McHale's Navy: The TV Series

"McHale's Navy" holds a special place in my heart, and I'm sure in the hearts of many people of my generation, as we were kids or teenagers when this comedy initially aired on television (and there were also two movies released). So many fond memories of the cast of this show, and I wish there were a way to give each of the cast members a hug and let them know how important they were to us; but unfortunately, most are no longer with us. As of this writing, of the regular cast, only John Wright, who played PT 73 radioman Willy Moss, and Yoshio Yoda, who played Fuji, the crew's POW houseboy and cook, are still with us. Ernest Borgnine, who played Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale, died in 2012, age 95, Joe Flynn, who played Captain Binghamton, died of a heart attack in 1974 at the age of 49, Bob Hastings, who played Binghamton's aide Lieutenant Elroy Carpenter died of cancer in 2014, age 89, Carl Ballantine, who played the PT 73's Torpedoman Lester Gruber, died in 2009, age 92, Billy Sands, who played the PT 73's Machinist Harrison "Tinker" Bell, died in 1984 from lung cancer, age 73, Edson Stroll, who played PT 73's Gunner Virgil Edwards, died of cancer in 2011, age 82, Gavin MacLeod, who played Seaman "Happy" Haines died in 2021, age 90, Gary Vinson, who played Quartermaster "Christy" Christopher, died of a self inflicted bullet wound in 1984, age 47. As for some of the actors/actresses who appeared somewhat regularly in the series: Jacques Aubuchon, who played native chief Urulu, died of heart problems in 1991, age 67, Roy Roberts, who played Admiral Rogers, died of a heart attack in 1975, age 69, Herbert Lytton, who played Admiral Reynolds, died in 1981, age 83, Jane Dulo, who played Nurse Molly Turner, died after heart surgery in 1994 (I found various birth years for her, so her age at death was between 75 and 81), Canadian actor Henry Beckman, who played Colonel Harrington when the PT 73 was serving in Italy, died in 2008, age 86, Makoto Iwamatsu, who went by the professional name Mako, and who played the role of a number of Japanese officers, died from cancer in 2006, age 72, Jay Novello, who played Mario Lugatto, the conniving mayor of Volta Fiore when the show was set in Italy during its last season, died in 1982, age 78

McHale's Navy ran for four seasons beginning in 1962, all were in black and white, which was common in those days, although by 1965 most series were switching to color, and the 1964 and 1965 full length movies, based upon the series, were filmed in color. The series was broadcast on the ABC network. The first three seasons of the series were set during World War Two in the South Pacific islands in the "general vicinity" of Australia, with the main setting being a U.S. Navy supply base on the island of Taratupa, a fictional island name created purely for the television series. The last season of the show was set in Italy in 1943/44. It's important to remember, when the series first aired, there were millions upon millions of former participants from World War Two, including Ernest Borgnine,* who ranged from middle aged to senior citizens. 

One of Taratupa's PT boats was PT 73, under the command of Lt. Commander Quinton McHale (PT boat =patrol torpedo boat), a man who, prior to the war, had spent years sailing these same waters, and who knew the many islands, the people and the tribal chieftains, which made him an important asset for the US Navy when the war started. McHale and his men are carefree and they have a good time having parties, swimming and water skiing when they aren't patrolling or sent on missions to engage the Japanese, who occupy some of the islands not too far away. While the crew seems lax, they are good in their various roles on the PT boat and in combat. They also have a lot of feelings for the villagers on some of the islands, with a special soft spot for children. The base was commanded by Captain Wallace Binghamton, a man almost more at war with McHale and his men than with the Japanese. Binghamton wants to get rid of McHale, but even when he has McHale on the ropes, something happens to help McHale escape transfer or court martial. Captain Binghamton's aide is Lieutenant Elroy Carpenter, a man who will do anything to stay on Binghamton's good side, no matter how much humiliation he has to endure. On the other hand, McHale's second in command is Ensign Charles Parker, a well meaning klutzy bungler, who often quotes official Navy regulations.

Binghamton has McHale and his crew stationed off of the immediate base, on what is called "McHale's Island," and McHale and the boys have a Japanese POW (prisoner-of-war) who cooks and takes care of their living quarters there. "Fuji" is a great cook, and the crew accepts him as one of their own. Fuji's cooking is a major part of one episode, as Captain Binghamton is quite taken with the food he tries by chance, and he wants "McHale's cook" to prepare food for an admiral coming to the base. There's a BIG problem! Did I mention that Binghamton doesn't know about Fuji, because McHale and his crew keep Fuji hidden at their quarters, and whenever Binghamton is spotted heading for the island (he has to come by boat or skiff), McHale sends Fuji off into the jungle to hide until Binghamton leaves; so, "Fuji, get lost," is a line oft heard in the show's episodes; after all, Fuji could be captured... AGAIN! hahaha 

So, if you grew up with "McHale's Navy," or became very or somewhat familiar with it at some part through television reruns, stir some memories again, as the entire series is available on DVD, as are the two color movies they made back then too. If you've never seen or heard of "McHale's Navy," give it a try, you might just get hooked.** The DVDs also have interviews from some of the surviving cast from when the DVDs were in preparation.

*Ernest Borgnine had been in the Navy in the 1930s, but he left just prior to the Pearl Harbor attack, which then saw him re-enlist. He served in the Atlantic/Western European part of the war. His parents were Italian immigrants, and while he was born in the U.S., he lived with his mother in Italy for the several years his mother and father were separated because of marital difficulties; after which, they returned to the United States. Borgnine, whose real family name was the similar "Borgnino," was fluent in Italian and when the show was set in Italy, he displayed his fluent Italian in some episodes.   

** The 1997 movie, starring Tom Arnold as McHale, doesn't count as seeing "McHale's Navy," nor does it capture anything like the essence of the great television series from the 1960s. Ernest Borgnine appears in the movie, but he couldn't save it either.        

Photo is from the Shout! Factory 2007 DVD, Season One (all four seasons are on DVD)

WORD HISTORY:

Mast-English has more than one word of this spelling, but this is the noun with by far the most common meaning, "tall pole or poles used to hold the sail(s) or rigging of a ship or a boat." "Mast" goes back to Indo European "mastos/mazdos," which meant "post, pole." This gave Old Germanic "mastaz," with the same meaning, but also the specific "pole used for a ship's sail," and this gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "mæst" ("pole used for a ship's sail"), and this then became "mast," where it has been for hundreds of years.^

     

^ The expression "before the mast," as in the book, "Two Years Before the Mast" by Richard Henry Dana in the 1800s, refers to the quarters for non officers on ships commonly being in the front of the ship; that is, before where the mast was located; thus, also it can mean "a regular sailor," not an officer. 

Home Alone: Macaulay Culkin Wins The Day

Macaulay Culkin's performance in this 1990 comedy film made him a star and it helped to propel the movie into a huge box office success, earning the film many, many times its cost; and, that doesn't even count the money it earned from various video editions, television airings and such.

 

Many of the movie critics and the Sheldon Cooper crowd didn't give the movie high marks, but as has been said of some other movies, television shows and music, the only group of people who liked it was the public, and the film took in hundreds of millions of dollars. Sheldon Coopers, even before Sheldon Cooper was known, have a hard time laughing at things that don't always make sense, and that's a shame, because they miss so much fun, and "Home Alone" is something of a cartoon in movie form, especially during 8 year old Kevin's punishment of the burglars, which seems only to lack a clobbering of one of the burglars with a pan that leaves his head temportaily in the shape of the pan. 

 

Main Cast:

 

Macaulay Culkin as 8 year old Kevin McCallister

Joe Pesci as Harry

Daniel Stern as Marv

John Heard as Kevin's father, Peter McCallister

Catherine O'Hara as Kevin's mother, Kate McCallister

Roberts Blossom as McCallister neighbor Marley

John Candy as Gus Polinski

Ralph Foody as the gangster in movie Kevin watches and then uses as a scare tactic

 

The movie opens with lots of activity at the McCallister home in suburban Chicago, as members of the family prepare to leave the next morning for a trip to Paris. A man in a police uniform with a sparkling gold tooth struggles to get information about what's going on, but he finally finds out about the family vacation and about the security measures they have in place for the safety of their soon to be unoccupied home. The man with the gold tooth assures Peter McCallister, the owner of the home, that his very nice house, equipped and stocked with lots of appliances, televisions and VCRs (the then main means of recording and playing videos), will be safe from burglars. Peter's 8 year old son, Kevin, loses his cool by going after other young family members who actually torment him, but only Kevin's outburst is witnessed by the adults, prompting his mother, Kate, to send him to bed in the attic for the night. As she escorts him up the stairs, Kevin tells her he hopes he'll never see any of his family again. (Comment: Kevin is not a responsible kid and he often wants others to do things for him. Much of the teasing of him by the others has to do with his "helplessness." Keep this in mind.)

