Is American Politics still the same as All The King's Men?

The Gang enjoyed some gumbo and enjoyed discussing the political rise to power saga of 1949 Best Picture All the King's Men.  Dan thoroughly enjoyed this picture that is loosely adapted on Louisiana's Huey Long--even though no one will publicly say that is what it is based on. Some of the table question the cinematic value to this picture, but none can disagree that we all weren't thoroughly entertained. After all, with a table of politicians and recovering politicos, would you expect anything less?

Pull up a seat, had a bowl of gumbo and enjoy!

#DinnerwithDan

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Ron? Yes. You sure? Sure. Okay. I would like to welcome uh all our dear listeners to this, the 31st episode of Dinner with Dan. We are taping this episode on Sunday, April 19th, 2026, in sunny but chilly Dayton, Ohio from Row Avenue in the Gem City's historic Five Oaks neighborhood. The houses on the tree-lined Row Avenue were built in the early 1920s and have served as wonderful places to live, raise a family, and to retire to. Fun fact. We need to have fun facts. Movie and TV star brothers Rob and Chad Lowe spent part of their childhoods on our brick streets before moving west to Hollywood. In fact, the house they lived in is now owned by Ann Charles Watts and Jason Hilliard, and was the first house that special table regular Dea lived in before moving down uh Row Avenue to stay with table regulars Nan and Sam, and of course their dear pooch, Louie. And if Ann, if you are in the market for an attorney to do estate planning and probate matters, I highly recommend my attorney Ann Charles Watts.

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Another non-sponsor sponsor. Can we invoice her now as a sponsor?

SPEAKER_00 1:39

As an official sponsor. At the table tonight are regulars Nan Whaley, Sam Braun, Dia, Paul Duncan Robinson, Kate Evans, and my son Eddie will be joining us. So before we catch up on our past weekend's doings, what's for dinner?

SPEAKER_05 1:59

Well, we have uh chicken and sausage gumbo. Because we didn't do seafood gumbo because Kate can't eat seafood. Thank you very much. Well, can't eat shellfish. Shellfish. Shellfish, yeah. Yeah. Shellfish would be what's in it. And um, then I made the orange romaine salad that's very easy to make. And then Kate made, and we made a lot of rice between the two of us. And Kate made what?

SPEAKER_06 2:25

I made uh vegetarian red beans and rice. So there's no meat, but it seems to be pretty good flavor.

SPEAKER_05 2:36

So can I just say that chicken and sausage gumbo is like a gravy?

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Where's who's got the chicken and sausage gumbo?

SPEAKER_03 2:43

Very thick.

SPEAKER_05 2:45

I guess that's what gumbo is supposed to be.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Okay. And also, I noticed that uh some of the table regulars tonight have glasses of bourbon.

SPEAKER_05 2:56

Yes, you like it. We brought what kind of bourbon did we bring, Sam?

SPEAKER_03 2:58

Widow Jane. There was no Louisiana. There's no Louisiana bourbon or anything, so. We just brought over a good one from our house. They drank a lot of bourbon in the movie.

SPEAKER_05 3:13

And we brought um some bread too. So he had some bread. Do you want a piece of bread? What do you think, Danny?

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Yeah, I'll take some bread. It's uh looks like a Louisiana meal to me. It sure does. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 3:28

Oh, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Even though we're missing the uh uh Forrest Gump, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.

SPEAKER_06 3:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

There you go.

SPEAKER_06 3:40

So well, thank you for making it shrimp free for me. It's pretty good. It is good. You basically have to fry a chicken.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

We did not want somebody to go into anthilactic shock.

SPEAKER_06 3:53

Well, I appreciate it. I could have just like not eaten it.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

That would have been a buzzkill.

SPEAKER_06 3:59

No, it's very delicious. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 4:01

Yeah, it's great.

SPEAKER_05 4:02

I've never made gumbo before. That's a person. That's what we're having this week.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Okay, so that's what we're having for dinner. Uh that's going to uh fit with the movie we're gonna watch tonight. Nan, what have you done this past week?

SPEAKER_05 4:21

Um I've had I've had a busy week, but nothing. Not like last week. Yeah, it's not another minute sack like that. Um now that it's gone, I don't even know what I did really. I think I oh I had an event like every night. We did uh um fundraiser on Wednesday night uh um for our C our our advocacy group for Planned Parenthood on Thursday. We had stand up for sex ed uh stand up for sex ed. So we had like four stand-up comics at the Woodward Theater in Cincinnati, um, which was really fun. Um and then Friday and Saturday, Friday night we went to Dia's um photo show at Stivers. And you know, there's a lot of people I know there that have kids that go to Stivers, so we ran into a ton of folks. And then we picked up Sunshine, she surprised her dad for his was it his mom, her mom or her dad's 80th birthday. I think it's her mom's 80th birthday. And their like 55th wedding anniversary or something, 60th or something. So they we dropped her off. We picked her up at the airport and dropped her off Friday night, and her parents cried when they saw her come in, which is so nice. Who? Crystal.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Oh, Crystal.

SPEAKER_05 5:39

Uh and then um, so we did that Friday night and then went back and had dinner at the trolley. And then last night, um, we had already watched the movie on Friday night, so last night we watched Hamnet, which I can attest is a much better movie than Hamlet. Although I did find it to be slow moving.

SPEAKER_06 6:00

So we'll talk more about it in a year. Did it win, but it didn't win?

SPEAKER_00 6:06

But it didn't win. Did not win Best Actress.

SPEAKER_06 6:09

It was a favorite, but it didn't win.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Jesse Buckley got it for Best Actress.

SPEAKER_05 6:12

Oh she was excellent.

SPEAKER_06 6:14

She's really good in a lot of things.

SPEAKER_05 6:16

She was excellent, and the Shakespeare guy was really good too. It just moved so slow. Yeah. Um, and then today, uh, Kate and I had book club. So we were at Mary Tom and Chuck's house, two doors down, for book club.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

What did you read for your book club?

SPEAKER_05 6:32

Oh. Good question. Not my type. Uh, by E. Jean Carroll, the book where she beats Trump twice and he owes her $85 million for defamation.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 6:46

And the book is a pretty great tell-all. Yeah. We inter we we all enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_06 6:51

Yeah, it's a quick read, breezy.

SPEAKER_05 6:53

Yeah, breezy read.

SPEAKER_06 6:55

Um a breezy tone for such a difficult heavy topic.

SPEAKER_05 6:59

She's funny.

SPEAKER_06 7:00

She gets funny, worth reading.

SPEAKER_05 7:03

Mm-hmm. Good tri good pick by Mary Tom.

SPEAKER_06 7:08

Yeah. Really unlike things we've read before.

SPEAKER_05 7:10

Yeah, we usually read a lot more fiction, so it's like not a non-fiction. And it was like more tabloid-y, I'd say. So we normally don't do that. So I like the change up.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

And Mary Tom is Ann Charles Watts' mother.

SPEAKER_05 7:24

She is.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

The Ann Charles Watts experience has two names.

SPEAKER_05 7:30

Two names.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

John Thomas, Ann Charles, you know, you name there you go.

SPEAKER_05 7:34

Oh, and then yesterday, um Ann Charles and I went over to um Anna Means' celebration of life. Or Joanne Means' daughter who died of uh brain cancer. And so um, and Joanne's in our book club. She's either 94 or 95, can't remember which, but um her 63-year-old daughter died of brain cancer about five months ago, and so this was like the coming home and dating to Dayton, and so all of her kids were there, and um we went to that, saw Charlie Heldorfer, Moon Pie was there, um Gay Grable was there, you know, some of the regulars. Um, so that was nice we did that too. So that's my that's my week in review. Okay this week. Sam, do you have anything that you did? Oh, he Sam was out of town. I had to be alone all week, too.

SPEAKER_03 8:28

Oh yeah. Oh I was in Columbus for the school business officials annual conference. Oh, okay. Okay, so that was that was fine. Um a lot of frustration with the state legislature.

