YANKEE DOODLE DANDY

                                Yankee Doodle went to town

                                Riding on a pony

                                He stuck a feather in his hat

                                And called it macaroni.

                                Yankee Doodle keep it up;

                                Yankee Doodle dandy,

                                Mind the music and the step,

                                And with the girls be randy.

Yankee Doodle Dandy is sung with pride and patriotism today in the United States. It is part and parcel of America and its history.

It was not always so.

Yankee Doodle was born during the French and Indian War (1754-1763). The British and colonials were fighting the French and Indians. British officers were a gentlemanly sort. High society. Well mannered and cultured. The colonists they fought with disheveled and disorganized. Ill mannered. Without culture. Classless.

The colonists were known as Yankees. Of Dutch derivation. Jancke in Dutch. Pronounced Yankee. Even within the colonial body, there was discrimination. The Dutch colonists in New Amsterdam used Yankee as a dismissive word to describe New England's English residents.

Dr. Richard Shuckburg was a British Army surgeon during the French and Indian War. A bit of a wit. He authored the original words to Yankee Doodle Dandy. The tune itself comes from an earlier nursery rhyme, Lucy Locket.

The song was one of insult and contempt for the colonials. British soldiers sang it mockingly in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War. New verses were added. All intended to put the uncouth colonials in their place. Snobbery.

The words obliviously have meaning. Their etymology interesting.

Yankee has already been described as a dismissive term.

Doodle is of German origin. Dudeltopf or dudelop. Means fool or simpleton.

Macaroni the worst of insults.

A men's club existed in London known as the Macaroni Club. Its members fashionable in the extreme. Young men. They wore wigs. Unique. Described as foppishness by non-Macaronis. Attire extravagant. Striped silks and feathers in their hats.

They considered themselves the height of fashion. Especially the feather in the hat.

The members adopted feminine mannerisms. They were considered effeminate.

The group used Italian phrases to emphasize their culture. The name Macaroni derived the reform.

By comparing the colonists to Macaroni members, the British were insinuating the colonists were womanish, not very masculine.

Forget taxation without representation. The preceding was reason enough to have precipitated the Revolutionary War.

Then came Lexington and Concord. While marching from Boston to Lexington and Concord, the British fife and drum played the tune and the soldiers sang merrily along.

After the British had been defeated later in the day, Yankee Doodle could be heard again. However, this time played and sung by the colonists. An up yours sort of thing.

Colonists claimed Yankee Doodle as their own. It was especially aggravating to the British to hear when they surrendered at Saratoga and Yorktown.

From then to now, Yankee Doodle has been America's song. The new country's first national song.

Some things come back to bite a person in the ass. Yankee Doodle did.

LATE NIGHT DINER

One of the most respected American artists of the modern era is Edward Hopper (1882-1967). His most famous work Nighthawks. The name misleading. The painting easily recognizable. A diner late at night with three customers and a counterman. All at the counter. Two men and a woman seated. The counterman behind the counter.

The painting an oil on canvas.

It took Edward one and a half months to complete the painting. It was completed January 21, 1942. He then had the painting shown for sale at his dealer's gallery.

Soon thereafter, Edward and his wife Josephine were were at a gallery showing by another artist. In attendance was Daniel Calton Rich. Rich was Director of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Josephine suggested Rich stop by the gallery showing her husband's work and look at Nighthawks. She thought he would like it. He did. He purchased it for the Art Institute for $3,000. A lot of money at the time. In today's dollars adjusted for inflation, $43,200.

The statement reflecting the sale shows that Edward's net take from the sale was $1,971. The gallery's commission was one third or $1,000. Out of pocket costs totaled $29.

The Art Institute has never sold the painting.  Its present day value has to be in the millions. A Hopper painting not as popular East Wind Over Weehawken was sold by Christie's in 2013 for $40.5 million.

Edward and Josephine married in 1924. They kept a journal of each of Edward's paintings. Edward's contribution was a pencil sketch of the painting and a precise description of technical details involved. Josephine's was information about the theme of the painting and any interesting/helpful information.

The name Nighthawks is unusual when one considers the painting is of persons in a diner late at night. Nighthawks are birds.Their beaks are small sharp pointed bills.

In a letter to a relative, Josephine wrote that the name Nighthawks was in reference to one of the men sitting at the bar. The man next to the woman. He has a long sharp nose.

In another letter to Edward's sister Marion, Josephine wrote that the subject for one customer and the counterman was Edward. He viewed himself in the mirror as he drew them. Josephine was the model for the woman.

The site of the diner is not certain. Experts agree it is in Manhattan. Some say on Greenwich Avenue. Edward at one time said it was the interior of a cheap restaurant which he simplified for the painting.

The diner and figures in Nighthawks are so widely recognized that subsequent works by others include some portions.