 

It's winter in Chicago and that means windy conditions and during the night the high winds break a branch from a tree, which knocks out the power and telephone service (landline in those times) to the house. The family oversleeps and this brings the family to a chaotic departure to make it to the airport for their plane. One of the teenagers is given the job of counting the young people to account for everyone, and she mistakes a neighbor boy for Kevin, who is still asleep in the attic. The repairman for the power company restores power to the house, but he tells the departing family the telephone service is likely to be out for days. The family gets to the airport and runs to board the plane. Off they go ... PARIS HERE WE COME! At the house, Kevin awakens to an empty home and once he confirms this fact, he believes his wish to never see his family again has come true. Kevin alternates between being a responsible "adult," going shopping (even using a coupon he's clipped from the newspaper to save on orange juice) and doing laundry, and being the 8 year old he really is, jumping on the bed, eating junk food and sledding in the house (Typing this line made me spill my potato chips all over the place!). This back and forth is all sort of crystallized by what became one of the most famous scenes in the movie, where Kevin acts the adult in the bathroom and applies after shave lotion to his face, bringing the actual 8 year old to scream, "ahhhhhhhhhh," from the sting of the lotion. Kevin is resourceful and he gets into his older brother's belongings and he finds some firecrackers and later he finds his brother's money stash, but only after having to climb up some shelving to get it. This brings the shelves crashing down, which releases his brother's tarantula into the house (keep this in mind). Kevin watches a gangster type movie, complete with a man who uses a machine gun to kill a man who says the guy owes him money. This scene gives Kevin a scare, and he calls out for his mom. Meanwhile on the plane, Kate is nagged by the feeling of having forgotten something and she finally realizes what is is ... "KEVIN," she yells. 

 

Come evening, an old van sits in the neighborhood. Inside are Marv and Harry, two crooks looking to make a big haul while so many people are gone for the holidays in the well to do neighborhood. Harry is the man with the golden tooth who impersonated a policeman to get information about which houses would have no one at home and what security devices they have installed. He even knows the exact time the lights will automatically come on at each house, a trick using a timing device to make burglars think someone is home. Harry likes what he saw at the McCallister home and he and Marv head there to break in and rob the place, but Kevin hears the van pull in and he then sees the silhouettes of the two burglars through the curtains. As the two men prepare to pry the back door open, Kevin flips on the switches to many of the downstairs lights near the backdoor. This makes the two crooks flee, but Kevin reverts to 8 year old and he runs and hides under the bed, until he convinces himself, "I'm the man of the house." (Comment: My late dog would often run and hide under the bed; that is, until I told him to go find his own hiding place.) Kevin goes outside screaming how he's not afraid anymore, but then the McCallister's bearded scary old neighbor and "rumored killer," Mr. Marley, comes along, and Kevin decides that being 8 years old is the better part of valor and he runs into the house and up the steps, this time jumping into bed and pulling the covers over his head. (Comment: Why do people pull the covers over their head? If an intruder has a gun, knife or other weapon, how will pulling the covers over one's head save them? Ah... asking for a friend.)   

 

Meanwhile, the McCallister family has landed in Paris and they find their home telephone is still out of order, so they try to contact neighbors, but they're all out of town. Kate calls the police, but she does a poor job of explaining the situation, and the police transfer her call to the department for children who are living in threatening conditions, like with abusive or drunken parents or other family members. The man who takes the call is totally unenthusiastic and he transfers the call back to the police department. This lady is not terribly concerned either, but she sends a police officer to the home. He knocks at the door, but Kevin is still hiding under the covers, and the officer doesn't see any signs of a break in, so he leaves. Back in Paris, the earliest opening on the airlines to return to Chicago is two days off because of heavy holiday travel, but the airline suggests that someone stay at the airport to take an opening that may occur. Kate stays. Back in Chicago, the crooks have broken into one of the neighbor's homes and as they clear out anything valuable, the telephone rings and a message is left on the answering machine by Peter McCallister about being in Paris; so now, the crooks know the McCallisters are gone, although they don't know about Kevin as yet. As Kevin is on his way home from another scary encounter with Mr. Marley at a neighborhood store, the crooks are cleaning out one of the other homes in Kevin's neighborhood and they almost hit Kevin with their van. Kevin recognizes Harry's shiny gold tooth bringing a surprised look to the boy's face, which in turn alarms Harry. The two crooks follow Kevin to see where he goes, but Kevin eludes them by hiding in a manger display outside of a church. Kevin now knows who the potential burglars are and he vows to be ready for them if they come back to his house. Sure enough, Harry and Marv drive up to the house that night, but there appears to be lots of activity inside the house, so they drive away with the plan of returning the next day. Actually Kevin has rigged up a life-sized cut out of Michael Jordan (the most popular athlete in the country in those times) and various Christmas displays to make it look as if the house has lots of people moving around inside. 

 

Kevin orders a pizza for delivery and a young man pulls up with the pizza and goes to the back door as instructed in a note. Kevin has the video of the gangster movie ready to go in the video player and the scenes he wants he has programmed into the remote control. The young man knocks at the door and the gangster can be heard asking who it is, followed by some brief comments by the deliveryman and the movie character. The pizza is $11.80 and Kevin drops $12 out through the mail slot then he uses the remote control to hit the appropriate comment (appropriate to Kevin) from the gangster, which is, "Keep the change, you filthy animal." The meager 20 cent tip prompts the young deliveryman to say, "Cheapskate!" Kevin presses another button on the remote control and the gangster's line comes out loud and clear: "I'm going to give you to the count of 10 to get your ugly, yellow, no good keister off my property, before I pump your guts full of lead." The young man is naturally startled and he begins to flee, but the gangster continues, "One, two, TEN!" The sound of the machine gun erupts and the terrified young man slips and slides through the snow on the way to his car. (Comment: The scene is funny, but Sheldon Cooper would ask, "So a deliveryman thinks he's been fired upon, but he never calls the police to report it?" The obvious answer is, the guy sped home, jumped in bed and pulled the covers over his head. The hell with calling the police!) 

 

Meanwhile Kate is able to make a deal with an older couple for a seat on a plane to get back to the U.S., although not to Chicago, rather to Dallas and then to Scranton, Pennsylvania. At the McCallister house in Chicago, Harry and Marv show up the next day and Marv goes to the back door to see if he sees or hears anyone, after what seemed to have been a party the night before. Kevin hears Marv try to open the door, and he grabs the remote and starts playing the gangster video again; after all, it scared the hell out of the pizza guy. Marv listens as the movie lines are uttered, all the while convinced this is a real conversation. Kevin breaks out the firecrackers he found in his brother's belongings and he lights the fuse just as the machine gun in the movie starts to fire. Like the pizza deliveryman the night before, Marv stumbles and slides as he runs back to Harry and the van. The two crooks decide to wait to see who did the shooting, but as they wait, Kevin comes out with a saw to cut down a small pine tree for his own Christmas tree. They now know who he is and that he's home alone. They decide to come back around nine that evening, but Kevin hears their plan when he opens an upstairs window. Kevin is scared and he asks, "Mom, where are you?" Harry and Marv leave and Kevin goes out in the early evening. First he gives a Santa Claus helper a message to give to the real Santa; that is, to just get his family back, he doesn't need any toys or other presents. As he walks along, Kevin sees families gathered together for the holiday and he feels sad that he's without his own family, especially given his wish not to ever see them again. 

 

Well, Mom, I mean Kate, can't get a flight to Chicago from Scranton, but a polka band and its leader, Gus Polinski, hear Kate tell how she has to get home to her 8 year old son and that she'll even make a pact with the devil to achieve that. Gus tells her he and his group are also unable to get a flight to Milwaukee, which is a little less than 100 miles north of Chicago, but that they are going to rent a truck and drive home and that they could take her with them and drop her off in Chicago first. So off they go, polka music and all. 

 

Back in Chicago, Kevin walks to the church with the manger display where he hid from the crooks before. There is singing coming from the service inside. Kevin thinks for a moment and then he goes in. Kevin sits down in a pew all by himself, but when he looks over, across the aisle sits Mr. Marley. He stands and comes over to Kevin and says, "Merry Christmas. May I sit down?" Kevin nods and Marley sits down next to Kevin. Marley tells Kevin that his granddaughter is in the choir. He also tells him that he doesn't have to be afraid of him, that the stories going around are not true. As the two neighbors talk, we find out that Marley is troubled by an argument he had with his son a few years before. The two haven't spoken since. Kevin tells Marley that he said some things about his family that he shouldn't have; so, they both have similar problems. Kevin tells Marley he should call his son, but Marley says he's afraid his son won't talk with him. Kevin wisely tells him that he should still call his son and that at least he'll know the answer. Kevin gets up to leave, but not before the two shake hands, the little kid and the old man, who looks about my age ... which makes him middle aged (hey, I crossed my fingers to type that). Kevin hurries home to prepare the defense of his home against the crooks. 

 

Kevin prepares lots of traps for Harry and Marv, and as his brother's tarantula calls through the house, Kevin fixes a frozen macaroni and cheese dinner in the microwave. Harry and Marv pull up in their van and they decide to go to the back door. They even hope that the boy will let them in. They knock at the back door and yell in that they know the boy is there and that he's alone. Kevin has his brother's BB gun and he sticks it out the dog door and fires, hitting Harry in the ... ah, well there's only one thing that can make a guy hurt like that, and it's not getting hit between the toes. Marv, who always thinks he's pretty clever, sticks his head through the dog door, only to get a BB between the eyes, which still left him nowhere near as bad off as Harry. Finally Harry goes to the front of the house, but he slips on the front steps, which are covered with ice since Kevin cleverly threw water on them so it would freeze solidly. Marv finds the same problem with the basement steps and he too slips and falls before he finally gets to the door and pries it open. Once inside, Marv pulls the string to turn on the basement light, but Kevin has connected the string to the family iron, which sits at the top of the laundry chute. Down comes the iron as Marv looks up in reaction to the noise of the iron falling through the chute. BAM! Out front, Harry gets to the door and grabs the doorknob only to have his hand cooked medium rare, complete with the impression of the "M" on the McCallister's doorknob, as Kevin has heated the knob from the inside with the heating element from the family barbecue grill. Harry buries his scorched hand into the snow to get relief. The thing is, the more the two misfits are punished, the more they can't stop pursuing Kevin; and indeed, that is now much more their motive than the valuables in the house. 

