San Francisco Herald Then I realized I wasn’t knowledgeable So instead of an intelligent, enough to do it (hey, who am I – Mick comprehensive comparison of the two April 2019 LaSalle?). movies – a dull, half-assed comparison of the two movies. Actually, not even SanFranciscoHerald.Net Then I realized that “Midnight Cowboy” that. won Best Picture that year, so “Easy “Serving Nob Hill and Beyond.” Rider” wasn’t the only new Hollywood “Easy Rider” was directed by Dennis movie being recognized. Hopper and was written by Hopper, XXXXXXXXXX Peter Fonda, and Terry Southern. It Then I realized that the old Hollywood starred Dennis Hopper as a hippie biker The Society Page audience members were probably in late 1960s America. Substance abuse applauding the middle-aged celluloid and strange behavior later caused By Gene Mahoney veteran Gig Young as representing them, Hopper to be blackballed by Hollywood. as opposed to the movie he was in. Russian Hill Upholstery &Décor is still His comeback came in 1986 as the sociopathic villain in David Lynch’s located in Nob Hill, not Russian Hill. Then I realized there was probably no “Blue Velvet.” Before his death in 2010 reason to write this column. But here it is XXXXXXXXXX he became an outspoken conservative in anyway. Hollywood, which is a lot more radical nd On April 7, 1970, at the 42 Academy than anything he did in “Easy Rider.” Awards, Gig Young won Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Peter Fonda played Hopper’s sidekick. “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”. This was about as good as it got for him.

When his name was announced at the Jack Nicholson played a guy they Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los befriend along the way. After wallowing Angeles, the older audience members – around in Roger Corman’s B-movies for old Hollywood – enthusiastically a decade, this is the film that put him on applauded. Their nominee had won. The the map. He went on to star in a slew of nominee representing the younger new critically acclaimed performances. Hollywood – Jack Nicholson for his performance in “Easy Rider” – hadn’t. “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”, directed by Sidney Pollack, takes place Now at this point I had planned on at the dawn of the Great Depression, at a comparing the two movies, dance hall in Los Angeles. demonstrating that the now almost forgotten “They Shoot Horses, Don’t The hall is hosting a dance marathon, They?” was the real new Hollywood which have since been outlawed. They movie of the late sixties/early seventies, were contests where people would dance not the classic “Easy Rider.” for weeks with only occasional ten minute breaks, with a cash prize for the Then I realized that if I was going to My friend mentioned that he had seen couple that could withstand the torture to write a comparison of the two movies, I “Easy Rider” on television recently and the end. would have to watch “Easy Rider” again. wasn’t impressed by it, and didn’t want Here’s the new Hollywood aspect of the I can’t remember the last time I saw it, to view it again. But we did go to the movie: but I do recall being disappointed library and check out the other movie. watching it. It was like reading “On the We both hadn’t seen it since the Released in 1969, it pretty much Road” by Jack Kerouac. Something that seventies, but were still very impressed qualifies to be included with the was groundbreaking, but not that great. with it. recession-plagued 1970s fascination with the depression-plagued 1930s, as demonstrated in new Hollywood films living on Long Island. Eugene Puzo, untold stories would be more interesting like “The Day of the Locust” and Mario’s son, had moved into the house than almost all the ones featured about “Chinatown.” across the street from mine. One day he fellow performers in movies, television, was mowing his lawn and briefly looked radio, and stage. It stars Jane Fonda, who was a up at me. I waved to him and he ignored controversial political radical – more so me. Luckily, the anecdotes in the book each than her brother Peter, and Michael run about two paragraphs and flow into Sarrazin, who lost the lead role to Jon Actually, I guess that wasn’t a very one another, so it’s entertaining enough. Voight in “Midnight