East of Eden: The Miniseries, Part 3/Final

For Part One, this is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/10/east-of-eden-miniseries-part-one.html 

For Part Two, this is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/10/east-of-eden-miniseries-part-two_25.html


Adam tells Lee they are moving to the town of Salinas, also in the northern Salinas Valley, where they have been living on the farm since Adam bought the land there. Salinas is less than 20 miles from Monterey, the town where Cathy (Kate) is living. In spite of Cathy's statement about Adam not being the father of the boys, Adam says the paternity question doesn't matter, and he vows to raise Aron and Caleb anyway, although he had thought of going back to Connecticut to see Charles face to face to ask him about Cathy's claim. Adam apologizes to Lee for having been abrupt with him when Lee warned him not to go into Monterey to see Cathy. We see the young boys as the family moves into Salinas, then the scene quickly moves to the boys in their mid teens or so, and Aron has a steady girlfriend named Abra. Caleb, known more commonly to people as "Cal," is a lively young man with a sense of humor and teasing, something not always appreciated by Aron, who is more serious, and who has turned toward religion in his life. In fact, Aron plans on going into the ministry. When Cal teases Abra about the possibility of her becoming a member of the family, he tells her the family has ties to mental derangement going back to their grandmother, "who drowned herself in the middle of the night in her 'go to meetin' dress, ' " to which Aron immediately says, "It was an accident, Cal." When Cal then mentions their mother, Aron quickly repeats what his father has told them, "Our mother's dead, she's buried back east," but Cal just as quickly says, "That's what everybody says... 'most' everybody," with the obvious implication that Cal has heard rumors about their mother that don't fit with Adam's story. 

We learn Cal sneaks out of the house some nights. One night he goes out and he sees Samuel Hamilton's son, Tom, who mentions that he was on the Trask property the day Aron and Cal were born. While Cal had been reluctant to get into a conversation with Tom, now he's interested, and he hopes to get some information out of Tom about his mother. Tom has a bottle of whiskey and Cal manipulates the increasingly intoxicated Tom into telling him how Adam got the wound scar on his shoulder from Cathy having shot him. He also lets it out that Cathy is still alive, so Cal tries to get it out of Tom where his mother lives, and Cal mentions Connecticut, but all Tom will say is, "Wrong... wrong." We then learn that Tom's brother, Will, owns an automobile business there, and automobiles are becoming an increasingly popular means of transportation. Cal and Tom stand in front of Will's business, and finally Tom mentions about going to "Kate's." Pretty well drunk, Tom lets it slip out that Cathy is a whore.

Cal begins to follow his mother, who wears dark clothes and a veil. One day he tests the waters with Adam as they all sit at home. Cal "claims" that Aron is in on the idea too, but that with Mother's Day approaching, he proposes sending a wreath to be placed on their mother's grave. Adam is taken by surprise and tries to divert the conversation by saying that a wreath is too fragile to survive a long journey, but Cal shows his father a magazine article about refrigeration and the practice of using ice to preserve perishable items. Adam says he'll think things over, but Cal pushes the subject, which brings Aron's temper to flare. Something tells us that Aron doesn't quite buy Adam's story about their mother, but he'd just as soon not think about it, perhaps because he doesn't really want to know, as to learn the truth could bring a potential unpleasantness about his mother, but it also would prove that his father is a liar. We hear Aron tell Abra about his parents, based on Adam's story, and the story is comforting to Aron, but it's just that, a story. What if Aron is confronted with truth?

Meanwhile, Cal's idea about using ice to send a wreath has caught Adam's attention about refrigeration, and he takes home a stack of books from the library on the subject. Adam buys an icebox and he begins to place dishes filled with various food items into the icebox to see how long, and how well, they will keep.* One day when Lee opens the icebox, he slams to door shut because of the stench of spoiled food, but Adam continues his experiments. (This will soon become important)

Aron takes more serious steps toward pursuing a life in the ministry. After a service at the local Episcopal church, the funny moment of the miniseries takes place, as Cal's sense of humor takes center stage when he tells some neighbors (seemingly Abra's parents) who had questioned the religious commitment of the Trask family, "We Trasks have always walked in the way of the Lord. My maternal grandfather was a missionary in Africa. He got eaten up by Pygmy cannibals. They bit him off at the knees, he just fell to the ground and they gobbled him up like vanilla pudding." Adam looks for some way to stop the foolishness, as the questioner is taking the story very seriously. Adam finally interrupts to go talk with Will Hamilton, and he glares at Cal as he passes him.

Adam and Cal go to meet with Will Hamilton to hear what he thinks of their idea to use ice to ship lettuce from Salinas Valley farmers to the eastern part of the country. Will comes out against the idea, but, while he's at Will automobile showroom, Adam decides to by a motor vehicle. Will tells him he'll put him on a waiting list, because he can't get enough automobiles to keep up with demand. As Adam and Cal prepare to leave in their buggy, Will tells them that instead of lettuce, they should get involved in beans. Will explains that with the war going on in Europe (what will eventually initially be called, the Great War, and then later, World War One), that there is a developing need for foods that can be kept without ice and that the price of beans has been rising. Will says further that once the U.S. enters the war, which he feels is inevitable, the price of beans will skyrocket. Idealistic Adam questions about taking advantage of people in wartime to make a profit. Adam and Cal drive off, but Adam tells Cal he's going to buy the town's ice plant, which he does, and he decides to go ahead with his idea about the lettuce, which is packed into crates and loaded onto boxcars with ice to be shipped eastward. At first things go well, but the sun beats down on the boxcars and the ice continues to melt. Then the shipment gets left to the side when it reaches Chicago, only to be discovered when the smell of the spoiled lettuce is unbearable. Adam takes a major loss to the money that had kept him, his sons and Lee all living well for so long..... The money left to him by his father, who had pilfered it from Civil War veterans. Simultaneously, Will brings Adam's new car, which will require the balance to be paid (he'd given a 25% deposit initially). Lee thinks Adam should cancel the car purchase to conserve the money, but Adam says the deposit was "like a promise," and that he plans to honor it, so Lee asks, "What do you want for supper, roast pig or roast pride?"

Cal continues to go out at night, but now he secretly drives the car into Monterey and he goes to Kate's, where a group of college boys are partying. Cal acts like he's one of them and he goes inside. He goes up the stairway unnoticed to the next floor, with its dimly lit hallway. Suddenly he hears a voice say, "What do you want?" He turns around and it's a woman. When he asks if she's Kate, she answers, "Who do you suppose I am, Mother Goose?" She asks who he is, but just then police whistles sound, and she tells him to leave. It's a police raid and Cal is arrested with the others. In a bit of a funny scene, the sheriff (the same sheriff from years before) asks each college boy his name, and the names roll in as "John Smith," "Rick Smith," "Tom Smith," etc, bringing the sheriff to say that "we've rounded up every Smith in town tonight" (ah, I'll leave that statement alone). When the sheriff comes to Cal, Cal blurts out, "Woodrow Wilson," bringing the sheriff to say, "The president of the United States caught in whorehouse raid. How do you suppose the press would treat a thing like that?" Cal answers, "They won't know if you don't tell them." Cal is released and goes home to a totally quiet Adam. This is a key scene in the story. Cal assumes he'll be punished, but Adam begins talking with him, eventually saying, "I'm as bad a father was my father was." Cal tells him that he and Aron don't feel Adam is a bad father, but he asks Cal, "How would you know, you've never had any other kind?" The two talk and Cal tells his father he didn't do anything wrong, but that just being there was wrong. This brings Adam to question Cal's statement, and he tells his son the story of how he got arrested for vagrancy after getting out of the army, and how he spent a year on a chain gang in Florida. He says it was for "just being there." Cal now has a connection with his father and he is really happy. As he reheats the coffee for his father, the two talk more, and Adam asks about how Cal views his brother. Cal tells him that Aron is different from him, and he goes on to say all sorts of good things about Aron. Adam asks Cal if he loves his brother and he says he does, but that he tricks Aron at times, and cheats him, and he occasionally hurts him without any reason. Adam sits gently nodding in agreement. Then Cal says, "Sometimes...," but Adam finishes Cal's thought, "Sometimes you hate him," to which Cal agrees, but he asks how his father knew that. Adam tells him that he grew up with a brother. Just then the coffee boils over and the two of them rise together to wipe up the hot coffee from the stove. Cal is bursting with happiness at the closeness to his father. He's so happy and excited he unthinkingly blurts out, "I don't hate my brother now, I don't think I ever will again. I don't think I'll ever hate anybody, not even my mother." Cal catches what he said, but it's too late. Silence descends briefly. Adam asks if Cal knows about his mother and Cal tells him he knows everything. Adam asks if Aron knows about her, but Cal quickly and firmly says that he doesn't know about her. Adam asks why he said it that way about Aron, and Cal tells him he wouldn't want to tell his brother, because, "I don't think he could stand it. I don't think he has enough badness in him." Adam asks, "But you do?" Cal tells his father he's been to Kate's, "I had to know." Adam wonders how Aron would react if someone told him about his mother, and Cal tells him he would likely lash out at the person and say it was a lie. Cal then tells his father that he should send Aron away to college where there is no danger of his finding out about his mother. This prompts Adam to ask Cal if he plans to go to college and Cal shakes his head negatively. Then, reminiscent of Charles and Adam upon Adam's return home from the army, Adam gives Cal a loving embrace in a touching moment. Cal goes out the front door as Adam and Lee follow him out onto the porch. Cal is happy and he dashes up the street. Adam tells Lee, "He knows about his mother." Lee replies, "It didn't seem to have hurt his disposition much."

Cal goes to see Will Hamilton. He tells Will he wants to make a lot of money to give to his father to make up for the lost money from the lettuce. We now get a deeper look into Will, who asks Cal if he will honestly answer a question before they go any further. Cal answers, "I don't know," which impresses the conservative businessman Will, who says, "I like that. How do you know until you've heard the question? That's honest AND it's smart." Will asks Cal if Adam likes Aron better than him, which brings Cal to ask Will if he's asking because Samuel liked Will's brothers better than him. It ruffles Will's feathers for a moment, but then he asks Cal if giving Adam the money is a way of Cal trying to buy his father's love. Cal tells him it's true. Will has heard truth. He has Cal go with him to the Trask farm that has been leased to a farmer since the Trasks moved out. Will goes back to his idea about beans, explaining that beans are currently priced at 3 cents a pound (remember, this was in about 1916 money values). He says they could offer the farmer and others 5 cents a pound, but that the price on the market will jump far past that amount as the war continues, and especially when the United States enters the war. Will tells Cal that the only problem is, Cal doesn't have any money to invest in the deal, but Cal says he can get the money. Later Cal goes to Lee and asks to borrow $5000 for a business venture. Lee hesitates only momentarily, bringing Cal to say if Lee won't lend him the money, he'll ask someone else for it... his mother. Lee agrees to the loan, saying that he believes Cal will repay him.  

