Naughty Marietta

I was slow to wake up in the morning, and I lay in bed as I watched “Naughty Marietta” on DVD.  The stars were Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Elsa Lanchester, and Frank Morgan.  Some of Victor Herbert’s famous songs were in the score, including one we would hear Madeline Kahn sing in “Young Frankenstein,” and that was “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life.”  The plot involves a princess who wants to avoid an arranged marriage by escaping to New Orleans.  There were suggestions in the story as to what men might do to the women, and what a woman lacking in character really was, but this is 1935.  For a moment, I thought I was seeing “Captain Blood” again.  Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy become a popular screen couple with this movie, which is fun if foolish.  I would say that the one most enjoyable scene was the Marionette Theater.  I enjoyed some of the music, even if it was used as a torture device against a political prisoner in “Bananas.”  I never found Jeanette MacDonald all that appealing.  I remember her only from “One Hour with You” and “San Francisco.”  She was a Republican, which I didn’t know until I read her bio recently.  She and Nelson Eddy would appear together in seven more movies.  Eddy was performing in Palm Beach, Florida when he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on stage, and he died a few hours later on March 5, 1967 at age 65.  Elsa Lanchester in this film was hard to recognize as the woman who would appear in “Bell, Book and Candle” and “Mary Poppins.”  She had a couple of amusing lines about a horse.  Frank Morgan’s personality and mannerisms were apparent to anyone who has seen “The Wizard of Oz.”  Director W.S. Van Dyke would direct Eddy and MacDonald in six musicals, and Myrna Loy and William Powell in four Thin Man films.  He received Best Director Oscar nominations for “The Thin Man” and “San Francisco.”  He had cancer and heart problems, but he was a Christian Scientist.  After finishing his last film, “Journey for Margaret,” he committed suicide on February 5, 1943.  He was only 53 years old.  MacDonald and Eddy both sang at his funeral.  On February 8, 1960, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  “Naughty Marietta” is a minor movie in film history.  I don’t know how it came to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.  It’s the type of movie I would have on the television as I did my homework as a kid.  The plot certainly had its stale elements, but Morgan and Lanchester gave the movie some life.  I would rather see a musical with Judy Garland or Cyd Charisse, however.  According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for April 19, The Beatles released their single “Ticket to Ride” in the United States in 1965.  In 1980, Blondie had the Number One single, “Call Me.”  In 2001, the Mel Brooks musical “The Producers” opened on Broadway at the St. James Theatre.  In 2012, Levon Helm died of cancer at age 71 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

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Matt Olson’s Walk-Off Single in the 14th Inning