 

Marv tries going up the basement steps that lead into the house, but Kevin has coated the steps with tar and a strategically placed nail. As Marv proceeds, his shoes are pulled off by the sticky tar, then his socks. Now comes the nail, and Marv steps right on it ... YEOW!!! He tumbles backwards down the steps grasping his foot. Harry finally opens the door, but Kevin has tied a rope to a blowtorch so that when the door opens it ignites the torch which spews fire at the person entering, and that person is Harry, whose head is scorched after his knit hat has the top incinerated. This time Harry sticks his head into the snow for relief. After this Harry kicks open the door and Marv goes back outside and sees a window open. Harry screams how he's going to get the boy, but Kevin answers by tauntingly saying, "I'm really scared," followed moments later with, "Come and get me." Harry goes through a door into another room, but Kevin has plastic wrap with an adhesive on it stretched across the doorway and it clings to Harry's face, and though Harry pulls the plastic off, the substance remains. All this diverts Harry from seeing a rope tied low across the floor and rigged to cause a burst of air from a fan into a pile of feathers. Harry walks into the rope and "poof," he's covered with feathers. Meanwhile, Marv climbs through the open window, but when he steps down from the window into the house, his feet land on a bunch of Christmas tree ornaments Kevin has spread across the floor. More pain for Marv's feet, but he hobbles into the room and sees Harry looking like a bird that forgot to fly south for the winter. Kevin sits at the top of the stairs to the home's upstairs and he mockingly calls to the beleaguered crooks, "I'm up here you morons, come and get me!" The two dash for the stairway, only to fall on their behinds again after they step on a bunch of miniature cars Kevin has placed at the foot of the stairs. This prompts the boy to ask, "You guys give up, or (are) you thirsty for more?"

 

The two crooks get up and they start up the stairs, led by Harry. Kevin tosses a can of paint suspended on a rope above the stairway. The paint can swings down and Harry ducks, but Marv doesn't duck and he's smashed in the head with the can and he falls down the stairs. Harry looks down at Marv, but then turns to look up the stairway, but Kevin has unleashed a second can of paint which swings down and clobbers Harry, bringing him to fall down the steps on top of Marv. This paint can in the face has knocked out Harry's gold tooth. Kevin calls the police using a false voice and tells them he's been robbed. He gives the neighbor's address, as he plans to run there eventually. (Comment: There is no explanation as to the phone service having been restored, including from when Kevin ordered pizza, but hey, what do you expect him to do, send smoke signals?) The two crooks regain their composure and head up the steps. Kevin has a wire stretched just above the floor in the upstairs to trip them, and sure enough, Harry falls for the wire ... ah, over the wire, but Marv hops over the wire as Kevin tries to run off, and Marv dives at Kevin and grabs him by the foot. As Marv lies on the floor, Kevin's foot in hand, the tarantula shows up, and Kevin strains to reach it, but he finally does. He picks up the spider and places it right on Marv's face, eliciting a scream of terror from the crook, who should be known as the "wet pants bandit" from now on. (Explanation: I left this out earlier, but anyway, when Harry and Marv rob one of the neighboring houses of the McCallister home, Marv stuffs cloths into the kitchen sink drains and then lets the water run, flooding the kitchen, with water also running down into the basement. We learn he's done the same before and that he wants the two to be seen as big time thieves with their own calling card, the name "The Wet Bandits." Harry's not impressed, but the name will come into play again near the end of the picture.) Marv tosses the spider away, but it lands right on the outstretched Harry, who is still knocked out on the floor after tripping over the wire. Harry begins to come to and Marv takes his crowbar and prepares to whack the tarantula. He tells Harry not to move and he smacks Harry across the torso, but the spider crawls away. Harry grabs the crowbar and starts hitting Marv, saying, "How do you like it?" 

 

Kevin uses a handlebars equipped zip line stretched from the attic window to his brother's tree house to get to the tree house. Harry and Marv stand at the attic window wondering where Kevin went, but he again taunts them by saying, "Down here, you big horse's ass. Come and get me before I call the police." (Comment: "Down here," because the tree house is slightly lower than the house attic.) Harry and Marv begin to try climbing along the rope to get to Kevin in the tree house. After they are out more than a little way, Kevin yells out, "Hey guys, check this out," and he displays a large pair of hedge-cutters as he prepares to cut the rope. Harry and Marv try to go back, but Kevin cuts the rope and the two crooks slam into the wall of the house, leaving us with the definite opinion that neither man will ever get a role swinging on a vine playing Tarzan. Kevin uses a ladder to climb down from the tree house and he runs to the neighbor's house and enters through the basement door. This is one of the houses already robbed by the "Wet Bandits," and Kevin has to slog through the flooded basement. When he goes up the steps to enter the kitchen, here are Harry and Marv waiting for him. They hang Kevin by his sweatshirt on a hook on the door and they start telling him how they're going to get even with him, with Harry saying that he's going to bite off Kevin's fingers. A pair of boots are seen elsewhere in the kitchen, and now we see Mr. Marley with his shovel creeping up behind Harry and Marv. WHAM! He smacks Marv over the head, and then as Harry turns toward him, he knocks him to the floor with a healthy (for Marley) hit to the head and face. Marley takes Kevin from the hooks and carries him out of the house and back home. The police come and Kevin watches from the window as the police bring out Harry and Marv, with one of the officers telling them how the police now know each house the two have robbed because of them leaving the water running. As the police car with the two bungling crooks in the back pulls away, Harry looks out the window and up at Kevin, who gives him a little wave bye-bye. 

 

Kevin goes to sleep and he awakens on Christmas morning to see snow falling and he calls for his mom, but when he goes downstairs, the house is still empty. Kevin goes back upstairs, but then Gus and company pull up and Kate is home. She enters and she sees the Christmas tree and decorations that Kevin has put up. (Comment: Kevin has obviously done a lot of clean up, because there's no sign of all the ruckus from the night before in this part of the house.) Kevin appears, and mother and son stand quietly looking at each other for a few moments. Kevin is solemn, and his mother apologizes for forgetting him. After a short pause, Kevin breaks into a big smile and goes to hug his mother and to be hugged by her. He asks about the others, and his mother tells him they couldn't get back, but just then they open the door and come in. Buzz, Kevin's older brother remarks how amazing it is that Kevin hasn't burned down the house, but instead of getting mad, Kevin smiles and the brothers high five each other. Kevin's dad finds Harry's gold tooth on floor, but he's not quite sure what it is. Kevin looks out the window and sees Mr. Marley hugging his son, then his daughter-in-law, and he then picks up his granddaughter to hug her. He's facing the McCallister house now and as he hugs his granddaughter, he sees Kevin and he waves to him, and Kevin smiles and waves back. Now we hear Kevin's brother, Buzz, yell, "KEVIN! What did you do to my room?" Kevin runs, normal has returned. 

 

  

 

If you haven't seen the picture, let me tell you, Santa's reindeer at the North Pole have seen this picture. Penguins in Antarctica have seen this picture. Camels at an oasis in the Sahara Desert have seen this picture. What are you waiting for, a blowtorch to scorch your head?   

                

   

 

 

 

Photo is isolated from the DVD Home Alone Collection by Fox Home Entertainment 2013

WORD HISTORY:

Podium-This word is distantly related to "foot," a word from the Germanic roots of English, and to words like "podiatry" (compound of Greek derived words), "centipede" (Latin derived), "octopus" (Greek word, borrowed by Latin), "pedestrian" (Latin derived). It goes back to Indo European "ped," which meant "foot," with extended meanings like "support, base." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "pous," which meant "foot" and this produced the transliterated noun "pódion," a diminutive form meaning "(small) base" (seemingly initially used in regards to statues and vases). Latin borrowed the word as "podium," meaning, "an elevated area, platform or balcony in an amphitheater or an arena." English borrowed the word from Latin in the mid 1700s. The word eventually became more specifically defined as "a platform on a stage or in hall that allows a clearer view of a music conductor, a speaker, or a featured person."

All In The Family Episode: Archie In The Hospital

"All In The Family" first aired on the CBS television network in January of 1971. The show, developed by producer Norman Lear, dared depict our prejudices, bigotries and hatreds right to our faces, but usually with a comedic twist. The basic format of the show was of middle aged Archie Bunker, a working class white man living in the Queens section of New York City, along with his wife Edith, their daughter Gloria, and Gloria's husband Mike.

This episode from "All in the Family" shows us how preconceived notions about what a person of a particular country is NOT supposed to look like. I would dare say that many of us, myself included, would assume the man on the other side of the partition to be a white Frenchman, and this doesn't make you a racist or a bigot in itself, but the question is, how would we treat another person in a circumstance such as this upon finding out the race or ethnic background of the person? Like another human being? Or would bigotry and racism overcome us, as it did with Archie?   

Episode Cast:

Archie Bunker ............................... Carroll O'Connor
Edith Bunker ................................. Jean Stapleton
Mike Stivic .................................... Rob Reiner
Gloria Bunker Stivic ..................... Sally Struthers
Jean Duval .................................... Roscoe Lee Browne
Lionel Jefferson ............................ Mike Evans
Louise Jefferson ............................ Isabel Sanford
Doctor Spence ............................... John Heffernan
Nurse ............................................. Priscilla Morrill

The episode opens with Archie in bed screaming for Edith because of back pain. Downstairs, Edith, Gloria and Mike are watching television, and Edith yells back to Archie that she'll be there, but she remains focused on the television program, an episode of then popular "Marcus Welby, MD." Gloria offers to go to her father and we then begin to learn that Archie is worried about his job, since he's been off work for several days. A little while later one of the workers calls and tells Archie that everything is fine at work, only causing more stress for Archie, because he isn't even missed at work, and there is a new young guy who is doing a great job, which is scaring middle aged Archie that the young man will replace him as foreman. Mike tries to explain to Archie that his back pain may be psychosomatic and caused more by worry and stress about this young guy taking his job, instead of being caused by a true physical injury. Fearful of showing what may be seen as weakness, Archie rejects Mike's idea. 

