In Love with France, At Home In Italy

I was concerned that I might have been taking a wrong turn by mentioning the 50’s TV show, “Dragnet” in two recent postings. After all, who but a Baby Boomer was likely to remember that show? Well, (maybe) not to worry. The latest issue of “Vanity Fair” just arrived with an article titled “Pepe Le Perp” about the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case. The pullout quote said: “IT WAS REMARKABLE HOW RAPIDLY DSK’S ALLEGED ATTACK WAS PERCEIVED AND POPULARIZED AS INTRINSICALLY, INIMICALLY FRENCH.” But what caught my eye was a reference to none other than Jack Webb and “Dragnet.” The article mused about DSK’s arrest: “So accustomed are we to the privileges of rank and authority conferring royal immunity that seeing the long arm of law enforcement snag a high-ranker, like an outfielder reaching over the fence to rob a home run, restored one’s faith in the virtues taught us by Jack Webb in “Dragnet.” As I said in an earlier post, Webb was a man ahead of his time. But he is turning out to be a man fo...

Just to be sure I was not hallucinating about everything I said in my earlier post that made a loose association between the positive way I have been "marked" by my friends and the 50's TV program, "Dragnet," I did a little research about the "Dragnet" music and about that image of the hand that had imprinted itself on my now 64-year-old mind, which as it turned out, was not playing tricks on me.  In addition to the distinctive "Dum da dum dum" theme music, officially called "Fugue for (Sgt.) Friday," Wikepedia cites a hallmark of the "Dragnet" show that came at the end of each episode:  A sweaty, glistening left hand appeared, holding what would turn out to be a stamp for indenting metal; a heavy hammer struck the top of the handle of the stamp, twice, loudly; the stamp was removed to reveal the imprint "VII" (over which the words "Mark" and "Limited" were superimposed on a title card), ref...

Dum da dum dum:this is NOT a disclaimer! You know those disclaimers that go something like "names have been changed to protect the innocent;any resemblance between this and actual people you think you know is purely coincidendental" ? Because I am old, I remember statements like that fondly from one of my favorite tv programs of the 50s, "Dragnet." The weekly opening was molto dramatico, with a hand hammering a definitive mark on something, kind of the way I imagined they used to mark criminals. It starred the ever-cool Jack Webb, whom I still find it hard to imagine married to the sultry Julie London. I guess he did, too, since it didn't last. Anyway, what I am about to say is just the opposite. If you look closely and see stuff that looks familiar, there might be a good reason for that. The only thing I'm aiming for is to protect everyone's anonymity, So if you think you recognize yourself here, it's because of how much your friendship means to...