PAUL Michael Clark writes:

I read with interest your readers’ recent thoughts about classic screen musicals. One film I think particularly noteworthy in that context is 1958’s Gigi. It serves as a reference point in the erosion of Hollywood’s Motion Picture Production Code (“Hays Code”), the industry’s now-extinct set of moral guidelines — that’s to say, in the erosion of cultural standards in general.

Gigi’s creepy plot, about a teenager being groomed by female relatives as a courtesan, became defused in the eyes of many Eisenhower-era moviegoers thanks to the film’s cheerful cinematic sweep and high production values (including first-rate songs by Lerner and Loewe of My Fair Lady fame, another adapted story about female transformation). Certain concessions were necessary, of course, in the face of what filmmakers considered the public’s stilted bourgeois values.

For starters Gigi’s age was left unstated, as opposed to being 15 in the source material, a 1944 novella by Parisian author Colette. Filmmakers also chose an actress in her mid-twenties, Leslie Caron, for the title role though they patently portrayed the character as significantly younger.

Those involved in the production, to be certain, held no illusions about Gigi’s age. In 2024, at age 93, Miss Caron gave an interview to British magazine The Oldie, whose reporter noted how “When filming Gigi, she was a 26-year-old mother with an infant son, yet she carried off the part as a gamine 14-year-old,” then quoted the actress herself:

I was still feeding my little Christopher. My bosom was a little too voluptuous for a girl of 14 and I said to [costumer] Madame Karinska, “Why don’t we have braids to keep this little gilet?” Otherwise I looked too maternal. 

Nine years earlier, a French movie adaptation of Colette’s tale earned a Condemned rating from the Catholic-sponsored National Legion of Decency, which concluded that the film “condones and glorifies immorality.” But the Legion proved lenient toward the Hollywood version, classifying it as “Morally Unobjectionable for Adults.” This was due primarily to two factors besides fudging Gigi’s age: an ending that putatively affirms marriage, and the framing of her courtesan training more as aristocratic etiquette lessons than what they subtly represented.

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IF you receive an invitation by e-mail from me, please disregard it and do not sign into it.

I did not send it.

It is a virus that came into my inbox. I am very sorry for any inconvenience.

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 “IF you wish it, the blood of your Lord was given for you; if you do not wish it, it was not given for you.”

— St. Augustine

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“AND Pilate seeing that he prevailed nothing, but that rather a tumult was made; taking water washed his hands before the people, saying: I am innocent of the blood of this just man; look you to it.

“And the whole people answering, said: His blood be upon us and our children.”

— Matthew 27:24-25

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Hymn for Feast of the Precious Blood

He who once, in righteous vengeance,
Whelmed the world beneath the flood,
Once again in mercy cleansed it
With the stream of his own blood,
Coming from his throne on high
On the painful cross to die.

Blest with this all-saving shower,
Earth her beauty straight resumed;
In the place of thorns and briars,
Myrtles sprang, and roses bloomed:
Bitter wormwood of the waste
Into honey changed its taste.

Scorpions ceased; the slimy serpent
Laid his deadly poison by;
Savage beasts of cruel instinct
Lost their wild ferocity;
Welcoming the gentle reign
Of the Lamb for sinners slain.

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“AND Saul, as yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, And asked of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues: that if he found any men and women of this way, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. And as he went on his journey, it came to pass that he drew nigh to Damascus; and suddenly a light from heaven shined round about him. And falling on the ground, he heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?  Who said: Who art thou, Lord? And he: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.”

— Acts of the Apostles, Chapt. 9:1-4

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ALAN writes:

Several years ago I was talking with an acquaintance.  She and I were close in age.  She was a very pleasant woman, intelligent, articulate, was educated in Catholic schools, and had even earned a Ph.D. in American Literature. I made a cynical but mild remark about FDR’s “New Deal”.  (What I said was far less biting than Dr. Revilo Oliver’s favorite characterization of FDR as “that loathsome creature in the White House”.) She was incredulous and said to me in reply, as if she thought I ought to know it, “Roosevelt saved the country.”

I did not agree, but I knew that what she said is what Americans are taught to accept in the official court history of those years.

I let the matter drop, for two reasons: Because she was such a good person and wonderful conversation partner, and because it was later than we thought.  Unwelcome proof of that latter came on the day last year when I learned she died in her sleep at age 77. Very seldom did we disagree. We shared 70+ years of happy memories. So now I missed the sparkle and zest in the conversations we shared for more than six years in the twilight of her life and mine.

But what she said –“Roosevelt saved the country” –was (and is) the frame of mind held by most Americans. And that brings me to this:

How many readers of The Thinking Housewife would recognize the name Sterling E. Edmunds?

I thought so. I have never seen his name mentioned by any Conservative or Paleoconservative or Traditionalist writers or bloggers.