SPEAKER_05 8:46

There's rice down there.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Well, okay. Yeah, they're and there was a bread in that basket.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

Uh so it's it's one thing for the county for the school treasurers to be annoyed with the legislature, but when you have like you have senior partners at um prominent law firms blasting the legislature in their presentations, I think that that means something that that that does say a lot what when it's when they're getting to that point because these people like generally have things to lose. Yeah. Um but it was fine. Conference had a decent time.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

So you drove back and forth or you stayed up there? No, I stayed up there. Okay. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 9:38

Dear Um, I had I had a pretty normal week of school, apart from the auction, which was a lot of fun. Was it still a test week? Uh yes. Which meant we had late starts. So Tuesday and Thursday. Um I didn't have to be at school till 10 42 instead of 8.

SPEAKER_05 10:00

So I also took her to school one day. Yeah, Nan took us to school one day.

SPEAKER_04 10:06

You did meet a styrous twice this week. I did.

SPEAKER_05 10:09

Like full preacher.

SPEAKER_04 10:14

Um, and yesterday we w we went to um Stock Slagers. Is that how you say it? That was a lot of fun. And then we did some gardening this morning. And I watched Hamnet again, and I watched the movie All Kings.

SPEAKER_05 10:31

Where are you next week, Tia? You won't be on the podcast next Sunday.

SPEAKER_04 10:35

I'm going on a trip. Where are you going? Um, New York, DC, and Philadelphia. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_06 10:41

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

Where New York, DC, and Philadelphia. Oh wow. We're gonna pack a lot into one week.

SPEAKER_04 10:49

Yeah. That'll be nice.

SPEAKER_06 10:53

That'll be fun.

SPEAKER_04 10:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 10:55

Is this a school trip? Rotary. It's part of the rotary experience. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:02

That was it.

SPEAKER_09 11:08

A bunch of nut.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

There you go. Well, you worked in your garden a lot.

SPEAKER_10 11:16

Uh yes and no.

SPEAKER_06 11:19

I passed your brother Franklin today handing out milkweed to anybody who would take it. What is milkweed for? I took one.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Monarch butterflies.

SPEAKER_06 11:29

It's yeah, they get pretty tall and they have a lot of flowers, and so they're good for pollinators.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

And it's the major food for monarch butterflies.

SPEAKER_06 11:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Which are a struggling uh insect.

SPEAKER_05 11:42

Nice. So you're planting some, so we'll have some monarch butterflies on the our side of the floor.

SPEAKER_06 11:47

I hope so. I think he was planting a lot at Eddie's in the backyard. So he does what he wants back there. Hey, it'll look really nice, I'm sure. It'll be pretty.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Well, and Eddie brought over some giant-sized asparagus.

SPEAKER_06 12:05

Oh my gosh. That one that I saw on your counter looks like a true stuff.

SPEAKER_05 12:12

Nice. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 12:13

So who did Frank grow that one?

SPEAKER_05 12:15

Or'd you grow that?

SPEAKER_03 12:17

You grow it?

SPEAKER_10 12:18

Who do you think's the godno, me or Frank? Well, you just said he does whatever he wants back there. Yeah, and then I deal with it.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 12:27

Well, then we'll give you credit for the asparagus. Yeah. So did he did he plant the asparagus and you took care of it? I planted it. Oh, so this was like both sides. Okay. Got it. Well, you plant it once and it comes back every year. Oh, nice. It's a perennial. Yeah. I've thought about planting some.

SPEAKER_10 12:45

Well, you need to plant a whole bunch of things.

SPEAKER_05 12:47

Yeah, I don't have a good spot. And then he's got giant you've got giant ones?

SPEAKER_06 12:53

Uh, well, it's thick. Yeah, take a look at this one. I'll take a look.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

It's big.

SPEAKER_05 13:01

Yeah, I want to see it.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

You can knock somebody out with that one.

SPEAKER_05 13:09

Wait, put it. No, hold it, hold it. Yeah, here. Yeah, hold it. Giant asparagus.

SPEAKER_06 13:18

That is a big one. This is like the kind that'll take over.

unknown 13:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 13:24

That's a big ass arriver.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

That's a big asparagus.

SPEAKER_09 13:27

You need it all.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

And plus uh Eddie and I continue to uh binge watch Breaking Bad.

SPEAKER_05 13:36

Oh, okay, good. What season are you on?

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Uh four.

SPEAKER_05 13:42

Dea and I finished All Creatures Great and Small, didn't we, Dia? And we're very sad about it. That it's over. Yeah, wasn't it great, Dea?

SPEAKER_04 13:50

It was it was so good.

SPEAKER_05 13:52

It's such a good show. Why do you like it so much?

SPEAKER_04 13:55

Nothing bad happens. Nothing bad happens.

SPEAKER_05 13:58

It's amazing. It's a big warm blanket for you. It is. Such a good comfort show. Eddie, that is a whale ladle. Do you notice? Yeah, I did. It's a ladle that's shaped like a whale.

SPEAKER_04 14:11

A ladle.

SPEAKER_05 14:15

Good job.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Duncan?

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Mine was all about curling. I think I did something curling related every day this week because there's still some interest in curling, even a month and a half at the Olympics. I've been curling both with the curl Troy group that curls in Springfield at the Chiller, and of course the Cincinnati Curling Club in Westchester. But I I asked a couple of learner curlers like how long ago did you book this outing? And they said a month ago, because there's been that much interest that you just cannot make a last-minute decision. So anyway, did uh this only curly related every every year, but the end is in sight. No more learner curls this season, and uh I'll define a new hobby maybe for the summer.

SPEAKER_05 14:59

What are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_01 15:00

I don't know. I don't have any traditional summer hobbies.

SPEAKER_06 15:03

We're not yeah, you're not gonna take up hiking or something. Yeah, that's a good point, Kate.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

I uh you know I have all this hiking gear that I spent some money on uh more than a year ago. It was my one year anniversary of the hike, Dan. I thought you were.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Yeah, I was thinking, yeah. Year ago you were out on the trail. Yeah, April 14th.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

So I I have not reread any of my blog uh trail journal entries, so I've decided I'm just gonna re you know reread them one day at a time. Obviously correspond to you know today's date. But yeah, maybe I should go on a couple very short hikes.

SPEAKER_06 15:36

I mean you don't have to like poo in the wild. Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Yeah. Well Paul.

SPEAKER_06 15:44

It's the thing that stands out to me.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Maybe, Paul, you should accept your destiny and be a southbounder. Oh yeah. Go to Maine and go southbound.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

You know, when I had lunch with Dan um a week plus ago now, uh should have given up on encouraging her trying to motivate me to go southbound, but I see he's been resurrected, so he'll never let it go. He won't let it go, right. That's it. That was all Corolla this week.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

You would be a legend.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Uh hopefully for good reasons.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Catherine?

SPEAKER_06 16:23

Um pretty normal week for me. Lots of work. Um nothing very exciting until um today, book club, and now dinner.

SPEAKER_05 16:35

So book club was nice. I really like our vlog.

SPEAKER_04 16:40

I liked it. I was there for the thing I came just in time.

SPEAKER_06 16:46

No book conversation, only food. But you were very nice and you helped like clean things up. I mean, you know. Yeah. But yeah. I didn't have much going on this week.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

You know, okay, don't take this personal.

SPEAKER_06 17:02

Oh, great. With all your respects.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

But your life has become so boring since your sewer got worked out.

SPEAKER_06 17:10

It's it's the best kind of boring.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Because we used to have a lot to talk about when your sewer wasn't working.

SPEAKER_06 17:16

It's true. You know, how you how you can shit or not is like giving you lots to talk about.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Okie doke.

SPEAKER_05 17:30

I don't know what else to say. I don't know. I we were super busy getting ready for SUFs and everything. And like and then February was busy with all of our showers and parties. Like, I'm tired, like tired.

SPEAKER_06 17:43

Yeah, I I've needed a little break. I yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_05 17:47

We've been we've been organizing a lot of things, Kate and I, I have to say.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

It's yeah, it's been a lot of fun. Well, it's uh been a good week for me. So I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_05 17:58

Yeah, work's work's been a lot. Work's been a lot, but I can't talk about that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

I never said you can't talk about work.

SPEAKER_05 18:05

It's just highly frowned on. Even when you're working.

SPEAKER_04 18:09

I know.

SPEAKER_06 18:10

Visited me multiple times this week. She played with my dog, she checked in on me. She is a great neighbor and friend.

SPEAKER_05 18:19

Gia comes and like does like stops in the five houses. That's what I think. It's really nice.

SPEAKER_06 18:25

It's so nice.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

Man, it's windy outside.

