Billy Wilder & the American Image

I have loved Billy Wilder films since childhood and was intrigued how often Ohio is mentioned.  Why does Billy Wilder love the state of Ohio?  Perhaps the Austrian-born screenwriter/director envisaged the state as quintessentially American (right or wrong).  Perhaps, we may never know.

Some of Wilder's interesting references to Ohio in films:

Love is the hardest thing in the world to write about. So simple. You've got to catch it through details, like the early morning sunlight hitting the gray tin of the rain spout in front of her house. The ringing of a telephone that sounds like Beethoven's "Pastoral." A letter scribbled on her office stationery that you carry around in your pocket because it smells of all the lilacs in Ohio.  - Don (Ray Milland), The Lost Weekend

Don (Ray Milland) also deduces that Helen (Jane Wyman) is from Toledo, Ohio by looking through her coat and finding that its maker's mark is from Alfred Spitzer.   Well, and I guess since she's from Ohio, it shouldn't be surprising that one of the presents she gives Don is 'the new Thurber book'.


The character of Sugar, played by Marilyn Monroe in the film Some Like It Hot, hailed from Sandusky, Ohio.


In Stalag 17, the cynical POW Sefton (William Holden) drills the German-speaking Price (Robert Graves) about his self-proclaimed Ohio upbringing since he suspects that he is a Nazi spy planted in the prisoner barracks.     SEFTON

Shut up!
                              (slaps his face)
                         Security Officer, eh? Screening 
                         everybody, only who screened you? 
                         Great American hero. From Cleveland, 
                         Ohio! Enlisted right after Pearl 
                         Harbor! When was Pearl Harbor, Price? 
                         Or, don't you know?

                                     PRICE
                         December seventh, forty-one.

                                     SEFTON
                         What time?

                                     PRICE
                         Six o'clock. I was having dinner.

                                     SEFTON
                         Six o'clock in Berlin. They were 
                         having lunch in Cleveland.
                              (to the others)
                         Am I boring you, boys?

                                     HOFFY
                         Go on.

                                     SEFTON
                         He's a Nazi, Price is. For all I 
                         know, his name is Preismaier or 
                         Preissinger. Sure, he lived in 
                         Cleveland, but when the war broke 
                         out he came back to the Fatherland 
                         like a good little Bundist. He spoke 
                         our lingo so they put him through 
                         spy school, gave him phony dogtags --

My absolute favourite reference:  In the beginning of Sunset Boulevard, Joe Gillis mentions in a voice-over how embarrassing it would be to move back to Dayton and work again for the Dayton Evening Post if he is unable to make it in Hollywood as a screenwriter.


The Fortune Cookie Jack Lemmon and Walter Mattheau their first movie together was filmed at St Vincent Charity Hospital as well as the old Cleveland Stadium.  CBS cameraman Harry Hinkle (Jack Lemmon) gets injured when football player Luther "Boom Boom" Jackson (Ron Rich) runs into him while he is covering a Browns game at Cleveland Stadium.   Saint Mark's Hospital is in reality St. Vincent Charity Hospital. In 1966, the scene was filmed on East 24th Street in an older section. In 1966, St. Vincent Charity had completed a then-ultramodern curved Hospital building.

Terminal Tower was the base for the law firm used. In one image, one can see Erieview Tower and construction of the Federal Building's steel skeleton.  Scenes were filmed at the Cleveland Browns vs Minnesota Vikings game at Cleveland Municipal Stadium on 31 October 1965.

Text originally from 2011.

Ohio: The Birthplace of Serial Killers? (TBT)

Ted Levine as Jame Gumb in The Silence of the Lambs

From January, 2011:

The other day I heard a snippet of news regarding the sentencing in a kidnapping and murder case that took place in Mount Vernon around the time that I returned to Ohio this autumn.   
Ohio is often lauded for its production of U.S. presidents and astronauts but it is unsettling how many serial killers have an Ohio connection, whether it be by birth or where they perpetrated their crimes.
Strangely enough, even fictionalized serial killers are somehow connected to Ohio.  The manhunt in The Silence of the Lambs leads investigators to the killer's fictional hometown of Belvedere, Ohio and the serial killer Jame 'Buffalo Bill' Gumb was portrayed by Ted Levine, who grew up in Bellaire, Ohio (also a filming location for the film).




Charles Manson - Self-styled guru and leader of the 1960s religious cult the Manson Family, Charles Manson is a convicted serial killer who never actually killed any of his victims himself.  Born "no name Maddox" on November 12th, 1934 in Cincinnati, Ohio.


