Miller Time

UNITED STATES—Let’s tackle from today’s woke perspective what would be called diversity in it’s “A Mad Mad Mad Mad World.” In a way it’s a cynical look at humanity, a story of greed and temporary insanity. And you had these European screen writer’s, an Anglified American and his professional and personal partner (William and Tania Rose) extrapolating from their...

UNITED STATES—Tania Rose (1924-2015) was co-screenwriter, creator of “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” along with her husband William Rose (1918-1987), an American who stayed on in England after World War II service. Rose penned “The Ladykillers” in a stellar string of Ealing Studio Comedies. The one screenplay for which both husband and wife are credited is “It’s...

UNITED STATES—When “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” was re-released in 1970, it got slapped with a G-rating. Heck, I was seven years old and already had a sense that a G-rating was bad yawning Disney juju, fun for the whole family. Like Jerry Seinfeld has said, “Fun for the whole family seldom is.” But MMMMW this is...

UNITED STATES—A dismal jolt shook L.A.'s cinephilic community last week when the Pacific Theater Corporation announced that it had choked during the locked-down as a result of the COVID economy. It was a bracing jolt of reality, a reflection of families and individuals beyond measure, who endure unimaginable pain in silence due to the unprecedented pandemic shutdown, in the...

UNITED STATES—Have you ever got exactly what you wanted? Then you’ll know what I mean. I got exactly what I wanted, she was of independent means, encyclopedic knowledge, she had the answer for everything without being pedantic, loads of energy—she’s able to go sometimes for three days without sleep. Loves dogs and doesn’t mind hair all over the place—at...

UNITED STATES—Zorba’s time “up here” impacted him as colors must impact a person born blind who gains sight through an operation. Each place had something the other lacked, the Underground Cities had jeweled towers and "up there," wide open spaces and a calm that saturated every molecule of bring. Detective Zorba dreaded going back to the Underground Cities, where...

UNITED STATES—The old man’s last moments must have been hell: that of the embalmed soul during the first time at a nudist colony. One by one the members of the plaid clan came up and bare-handed took clumps of dust and rocks. At first Zorba did not know if it was part of a death ritual up there. Moments...

UNITED STATES—One-time detective Devon Zorba was jarred. It was as if he’d pulled a trigger and devastated a life that was already tossing on the spindrift toward the rocks. The question like herd of pink elephants, like the smell of burnt pita bread, hung heavy in the air. What had caused the hideous punishment to The Leader’s body? Time would...

UNITED STATES—The die was cast: An opalescent pile of pill-pods glittered hypnotically in the noon day sun, which spared the eye little that was unpleasant, such as the raw welts near the base of the spine where the pill-pods had been lanced. It seemed later, but the sundial—one of the crude technologies permitted by the old lady inside The...

UNITED STATES—The Leader raised from the dead with each step stood taller. Out he strode to the shores of the sea of wheat that fluttered in the wind in the sun. And he threw off the robe and the bulbous figure stood on spindly legs, the old and decadent farmer, raised to the level of supreme ruler, stood naked...