Cowboy.” interesting story. Though the book would probably be twice as entertaining if it was half as As for old Hollywood: You know who has an interesting long. “Godfather” story? Gianni Russo, a real- “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” was life mobster who walked onto the XXXXXXXXXX Gig Young’s comeback film, and he had movie’s set in New York and got cast in the Oscar to prove it. Years later he it. A place you’ve probably never heard relocated from California to New York, of: A while back I was looking at the living across from Carnegie Hall in The film’s star, Marlon Brando, told its web site for the Association of Manhattan. director, Francis Ford Coppola, that he Alternative Newspapers, which covers didn’t want Russo in it. Russo got in those rapidly disappearing Village Voice On September 27, 1978 he married his Brando’s face and the actor changed his wannabees. One of them wasn’t fifth wife, Kim Schmidt. Three weeks mind, applauding Russo’s over-the-top published in the US or Canada, like the later their bodies were found in their performance. (Russo says he wasn’t others. Its publisher was an American residence. Apparently Gig had shot his acting like Brando thought – he was journalist, but the paper was distributed wife to death and then turned the gun on really threatening him. They stayed in Svalbard, an archipelago of Norway himself. friends after the movie finished filming.) located between that nation and the North Pole. They’ve got a “doomsday As far as new Hollywood goes, it’s hard In the movie, Russo played Carlo Rizzi, vault” there full of plant seeds from to imagine anyone giving as powerful a the brother-in-law of Sonny Corleone, almost every country in the world in case performance as Jack Nicholson in Tim played by James Caan. After Carlo beats of a global food shortage or some similar Burton’s 1989 “Batman.” up his wife (Sonny’s sister), Sonny catastrophe. avenges his family’s honor by savagely But watching Gig Young as the amoral beating Carlo in public. Another place you’ve probably never dance contest promoter yelling, “Yowza! heard of: A while back I was at a Yowza! Yowza!”, you have to wonder if Russo claims that Caan hated him, and Chinese restaurant on Taraval and saw a he wouldn’t have made such a bad Joker much of the film’s fight scene veered off poster for a place called Macau. I himself. the script (Caan throws a billy club at pointed at the poster and asked the Russo’s head, throws him over a railing, “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” won owner where Macau was, but he didn’t bites his hands, and kicks him in the nine Academy Awards, the most for a understand English very well I guess – stomach as he’s getting up on all fours, movie not nominated for Best Picture. he kept smiling, nodding, and saying, literally elevating him off the ground). “Yes! Yes! Yes!” It should have won Best Picture. “Hollywood Godfather: My Life in the According to its Wikipedia page, Macau XXXXXXXXXX Movies and the Mob,” a memoir by is a former Portuguese colony that’s Gianni Russo is out now. located in China. It’s the most densely It’s the fiftieth anniversary of Mario populated region in the world, has the XXXXXXXXXX Puzo’s novel “The Godfather,” which fourth highest life expectancy in the was later made into a movie of the same There’s a much more genteel memoir I world, and has a gaming industry seven name, which some critics have called the finally got around to reading. It’s called times that of Las Vegas. greatest film of all time. “Which Reminds Me,” by Tony Randall, Some of you may have heard of Macau, published in 1989. In honor of the anniversary, you’ve but Svalbard… forget it.### probably heard interviews with people Actually, it’s not much of a memoir, as connected to “The Godfather,” and now XXXXXXXXXX Randall acknowledges that he’s never it’s time for me to tell you my been one to discuss his private life, and remembrance of it. From LA to San Francisco, to Mexico: the only thing people know about him is Jack Hooper (1928-2014) Women, As I recall, it was the spring of 1984. I that he doesn’t smoke. Which is Figures, and Frida Kahlo, Art Ventures was 18 years old going on 19, and still understandable, but chances are his Gallery, Menlo Park, 4/16 – 5/15.