Archie's chain smoking doctor comes to the house and tells Archie he wants him in the hospital for tests. The scene shifts to the next day at the hospital where Archie is in a semiprivate room with a dividing partition drawn so that the two patients can't see one another. The other patient is black and the nurse says the partition is broken and can't be opened. Archie hears the other man's French-sounding accent and the two begin talking. The man tells Archie his name is Jean Duval (pronounced like "zawn," and it means "John"). Archie asks if the man is "a Frenchie," and Jean tells him, "Qui, I'm from Martinique."* Jean had a cyst removed from his back, so the two men share a problem in the same part of their anatomies and they get along in their conversation. Louise and Lionel Jefferson come to visit Archie and after about a minute, Jean asks Archie to introduce him "to your family" (for those unaware, the Jeffersons live next door to Archie and they are black).** Archie is rattled by Jean's request and he quickly tries to assure Jean that this is not his family and he tells Lionel to tell Jean this too, which prompts the joking Lionel to say, "Whatever you say, pop!"  Hahaha!  Louise and Lionel leave and in come Edith and Mike. Edith goes around the partition to meet Jean, and she then says to Archie, "It's funny, he don't look French" (said in improper English). Archie tells Edith and Mike that he and Jean haven't seen each other yet, because of the partition, which tells Mike all he needs to know. Mike tells Archie he should try to think of something other than his job and back, which sends Archie writhing in pain. Edith and Mike go to get the doctor.

Archie and Jean begin to talk again, and Archie tells him about his job and about this young 24 year old guy who is now working there, and just the mention of this young guy brings Archie to wince in pain. Jean says, "Do you think he is maybe after your job, Archie?" Now Archie winces again, but he tells Jean that is a good and smart observation. He also tells Jean that when they get out of the hospital, that Jean should come to supper with his wife some night. Jean says that he and Archie "are two ships that pass in the night," but Archie comes back with, "You are my kind of people." Archie tells Jean his address, but Jean cannot find a pencil to write it down. Archie has one and Jean gets out of bed and goes around the partition to Archie's side. This leads to an absolutely hilarious scene, because when Archie looks up, he is startled and says, "Who are you?" Jeans says, "Jean Duval." Archie sits up on the edge of the bed and says, "You said you was a Frenchman." Jean answers, "Qui." Archie says, "You didn't tell me you was black," leading Jean to say, "You didn't tell me you was white." Archie then says, "But white people don't have to go around tellin' other people that." Edith and Mike come back and tell Archie they can't find the doctor. Archie gets up and says he doesn't care, because he's going back to work. Mike says, "See .... psychosomatic!" Jean says to Archie, "Your illness was psychosomatic, but that's not what got you back up on your feet again..... It was that 'old black magic.' "  

* Martinique is an island part of France located in the Caribbean, just as Hawaii is an American state, but located in the Pacific Ocean, some distance from the contiguous United States. The population of Martinique is overwhelmingly of African descent.

** "The Jeffersons" soon was to become a popular separate television series as a spinoff of "All in the Family."

WORD HISTORY:
Anatomy-The first part of this compound word is related, through Indo European, to "on," a word from the Germanic roots of English. This part goes back to Indo European "ano," which meant, "on, upon." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "aná," meaning, "on, upon, up, up to, upwards." The second part of "anatomy" is related to "epitome," a word borrowed by English from French, which had it from Latin, which had it from Greek. This goes back to Indo European "tem," which had the notion, "to cut, to cleave." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "témnein," meaning, "to cut, to cut into or through, to butcher." Together these parts gave transliterated Ancient Greek the noun "anatomē," meaning, "dissection," which produced "anatomia" (anatomy). This was borrowed by Latin as "anatomia," and it passed to Latin-based Old French as "anatomie." English borrowed the word in about 1400 from French, but with very likely reinforcement from Latin, and with the meaning, "anatomy, the course of study of the structure of living things;" thus also, "the part of science dealing with the structures of living things," but also, "the structure of living things." The overall idea lying behind the word is, "the use of dissection to study physical structures of living things." The word took on the more general "how things work" as another meaning.   

All In The Family Episode: Mike Comes Into Money

When "All In The Family" first aired on the CBS television network in January of 1971, it was the talk of the nation. The show, developed by producer Norman Lear, dared depict our prejudices, bigotries and hatreds right to our faces, but usually with a comedic twist. The basic format of the show was of middle aged Archie Bunker, a working class white man living in the Queens section of New York City, along with his wife Edith, their daughter Gloria, and Gloria's husband Mike, usually called "Michael" by Gloria. The living arrangement is that Gloria and Mike get room and board while Mike attends college, but the young couple's other expenses must be paid for by themselves, and they must pay for the room and board, plus interest, after Mike gets his college degree and begins earning a living. This "agreement" is not always set in concrete and it proves to be periodically contentious, especially so in this episode. Further, the young liberal couple living with a middle aged couple is far from peaceful, as Archie is set in his ways on a number of things, and he doesn't see the contradictions he holds regarding other aspects of life. For instance, Archie would use "hell" or "damn" at times when arguing a point, but he tells others not to swear in the house.*
  
This episode is one I've remembered for all of the years since it was first telecast prior to the presidential election in 1972 (Nixon vs. McGovern). Of course, I got some "refresher" help with the reruns of "All In The Family" in the decades since those times. This episode has some truly funny lines, at least from the standpoint of my type of humor, but it also made some more serious points. 

Cast:

Archie Bunker ............................Carroll O'Connor
Edith Bunker .............................. Jean Stapleton
Gloria (Bunker) Stivic ...............Sally Struthers
Michael/Mike Stivic .................. Rob Reiner

The episode opens with Edith reading the draft of what is supposed to be a funny story to Gloria. She wants Gloria to help refine the story so she can submit it to Reader's Digest for a chance to make $100, a decent sum of money in 1972, and equivalent to about $600 today. Edith's story isn't very funny, but Archie and Mike arrive home with raised voices as they argue about pollution. Things settle down from that argument only to have Archie open the water bill and declare, "Lucky me, I've got the only Polack who showers regularly."** Mike reaches into his pocket and pulls out a dime, which he offers to Archie. Archie responds by saying, " That dime ain't gonna pay for all your showers," and Mike replies, "No, but it'll pay for yours." Hahaha!

Mike opens a piece of mail, only to read that an uncle has died, but that he's left Mike $275. This prompts Archie to ask for $200 of the sum as a partial payment on what Mike owes him for more than two years' room and board. Mike says this goes against the agreement he and Archie made that defers Mike paying on the debt he owes Archie until after he graduates and gets a job. Then comes the equivalent to a sock in the jaw to Archie. Mike tells him he plans to donate the $200 to the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern. Archie is furious, but Mike tries to explain that he's trying to defend democracy, because the Democrats have virtually no money, while the Republicans have 30 million dollars available to them (equivalent to more than $175 million in today's value). Mike says that "it's like politics in America is only for the rich," and this brings the question from Archie, "Who's been feeding you that Commie crapola?" Mike replies, "President Eisenhower" (he was a Republican president during the 1950s). Archie screams, "He did not! Eisenhower was a great president who never said nuthin'." Hahaha  Gloria then adds, "He (Eisenhower) did too, Daddy. Eisenhower made that statement in 1968, I saw it in the Reader's Digest." This brings Edith to interject, "Oh! I wonder if they paid him $100 for it?" Hahahaha! Archie forbids Edith to do any more cooking for Mike and Gloria, until Mike starts "chipping in;" so, dinner times are now divided for the family.

The scene shifts to two weeks later, which is election day. Gloria, who has had a job since before Mike's inheritance and the resulting argument with Archie, comes home and rushes to fix supper for Mike and herself. In the process, Gloria is in so much of a hurry, she turns the oven up to 500 degrees, not knowing that Edith has rolls baking for Archie's dinner. The rolls are burned and Edith and Gloria quarrel over the whole situation. The argument brings Archie into the kitchen to say, "What's all the hollerin' out here? For a minute I thought I was in the back room of a Greek restaurant." He goes to Gloria, who asks him if he cares that she and her mother have just had this argument. He answers, "Sure I care. I told yous to shut up, didn't I?" Hahaha!

Archie tells his daughter that it's all Mike's fault, that Mike didn't do the right thing about the $200. She answers that fathers often make sacrifices for their kids and that even when Archie helps Mike, he is also helping her and that this is helping her to be better off than himself, and that every father wants his child to be better off than himself. Archie gives the hilarious reply, "That don't always work that way, little girl... Take a look at your animal kingdom for example there. Take the gorilla. Well the gorilla wants his kid to grow up better than him too, but the kid grows up, and there he is, still a gorilla." Hahahaha!