SPEAKER_05 18:30

Yeah, it's been windy. Um, yeah, but we're not, I mean, we're being if you talk about work, it's really frowned on. Like even when the even when the place you work on catches fire and arsonist, Dan's like, mm-hmm. Anyway. Moving on. It's not, there's no there's no follow-up. Okay, that's work.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

There you go.

SPEAKER_05 18:59

See?

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Okay. Uh I had a good week. I've been texting with my friends Ava Kahn Van Wert, Eleanor Jane and Wichita Falls, and our new friend of the podcast, Brian S. Uh, who has a weekly column appearing each Friday in the Daily News called Forgotten Record Review. I'm working on bringing him down here uh for a brunch at Legacy and as a guest for a future podcast. Nice. I will say, after listening to our takedown last week of Hamlet, which you decided you're gonna take down again this week, uh Brian texted me, quote, although I disagree with your estimation of Olivier's Hamlet, I enjoyed the episode. So all I can say is well, remember, he's a PhD in film.

SPEAKER_05 19:51

I hate to tell estimation.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

We just a bunch of yayos that have been watching the movies. Our armchair and he knows his movies from A to Z.

SPEAKER_05 19:59

So does he know which one he's gonna come see?

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Uh we we're working on it. I can't.

SPEAKER_05 20:05

I want to get him down here to go to Legacy with me, another official sponsor of uh also um can can when you have Legacy uh ask him what he thinks of Gone with the Wind. Oh, yeah, okay. Please do that.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Well, yeah, no, you can ask him when he's down here for the podcast.

SPEAKER_05 20:21

Yeah, you know, but we'll be talking about another movie. So just precurse that. Um another Gone with the Wind conversation to take over the podcast. Yeah, we don't want it to take over the episode, but I'm curious what his estimation is.

SPEAKER_03 20:33

Well, I'm sure from a movie-making perspective, he thinks it's great. Our issues with the message.

SPEAKER_05 20:40

Yes. We'll see what he says. Also, did Ava Kay get the episode downloaded? Yeah. Okay, good, good, good. I wanted to check on it.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

She has technical issues like I do.

SPEAKER_05 20:49

I mean, I just wanted to check. I know you can figure it out. Okay, great.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Yeah, she finally got it.

SPEAKER_05 20:53

Good.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Fact of matters she was listening to it on the way to her monthly B meeting. Uh, as in Bo B's, she raises bees as well.

SPEAKER_05 21:04

Oh, lovely.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Uh during that big storm that hit uh St. St. Mary's. She was on her way to St. Mary's and I was texting her, girl, you're in a big storm.

SPEAKER_05 21:13

But anyhow, we shouldn't text her while she's in a storm. That's very dangerous. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Yes, mom.

SPEAKER_05 21:21

Hey, um, can I can I also mention my other podcast is up? Okay. It's season two. Season three. Season three is up of Carrie As You Climb. I just dropped the first episode. You know, I don't do like every like it goes through it'll go for the next 10 weeks and then I'll take another break. So I interview, the opening interview is with Liz Brown, who is the CEO of the YWCA Columbus, and also a dear friend, and she talks about her grandmothers and like the role her grandmothers had in her leadership. It's a very good episode, if I don't say so for myself. So uh it's called Carrie as You Climb. You know, as a woman leader, you know, you have to climb. But like also we need to carry other women along with us. So it's about how you support other women as you move up the ladder.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

And you can get that where you get your podcast.

SPEAKER_05 22:09

You got it. Yes, we're gonna get it. Okay. Thank you, Dan.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

I'm gonna send you a bill for that plug. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 22:14

I'll put it in the drawer with my F-bombs. Oh my God. I had lunch with Carrie Gray this week. And Carrie, you know, he gave me my F-bomb. Right. You know, and then he gave me a little jar that had a bunch of words in it, the F-word. And it's like when you run out of F to give. That's so funny. It's great. I'll bring it next week. Okay, Danny.

SPEAKER_11 22:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 22:42

Sorry. I'm sorry, interrupting you. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

No.

SPEAKER_05 22:46

What do you want, butter? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

So then on Tuesday, I met with uh Mark and Debbie Owens for a Jimmy John's lunch. And for Debbie to get more material for another quilt. Nice. Uh made out of uh my late wife's uh favorite uh nightgown material and other material. So I tell you Debbie Owens is a true Michelangelo when it comes to quilts. She's unbelievable. Um I had two special friends who were supposed to leave for European vacations this weekend. Uh Jan, who is Paris bound today, so I think she's in the air.

SPEAKER_05 23:24

Paris is always a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

Yeah, Paris is always a good idea. And uh Eleanor Jean, whose travel uh group had to cancel their trip to Spain due to an extended family health issue.

SPEAKER_05 23:39

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

So to all our listeners in Wichita Falls, we send our love and hope that grace and peace will find its way to all of you during this time.

SPEAKER_05 23:47

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

SPEAKER_00 23:49

Yeah. And I also had two great brunches at the official diner of Dinner with Dan podcast, Legacy Pancake House, on Dixie and West Carrollton. Open six days a week, closed on Tuesdays, good food at a reasonable price.

SPEAKER_11 24:04

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

And I do want to give a special what's everybody looking at me for?

SPEAKER_05 24:10

Um, nothing. We're just like we're getting really formal on the endorsements. That was yeah, that was well.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

Have you been watching Colbert lately? He does it all the time.

SPEAKER_05 24:21

Oh, I haven't.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Yeah. Uh you've got to watch it because the last show is May 11 or May 21st. Is it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 24:27

Oh that's okay. I know. It makes me very funny.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

I want to give a special shout out to the grant committee of the Virginia Mod Platt Empowerment Fund.

SPEAKER_11 24:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Uh two of the members who are table regulars, Nan and Kate, uh, which this week made its first three grants to two deserving women, and one a high school junior and one a silver-haired uh justice warrior, and a not-for-profit dedicated to helping women with period and uh continence products. So we've got the money starting to go out, so I'm very happy about that. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 25:04

We should thank Ian Charles Watts. He's really done a lot of things. Oh, yeah, Ian Charles Watts works for us.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Absolutely. And she's on the grant committee as well.

SPEAKER_05 25:10

She kept us on track.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

And then the other big news I got was uh apparently tomorrow between nine and ten o'clock in the morning, a truck will show up in the alley and it will have the material to build the long-awaited elevator. So hopefully next week this time, you all can look at my elevator.

SPEAKER_05 25:38

Do we get to ride it?

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:40

Oh, okay, great.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

Yeah, it's got a weight limit.

SPEAKER_05 25:42

What so like one at a time, we can't.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

Yeah, yeah. It's it's a 500-pound weight limit. Yeah. So, anyhow, that's my big news.

SPEAKER_05 25:49

That is huge news, Danny.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

That's huge news. I'm looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_05 25:54

Oh, congrats.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 25:56

Long awaited.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Okay, and tonight we're on to the movie. Okay. And this is a movie that uh Eddie and I actually watched together last night. What? Yeah. Eddie and I sat there and watched it.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

Was there commentary?

SPEAKER_00 26:11

No, there was not commentary. Uh All the King's Men, the 1949 Best Picture Oscar-winning film, was based on the 1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, written by Robert Penn Warren. Uh competing for Best Picture that year were the following movies: Battleground, The Heiress, A Letter to Three Wives, and 12 O'Clock High.

SPEAKER_05 26:37

Uh Kate, have you seen any of those? Um I think I've seen them all. Have you really? Yeah, I have. What about you, Danny?

SPEAKER_00 26:44

I've just seen 12 o'clock high, which is a great movie.

SPEAKER_05 26:47

Paul? I think I've seen 12 o'clock high. I have seen none of those movies.

SPEAKER_06 26:50

Gregory Peck is in that one looking very good.

SPEAKER_05 26:53

Gregory Peck is fine. Gregory Peck is fine.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

That he is. Yep. So anyhow.

SPEAKER_05 27:02

So fine.