Cal continues to follow his mother, who is still always dressed in black and with a black veil. One day she turns and questions who he is. He tells her, "You're my mother. I just wanted to see what you looked like." This prompts Kate to move closer to get a better look at Cal. She tells him to come with her and the two go inside. Kate takes Cal to her room, but she then opens the door leading to another small, darkened room, where even the walls are darkly painted. It looks more like an animal's den, than a room for most humans. She very carefully removes her gloves and shows Cal her twisted hands, twisted with arthritis, and she tells him that he likely will get it too, that it ran in her family. (Remember, the basic story is about the things we inherit from our parents, who inherited things from their parents, and so on. There are a number of references to such things throughout the miniseries, but I've not covered each one. The question remains, how much, and just what exactly, can we control of the things we inherit?) Cal is curious, but obviously he is not taken with this place, and his mother asks asks, "What's the matter, don't you like my room?" She tells him, "The light outside hurts my eyes, I come in here to rest." Kate asks about her other son, and Cal says that Aron looks more like her. This brings the question from their mother, "Is he like me?" When Cal tells her that Aron wants to be a minister, Kate give a sort of sinister smile and says, "Hm, looks like me and wants to go into the church. Slick way to turn a buck." Cal defends his brother and says Aron is serious about church work. Kate now tells Cal she can see that he is smarter than Aron, but she adds, that he tricks him and hurts him at every chance. Cal asks why she would think these things, and Kate answers, "Because you have me in you." But Cal says, "I don't. I don't even know you." He asks Kate why she shot his father, but she avoids the question by asking, "You're fond of him, aren't you?" Cal answers, "I love him." He then returns to his question of Kate, who yells, "Because he tried to stop me." Kate gives her view that Adam took care of her when she was badly injured, only so he could have her as, "his own free whore." She then returns to how Cal is like her, but he strikes back, "The light outside doesn't hurt your eyes. You come in here because you're afraid. I don't hate you, but I'm glad you're afraid." Kate orders him out. In the next scene we see Kate sitting off to the side in the church where Aron is conducting part of the service. Then she later waits to see Cal while sitting in her carriage. She tells Cal she doesn't want Aron to know about her. (Just another point: Remember the discussion of the Cain and Abel story and Lee's comments that God protected Cain, even though he was a murderer, because God must have seen some good in Cain.)

Church bells sound and Lee holds up the newspaper for Adam to see. The headline reads: "U.S. Declares War On Germany." Lee tells Adam there is a war rally planned for the school gymnasium. Adam goes to the closet to get his coat and he sees an old picture of his father. He says, "Wouldn't you be happy to see this day," Adam says to the picture. Adam once told Aron's minister, "My father prayed directly to the god of war." Adam tells Lee that Cyrus was a thief, that he stole from Union veterans of the Civil War. Meanwhile at the gymnasium, the rally has started and Will tells Cal the price of beans is now 10 cents a pound and climbing. Aron gets Abra and says he needs to talk with her. When Adam arrives there, Will tells him he wants Adam to serve on the draft board, a thought that repels Adam, but Will demands it, trying to shame Adam with "it's your duty." Aron gets Abra off to the side and tells her that he's made a decision to live a life of purity and to remain abstinent. Abra is brokenhearted and she tells Aron how she's planned to marry him and have his children. When Aron tells her it will be difficult for both of them, she corrects him, saying, "I don't think it will be difficult for you at all. I think you're scared to death of sex." Adam admonishes her for such a statement.

Abra later tells Cal what Aron said and the two of them talk about Aron, Reverend Mr. Rolf (Aron's very pious minister) and, in a roundabout way, about religion. Abra half says and half asks Cal if it can be bad if two people who love one another want to be "close." Cal shakes his head to say, "no, it can't," and he follows it with his thoughts about Aron's minister, "who doesn't even go to the bathroom," that he is just an empty religious outfit with arms and legs sticking out. Abra asks if Aron knows about his mother and Cal answers that he feels that part of Aron knows, but that part of him doesn't want to know; that it would be too difficult to deal with the fact that she just up and left him. When Abra says that he, Cal, had gotten over it, Cal explains that he and Aron aren't true twins; that they come from separate eggs. Cal tells Abra that their mother must have been very beautiful and that Aron looks a lot like her, and he then suggests, "Maybe that's why my father always loved Aron best, because he reminded him of her." While Abra suggests that she would like to spend time with Cal, Cal discourages it, telling her to stick with Aron. When Cal walks Abra home, Aron is secretly watching them and he later confronts Cal at home. Cal tells him they had simply been talking about him, Aron, and that Abra loves him, but that she doesn't understand his ways, and that she would sleep with him, if he'd just ask her. This causes Aron to tell Cal that such a statement could cause his "soul to go spinning off to hell. The Lord takes note, Cal." This prompts Cal to tell Aron that he's not achieving much in his abstinence pledge, because he doesn't even know what he's giving up. When Aron asks where Cal gets his rottenness, Cal asks, "Do you really want to know?" Perhaps sensing more to come, Aron ducks into his room and closes the door. Aron goes off to Stanford for college.

One day Cal comes running home. He gives Lee his money back, with interest, something Lee says he doesn't want, but Cal tells him he may want to borrow the money again. Aron is coming home for Thanksgiving and a big celebration is planned. Cal tells Lee to order champagne, because he wants everything to be perfect for the party, as he has a present for his father. Lee jokingly says, "An offering? Not the fruit of the ground, I trust?" a statement not understood by Cal, but Lee tells him to forget about it anyway, that it was a poor joke. Aron returns home, but he confides to Cal that he's dissatisfied with college and he's seriously thinking of not going back, that he might just want to run the farm (where he and Cal had been born) with Abra. Cal fears that news like this will ruin the party and upset his plans to give Adam the money he's made from the beans. So he asks Aron to hold off on any announcement, but he doesn't tell Aron why. It doesn't seem to matter, as once they are all seated around the table (Abra is there too), Aron starts telling stories about his life in college and how he and some of the guys go out for "a couple of beers... okay... sometimes MORE than a couple." Everyone laughs, and Adam says, "I expect I did worse things when I was your age," and he looks over at Cal and winks, as Cal knows about his father's arrest all of those years ago. Everyone is happy and Adam offers a toast, with the champagne Cal bought, to, "the best thanksgiving we've ever had." Cal reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a small flimsy package wrapped in white paper and tied with some ribbon. He slides it over to his father, who asks what it is. Cal simply says, "It's a present for you." Lee smiles broadly as everyone waits in anticipation for Adam to open it. When he opens the wrapping paper, there are thousand dollar bills staring up at Adam, who suddenly turns serious. Cal says, "I made it to give to you to make up for losing the lettuce." Adam asks how Cal made the money, who explains briefly that he and Will Hamilton made it on beans. That they paid over market price to the farmers, but then when the price jumped, they made lots of money, and he tells Adam there is $15,000 there. Adam firmly says, "You'll have to give it back." The tension builds as Adam explains that he has to sign off on young men going into the army every day at the Draft Board, and that many will be killed or wounded. He asks Cal, "Do you think I could take a profit from that?" Cal tries to salvage it all by saying, "I'll keep it for you," but Adam firmly pushes Cal's hand away and tells him, "I won't ever want it." The others sit silently, and Lee looks on gloomily as he sees the terrible replication of the biblical tale right in front of him. And now the final touch, as Adam tells Cal he could have given him something other than money, like what Aron had given him, "pride in his work and gladness in his progress." (Remember, this isn't true, as Aron wants to leave college.) Cal pushes his chair away from the table and runs from the room with Adam yelling, "Don't be angry with me, son."

Later, Lee takes coffee to Cal in his room. As Cal mentions his mother and about her being part of him, Lee gets angry and tries to get through to Cal, finally telling him, "Timshel... thou mayest triumph over sin... From here on, whatever you do, it's not your father and it's not your mother; it's YOU! You do have a choice." Cal goes outside and awaits Aron's return from walking Abra home. When Aron comes along, Cal tells him he wants to show him something, and they take the car and Cal drives to Kate's. They go inside and Cal leads Aron to the upstairs and then into Kate's room. He opens the door to Kate's special dimly lit room and there she sits. Cal tells her he wants to introduce her son to her, Aron. Cal grabs Aron and pushes him toward Kate saying, "Say hello to your mother!" Aron repeats over and over, "No, no..." He stands and runs out, pushing Cal out of the way like a madman. As Cal pursues him, Aron grabs Cal and throws him down the stairway while still screaming, "No, no!"

Cal buys a bottle of whiskey and gets drunk. He doesn't return home until daylight. He passes Lee and starts up the stairway, only to have Adam call out and tell him, "You smell like a bar rag." Adam tells him Aron hasn't been home all night either and he asks if he knows where he is. Cal answers sharply, "No, am I supposed to look after him?" Cal goes to his room and Adam goes out to see if he can find out any news of Aron. Lee smells smoke coming from Cal's room and charges in. He finds Cal burning the fifteen $1000 bills. Cal asks Lee if he knows what he did, to which Lee replies that he can guess. Lee asks Cal if burning the money makes him feel better, but Cal says, "Not much." Cal says he doesn't know why he did it, and Lee says, "Because your father hurt your feelings, because your mother is a whore, or because you are just plain mean. Take your choice." Cal tells Lee he needs him to help him, that he doesn't want to do mean things. Adam can be heard coming into the house and when Lee goes to see if he has news of Aron, Adam is somewhat disoriented, but he has a telegram in his coat pocket from Aron. Lee reads it aloud, as Cal stays on the stairway, unseen by the two of them. Aron says he's joined the army.