Jeffrey Dahmer (Cannibal of Milwaukee) - (May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994) was an American serial killer and sex offender. Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys – many of whom were of African or Asian descent – between 1978 and 1991, with the majority of the murders occurring between 1987 and 1991. His murders were particularly gruesome, involving rape, torture, dismemberment, necrophilia and cannibalism. On November 28, 1994, he was beaten to death by an inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution, where he had been incarcerated.  Dahmer was born in Wisconsin but grew up in the affluent Bath, Ohio.


Neal Bradley Long - A native of Dayton, Ohio, born in 1927, Long was a violent racist who could not abide the specter of black progress in his home community.  Indicted on seven counts of murder, Long was found competent for trial in November 1975 and was eventually convicted of two counts, drawing consecutive terms of life imprisonment . To protect him from black inmates and vice versa - Long was confined at the U.S. Medical Center for federal prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, under conditions of maximum security.


James Oliver Huberty - Mass murderer who killed 21 people and injured 20 more in a shooting spree at a McDonald's in San Ysidro, California on July 18, 1984.  Huberty moved his family from Canton, Ohio to California after he was fired from his welding job and couldn't find new employment.


Larry Ralston - convicted for murdering four women in the 70s in southern Ohio (Cincinnati area)


Thomas Dillon - serial sniper/spree killer who shot and killed five men in southeastern Ohio from 1989 to 1992


Michael Swango (Doctor of Death) - intern and resident at OSU Medical Center, where one of his four admitted murders took place


Gary & Thaddeus Lewingdon - plagued the city of Columbus, Ohio and outlying areas with a series of indiscriminate and brutal murders that claimed the lives of 10 people in the late 70s.  


Alton Coleman & Debra Brown - carried out a six-state killing spree in 1984; Coleman was executed in 2002 in Lucasville's Southern Ohio Correctional Facility and Brown is still in prison in Marysville


Eric Elliott & Lewis Gilbert - responsible for cross-country crime spree, that included three murders and a kidnapping and began in Newcomerstown, Ohio (their hometown)


Moreland Baby Killer - Authorities in Dayton, Ohio, took four children from the custody of Regina Moreland's after the death of her 2-year-old grandson, the fourth child to die in her home in the past seven months. "The Morelands believe from the bottom of their hearts that no one is to blame for this tragic occurrence," said Jon Paul Rion, the family's attorney. In contrast, Sgt. Carl Bush said investigators believe Regina might be somewhat responsible for the dying children and plan to review the previous three deaths that, pointedly, were ruled as probable homicides. 


Anthony Sowell - strangled a series of women in his Cleveland home


William K. Sapp - sentenced (in 2004) to death for raping and killing at least three women in Springfield, Ohio


Donald Harvey (self-proclaimed 'The Angel of Death')


Cincinnati Strangler, Posteal Laskey - raped and strangled seven mostly elderly women in Cincinnati, Ohio between 1965 and 1966


The Cleveland Torso Murderer (aka Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run) - responsible for 12–13 murders in the Cleveland, Ohio area in the 1930s






Blog posing the question, 'Why are there so many serial killers from Ohio?'


What is it about Ohio and serial killers?


Another day, another Ohio serial killer

Throwback Thursday (or posts that I started long ago and nearly forgot): Goths

From September 2011:

Last night, while chatting with my flatmates over a glass of wine, the topic of goths and Marilyn Manson came up.  The previous day, I had been at Capel Manor and was pleasantly surprised by a goth student offering me assistance (I must have looked confused or lost).  Anyone who has grown up in a farming community knows that those that choose to go into agriculture don't often adopt the goth lifestyle.   Yet, apparently in a large city like London, all preconceived notions of farming demographics are thrown out the window, which I found incredibly refreshing.

Marilyn Manson aka Brian Warner from Canton

Fun Fact(s) Friday: They All Laughed

While watching an interview with Fred Astaire on The Dick Cavett Show, I was struck by the number of Ohioans mentioned in the Gershwin tune 'They All Laughed', which Astaire performed upon request. Although the only state mentioned in the lyrics is Missouri, at least five of the nine influential people cited have some connection to Ohio.  While I would love to count Fred Astaire as an Ohioan, he (like Dick Cavett) was born in Nebraska.  (Yet, it's now known that Cavett has a closer connection to Ohio than his work with Jack Paar and that's because he's married to Ohioan Martha Rogers.) Now, back to the song, the following names dropped do all bear some connection to Ohio:

Christopher Columbus:  Yea, yea, yea, I know he's an Italian that sailed for the crown of Spain, 'discovered' America and contributed to the spread of syphilis but he's also the namesake for Ohio's capital.   The world's most authentic and museum-quality replica of the flagship Santa Maria is docked in Columbus, Ohio.
(Ohio tree that predated 1492 falls)

Thomas A. Edison:  The man responsible for the phonograph, kinetoscope and the home-friendly light bulb was born in Milan, Ohio.

