The Luna Park Gazette

Victor McLaglen was one of my father’s favorite actors. The British actor had starred in such classics as The Informer, The Quiet Man —for which he won the Academy Award--and She Wore A Yellow Ribbon . My father loved to quote a line from Gunga Din where McLaglen, as Sgt. McChesney, tries to negotiate out of standoff where he and his buddies are hopelessly outnumbered by suggesting both parties go their separate ways and “no ‘arm done!” I recently watched McLaglen in his last role, where he portrayed Harry Wittman, a punch-drunk prizefighter in an episode of Rawhide , which starred Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates. Keep Those Doggies Movin' The episode, entitled “Incident of the Shambling Man,” was directed by McLaglen’s son, Andrew V. McLaglen, opens with a chilling scene of the old boxer staggering around the plains throwing punches at non-existent opponents. Victor McLaglen was a fighter in his younger days, touring in circuses, vaudeville shows, and Wild Wes...

And I thought these guys were my friends. I’d been back from my vacation in Ireland just a few days when I had another one of my mutant freak show nightmares. Things had been kind of quiet on the dream front—as far as I can remember—but I reckon my overheated psyche couldn’t sit still after my first real vacation in two years. Seals—my recently declared spirit animal—played a role in this latest delusion, but not a particularly helpful one, along with a man I have not seen in nearly four decades. Here’s the basics: I was traveling through Louisiana with a truck driver when I apparently got the urge to do some ziplining over a lake. I have never done this in real life, nor do I have the desire to start. But there I was, streaking over a body of deep water even though I can’t swim to save my life—literally. As I moved through the air, I saw several seals down below bobbing their heads. I took this as a good sign given supposed kinship with the slippery little buggers. Ho...

“I feel I must have a talent for doing something, but I’m still not terribly sure what it is.” Ronnie Drew I turned a corner at Trinity College and the years just melted away. This was early on in a vacation I had taken to Ireland with my sister and niece, Victoria, who has been studying at Trinity for the last year. One Left Turn... Our two-week adventure was an absolute blast. We met great people, saw fabulous sites, got to cuddle a lamb and I connected with a new spirit animal. I hadn’t taken a trip of any kind since December 2019 when I visited my Uncle Joe and his wife in Los Angeles. And we all know what happened a few short months later. This was a return trip for both me and my sister, as we had visited the Emerald Isle in the Eighties. I had stayed at Trinity during a summer screenwriting class that had been organized by the School of Visual Arts. I was a little disoriented when we first walked through the gates of the 430-year-old school. The place looke...