Sterling Edmunds was a newspaper reporter, editor, attorney, and law professor in St. Louis, with a particular interest in Constitutional law. He lived from 1880 to 1944. He was described as “a man who has won a host of friends because of his gentlemanly behavior”. (more…)

The Angry Man
— by Phyllis McGinley

The other day I chanced to meet
An angry man upon the street —
A man of wrath, a man of war,
A man who truculently bore
Over his shoulder, like a lance,
A banner labeled “Tolerance.”

And when I asked him why he strode
Thus scowling down the human road,
Scowling, he answered, “I am he
Who champions total liberty —
Intolerance being, ma’am, a state
No tolerant man can tolerate.

“When I meet rogues,” he cried, “who choose
To cherish oppositional views,
Lady, like this, and in this manner,
I lay about me with my banner
Till they cry mercy, ma’am.” His blows
Rained proudly on prospective foes.

Fearful, I turned and left him there
Still muttering, as he thrashed the air,
“Let the Intolerant beware!”

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“THE filial devotedness of the Christians of Rome took alarm, and they implored Saint Peter to elude the danger for a while, by instant flight. ‘Although he would have much preferred to suffer,’ says Saint Ambrose (Contra Auxent), Peter set out along the Appian Way. Just as he reached the Capuan gate, Christ suddenly presented Himself, seemingly about to enter the city. ‘Lord, whither goest thou?’ cried out the Apostle. ‘To Rome,’ Christ replied, ‘to be there crucified again.’ The disciple understood his Master; he at once retraced his steps, having now no thought but to await his hour of martyrdom. This Gospel-like scene expresses the sequel of our Lord’s designs upon the venerable old man. With a view to founding the Christian Church in unity, He had extended to his disciple his own prophetic name of the ‘Rock,’ or ‘Stone,’ Petrus; now, even unto the Cross itself, was He about to make him His participator. Rome having replaced Jerusalem must likewise have her Calvary.”

— Dom Prosper Guéranger, “The Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul“

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Hymn
(On the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, Proper of Saints)

O more than blessèd, merit high attaining,
Pure as the snow-drift, innocent of evil,
Child of the desert, mightiest of martyrs,
Greatest of prophets.

Thirtyfold increase some with glory crowneth;
Sixtyfold fruitage prize for others winneth;
Hundredfold measure, thrice repeated, decks thee,
Blest one, for guerdon.

O may the virtue of thine intercession,
All stony hardness from our hearts expelling,
Smooth the rough places, and the crooked straighten
Here in the desert.

Thus may our gracious Maker and Redeemer,
Seeking a station for his hallowed footsteps,
Find, when he cometh, temples undefilèd,
Meet to receive him.

Now as the angels celebrate thy praises,
Godhead essential, Trinity co-equal;
Spare thy redeemed ones, as they bow before thee,
Pardon imploring.
Amen.

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KATHY G. writes:

I’ve been thinking about Alan’s wonderful post reminiscing about the old musicals.

I remember some of those movies, although they were on their way out during my ’60’s childhood. Looking back, I am increasingly struck by the engineered culture provided for Americans to consume. I have looked at music and artists that I used to enjoy and admire with more detachment. I’ve learned about military intelligence and CIA involvement in so much of it. I’ve thrown out a lot of it, movies as well, and will probably throw it all out.

As that catchy tune from the strange musical “Mary Poppins” taught us, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down”.

In retrospect, “My Fair Lady”, based on Fabian G.B. Shaw’s “Pygmalion”, was basically advancing the multicultural mess we now find ourselves in. The premise that education, wardrobe, and etiquette skills can turn a street urchin into a fine lady is very entertaining and idealistic.

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“WE consider secularism, with its errors and abominable attempts, to be the plague of our times; and you know, venerable brothers, that such impiety did not mature in a single day, but rather incubated long before in the very heart of society. It began by denying Christ’s dominion over all peoples; the Church was denied the right, founded on the right of Christ himself, to teach humankind — that is, to give laws and to guide nations to lead them to eternal happiness. Then, little by little, the Christian religion was equated with other false religions and indecorously degraded to their level. It was then subjected to civil power and the arbitrary permission of rulers and magistrates. And things went further: some of these people imagined replacing the religion of Christ with a kind of natural religion, with purely human feelings. There were even states that believed they could do without God, and they based their religion on impiety and contempt for God.” 

— Pope Pius XI, Qyas Primas, 1925

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But of him was it said, as is written in the Blessed Evangelist He was a burning and a shining light that is to say, that, when the whole world was wrapt in the night of ignorance, this Saint was kindled by the fire of the Holy Ghost, to show before men the light of salvation, and at the hour of the thickest darkness of sin, appeared like a bright morning star to herald the rising of that Sun so right gloriously radiant, the Son of righteousness, Christ our Lord. And this is why John said of himself: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord.

