CW Superman & Lois

Tags

action, adventure, binging, CW, Family, review, sciencefiction, superhero, Superman, tv, TV series, twins

Stuck in the house with a vicious illness (not Covid) left me at the mercy of symptoms. No brain, no ambition, and with nothing else to do but binge, I looked into my curiosity about the newest Superman on the CW. It had many good reviews and gushing adoration from fans. Now I know why.

OK, I’m an unashamed closet Superman freak. As a tot I sat on the linoleum floor and waited in squirming impatience to hear the announcer ask if it’s a bird or a plane. Wonderful George Reeves—what he endured was just not fair. Of course, I didn’t learn about his troubles until many years later. I never liked the Lois rendition from that era. She was just too dippy, but poor Noel Neill probably had no choice. Hollywood perpetuated and leaped on every opportunity to keep women in their place. No one in this new series would ever pull that crap on this version of Lois. She knows how to use a Tazer and even Clark/ Superman backs up a step when she’s ticked.

What stands out in this rendition is a family bombarded by challenges and how they handle them. The chemistry between the four is utterly compelling. The Kent boys—no, young men—are enough to cause a dangerous estrogen surge in the global teen population. As a grandma, I just want to get them in my clutches, feed them cookies, soak up their energy, and listen to their victories and tragedies.

A massive part of the addictive aspects of this series is how the characters and their lives are so identifiable, so today and every day. Physical attractiveness is minor; IMHO, although Jordan’s sweetly dimpled smile is enough to shatter an ocular release (sorry, inside joke). There is much about them to admire. The twins have the virtues of their parents inherent, not forced. They are a mix of kindness, honor, integrity, and loyalty mixed up with the angst of their hormone-messed up ages (14). Young people everywhere must identify and get immediately sucked into their problems. The storyline deals with issues like bullying, social disorders, parental disappointments, to name a few. But the twins are not perfect. They yell at their parents and are loaded with teen sarcasm.

Clark has performance issues about being a dad, as any normal parent should. His deer in the headlights expression when being floored by teen outbursts and their acting out blunders is priceless. As is his stunned look the first time he sees Lois.

Lois is feisty, a mom who works hard not to hover and suffers from professional tunnel vision. Not always a bad thing. Scenes with her sons, when the proverbial chips are down and everything has been blown to hell and gone, are touching. The commitment these parents invest in their children is remarkable.

That being written, this is no Ozzie & Harriet yarn. Many glaring errors are not worth mentioning, because the writing is so dang great. TV production budgets are tiny in comparison to a film. There is finite time to get it done and no money for a re-shoot.

Although I’m sure viewers are interested in seeing Superman’s daring feats, and there are many, I am more invested in the family, how they argue, snark, laugh, cling, and hang on to each other for dear life. When Jordan’s heartthrob, the volatile Sarah, gripes at the twins that she wasn’t lucky enough to have a perfect family, the boys share a startled, meaning-filled look, as they hold back the truth that their family has its own set of problems. It’s brief moments like this, speckled throughout the series that makes it so remarkable. There are no sloppy acting moments or scene-chewing silliness. This is ensemble acting at its best and rarely seen in television, certainly not at this level of intimacy.

Season Two starts tonight on the CW. I’ve no idea how I’ve survived the wait.

M.L Rigdon (aka Julia Donner)

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Fame and Fortune, Times Two

Tags

Barnum, Bunker twins, Chang and Eng, conjoined, oddities, Siamese, Thailand, twins

In 1824, merchant Robert Hunter came across an unusual set of twin boys while in Thailand, then known as Siam. We’ve all heard of Anna and the King of Siam, but that’s another story. From that book, musical, and film, we learned a bit about the culture. The twins, conjoined at the chest, were condemned to die, but kept at the king’s court. The death decree was lifted when they turned sixteen.

So began the tale of Chang and Eng, who visited countries all over the world, made masses of money, and from whom we got the label of Siamese twins. It helped that they were attractive boys and let little stand in their way

The twins left Thailand when Robert Hunter petitioned the government to allow him to take the boys on tour, touting them as oddities. The twins traveled the world, became famous, made a fortune. A parting of the ways came when an issue with money arose, and the young men went their own way. Later, they joined up with P.T. Barnum.

Chang and Eng retired young and invested their money in North Carolina farmland. They found wives—sisters Adelaide and Sarah Yates—and married in a double ceremony in 1843. It’s been written that the marriage issue evoked a great deal of controversy due to conubial relations, but as usual, that never stopped the brothers. The quartet lived together for a few years until the sisters had a falling out. After that, the brothers stayed in three-day cycles at one of the two houses. They became American citizens, took the name Bunker, and proceeded to beget twenty-one children. Two of their grandsons fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War.