Some time passes and Cal gets Abra and takes her in the car into the mountains for flowers, then along the Pacific coast. We learn that Aron's army unit has been sent to France. As they sit by the ocean, Cal talks about Aron and Abra getting married, but Abra says, "I don't love Aron." She goes on to explain to Cal that she and Aron had a story in their minds, from their childhood days, about their lives together, but when they grew up, for her, the story wasn't true anymore, but that Aron stuck to the story, because he wanted to know how it comes out. She theorizes that this is why Aron didn't want to know about his mother, because that's not how he wanted the story to be. Cal asks Abra about her own story and she answers, "I don't want to know how it comes out, I just want to be there while it's going on." Abra tells Cal she thinks she loves him, and finally they kiss.

At home, the doorbell rings and Lee goes to answer it. When he gets there, he finds a telegram has been slipped under the door. He looks at the envelope on the floor with dread, and Adam comes out, wanting to know who rang the bell. Lee hands a now shaken Adam the envelope. A little while later Cal and Abra come into the house with the flowers. Lee is sitting on the sofa with his eyes looking toward the floor. Cal asks what has happened and Lee tells the two of them that Aron is dead and that Adam has had a stroke. The doctor can't give a solid prognosis and he tells them he's not sure if the sight in Adam's right eye has been affected or even if he'll recognize anyone. Cal, Lee and Abra enter the room where Adam is partially propped up with pillows. Cal goes to the bedside and and says, "Father?" But he's uncertain if Adam knows who he is. Cal goes on and says that he's responsible for Aron's death, because he took him to Kate's and showed him his mother. He also takes responsibility for Adam's condition. Adam shifts his left eye toward Cal, then he barely opens his right eye. Cal stands and leaves the bedside. He tells Lee that his father now knows he killed his brother, that's he's a murderer. Lee tells Cal that they can't be certain what Adam thinks. Cal believes Adam's eyes told him he accused him of his brother's death, but Lee is not so sure. Cal leaves and Lee has Abra go after him. Cal tells Abra, that he killed his brother and is responsible for his father being paralyzed. He says, "My mother's a whore... I've got her blood, doesn't that mean anything to you?" Abra says, "No." Cal says he doesn't know where to hide, because his father's eyes told him that he killed his brother. Abra takes Cal's hand and tells him they're going back to his father. The nurse tells them he's awake. Lee, who has been a partial mother and father to Cal his entire life takes Cal's hand to lead him into his father's room. Abra follows. Lee kneels by the bedside and tells Adam to try to understand everything he will say. He tells Adam that Cal did something in anger that resulted in his brother's death, because he thought Adam had rejected him. "Your son is marked by guilt, almost more than he can bear. Don't leave him with his guilt. Give him your blessing. Help him. Give him his chance." Adam struggles, but he moves his left hand toward Cal. Lee thanks Adam and Cal replaces Lee next to his father. Lee asks Adam to form Cal's name with his lips to try to say his name. Adam says, "Timshel."      

* When I was a kid, the term "icebox" was still around, although it had been transferred over to electrical refrigerators from the previous true iceboxes, which were not operated by electricity, but were really insulated closets that used ice, typically blocks of ice, to keep things cold. My maternal grandmother never used the term "refrigerator," it was an "icebox."

Photo is from the Acorn Media 2009 DVD set, Volume 3

WORD HISTORY:
Boil (noun for lump/swelling)-English has more than one word of this spelling, although they are related through Indo European. This is the noun for, "sore lump or swelling on the skin." It goes back to Indo European "bhel," which had the notion, "to swell, to bulge, to bloat out." This gave either Old Germanic or West Germanic "bulion" (long "u" sound), which meant "swelling, bump, lump, carbuncle." This gave Old English "byl/byle," with the same meaning. Later the spelling changed to "bile" (likely pronounced as if, "byle-eh"), before acquiring the modern spelling and pronunciation, which may have developed by influence of the verb "boil," meaning to heat water or other liquid to bubbling. The other Germanic languages have: German has "Beule" (pronounced as if, "boy-leh"), Low German Saxon "Buul," West Frisian "bûl" (?), Dutch "buil." Whether the word was developed in West Germanic (which includes English) or in Old Germanic, the ancestor of West Germanic, East Germanic and North Germanic, is a question I still have, as Danish seems to have "bule" for "a bump," and Swedish has "bula," with the same meaning, but it "could" be that these words were borrowings from a West Germanic relative (perhaps Low German, Frisian or English? The Danes and the Swedes had lots of contact with speakers of these languages) as I could find no similar word in Old Norse, the forerunner of the modern North Germanic languages.

East of Eden: The Miniseries, Part Two

For Part One, this is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/10/east-of-eden-miniseries-part-one.html


Samuel Hamilton, using a divining rod, tells Adam there is plenty of water on the land Adam wants to buy and that he and his sons will dig the wells and build the windmills for Adam's new place. Adam then spins off into idealism, as he tells Samuel how Cathy has brought a light into his life. He says he wants to make a beautiful garden that is fitting for her light to shine on. Samuel sits silently on his horse listening to Adam, but his expression seems to tell us he's concerned that Adam is a man just asking to be hurt, emotionally. Finally Samuel tells Adam again that he'll get him water and that "you'll have your Eden."

Adam buys the land and the development all starts, as the house begins to rise, along with other structures for the new place, and Samuel and his sons begin to drill for water. The ever resourceful Will Hamilton is owed money by his brother Tom, so he makes a deal to forgive Tom's debt in exchange for Tom taking on Will's workload too. When the house is finished, Adam hires a Chinese servant named Lee, a man who dresses in Chinese clothing and who speaks in pidgin. Cathy is uneasy with Lee and she treats him rudely. She is also upset with her distended abdomen, since she long ago learned how to use her looks to get what she wanted from boys and men. When Cathy goes into labor, Lee rides to get Samuel Hamilton at the drilling site, as Samuel has delivered at least four of his own children, and likely all nine, as well as some children of neighbors. When Samuel arrives at the house, Cathy has had Adam put blankets over the bedroom windows and Samuel tells Adam to take the blankets down so he can have natural light in the room. Adam declines, saying that "the light hurts her eyes." When Samuel insists that the windows be uncovered and that Adam leave the room, Adam balks, but Samuel threatens to leave, and Adam agrees. Cathy tells Samuel, "Get that lousy Chink out of here too." Samuel tells her he will need Lee's help, then, when Samuel goes to her bedside and asks if the water has broken, Cathy hisses like a serpent and snarls at him. Samuel again threatens to walk out, and Cathy sees that she needs him, so she settles down. Samuel takes out a large rope, fixes the ends to the lower bedposts and hands the middle of the now extended rope to Cathy to pull on when she is delivering. Samuel again moves close to Cathy and when one of his hands gets close, Cathy grabs the side of his hand with her teeth and won't let go. Samuel has to begin to choke her to get her to loosen her bite. Lee tells Samuel, "The woman is a demon," and Samuel tells Lee to get some whiskey to pour over the wound, and Lee says, "I'll get it and a clean rag to wrap it up in." Even with the tense situation, Samuel notices that Lee has spoken in clear English, and when he asks Lee to repeat what he said, Lee does so, but in pidgin. Just then Cathy screams and within moments she delivers a baby, a boy. Samuel goes out of the room to tell Adam he has a son, and Adam starts to enter the bedroom, but retreats with a sickly look on his face, as Samuel tells him he hasn't had a chance to clean up everything yet. Cathy screams again and Samuel goes back into the bedroom only to see another baby, also a boy, is being born. As Samuel prepares to leave a while later, he tells Cathy she has two sons, but that they are not alike, as each was born separately in his own sack. He offers to show the babies to Cathy, but she refuses, even saying, "I don't want them." Samuel tells her, "I don't like you Mrs. Trask," and this brings the faintest smile to Cathy's face. She asks for Adam and she has him cover the windows again, telling him, "I want to be in the dark."

Outside, Lee tries talking to Samuel in pidgin, but Samuel tells him it's too late, that he knows Lee is likely an educated man and probably a Christian. Lee says he spent "a couple of years at the University of California; nothing to shoot off rockets about." He then tells Samuel that he was a Presbyterian for a time, but that, "I've gone back to dragons and demons. They don't make any less sense." Samuel asks Lee why he used pidgin, to which Lee replies, "It's what's expected." (NOTE: Chinese immigrants were greatly discriminated against in the era of the 1800s and the early 1900s.) Lee and Samuel begin a little discussion, which shows the beginnings of their friendship, and their common curiosity and interest in learning, as contrasted to Cathy's, "I want to be in the dark." Lee tells Samuel that he's a good servant, but Samuel then asks what kind of a wet nurse he'll be, since Mrs. Trask has no milk, and she wouldn't nurse the babies even if she had it. He tells Lee of how as a boy in Ulster (Ireland) his father had taken him into town, where a murderer was about to be hanged. The condemned man looked right down at little Samuel from the platform, and Samuel says the man had the strangest eyes, that his eyes weren't human, but rather like the eyes of a goat. Samuel tells Lee that he had never seen such eyes again until he saw Cathy. He finishes by saying that he fears for the boys.

About a week passes and Cathy arranges for Lee to go into town on a Friday and not return until Monday. The workers still putting up other buildings take their leave for the weekend and Adam goes to Cathy, who is dressed to go out. She bluntly tells Adam she is leaving him. She also tells him, "I'm not what you think I am. I tried to be, I really tried, but I just can't do it." She tells Adam that everybody will be better off without her and she even mentions that there are things about her that Adam and the others don't know about. Adam panics and shoves Cathy into the room and locks the door, but now Cathy turns on the charm and begs Adam to open the door, which he does. There stands Cathy with a gun pointed right at Adam, and she fires, causing Adam to fall to the floor as the two babies cry and Cathy goes out the door. Later, we learn that Lee came home early and found Adam, but Adam tells the sheriff (played by American actor Emmet Walsh) he wounded himself by accident. The sheriff knows he's lying, but Samuel, who is present, gets the sheriff to ease up, because Adam just doesn't care. By the way, the sheriff calls Lee, "Ching Chang," so Lee speaks in pidgin to him. Adam tells Samuel he'll pay him for his work, but he doesn't want the work on the wells completed. Samuel tells Adam to act out being alive and that eventually it will be true.