Mike comes home and sees the stew Edith has prepared for Archie's supper. Archie quickly points the way to the kitchen for Mike to get his own food. Mike goes into the kitchen and Gloria and Mike discuss how Mike has been working after college each day to earn $200 to give to Archie, but they have told Archie and Edith that Mike's been at the library studying. So far Mike has made $150. Mike asks Gloria what's for dinner. She answers, "Hamburgers," bringing Mike's reply of, "Again? I don't want them every night." Gloria then says, "Last night I made you meatloaf." Mike answers, "Gloria, meatloaf IS hamburger. It's the same thing with another name." The two have a brief exchange, and Mike says to Gloria that her father is "stupid" and "pig-headed." Gloria gives an interesting response: "Hold it, don't you call my father names just because you had a fight with him, that's not fair. And maybe we're not being fair. Maybe we should look at things from his point of view...... Michael, there are two sides to everything. Remember, it's not only that you didn't give Daddy the money, but you gave it to somebody he's dead against... I haven't been home more than ten minutes and I've already had a fight with my father and my mother and now you." Mike says, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," but Gloria cuts him off with, "Oh shut up and eat your meatloaf," to which Mike says, "It's hamburgers," bringing Gloria to shout, "It's the same thing!" hahahaha!

Meanwhile, Archie and Edith eat their dinner and discuss the argument between Mike and Gloria. Edith tries quoting an old saying, but mangles it badly, causing Archie to say, "I've got an old saying for you, Edith. A bird that always flies in a fog is called a dingbat." *** Mike and Gloria come out of the kitchen and get ready to watch the election returns, but Archie won't allow it, so Mike tells Gloria that they can go to McGovern's local campaign headquarters to watch the returns. This brings Archie to say, "That's right, you've got $200 of TV watchin' comin' to you there." Mike gets angry and takes the $150 from his pocket and gives it to Archie. Gloria explains to her father about how Mike has been working to get this money together. Mike tells Archie that just as he got this money, that he'll get Archie every nickel he owes him. Never one to be appreciative or to give out compliments, Archie wants to know when he'll get the remaining $50 of THIS money.    

* While "hell" or "damn" wouldn't even move the needle on modern network television, in those times, they were about as strong a couple of words that were allowed on television. For those of you who didn't live through that era, there were no true cable channels in those days where "strong language" was essentially permitted.

** Of course today, I can't imagine that word being used on network television. Since I grew up in a neighborhood that included a fairly large number of people of Polish background, including quite a number of actual Polish immigrants, the word was common there, and it was not uncommon for people of Polish descent to use it, although some Polish people took offense to it, as it wasn't so much the word, but the context of the word's usage that was derogatory. Certainly Archie Bunker's derogatory use of the word (in more than in just this episode) went a long way to making the word taboo on television and in every day society.

*** The word "dingbat" became so popular from Archie's use of it for Edith, that wherever you went back in those times, you were apt to hear someone called a "dingbat," and that's just what you'd hear people call me. Hm, I never have figured that out ....    

Photo is of the 2004 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment "All In The Family: Season Three" DVD set

WORD HISTORY:
Burgess-This is one of those words with a base from Germanic in a non Germanic language, which then developed its own offshoot and meaning, and which was then borrowed by English. It is related to "bourgeoisie," a word borrowed by English from French, and it is related to "berg" and to "burg(h)" (thus, "borough"), words from the Germanic roots of English. "Burgess" goes back to Indo European "buhrgh/bhrgh" which meant "high place." This gave Old Germanic "burg(s)," meaning, "castle, fortress, protected place or stronghold," since most castles were built on high places for their military benefit. Since these provided protection, many people came to live in such places, and as time passed, the name remained, but many of of stronghold characteristics began to disappear. English had forms of the word from Old Germanic as "burg," "burh" and "burgh," which brought the development of the compounds "burgleoda" and "burgsittend," both of which meant "citizen, resident" (English eventually borrowed Latin-derived "citizen" from French). Meanwhile, Old French had a form of the Germanic word either passed to it from Latin "burgensis" (which had borrowed it from Germanic initially as "burgus"), which meant, "citizen/resident of a walled town," or French directly borrowed the word from Frankish, a Germanic language/dialect; the French form back then being "burjois," again with the "citizen/resident" meaning. The form carted to England by the Normans was (or shortly became?) "burgeis," and English borrowed that form in the early 1200s, before the modern form. By circa 1500 it was used for a member of Parliament who represented a "borough" (the close relative of "burgess"). In 1600's Colonial America, the lower house of the Virginia legislative body was called the "House of Burgesses." It has also been used in some places for other local legal authorities (magistrates).  

Gilligan's Island Episode: The Little Dictator

This episode was first broadcast in September 1965.

"Gilligan's Island" was a comedy originally aired on the CBS television network in the mid 1960s. The show's first season, 1964-65, was broadcast in black and white, but the show began airing in color with the 1965-66 season. The basic idea of the series was that seven people had been shipwrecked during a severe storm after the tour boat they were on sailed from Hawaii. The boat was beached on a small uncharted island where these seven representatives from various parts of American society had to learn to get along in order to survive. Some viewers took the show far too seriously, as many particulars of the episodes certainly didn't make sense,* but those of us who loved the show didn't care, and "Gilligan's Island" was and still is one of my all time favorite shows. The show was canceled after the 1966-67 season, but these episodes from the 1960s were aired for decades in syndication in the United States and around the world. In addition, three full-length movies were made in the late 1970s and early 1980s featuring all of the original cast, except Tina Louise, who remained embittered about how the show had damaged her career, as movie and television execs felt she was too tied to her "Ginger" character from the show, and this restricted the roles offered to her. Some of the other cast members were embittered too, until they came to realize how beloved they and the show were to so many people around the globe.

Cast:

Bob Denver ................. Gilligan
Alan Hale, Jr. .............. (the) Skipper
Jim Backus ................. Thurston Howell III
Natalie Schafer ........... Mrs. Howell, aka "Lovey"
Tina Louise ................ Ginger Grant
Russell Johnson ......... the Professor
Dawn Wells ............... Mary Ann
Nehemiah Persoff ...... Presidente Rodriguez 
 
This episode was done as a parody of Central and South American countries of that time period in the 1960s, as so many of those countries often were politically unstable back then. This episode uses a fictional country called "Equarico" to make that point. The guest star was Nehemiah Persoff, a favorite of mine, and a man now 100 years old! 

A deposed dictator from the fictitious Latin American country of "Equarico" is exiled to the island, complete with his pistol. He meets Gilligan and introduces himself as Ex Presidente Rodriguez, but Gilligan doesn't believe him and sarcastically introduces himself as George Washington, which brings Rodriguez to mistakenly reply, "They exiled you too?" From this point on, Rodriguez calls Gilligan "George." In the world of Equarico, Rodriguez has learned that "he who has gun is the leader." Rodriguez implements this doctrine and he sees the castaways as his new subjects, and he declares himself as "the provisional presidente, until such time as it is safe to hold free and democratic elections." When the castaways ask, "When will that be?" Rodriguez responds, "You should live so long." The castaways make a couple of attempts to overthrow Rodriguez, but they fail, which brings Rodriguez to prepare to execute Gilligan, but when he pulls the trigger of the pistol, the gun is out of bullets. The castaways now take the dictator into custody. Rodriguez assumes he will be executed or exiled, because that's what happens in Equarico. Instead, the castaways simply want Rodriguez to become one of them and to be a good citizen of their island community, where he can become "anything he wants." Of course, what Rodriguez wants is to be the leader, and he plans to use Gilligan ("George") as the means to achieve that wish by trying to convince Gilligan to become the "leader" of the island, with Rodriguez always being there to "help" him. (Democracy is always vulnerable to want to be dictators, if people don't keep vigilant.) He tells Gilligan to sleep on the proposal and Gilligan has a dream about being the "leader," but in his dream, he realizes that much is wrong in his realm, and that Rodriguez won't let the truth about his nation's problems come to his attention. Rodriguez is self aggrandizing, interested in his own well being, not interested in the country and its people. Gilligan's loyal and truthful cabinet members (all portrayed by the castaways) are executed by Rodriguez, who fears the truths about the country they are trying to show to Gilligan. Rodriguez finally tells Gilligan that he has no real power, rather he is a puppet ruler, with Rodriguez pulling the strings. Gilligan awakens from the dream and races outside to tell Rodriguez he will not be his puppet, but he finds Rodriguez getting into a boat sent by Equarico to take him back to that nation so he can be restored to power, as there has been another revolution. He promises he will send a ship to rescue the people on the island. The castaways begin to learn a few basic words in Spanish for their trip, but on the radio comes the announcement that Rodriguez has again been overthrown and exiled to the top of the Andes Mountains. So much for any rescue. 

* No question about it, the castaways had access to things that magically appeared, and to items that certainly would not have been carted along on a tour boat, including Mr. and Mrs. Howell's extensive wardrobes. I suppose if you totaled up everything the seven people had available to them, the tour boat, the SS Minnow, might have been closer to the size of the Queen Mary. In one episode, Gilligan thinks he's won a million dollar sweepstakes, bringing Mr. Howell to grant Gilligan a membership in Howell's exclusive club, complete with a special blazer adorned with the club seal. Where did Mr. Howell get the special blazer for Gilligan? I don't care. Remember, this was a comedy. In another episode, the castaways salvage movie equipment and costumes from a sunken ship; the key here being "sunken ship." The thing is, the equipment and costumes are all in perfect condition and totally dry, in spite of the fact that the ship had sunk decades earlier, and again, it was a sunken ship, as in, how did everything remain dry? Again, I don't care, and it was a funny episode.