— From the Sermons of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (on the Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist)

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THOU, in thy childhood, to the desert caverns
Fleddest for refuge from the cities’ turmoil,
Where the world’s slander might not dim thy lustre,
Lonely abiding.

Camel’s hair raiment clothed thy saintly members;
Leathern the girdle which thy loins encircled;
Locusts and honey, with the fountain-water,
Daily sustained thee.

Oft in past ages, seers with hearts expectant
Sang the far-distant advent of the day-star;
thine was the glory, as the world’s Redeemer
First to proclaim him.

Far as the wide world reacheth, born of woman,
Holier was there none than John the Baptist;
Meetly in water laving him who cleanseth
Man from pollution.

Praise to the Father, to the Son begotten,
And to the Spirit, equal power possessing,
One God whose glory, through the lapse of ages,
Ever resoundeth.
Amen.

Hymn {from the Proper of Saints}

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FROM Fr. Felix Sarda y Salvany’s Liberalism Is a Sin [full quote here]::

The apostate cleric is the first factor the devil seeks for his work of rebellion. He needs to present it in some authoritative way to the eyes of the unwary, and for that, nothing serves him better than the endorsement of some minister of the Church. And since, unfortunately, there is never a shortage of clerics corrupted in their morals—the most common path to heresy—or blinded by pride, also a very common cause of all error, he has never lacked ecclesiastical apostles and supporters, whatever form he has taken in Christian society.

Judas, who began within the apostolate itself to murmur and sow distrust against the Savior, and ended up betraying him to his enemies, is the first type of the apostate priest and sower of discord among his brothers; and Judas, it should be noted, was one of the first twelve priests ordained by the Redeemer himself.

The sect of the Nicolaitans originated from the deacon Nicolaus, one of the first seven deacons ordained by the Apostles for the service of the Church, and companion of Saint Stephen, the protomartyr.

Paul of Samosata, a great heresiarch of the 3rd century, was bishop of Antioch.

The father and author of the Novatians, who so disturbed the universal Church with their schism, was the priest of Rome Novatian.

Meletius, bishop of the Thebaid, was the author and leader of the Meletian schism.

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FROM Fulton J. Sheen’s Communism and the Conscience of the West, [Bobbs-Merril, Indianapolis, 1948], pp. 24-25.

Our Lord tells us that the Antichrist will be so like Him that he would deceive even the elect – and certainly no image of the devil as he has been seen in books could ever deceive even the elect.

The Antichrist will not be called that; otherwise, he would have no followers. He will not wear red tights, nor vomit sulfur, nor carry a trident, nor wave an arrow-shaped tail like Mephistopheles in Faust.

This masquerade has helped convince men that the devil does not exist. When no one recognizes him, he wields more power. God has defined himself as “I am who I am,” and the devil as “I am who I am not.”

Nowhere in Sacred Scripture do we find justification for the popular myth that the devil is a jester who primarily dresses in red. Rather, he is described as a fallen angel, as “the prince of this world,” whose mission is to tell us there is no other world. His logic is simple: if there is no heaven, there is no hell; if there is no hell, then there is no sin; if there is no sin, then there is no judge; and if there is no judgment, then evil is good and good is evil. But above all these descriptions, Our Lord tells us that he will be so like himself that he would deceive even the elect—and certainly no image of the devil seen in books could ever deceive even the elect. So how will he enter this new age to gain followers for his religion?

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FROM a letter written by David Goldstein, Jewish convert to Catholicism, in 1956:

Dear Mr. Solomon,

My lengthy reply to your inquiry as to how, I, of Jewish parentage, could become a Catholic, is, in summary, because I believed in Old Testament principles and predictions, which call for religious and moral guidance by God, through His authoritative, priestly, sacrificial Church. These I found manifestly full formed and majestic in the Catholic Church, that displaced the Church of our Jewish forebears, as foretold by Moses and the prophets.

I fully appreciate your feelings regarding the Spanish Inquisition, and the resultant suffering its decisions caused the State to inflict upon the Marranos, for the guilt of heresy. Whether or not the crime warranted the punishment, the fact remains that the heretics in Spain deserved punishment. Your judgment of the Inquisition is based upon failure to realize that European civilization was virtually a unit in faith during the Middle Ages. The Gospels and the laws of the Catholic Church formed the basis of legislation. Religion was considered of vital import to the State, as civil unity depended to quite an extent upon religious unity. Therefore an attack upon religion, through heresy, was an attack upon the prevailing order of society, which the Catholic Church caused to evolve from paganism, through the Dark Ages, to Christian order. Hence heresy was considered a crime by the State, and a sin by the Church. The severe methods of punishment resorted to by the State during the years of the Spanish Inquisition, which you resent as do I, were always condemned by the Church. They were not of Spanish origin. They were universal for centuries before there was an united Spanish Kingdom. Yet they never reached the number or severity in Spain that Catholics suffered in other countries for the “crime” of loyalty to their religious faith.

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