SPEAKER_00 27:03

I'm gonna read this. This is very short. This is on the back of the DVD of the Dan Garris uh DVD collection of the best pictures. Winner of three 1949 Academy Awards. Best picture, best actor for Broderick Crawford, and Best Supporting Actress for Mercedes McCambridge. In a Bravo performance, Broderick Crawford won the 1949 Academy Award for Best Actor with his stunning portrayal portrayal of bull-headed backward backwards lawyer backward backwoods lawyer Willie Stark in the powerful drama about political and personal corruption. A sombre but realistic chronicle of raw, brutal power and force. All the King's Men is based on Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. It was brought to the screen in 1949 by producer Robert Rosson, who also wrote the screenplay and directed the film. The story was inspired by the rise and fall of Southern bigwig Huey Pierce Long, the infamous Kingfish who was Louisiana's governor and one-time senator. All the King's Men remains a hallmark political film with superb performances throughout. John Ireland garnered a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role as Stark's tortured right-hand man, while Mercedes McCambridge won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Sally Burke. Stark's Stark's Callous Conniving Political Aid, in addition, the film won an Academy Award for Best Picture, along with nominations for directing, writing, and film editing. So with that, I do want to say to our dear listeners, you know, some of our background stories here of the people that are table irregulars. Of all the movies we're going to watch, this one and all the president's men, all the king's men, all the president's men, are so totally in the wheelhouse of the majority of the people that are sitting here. The politicians here include Nan Whaley, who served eight years on the Dayton City Commission, and then eight years as Dayton mayor, and was the Ohio Democratic Party uh candidate for governor in 2022. I was born into a political family. My great-grandfather was a vice county chairman, my grandfather was an elected county clerk at court, my father was a Democratic Party chairman, and I served 36 years as an elected judge. Sam Braun and Kate Evans are well-known political operatives in Montgomery County. And Eddie has worked on campaigns since his birth in 1993. And Paul has spent his fair share of time in the political trenches as well. So, in fact, here everybody, with the exception of Dia.

SPEAKER_05 30:16

Who's not allowed to talk politics?

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Yeah, is not allowed to talk politics due to the roadie rules. Rotary rules.

SPEAKER_05 30:25

Can you imagine uh being Dia and having to live with Sam and I and talk politics? Can't talk politics. Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 30:35

Hi Doc.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

So yeah, Dia and Louie are really the only two that haven't been involved in politics in here. So anyhow.

SPEAKER_05 30:41

And Louie's been to many parades. I was gonna say probably canvas before it's over.

SPEAKER_00 30:47

So putting that out there with the disclaimer, Nan, you get to go first.

SPEAKER_05 30:53

Um This movie was a tough movie. It was really well done. Uh it was, I think I found it hard to watch the Stark character move from, you know, someone I think that was really interested in changing the system to realizing that he was just part of the system and became the head of the system that was like around power, ultimate power corrupting ultimately. And I think that's the message of the show. Um, you know, it is so outlandish, the uh all the kings, uh, the what happens and really everything in it has happened. Yeah. IRL. Yeah. And so I think that's the other thing that's tough about it is, you know, um uh it's you know, even though the the author of the book says it wasn't based on Huey Long, it was based on Huey.

SPEAKER_10 31:45

You gotta be kidding me.

SPEAKER_05 31:47

Yeah, he did. Uh um, it was based on Huey Long. And and um and with all of this, like, you know, um you actually see, I think in the in the arc of politics, American politics at least, you know, the height of corruption was during, like, considered at one time during this period, and then there was this huge movement to clean politics and clean the government up, and um, you're seeing it go back to this way again. Uh you know, many people argue like why that is. I would say it's probably the unlimited amount of m money in politics because of Citizens United. Uh, and so you're seeing this kind of activity again. There were so many um things that happened that are happening right now in our politics that we could point to. The demagoguery, uh, the populism, uh uh, you know, the rank corruption. Uh, I think, and so, you know, watching all the king's men at this time is particularly tough versus like reading the book, you know, 25 years ago, which I did. It's like um much more difficult now, I think, because we're seeing a lot of the same themes in our politics today, uh, which is sad uh because it's not uh it's not a hopeful film by any means. Um it's a pretty I mean it's a pretty tough film, really well done. I really enjoyed it, you know, but um uh and then you know also just like what a whore Willie Stark is, you know. And it's just basically like he started, he loved his wife, he loved his son, he didn't drink, and by the end of the movie, uh he his son hates him, he's sleeping around with every woman that can walk. He he's a you know avid drinker. You know, it's like every piece of thing that he valued, everything he did valued is gone at the end of the film when he dies. So I think that's the message. I mean, it's basically like how you know ultimate power corrupts ultimately. Uh which it gets across loud and clear.

SPEAKER_03 33:50

Yeah, definitely definitely agree with that. That's not hot, is it?

SPEAKER_06 33:54

It's got just a tiny bit of heat.

SPEAKER_03 33:56

Okay. All right. Listen up, you hicks. Listen up you hicks. I think that's my goal now is to start a speech with listen up, you hicks. Listen up you hicks. Maybe, maybe the next time I'm I'm at a meeting with elected officials, I'll start that way. Okay, thank you. Yeah. Uh yeah, second everything Nan said. Uh, you know, I couldn't help noticing the parallels to Trump. I mean, it it is really, even some of the words out of his mouth are almost verbatim things that Trump said at some point. Um they're not attacking, they're attacking, they're when they attack me, they're really attacking you. Or I'm per I'm paraphrasing it, but that that line, Trump has definitely said that. They're not attacking me, they're attacking you to his supporters. Yeah. The intimidation of the media, the putting his name on everything. The I'm not sure if it was in the movie, but Huey Long did this where he built a uh new grandiose governor's mansion and Capitol building.

SPEAKER_05 35:10

Yeah, that was not in the movie.

SPEAKER_03 35:11

Yeah, I don't think that was in the movie. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

And it remains the tallest state capital in America.

SPEAKER_03 35:19

Yeah, I haven't been to that one. Yeah. It's the tallest state capital in the U.S. Dan and I have been to about half of them, but I have not been to the Baton Rouge. Yeah, it's true. It's true. Uh, you know, just take to taking advantage of the sentiments of uh of the rural population that that thinks possibly correctly that they they've been lied to and taken advantage of. And they were, yeah. Yeah, and then and and then pulling the same con on them. Although I will say that the actual Huey Long, there was good and bad. He he really actually did do things to improve access to medicine, to improve education, to improve literacy, to build infrastructure in the state. You took good with bad with him. With Trump, I'm I'm not sure I can point to any of the good that we've gotten, but you you did get some good with Huey Long. Uh, I think it's also impressive that he was the one person Roosevelt actually feared in an election, and it would have been really interesting if he'd gotten a run in 1936. True. And how how how all that would have gone down. Uh, another point I had is uh, you know, Louisiana at this time is probably 30%, 40% African American. You do not see an African American anywhere in the picture here, not at all. Because of Jim Crow, none of them could vote, so they simply didn't matter.

SPEAKER_05 36:56

Another parallel to today what they're trying to do on the vote.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

There's yeah. Deal. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 37:04

No politics. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:08

I I do think it's pretty relevant to what's happening today, though I cannot talk about it. But um it was interesting. Well done. It was interesting to see that transition of how um Stark went from what he originally wanted to just like being a hypocrite and just going against his own principles and how um his right hand man just followed him blindly. Um so I think that his that journey was kind of interesting to see. Um definitely he definitely said some questionable things here and there. Actually, a lot of questionable things everywhere. But um yeah. Seemed a little bit slow to me. Um and what else? How do I not? I don't know how to exactly not be political when I talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

Hey, girl, this is America. You can say whatever you want to. If one of them clowns from Rhody wants to pick a bone with you, they gotta come through me.

SPEAKER_04 38:12

Well, I'm going on a trip with them on Tuesday, so I I don't want to risk it.

SPEAKER_06 38:18

Yeah, that's the proof. Yeah. So good.

SPEAKER_04 38:22

Well, yeah, but I I don't think it was shot as well as the other movies were. They could have done a better job on the way it was shot. Didn't see a lot of music in there, which I maybe could have been there. And again, I didn't know about the African American thing, so that was interesting to know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:43

And in the movie, I don't believe do they even say the state? I mean, we know they know it's Louisiana, but they they don't even say it.

SPEAKER_04 38:52

And from what I read, it's pretty similar to Hu Yi Long's life and his time in office. Oh. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:00

Oh yeah. Very, very simple.

SPEAKER_06 39:07

Yeah. Late in his career as well as early. Oh, vote, not early. Oh, no, not true.

SPEAKER_08 39:17

I like the movie.

SPEAKER_06 39:21

Listeners, Eddie liked a movie. Yeah, and he liked it.