Photo is from the Turner Home Entertainment/Warner Brothers' Complete Second Season DVD Set 

WORD HISTORY:
Puppet (Pupa)-This word is distantly related, through Indo European, to "few," a word from the Germanic roots of English, but it is more closely related to "pupil," meaning, "student and also the middle of the eye," both (meanings) of Latin derivation and borrowed by English from French. It goes back to Indo European "pau," meaning, "small in size or amount." This gave Latin "pupus," meaning "boy, a male child," and "pupa," meaning "girl, female child" (see "pupa" below), but with the feminine form also meaning "doll;" thus also, "puppet." This gave Latin-based Old French "po(u)pee," meaning "doll, puppet," which provided the basis of the French diminutive "po(u)pette;" thus, "little doll, puppet." English borrowed the word as "poppet" (initially as "popet"?) meaning "small doll, small person." This then became "puppet" by the 1500s and with the meaning of "a small doll made to move by attached strings, wires or sticks" (later also including "hand manipulated dolls in glove form"). About that same time came the generally negative figurative meaning of, "a person manipulated by another to act in a certain way." The word "pupa," meaning "an intermediate stage of development of an insect," is a direct borrowing, circa 1775, from the above mentioned Latin form, which had that meaning attached by Swedish botanist/zoologist Carl Linnaeus in the mid 1700s.        

Get Smart Episode: Our Man in Toyland

This was one of the early episodes of the "Get Smart" television comedy series, which spoofed the spy mentality of the Cold War era. The episode first aired in October of 1965 and featured guest star John Hoyt, a familiar face to television viewers and movie goers in those times, although most people likely didn't know his name. John Hoyt played many a villainous role, and I have to believe it was his likeness that gave rise to the cartoon caricature of "Fearless Leader" on the "Rocky & Bullwinkle Show," which was televised in the early 1960s, first on the ABC network, then on the NBC network. Another familiar face of this episode is that of Helen Kleeb, who made many an appearance in movies, and many more appearances on television for decades. Helen Kleeb lived to be 96 years old, and she made television appearances well into the 1990s. To put this episode's ending into perspective, World War Two, the Korean War and the Vietnam War (then ongoing and escalating significantly) had created a substantial market for military-themed toys, like guns, grenades, bazookas, bayonets and bombs; and yes, I did say "toys." My mother had worked for a (then) major toy manufacturing company a few years before this episode aired, although I can't recall if she ever saw this episode, and "Get Smart" was not really her kind of comedy.      

Main Cast:

Don Adams: Maxwell Smart, CONTROL Agent 86, "Max"
Barbara Feldon: CONTROL Agent 99, "99"
Edward Platt: Chief of CONTROL, "Chief"
John Hoyt: Conrad Bunny/store manager/KAOS agent
Helen Kleeb: Frieda/store clerk, KAOS agent

The Chief of CONTROL assigns Maxwell Smart, along with canine agent Fang, also known as "K13," to find out how KAOS is getting secret government information out of the U.S. to hostile interests through merchandise at a local department store. The Chief already has placed Agent 99 and some other agents in the store and they will report any suspicious activity to Max, who will pretend to be a customer. Max goes to the store and is followed by a KAOS agent. The other CONTROL agents keep track of the KAOS man and report his movements to Max, who meets the Chief in the department store restaurant, where the KAOS agent is arrested. In the meantime, Max had gone to Agent 99, who was working in the perfume department of the store. She tells him she thinks KAOS knows who she is. The store manager, Mr. Conrad Bunny, approaches and Agent 99 tells Max he might be interested in a new perfume called, "Jasmine," which is a code to say she's in trouble. Max says he'll return later.

After the arrest of the KAOS agent in the restaurant, mentioned above, Max goes back to the perfume counter to get Agent 99 to safety, but another woman is there. She tells Max that he is mistaken about another woman having been working there earlier, because she's been the only person there all day. Max plants a microphone on the perfume counter and he hears the woman talking with Conrad Bunny who says that Agent 99 has gotten away from them, but that they have successfully disarmed her. He says that the store will close shortly and then they can search the entire store for 99. The clerk tells Mr. Bunny about Max having been to the counter and asking for the woman who wanted to demonstrate "Jasmine" perfume for him. Bunny remembers the earlier customer and figures the man (Max) is working with Agent 99. He says they must find both of these people and kill them. Max goes to get help from the three CONTROL agents stationed at points throughout the store, but two are missing, and he finds the third agent dead.

With closing time nearing for the store, Max and Fang go looking for 99 and they find her hiding in a small office. She tells Max she's discovered how KAOS is sending the secret information. She brings out a doll, called "Polly Dolly," that is equipped with a small tape cartridge to give it the ability to "talk." Mr. Bunny replaces the doll tape cartridge with one he has recorded with the secret information on it. He then marks the doll in a certain way so that it can be identified as one with secret info on it for KAOS agents overseas. The dolls easily clear customs officials, because no one is looking to play the tape cartridge. So Max and 99 get Fang to take the doll out of the store through the ventilation system to the Chief, which he does. The Chief calls for all available agents so they can raid the department store.

Klutzy Max hits the keys on an organ in the music department of the store, so Mr. Bunny knows where they are. To lessen the light, Max empties his gun shooting out the lights in the room, but when Mr. Bunny and two KAOS agents come in, Max tries to bluff his way with the empty gun. The bluff fails, but 99 picks up a toy water pistol which Max uses on Conrad Bunny, knocking his monocle to the floor, where he steps on it. Max and 99 flee into the toy department where they begin using the military toys to ward off Mr. Bunny and his KAOS agents. The toy weapons cause Bunny and company to seek shelter behind a counter, so Max finds the ultimate toy weapon called "Destructo," a remote operated flying bomb, which demolishes the counter where the KAOS agents are hiding. Max tells Agent 99, "We had at our disposal every fiendish and destructive plaything ever devised for the pleasure of little children. All those poor devils had were real guns and bullets." hahahahahaha!!!! The Chief arrives with several CONTROL agents and as they take Mr. Bunny away, he grabs a gun Max is holding. He tells how he'll at least kill one of them and he fires the gun. It turns out the gun was a dart gun and Max is standing with a dart in the middle of his forehead.
       
Picture is from the 2008 HBO Video release of "Get Smart: The Complete Series" (Season 1)

WORD HISTORY:   

Chaos-This word is distantly related to "yawn," a word from the Germanic roots of English, and to "chasm," a word English borrowed from Latin, which got it from Greek. It goes back to Indo European "ghih/gheh," which had the notion, "to be wide open." This gave transliterated Greek "khaos," meaning, "large empty space." This was borrowed by Latin as "chaos" and English borrowed the word circa 1400. The use of the word in a religious sense for, "the void in the universe before creation," developed in the 1500s and this developed into the more general "turmoil, confusion, disorder," in the 1600s, the meaning which has carried into modern times.

McHale's Navy Joins The Air Force, Hilarious!

"McHale's Navy Joins The Air Force" is absolutely hilarious. If you have never seen this movie, please do so. This 1965 movie, filled with slapstick and filmed in color, was based on the television series "McHale's Navy" (which was in black and white) and was simply like an extended episode of the show, except that it focused on the show's Ensign Parker, played by suburban Cleveland native Tim Conway,* and Captain Wallace Binghamton, played by Youngstown, Ohio native Joe Flynn. When the television series was in the planning, there is no question the producer wanted a name star for the show, and Ernest Borgnine was that star. Borgnine was an Academy Award winner in 1955 for his performance in the movie, "Marty." Borgnine, who served in the U.S. Navy for about a decade, including during World War Two, was cast as Lt. Commander Quinton McHale, the commander of PT 73.** Once the series started, the public latched onto Tim Conway and Joe Flynn, both of whom became well known stars because of the show, overshadowing Ernest Borgnine's role as the PT boat's skipper. "McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force" simply demonstrates that fact, as Borgnine is totally absent from the movie. Borgnine was busy doing a part in another movie, but he also claimed that McHale's Navy producer, Edward Montagne, didn't want to pay him to do the movie, to hold down costs. In the movie, McHale is said to be away, and that Ensign Parker is in charge of the boat and crew.

Like the then ongoing television series, the movie is set in the South Pacific during World War Two. Binghamton has the PT 73 take him to a military conference in Australia, and the crew sees the chance to go to Australia as an opportunity to party. Binghamton, however, confines the crew to their PT boat while he attends the conference, and he sends the Naval Regulations quoting Parker to copy those regulations 100 times. With Binghamton gone and Parker below deck, the crew makes a deal with the crew of a Russian freighter docked next to them, so they can go into town and party. They swap uniforms with the Russians and off they go into town. The Russians get Ensign Parker drunk, dressed in a Russian navy uniform and take him into town. The problem is, two Russian NKVD agents (secret police), are looking to arrest any Russian AWOL*** military personnel. One of the PT 73's crew finds Parker and helps him elude the NKVD agents. They end up in the locker room of an athletic center for officers, where, unknown to them, Lieutenant Harkness (played by Ted Bessell, who later played the boyfriend of Marlo Thomas in the series, "That Girl"), the son of an American Army Air Force general (played by Tom Tully),**** is preparing to go see his father. The crew member ditches Parker's Russian uniform and dresses him in the uniform of the general's son, who left his uniform hanging on his locker while he showered and shaved. When the lieutenant wants to report the theft of his uniform to the front desk, he first puts on the Russian naval uniform to make himself decent. The NKVD agents nab him with the help of Captain Binghamton, who is also using the facility to clean up, and the agents take the lieutenant to the Russian ship, which will be leaving to go back to Vladivostok, Russia. Too late, Binghamton, accompanied by his aide, Lieutenant Elroy Carpenter, played by Bob Hastings (he later played bar owner "Kelsey" on "All in the Family"), finds the name of Lieutenant Harkness on a toiletry kit, and he knows he has helped to turn the general's son over to the Russians, and that he needs to find him.