The Bunkers lost a great deal due to the war and became embittered. Chang took to drinking and Eng to gambling. By 1870, they needed money and agreed to another tour with Barnum. Onboard ship, Chang had a stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed on the right side. Eng had to physically support his brother. There had been discussion about surgery to separate in the past. The brothers were still not in favor. Their wives supported their decision. In 1874, Chang developed bronchitis. Eng woke to find his brother dead. The physician urged Eng to be separated from his brother. He refused. A few hours later, Eng died. So great was the fascination and furor over the twins for most of their lives that a death cast was made.

I’ve listed a few websites. Widely illustrated and photographed, their resilience and determination glares out of every picture. It’s said that we all have our crosses to bear. These two men took their disability to its most practical lengths and made lives for themselves. They were known to argue with each other but never wanted to be separated, even at the end. They left behind many descendants, a respected legacy, and me with no reason to gripe about my difficulties. The Bunkers were never oddities. They were pioneers.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1250

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Chang+and+Eng+Bunker+Descendants&FORM=RESTAB

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/morbid-monday-the-demise-of-chang-and-eng

 

Before Ripley’s Believe It or Not

Tags

Barnum, circus, coloratura, hoax, hype, Jenny Lind, Manuel Garcia, oddites, opera, promotion, twins

Many things are attributed to Phineas T. Barnum, some true, some not. Aunt Marie had a fascination for the bizarre as well as history and introduced me to him. Barnum’s collections gave me the creeps, made me sad, or filled me with wonder. He was known for his hoaxes as well as spotlighting remarkable people. He brought the Swedish soprano, Jenny Lind, to the US, and his gift with publicity gave her Beatles-type, rock star popularity. The hype he created meant her arrival in New York City was met by over thirty thousand. She hadn’t sung a note and tickets to her concerts were being auctioned for incredible prices.

I felt an affinity with Lind because she sang in an era when the dramatic or lush mezzo-soprano was most popular and nearly lost her voice from poor instructors, as I did. In Paris, the famous Manuel Garcia gave it back to her. (My voice teacher used some of his techniques to restore mine.) When I was younger, had lessons, and vocalized regularly, I sang the same coloratura material as Jenny Lind, but certainly not with her vocal gift. My voice is better suited to musical comedy, but I always got placed with the altos when I knew I should be signing the high e flats and lightning fast trills. Like Lind, my early teachers had no idea what to do with a coloratura and taught me to sing incorrectly.

Lind mesmerized listeners everywhere. In an age when female performers were known for their loose morals, Lind was reserved and morally uncompromised. When she finished her concerts in the US, Barnum came out and sent the crowds into a frenzy by telling them that she planned to donate part of her payment to charity. Wherever she was booked to sing, the halls were packed, and people were said to have swooned when she sang. It might be because they’d never heard the high notes of the bel canto when it was sung with such sweetness. The eighteen hundreds were know for their mushy romanticism and that’s what she performed.

I’m also astounded by Barnum’s ability to drum up business. He had a gift for publicity, whipping up crowds, and creating a frenzy. Before he joined Bailey and touted “The Greatest Show on Earth” he’d made a lot of money with oddities, like the FeeJee mermaid and the Cardiff Giant. He made living people, who were different and considered socially unacceptable, famous. General Tom Thumb, who stood less than two and a half feet tall, became known all over the world and introduced to royalty. Although Chang and Eng were older when he took them on tour, the famous twins made him more money. Born in Thailand (then known as Siam), Chang and Eng, are the reason we call conjoined twins Siamese. They’d already been seen all over the world. Barnum added the spin of bringing along two of their children.

I wish I had the tiniest bit of P.T. Barnum’s ability to promote. Like many writers, I couldn’t sell a bucket of water in the Mojave. He also had a knack for the turn of phrase. The saying about a sucker being born every minute is attributed to him, but corrections have been made about the source. Not Barnum. He wasn’t quite that cynical. Like Lind, he was an active philanthropist and was said to have a fondness for children and strong wish to make people happy. If nothing else, he certainly kept the world amazed.

“Every crowd has a silver lining.” P.T Barnum and “Without promotion, something terrible happens…nothing!”

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Jenny_Lind.aspx

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/P_T_Barnum.aspx

Next time, Chang and Eng, who were successful farmers, married, and had twenty-one children.