was a weird form of peer-pressure and her, or several feet behind her. As if Bullies group-think, I guess. she had a terrible smell and we would be contaminated if we got too close to By Ace Backwords I was the new kid in town that year, her noxious presence. Even the girls and one of the smallest and youngest went along with it. The girls in line, in This probably surprises a lot of people in the class. So I knew I was a likely front of her and behind her, would that know me. But I was actually a target for abuse. But somehow, I got make a point of keeping an extra large happy, well-adjusted kid all the way through junior high school relatively space between them and her. In this through 6th grade. I grew up in a laid- unscathed. I think because I way (and many others), Sarah Gorge back cow town in the middle of New consciously developed an obsequious was publicly humiliated and isolated Jersey, and I was the undisputed charm, and an ability to blend in and from the rest of the class on a constant leader of my gang of friends. We not be noticed (I didn’t wear white and daily basis. roved all over town, at all hours of day socks, that’s for sure!). And I might and night, like a pack of wild animals. have also had this little glint in my Sarah only had one person in the eyes that said: “If-I-were-you-I- whole class that would associate with Then, in the summer of 1968, age 11, wouldn’t-fuck-with-me.” her, Debra Simmons. Debra was sort my family suddenly packed up and of a prim-and-proper young girl, wore moved to this suburb. This strange and Anyways, there was this one girl in glasses, and was Sarah’s only friend. uptight suburb about an hour from our class who, for whatever reason, The two of them would eat lunch New York City. Most of the parents took the brunt of most of the abuse. together in the cafeteria every day. worked at high-pressure, desperate- Sarah Gorge. I’m not sure what it was And Debra was the only one that for-success jobs in New York, and I about Sarah Gorge that made her such would sit with her and walk with her think that’s why so many of the kids a target. But she was the designated and publicly acknowledge that she were weird, because they were under a reject. The scapegoat. The punching- was a human being and not a cooty- lot of pressure, too. bag. The clown. The court jester. For infested humanoid. the entire class. For that entire 7th When school started in September (7th grade year. I have never before or Sometimes I wondered how Sarah grade) I was in for a shock. The kids since seen one person subjected to so Gorge withstood all that abuse. What were all mean and cold-hearted. much abuse and mockery. I’m not sure it did to her psyche. But Sarah never Everybody is always mocking what it was about Sarah Gorge that publicly reacted to any of this, aside everybody, I thought. And that was inspired such universal contempt. from occasional flashes of pain in her the word that always described it to Because she was quiet and kindly and eyes. Mostly she tried to maintain this me: “Mocking.” It’s like everyone was never caused trouble. I guess it was goony, brainless smile. As if she desperate to fit in, deathly afraid that because she was a little odd looking. hoped that by being “nice” and they didn’t fit in, and ready to She was sort of mousey-looking, with inoffensive she might be left alone. viciously attack anyone perceived as these big ears. And she had big front But I think that only inflamed the not fitting in. teeth that gave her a horse-faced look. sadist in the 12-year-old beasts. That And she dressed sort of like a 12-year- she was so passive and submissive and This manifested itself in many odd old little old lady, with her frumpy, never fought back. ways. For example, if you dared to Goodwill-style clothes. Or maybe she wear white socks that was considered had cooties. Who knows? The worst of Sarah’s tormentors was an affront on all that was normal and Johnny Goll. Johnny Goll was the decent. God knows what it was about Virtually everyone in the class picked undisputed king of the class. The white socks. It just was. And if you on Sarah Gorge. People would call her leader of the pack of cool kids that ever wore white socks to class once, nasty names and throw objects at her, ruled the roost. Johnny was tall and you wouldn’t do it again. Believe me. etc. thin, one of the tallest in the class. You would be viciously mocked by And he had an innocent baby-face that everyone. Taunting jeers of “WHITE Sarah was subjected to the worst usually fooled the adults. But he was SOCKS! WHITE SOCKS! GET abuse in between classes. We all feared by all the kids. He was mean, HIM!” And after school you’d almost walked in the hallway to our next class and you could see the coldness in his certainly be