In the meantime, Parker, still feeling no pain from his drinking bout with the Russians, comes up missing. When Binghamton returns to the PT 73, he finds the Russian ship, with Lieutenant Harkness aboard, has already sailed. He plans to catch up to the Russians to get the lieutenant back, but just then, General Harkness shows up looking for his son, but he finds that Binghamton has not yet left Australia for the Army Air base, where he had been ordered during the military conference. The general orders him to leave immediately, so Binghamton has to abandon the trip to free Lieutenant Harkness from the Russian ship. When Binghamton, Carpenter and the PT 73 arrive at the air base, Binghamton is picked up to be taken to the base office, but the driver also tells him he is to stop to pick up Lieutenant Harkness, who just flew in, and who will be Binghamton's liaison officer. Off of one of the planes comes Parker, still in the lieutenant's uniform and sick with a hangover. The plane's pilot assumes Parker is Lieutenant Harkness, and when a colonel, the base commander pulls up, Binghamton introduces Parker as the lieutenant. The colonel, who has never met Harkness, proceeds to tell "Harkness" he has been promoted to captain.

Parker may be dressed as Captain Harkness, but he's still bungling Ensign Parker, and when he is given his barrack's and room numbers, he gets the numbers mixed up and and he ends up in the women's barracks! In an absolutely hysterically funny scene, when one of the women sees him, she screams, "Man in the barracks," bringing Parker to yell the same thing! The women come running from their rooms, but Parker finally gets away, although not without first saying, "If my mother ever finds out...." Outside the barracks he immediately gets into another problem with one of the WACs (WAC=Women's Army Corps), who almost runs over him in her jeep. The two go to the air base control tower to deliver some papers, but the officer there thinks the two are on a romantic escapade, so he leaves them alone. Parker accidentally sets off the alarm siren, sending fighter planes into the night sky. It turns out, the planes intercept a Japanese air attack, and Parker...ah, I mean, Harkness, is promoted to major! While all of this is going on, the real Harkness has jumped overboard from the Russian ship and made it to an island, where he steals a boat from some angry natives. 

Binghamton sends Carpenter back to the PT 73 to get it underway in finding the Russian ship. Next, Parker must take a flight simulator test in a trainer and Binghamton goes with him. While the two are inside the trainer, a crew shows up to transport the trainer elsewhere for repairs, so they load it onto a truck and off it goes. The rough road causes the trainer to fall off of the truck and into the ocean. Parker and Binghamton are stunned to find they are no longer in the base training facility, bringing Binghamton to keep saying, "Link trainers can't fly." The two head back to the base and to the base hospital, where they see General Harkness! Binghamton hides in a closet and Parker dashes into a room, where he disguises himself as a nurse. Binghamton ends up falling out of the closet and the doctor asks the nearby "nurse" (actually Parker) to help. Parker accidentally injects both the doctor and Binghamton with a strong sedative, knocking them out. Parker changes back into the uniform of Harkness and heads back to PT 73, but a driver shows up to take him to a waiting plane. It turns out, the base commander is going to send him to see his dad, the general, on another island, but Major Harkness will act as the cargo plane's navigator, a task for which Parker has absolutely no clue. Binghamton catches up to Parker as he boards the cargo plane and here we go. A jeep is strapped in as part of the cargo being transported.

During the flight, the pilot periodically asks for the plane's course, and Parker makes up a number, bringing the pilot to adjust the plane by making some sharp turns, which causes some of the cargo to break loose and rip off the exit door. Another sharp course change sets the jeep to rolling around and Parker gets into the driver's seat to try to use the brakes. Binghamton climbs into the passenger seat, but the jeep's momentum carries it out the door, and leaves it suspended by rope underneath the plane. Parker starts blowing the horn and the pilot looks out the window and then tells the co-pilot that there is a jeep trying to pass them. Dingy Parker even uses hand signals to indicate turns.***** When Parker and Binghamton look down at the Pacific, they see the Japanese fleet. As the plane heads in for a landing, it passes over the real Major Harness, who is paddling along in the native boat. The American military commanders are all conferring about the whereabouts of the Japanese ships, which they have not been able to locate. As the plane sweeps in, the rope lets go and the jeep falls in through the roof of the conference room. Parker tells General Harness about the Japanese fleet and the orders are given to strike. Into the conference room comes Major Harness, all grimy from his ordeal, only to be scoffed at by his father, who thinks his son has been out partying.

The scene shifts to Washington DC, some time later, where President Roosevelt is about to honor Parker for providing the information about the Japanese fleet. Parker gets credit, because he was the navigator of the plane! As Binghamton fumes about Parker's honor, Parker is asked to say a few words to test the microphones. He imitates the voice of President Roosevelt, using FDR's common opening, "My friends..." Binghamton goes berserk, as he thinks Parker has now been made president of the United States.

* Tim Conway's real first name was Thomas/Tom, but there was already an actor by that name, so he chose "Tim" for his professional name. By the way, for you movie experts, "Tom Conway" was the stage name of Thomas/Tom Sanders, the brother of well known actor George Sanders, and yes, the real family name was Sanders.

** PT=Patrol Torpedo

*** AWOL=away without leave

**** The Air Force was part of the US Army in those times.

***** Back in perhaps the late 1970s or early 1980s, this movie was on when my mother was visiting me. My mother was not really much for slapstick kind of comedy, but when that jeep was suspended under the plane and Parker kept honking the horn and using hand signals, she laughed as hard as I had ever seen her laugh. 

Photo is of the 2016 Shout! Factory DVD with both McHale's Navy movies

WORD HISTORY:
Deep/Depth-This word, distantly related to "dip," and commonly used as an adjective, as a noun (also rendered in noun form, in the expanded forms "deepness" and "depth"), and as an adverb, usually as "deeply," goes back to Indo European "dheub," which meant, "deep, hollow." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "deupaz," meaning, "deep," which gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "deop," with the meaning "deep," but with a number of figurative meanings, like, "earnest," "mysterious" and "stern." The noun form was also "deop," meaning, "deepness, depth." This then became "dep(e)," before the modern form. Forms in the other Germanic relatives: German has the adjective "tief"  (deep, also the adverbial "deeply"), the nouns "(das) Tief" (weather terminology "a low"), "(die) Tiefe" ("depth, deepness"); Low German Saxon "deep" (adjective) and "Deep" (noun); Dutch "diep" (adjective/adverb), "diepte" ^^ (noun: depth/deepness); West Frisian "djip" (adjective), "djipte" ^^ (noun: depth, deepness); Danish has "dyb" (adjective) and "dyb/dybde"^^ (noun: depth, deepness); Norwegian has "dyp" (adjective) and "dybde"^^ (noun: deep, deepness); Icelandic has "djúpur" (adjective) and "dýpt" (noun: depth, deepness); Swedish has "djup" (adjective) and "djup" (noun: depth, deepness), but they also have "djuphet,"^^ which now seems to be somewhat antiquated.  

^ Long ago many of the high Germanic dialects underwent a "sound shift," where the "d" in many other Germanic dialects often became "t" and "p" often became "f;" thus, modern standard German, which grew from middle high German dialects, "tief."

^^ Technically, these forms correspond to English "depth," which is why they have the "te," "de" and "het" endings (German also once had "Tiefte"="depth"), just as English has "dep" + "th," for "depth" (it was actually spelled "depthe," previously). The English suffixes "-th" and "-t," and the "te," "de" and "het" suffixes in other Germanic languages, comes from Old Germanic "itho," which came from Indo European "ita."

The Ghost Breakers: Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard Star

Main cast:

 

Bob Hope as Larry Lawrence

Paulette Goddard as Mary Carter

Richard Carlson as Geoff Montgomery

Paul Lukas as Parada 

Willie Best as Alex

Pedro de Cordoba as Havez

Virginia Bissac as the mother of the Zombie

Noble Johnson as the Zombie

Anthony Quinn as Ramon Mederos & Francisco Mederos

Paul Fix as Frenchy Duval

This 1940 comedy/horror film has crime gossip radio celebrity Lawrence Lawrence Lawrence saying his names are the same because, "my folks had no imagination." After a broadcast about a major racketeer, Larry, as he is commonly known, is to go see the crime boss at a hotel. Larry's valet, Alex, gives him a gun to take along, just in case. Inside the hotel, as he searches for the room, a man in the hallway opens a door just a short distant away and is shot. Larry turns and fires his gun just in time to see the man crumple to the floor. Larry thinks he has killed the guy, and that the man had fired at him, because he was one of the racketeers sent to kill him. Larry ducks into a room, which happens to be the room of Mary Carter, who is about to leave on a ship for Cuba (this was long before Fidel Castro) to claim her newly inherited castle there on a small island with no electricity, built by her great-great grandfather. The castle is believed to be haunted and the name of the island is "Black Island."

A short time before Larry barged into her room, Mary had gotten the deed to her castle from a Cuban man named Parada who says he's been authorized by a nameless person to offer her $50,000 for the castle. Remember, this was 1940, when such an amount would be worth more than $800,000 in today's money. She can't understand why someone would offer so much for a castle located on a small island off the Cuban coast, with no electricity, but complete with its own spooks. During her conversation with Parada, she gets a phone call from a Ramon Mederos who tells her not to sell the castle. Mary wants to know more, so she tells Mederos she'll meet him in 20 minutes. Parada is suspicious about the call, but says nothing. When Larry goes to the hotel, it is Mederos who is shot and killed by Parada, with Larry mistakenly believing he killed the man.

