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I haven’t been the same since! The film was very sophisticated for its day –dealing with adult themes –love and betrayal –against a backdrop of exotic gangersterism and Nazi intrigue immediately following the war. One is tempted to conclude that Hollywood didn’t even try to match the sharp barbed, smart-ass comebacks until ‘Basic Instinct’ with [...]

The author is John O’Hara, whose Appointment in Samarra resided unread (by me at least) in my stepfather’s bookcase for decades. Turns out that Pal Joey is a collection of fictional letters by the self-proclaimed “poor man’s Bing Crosby,” most of which ran in The New Yorker in 1939 and 1940. I don’t think I [...]