jumped by a pack of kids, in these double-file lines. Boys on one eyes. And his lips were always stripped of your socks and shoes, and line and girls on the other. And pinched like he was about to make a probably have dirt and grass rubbed whatever guy was lined up alongside cutting remark. Which he usually was. into your face for good measure. It Sarah Gorge, he would make a big That was his specialty. Making these point of walking several feet ahead of stinging, mocking comments. With the power of the derision of the entire It all reminded me of the movie “Lord crescendo of hysteria, Debra Simmons class backing him up. of the Flies.” Where this tribe of wild suddenly stood up and shouted: boys ganged up and tormented Piggy Doug Greggan was second in as the designated scapegoat of the “STOP IT!! STOP IT!! I MEAN IT!! command of the cool crowd. Doug group. Systematically destroying him. STOP IT! THIS IS CRAZY! WHY Greggan was blonde and good-looking Because they could. The most ARE YOU DOING THIS TO HER?! and self-assured, the star athlete on the offensive and grotesque to me were WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU football and basketball team. One this pack of toadies that circled around ALL?!! WHAT HAS SHE DONE?! league game he actually scored 32 the cool crowd. There were about a FOR GOD SAKE, LEAVE SARAH points. And his girlfriend Melissa was dozen of these toadies. And they were ALONE!!” waiting for him after the game, constantly trying to win favor with the There was a momentary quiet in the adoringly. Doug Greggan had a steady cool crowd by entertaining them with classroom. We were all stunned. What girlfriend who had already developed their mocking attacks on Sarah Gorge. breasts. So he was like a man among was this? Someone standing up in boys. He was living the life; he was Anyways, this one day near the end defense of Sarah Gorge? It was so the person we all dreamed of being. the school year we were all in our unexpected and unprecedented. We Doug Greggan could have easily over- math class, when our teacher, Mrs. had difficulty assimilating it into our taken Johnny Goll as the king of the Fitz, was suddenly called away for 7th grade minds. Who was this person, class, but Doug lacked ambition and some emergency. “I’ll be back in 15 and why was she spoiling our fun? was happy to let Johnny run the show minutes,” she said. “So everybody “Ah, sit down and shut up, Simmons,” and just go along as the admired open up your textbooks to page 127 snarled Johnny Goll. “You stink like crown prince. and quietly work on the assignment cow-pies.” until I get back.” Doug’s best friend was Torry Mikan, And then everybody went back to who was also good-looking and “YES, MRS. FITZ.” abusing Sarah Gorge. But it was like athletic, and he had this aggressive we had been taken down several gleam in his eyes, like what some Of course, the second Mrs. Fitz left notches. Like our balloon had been guys with an overload of testosterone the classroom, the entire room burst deflated. We still directed an have. All the girls had crushes on out into madness and chaos. Needless occasional horse-laugh in Sarah’s Doug and Torry, so they were a to say, Sarah Gorge became the direction, but it was like there was this formidable duo. designated target yet again. She was pelted with a barrage of spitballs. It metallic after-taste to our laughter Rounding out the cool-kid clique was was like a snowstorm of spitballs, now. And by the time Mrs. Fitz Moose Starkel. Moose was big and deluging Sarah Gorge. They were returned to the class, we were already dumb and blonde and on the football bouncing off her head and her back silent and strangely subdued. team. And he was like a thug who and her dress. People were spitting Years later I would think of Debra provided back-up muscle if anybody them out of their mouths, and shooting Simmons’ righteous speech. And it got out of line. them like voodoo darts out of was one of the bravest and most hollowed-out pens. And one of the courageous things I had ever seen. Years later, I would wonder what toadies actually snuck up behind Sarah Like a lone woman standing up to an exactly was Johnny Goll’s problem. Gorge with two chalk erasers from the angry mob that was ready to stone a Why was he so mean and vicious? blackboard and clapped them together, woman to death. Because he took a special, and almost engulfing Sarah in a cloud of chalk obsessive, interest in constantly dust. Everybody was laughing Sadly, even Debra Simmons would mocking and debasing Sarah Gorge. It riotously, of course, and hurling eventually turn on Sarah Gorge by the was like he had a need to lash out and mocking insults at Sarah, as well as end of the year. It was like the hurt her. Like he got his rocks off on chanting the