Trance of the Red Queen
In memory of playwright George Axelrod, who died Saturday, June 21, 2003.
From the Chicago Sun-Times:
"In 1987, Mr. Axelrod was saluted at the New York Film Festival. He told the admiring crowd: 'I always wanted to get into the major leagues, and I knew my secret: luck and timing. I had a small and narrow but very, very sharp talent, and inside it, I'm as good as it gets.'
'The Manchurian Candidate,' in 1962, based on Richard Condon's novel about wartime brainwashing and subversive politics, may have been Mr. Axelrod's best achievement. He declared in 1995 that the script 'broke every rule. It's got dream sequences, flashbacks, narration out of nowhere . . . Everything in the world you're told not to do.'
He considered 'The Manchurian Candidate' a comedy…."
"Don't you draw the queen of diamonds,
boy, she'll beat you if she's able.
You know the queen of hearts
is always your best bet."
— The Eagles, "Desperado"
Another quotation that seems relevant:
"The hypnosis was performed by
the good and pious nuns…."
See entries of June 4 and June 15.
See also two items from Tuesday, June 17, 2003:
A 6/17 Arizona Daily Star article on Phoenix bishop Thomas O'Brien, and the 6/17 cartoon below.
Tony Auth, Philadelphia Inquirer,
June 17, 2003
For background, see Frank Keating in the New York Times, 6/17/03.
My entry of 5 PM EDT Saturday, June 14, 2003, which preceded the death involving Bishop O'Brien, may also be of interest.