SPEAKER_05 39:25

That's new. Why'd you like it? It was a good movie. How how come was it good?

SPEAKER_10 39:33

Um, it's uh it's definitely not your normal plot. You know, it's kind of a its own little plot.

SPEAKER_05 39:41

It's kind of different. Yeah, kind of different than most stories.

SPEAKER_03 39:45

But it it does have an arc, I think you see you see in a lot of stories where the person starts out at the bottom and then rags to riches, and then they blow it, and you see them tumble down.

SPEAKER_08 39:58

He didn't blow it, he just got killed in the end. That'd be that'd be just beat it.

SPEAKER_03 40:02

Well, but but he but he blows it, but but it's a person he is he is greatly wrong who kills him.

SPEAKER_09 40:09

Yeah, he's wrong him individually.

SPEAKER_07 40:11

Oh well. Yeah, he did.

SPEAKER_03 40:15

Yeah, he did.

SPEAKER_07 40:17

Showed that his uncle was come up and the uncle his brains out.

SPEAKER_08 40:21

And the treatment of his sister and the consenting adults are allowed to do what consenting adults would like to do. And she was a woman of age, so she could make her own decisions. He did wrong.

SPEAKER_05 40:36

He did, he did, he did wrong the whole family. That's part of like the thing is the Stanton family, and so he wrongs the whole Stanton family, and who kills him? The Stanton family.

SPEAKER_09 40:44

I don't think he wronged any of them.

SPEAKER_06 40:46

Oh, I can't talk about politics.

SPEAKER_09 40:52

The judge quit because uh once his name was covering up some corruption, but he didn't wrong him individually.

SPEAKER_03 41:00

Um Eddie, Eddie's an authoritarian stuff. We don't have the same movie.

SPEAKER_01 41:10

He had his black book. Exactly. Keep tabs and go research the judge. Go dig up the dirt.

SPEAKER_09 41:16

Yeah, and uh who's the judge? It was Anne, the member of the family.

SPEAKER_03 41:22

That's true.

SPEAKER_05 41:24

Yes, but that's still wronging the family.

SPEAKER_03 41:26

And the way he treated her was then to dump her.

SPEAKER_06 41:28

Right. Then being prepared to use that.

SPEAKER_10 41:35

Oh generation of that family.

SPEAKER_05 41:37

Oh, this is Eddie just trying to be contrary, because this doesn't make any sense. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 41:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 41:42

Makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_10 41:44

No, it doesn't matter. She can she can see when like talk about the movie.

SPEAKER_05 41:51

She can also talk when like um uh there's not rational discussion and rational decision making.

SPEAKER_10 41:58

Well, it was his son. And yeah, his son. Oh, but not his wife.

SPEAKER_03 42:03

What about his wife? His father? I do think one of the best shots in the movie is toward the end, where they're all driving away from the family farm. Yeah. And it's just the father alone on the front porch. Yeah that to me was like the most one of the most powerfully framed shots of the movie. I like that.

SPEAKER_08 42:24

He gave his father that cool ass radio. I don't know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_03 42:28

Oh right.

SPEAKER_05 42:30

Paul.

SPEAKER_03 42:31

Paul.

SPEAKER_01 42:32

Oh yeah. Well, I thought some of the comments have been made. I mean, he he accomplished a lot, and as Sam was saying, like, you know, the real Huey, Huey Long even did more, um, but you can't fit it all in the movie. And I think what was incredible, it was actually done in a pretty short amount of time. I mean, one term, you know, one term as governor, and then a term as senator before being killed. Um that's a lot to come back. And you kind of got to wonder like what the ultimate reality would be. Could you have accomplished the same thing you know, in terms of like infrastructure, building all that, if he had been in a blackmailing? Because then you have to work for coalitions and you know give some of the state, you know, legislators something that you want to, and it didn't seem like he was about doing that, at least the way he portrayed the movie. Um I think one of the funnier scenes was when they were uh talking about the impeachment, and the one um the House of Representative guy was like you know, he's corrupt and he's incompetent and something else. And I'm like, well, I don't know that he was incompetent because he actually got stuff done. I mean, yeah, I like how he got it done, but um he wasn't destroying things in like the current folks in charge. Um he was actually building things. But I'm still trying to decide if I like the movie because I mean it w it was fun to watch because like like Sam said, like the story arc was pretty clear. I mean, it's interesting to see, you know, kind of like he was a long story put on the screen. But it just I don't know, it's just like the scenes seem too cut up for me. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 43:57

Yeah, I agree with like what you and Diaz say. It's not like the best. Shot.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

And I and I um I I read later on that uh the the original cut of the movie was like you know how the wind proportions it was almost like four hours long apparently and so one of the one of the uh directions to uh the editor and I don't know how this all played out but when apparently one of the initial directions is like you know find the important part of the scene and then take a hundred feet of film on front a hundred foot hundred feet behind the film and let's all spice it together and then see how it looks. Now I don't know I'm sure there's multiple rounds of editing, but that was an initial attempt to get it to get it uh cut down. And once they said that I was like, well that may make some sense because it did seem like the point, you know, the the technique of the film was like just a jump from one scene to another. It was choppy.

SPEAKER_03 44:44

Yeah, I did notice that.

SPEAKER_01 44:46

But it's interesting because like the really the real Huey Long had you know more like social um social uh programs uh you know that he was trying to propose, like some that were like way too left-wing.

SPEAKER_03 44:58

Like, he was getting to the left of Roosevelt, but on the you know authoritarian scale, yeah, uh he he was uh behaved more like a dictator, a right winger.

SPEAKER_01 45:11

So in in the in the movie it was kind of fun because they said you know the early advice in his losing campaign was like don't talk about you know those don't talk about the details because it bored everyone, which you know it's is true. But the the you know I found it was interesting because you know the hospital trying to build a hospital has to be the stand-in for like social programs. Right because we don't really see those so I mean they're they're not photogenic for a movie, but uh I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 45:38

So you don't know if you like the movie or not?

SPEAKER_01 45:39

I'm not sure if I like it yet. I mean it's gonna be higher, you know, it's gonna be in the top half so far for sure.

SPEAKER_05 45:44

Uh just because it did beat Hamlet.

SPEAKER_01 45:46

Yeah, yeah. Well Hamlet's at the bottom.

SPEAKER_03 45:49

It's it's in the middle for me, but but definitely not top five.

SPEAKER_01 45:53

I I do I think Sean Penn as as Willie's dark um was great. I mean, like I the acting I enjoyed.

SPEAKER_05 45:58

Sean Penn.

SPEAKER_01 46:00

That's a new one. Broderick, sorry. Yeah, newer version.

SPEAKER_03 46:04

Won the Academy Awards. Yeah. Um the newer version wasn't as good, although Sean Penn does a pretty good job.

SPEAKER_01 46:10

Yeah, sorry. Um so I don't know. That was yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:15

Catherine.

SPEAKER_06 46:17

Well, I mean, it is interesting to watch it as someone, you know, we're all, as you pointed out, we're all like involved in politics in some way, and you know, we all have, I think, very strong thoughts and feelings and opinions about politics. So, you know, um, watching something that was in our wheelhouse, as you say, was kind of an interesting exercise. Um I agree that the movie is kind of choppy. Um, and I agree with Dia that it kind of there are some spots where it dragged a little. Um with all the cutting, like there are just things, and maybe not drag so much as there were some things that just weren't necessary. Um but you know it's a pretty cut and dried uh example of the rags to riches this guy starts out on the right path. Yeah, you know, and like you see him in the very beginning getting confronted by the police and the the local machine for daring to uh you know trying to give a speech at the gazebo in the town square, right? And the the local machine has um you know comes up and quickly breaks that up and you know takes his leaflets and forces him to stop speaking, and like you see him lose all through the beginning, and you see him slowly learning all the wrong lessons from the losses, right? Like he learns how to win from all those campaigns, but you see him learning like to be like the machine, to be like the people that he started out loathing, right? And all the white lessons and it but you know if if all you want to do is win, okay, but you know, you see you see it happen as he moves along, right? It's it wasn't like it was a slow or a fast drip, like he slowly was working his way into this uh corrupt, you know, I'll get mine too kind of position. From bad comes good.

SPEAKER_00 48:47

That was in the movie.

SPEAKER_06 48:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:50

You done?

SPEAKER_06 48:51

So sure.

