended commentary on Rocky Horror (and Tim Curry) from Meat Loaf, one of his co-stars.)

Curry did some serious acting, too.  His role as Chief Medical Officer Petrov in "The Hunt For Red October" was relatively insubstantial, but as a character switch from Rocky Horror always struck me as going from one extreme to another.

Nevertheless, he truly shone in comedy roles.  Here are snippets from his performance as Colonel Anatoly Cherdenko in the 2008 video game "Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3".  You can see him struggling to hold back laughter as he plays the character in a magnificently tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top delivery.

In 1992 he played Mr. Hector, the concierge at the Plaza Hotel, in "Home Alone 2: Lost In New York".  This is one of my favorite scenes from that movie.

He memorably played Long John Silver the pirate in "Muppet Treasure Island".

He left his mark on the entertainment world, on stage and screen, with performances like those.  I can't think offhand of any current actor who can replace him in characters like those.  Rest in peace, Mr. Curry, and thank you for many years of viewing pleasure.

I promised you more about the Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Meat Loaf gave an extended commentary on his participation in the movie, and his first (emotionally traumatic) encounter with Tim Curry (which resulted in his getting a jaywalking ticket as he tried to flee from the theater!).  There are two parts.

One of the funnier memories I have of Rocky Horror is that, back in the 1970's, South Africa had an official Publications Control Board, dominated by the heavily Calvinist teachings of the Dutch Reformed Church, which censored all books, movies and other entertainment media.  The movie must have given them fits of apoplexy, because they censored it heavily.  As a result, neither of the seduction scenes where Frankenfurther waylays first Janet, then Brad, was included - with the result that nobody could figure out their reactions from that point onward in the film!  Bootleg copies of the entire movie were soon smuggled in, clearing up the confusion.

Peter

Thought-provoking comments on trade/craft positions in industry

 

John Ringo, best-selling science fiction author, put up this post on X.com yesterday.  It made me think very hard about the current shortage of skilled professional craft/trade persons, which we've discussed in these pages on previous occasions.  Because some readers don't have access to X.com, I'm going to reproduce almost all of it here.  If you're on X, please feel free to read the many comments following his post, and reply to John there (and leave a comment here anyway!).

One very critical thing to know/remember about 'the trades' and 'why did we get rid of votech in HS?'

I'm a late boomer and not one to automatically blame everything on boomers, but... the boomers are a big reason.

Essentially, boomers filled nearly ALL of the trade positions that the US needed, even got laid off when manufacturing got outsourced, and there were lots and lots of people born between 1946 and 1964 who were doing plumbing, electrician, mechanic, etc jobs.

And they didn't retire. It used to be skilled union workers could retire after 20 years. The boomers didn't. My best friend is a NETA Level Four and has been doing ETT for 30 years. All the 'kids' who would have moved into his job couldn't... because he was doing it.

During the '90s there just WERE VERY FEW TRADE JOBS AVAILABLE in the United States. There was no reason for HS to keep votech when NOBODY COULD GET A JOB. There WEREN'T (many) plumber jobs, electrician jobs, machinists positions available for people entering the work force. They were all filled up by boomers.

(Example: Have a friend who works in the nuclear industry. Had to regularly certify this big complex part that was hand machined by one guy who had been doing it since 1976. THAT WAS WHEN CARTER WAS IN OFFICE! 'What happens when he retires?' 'We're not sure. There's nobody else on earth that has the skills.')

Now, as they are finally retiring, suddenly WE NEED VOTECH! WE NEED KIDS TO WORK IN TRADES! WE NEED KIDS TO MAN THE ASSEMBLY LINES! WHERE ARE THE WELDERS?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH KIDS THESE DAYS?! THEY'RE JUST LAZY AND WANT TO PLAY VIDEO GAMES/BE INFLUENCERS/PLAY ON THEIR PHONES ALL DAY!

The United States essentially eliminated skilled trade as a POSSIBLE job much less a STATUS VALUE job for at least one entire 25 year generation. We need x million new electricians in 2026. We needed about 5 in 1996. 'Sorry, kid, we're not hiring/training new electrician apprentices unless your dad is a master electrician. We just don't need that many.'

So, most of the training, HS votech, apprenticeships just went away.

It's gonna take time to fix that.

Food for thought indeed!  Please provide your own input on the subject in Comments.

Peter

A snappy answer to a stupid question

 

I dearly love J. K. Rowling's intelligence, wit and superb choice of repartee.  This is one of her best, as she responds to a "woke" gender warrior trying to browbeat opponents.

Zap!  End of argument, right there!

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 325

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.

Sunday morning music

 

A little bit of whimsy this morning.  I received an e-mail that contained a reference to Billy Currington's country song, "People are Crazy".  I listened to it, and kinda enjoyed it:  so I thought I'd make it today's shared tune as well.

I gather there's another version that substitudes "dogs" for "beer" in the chorus.  Works for me!

Peter