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''"We don't have any | ''"We don't have any Jameson's, we got some, um, we got a little Imperial over here."'' | ||
'''To The Bar Life''' is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series [[Work In Progress]]. It was originally broadcast in [[:Category:1987|1987]]. | '''To The Bar Life''' is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series [[Work In Progress]]. It was originally broadcast in [[:Category:1987|1987]]. | ||
== Synopsis == | == Synopsis == | ||
Bud ([[Larry Block]]), a customer at a bar, wants drinks that Ray | |||
([[Ryan Cutrona]]), the bartender, doesn't have.<ref>I take the names | |||
from [[In The Middle Of Nowhere (Part 1) | 'In the middle of nowhere']]; | |||
they mention the towns of Paisley and Kimball, which also appear in | |||
it; Block and Cutrona played the same characters in it. Block's car | |||
is broken in both.</ref> | |||
1:50: Joe recites a prayer, some parts taken from the [[Wikipedia:Tridentine Mass|Tridentine Mass]]. | |||
2:10: Bud and Ray return, arguing about drinks. | |||
4:50: Joe describes the appearance and behavior of a homeless man on | |||
Venice Beach. | |||
7:00: Johnny (the homeless man) was born in NYC in August 1921. His | |||
mother, Blanche, 23, died in childbirth; she designed clothes for | |||
Broadway shows. His father, Arthur, ran a family cooperage in | |||
Hoboken. Arthur gave Johnny to Blanche's mother, a widow, to raise. | |||
8:30: Grandmother and Johnny sailed to Brittany, where the | |||
grandmother's family lived, when Johnny was 4. A French boy 4 or 5 | |||
years older kissed him on the ship; Johnny avoided him after that. | |||
9:40: They lived on a farm near Rostrenen; they visited Lourdes. | |||
10:50: Joe invites us to drink holy water (perhaps an allophemism for | |||
alcohol) in memory of Bernadette.<ref>the patron saint of | |||
Lourdes</ref> | |||
11:10: They returned to NYC in 1926 (a year later). They had a daily | |||
routine on the town: shopping, church, movies. | |||
12:50: Grandmother began taking Johnny to visit his father in | |||
Englewood, New Jersey. The grandmother and Arthur argued. Arthur | |||
married Anne Stevens, who came to take Johnny home with her after | |||
school one day after fighting over him. | |||
13:40: Joe invites us to drink to the wisdom of Solomon. | |||
14:00: Johnny moves in with his father and stepmother. Arthur tries | |||
to make a man of him. | |||
15:30: Joe invites us to drink to the mouse Arthur made Johnny | |||
incinerate in 1927. | |||
16:00: Joe tells us how pretty Anne was; she looked like [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Astor Mary Astor]. | |||
16:30: Arthur disciplined Johnny with beatings. | |||
17:50: Joe invites us to drink to Blanche. | |||
18:00: Arthur, hopeful at the repeal of Prohibition, invested all his | |||
money in up-to-date equipment for the cooperage, but wooden barrels | |||
became out-of-date what with bottles and steel barrels, so he went | |||
bankrupt, lost everything. | |||
19:40: They moved in with Anne's parents, Charles and Ida Stevens in | |||
1937. Charles Stevens worked for the Hudson River Day Line, which ran | |||
ferries on the river. They'd ride them on the weekends. | |||
21:10: Joe drinks to afternoons on the river. | |||
21:40: Hudson River let Charles Stevens go. Arthur begins to drink | |||
too much, gets violent. | |||
22:40: Johnny stood up to Arthur for the first time when he came home | |||
drunk. | |||
23:20: Ida Stevens died. They held a big wake. | |||
24:40: Arthur got fat and sickly, lost his teeth. | |||
25:30: 1939 September 1, the war started. | |||
26:30: Anne kissed Johnny. | |||
26:40: Johnny took a train to Montreal to join the RCAF, hoping to | |||
die. | |||
27:30: 'As time goes by' - Dooley Wilson | |||
29:00: A woman, who sounds like she's in a club, talks about how much | |||
he likes love and kisses; Dooley Wilson's 'As time goes by' plays in | |||
the background.<ref>re-used in [[Love Is]] and [[Where Will It End?]].</ref> | |||
30:00: Bud and Ray are back; Ray still can't make any drink Bud wants. | |||
31:00: Joe talks about liquors (Kessler, Johnny Walker, Old | |||
Bushmill...) as though they're people. He quotes ''[[Wikipedia:A Shropshire Lad|A Shropshire Lad]]'', 'Malt has done more than Milton can...'. | |||
32:10: Bud and Ray return, arguing about drinks. | |||
33:20: Johnny arrived in Montreal, joined the RCAF. | |||
34:40: Joe invites us to drink to fond farewells. | |||
35:00: After training in Toronto, they shipped out of Halifax to | |||
Liverpool. | |||
36:20: Johnny's plane, Wellington bomber AG725L of the 165th | |||
bomber command, had its engines fail over the Channel, into which it | |||
crashed.<ref>'Bomber command' was the name of the whole British bomber | |||
enterprise, which was divided into squadrons; there was no 165th | |||
squadron.<br> | |||
According to Wikipedia there was no type 725 of the Wellington | |||
bomber.<br> | |||
According to the | |||
[http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=AG725 rafcommands database] | |||
there was a bomber with ID number AG725 that crashed on takeoff from | |||
Malta 1943 May 4. It was a Martin Baltimore, not a Wellington, a | |||
light, not heavy, bomber. All the crew were killed. It was in the | |||
69th squadron. It did have 1 Canadian crew. | |||
</ref> Johnny, a turret gunner, was the only survivor. He spent | |||