I headed early for the Coliseum.  A man on the BART train gave me an A’s card and suggested I use it to buy a new cap.  I headed out to the season ticket holder line and went to the food trucks.  I didn’t have much cash on me, but I was able to buy a vegetarian burrito and a strawberry lemonade Italian ice.  I spoke with the usher in my section about Tuesday night’s huge crowd.  She told me that it was hard to imagine me as a teacher.  Unlike Tuesday night, the A’s didn’t get a great performance from their starting pitcher, Andrew Triggs.  He allowed a single to the first batter of the game, and a stolen base, a fly ball to right field, and a single brought the White Sox their first run of the afternoon.  The A’s answered in the bottom of the inning when Matt Joyce doubled, went to third base on Marcus Semien’s single, and scored on Khris Davis’ ground ball to first.  Triggs couldn’t hold down the White Sox in the second inning.  He alternated giving up walks and singles to the first four hitters, and that second hit was discouraging, coming from a batter whose average was only .188.  The score at that point was 2-1, but with no outs and the bases loaded.  Two pitches later, Triggs gave up the grand slam, making the score 6-1.  Triggs got one out and hit the next batter with a pitch.  That was it for him in this game, as Bob Melvin went with Danny Coulombe, who ended the inning on his third pitch with a double play.  Mark Canha was having good luck wearing a ski mask during the last two nights, so he was continuing to wear it even during this day game.  It seemed to work, as he hit a home run.  Stephen Piscotty followed with a single, and Bruce Maxwell walked.  I noticed that during the national anthem these last three games that Maxwell was not kneeling.  Matt Joyce walked to load the bases.  Semien hit a sacrifice fly to make the score 6-3, with Maxwell going to third base.  Jed Lowrie appeared to hit into a double play, but after a review, he was ruled safe at first with Maxwell scoring on the play.  Davis singled, but Matt Olson struck out.  The first two innings took about an hour and a quarter to play.  Some of the kids in the stands with their classmates were already leaving.  Coulombe gave up a single to start the third inning, but got out of the inning without giving up any runs.  Chapman, Canha, and Piscotty all struck out in the bottom of the inning.  The fourth inning was another long one, as it started with Coulombe giving up two walks.  Melvin sent Santiago Casilla out to the mound, and he didn’t get the job done, as he quickly gave up a two-run double.  The White Sox scored another run one out later on a single.  A force out and a strikeout ended the inning with the score now at 9-4.  In the bottom of the inning, Maxwell struck out, but Joyce walked again.  After a pitching change, Semien made the second out, the A’s got a great stretch of four consecutive hits.  Lowrie singled, Davis singled for one run, Olson doubled for two runs, and Chapman singled for one run.  The score was now 9-8.  Canha struck out to end the inning.  After nearly two and a half hours, only four innings had been played.  Casilla finally stopped the White Sox, as he pitched a clean inning.  However, the A’s didn’t do anything in the bottom of the inning.  Emilio Pagan pitched the top of the sixth inning and allowed three singles and one run.  The score would remain at 10-8 until the bottom of the eighth inning.  Piscotty doubled and went to third base on a wild pitch.  Maxwell hit a sacrifice fly, making the score 10-9.  Chad Pinder pinch-hit for Joyce but flied out to center.  Semien walked, and Lowrie hit a home run that incredibly gave the A’s the lead at 11-10.  Davis flied out for the third out.  With a chance to close out the win, Blake Treinen went out to pitch the top of the ninth inning.  He got the first two batters out with a ground ball and a strikeout, but then he gave up a double.  After a pinch-runner was sent in, Treinen gave up a single, and the White Sox scored the tying run.  The runner went to second base on the throw.  After a stolen base, Treinen got the third out.  In the bottom of the inning, Olson, Canha, and Lucroy each drew walks, but the A’s couldn’t score, and so it was on to extra innings.  In the tenth inning, Treinen got into trouble with two singles and a walk, but he escaped.  The A’s got only a single from Davis in the bottom of the inning.  Treinen pitched a clean eleventh inning, but the A’s got just a walk from Piscotty in the bottom of the inning, although he reached second ball on a passed ball.  Lou Trivino made his debut on Tuesday, and he was sent out to pitch the top of the twelfth inning.  After one out, he got into trouble when he allowed a double and a single, but then he struck out the next two batters.  Pinder, Semien, and Lowrie did nothing in the bottom of the inning, so it was on to the thirteenth.  Trivino pitched a clean inning, and the A’s had a chance to win in the bottom of the inning when Olson doubled with one out.  Chapman struck out.  Canha the masked man got to a 3-2 count and walked.  Piscotty struck out, so a fourteenth inning was coming.  Trivino did well in pitching another clean inning.  The White Sox changed pitchers going into the bottom of the fourteenth inning.  Lucroy lined out and Pinder flied out, so it was looking like fifteen or more innings, but then Semien singled and stole second base.  Lowrie walked on a 3-1 pitch, and Davis also walked on a 3-1 pitch to load the bases.  The first pitch to Matt Olson was a strike, but then he swung at the next pitch and hit a fly ball that the left fielder couldn’t catch, and so finally it was end of the game, and a happy end to the game, as it was a 12-11 win for the home team.  The game stared at 12:37 with a game time temperature of 58 degrees, and it ended at 6:25.  It was one of the longest games in Oakland A’s history.  The attendance was 13,321.  It took me a long time to go over my scorecard and think about all that happened in the game.  Some of the people who died on April 19 include Charles Darwin (1882), Daphne du Maurier (1989), Benny Hill (1992), J.G. Ballard (2009), and Levon Helm (2012).  Today is a birthday for Ashley Judd (50) and Tim Curry (72).

