My new favorite movie of all time: High School Confidential (1958). It has EVERYTHING: switchblade fights! Mamie Van Doren! Reefer addicts! Jerry Lee Lewis! Midnight hot rod races! Vampira beatnik poetry! And non-stop hep cat lingo galore, daddy-o!
I literally can't believe I never saw this movie before last night on TCM. Should be available on TCM on demand soon
Plus it has my late great pal Norm Grabowski (uncredited) as one of the Wheeler Dealers, the hoodlum gang that runs the reefer biz at 35-Year Old Student High School
And Michael Landon as head honcho of the Rangers, the high school's top hot rod club
And Charlie Chaplin Jr as undercover narc busboy at the beatnik jazz club owned by local reefer kingpin "Mr A" played by Jackie Coogan - whose movie career started as child costar of Charlie Chaplin Sr in "The Kid" and later became Uncle Fester on The Addams Family
And two chopped lead sled 48 Chevy coupes built by George Barris. Note: no one will be seated during the shocking lead sled flip scene
In short: this is not a movie, it is a 1 hour 25 minute xray of my brain
Footnote: here's a Jackie Coogan tangent I went off on, prompted by a car ID request
I don't understand why anybody would spend one second minimizing or defending somebody else's murder fantasy texts or chatroom Nazi shtick. I'm lazy and that shit seems like it'd be totally exhausting
Sure, it's easy and "fun" to merciless drag some unfortunate obese unattractivee professional political staffer after their career is ruined by a chat room leak. And this is my entire point, it's easy AND extremely fun
By "young white kids" do you mean 35 year old paid political staffers? Yes, by all means, I'm absolutely all-in on gleefully ruining their careers
Today's #DavesCarIDService crosses the streams on two of my avid interests, American cars and American college football, with a salute to the Cars of the Big Ten.
Yes, there are 18 schools in the Big Ten. I'm sorry if you don't get ironic Midwest humor. The quality of its football versus other conferences is debatable, but there's no debating that it encompasses America's historic vehicle-making region. Not just Michigan, every state represented in the Big Ten played a non-trivial role in America's car history. Even the Johnny-come-latelys who ironically pushed the school count above Ten.
To illustrate, I have selected a vehicle to represent each university in the conference, one that was made nearby.
Illinois: there were over 100 car companies founded in the state of Illinois, most in Chicago. But since UI is in Champaign-Urbana I selected one made downstate: behold an 1898 Duryea Peoria Motor Trap. The Duryea brothers were born in nearby Canton IL, and this 127 year old baby is still driving the streets of Peoria.
Indiana: Hoosiers rank only second to Michigan in importance to Michigan in car history. IU, your all-star is a 1915 Indy-made Stutz Bearcat, the Bugatti Veyron of the pre-WW1 era.
Iowa: the Hawkeye state had a few notable marques; including Colby and Maytag-Mason. But its claim to Automotive fame are native sons Fred & Augie Duesenberg. In #3, Eddie Rickenbacker driving one of the first Duesenberg branded cars ever made, a 1913 race car made in Des Moines at the Sioux City 300.
Maryland: you Terps get an 1908 Maryland, with a grille that looks a bit like a turtle.
I could blather endlessly about Michigan car industry, a had hundreds of of choices for its two conference reps. In this case, I could pick brands made just off-campus.
Michigan: Wolverines get a very spacious 1911 Ann Arbor, the Big House of early touring cars.
Michigan State: a layup for Sparty, because Lansing was forever the home of Oldsmobile. 1903 curved dash Olds model R, the Model T before the Model T.
Minnesota: despite my antipathy for the Gophers I am granting them a dandy, a 1911 Minneapolis 6 hp. Made by the ancestors of a pal of mine, Ky Michaelson.
Nebraska: Cornhuskers get another 2-wheeler, a Lincoln-made Cushman Airborne. Cushman virtually invented the motor scooter, and this one was used in WW2 by paratroopers.
Northwestern: Wildcats get the Chicago-made 1948 Tucker Torpedo, the star-crossed car of legend.
Ohio State: again, hundreds choices available for an Ohio made car, including the Buckeye. And couple dozen brands made in Columbus. But among them, I chose the 1910 Firestone-Columbus 7-A runabout.
This thing is not over until the wails and lamentations after Paramount buys CNN
tfw you're in the NYTimes newsroom Oberlin mafia, tell someone "you'll never work in This Town again," and a couple years later it turns out she is now This Town