When Larry goes into her room, he tells Mary (they hadn't known each other) that he killed a man who fired at him. Mary is satisfied that he's not a murderer, so she tells him to hide when the police come to check her room. They find no one, but near the end of their check, the baggage attendant comes and takes Mary's trunk to be sent to the ship. Of course, Larry is hiding in the trunk, and we later have Larry, Mary and Alex, who came looking for his boss, all bound for Cuba. Parada is also on the ship and whenever he talks with Mary, he tries to scare her about the castle. He also talks to Larry and tells him about zombies and voodoo. As the ship enters Havana, at one point when Mary returns to her cabin, there is a voodoo death symbol stuck to her door with a knife. A man is outside of her door listening, but he is chased off by Geoff Montgomery, an acquaintance of Mary, who spends most of his time in Cuba and so is familiar with the area and with voodoo. While having a drink with Geoff in the ship's lounge, Mary thinks she sees the ghost of Ramon Mederos, the man shot and killed at the hotel earlier (she had seen his picture in the newspaper), but the man introduces himself as Francisco Mederos, the twin brother of the murdered man. He demands to know why his brother was killed, but Mary tells him she doesn't know. Mederos goes off to a table, and when Geoff goes to take a telephone call, Mary writes him a note excusing herself.

The scene shifts to Black Island as Larry and Alex arrive in a row boat. They see an old woman and when they look through the window of her old house, they see a man lying there, and they figure this is the woman's son, the zombie they had heard about. I'll tell you, you never know what kids will become when they grow up. Larry and Alex go to the castle and enter. On the wall hangs a large portrait of Mary's great great grandmother. Mary looks almost exactly like her ancestor. The guys see what appears to be a ghost emerge from a crypt, but Larry is skeptical. Mary arrives in a boat, but she has to swim to shore, as the boatman will not go any closer to the island, due to its reputation. The old woman sees Mary arrive and awakens her son. Mary goes inside the castle, but here comes the zombie son into the castle too. Mary goes to the upstairs to get away. A wall panel opens and we see Parada observing Mary, but then a hand covers his mouth and Parada disappears. Mary looks down and sees her great great grandmother's portrait and a slight smile comes over her. Meanwhile, Larry and Alex continue through the castle when the zombie, in a suit of armor, tries to kill them. As he moves toward the two guys, down the staircase comes Mary, dressed as her great great grandmother. Larry and Alex are able to overpower the zombie and lock him in a room. Mary feels that her great great grandmother is pointing to something in her portrait; that is, the secret of the castle, and the reason people have been trying to keep her away from her inherited castle. Geoff shows up and talks with Alex, but then leaves when he hears a motor boat. Larry and Mary investigate further and they find Parada dying from a stab wound. They then find musical notes on the wall, which when played on the castle's organ, causes a large section of the wall to open, exposing a stairway to an underground room, complete with a burning lantern. The two find nothing of value, but then out steps Francisco Mederos with a gun, only another panel opens and out comes Geoff with a gun, and he wounds Mederos. Geoff tells them there is a large vein of silver under the castle and he will have to kill them now to protect the secret and get the silver. Suddenly a trap door opens and Geoff falls through. Alex asks Larry if he pushed the right button. So, Mary, Larry, Alex and Mederos leave the island in Geoff's motorboat and Larry proposes to Mary. They ask Mederos how Geoff had arranged the walking ghost, but he tells them Geoff had nothing to do with the that, it was the real ghost of Mary's ancestor.       

Photo is of the 2002 Universal Studios Home Video DVD

WORD HISTORY:
Fetch-This verb, distantly related to the nouns "vat" and "foot," goes back to the Indo European root "ped/pod," which meant, "foot," and in an extended sense, "support;" thus, "hold." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "fatjanan," which meant, "to grasp, to grip, to hold." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "fetian/fatian" (by dialect), meaning, "to bring to, to bring near, to take on," which developed further into, "to marry" (bring together in life). The basic verb developed the variations, "feccan/fæccan" (also by dialect), which meant, "to bring to (someone or some place), to go and get, to fetch." This then became "fecchen," before the modern form. While the word is still alive and kicking, it once was much more extensively used in many senses, and it's only been in the last century or two that its role diminished. The other Germanic languages have: German has "fassen" (to grasp, to hold onto), ^ Low German Saxon has "faten" (grasp, hold on to), West Frisian "fetsje" (take, grasp [including in the sense, "understand"] ), Dutch has "vatten" (grasp, seize). The North Germanic languages seem to have only noun forms that are more closely related to English "vat," rather than to "fetch."

^ German uses "holen" to mean, "to fetch," and Dutch uses "halen." Both are close relatives of "haul."

"Chances Are," Some Laughs & Some Good Music

This is a fantasy comedy film from the late 1980s. I became interested when one of its songs, "After All," performed by Cher and Peter Cetera, became very popular on the radio and in bars; ah... at least someone told me it was popular in bars. The song led me to the movie, and I enjoyed it. The title song, performed by Johnny Mathis, was already well known to many people, including to me, from many years before, and there is also another Johnny Mathis song, "Wonderful, Wonderful," as well as Rod Stewart's  "Forever Young," and The Gregg Allman Band's "Can't Get Over You," Ruben Blades' "Nuestro Adios," Jimmy Soul's catchy "If You Wanna Be Happy," and some other songs.

The story centers around the 1960's love between a recently married couple, Louie and Corinne Jeffries, played by Christopher McDonald and Cybill Shepherd. Louie's best friend, Phillip, played by Ryan O'Neal, is in love with Corinne too, a fact Louie already knows, but is untroubled by. With Corinne pregnant with their first child, Louie, a district attorney, is hit and killed by a car, but once "upstairs," he insists on being sent right back to Earth, which is granted, and he has to be reborn to another family, but the attending angel forgets to give him a special inoculation to make him forget, so Louie's memory of his previous life will remain. Corinne gives birth to a daughter, Miranda, played by Mary Stuart Masterson, and Corinne also maintains her friendship with Phillip, who still loves her, but who remains a bachelor. Corinne never remarries, as she misses Louie even as the years pass and Miranda grows up and goes off to school in the mid to late 1980s. The reborn Louie, now named Alex, is born into another family about the same time as Miranda is born. Alex is ably played by Robert Downey, Jr. Alex, who wants to become a reporter, is also off at school and he meets Miranda. He later also meets Phillip, who invites him to dinner, where he will meet the Jeffries, Louie's widow and daughter. Once there, Alex again sees Miranda, and the two like one another, but slowly Alex begins to remember things from the past, although at first he's confused as to why. Corinne notices some of Alex's little habits are the same as Louie's were. Alex's memory continues to delve into the past and he finally realizes that he is really the late Louie Jeffries ... well, the new Louie Jeffries ... well the old Louie Jeffries now named Alex ... however the hell you say it!

With his new realization, Alex has to distance himself from Miranda's affection, since she's his daughter, but at the same time, he wants to reignite the affections of Corinne, his lonely and faithful wife. It all gets pretty hilarious, because Phillip still wants Corinne too, but once Alex convinces her that he's really Louie, she's happy as hell. Then Phillip catches Alex and Corinne half undressed, and he and Alex fight. Alex says, "I'm Louie," which leads Phillip to say, "Yeah right, and I'm Cleopatra," and Alex says, as they roll around on the floor, "You are not... you fight like her though." Meanwhile, Miranda is confused by Alex's changed behavior toward her, going from treating her like she's his girlfriend to treating her like he's her father, ah... which he is... well, anyway.

Events show Corinne how her unceasing love for Louie has made her oblivious to Phillip's love for her, but initially she is torn between the two. Likewise, Alex sees how Phillip has cared for his widow over the years, but how he always remained the gentleman. Through a mix up, Corinne and Phillip "get together," and the "Louie spell" over Corinne is broken, just as Phillip holding in his feelings is now over too.

Alex goes to see Miranda at the courthouse where she works, but now his memory is stoked once more, as the presiding judge is the same judge who took a payoff to throw out evidence against a mobster in a 1960's case, when Alex was Louie, a D.A. Prior to his death he got a picture of the judge accepting an envelop in a park late at night; a picture still in his camera. Alex confronts the crooked judge, who summons the guards, and they chase Alex, but he falls down the steps. The scene shifts to the hospital, where Corinne sits at Alex's bedside while he is unconscious. She speaks to him, as if he were awake, telling him they don't belong together anymore, because people change. An attendant comes in to administer an injection to Alex, but it's really the angel with the memory inoculation, and now all will be well. The story ends at the outdoor marriage of Corinne and Phillip, as "After All" is sung by Cher and Peter Cetera over the ceremony and the credits. It doesn't get much better than that. This is really a nice movie and one you should see, if you haven't done so.

 WORD HISTORY:
Chance-This word is related to "case" (the noun form meaning, "the state or condition of something, something that happens;" as in, "in this case," "a court case," also the grammatical sense, "nominative case, accusative case, etc"), a word of Latin origin borrowed by English from Latin-based French, and it is related to "cadaver," a word borrowed by English from Latin. "Chance" goes back to Indo European "khad/kad," which had the meaning, "to fall." This gave Latin "cadere," which meant, "to fall." This produced Latin "cadentia," meaning, "something that falls out, the falling out of dice." This gave Old French, a Latin-based language, "cheance," with the same meanings, but also the further development from the idea of "falling dice," gave the broader meaning of, "accident, random happening," which continued when the word was borrowed into English in the late 1100s/early 1200s.