Trevor Cahill’s Great 50th Anniversary Game

I finished talking with my class and headed to the BART station to make my way to the Coliseum for the 50^th anniversary game.  I didn’t know what to expect with all the people with free tickets descending on the place, and general admission seating.  I thought about going to the food trucks, but the lines discouraged me, so I just headed for a seat.  It was behind home plate, but near the back of the section.  I was satisfied because it was a different view of the field than I usually get, although I was farther away from the dugout.  There was a birthday cake, although I didn’t get a slice, and Lew Krausse, who threw the first pitch of the first A’s game on April 17, 1968, threw out the first pitch on this night, too.  Rabbit Quinn sang the national anthem.  I don’t know if her presence had anything to do with Harvey the rabbit or Trevor Cahill, whose walkout song is “White Rabbit.”  The A’s were wearing their sleeveless jerseys from 1968, and the White Sox were wearing powder blue jerseys from the same year.  Cahill walked the first batter of the game, and a stolen base gave the White Sox the chance to score the first run of the game.  Cahill got his first strikeout of the game.  A ground out to Marcus Semien moved the runner to third, and a ground ball to Matt Chapman was the third out.  The result of the bottom of the first inning was unexpected, but made for a good celebration for the fans.  Matt Joyce flied out to right, and Semien grounded out to second, but then things started to happen with Jed Lowrie.  It was his birthday, as he was born on April 17, 1984, so he was born on the sixteenth anniversary of the A’s first game in Oakland.  He hit a 1-1 pitch over the fence for a home run.  He has been enjoying a great start to this season.  Khris Davis hit a ground rule double, Matt Olson singled, and Matt Chapman walked to load the bases.  Mark Canha, who explained that his walk-up song was “Like a Rolling Stone” because he had taken a college class on Bob Dylan, singled for two runs.  Stephen Piscotty doubled for two more runs.  The A’s were on the verge of knocking the starting pitcher out of the game in the first inning, but Jonathan Lucroy grounded out for the third out, although the A’s were ahead, 5-0.  Cahill got through the second inning allowing just a two-out walk.  In the third inning, he got into a bit of trouble with one out, as he gave up a double and a single, but then he got the timely 6-4-3 double play ground ball to keep the White Sox from getting back into the game.  We saw a video of Rick Monday talking about hitting a home run in the first Oakland home game in 1968.  Cahill allowed a single to start the fourth inning, but then got the next three batters out.  In the bottom of the inning, Canha singled and Piscotty doubled.  Lucroy hit a 1-2 pitch for a single and two runs, which prompted a pitching change.  Joyce doubled.  Semien hit a sacrifice fly to right, producing one more run.  Lowrie flied out and Davis grounded out, but the score was now 8-0.  The fans were feeling good, and Cahill was pitching well.  In the fifth inning, Cahill allowed only a single with one out, getting two more strikeouts.  Cahill hadn’t pitched for the A’s since 2011, and this was turning out to be a great homecoming.  He allowed a single to start the sixth inning, but another 6-4-3 double play and another strikeout kept the White Sox from scoring.  In the Big Head race, Dennis Eckersley pulled away down the stretch to win.  Cahill pitched a clean seventh inning.  Fans started leaving.  After the seventh inning stretch, we were told what the paid attendance was: 0.  Everyone got in for free on this night.  The actual attendance was 46,028.  In the bottom of the inning, Chapman walked.  Canha doubled, his third hit of the night.  Piscotty hit a sacrifice fly to right for one run, and Canha went to third base.  Lucroy singled for another run.  That was three hits and 3 RBI for him on the night.  Joyce walked.  Semien grounded into a 6-4 double play.  The score was 10-0.  Cahill was done for the night, and Ryan Dull took the mound for the first time this season.  Chad Pinder replaced Lowrie at second base.  Dull struck out the first batter of the eighth inning, but on a wild pitch that put the runner on base.  On a 4-3 pitch to the next batter, Dull gave up a home run.  The crowd booed as the shutout was gone and the score was 10-2.  Dull recovered, though, and proceeded to strike out the next three batters.  In the unusual inning he pitched, he had four strikeouts but gave up two runs for a season ERA of 18.00.  As the game was edging closer to its end, Pinder, Davis, and Olson each struck out in the bottom of the eighth inning.  Lou Trivino made his major league debut when he took the mound for the A’s in the top of the ninth inning.  He gave up a single to the first batter he faced.  Next came a ground ball for a force play.  A walk and a single loaded the bases.  Bob Melvin didn’t want to pull Trivino from the game with a 10-2 lead.  The next batter struck out swinging on a 2-2 pitch.  Trivino got to a 3-2 count to the next batter.  A foul ball extended the game briefly, and Trivino struck out the batter to end the game.  Everyone was going home happy.  The game started at 7:07 with a game time temperature of 57 degrees, and it ended at 10:03.  I gathered my things and went past my usual section, waving to the usher there.  I listened to the postgame radio show, and there was a lot of praise of the smooth way that everything went at this event, and the performances of Trevor Cahill, Mark Canha, Jed Lowrie, and Jonathan Lucroy, and the fans.  They did the Wave at about 8:27.  We saw the Banjo Man.  I went home feeling tired but happy.  According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for April 18, “The Bad News Bears” was the Number One movie at the box office in 1976.  In 1977, Alex Haley was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for journalism for “Roots.”  In 1979, “Real People” made its debut on NBC.  In 1983, the Disney Channel was launched.  In 1989, “Rescue 911,” hosted by William Shatner, had its premiere on CBS.  In 1997, “McHale’s Navy,” starring Tom Arnold, Dean Stockwell, and Debra Messing, was released.  In 2012, Dick Clark died of a heart attack at age 82.

