Mr. Smith goes to Washington filibuster
An evening pause: In honor of Rand Paul’s filibuster today, let’s watch Jimmy Stewart perform a movie filibuster from the (1939) movie, Mr. Smith goes to Washington.
As Mr. Smith says, “Somebody will listen to me.”
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
I’m not really a big fan of Rand Paul, but I give him mega-praise for this.
The movie was considered such an insult to reporters, characterizing them as a swarm of vultures and the newspapers of Smith’s state as under the thumb of the Taylor machine, that it was banned from showings at the National Press Club in Washington – which was portrayed in one scene as harboring nothing but a bunch of disrespectful cynics. That ban persisted until 1979, when the club finally invited Stewart to introduce the movie at a screening marking its 40th anniversary, which Stewart graciously accepted. I’m a member of the club, and I attended that screening. In remarks beforehand, Stewart confided that he had achieved the raspy voice he needed for the climax of Jeff Smith’s long filibuster by having a doctor administer a solution of bromide of mercury to his throat, which irritated it so badly he could barely speak for days.
Thanks for that…info I never knew.