Orville & Wilbur Wright:  The brothers that taught the world to fly, owned a bicycle shop and lived nearly their entire lives in Dayton, Ohio.
Aviators:  The Wright Brothers by Bill Gates

Rockefeller Center is named after the philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

Update:  Was pleasantly surprised to hear this exact version of 'They All Laughed' played in a cafe in Islington last week.

Fun Fact Friday: 15 Down

In the most recent 'The Guardian Weekend' (17 September 2011, pg. 93), the clue for 15 Down in the General Knowledge Crossword was:  City of Ohio where agreement was reached in 1995 to end the war in Bosnia (6).

Answer?:  Dayton

Scooby Dooby Doo

Scooby-Doo has been popping up in my life quite a bit recently and although I sometimes find myself saying 'Ruh-roh', I was never a big fan of the canine capers.  Yet, I do recall always preferring those episodes that starred legendary comedic geniuses like Jonathan Winters, Tim Conway and Phyllis Diller, all of whom as you may know or are capable of guessing, are Ohioans.

Winters grew up around Dayton, attended Kenyon College and was a central Ohio radio personality before hitting the American comedy circuit.  

Two Ohioans (Jack Paar & JW) in England

JW and Dean Martin...'it's a regular Ohio cigarette'
Certifiably Jonathan

Tim Conway was born in Willoughby, grew up in Chagrin Falls, attended Bowling Green State University, worked for a Cleveland radio station and continued to appear on Cleveland television shows after becoming famous.
Tim Conway Remembers
Dentist Sketch - The Carol Burnett Show
'Dorf' with Johnny Carson

Phyllis Diller grew up in Lima, attended Bluffton College with Hugh Downs and worked in radio in California, not Ohio, before making the big-time.
Ms. Distinctive on 'What's My Line?'
Still fab at 90 on 'Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me'
Still Cackling



Alright, now how bizarre is this, it also turns out that the hometown of Mystery Inc. is Coolsville, Ohio (not to be confused with the real Coolville, Ohio).  That's right, Scooby and the gang are all Ohioans too!!

'Scooby-Doo Theme Song' performed by the bubblegum pop group Ohio Express.

Fun Fact Friday: Bueller? .....Bueller?

I had such high hopes for Without A Clue, a comedy with Ben Kingsley and Michael Caine that's an alternate representation of Sherlock Holmes as a fictional concoction of Dr. Watson, but it just wasn't that funny or engaging.  Yet, it did have Jeffrey Jones as Inspector Lestrade, which reminded me of an important John Hughes film, Ferris Bueller's Day Off (well to be fair, Ferris has also come up in many conversations recently).  Jones is probably best known for his role as Ed Rooney, the principal determined to track down the charming and elusive truant Ferris.  This was one of those seminal films in my adolescence and was in a constant viewing rotation with The Goonies and The Lost Boys.  It may be set in Chi-town but it wouldn't have been much of anything without Ohio.  Well, at the very least, some of the most memorable characters would perhaps be quite different in our minds today if Ohio wasn't a factor:

1.  Alan Ruck (Cameron Frye) was born in Cleveland and attended high school in Parma.
2.  Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller) is married to Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City fame), who was born in Nelsonville, Ohio and later moved to Cincinnati, Ohio before moving to New York to further her career as a child actor.  SJP attended The School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) when her family was based in Cincinnati.
3.  Jennifer Grey's (Jeannie Bueller) father is Joel Grey, who is perhaps best known as the Master of Ceremonies in the film version of Cabaret.  Joel grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and began his career as a child actor in the Cleveland Playhouse.
4.  Charlie Sheen's (Boy in Police Station) dad, Martin Sheen, grew up in Dayton, Ohio

FBDO Trailer
Cameron Montage
Broderick interview with focus on FBDO
Charlie Sheen and Jennifer Grey in FBDO
Obama campaign ad Ferris Bueller-style

The Lady of The Pixies. .. .She's kind of a big Deal.

While watching a great band, Bleech, at a rockin' birthday party last night, I was reminded how much I love female bassists and of my favorite female bassist, fellow Ohioan Kim Deal.  Deal is best known as the bassist for the Pixies, founder of the Breeders and being just plain cool.