the rest of the war at a desk job. He loved the bar life, drinking | |||
from 9 PM to 4 AM. | |||
39:10: Joe invites us to drink to the bar life. | |||
39:30: Johnny returned after the war. | |||
40:20: Johnny went to Villanova on the GI Bill. | |||
41:00: Inspired by Thomas Merton's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Storey_Mountain <i>The Seven-Storey Mountain</i>], | |||
Johnny found god and became passionate about his faith. | |||
42:10: Someone (George Murdoch?) recites Merton's eulogy to his | |||
brother, who died in the war, [https://www.poemist.com/thomas-merton/for-my-brother-missing-in-action-1943 'For my brother, missing in action 1943']. | |||
45:00: The poem 'pierced Johnny's heart'; he joined [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_of_Our_Lady_of_Gethsemani the monastery at Gethsemani, Kentucky], | |||
where Merton lived. Joe describes monastery life. The abbot became | |||
increasingly familiar at their weekly conferences. When the abbot | |||
kissed him, Johnny left, drifted west, ended up in Venice. | |||
48:40: Joe quotes <i>Matthew</i> 26:48-49 on the betrayal of Jesus. | |||
49:00: Bud and Ray return, this time Bud unhappy that Ray has | |||
none of the bar snacks he wants. | |||
50:30: Joe recites a poem in praise of drinking. | |||
55:20: Bud and Ray return, arguing about bar snacks. | |||
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:100%; overflow:auto;"> | |||
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Legacy Synopsis</div> | |||
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"> | |||
A narrative monologue, cut with acted scenes and Joe toasting characters in the narrative and reading a poem praising liquor. | A narrative monologue, cut with acted scenes and Joe toasting characters in the narrative and reading a poem praising liquor. | ||
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*He returns from Europe, finds religion in a Thomas Merton poem and joins the monastery in Gethsemani. | *He returns from Europe, finds religion in a Thomas Merton poem and joins the monastery in Gethsemani. | ||
*When the abbot makes a pass at him, he heads west, eventually becoming a homeless person in Venice Beach. | *When the abbot makes a pass at him, he heads west, eventually becoming a homeless person in Venice Beach. | ||
</div></div> | |||
== Music == | == Music == | ||
{{Sketch (Penguin Cafe Orchestra)}} [Intro] | {{Sketch (Penguin Cafe Orchestra)}} [Intro] | ||
Line 51: | Line 198: | ||
{{Rosasolis (Penguin Cafe Orchestra)}} [46:37] | {{Rosasolis (Penguin Cafe Orchestra)}} [46:37] | ||
== Shared | == Shared material == | ||
* [[A Kiss Is Just A Kiss]] | * [[A Kiss Is Just A Kiss]] | ||
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*This is largely a retelling of the material from A Kiss is Just a Kiss, cut with poetry and toasts by Joe, and a bar room acted dialog. | *This is largely a retelling of the material from A Kiss is Just a Kiss, cut with poetry and toasts by Joe, and a bar room acted dialog. | ||
*The bar room dialog may have originally been recorded as part of [[In The Middle Of Nowhere (Part 1)|In The Middle Of Nowhere]]. It features the same actors (Larry Block & Ryan Cutrona), the style seems consistent, and the customer makes references to needing to unwind from a traumatic experience and not having a working car, both of which are consistent with an early scene in which Bud and Ray meet. Both programs also feature a prominent reference to Lourdes. | *The bar room dialog may have originally been recorded as part of [[In The Middle Of Nowhere (Part 1)|In The Middle Of Nowhere]]. It features the same actors (Larry Block & Ryan Cutrona), the style seems consistent, and the customer makes references to needing to unwind from a traumatic experience and not having a working car, both of which are consistent with an early scene in which Bud and Ray meet. Both programs also feature a prominent reference to Lourdes. | ||
== Commentary == | |||
I didn't listen for years: the opening conversation is hard to | |||
make out and not worth any effort - a witless version of Monty | |||
Python's 'Cheese shop' sketch; I expected the rest to be no better. | |||
Thanksgiving afternoon about 10 years ago I went for a walk, | |||
copied 3 episodes of Joe's shows to my Coby, then added 'To the bar | |||
life' in case I went long, which I did. I found Johnny's story, and | |||
the accompanying music, excellent, one of Joe's best. I don't care | |||
for the rest, especially after re-evaluating Merton.[[User:Arthur Peabody|Arthur Peabody]] ([[User talk:Arthur Peabody|talk]]) 13:04, 26 July 2022 (EDT) | |||
I kept track of the last 14 years of the episodes KPFA aired, | |||
the last 13 of those WBEZ and WNYC did, the last 8 years KDVS did. | |||
None of them aired it - perhaps for the reason I didn't listen for so | |||
long.[[User:Arthur Peabody|Arthur Peabody]] ([[User talk:Arthur Peabody|talk]]) 13:04, 26 July 2022 (EDT) | |||
A number of homeless people on Venice and Santa Monica beach | |||
have chatted me up. Johnny doesn't sound like one of them. I think | |||
it's fictional - it has too much detail, is too neat. The portions of | |||
'A kiss is just a kiss' that I have heard are much more detailed.[[User:Arthur Peabody|Arthur Peabody]] ([[User talk:Arthur Peabody|talk]]) 13:04, 26 July 2022 (EDT) | |||
== Footnotes == | |||
[[Category:Serious_Monologue]] | [[Category:Serious_Monologue]] |