Captain Blood

I watched “Captain Blood,” starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland and directed by Michael Curtiz.  It was a good adventure movie that reminded me of the late night movies I watched in my youth.  In fact, I may have already seen this movie before years ago.  I wished it was in color, as “The Adventures of Robin Hood” was.  How did Errol Flynn end up in Hollywood making this movie when he was born in Australia?  The movie studio considered actors like Robert Donat and Leslie Howard for this film.  Sometimes you have to go with someone new.  Olivia de Havilland was a teenager.  I don’t think I’ve seen her face look more beautiful than in this movie.  Flynn reminded me of Robert Shaw, but with more of an athletic presence.  It was rather hard to believe that Flynn would be a doctor.  Could he sit still long enough to learn anything?  He’s doing everything on the fly and barking out orders, being the leader of men.  He’s off to exotic locations, taking over one ship after another.  I wonder if today’s movie fans could appreciate these stars and this director after they’ve seen the likes of Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.  I kept thinking that after being imprisoned and being at sea, the men would not be able to control themselves around women, an idea that was part of “The Bounty” with Mel Gibson years ago.  Blood is practically a gentleman in his treatment of Arabella, which I found somewhat hard to believe after reading Flynn’s biography.  When Blood duels Levasseur, the outcome is never in doubt, but it is fun to watch.  It’s rough to leave behind someone with the waves on the beach coming in.  A lot of Blood’s crew suffered injuries to their limbs, so I wondered how they could function at all in the final battle when half of them should have been hobbling around on crutches.  You can tell when you’re looking at model ships from the way the water looks.  Also, when there are explosions, impossibly huge pieces of debris fly into the air.  I found it hard to see how many ships could survive those firing cannons at close range.  I found it impossible to believe that Blood’s men would risk death for the sake of Arabella.  Jeremy the navigator seemed that he was about to blow all the plans with his mouth and inability to control himself.  He reminded me of Tom Hulce around the time of “Amadeus.”  Flynn suffered from malaria during the making of the movie, which I’m sure that nobody noticed.  Michael Curtiz received many write-in votes for the Best Director Oscar for this film, and he did show his exceptional skill with his work, although he didn’t get along with Flynn.  The film had its premiere in New York City on the day after Christmas in 1935 and went into national release two days later.  It was a big hit.  I think it’s still a likable film today.  Some of the people who died on April 18 include Albert Einstein (1955), Ben Hecht (1964), Thor Heyerdahl (2002), Kitty Carlisle (2007), and Dick Clark (2012).  Today is a birthday for Conan O’Brien (55), Eric Roberts (62), Rick Moranis (65), James Woods (71), and Hayley Mills (72).