Not My Job: Kim Deal
Fascinating Interviewee
It isn't easy being as cool as Kim Deal
Feel It

Not all Sheens are from Mars

Martin Sheen, Hollywood, 1996 by Paul Joyce

Ah, well, I had planned on posting this months back during the media frenzy surrounding Charlie Sheen, which although dissipating is still continuing, but a recent visit to the Whitechapel Gallery reminded me how much I enjoy Martin Sheen.  In the small theatre, a series of films played and the most engaging one was Dinh Q. Le's split-screen film simultaneously showing clips of Charlie Sheen in Platoon and Martin Sheen, in Apocalypse Now.  Amazingly to me, the film even included a clip that I didn't remember but found incredibly interesting and relevant:  Willard (Martin Sheen) states, “Fuck. You don’t get a chance to know what the fuck you are in some factory in Ohio.”  So, while Charlie Sheen is declaring himself a 'total freaking rock star from Mars' and the media is eating it up and following him like the train wreck that he is, I find myself wishing to hear more about my preferred member of the Sheen clan, Martin. Sheen the Elder (birth name: Ramon Gerardo Antonio Estevez) was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio by immigrant parents.  After leaving Ohio at the age of 18 with bus fare he borrowed from his parish priest, Sheen struggled to attain his acting dreams in New York and married a young Ohio art student (Janet Templeton) before landing a major breakout role in the play 'The Subject was Roses' and later his iconic role in 'Apocalypse Now'.  Despite his newfound fame and wealth, he like his son Charlie, had demons and addictions to battle.  Yet, he managed to surpass them and has maintained his marriage and a strong and ultimately happy family life.  In addition to all the work he has done on his own life based in Malibu, California, Sheen continues to visit Ohio to do good works and is involved in the development of his hometown and homestate community.

Sheen Family Therapy
Augsberger/Estevez scholarship
For a pacifist, Martin Sheen plays a pretty good president
Martin Sheen on his own addictions and 'Apocalypse Now'
What Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez were doing during Charlie's media and mental frenzy

Joe Gillis: The Most Famous On-Screen Screenwriter

In my teen years, I traded in my star crushes on Michael J. Fox, Corey Haim and Mackenzie Astin for James Dean, Laurence Olivier and William Holden. Two of those three actors were from the Midwest and a favorite character portrayed by one was from Ohio. Joe Gillis, the cynical struggling screenwriter that narrates Sunset Boulevard, is not a heroic figure but an incredibly flawed individual whose story ends before it even begins. As the voice-over begins to explain how he ended up face-down in a swimming pool in Hollywood, we learn of the despair that initiated the events that led to his demise:
“As I drove back into town I added up my prospects and they added up to exactly zero. Apparently I just didn’t have what it takes. The time had come to wrap up the whole Hollywood deal and go home. Maybe if I hawked all my junk there’d be enough for a bus ticket back to Ohio. Back to that $35 a week job behind the copy desk at the Dayton Evening Post if it was still open. Back to the smirking delight of the whole office. ‘Alright you wise guys, why don’t you go out and take a crack at Hollywood.’”

Perhaps he should have packed it all in and headed back to Ohio but he stays and continues to pursue his dream. It certainly doesn't end happily but one never knows how things will pan out until they try (even if it's done through slightly less than honorable means).

Screenwriting from Iowa: Wonderful Blog about the Midwestern Roots of Film

Love Rollercoaster

Awww, little brothers, they love to aggravate their sisters even when they're all grown up. The other week, my younger brother tried to instigate an argument/heated discussion by suggesting that Les Claypool of Primus was the best living bass player, knowing full well that my love for Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers would not allow me to remain quiet. Fortunately the discussion was short-lived and a truce declared since we quickly agreed that it wasn't quite fair to compare the two since they have rather different styles. So how does any of this relate to Ohio (other than I've seen both bands perform in Ohio)? Well, the most meaningful connection that popped in my head was that one of my favorite RHCP songs is actually a cover of a #1 hit by a band from Ohio. 'Love Rollercoaster' was originally a hit in 1976 for the funk and R&B band The Ohio Players. As one would imagine, the members are actually from Ohio and the band formed in Dayton, OH in 1959 as the Ohio Untouchables. The band became The Ohio Players when the core members returned to Dayton in 1964, after a breakup in 1963, and added Gregory Webster and Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner. They became the house band for New York based Compass Records in 1967 after adding two more singers, Bobby Lee Fears and Dutch Robinson.

P.S. If my little brother happens to read or hear of this post, he will undoubtedly demand royalties (from what I don't know) for my mentioning of him. Some relationships never change but guarantee ups, downs and curves ;-)

Flea - Funk Slap Bass Lesson (with River Phoenix)

The Silverlake Conservatory of Music: One of the many reasons why I love Flea

RHCP - Around the World (of course Ohio is mentioned ;-)

Les Claypool - Bass solo

Good Morning Dayton and Conan O'Brien

Good or bad, Ohio tends to get a mention or head-nod. According to this clip with Ricky Gervais, 'Good Morning Dayton!' falls just in between the Food Network and satellite radio in status.