...the chow is mighty fine."
On this day in 1905, the crew of the Czar's battleship Potemkin were turned to for corporal punishment on the charge of complaining that the meat in the galley had more than the USDA-allowed amount of live maggots in it. After brief labor/management negotiations, a settlement was drawn up that involved the crewmen getting the ship and the officers getting a bullet.
The ship then pulled into Odessa harbor flying the red flag, and several more photogenic events may or may not have happened.
Setting in motion an unplanned series of events culminating in "baby carriage on steps" sequences in movies by Woody Allen and Brian DePalma.
ReplyDeleteWhen Pirates fly a red flag it means no quarter will be given, the black flag is just an identifier.
ReplyDeleteI rewatched Bananas last weekend, and my biggest laugh was when the baby carriage went bouncing down the steps - I'd forgotten that was in there. As I recall, Terry Gilliam had a vacuum cleaner do the same thing in Brazil.
ReplyDeleteThe Pet Shop Boys did a new score for Eisenstein's film, which is apparently more or less in accordance with his original intention, that a new score would be written every decade.
"When Pirates fly a red flag it means no quarter will be given, the black flag is just an identifier."
ReplyDeleteCorrect; the term "Jolly Roger" was an Anglicization of the French "joule rouge".
Righty-o BobG! Under the Black Flag is good readin'! :-) Another good read is The Lost Fleet: The Discovery of a Sunken Armada from the Golden Age of Piracy. Pretty informative anyhow.
ReplyDeleteI see Turk's taken a film class or two.
ReplyDeleteWhy do they do this? Because we're FORCED to watch THE ENTIRE THING in film school.
ReplyDeletelabor management negotiations. ha.
ReplyDeleteI sent you a pic that goes with this term to your email.