Daniel Mengden’s First Win at the Oakland Coliseum

After I was done with work, I hopped on the bus to get to the Ashby BART station.  I rode the train with Warriors fans who were catching a game that would start half an hour after the start of the A’s game.  Perhaps I should have gone to a playoff game rather than a regular season game with the Chicago White Sox, but I bought my tickets months ago.  It figured to be a cold night, too.  I got to my seat as Harvey the rabbit was delivering the baseball for the first pitch.  A trumpeter played the national anthem.  Daniel Mengden had yet to win a game at the Coliseum, and it seemed like a bad omen when the first pitch of the game was a hit for the visiting team.  A stolen base made things trickier, but Mengden got two outs before giving up a walk.  The last out was a high infield fly that Jonathan Lucroy caught, although the wind blew the ball and made the catch difficult.  In their half of the first inning, the A’s wasted a double from Matt Joyce.  Stephen Piscotty doubled in the second inning, and Jed Lowrie walked in the third inning, but there was no score over the first three innings.  Mengden was pitching well.  He gave up a single with one out in the second inning, but a 5-3-6 double play ended the inning.  Marcus Semien alertly covered third base on the play.  Mengden allowed a single to start the third inning, and a sacrifice bunt put the runner at second base, but he got the next two batters out.  Kara Tsoboi played a game of Name That Tune with a family.  One of the kids said he wasn’t sure they were ready to play the game.  I didn’t recognize any of the tunes, even with the help of multiple choices.  Mengden allowed only a two-out single in the fourth inning.  The scoreboard showed that his ERA was going below 5.00 where it was 6.19 at the start of the game.  Matt Olson hit the first pitch of the bottom of the inning for a home run and the first run of the game.  Mengden got into a groove, throwing clean innings in the fifth, sixth, and seventh, with some help from Matt Chapman and Mark Canha with good plays out on the field.  The A’s picked up another run in the fifth inning when Matt Joyce walked and would score with two outs on Khris Davis’ double.  Chapman, Canha, and Piscotty all struck out in the sixth inning, but it would turn out to be the only inning in which none of the A’s reached base.  The radio announcers took note of Canha’s walk-up song, “Like a Rolling Stone.”  After the seventh inning stretch, the A’s would score the runs that put away the game.  Lucroy walked and Joyce put down a sacrifice bunt that resulted in a disastrous error for the White Sox.  Semien singled to load the bases.  Lowrie hit a ball that looked like a double play ground ball to shortstop, but it was an error for two runs, and another error by the left fielder allowed Semien to go to third base.  After a pitching change, Davis grounded into a double play, although the A’s scored another run on the play.  Olson struck out again, but the score was 5-0.  In the eighth inning, Mengden gave up a single with one out, ending the string of eleven consecutive outs.  He got a strikeout and a fly out to get out of the inning having thrown 100 pitches on the night.  The A’s got insurance runs in the bottom of the inning.  Chapman walked, Canha singled, and Piscotty singled, making the score 6-0.  Lucroy grounded back to the pitcher, and Canha was caught between third base and home for the first out.  Joyce flied out and Semien walked.  Lowrie singled for two runs.  Ken Korach on the radio said anyone who thought that Lowrie wouldn’t give his all in a chance at bat with a 6-0 score on a cold night would be mistaken.  A wild pitch put the runners at second and third, but Davis grounded out.  Bob Melvin allowed Mengden to go out to the mound for the chance at a shutout, although it would have to be with only a few pitches.  He got into something of a battle, which he lost, as he gave up a home run.  His ERA went back up a tick to 4.50, but only a total collapse would prevent him from getting his first win of the season and at the Coliseum.  Yusmeiro Petit replaced Mengden and struck out his first hitter.  A ground ball to Olson was the second out.  Petit got another strikeout to end the game.  The final score was 8-1, the same score as the San Jose Sharks game that people in the stadium were following.  Next door, the Warriors were winning, too.  Three ushers asked me if I was returning for the next game, which was the big 50^th anniversary game which was expected to attract a huge crowd.  Barely anyone was present for this game on a cold night with other sports on television.  This game started at 7:07 with a game time temperature of 53 degrees, and it ended at 10:03.  Attendance was 7,479.  It rained lightly at times, with a few drops landing on my scorecard.  I bought a pizza during one of the middle innings.  I shivered at the cold as I was preparing to leave.  I was glad to get back home and into bed.  According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for April 17, Oscars in 1961 wen to “The Apartment” for Best Picture, Billy Wilder for Best Director, Elizabeth Taylor for Best Actress in “Butterfield 8,” and Shirley Jones for Best Supporting Actress for “Elmer Gantry.”  In 1964, the Rolling Stones’ first album was released in the UK.  In 1970, the Paul McCartney album “McCartney” was released.  In 1971, Three Dog Night had the Number One single “Joy to the World.”

