Murder in the North End - She testified against the Big Sabu, now she mu...

Notes by Bill Russo Murder in the North End is a short tale that came to me over a plate of lasagna and meatballs. The food and the places are real, but the 'hitman' is fictional.

Karma and the Little Girl from Provincetown - A Christmas Tale

Notes by Bill Russo

Here's the video version of my short story, Karma and the Little Girl from Provincetown.

It looked like another sad Christmas for an unlucky fisherman from Pronvincetown. Everything changed a short time before the holiday, when his daughter Maria managed to find a treasure on the beach. How to turn the 'treasure' into something that would change the family's fortune was something that only Maria knew.

Death On A Rope - Revenge served up in a most disturbing manner!

Notes by Bill Russo In this dramatized version of one of the short stories in my book 'Swamp Tales', a greedy landowner who cheated an old Native American is visited in the dark of night by three strange creatures.

Back in 1964 after graduation from Grahm Jr. College in Boston, I knew that I did not want to work 8 hours a day at any job.

Spinning records for four hours a day sounded much better, so decided to take a job in radio. I went to the very first station that responded to my audition tape, WSJR at the top of the United States in Madawaska, Maine.

It was a great gig, but after two years I accepted a job in the Boston metro area, at WOKW in Brockton. The Mutual Radio Network billed itself as the biggest network in radio - but in truth, although it had over 500 affiliates, most of its stations were small and they did not have a station in Boston.

So sometimes, when there was a national story about the Red Sox or something else, the network would call me in Brockton, and I would do an audio report for them.

They would announce it by saying, Now reporting from Boston, Bill Russo for Mutual News - but in truth it was Brockton, not Boston! I was making about 80 bucks a week at the time, and Mutual paid me $15.00 every time they used my story - so it was a pretty nice little extra piece of change!

(The photo is not from my WOKW - it is long gone -some other station is now using the call letters. (Our jingle, sung by a group of four ladies was - "In the Know, On the Go - It's OK Radio!")

Knotso Clanky Meets Bigfoot - from Bill Russo's Short Story Theater

Notes by Bill Russo

From Season 4 of my podcast, Short Story Theater, here is the video version of Knotso Clanky Meets Bigfoot.

 

For no particular reason, with one month to go before I reach 79, I decided to hit up 'something-dot-gov' and look at my lifetime earnings. My first paying job, at age 15 in 1958 was working at the YMCA Day Camp and I made a total of $8.00 for the eight-week summer season - that worked out to a dollar a week, but I got to go to camp for free!

The next year I worked both at the YMCA and at the McDonald's 'On The Waterfront' in Beverly, Mass. My combined earnings in 1959 was $44.00.

The first McDonald's in Beverly, Mass - on the Waterfront at the end of Rantoul Street, which had a large population of Italian immigrants, including my family, during the 1940s through the 1960s.

In 1960, still working the two jobs plus still going to High School, I hit the big time, making $292.00.

In my last year of High School, 1961, I was really rollin' in the dough, raking in exactly $1,074 dollars! That big increase came from the YMCA Summer Camp and NOT McDonalds.

The pay at McDonalds was always 35 cents an hour. It did not go up during my time. The interesting thing about the 35 cents was - it was equal to the price of a McDonald's meal - 15 cents for the hamburger, ten cents for the fries, and one more dime for the soft drink!

Over the next few years, I continued to work part time while attending The Huntington School in Boston, followed by Grahm Jr. College, Kenmore Square, Boston, where Gary LaPierre of WBZ, and Andy Kaufman of Mars, were also students.

Bill Russo - 1961 - Beverly Mass. High School

Check out my YouTube Channel, or my books at Smashwords and Kindle and see my account of meeting a Little-Foot creature that might have been a Puckwudgie in the Bridgewater Triangle Documentary playing on Amazon, Apple, and several other major platforms including YouTube.

Bill Russo

- Born 1943

- Died: Not Yet, But I'm Workin' On IT!