The scene shifts into the town of Monterey, to "Whorehouse Row" there. The sheriff finds Cathy working at one of the whorehouses. She now goes by "Kate Albey," and she has dyed her hair. The sheriff sets down the conditions for Kate to continue at the whorehouse: don't steal from the customers, don't shoot anybody else and don't go anywhere near her sons, because he doesn't want the boys to grow up and find out their mother was a whore. In walks Faye, the madam of the whorehouse, and a person who is already well on her way to being played by Kate. Faye relies on Kate to manage much of the business, and she tells Kate that she no longer wants her to have "clients," because she is like a daughter to her, so she'll still pay her the same amount of money. Faye also goes to her attorney and has a will drawn up making Kate her sole heir. Faye gives Kate a glass of wine to celebrate the occasion. Faye tells Kate that she has plenty of money and that she is thinking of selling the house and then the two of them will go to Europe. Kate rebels a bit at the thought, telling Kate that they can even make more money. As Kate drinks, Faye notes that she looks different, and Kate says, "I'm going to really show you how to run a whorehouse." Faye is now fearful of how Kate is acting. Kate then tells her she hasn't given up her regular "clients" as she promised Faye, but she in fact charges these clients far more than the going price at the house, because, "no one else is good enough for them." She tells Faye that the house will now be run like that, but Faye tells her to leave. Kate forces Faye to down a bottle of paregoric,*  as she holds a broken wine glass to Faye's throat. We next see Kate giving orders to the piano player at the house,** and the implication is, Faye is dead.***

More than a year passes and Samuel Hamilton rides over to the Trask place, where he sees everything more or less as it was left the day Cathy shot Adam. Even the buggy that Adam had bought upon their arrival in California still sits partially covered by grass and weeds grown high. He calls in a firm voice for Adam, who finally comes out onto the porch with one child waddling behind and Lee carrying the other boy another step or two behind him. This sets up one of the most memorable scenes of the miniseries. Samuel raises his voice as he tries to get through to Adam, who is still a broken man. He tells Adam he has heard that Adam has not even named his sons. Samuel yells at Adam, "What do you call them, 'This' and 'That,' 'Thing' and 'Thong,' or do you just whistle for them like a couple of puppies?" When Adam admits he hasn't named the boys, Samuel hits him, knocking him to the ground, although the exertion causes Samuel to gasp for breath, which is a hint that Samuel is not well. Adam says, "Their mother left them motherless," but Samuel yells back, "And you have left them fatherless! Get up so as I can knock you down again." This brings Adam to say, "I wouldn't try it old man... and you ARE an old man," but Samuel replies with one of the great lines I've always remembered, "Not so old as you, if it's measured by meanness and self pity." When Samuel tells Adam he'll hit him again, Adam has reawakened to life and he tells Samuel that there's no need to hit him again, and he admits he has been wrong. Lee smiles as he stands nearby. Samuel says that Adam should name the boys now, and he tells Adam he has brought along his family Bible to find the names.

As Adam and Samuel sit and sip some wine, before naming the boys, Adam asks him if Cathy was beautiful. Samuel answers, "To you she was, because she was your creation, but I don't believe you ever really saw her." Samuel asks why Adam now has the sudden curiosity about Cathy, and Adam says he wants to know what kind of blood is in his boys. This brings Samuel to tell him not to put things about blood onto them. Lee joins in and the three discuss some possible names for the boys, including some biblical names, like Adam's own name, Joshua and Cain or Abel, with the latter two names leading them into a discussion about the biblical story and its meaning. Lee's feeling is that God simply had a preference for lamb over vegetables, the products offered to God from the labors of Abel and of Cain, individually. It brings Adam to wonder in a muttering to himself if the Lord may have had a preference for a puppy over a pearl handled pocketknife. Samuel reads the story aloud from his Bible, then says how dreadful the story really is, as it is without any encouragement. This brings Lee to inject, "I'm not so sure." He goes on to explain that God protected Cain, even though he had murdered his brother. "God must have seen something worthwhile in Cain." Samuel then says how this is true, since Cain lived and had children, while Abel only lives in the story. Adam sits by thoughtfully listening, obviously thinking of his brother Charles and their father, but he finally asks Samuel if we share in Cain's guilt, which Samuel answers affirmatively, noting that we are all descendants of Cain. This gives Adam the opening to ask an uncomfortable Samuel how this then plays into his feeling that blood doesn't matter. Samuel can't answer and he diverts the conversation back to the naming of the boys. When the name "Caleb" is mentioned, one of the nearby sleeping boys awakens, and so he has chosen his own name. Samuel says Caleb made it to the promised land. He then suggests Aaron, a name he says he has always liked, but that Aaron didn't make it to the promised land, but Adam agrees anyhow. (Note: The Trasks use the spelling "Aron.") Samuel prepares to leave and he shakes Adam's hand, and he gives a hug to Lee, who now gives a concerned expression with Samuel's action. As Samuel puts his Bible into the saddlebag on his horse, he tells Adam he has heard about Cathy. He tells him about Monterey and the whorehouse, with Lee nodding in agreement, but now Adam reverts to the old Adam and to his mind's own Cathy creation. Adam blurts out, "That's a lie!" Samuel assures him that it is true, because he's heard it from numerous people. Adam stomps off.  Samuel leaves.

Later inside the house, Adam tells Lee that he didn't need to hear that kind of news of Cathy, but Lee tells him that Samuel needed to say it, because he's dying. At first, Adam is shocked, but then he recalls Samuel hitting him and notes that it wasn't a very strong punch, even though Samuel was furious at him. The scene shifts to Samuel's funeral, where Adam removes the flower from his lapel and places it into Samuel's hand. Lee then stoops down and utters a word, "timshel," toward Samuel's ear. He later explains to Adam that it all went back to their discussion of Cain and Abel and about various biblical translations of the Hebrew word "timshel." He says the translation is important, because it has been translated as "thou shalt rule over sin," a promise, and also as, "thou must rule over sin," a command. Lee says he discussed the translation of "timshel" with four old Chinese scholars and a learned rabbi over a period of two years (which now tells us how much time has passed since the naming of the boys), so that the six of them finally came to the conclusion that the best English translation is, "thou mayest;" that is, it offers people a choice between good and evil, but it is that, "a choice, free will." Lee says he wanted to tell Samuel all of this, but he was too late, and Samuel died, but Adam assures him that Samuel likely heard it.

As they drive off in a buggy, Lee is troubled to hear from Adam that he is going to go to Monterey. Lee tells him to leave Cathy alone and move on with his life, comparing such things to a moth flying into a candle's flame until it is destroyed, but Adam firmly tells Lee to stay out of it, and that if he doesn't like it, he can seek employment elsewhere. Lee tells Adam he would, except that Samuel's ghost would haunt him for leaving the still young boys at this time in their lives. Adam goes to Monterey and goes to the whorehouse, now called "Kate's." He asks Kate (he still calls her Cathy) if she wants to know about the two boys, but she says "no." He tells her he heard about her and the house, but that he didn't believe it and he needed to see for himself. He asks if she actually "works" in the house, or if she just runs it. Kate can see how Adam still wants to believe in her and says such, implying in her words how untrue Adam's image of her really is. He finally admits to her that Charles had been right about her, so he says he'll now go. Up to this point, Kate has been rather subdued, but now, sensing Adam's need of her, she turns to her manipulative self and tries to lure him into having sex with her, but the spell is broken, and Adam forcibly removes Kate's hands from him, prompting Kate to cry out, which brings her bodyguard/bouncer charging into the room. He and Adam fight and the man knocks Adam to the floor, where he lies motionless. Kate orders him to "Give him the boots," but the man tells her there is no fight left in Adam. She orders the man from the room and then she tells Adam that she always thought he was a fool, but that now, she hates him. Adam tells Kate he had really loved her, so much that, "it took quite a killing." Adam struggles to his feet and begins to leave, while Kate tells him how he'll come back, begging for her, but Adam is silent. Sensing that's she's lost her hold on Adam, she angrily tells Adam, "They're not your sons." Adam stops, and now sensing that she has regained the initiative, she gives off an evil smirk. When Adam mentions how hurt she had been back then, she quickly says, "I wasn't too hurt for Charles." She quickly recounts some of the events from back in Connecticut, leaving Adam with the thought, "Now that you know me a little better, maybe you'll wonder in whose bed I spent my wedding night." Adam leaves....

More in the final part, Part 3...

* Paregoric is a medicine with opium as one of its ingredients. I don't really hear about it in recent times, although that doesn't mean it isn't still in use, but when I was a kid and into adulthood, it was a common drug for treating diarrhea.                

** The piano player at the whorehouse is played by Stymie Beard, famous for having played in the popular "Our Gang" short film series in the 1930s (the series itself ran far longer than Stymie's stint in the shows, and there were numerous cast changes as the kids outgrew their roles). The series was released to television in the 1950s and became popular fare for decades. I wouldn't be surprised if the films are still shown on television somewhere.

*** The miniseries is very faithful to Steinbeck's book, with few exceptions, but I've always found Faye's gradual death in the book, due to poisoning by Kate, to be one of the weakest parts of the book. The scene in the miniseries is even less believable, in my opinion, although later on we hear a bartender tell Adam that Faye was ill for two months before she died and that her cause of death was given as food poisoning, which ties it more closely to the book, but my question is, after Kate's nasty performance with Faye in the miniseries, how did Kate let her live two months without Faye telling others about what Kate was really like? Anyone for a shot of paregoric? 

Photo is of the back of the case for the 2009 Acorn Media DVD for Volume 2 

 WORD HISTORY:
Eden-For such an important term in religious belief and symbolism, this word's ancient history is uncertain, although it seems to go back to transliterated Semitic "edhen," meaning, "a pleasure, something delightful," but whether the word originated in Semitic or in another language family is unknown. The idea of "a delightful place," thus also meant, "garden," or perhaps, "oasis," as many places where Semitic was (and is) spoken were often hot, desert or barren land. Some speculate that the original idea was a "plain with flowing water;" thus, the land had lots of vegetation, making it a garden, which then was used in Hebrew for the biblical "Garden of Eden," a paradise, because its water provided plants and animals with the means to easily thrive and survive. "Eden" is thought by some, perhaps many, to be the same word as "Aden," which is a city in modern Yemen. There is also the "Gulf of Aden," the water area around the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea and their connection into the larger Indian Ocean.

"East Of Eden:" The Miniseries, Part One

The 1970s and 1980s were a time when television networks aired several shows in miniseries format. A miniseries was a production that was longer than a made for TV movie, but shorter than an actual television series (a typical television series had like 25 to 30 episodes in a season). A miniseries aired in its initial showing for several evenings in prime time, and East of Eden was first broadcast on ABC for three evenings in early 1981.

