Ramblings

The internet today is "down" due to a protest about some government legislation to control copyright and 'intellectual ownership'.  The senate passed the bill but some of those who signed it now oppose it.  That alone indicates how crazy government has gotten.  Most of our elected officials are lawyers and they're signing bills, and making laws without first reading them.  I forget how big the Obamacare legislation actually was but it was enormous. 
Back to the internet or rather why I was looking for info.  There was a show on public TV about one of the Hollywood studios.  Some of it was how wonderful this head of studio was and how creative that other head of studio was, etc.  Which put me in mind of what my friend Frank said:  "Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather, was on Charlie Rose and said the bit about the horse's head in the producer's bed was a true story."  Puzo went on further to say:  "I've known a lot of Mafia guys and they could be ruthless but the worst SOB's were in Hollywood."  Not the only person to have said that.

One section of the doc. was called 'The Genius' and was about Stanley Kubrick.  He is probably most famous for "2001', 'How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb', 'Spartacus', 'Barry Lyndon'.  My personal favorite is 'Paths of Glory'.  Ever since I read 'The Guns of August' I have been fascinated by the First World War.  Also, when I was traveling around Mt. Athos in Greece I hooked up with some Brits, one of whom was senior at the British Museum.  When I voiced the impression that made on me, he pooh-poohed the thought..  He said someone like him would never be where he was if his country had not lost an entire generation in the First World War.

But I wasn't searching the internet for info about the War or Paths of Glory.  Two things struck me: Stanley Kubrick and Adolphe Menjou in 1957 making a movie together.  Kubrick is from New York City and politically very liberal.  I wondered if he had gone to England because of blacklisting by McCarthyism.  That's the info I was looking for.  Adolphe is most famous for testifying at the McCarthy hearings and naming names.  Menjou's famous line was: "I'd send all those commies to Texas.  They know how to deal with them."  It appears Kubrick did not leave America because of politics.  he left because he found film financing easier.