Alice Adams

I watched “Alice Adams,” the movie starring Katharine Hepburn and Fred MacMurray, directed by George Stevens.  It made me think that if John Hughes had made movies in the 1930s instead of the 1980s, he would have made movies like “Alice Adams” rather then “Pretty in Pink.”  Katharine Hepburn would have been the Molly Ringwald of the story, where Fred MacMurray would have been the James Spader or maybe the Andrew McCarthy.  I didn’t see the appeal of MacMurray’s character, Arthur.  He seemed the same as he was in “Double Indemnity.”  Katharine Hepburn wanted George Cukor to direct, and based on “Little Women,” it seemed that he would have done an excellent job, but he was working on “David Copperfield.”  She then wanted William Wyler to direct, but the producer wanted George Stevens.  I’ll remember this movie for the image of Alice at the party with the wilted violets.  The scene in which she cries after coming home from the party was one that everyone must have remembered, too.  It changed the way audiences looked at Katharine Hepburn.  There was a somewhat strange part of the plot that had to do with a glue formula that was hard to believe.  I thought it was something that we could have seen in a Charlie Chaplin film.  Hattie McDaniel had scenes that were rather uncomfortable to watch, as she was a maid who couldn’t cook.  There were struggles with the script, which was going to end in a more realistic and harsh way.  Audiences generally don’t like realism, though, and so for the sake of box office appeal, the ending was lightened.  I think something like this actually also happened with “Pretty in Pink.”  In some ways, the movie audience didn’t strange over the course of fifty years.  I thought this was one of Katharine Hepburn’s best films of the 1930s.  I saw “A Bill of Divorcement,” “Christopher Strong,” and “Sylvia Scarlett” years ago, and I don’t think I can remember anything about any of them today.  “Alice Adams” was based on a novel by Booth Tarkington.  He won a Pulitzer Prize for this novel, as he did for “The Magnificent Ambersons.”  If I have any time one of these days, I might actually read these books.  I thought about this movie and felt good about the life it had in it, and the emotions that it showed.  That was how I felt about “Brooklyn.”  One of the women talked about how much she disliked seeing “Happy Death Day,” making me feel glad that I can turn to these old movies.  “Alice Adams” was George Stevens’ big break.  When I looked at his other credits, I’m not sure what indicated that he would do a good job with it.  He would go on to direct Fred Astaire in “Swing Time” and “A Damsel in Distress,” and he worked with Katharine Hepburn again in “Quality Street” and “Woman of the Year.”  He also worked with Elizabeth Taylor in “A Place in the Sun,” “Giant,” and “The Only Game in Town.”  He died in 1975 at age 70.  His son George Stevens, Jr. made a very good documentary about him, “George Stevens: A Filmmaker’s Journey.”  Some of the people who died on April 17 include Benjamin Franklin (1790), Eddie Cochran (1960), Dick Shawn (1987), Linda McCartney (1998), Michael Sarrazin (2011), Gabriel Garcia Marquez (2014), and Doris Roberts (2016).  Today is a birthday for Jennifer Garner (46) and Olivia Hussey (67).

Cleopatra

I was annoyed at some rain fell late in the afternoon.  I wished that I could go to the record store and browse around.  I came back from the post office where I mailed off my tax forms, and I sat down to watch “Cleopatra,” which was not the epic with Elizabeth Taylor, but the earlier version with Claudette Colbert directed by Cecil B. DeMille.  It was funny in the way it attempted to show as much female flesh as possible, although I didn’t see Colbert as the best choice for this part.  DeMille spent money and put it all up on the screen.  I’m going to guess that the screenwriters didn’t win an Oscar for this effort.  The dialogue wasn’t good and made me laugh.  The audience got some sex and violence and spectacle, and I guess they got their money’s worth.  The ending was rather hard to believe.  It looked like Cleopatra was just getting drowsy and falling asleep.  The men who broke down the door didn’t know how to react, either.  Colbert had a huge year in 1934, with “Cleopatra,” “Imitation of Life,” and “It Happened One Night.”  I liked her in “It Happened One Night” and “Since You Went Away.”  I, like most people, remember Cecil B. DeMille for “The Ten Commandments” and his scene in “Sunset Boulevard.”  He also directed “The Greatest Show on Earth.”  This version of “Cleopatra” is not going to live on in my memory.  I should mention that Henry Wilcoxon played Marc Antony, and he was faintly reminiscent of Joaquin Phoenix.  He was in movies like “Mrs. Miniver,” “Samson and Delilah,” and “Caddyshack.”  He died in 1984 at age 78.  I would say that “Cleopatra” is a movie you only need to see once, if at all.  As I was watching it, I kept thinking about how much better a movie like “Little Women” was.  According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for April 16, the music concert “Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa” occurred at Wembley Stadium in London in 1990, with a lineup that included Jackson Browne, Lou Reed, Natalie Cole, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, and Tracy Chapman.  In 1993, Paul McCartney performed at the Hollywood Bowl for the first time since his days with the Beatles.  In 1996, Judy Collins married Louis Nelson.