My Friend Knotso Clanky went to the West Palm Beach Library in search of a book about a former president, here's what happened...

 

We lost Loretta Lynn on October 4, 2022, when she passed at the age of 90.  Along with Conway Twitty, and on her own, The Coal Miner's Daughter had about a million hits. Amont the top lady singers, only Dolly Parton was on an equal footing with Loretta.  
 

The American History They Do Not Teach

by Bill Russo

In 1620 the peaceful land of America was invaded by a ruthless band of interlopers led by a mercenary killer named Captain Stan Dish. The ruthless gunman quickly displayed his brutal nature shortly after the invaders arrived when he led unprovoked murderous attacks on two American Villages, Nemasket and Wessagusset. For his actions, the invaders elected him Commander of their military group.

Settling in an area now called Plymouth, the refugees from England soon found they were ill equipped to survive an American winter. In England in January, they were more likely to see a rainstorm than the snow that threatened them with starvation in their first winter.

Luckily for them, the greatest leader of the Americans, Massasoit, took pity and freely gave them food and survival skills.

Largely due to the grace of the fearless Wampanoag leader, the English refugees survived and multiplied as the years went on. By the time Massasoit died at the ripe old age of 80, in 1661, the refugees had lived mostly peacefully and harmoniously with the Americans for 41 years in what they called ‘The New World’.

The true nature of the immigrants came boiling to the surface. They forgot what Massasoit had taught them when he said: "What is this you call property? It cannot be the earth, for the land is our mother, nourishing all her children, beasts, birds, fish and all men. The woods, the streams, everything on it belongs to everybody and is for the use of all. How can one man say it belongs only to him?"

Shortly after the last spade of earth was shoveled onto the grave of The Great Chief, in what is now called Warren, Rhode Island, trouble began.

The invaders commenced raiding villages and murdering American citizens, and by 1676 a full-scale war on the Americans was declared. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Americans were nearly exterminated in the slaughter. Most of those who did not die were sold off as slaves!

And so it was, shortly afterwards, that America died, and “a new nation was brought forth, conceived in violence and dedicated to the proposition that Americans must perish, if this new nation is to stand. A brand-new nation now stands on the ruins of America – a nation called "New England”.

Some 100 years later, when the memory of Massasoit and his good deeds had faded, the country was re-named, The United States of America.

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The Red House, as seen on TCM - Great Print, excellent sound and picture.

High quality Print of this 1947 Classic Noir!

 Another Crack in the Wall -

Comin' Down by the 'Fall'

The Russian 'Madonna' is the latest to smash at the wall ....

Alla Pugacheva, one of Russia’s biggest pop stars has issued a scathing condemnation of the war in Ukraine and she reported that the government may ostracize her for doing it.

Pugacheva, who has been a huge star in Russia for decades, said in an Instagram post on Sunday that the invasion of Ukraine had made Russia a "pariah," and was making the lives of Russian citizens “extremely difficult.” Her post also followed the government's decision on Friday to classify her husband, the Russian celebrity Maxim Galkin, as a foreign agent after he publicly criticized the war.

The singer, whose celebrity in Russia is similar in many ways to Madonna in the U.S. for her multi-decade longevity and quasi-satirical critique of national culture, used the social media platform to declare that she and her husband wanted peace, prosperity and freedom of speech in Russia—as well as “an end to the death of our children for illusory aims.”

The New Adventures of China Smith - Dan Duryea - Premiere Episode - The ...

Notes by Bill Russo

This is the first episode of 26 produced for syndicated television in 1952, starring Dan Duryea as a vagabond conman and part time Private Eye in Southeast Asia. A bush pilot is hired to drop a leather bag stuffed with money onto a makeshift cross in a remote field. It is the payroll for a large plantation and the owner says the pilot failed to deliver it - but we see in scene one that the pilot dropped the lot exactly at the proper spot. China Smith (Dan Duryea) decides to investigate the situation.