SPEAKER_00 48:54

Well, when you're 73 years old and you started in politics like I did before I was born, I was five months in my mother's belly when I ran, I rode on a whistle stop with uh then candidate Adelaide Stevenson in November of 1952. I do have the Secret Service documentation of that, that my parents were authorized, Wayne and Phyllis Gerris were authorized to get on the Adelaide Stevenson whistle stop train in Lima, Ohio, and ride it to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

SPEAKER_11 49:33

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 49:34

When my mom was five months pregnant with me. She uh felt uh faint, so she went and sat in an empty uh compartment by herself. About 20 minutes later, Secret Service came in, saw that it was just her. About five minutes later, Adelaide Stevenson came in and sat down next to her and said to her, Your first child, and she said, No, my fourth. And then he took a nap. And if Adelaide would have been born, my name would have been, or would have been elected, my name would have been Adelaide Stevenson. It would have been Adelaide Stevenson Garrison, yeah. Well, I would have liked to have been an Adelaide, you know, there's not too many Adelays around.

SPEAKER_06 50:19

Adley Garris.

SPEAKER_00 50:20

So, anyhow, the reason why I'm bringing that up is I've been in politics my whole life, even before I was born. My dad was county chairman, great grandpa was the vice chairman, my great-great-grandpa was a vice chairman. If there is a family business in the Garrus family, that's politics. So I looked at this, I think, differently than a lot of other people have. Uh I've been around a lot of good politicians, and I've been around a lot of bad politicians. And, you know, sometimes in life, you gotta take some bad to get some good. And unfortunately, that's true. Now, in this movie, he definitely goes overboard, yeah, but the one thing he really doesn't forget about is the Hicks. And in Huey Long's real life, he didn't forget about the Hicks. Yeah. He came up with free textbooks, which was fought by the Catholic Church because they had their schools and they didn't want people to get free textbooks. He took that case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where William Howard Taft, uh, who was Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court at that time, stated this about Huey Long's argument on that case, the most brilliant lawyer who ever practiced before the United States Supreme Court.

SPEAKER_11 51:51

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 51:52

So, you know, he did that. There was I I read this statistic, you know, about how few miles were paved in Louisiana. And by the time he left, after just really one term as governor, they had like, you know, geometrically increased the the same thing with gravel roads, the same thing with education, uh, the same thing with health. Yeah. Uh his night schools that he started uh educated over 200,000, or no, I think it was 100,000 uh adult uh people from Louisiana who couldn't uh read. Who couldn't read. Uh and interestingly enough, you know, his motto was uh his when he ran for governor in 1928, the actual Huey Long was every man a king, but no one wears a crown. Well, he started wearing the crown.

SPEAKER_06 52:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:52

And you know, sometimes in politics, it's hard not to wear the crown. Uh good people give the crown up when it's time. Bad people try to hang on to the crime or the crown forever.

SPEAKER_06 53:12

By any means possible.

SPEAKER_00 53:13

By any means possible. Now, from this movie standpoint, I loved it. You loved it. I have met so many people in my career in politics, both here and when I was a young assistant attorney general in Columbus. I mean, these guys had great nicknames. Sugar, Tiny.

SPEAKER_06 53:32

Sugar Boy. Yeah, sugar boy. Sugar boy.

SPEAKER_00 53:36

I mean, and and Nan, you ran for governor. You met these guys. You met these guys from Youngstown. You met these guys from Sugar Boy. You met the Well I don't believe you, Nan.

SPEAKER_06 53:48

Listeners, she was shaking her head no time. I don't believe you.

SPEAKER_00 53:52

You met guys from Youngstown, you met guys from Steubenville, you met guys from Canton and from Lima and from everywhere in between. And here in Dayton, Ohio. You know, when you're in politics, there you go. That's you're gonna run with some of those people. And some of those people are gonna do things that bother you, that trouble you, but they're your friends. You try to correct them, you try to get them back on the right path, but there you go. So I look at this movie as really uh a real kind of true story of uh how politics can work. You get a good slogan, you build on something, I like Ike, uh, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Whatever your slogan is, you bring it, you get the people behind you, you get there, and then hopefully you do good. Now, it's obvious a lot of people do bad. But I really like this movie. Another thing that I want to bring up was uh in the uh, I there's a couple things I wrote down. One of the things uh Sadie says is uh we need a good five cent cigar. Well, that was actually attributed to uh Thomas V. Marshall, who was a senator from Indiana, North Manchester, Indiana, where I went to college at. Shout out to Manchester College. I'll never call it Manchester University. Uh he was Woodrow Wilson.

SPEAKER_03 55:36

Not a sponsor. Not a sponsor.

SPEAKER_00 55:38

Well, the college can be, but not the university. I'm gonna go to the university. You want me to sing the fight song? No, no, no. Manchester College, hail to the hail to the black and gold, hail to victory, fight for her colors, fight for honor too, hail to Manchester, hail to the Manchester, Manchester, fight, fight, fight. Okay, back to the five cent cigar. Uh when uh his famous quote was after listening to one of his opposing senators give like a two-hour speech about what America needed, he got up and said, What America really needs is a good five cent cigar. So that was an actual quote from politics, which I really enjoyed. And then the other one for the fans of the Gilded Age, of which I know there's many of you here, in season three, you'll remember uh when I forget which one of it said you have to crack an egg to make an omelet.

SPEAKER_05 56:36

Yes, you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet.

SPEAKER_00 56:38

And that was from uh The Gilded Age, picked that up from this movie. So anyhow, I really like this movie. It reminded me of people that I had dealt with in politics, the hangers on, the people trying to get this from you, trying to get that from you. Um and how it's so easy when you're got a mission, when you when you're so possessed to do something to lose sight of hey, you know, you gotta lock it. Uh you gotta cross the T's and dot the I's. So, anyhow, I really like that. This week, the Ohio Supreme Court, in all its infinite wisdom, have now ruled that in Ohio, judges can make political endorsements.

SPEAKER_05 57:30

Yeah, I saw that.

SPEAKER_00 57:31

So for 36 years, yeah, I couldn't do it. But now, since I'm not a judge, I can.

SPEAKER_05 57:38

And even if you were a judge, you can now. And even if you were a judge now, you can.

SPEAKER_00 57:43

Yeah, now I can. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 57:44

But like even if you were a sitting judge, not a retired judge.

SPEAKER_00 57:47

Right. Oh yeah, yeah. Now now sitting judges can endorse whoever they want.

SPEAKER_05 57:51

Yeah, I just want to be clear, like as a retired judge, you can endorse any time now. It's not like it's for life.

SPEAKER_00 57:56

Unless you if I'd kept my license and I was being a visiting judge. Then you couldn't. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 58:01

But you would like once you're fully retired, you can do what you want.

SPEAKER_02 58:04

Right.

SPEAKER_05 58:04

But now even visiting judges and sitting judges can endorse and political. Basically, the Ohio Supreme Court saying that your judicial system is no longer um not political. It is a political system. Yeah, it's a political system. It's a biased political system.

SPEAKER_00 58:22

Yeah. Which I thought was uh sad. Bad.

SPEAKER_06 58:26

Yeah, very much.

SPEAKER_00 58:27

But anyhow, okay, uh, one last thing. Another thing I want to say about Huey Long. You know, his how he got started was fighting Standard Oil. That's who he fought. And he fought Standard Oil till the day he died. And that was, you know, all the kind of things he did. He did a lot of good for Louisiana, but you know, he definitely did a lot of bad, there's no doubt about it. Actual uh guy that assassinated him was the uh, I think it was son-in-law of a guy who's uh who he had gerrymandered out of his seat. Yeah, that's right. Uh the the the father, I think, had had the seat for 28 years or whatever. Huey Long got mad at him, so he uh had him gerrymandered out, and the guy shot him um it was similar to the movie. Very similar to that guy's name was uh it was assassinated by Judge uh Pavey's son-in-law after Long's uh bill gerrymandered Pavey out of a position he had held for 28 years. Uh he shot uh Huey Long once in the uh torso, and Huey Long actually ran out of the state capitol, jumped in a cab, and was taken to the hospital where he he bled out from an internal bleeding. But Weis, the guy that shot him, was shot over 60 times.

SPEAKER_09 59:56

Yeah, they showed that in the movie. They showed that in the movie.