"East of Eden" was a novel by American author John Steinbeck first published in the early 1950s. It happens to be my favorite book, and the 1981 miniseries was what got me interested in the book. The miniseries brought a renewed interest in Steinbeck's writing, and I bought a paperback edition of "East of Eden," complete with a cover picture taken from the miniseries. Steinbeck wrapped several stories together in his book, with the main story being based upon the story of Cain and Abel from Genesis. The biblical story is still relevant today, as Steinbeck shows how the basic story is repeated even within the same family, the Trasks. Steinbeck took his fictional story and entwined it with some history of his real life family, primarily his maternal family, although he makes mention of his paternal side, and even of himself, when he was a kid. The mid 1950s saw the release of a movie based upon the novel, a movie which made James Dean a star. This movie, however, only covers about the last third of Steinbeck's book, while the miniseries dealt with the entire book. While the movie is good, I found the miniseries far more compelling, even though the movie version also had one of my favorite actors, Canadian-born Raymond Massey.

Cast: American actor Timothy Bottoms as Adam Trask, American actor Lloyd Bridges as Samuel Hamilton, English actress Jane Seymour as Cathy/Kate, American actor Bruce Boxleitner as Charles Trask, American actor Warren Oates as Cyrus Trask, Korean-born American actor Soon-Tek Oh as Lee, American actor Sam Bottoms as Cal Trask, Canadian actor Hart Bochner as Aron Trask, American actor Howard Duff as Jules Edwards, American actress Anne Baxter as Faye, American actor Richard Masur as Will Hamilton, American actress Karen Allen as Abra, American actor Nicholas Pryor as Cathy's Latin teacher, Mr. Grew. Timothy Bottoms and Sam Bottoms are brothers, and Sam Bottoms died far too young in 2008. Jane Seymour won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in "East of Eden."

The miniseries opens in Connecticut in the spring of 1863, with Cyrus Trask, a liquor-drinking, story fabricating man, with a wooden peg for one leg, taking his extremely pious wife into town for her to see the doctor. They have their infant son, Adam, with them. A few of the town's people gather around as Cyrus spins his stories about the ongoing Civil War, only to have his wife correctly tell those gathered, that Cyrus was only in one battle, in spite of his boasting, and that even then, it was only minutes into that battle that he lost the bottom half of one leg to a Confederate bullet. When his wife goes inside to the doctor, Cyrus tells the little gathering how it was when the doctor had to hack off the bottom portion of his bullet-shattered leg. Inside, the doctor tells Mrs. Trask that she has gonorrhea (brought home by Cyrus from his time in the army), and she reacts in a terrified manner, calling it "a disease of sin," and telling the doctor that she contracted the disease from some erotic dreams she'd had while her husband was away in the army. The doctor tells her otherwise, but Mrs. Trask, filled with religious superstition and misunderstanding, and in need of purity, is deeply troubled, and later that night she goes out to a pond on their farm and drowns herself. Well... so much for the gonorrhea.

Cyrus is left to care for their baby son, which he is woefully unprepared to do. When Adam cries because he's hungry, Cyrus douses a rag with whiskey and sticks it into the boy's mouth. Cyrus knows he needs another wife and he marries a woman named Alice. Alice quickly bears a son, but she also gives Adam plenty of care, although she is sickly. Cyrus continues to spin stories about untrue exploits, but he sets them down in writing for publication, and as a consequence, he meets many army people and veterans over time. Of his two sons, Cyrus favors Adam, and he wants Adam to be the soldier Cyrus imagines he would have been, had he not been wounded; the soldier of the stories Cyrus tells. Adam doesn't want to be a soldier, and although he is a crack shot with a rifle, he deliberately misses a deer his father ordered him to kill. Adam is kind and sensitive, while the other son, Charles, is tough and ruthless. Yet for all of his outward toughness, Charles is insecure inside, and in fact, this insecurity causes the ruthlessness to flare, and he often bullies or terrorizes Adam. Charles adores his father, but he sees and senses that Adam is the favorite of Cyrus. This all comes to the fore on one of Cyrus's birthdays, when the boys are well into their teens. Charles gets money together to buy his father a special knife with three blades and made in Germany. Adam, on the other hand, doesn't really have affection for his father, but he is respectful of him, because that's the way he is. He makes no special arrangements for a gift for Cyrus, but he finds a pup wandering around and decides this is what he will give to his father. In a decisive moment, Charles hands his father the wrapped knife. When his father opens it, Charles tells him the details of the knife and how it was shipped clear from Germany. Cyrus looks over the knife and closes the blades, then he slips the knife into the drawer of his desk. He thanks Charles, but he then turns his attention to the squirming little mass wrapped in a blanket in Adam's arms. Adam hands his father the dog, and Cyrus is visibly happy. Charles is despondent, but this later turns to anger and to outright fury. He later gets Adam outside and ruthlessly beats and kicks him, leaving him curled on the ground while he goes to find an ax. When he returns, Adam has gotten away and made it back into the house where his father is furious over the beating and where Alice cares for Adan's beaten body. Cyrus wonders why Charles had so viciously beaten Adam, and he doesn't understand how desperate Charles is for his love and attention. Adam heals and finally a group of cavalry come to take Adam into the army, at the request of Cyrus, a man who has been becoming better known to many in Republican-dominated post-Civil War Washington DC. The military emphasis has now shifted to western areas, as the US Army seeks to protect settlers from the Indian tribes fighting to save their homelands. Adam tells his father that Charles would be far better at being a soldier, but Cyrus tells him that the army will help him to learn things about courage and to help him develop into a man, but that the army might let things loose in Charles' personality that should be kept chained in.

Meanwhile, another part of the story takes shape in Massachusetts. A mother hears some giggles of children coming from the barn. When she opens the doors, two boys have her daughter's dress pushed up. At first the mother sees and believes what her own eyes have shown her, but then her desire to believe that her daughter could not be in any way to blame takes hold and she decides to make the boys pay dearly for the matter. The boys' fathers decide to use a strap on their sons, but the indignant mother carries it one step further... it must be a bare-bottomed beating. She has her daughter watch as the boys cry in pain and humiliation, but she shows a little satisfactory smile as the punishment is given. This is Cathy... Catherine.

As Cathy goes into her later teenage years, she begins playing on the attentions of one of her teachers, her Latin teacher, Mr. Grew. The man becomes obsessed with her, but his religious beliefs and his desire to become a reverend conflict with all of his thoughts of Cathy, and he becomes terribly distraught to the point of taking his own life. He goes to Cathy's home late one night and feverishly pounds on the door so he can speak to Cathy's father, but the father turns him away, although he wonders why the man would come to the house in such a frenzied state and at such a late hour. The man goes off and shoots himself. When Cathy and her father quarrel about her schooling, her father mentions about the man coming to the house and about things he's heard about her from around town. Cathy knows her act has hit an end, and one night she sets fire to the house, killing her parents. She leaves behind a bloody dress and a pendant, with the knowledge that the town's people will leap to the conclusion that some hobos from a nearby encampment have kidnapped Cathy and killed her parents and set fire to the house. That's just what happens and the people take out after the hobo encampment.

Now we go back to the Trask family.... Adam serves in the US Cavalry and at one point, Cyrus uses his influence to get Adam brought to Washington DC so Cyrus can tell him that he has gotten things arranged for Adam to go to West Point. Adam declines the offer, having already angered his father by telling him that he had a relationship with an Indian woman, and that he never killed one Indian during his time in the fighting. Cyrus, who has been rising among Union veterans of the Civil War, is happy to learn from Adam that the woman died from small pox, and he tells Adam, "I don't need an Indian grandchild running around." Adam leaves his angry father and heads back to his cavalry unit. After several years, Adam comes home. Charles is still working on the farm and Cyrus has recently died. For a moment, Charles angrily asks Adam why he didn't home sooner, and he shoots a stern glance at Adam, as he had so many times in their past to intimidate Adam, but Cyrus had been right, and Adam has learned about courage and he no longer fears his brother. Charles realizes this is not the same Adam, and the tension eases. In a touching scene, instead of trying to beat Adam, Charles puts his arms around him and hugs him. The stunned, but happy Adam pats Charles as he hugs him. Charles has the will left by Cyrus, and he and Adam are stunned to learn that Cyrus has left the two boys a great deal of money, as well as the farm property. Charles is badly shaken by the thought that Cyrus stole the money in some way from the veteran's group with which he'd been involved, since the salary Cyrus earned would never have been enough to leave more than 100 thousand dollars to his sons (equivalent to about 2.5 million dollars today). Adam, although he has already thought of this, tries to calm Charles' fears about their father. * Further, Charles tells Adam that the army sent their father's military records to him. Charles then sees that Cyrus had been lying all along, because he never had been at any of the famous Civil War battles in which he had claimed to have taken part. Adam had never believed the stories, and he is unfazed by the news, but Charles is devastated. This all ties in with Steinbeck showing us how we sometimes believe things, not because they're true, but because that's what we want to believe.  

As this is all taking place, we meet Jules Edwards, a middle-aged respected man who uses a churchgoing facade to cover his real life....a whore master. Edwards brutalizes some of his "workers" who are convinced by an evangelist's hellfire and brimstone to turn away from their way of life. He punches the women and uses a small lash he carries hidden in a briefcase to whip them. One day Edwards is approached by Cathy, now using her proper name, Catherine, who tells him she wants to work for him. Edwards, a married man with children, is taken by the woman's beauty, and it becomes something of "love at first sight" for him; so, he makes a deal with Cathy, making her his mistress, but keeping her out of working his prostitution circuit. Edwards gets her a house, buys her clothing and gives her a monetary allowance. While Cathy loves the lavish life style, she also doesn't like the control Edwards has over her. She has the lock on her house changed, which badly annoys Edwards, but he can't bring himself to turn Cathy loose, the emotional tie is too strong from his side. He spends "time" with Cathy and, afterward, we see her scrubbing her hands with a brush. Edwards has champagne waiting, but Cathy doesn't want it, saying that it's not good for her. Finally Edwards coaxes Cathy into drinking some champagne, and she then wants more. Earlier he had mentioned that he wants some truth from her, and she tells him, "I don't think so." Now the effect of the wine has caused the veil of dishonesty to fall from her. She calls Edwards a "slug," and tells him that being around him makes her want to vomit. Now Jules Edwards sees the real Cathy and his inward ruthlessness is already planning on how to deal with it. Edwards gets Cathy to pack some belongings, telling her that she had come to him wanting "to work," so now he'll let her "work." She says she'll tell the police. Edwards then tells her he'll take her back to her hometown, where he heard about a fire... He takes her out into the countryside and pulls out the hidden lash. She tells him he will never hit her, but she's terribly misjudged Edwards' anger and ruthlessness, and he hits her and punches her. She draws a knife she has hidden and she cuts him, which only infuriates him even more. He beats her badly and the scene ends.