The gates of heaven/are crafted not of iron/ but from fluffy clouds

............................................(Standard Haiku poem by yours truly - 5 syllables first, then 7, then 5 again.) That's my stab at poetry - now you try it......

The Case Against C. Bloom

Destroyer of the Boston Red Sox 

 by Bill Russo

The first thing I want to say about the sorry state of the 2022 Red Sox is that people should stop being angry with C. Bloom.  Many people feel that if the "Bloom were taken off the "Rose" Sox, things would quickly turn around. But the truth is that C. Bloom is going to give the Red Sox exactly what Tampa Bay has - a near empty stadium.  Almost fan-less for every contest!

I have been a fan of the Red Sox ever since my favorite team, the Boston Braves went out of business in the early 1950s. 

I used to listen to Bob and Ray when they did the hilarious pre-game show for the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Braves games.   WHDH radio broadcast the games of both teams.  If you know Bob and Ray, then you can imagine what "Wally" Ballou would have to say about Mr. 'Boom', oops, I mean Bloom.  

I’ve seen a lot of baseball, the good years and the bad years – but 2022 is the worst year ever thanks to one man! No. Make that two men – the Candy Maker, Oh Henry and the inept gardener Bloom, who must be taken from the ‘Rose” Sox, or they will forever be the 'new' Washington Senators.

Washington, first in war, first in peace, and LAST in the American League!

With about 20 games to go as of Sept 8, the team is 5 games under five hundred, and about 20 games behind the dreaded New York Yankees. 

Now if this were Detroit, Texas, or Kansas City, it would be no big deal, they are used to being lousy. But we are talking about the Red Sox, once the best team of the 21st Century, winning it all four times in the opening fifth of this century.  Four Times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 2004, 2007, 2013, 

               and 2018!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

But now, under C. Bloom, all the best players have been sold, stomped on, traded, or booted or whatever. Gone, Gone, Gone. If Bloom were a player, he'd be toiling for the Akron Rubber Ducks of the ‘D’ league - he's that bad! 

No on second thought, he'd be playing for this incarnation of the Red Sox - he's that bad! 

When Oh Henry's candy bars fell out of favor, he should have sold the Sox and concentrated on making those messy chocolate covered confections, instead of hiring Bloom, who as a gardener has grown nothing but disappointment and anger in the Fenway Orchard.

Bloom is the worst thing to happen in Boston sports since Harry Frazee.

If you don’t remember his name, you will recall the name of the player he gave to the Yankees, one George Herman Ruth – yes, THE BABE!

Despite all the negative things being said about C. Bloom; as I stated before, nobody should ever criticize "The Bloom" because he is bringing the sox to a par with Tampa.

Pretty soon Fenway Park will be just as empty as "The Trop".

Ladies and Gentlemen.  I rest my case!

Hit and Run 1957 - as shown on Noir Alley TMC

Notes by Bill Russo Watch it on pay channel TMC on Eddie Muller's Noir Alley or view it here for free. From 1957, it's 'Hit and Run' starring Cleo Moore, Hugo Haas, and Vince Edwards. Directed by Hugo Haas. As an actor, director and producer he was one of the least appreciated moguls in Hollywood, but he knew the secrets of success. He rounded up some pretty good stories and decent actors and actresses and knocked out about a dozen B films in the 1950s. He financed and produced and directed his own films, usually on a budget of about $100,000 - at a time when the Hollywood establishment was spending on average, 1 and a half million bucks for each film produced. Hugo laughed all the way to the bank. This was the last of about 5 or 6 films Cleo Moore made for Haas. Vince Edwards went on to fame on the Ben Casey TV series. The guy who plays a doctor in this movie, John Zaremba, was cast as a hospital administrator on Ben Casey. One other little note, Dolores Reed who plays Miranda in Hit and Run, was dating the director Hugo Hass at the time she was cast. One more little note - something to look for - a song spot by Ella Mae Morse, one of the top pre-rockers of the 1940s. Her musical style mixed country, with jazz and blues - and long before Sinatra earned his first big hit, Ella had the first gold record for Capitol, Cow Cow Boogie in 1942. In 1943, her recording of Get on Board Little Children rocketed up the R&B charts making her one of the first white singers to crack into the Rhythm and Blues hit parade.

