It’s another week here at BCB After Dark: the coolest spot for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. We’re so happy you decided to stop by. Come on in. There’s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. We still have a few tables available. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters
are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
Last week I asked you who you thought should be the National League Rookie of the Year. There didn’t seem to be much debate as 71 percent of you voted for the Reds’ Sal Stewart. St, Louis second baseman JJ Wetherholt came in second with 21 percent.
Here’s the part with the music and the movies. You’re welcome to come join us there.
Next week will mark the 100th anniversary of John Coltrane, so it might be a good time to go back and remember his genius. In 1965, just two years before his death, Trane released his best-selling album and the one that many consider his masterpiece: A Love Supreme. In fact, it’s considered among the top jazz recordings ever made.
This is a music video that his estate made earlier this year to go with “Part 1—Acknowledgement,” the first track on A Love Supreme. Besides Coltrane on tenor sax, this number features McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on double bass and Elvin Jones on drums.
Most of this video was shot at the famous Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey, where A Love Supreme was recorded with the aid of engineer Rudy Van Gelder.
First off tonight, I want to acknowledge the passing of legendary designer and costumer Bob Mackie (gift article) at the age of 87. As someone who grew up watching Cher and Carol Burnett on television, some of my earliest memories included his work. Of course, the Mackie-designed dress that Burnett wore in her “Went with the Wind” parody is still today one of the greatest visual jokes ever committed to television. Burnett’s line of “Thank you. I just saw it in the window and I couldn’t resist it” just took the bit up to 13. That dress now belongs to the Smithsonian.
Of course, Mackie didn’t just dress Cher and Burnett. As the obituary notes, he also designed outfits for Tina Turner, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, Liza Minelli and others. Pretty much every star from that era wore Bob Mackie clothes and pretty much every designer since then has been influenced by him one way or the other.
Costume designers are an underrated and under appreciated part of movies and television. Often they work in anonymity. But Bob Mackie, along with Edith Head, were two designers who became household names anyway.
Now on to tonight’s movie.
You Never Can Tell is a 1951 movie, written and directed by Lou Breslow, that stars Dick Powell as a dog. No, really. Wait. It gets even better.
King, played by Hollywood veteran Flame, is a German Shepherd war hero who inherits six million dollars from his eccentric owner. So far, so good. Peggy Dow (who, according to IMDB.com, is still with us at 98) plays Ellen Hathaway, the old man’s secretary who is placed in charge of the dog. She also stands to inherit the money when King dies.
Charles Drake plays Perry Collins, who served in the K-9 Corps with King, shows up at Ellen’s door wanting to reconnect with King. He also immediately starts wooing Ellen and the $6 million he controls.
King, of course, turns up dead by poison. He goes up to animal heaven where he asks the lion named Lion who runs the place to return him to earth to solve his murder. King’s wish is granted and he is sent back to earth as private investigator Rex Shepard. A filly named Golden Harvest goes with him as his trusty secretary, Goldie Harvey (Joyce Holden).
Of course, Rex/King knows who killed him, he just has to find a way to prove it to humans.
That set up is pretty much all you need to know. Rex is a dog in Dick Powell’s body. Rex is both a dog and a tough-as-nails Sam Spade-style detective with a trusty secretary, who is also a horse. He needs to solve his own murder. He likes to eat kibble and dog treats and curl up onto his late-master’s favorite chair. He likes his hamburgers raw.
Much of the humor revolves around Powell and Holden acting like animals in human bodies. Powell does incorporate a lot of dog-related behavior, like the way he scratches his nose. Holden’s Goldie speaks with a thick Kentucky accent. She likes to go to track and she makes a lot of money betting on her granddaughters. Despite being in a human body, Goldie can still run 35 miles per hour.
We find out very quickly who the killer and the answer is not a surprise. The only suspense becomes how a dog is going to prove it. As a noir satire, You Never Can Tell is fine but a bit tame. It’s silly fun, but if you want a tighter noir satire, you want the Carl Reiner’s Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid.
Still, You Never Can Tell is one of those bonkers concepts that make watching it worthwhile. Powell and Holden really do get a lot of milage out of the ridiculousness. While the noir satire isn’t sharp, it is present and kind of clever. Overall, You Never Can Tell is the kind of movie that if you described the plot to me, I’d say “There’s no way I’m not watching that.” Luckily, the film didn’t make me regret that instinct.
I couldn’t find any trailers or scenes for You Never Can Tell, but it is available to watch until September 23 on the Watch TCM app if you have a cable or satellite subscription to TCM.
Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.
It has been suggested by some that grabbing the third Wild Card spot in the National League is preferable to the first one. Quite honestly, it’s something that I’ve considered as well. I don’t think it’s controversial to say that the Brewers look like the best team in the National League. They have the best record. The Dodgers still look formidable, but they also look flawed and injured. The Braves are comfortably in the three slot as the division winner with the worst record and that seems unlikely to change.
Right now, the Cubs are the first Wild Card team. If they hold that position, they’ll open the playoffs with a best-of-three series at home against the second Wild Card, which is likely to be the Phillies. It could also be the Padres.
Were the Cubs to win that first series, they would then play the Brewers in a best-of-five series, with Milwaukee hosting games 1,2 and 5. In other words, just like last year.
However, were the Cubs to fall to the third Wild Card, they would play a best-of-three series in Atlanta and then face a Dodgers team that looks more vulnerable in the second round.
To be clear: NO ONE IS ARGUING THAT THE CUBS LOSE GAMES ON PURPOSE. For one, two bad things could happen if they do. The first is that they only fall to the second Wild Card, which would mean the same matchups except no games at Wrigley in the first round. The other bad thing is obvious: the Diamondbacks get hot and the Cubs miss the playoffs altogether.
However, it does seem like putting off a possible matchup with the Brewers until the Championship Series (with the chance that Atlanta, San Diego or Philadelphia knocks them out in the Division Series) is preferable to facing them in the Division Series. And it does seem like the Dodgers are a better matchup for the Cubs than the Brewers are. Just compare their record this year against LA and Milwaukee.
Of course, the problem with finishing third would be that the Cubs would have to win two out of three games on the road in the Wild Card series to get to either the Brewers. Maybe that makes a difference. Maybe it doesn’t make enough of a difference.
So with the caveat that the Cubs should try to win every game, would you feel better if the Cubs secured the first Wild Card or the third? (The second is definitely bad.)
Thanks for stopping by tonight. We’re glad to have you stop by. Please get home safely. Tell your friends about us. We won’t bug you with an annoying survey to fill out. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow night for more BCB After Dark.