The two Trask brothers work the farm, and one morning they hear a noise outside. When they go to the door, a woman covered in blood and dirt is trying to crawl up the steps. They take the woman inside and Adam's natural kindness has him look after the woman. Charles wants the woman out, and it doesn't take long for him to see her manipulative ways and he tries to warn his brother, but Adam insists she needs help to recover (he also has fallen for her and he doesn't want to see or hear anything bad about her). Gradually the woman gets better, and she knows how to use Adam's emotions, but she cannot get to Charles by playing on any kindness, and so she tries to lure him to her own room, but when that doesn't really work, she goes to his room, having drugged Adam with her pain medication, while she makes her play for Charles. When all is...ah... done, Cathy tells Charles that she and Adam had gotten married that afternoon. The usually steady Charles is now appalled that he had just had sex with his brother's new wife. It seems even Charles isn't that bad, but Cathy laughs about it all.

Adam has long had a desire to go to California, and he and Cathy set out for that state. When they get to California, Cathy is not feeling well. The doctor knows that Cathy is pregnant and she has tried to abort the pregnancy with a knitting needle. The doctor tells her she must have the baby and that if he suspects any foul play on Cathy's part, he will report her and testify against her. The doctor only tells Adam that Cathy is pregnant, he does not tell him about the attempted abortion.

Adam looks at land to buy to start he and Cathy's new life. He finds a place he likes and he is told by others to see Sam Hamilton about digging wells and building windmills for the place. Samuel is an Irish immigrant who likes his whiskey, but he is greatly restricted in that drinking pleasure because of his devoutly religious wife, Liza, who is also from Ireland (we never see Liza). Samuel and Liza Hamilton were John Steinbeck's maternal grandparents. Samuel is a man always seeking to learn and he and Adam strike up a friendship, initially aided by Adam's gift of a bottle of Irish whiskey to Samuel. When we meet Samuel, we also meet two of his nine children who will play important roles later on. These are two of Samuel's sons, Will, who has a mind for business, and Tom, who is more to the curious side, like his father.

More later in Part Two...

* To me, this part of the story was always Steinbeck's way of showing that everyone is tainted by some kind of sin, no matter how pious or good a person they really are. Adam, a good man, lives a good life off of the ill gotten money of his father.   

For Part Two, here is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/10/east-of-eden-miniseries-part-two_25.html            

For Part Three, here is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/10/east-of-eden-miniseries-part-3final.html

Photo is from Part 1 of 2009 DVD by Acorn Media

WORD HISTORY:
Saga (Saw, not the implement)-This word, closely related to "say," ^ and meaning "a generally long story," goes back to Indo European "sekw," which meant, "to say, to utter sounds and words." This gave Old Germanic the noun, "sagon," which meant, "story." This gave Old English "sagu," which meant, "a story, a saying, a statement." This later became the now archaic, "saw," meaning, "a saying," but then later also, "an overused saying," especially when coupled with "old," as, "old saw," an expression that is still used at times. This word "saw" is not related to "saw," the jagged tool used for cutting. Old Germanic "sagon" also gave Old Norse "story, long tale." With the original English word having changed in meaning, away from the "story" meaning, to that of "saw," above, the Norse word had seemingly remained among historians as it related to Norse history. By the early 1700s, Norse writings had seen a revival among a number of historians and literary people, and so did the Norse word "saga," which was taken on by English to mean, "an Icelandic or Norwegian narrative," then more generally expanded to "a long type of story," and in the mid 1800s, it had added the more disparaging secondary meaning, "a long, boring story involving too much detail." German still has "Sage" (originally also spelled "saga"), meaning, more or less, "a story based upon historical accounts, but not necessarily proven;" thus also, "a legend," but German also borrowed "Saga," seemingly from English in the 1800s, with the same general meaning, "a narrative, a story." Low German has "Saag" (story of historical basis), Dutch has "sage" (story, chronicle), Norwegian "soge" (story, history), Icelandic has "saga" (history, story), Swedish "saga" (long story, legend), Danish once had "sage," but "apparently" Danish now uses "saga," perhaps from German or English? Also "sagn" (legend) and West Frisian has "sêge," (story, long story). So to condense this: the English noun "saw" (meaning, "a saying," and originally also meaning, "story"), is an original English word, while its close relative, "saga," was borrowed into English.  

^ The modern form "say" once also had a "g," as its German cousin still does (the infinitive form in German is "sagen," but the imperative is "sag," and "Sag mal," is, "Tell me;" with the "me" being understood, and "mal" softening the command to a request, as in, "Tell me, how have you been?" Several English words once had a "g" which disappeared over time: "day," "may" (the verb, not the month), being two examples. By the way, with "may," its old past tense was "might," which has still retained the "g," albeit in combination with the "h." To this day, "may" and "might" are often interchangeable: "I may go to the movies tonight," or, "I might go to the movies tonight." 

Lifeboat: Hitchcock & Steinbeck Film

This 1944 film, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, is from a story by John Steinbeck, who, by then, was already a highly respected author, famous for, "The Grapes of Wrath," and, "Of Mice and Men," both also made into very successful movies. "Lifeboat" received Academy Award nominations, including for Hitchcock for best director.

The story takes place in the lifeboat of a ship sunk by a U-boat during World War Two. The film opens with a sole woman, writer Connie Porter, played by Tallulah Bankhead, sitting in the middle of the lifeboat. We see all sorts of debris floating past the boat. It isn't long before a crewman of the ship, Kovac, played by John Hodiak, climbs up into the boat. He is followed by a number of other passengers, including, Gus Smith, played by William Bendix, who has a badly wounded leg. A lady, played by Heather Angel, is also brought into the lifeboat, clutching her baby, a baby it turns out, that is dead. Already emotionally unstable from the wartime air raids, the deeply distraught woman later quietly slips into the water to drown herself. The final person to be hauled into the boat is a German, Willi, from the U-boat, which had been sunk by the ship before it plunged from the surface. Willi, played by Walter Slezak, speaks in German, only to be answered by Connie, who is fluent in German. A couple of the survivors want Willi thrown overboard to drown, but others feel this is morally, and perhaps legally, wrong, so he remains in the boat. He claims to have been just a crew member, but Connie cleverly catches him off guard by calling, "Herr Kapitän!" Only to have him answer, "Ja?" With a sail hoisted, the group wants to head for Bermuda, which they believe is not all that far off, but the problem is, in what direction IS Bermuda? One of their group tries using the sun, and points in one direction, but Willi, the German captain points in another direction. Given that he is a sea captain, this carries more weight with a couple, but Kovac establishes himself as the lifeboat's leader and they follow the course to Bermuda determined by one of the sunken ship's crew, played by Hume Cronyn.

Then Gus must have his leg amputated, as gangrene has set in to his wound. Willi tells Connie that he was a surgeon before the war, so the group prepares to witness the operation, which will need to be done without anesthetic, except for some brandy Connie has. Willi gains a little more respect by performing the emergency surgery, and then he gains much more respect, as a storm hits, and Willi's taking control of the boat in the violent sea helps to save them. During this scene the others learn that Willi speaks fluent English. When things settle down, it is determined Willi will guide the boat to a nearby German supply ship rather than to Bermuda, as he tells them it will take a couple of weeks to reach Bermuda, and they have lost their food and fresh water in the storm. While the others sleep, Gus has some hallucinations because of his condition, but he really does see Willi take a drink of water from a bottle he has stashed. Willi knocks Gus overboard and he drowns. When the others find out that Willi indeed stashed water and that he likely killed Gus, they descend on him and beat him, pushing him overboard, with one using the shoe from Gus's amputated leg to land the decisive blow.

It's not long before the survivors see the German supply ship in the distance, and a small craft with Germans begins to approach, only to turn back. Then they see why, as an Allied warship begins firing at the German ship, * which is hit and begins to sink. A young, trembling German sailor is helped up into the lifeboat and the survivors face the same situation; toss him back into the sea or keep him? He draws a gun, but he is quickly disarmed. He looks at the passengers and asks, "Werden Sie mich nicht umbringen?" (Aren't you going to kill me?)

* In actual fact, throughout the war the German U-boats were a major problem for the Allies. The U-boats that traveled the farthest out to sea needed a way to refuel and to get provisions, so I do believe the German navy had some special supply ships in distant waters, near neutral countries, where they could periodically stock up, then return to sea to supply their U-boats. The Allies tried to sink or bottle up the supply ships to limit the illusive U-boats operating so far out to sea. If you have seen "Das Boot" (also dubbed in English, and often called "The Boat," its English translation), the absolutely fabulous early 1980's movie about a German U-boat, the U-boat in the story meets a German supply ship in Portugal, a neutral country during the war. German "Boot," is pronounced very similarly to its close English cousin, "boat," not like the English word of the same spelling, but meaning, "a type of foot wear." 

 WORD HISTORY:
Bear-This is the noun for the name of the animal, although English also has a verb form spelled the same way, but from a different source. The noun goes back to Indo European "bher(os)," which had the notion of, "brown, dark," but "seemingly" also, "bright, shining," perhaps from the glistening of some brown and dark objects. This gave Old Germanic "beron," meaning "bear," the animal, so, "the brown animal." This gave Old English "bera," which then became "bere" (ending "e" pronounced "eh"), before the modern form. The other Germanic languages have: German "Bär," Low German Saxon "Boor," West Frisian "bear," Dutch "beer," Danish and Norwegian "bjørn," Icelandic and Swedish "björn."

After We're Gone and East Of Eden

Updated with "Word History" January 18, 2015 from the original article of November 25, 2007 (thus the reference to uninsured Americans)

If you've never read John Steinbeck's "East Of Eden," I sure hope you will. Many people think right off of the movie from the 1950s with James Dean, but while the movie is good, it only covers about the last third or so of the book. In my opinion, far better is the television mini-series of the early 1980s, which gave a boost to up and coming actress Jane Seymour. The mini-series covered the ENTIRE book, and it is available on DVD.