 Scenes from a Florida Summer in Lake Worth Beach

50 miles North of Miami Beach

Notes by Bill Russo

When a two-foot Iguana meets a four-foot-tall bird.........

 Iggy wanna go hide on top of a hedge! 

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The pier at Lake Worth Beach

City of Lake Worth Beach, South Florida

Dinner in Benny's on the Beach atop the pier - pricey but priceless!

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It is an 84-degree afternoon in So Fla

but there is nobody in the pool at the condo

because a tropical storm is rapidly approaching.

It will rain buckets for about an hour and then the sun will

come out again, and the people will flood back to the pool.  This is life in paradise - So Fla, East Coast, 50 miles above Miami Beach. 

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Notes by Bill Russo 

Music is like people, no matter where you come from, we are all related. Hank Ballard who wrote and sang the first version of The Twist, was one of the leading R & B guys of early Rock n Roll...but when asked who fired his passion for singing, he cited none other than Gene Autry, The Singing Cowboy and in particular Gene's signature hit, 'Back in the Saddle Again'.
 

 Notes by Bill Russo

Vaudeville was breathing its last gasp as the 1940s rolled around, and comic/film star Mischa Auer (My Man Godfrey) was packing them in at Big-town, in Lowes State Theater at 1540 Broadway, Times Square, New York City, East Coast America

The Secret of 3 Skelton Key

More than a century ago, lighthouse builders sailed to a desolate flat rock a hundred miles further west than the last inhabited island of the Florida Keys. They discovered the rotted remains of three escaped convicts and gave the island a name -Three Skeleton Key.  As unlucky as the tiny rocky island was for those convicts, it was even worse for the three lightkeepers who form the cast of this tale - The Secret of 3 Skeleton Key.   Click to watch for free on my YouTube Channel.

 

Journalism is as dead as this executed killer!

Opinion by Bill Russo

Journalism is as dead as the convict killed today (Thursday, August 25, 2022) by Oklahoma. He was the first of 25 convicted killers the state plans to terminate between now and 2024.

The story of the execution that was written and distributed by Metro news said, "Coddington was placed on death row after he beat 73-year-old Albert Hale to death with a hammer in 1997. He was 24-years-old at the time and battling a severe drug and alcohol addiction."

Please note that the writer of the news item said, "He was 24-years-old at the time and battling a severe drug and alcohol addiction."

No, he was not battling drug addiction. He was a drug addict!

And instead of battling drug addiction he beat a 73-year-old man to death with a hammer. Oklahoma did not beat James Coddington to death with a hammer.

He was given a last meal of two cheeseburgers, two crunchy fish sandwiches, two large fries and a large soda - and a short time later he was sedated and given the needle of death.

There's no more 'Sparky' and no more gallows, and no more firing squads................................................................

....just a little, tiny needle.

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        BEWARE THE DEADLY BUNK BED

Use a bunk bed only as a last resort - they are dangerous!  As a young boy I fell out of one but was lucky and was not hurt. After a bad bump on the head from the plunge, I refused to sleep on the bunk, so my older brother volunteered for the duty.  

You especially don't want to be in a jail-house bunk bed, so don't smoke and drink and break laws......you don't want to 'haft a' fight Spike for the rights to the lower berth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

------ Did you have a bunk bed as a child? Do you remember falling out of it, or seeing your brother roll off the edge? If so, you're not alone.

A study shows that bunk bed-related injuries are quite common. Researchers at Ohio State University tracked emergency room bunk bed-related injuries across the U.S. 

They looked at injuries to an estimated 572,580 children and adolescents younger than 21.

Mothers of sons may not be surprised to learn that bunk bed mishaps happened more frequently (nearly 61%) to boys and young men.

