Word: racket
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...truth seems to be that Gallo was leading a schizophrenic life in those last days: a steel-tough gunman in racket circles; a philosophic, warm conversationalist outside the Mob. Whether he was really at home in both roles, or just a good actor, he was clearly convincing. Actress Joan Hackett found him fascinating well before she knew of his Mafia connections. "I liked him completely apart from any grotesque glamorization of the underworld," she recalls. "I thought his attempt to leave that life was genuine. He was the brightest person I've ever known." But Gallo also conceded that...
...again the irony is nice, but this time Higgins spoils it by being too obvious. The prosecutor and the defense attorney are made to commiserate with one another about how this is the way things work: "Is there any end to this shit? Does anything every change in this racket?"--and so on, rubbing the reader's face into the theme of the novel...
...when an unknown music-hall comedian found his English routines bombing on the vaudeville circuit. His sentiments were aggravated by failure, yet buoyed by the new ethos. "The American is an optimist with hustling dreams," Chaplin concluded. "Hit the jackpot! Get out from under! Sell out! Get into another racket! Why should I stick to show business? I was not dedicated to art. I began to regain confidence. Whatever happened, I was determined to stay in America...
...other racket was necessary. Chaplin was to enter the pantheon by the stage door. One morning he tried on Fatty Arbuckle's trousers and Chester Conklin's jacket. The rest is legend. From that moment he essayed only one role-but what a role! The low comic became a visual poet; he gave slapstick soul. Comedy derives from the Greek kōmos-a dance. And indeed, as the Tramp capered about with his unique sleight of foot, he created a choreography of the human condition. Under Chaplin's direction, objects spoke out as never before: bread...
...feed their cattle, and they discovered an especially thick two-acre bosque of warm pines in the center of town, which was an ideal roosting place. The townsfolk, bird lovers all, did not find the situation all that ideal. Radford's starlings 1) raised an ear-splitting racket, 2) produced so many droppings that the whole town, said a resident, smelled "like a wet chicken coop," and 3) crowded out indigenous birds like cardinals, robins and martins. Since the starlings were plainly not going to migrate from Radford of their own accord, the townsfolk and various wildlife experts hatched...