The book is pretty large, like 500 to 600 pages, depending upon format, but don't be intimidated, as it is well worth reading. Tucked away in Chapter 34 are Steinbeck's real ideas about mankind. Interestingly, it is the shortest chapter in the book, covering only two to three pages, but in it, Steinbeck tells us that humans search for love and understanding from our fellow beings throughout our lives; however, we seldom, if ever, get to know the outcome of our own fortunes, because others don't truly judge us until we're gone. As he explains, once we pass on, any jealousies held by others tend to pass on too, as we're no longer a threat to anyone. That's when people's true feelings can come out.

I know I've read that studies have shown human beings do think about their own "funerals," and what people will say about them at that time and afterward. Do we want to be remembered for having "saved" the current American medical system, which has left 45-50 million without coverage? Do we want to be remembered for having run up the price of energy products to the point where many people can't heat or cool their homes properly, can't drive to their jobs without putting a strain on their pocketbooks, or can't afford the escalating price of many products because of the price increases due to soaring transport costs? Do we want to be remembered for having stood by while the very wealthiest Americans continue to siphon off the life-blood of the nation's workers? When told of our death, do we want others to feel relief instead of grief?

This picture from the cover of the 1995 Book-of-the-Month Club edition, by Viking Penguin/Penguin USA, Inc. 

WORD HISTORY:
Mentor-This word "likely" goes back to the Indo European root "men," which meant "to think." The idea is, that a causative form^ of that root provided the basis for a character of the name "Mentor" in Greek mythology, who shared his knowledge with a young, inexperienced character in the story. English borrowed the word from the Greek character name in the mid 1700s with the meaning, "knowledgeable adviser." The verb form was derived from the noun.

^ A causative form simply means that it causes an action to take place. Causative forms often have a second verb; for example, "The father let his son have the car."  In the case of the root "men," above, the meaning "to think" of the root "men," gave a causative form meaning "to cause someone to think." In Greek mythology, "Mentor" caused his charge "to think," and thus, "to learn," by the knowledge he, Mentor, imparted.   

The Mean Old Man or Woman On The Block?

Are you the mean old man or woman on the block? Excuse me for a second while I open the window .... "Hey you kids, quit playin' out there! Get the hell away from here, you little morons! ... I'm tellin' ya. Errrr." Some people go through their lives very angry for whatever reason. They didn't have to wait to become the mean old man or woman on the block, they started early; mad at the world, grouchy and grumbling, begrudging of others, fearful that someone might get something they didn't get, and generally just a pain in the ass to everyone around them. If you've been one of these people, and you know if you have been, do you want to continue being a pain in the ass until your dying breath? Do you want a lifetime of resentment and bitterness to make you well known for being the mean old man or woman on the block? Why not make peace with yourself and others and don't do everything in your power to earn that epithet, "the mean old man or woman on the block."

As we grow older, there is a tendency for some, but certainly not all, to seem to try to help others, maybe out of the realization that their lives are heading for the finish line and perhaps out of a religious belief that they want to save their souls. Then too, some may do similar not out of a religious belief, but because they want their lives to make a difference, that they will not have lived and died in vain; and I think also, they hopefully have learned from decades of life how we need to help others and not just look to helping ourselves.

My favorite book is John Steinbeck's "East of Eden." In Chapter 34, Steinbeck boils life down in his shortest chapter of the book. He talks about the death of a man, unnamed, but who is unmistakably John D. Rockefeller, the wealthiest man of his time, and something of "the mean old man on the block." Rockefeller lived here in Cleveland, and is indeed buried here, on the East Side. Steinbeck writes about how Rockefeller's ruthless desire for wealth left him a hated man, even after he later gave huge sums to various causes, in what Steinbeck says was an attempt, "to try to buy back the love he had forfeited." Steinbeck even thinks Rockefeller's good deeds may have outweighed the bad, but still, when Rockefeller died, many an American said, "Thank God that son of a bitch is dead." Don't cement your mean old man or woman on block image into people's minds, lest you have a similar burden to overcome. (Quotes and info here are from "The Works of John Steinbeck," Longmeadow Press, 1985. ISBN: 0-681-31923-2)

WORD HISTORY:
Grunt-I have questions about this word's history, but it "seems" to simply be an imitative word of some Germanic dialects for the grunting sound of swine. Old Germanic seemingly had "grunnetanan," which meant "to grunt." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "grunnettan," which later became "grunten," before the modern version. Besides the English form, German has "grunzen," Danish has "grynte," Norwegian has "grynt," and Swedish has "grymta." One question I have is, why don't Low German, Frisian and Dutch have forms, and for that matter, Icelandic? After all, pigs haven't stopped grunting, nor have humans. Both Latin ("grunnire") and Greek ("gryzein") have forms, which "might" indicate a tendency beyond Germanic to form an imitative word.

Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," Great Book & Movie

Updated 12-8-18 to include the very ending. 


John Steinbeck is generally considered by many to be one of America's greatest writers. His best known works are "The Grapes of Wrath," "East of Eden" (my personal favorite), and a little novel called "Of Mice and Men," the title of which was taken from Scottish writer Robert Burns' poem, "To A Mouse," from the late 1700s. You can read the novel quickly, as it is so small, it is often referred to as a "novelette" or "novella," comprising only about 100 pages, depending upon the edition. The book was released in 1937, followed shortly thereafter by a stage play version. By 1939, a movie version, with generally minor variances from the novel, had also been released. The film received several Oscar nominations, including for "Best Picture." Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" has had its share of controversy, as its "salty" language was considered a bit much for some in those days, but hey, it was about farm hands, not nuns in a convent. The movie toned down the language considerably, as "Gone With The Wind," also released in 1939, shocked some viewers when Clark Gable's Rhett Butler character said "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." We may laugh about such "propriety" today, but in those days, it was quite real. The book also dealt with sex, although in the sense of "flirtatiousness." Perhaps its most controversial aspect was about "euthanasia," made an even hotter topic just a few years later as the Nazis actually implemented a euthanasia program in Germany to murder mentally and physically disabled people, although it took Hitler's defeat to actually bring out the details of the policy. Further, the book also deals with racism, as a black ranch hand is isolated from the others. Steinbeck's sympathetic portrayal of the black man was highly controversial in the America of the 1930s, especially in the South, and unfortunately, I'm sure it still rubs some people the wrong way. 

The book deals with people's loneliness and their desire for companionship. Written during the Great Depression, it certainly also dealt with people's desire for economic security. Just generally, the story evolves around two itinerant California farm workers, George Milton and Lennie Small. George is the protector and keeper of Lennie, a large and powerful man physically, but whose mental limitations make him like a big child. Lennie's childlike mind draws him to small animals, especially rabbits, as he likes to hold them close and pet their soft fur. The whole practice proves fatal for the animals, as Lennie's feeble mind leaves him unaware of his tremendous strength, and he always ends up killing the animals.

George has a dream of getting a few acres with a little house, where he and Lennie can settle down and work their own land with no worries of being let go by bosses. Lennie loves to hear George tell about this dream and "how it's gonna be," although Lennie has heard the story so many times, even with his limited mind he can repeat the story word for word. Lennie is especially taken with the idea of their dream farm having rabbits, which he will look after and get to pet. The two men get a job on a farm and George has a plan for them to save enough money to make their dream into a reality. Even though George tells Lennie to keep their plan secret, Lennie's absentmindedness brings him to tell one of the other ranch hands about it. This man, named Candy, is older and with physical limitations due to the loss of one hand. He's troubled by the thought of no longer being needed in a time when "survival of the fittest" was still a big part of American thought, the revival of which has been a major part of more recent American right wing ideas. Candy is immediately drawn to the plan and offers financial help with money he has saved, if George will let him join, which he does.

Then there's a man called "Crooks." He is a black stable worker with a crooked spine. He has a small room in the stable area all to himself, separate from the white workers. He's proud, but bitter, due to his treatment by white society. One night Lennie comes to Crooks' door, unaware that he's not supposed to associate with a black man (racism and bigotry are taught, not inherent). Crooks' bitterness relents, and Lennie is invited in. Crooks tells how tough it is not having any friends or even anyone to talk with. Lennie eventually brings the subject around to the rabbits he'll soon be tending and he tells Crooks of the plan. He too wants in.  

All the while these events have been going on, there is potential trouble on the horizon. The farm's boss has a highly insecure adult son named "Curley," due to his curly hair. Curley is a little guy who is so insecure (weak ego), he needs to constantly demonstrate his power to others. He's especially bothered by men bigger than he is. He's a boxer and he likes to threaten others with a beating, but like many bullies, he looks for easy prey. Lennie fits the bill, as he's big, but his mental capacity is so limited, he looks like easy pickings for Curley, who tries repeatedly to lure Lennie into a fight. Finally one time, Curley hears Lennie laughing. His insecurity imagines that Lennie is laughing at him, which is untrue, but he begins punching Lennie mercilessly. George yells to Lennie to go after Curley and Lennie grabs Curley's fist. Now Lennie's tremendous strength comes into play as he mangles Curley's hand. George fears that Curley will eventually want to get even.

Then there's Curley's wife. She is locked in an unhappy marriage to her insecure husband, who runs around the farm keeping tabs on her and threatening any of the men who even dare talk to her. She too is lonely, as Curley tries to keep her away from everyone. She likes to flirt and her vibrant personality and soft look attract Lennie's attention, but he keeps his distance as George has told him; that is, for the most part. While the farmhands have a bit of a party, Lennie remains in the barn. He has accidentally killed a pup that had been given to him. He frets about how George will react to the pup's death, as he's always fearful that George will not let him tend the rabbits they are going to have on their little farm. Curley's wife comes in and when Lennie tells her how he likes soft things, she has him pat her soft head of hair. Lennie's strength begins to hurt her and Lennie panics and, just like with the little animals, he accidentally kills her. Earlier on their way to this farm, George had shown Lennie a place to hide if there were ever trouble. Lennie's feeble mind is sometimes able to keep George's orders straight, and Lennie runs for the hiding place. Curley's dead wife is discovered and the whole ranch takes out to find Lennie and to kill him. George figures Lennie has gone to the hiding place and he goes there and finds him. George has Lennie sit with his back to him as he tells him the story of how things will be on their own little place. George shoots Lennie in the back of the head to keep him from torture and horrible death at the hands of Curley and the others.
     