Here are more of the findings, leading with the most common types of injuries:

Nearly 30% of injuries were cuts

24% of injuries were bruises or scrapes

19% of injuries were bone fractures

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 Your house might be haunted...... if pictures start suddenly sliding off the wall and smashing loudly on the floor 

-

 or more likely it is those cheap dollar store adhesive hooks you are using!

 

You Asked For it - Amazing Acts Performed on Demand - Host Art Baker

Notes by Bill Russo As a young boy in the early 1950s, this was one of my favorite TV shows. Host Art Baker showcases amazing performers based on requests from viewers. Included in this episode is a knife thrower who flings sharp blades at a lady strapped to a spinning disc, while he balances on a tightrope! Also featured is an Octopus hunter who lands about 150 pounds of the ugly suckers, and a guy who dresses half-naked ladies in about 30 seconds!

NBC Eyewitness: The Story of Television - from1948, when there were abou...

Notes by Bill Russo From February 26, 1948. Ben Grauer hosts a show explaining the 'miracle' of television. It's live TV and it was a learn-as-you-go experience for the TV staff as well as the few thousand viewers who had a tiny 8 or10 inch receiver. Grauer, a longtime radio man, looks uncomfortable and flubs a few lines in his introduction and that's something he rarely did in his radio work. The sound goes off at one point. There's some great history in the broadcast though and also a few 'live' sketches including one with a character who sounds like Regis Philbin and another with a German scientist who has trouble with his lines. There were no cue cards or teleprompters back then.

Suddenly - Frank Sinatra's award-winning follow-up performance to From H...

Crooner and Bobby-sox singer from the 1940s Frank Sinatra, grew up in the 1950s, and became the talk of Hollywood for his Academy Award portrayal of a doomed WW-2 G.I. named Maggio, in From Here to Eternity. Many insiders considered him a one-hit-wonder, but his brilliant portrayal of a maniacal presidential assassin in "Suddenly" won high praise from the critics and from audiences around the world.

Also appearing in the film is Paul Frees in a rare screen appearance. Owner of a four-octave vocal range, Frees was better known for voicing hundreds of cartoon characters including Boris Badenov in Rocky and Bullwinkle, and dozens more for Walt Disney and several other major studios.

He Walked by Night, as shown on TCM, Noir Alley with Eddie Muller - it's...

He Walked by Night, as shown on TCM, Noir Alley with Eddie Muller - it's a Cop 'n Caper, Film Noir.

Notes by Bill Russo Starring Richard Basehart and Scott Brady, with an appearance by Jack Webb, you could say that this 1948 Noir film is the "Daddy" of the long running Radio and TV program, Dragnet. While the film was in production, Jack Webb became pals with the police technical advisor, Sgt. Marty Wynn. Based on his talks with the Detective Sergeant, Webb developed "Dragnet" and brought it to network radio in 1949. It ran on NBC radio until the end of dramatic radio in 1957. Two years after its radio debut, Webb took the show to TV where it lasted in one form or another until 1970. The plot of 'He Walked by Night" unfolds as a semi-documentary based on newspaper accounts of the real-life Ervin 'Machine-Gun' Walker. He was a one-time police department employee and W. W. Two vet who ran amuck while blasting through a string of stick-ups, burglaries, heists and shootouts in L A between 1945 and 1946.

by Bill Russo

From W S J R, at the top of the United States, I played the hits of the day back in the very early 1960s. One day, a rumpled man showed up and said he was the new General Manager, though in truth he looked like he had just walked unsteadily out of The Downtown Tap on Main Street in Hyannis. Long story short - he did not last more than two or three months at WSJR - but somehow he ended up going to England and becoming a close friend of all of the Beatles while being the top Dee-Jay on Radio London, one of the legendary pirate radio stations broadcasting from the ocean just offshore. He changed his name to Chuck Blair. When a group of English music fans tried to find his real identity, I provided the information. You can read the story by clicking.. http://radiolondon.co.uk/jocks/chuck/wsjr.html

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