SPEAKER_03 59:59

Yeah, so the sugar boy Yeah, so the the sugar boy character is is like is a personification of Huey Long's entire troop of bodyguards that I read were called the Cossacks. Right, yeah. The Cossacks. Cossacks, you know, it's like the region in Russia that would used to have these mercenary soldiers on horseback. Anyway, they were kind of they followed him around, they were kind of they were very rough with people, you know. Anyone's trying to real henchmen. Yeah, they were, yeah, yeah, you might you might call them henchmen. So, yeah, so they shot him 60 times, and I I've read, I don't think this is true, but there was some thought that one of their bullets actually ricocheted off the marble and struck Huey Long, and that's what killed him, yeah, as they were shooting the assassin. But I there's no definitive proof of of that, but he definitely had these rough and tumble bodyguards in the movie, they portray it as just this one character, sugar boy.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:04

Right, yeah, yeah. Uh then the other thing I if somebody can get it out real quick, John Derrick. I think John Derrick was in the play. I think he played Tommy Stark.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:17

I think it's the son, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:19

Is that the John Derrick?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:21

I think so. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:22

Who became a photographer? Yeah. Okay. You want to talk about a dude. John Derrick. Do you know anything about John Derrick? No. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:31

He's good looking.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:33

He's good looking. John Derrick.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:35

No Gregory Peck, but go in.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:37

Well, you are so not gonna like this guy. Okay. I can tell you you're so gonna not like this guy. Uh John Derrick uh was an actor who uh uh morphed into being a photographer, okay? And he plays uh, I think Tommy Stark, the the football player, the son. Right? Yeah. Well, when he morphed into being a photographer, he was married to Ursula Andress. You know who Ursula Andress is? She was uh the uh woman who came out in the uh white bikini on uh Dr. No.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:16

That was Ursula Andress. Okay, he was married to her. It is it is him, right? Yeah, it's him. Okay, he was married to her and uh he photographed her naked and got it published in Playboy magazine, and then he moved on to Linda Evans. You ever heard of Linda Evans?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:36

Wonder Woman?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:37

No.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:37

Oh no. Wait, he photographed her naked, like with her consent? Yeah, or yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. She was a movie star. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:45

Sure, this wasn't revenge porn or snow.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:48

No, no, no, this isn't revenge porn. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Continue. No, no, no. Uh then he gets married to Linda Evans from the Big Valley.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:57

It was a TV show. Okay, no, I don't think uh and she was very popular in the Big Valley. Well, he photographs her naked too for Playboy. And then divorces her? Huh?

SPEAKER_05 1:03:11

He divorces her. I think I know where you're going.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:14

And then you've heard of Bo Derrick.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:16

Oh does the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:17

Does the same thing with Bo Derrick.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:19

Uh she was only 16.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:22

Which one?

SPEAKER_05 1:03:23

Bo Derek Gross. Oh yay.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:26

So, anyhow, what a gross. That was uh that career went from being a uh And you missed one too.

SPEAKER_10 1:03:32

He started with Patty Bowes.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:34

Who?

SPEAKER_10 1:03:34

Patty Bowes. A Russian American prima ballowina was his post wife.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:41

Okay, there you go.

SPEAKER_10 1:03:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:42

Did he did he um did a player? Did she do naked pictures of her too?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:49

He was a player, man, let me tell you. So anyhow, I guess.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:52

And a and a pedophile, it seems. Uh I just want to bring. He stayed in Europe, so they start he started having an affair with her while he was still married to Linda Evans. They were all film set. Okay. Evans returned to the United States and filed for divorce in 1974, but Derek and Collins, that was Bo Derrick's previous name, her actual name. Okay. Um, they stayed in Europe until she turned 18 so that Derek could avoid statutory rape charges. Because he's a pedophile. Because he's a pedophile.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:26

There you go.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:27

Gross.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:28

So I think that came from the concussion he got in the movie.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:32

You were correct. I really don't like that guy. Yeah, not a fan. Yeah, not a fan. Not a fan. Um I thought it was interesting that this this movie in 1949 had head injuries. I was like, oh yeah. I was like, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:47

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:48

I was like in 1949, they knew that football was a problem. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:51

And you know, that was one of the things that Huey Wong did. He and he doubled the size of LSU's uh stadium and got them into big time football.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:59

But look how basic that stadium is. There's a bunch of things. There's no sky boxes, there's no luxury suites 1949.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:06

I wouldn't think we didn't we didn't talk about in this movie is like the conflicted nature of the b the boy, right? Oh yeah. Uh, you know, this guy that's kind of lost with his life, he kind of, you know, writes for him.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:21

He starts out like his right-hand man, right? Like the sun. We're talking about the sun. Oh no, I'm talking about the writer. The writer, yeah, the name. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:31

He like clearly just like he just like he abdicates or you know, moves his he moves his values to the to Long. I think like honestly, uh or long.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:45

He becomes paralyzed.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:46

He like he he We're talking about the writer. The writer.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:50

The son was paralyzed.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:53

Yeah, he's figuratively paralyzed, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:55

Sorry. I'm not gonna be. I think we were talking about the son who actually was paralyzed.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:00

I mean he can't he knows it's wrong, but he can't do anything about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:03

But what helped him along that journey was being told he couldn't write about it. So that gave him the excuse to like.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:08

He made choices. I mean, he could have he could have left. Well he's a man of privilege. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:14

Right? So he's a man of privilege.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:16

I think he got that to a point he wanted to be somebody. Exactly. And he knew if he turned if he turns on the governor, then he's he's gonna be done in politics. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:26

I mean, it shows him, right? I it's like he they he gets the commandment from his editor to stop like fluffing this guy up. Yeah, he quits. And it shows him like wandering around homeless, basically, like doing it. So then he gets back to his old friend or this guy who like gives him a chance again and like caught him at his lowest moment, and so he'll do anything for him now.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:58

Yeah, like sleeps with his girl and he's like still with him.

SPEAKER_11 1:07:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:03

Uh, you know, moves his like mentor to suicide. Yeah. Like the level that he will put up with, I think, and like um, and I think you see that in politics all the time, to Dan's point. You see that all the time. You see it in the most like gross way right now with Trump and these guys, but you see it all, you see it quite a bit, I'd have to say. And um, oh well, like this thought.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:29

Well, you know, justification.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:31

There's so much justification in politics. Well, I, you know, for the politician, well, no one will do it as good as me. Like, so I have to stay. I alone can fix that. Yeah, there's that problem where I, you know, if like I no one understands this, and I have the most ability to do this, and so he was actually helping people. Yeah, and I'm helping people, you know, and so it doesn't matter. I have to do these terrible things to help people. So you see that, and then you see the you know, so many times people's inability to give up power. Which, you know, the more I think about politics and our government, like the I really think it's true, like the best thing that was ever done in American democracy was when George Washington only served two terms.

SPEAKER_11 1:08:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:17

Um, and you know, uh, you know, FDR and like, and frankly, when they la allowed FDR to do it and said nobody else passed that, we're changing the Constitution was the right move too.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:28

Uh they didn't allow FR FDR to do it. It wasn't in the Constitution.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:33

Nobody did it till then. Yeah. Well, true. Nobody did it until then. And then once he did it, then they changed the Constitution. But think about George Washington, nobody served more than eight years. But nobody, no, like nobody was able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:48

One of his terms was like he'd served three-quarters of a term after the assassination of McKinley.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:54

But I would say, I would say, like, what number one, the power, like to that point, the power of George Washington to say, oh, well, we only serve two terms, is nowhere in law. And like for almost 200 years, nobody serves more than two terms for God for a president because of just like this, this is the way it's always done, the president. And then when FDR does it, then it's like, no, even though he was a great president, that's too much. And so, you know, and I think it's really necessary for something in that high of power, like governor, president, like there should be term limits. I don't I'm not for term limits in other places, don't misunderstand me. Um, I think I think Congress has a real problem the way it's situated and set set up. It's a terrible job, and so people that take that or or work do that, I think have questional, you know, mind pieces.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:43

But India doesn't have germ limits.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:45

Yeah, it's I think we've talked about this with Modi. Like it's a pr it's a problem.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:49

And germs are five years now.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:51

Yeah, and I'm fine like if they were four years or five years or six years, but like there has to be there has to be a limit on it because like people get in that power and they think that they're the only ones then that can do it. And then that can really stifle the democracy. And so I do think Washington was probably the smart. That's the smartest move ever.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:10

Well, you know, Nan, I knew for the 36 years that I was a judge, I was the only one that could do it.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:15

Okay, I'm talking mostly like for president and governor. Like I think I agree with you. I think like there's other positions, like I'm not saying for every job. I agree with you. Um but there's so much power in those positions of executive leadership.