There have been several remakes of the movie, but in my opinion, the best is the 1939 film, starring Burgess Meredith as George and Lon Chaney, Jr. as Lennie.

Photo is from the Image Entertainment/Corinth Films DVD

WORD HISTORY:
Mouse-This word goes back to Indo European "mush/moosh," which meant "mouse, rodent," but also "leg or arm muscle," perhaps from the scampering mouse like appearance of the muscle when being flexed. Remember, while some of the meanings of various words seem strange to us today, in ancient times there undoubtedly was more reason to them than we now see. Who knows, if mankind even just lasts to 2500, people may look back on some of our words today and say, "Why the hell did they say that?" Anyway, the Indo European form gave its Old Germanic offspring "mus," with the same meanings, but apparently the muscle meaning was limited to the lower arm. This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "mus," which retained the meanings (the plural was "mys"). This then became "mous," before the modern version, but the "arm muscle" meaning died out, but of course, in more recent decades, "mouse" has come to be applied to the computer device, due to its appearance. A verb form developed from the noun in the 1200s, which meant "to hunt for mice," but this is now certainly obsolete. Common in the other Germanic languages: German has "Maus" (pronounced very similarly to the English word/ German plural "Mäuse," pronounced as if "moyzeh"), Low German Saxon has "Muus," Dutch has "muis," West Frisian has "mûs," Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish all have "mus."

What We Do In Life Matters

SPECIAL NOTE: I wrote this in September 2012. Since that time, LeBron James returned to his home area to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team won a championship in 2016, but more importantly, BY FAR, LeBron James learned from his mistake when he left town and he doubled down on his efforts to help this community, especially to help the children of this community. As I wrote back when I did this article in 2012, James continued to help the kids of this area when he played in Miami. LeBron James has money and fame, and he is often touted as the "greatest basketball player on the planet," but he has proven himself to be a far greater human being than a basketball player. This note added September 25, 2018


If you follow things here regularly, you know I recently did two articles with the theme, "Life Has Consequences." This article really ties in with that theme too, but not by design. As most of you are aware, Art Modell, the former owner of the Cleveland Browns, died this week at age 87. Modell came to Cleveland in 1961 when he purchased the Browns, a team which had won numerous national championships prior to his arrival. After Modell purchased the Browns, they won one national championship, in 1964. Regardless of the lack of championships, the franchise was one of America's best known and loved, regularly drawing crowds to fill, or nearly fill, the 80,000 seats of old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, even in years when the team struggled on the field. Modell became a solid part of the community and one of the top owners in the NFL. I'm not necessarily writing this to praise him or to condemn him to hell, as both sentiments have been expressed in so many comments by others since his death a few days ago. Nor will this be a recounting of Modell's life or of his complex business dealings here in Cleveland. No, I just want to point out a few things about how a much respected man made a choice in a moment of both hurt feelings and financial desperation that haunted him for the rest of his life, and now even in death. The powerful can have a huge impact on the lives of the many, even when it's only about football, just a game that has become big business, or perhaps more appropriately, BIG business. To be quite honest, the powerful love the accolades and the money it brings them, but some, perhaps too many in this day and age of excess, forget that such power also brings responsibility.

For those unaware, Art Modell made a decision in the fall of 1995 to move the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore for the next season. The initial process was done secretly and quickly. When the move became public, it devastated the huge fan base of devoted Browns fans, not only in Cleveland, but across the country. The reaction in Cleveland was one of outrage, and that is putting it mildly. Interestingly the town had been riding a bit of a high, as the Cleveland Indians had just appeared in a World Series for the first time in over 40 years, losing however, in six games, but they made it to the Series, and the team looked to be a continuing contender. At work, a guy (a contractor) was talking with a lady about the World Series, and she told him that she really wasn't much of a baseball fan, but she noted "how serious the players looked." Now, old Randy, once a diehard baseball fan, disgusted by how money had taken over all professional sports, couldn't help himself, and he cynically interjected, "Sure they're serious. They're wondering how they're going to spend all of that money. It's all about money now, it's not a game." The guy was just furious with me, but I wasn't mad, because I saw myself in him, until I parted ways with professional sports just a few years before. About a week later, Modell announced that the Browns were moving and a few days later, I saw the "angry guy" again. This time, he said, "You were right." I wasn't quite sure what he meant, but then he mentioned the above incident and then Modell's announcement, and he said, "It IS all about money." Nothing like reality to smack you upside the head and dispel your idealism. When you're growing up, you gradually come to realize there's no Santa Claus, but the reality of the Browns leaving Cleveland came in one gigantic smack, with no preparation.

Dick Feagler was a long time columnist in the local newspapers, mainly the Cleveland Press, which ceased operations in 1982, and the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, where he retired as a columnist about three years ago. He was also a reporter and commentator on local television news. He's had a discussion program on Cleveland PBS station WVIZ for many years, a show I very much enjoy. Friday evening, September 7, part of the show was about Modell's death and legacy. A Cleveland businessman and friend of Modell's was one of the participants. His name is unimportant, but he was obviously in Modell's corner (on the personal side), although he admitted Modell should have negotiated more before making any decision to leave Cleveland. The pro and con arguments about Modell are never ending, but one thing he said caught my attention. He mentioned that the reaction in Cleveland of intense hatred for Modell shocked him, which prompted Feagler, in an effort to say how devoted the fans were, to interject something to the effect, "Have you ever seen those fans in the "Dog Pound?"* The man went on to tell how Modell could never attend a game here again after his announcement for fear for his very life. Such decisions have consequences; enduring consequences.

Now, I've seen the man before, I believe different times on Feagler's show, and I want all to know, I don't know him. He might be the salt of the earth, a great guy, charitable and caring, but it was the underlying attitude that got me, fairly or unfairly. What he really seemed to be saying in my opinion was, "Business people can do ANYTHING and you just have to take it. You shouldn't hate us, no matter what." He and the other panelists went on to mention numerous things Modell did for the community, and they're all true. As I noted above, Modell became a solid member of the Cleveland community after he came here in the early 1960s, but then in just a matter of days, he wiped away ANY good he had done by abandoning this community and slinking away with one of its most cherished assets. Yes, a few years later a new Browns' team was formed, but it's never really been the same here.** Much the same astonishment seems to have inflicted LeBron James. He did much to help this community (and still does to some extent), but he too made a terrible self-centered decision which also devastated the community,*** only to be perplexed by the hostility shown to him thereafter. With both Modell and James it's like, "Gee, I just don't understand how people can hate me." And then the comments by supporters and apologists who say, "It's only a game." There's a serious disconnect folks. When the hatred comes, NOW it's only a game. They didn't act like it was "only a game" when they were raking it in and extracting every ounce of emotion from devoted fans.

My favorite book is John Steinbeck's "East of Eden." **** In Chapter 34, Steinbeck boils life down in his shortest chapter of the book. He talks about the death of a man, unnamed, but who is unmistakably John D. Rockefeller, the wealthiest man of his time. Rockefeller lived much of his life here in Cleveland, and then his death, as indeed he is buried here. Steinbeck talks about how Rockefeller's ruthless desire for wealth left him a hated man,***** even after he later gave huge sums to various causes, "to try to buy back the love he had forfeited." Steinbeck even thinks Rockefeller's good deeds may have outweighed the bad, but still, when Rockefeller died, many an American said, "Thank God that son of a bitch is dead." Like it or not, fairly or unfairly, that same sentiment has undoubtedly crossed many a mind here in Ohio in the last few days.

* For those unaware, the "Dog Pound" is the bleacher area where some of the most "rabid" Browns' fans sit for every Browns' home game; rain, sunshine, snow, blizzards, zero temperatures, freezing rain, 50 mile an hour winds, you just name it. They wear ferocious masks and bark and growl like dogs and my suggestion is, if you choose to sit there, hope and pray they've all had their rabies shots, and be sure to take along a full box of  "Meaty Bone" dog biscuits, just to keep them happy."Rrrrrrruf!"

** A few years ago I was waiting for a pizza at a local pizza shop when a man in a Browns' jersey came in. I took a moment to chat with him about the team and what had happened when Modell left town. He said he was still a devoted fan, but that it just wasn't the same, the real Browns had left town. I've heard it from others, too, although I suspect a truly competitive team would change some of the doom and gloom.

*** LeBron James was the leading player on the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association, until he chose to go to Miami to play with two other superstars in order to win a championship. To further humiliate the community, although I'm sure that wasn't the intention, the whole thing was done on a nationally televised broadcast with the expressed purpose of revealing "the decision," as he termed it. Talk about an ego run amok! At least Modell hid things, perhaps out of some "conscience," but LeBron James rubbed everyone's nose in it, PUBLICLY. 

**** Quotes here are from "The Works of John Steinbeck," Longmeadow Press, 1985. ISBN: 0-681-31923-2

***** Bob Hope, who grew up in Cleveland, often told the story of how, as a kid, he sold newspapers on an East Side corner, and how John D. Rockefeller would pull up in his chauffeur driven car and get a paper from him. Hope said Rockefeller would give him a nickle for the paper, which I believe cost three cents way back then, and he wanted his two cents change. Hope laughed about it, because Rockefeller's wealth was equivalent to tens of billions of dollars when Hope told the story later in his life.   
    
WORD HISTORY:
Dead-This word goes back to Indo European "dheu," which meant "to die," and which produced a participle form "dhautos," which meant "to have died, be dead." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "dauthaz/daudaz," with the same meaning. This produced Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "dead," with the "e" being long, and the "a" short. This later became "ded/deed," before the modern version, generally used as an adjective, but also as a noun, as in, "the dead are buried in the churchyard." Common throughout the other Germanic languages: German has "tot,"^ Low German Saxon has "doot," West Frisian has "dead," Dutch has "dood," Danish has. "død," Swedish has "död," Icelandic has "dauthur," and Norwegian has "død."
 
^ Standard modern German is much based upon Old High German, one of the characteristics of which often, but not always, became a change from a "d" sound to a "t" sound in many instances; thus, "dod" became "tot." The northern Germanic dialects were unaffected by this change and came to be called "Low German," and neither were the dialects that became English affected, as the Angles and many Saxons had already settled in Britain by that time.