mocking jeer of the day: cumulative pressure of being humiliating her. With Doug and Torry “SARAH GORGE-Y, HORSE- constantly ostracized by the group it was nothing personal. They went FACED PIE, KISS THE BOYS AND finally wore her down. Like she just along with it and heaped the abuse on MAKE THEM DIE!!” And then couldn’t stand being a pariah Sarah. But it was just for fun. everyone would make vomiting, anymore. She made a big show of Something to do. But with Johnny retching noises in Sarah’s direction. repudiating Sarah in front of the whole Goll, you could tell he was out for class one day, and symbolically joined blood. Just when the abuse seemed to be in with the rest of us. So Sarah was reaching some kind of frenzied finally completely alone. Though, thankfully for her, there were only a In my second At Bat, he hit me on the He was excited for me, this little boy, few more weeks left until the end of wrist, and the umpire called it a foul not even close to 5 feet tall, showing the school year. ball. some guts, going the opposite way (the only way to go against Jimmy Well, eventually, we all graduated and I got back in the batter’s box, and O’Neal), after getting hit in the moved on to the regional high school. struck out with the bat on my previous At Bat, something he knew, Half the people in the high school shoulder, my left hand numb for 2 or 3 something shared between us. were from another town, who knew innings. nothing about Sarah and her past. So He didn’t need this moment. Sarah was able to quietly blend in with I came up for my third, and final At the crowd for the rest of her high Bat, and I’d never bought into that His victories were many, past, present, school career. Her senior year, she “David and Goliath” business, and I future, and he just didn’t need this actually drove to school in a big couldn’t wait to get home, and watch a one. pickup truck, and she took to wearing little TV. This one was mine and it was much cowboy boots, which gave her the air Jimmy O’Neal stared at me. more interesting than another Jimmy of a goony cowgirl. Every now and O’Neal strikeout. then I would catch a glimpse of her He looked tired, slightly irritated, and face as we passed in the hallway. And bored with the game that was clearly I finally ran and turned a triple into a I always wondered what she was too easy for him. sliding double. thinking. If she still remembered that horrible year, or was scarred by it. She He was gonna put me out like an Jimmy struck out the next three batters mostly just seemed relieved to be unwanted cigarette, then go home and and the game was over. ignored and left to herself. watch a little TV. My mother was waiting by the And Johnny Goll apparently peaked My plan was to stand in the outer bleachers, with hug, kiss, cherry Sno- early in 7th grade. By high school he reaches of the batter’s box, and hope Cone. had metamorphosed into a non-entity; for a walk. just another face-in-the-crowd. One She knew what I had done. year he even came down with a bad Instead, I closed my eyes, and swung We walked across the street to our case of acne. Which seemed almost at the first pitch, body in rebellion of house. like justice. Like now he was getting a brain. taste of his own medicine. Finding out I hit the ball late, into right field, and And I thought about the smiling face what it's like to be publicly stood at home plate, following the of Jimmy O’Neal. embarrassed and humiliated.### path of the ball, with eyes like silver Smiling like some kind of Little dollars, as everyone yelled, “Run, Herald Archives: 2004 League Jesus. run!” He showed me something on that Little League Jesus It was too many things to do all at warm Jersey night. once. By Lee Vilensky And maybe I showed myself Just making contact with the ball was something, as the summer waned, and I was scared of him. plenty, now I had to run as well? I steeled myself for the 5th grade, an He threw very hard, was three years The ball bounced once, and hit the inch closer to manhood, as my cherry older than me, and had fuzz on his fence. Sno-Cone dripped all over my baggy upper lip. white baseball pants.### Quite a distance, maybe 15 feet from He was one of the Chosen -- straight going out. The San Francisco Herald is ©2019 by and tall and handsome, in an Irish Gene Mahoney (except work not done by way. It was really something to see. Mr. Mahoney). The characters and events in Good Clean Fun comics are fictitious; Probably had a nice singing voice. Everyone was yelling, “Run, run!” any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. In my first At Bat, I struck out, happy I looked at Jimmy O’Neal and he was Contact: Gene Mahoney, P.O. Box 843, smiling, yelling, “Run, run!” to get back to the safety of the dugout. Redwood City, CA 94064