SPEAKER_11 1:10:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:33

That yeah, I think that that's that's the challenge. Yeah, and you see that. You see that with this guy, and you see it with the handlers around him that enable him. You see like you see this with Biden, where they didn't let him, you know, they encouraged him to run when he shouldn't have run.

SPEAKER_10 1:10:49

Biden showed away, we should have kept him on the ticket. Uh so it is like grand grandpa.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:57

Yeah, it is absolutely uh watching this movie felt very immediate and real. Yeah. Right. For all that it took, you know, was taking place in a different time.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:11

I thought it was a really good movie. I I really did. I I remember as a uh young man reading the book, going, yeah, this is the life I want, from a different standpoint.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:21

I mean I want to be the guy. Well, you know, I mean that's what I kind of was hearing him say earlier, too.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:29

Man, you've run for office and I've run for office. Yeah. Okay. You know, there's no bigger thrill than the electorate going, yeah, I want that woman, I want that guy.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:41

I agree. I don't I don't I don't disagree.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:44

That can be intoxicating from time to time. Yeah. And uh my career, I've seen all these people. I've seen all these people at, you know, at the local level, and uh when I briefly played uh in the uh minor the triple A up in Columbus, and where there's a heck of a lot more of it than you get at the local, but you still get it at the local, you know, down at City Hall and you know everywhere else. I just uh I really really like this movie.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:20

Yeah. Do you think he killed the bottle of the bottle that got killed?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:27

Yes, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:29

He definitely had him down. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:32

And in real life, in real life, that person just disappeared for four days and then was found. Yeah. Yeah, in real life.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:42

With long.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:44

Yeah. With Huey Long, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:46

They made that a little worse.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:47

The guy that had the goods, uh, he went and disappeared for four days until the after whatever vote was or the election was over.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:54

And then they found it long.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:55

I think in general, the movie made Willie's star worse. Yeah, I think that's probably the theme. Yeah, you know, so it it cle it definitely was meant to be like there could have been more stuff to more good stuff to balance him out with the things that he got accomplished, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:13

Right. Into a six-foot pit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:19

Yeah. You know, FDR said that the two most dangerous men in America were uh General uh Douglas MacArthur and Huey Long. And there was a that great historian David Kennedy said uh the Huey Long's career was as close to dictatorship as we ever had. Uh because what you read how, not only after, you know, he got elected senator after only being governor for two years.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:46

So that that does make you wonder though, because he you but he didn't give up being governor.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:52

He still did it.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:53

He noticed his term so he could have his hand appointed successor. Right. But why even give why if you if you're hell bent on being the top person, why give up being governor? Because he's gonna run for president now. Because he was gonna run for president, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:05

And it's like, and he's from Louisiana, so he needed a bigger standing point.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:09

Yeah, he's running the danger of not accomplishing as much as senator. But but he basically served as both.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:14

But yeah, he still served as both, yeah. Which is wild.

unknown 1:14:18

I know.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:18

Well, and then you know, the other thing too is uh after you know, after he died, his wife replaced him as senator, and then his son, uh Russell Long, yeah, was a longtime senator. What's the long office building, right? For the Senate.

SPEAKER_11 1:14:35

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:36

And then uh his brother, Earl, became governor.

SPEAKER_11 1:14:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:41

And uh what I read about it was Louisiana was still divided between the pro-long group and the anti-long group well into the 60s.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:51

Yeah, I mean the the the Louisiana politics is one of um Oh god, they all go to jail. And it's legacy. It's it's very heavily legacy on all sides, you know, like the Landrew family in New Orleans is like, you know, two to three generations there.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:04

Now let's not talk about the Garris family in Dayton. Yes, as much like the that's the that's going too far, Nan. See back off.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:11

There you go. Um no, I think it like of course we of course I think everybody at this table would in like enjoy or see plat parallels to this show. Uh I saw a Huey Long movie with Paul Newman playing Huey Long years ago. Oh, okay. And it was very good. So just to let you know, there's there's a there is a uh Huey Long, not in all the King's Men, but a Huey Long. I think it's called Kingfish. Kingfish, yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:39

And Paul Newman plays because that was his nickname, Kingfish.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:42

Uh Paul Newman plays Huey Long. So recommend that. I haven't seen it in 30 years, but 20 years. Yeah, so uh agree, Dan. Um Casablanca, but it's great.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:53

Right. And you know, it's a definite uh morality play. About, you know, sometimes total, you know, power can corrupt you totally.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:03

Yeah, ultimate power corrupts ultimately. Yeah. That's right. And that's I think the message of this.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:09

Final thoughts, Dan?

SPEAKER_05 1:16:10

Uh I hope Dea has a fantastic time. I'm so excited for her in New York, Philly, and DC. Uh so woman's her this week, but we can't wait to.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:20

Are you flying out or do you go in a group?

SPEAKER_04 1:16:23

What is it? Um I'm flying to I'm fine and then I'm meeting there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:31

She's she's flying by herself to Newark and then meeting a group there.

SPEAKER_11 1:16:35

Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:37

Sam.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:39

Final thoughts.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:41

Looking forward to the week?

SPEAKER_03 1:16:42

Okay. Enjoyed the movie. Uh, this next movie better be really fucking good. Because it it beat Sunset Boulevard for Best Passion.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:54

It's all about Eve, and it's pretty good. All right.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:58

I hope so.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:59

I mean, Sunset Boulevard is a great movie. All about Eve is a great movie. That's I told him that.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:04

Good. Good.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:06

He's like, what's this?

SPEAKER_00 1:17:08

Oh yeah, it's good. Eddie, final thoughts for the coming week.

SPEAKER_09 1:17:12

Willie did nothing wrong except for himself, but he paid those votes because then his son would have got a DEY well, got uh drunk and crashed or down into a truck. And killed a woman allegedly.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:24

Uh I think the son said I killed her. Yeah. I drove drunk and killed her.

SPEAKER_09 1:17:31

It wasn't in the wee polts.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:33

It was in the movies.

SPEAKER_09 1:17:34

It wasn't in the wee polts.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:36

Paul.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:36

Paul had nothing to add, man. Nothing at all. No. Catherine.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:42

Um, yeah, I I'm glad we're here. We are starting the 50s next week. Do you believe it? I can't believe it. We're out of the 40s.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:52

When do we get to col where they're all in color?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:55

Well, that's coming pretty quick. Is that happening soon?

SPEAKER_06 1:17:58

It uh actually is happening fairly soon.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:00

Yeah, it's coming pretty quick. Oh, you want to be American in Paris. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:05

That's in color. All right. Greatest show on earth. That's in color. From here from here to eternity. No, that's black and white. On the waterfront. Black and white, modernity.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:15

Around the world. Black and white. Around the world in 80 days is color.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:18

Bridge over River Quai. Color. Then they go to color all the time.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:23

Around the world. Only a few left. Alright. You want to scratch it, Nan?

SPEAKER_05 1:18:27

Um, whoever Dan says to scratch.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:29

Oh no. I you I can't have absolute power.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:34

I think Nan should scratch this one.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:36

Okay, Nan is the uh the most elected person here. Well maybe I was. Six terms. Well, you had more terms than anyone. You had you got elected four terms, right? Two as city commission and two as mayor.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:51

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:53

Okay. See, so yeah, you I got elected six times.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:56

I recognized that you know you had to say goodbye. You did.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:01

Off beater saying I do. Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:03

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:05

Okay, well, anyhow, I I want to thank everybody for uh uh tuning in and listening to us. Uh as you can tell, uh uh my warning about this was in our wheelhouse. Oh, yes. It truly was in our wheelhouse. Uh so I would say to people out there that are thinking about getting into government, do it. It's worth it. Uh just remember you got to keep doing it for the people, not for yourself. And uh if you can't do it for the people, then it's time to uh go do something else. Yeah. So uh with that, I want to thank everybody for listening. Uh our next movie, uh 1950 Best Picture, is all about Eve. Uh to all our friends out there, hope you have a good beat.