Gottfried Helnwein's Boulevard of Dreams (1984) was somewhat of a replica. A spoof of Hopper's Nighthawks. The persons in the painting were easily recognizable. The three customers were Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. The counterman, Elvis Presley.

Nighthawks appears in some form in novels, short stories and poems. Even movies. The movies include Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pennies From Heaven, Deep Red, and Blade Runner.

A comic book cover also. Archie cover #649. It showed Archie, Jughead and Hotday eating at Pop Tate's diner.

Hopper was influenced by early 1930 crime movies such as Scarface and Little Caesar. The darkness in Nighthawks represents that influence.

There is also a feeling of isolation. Represented by the few number of people and the diner having no door. Hopper was attempting to portray the feeling of loneliness one can have in a crowd. Especially in a city like New York. Hopper has been quoted as saying, "Unconsciously, probably I was painting the loneliness of a large city."

Hopper was inspired by Hemingway's 1927 short story The Killers. As to the diner setting. In the Killers, there is a corner restaurant scene. Hopper drew loneliness from it.

Musicians have been inspired by Nighthawks. Tom Waits' Nighthawks At the Diner. Also, the song Masters and Angels whose setting is in a diner reminiscent of the one in Nighthawks.

Television has relied on Nighthawks for various scenes. CST: Crime Scene Investigation being one. Would you believe, the Simpson's. All at a counter eating.

I love Turner Classic Movies. Watch the old films every day. Turner pays homage to Nighthawks in an introductory sequence. Look for it the next time Turner has the band rolling and scenes moving fast to introduce the next movie.

Why did I opt to write this week about Edward Hopper and Nighthawks?

Jack Baron was a longtime Key West friend. To know him was to love him. He was an artist. When I met him, he was already working out of his gallery in Square One.

Every morning, several of us would get together with Jack and his partner Bob to solve the world's problems.

I had known Jack for several years. Though a collector, I never bought Jack's paintings. They were local. Seldom do local paintings take off dollar wise.

One day, Jack handed me a beautifully leather bound book titled America's Greatest  Artists. He opened the book to the page showing Edward Hopper's Nighthawk. My thought was everyone knows Hopper. He's big.

Jack then turned the page. The next page was Jack Baron and his black ladies.

Within two weeks, I purchased fourteen of Jack's works. My Key West dining room was solely Jack Baron. His works all over the house.

I thought.....Am I going to make money! Someday.

Jack died 7-8 years ago. Unfortunately, the value of his paintings never went up. They went down. Dramatically.

I still love Jack and his paintings, however. I learned a lesson. One I have experienced many times in life and never seem to really learn: All that glitters is not gold.

Kissing.

A pleasant past time. Quite enjoyable.

Anything so popular and good is not without its detractors. There have been persons and institutions who attempted to ban kissing.

At the beginning of civilization, men would sniff and smell each other. People were identified by body odors.

At some point in time, the heads slipped during the smelling process and lips touched. Kissing was born.

Early kissing continued to be part of the identification process. Romantic kissing did not come into existence till around 1,000 B.C. India its birth place.

The first identification of kissing as romantic pleasure was contained in a poem. The poem was written by an Indian poet, Mahabharta. He wrote, "She set her mouth to my mouth and made a noise that produced pleasure in me."

Alexander the Great conquered the known world at his time. Kissing was a big deal in certain of the Middle East countries he conquered. Romantic and sensual in nature. Alexander and his men enjoyed the experience so much that they introduced kissing through out Europe.

By the time of Julius Caesar, Romans had become big time kissers. Historically described as "kissing fools." The Romans especially enjoyed "soul kissing." The soul kissing of Caesar's time being the French kissing of today.

Emperor Tiberius did not like kissing. Leprosy was a problem during his reign. He believed kissing caused the transfer of leprosy from one person to another. Tiberius banned kissing.

The ban was ineffective. People enjoyed kissing too much.
The biggest romantic kissing killjoys were the Christians. Sex has always had an evil connotation of sorts in the Catholic Church. Pope Clement V in 1312 decreed sensuous kissing a mortal sin: “Kissing done with intent to fornicate is....a mortal sin."

There had to have been a lot of new sinners following Pope Clement’s declaration. Kissing is a prelude to sex. Part and parcel thereof, also. It is difficult to have one without the other. It also makes sex more fun.

From Pope Clement V forward, the Catholic Church sought to ban romantic kissing. Just as some Christians of today would ban pleasurable sex.

Interestingly, the missionaries to the New World are credited with the spread of kissing here. It is humorous to learn that the early missionaries were responsible for spreading kissing, as well as the word of God. For whatever reason, they encouraged those they sought to convert to indulge in kissing. Perhaps as an inducement to conversion.

Kissing is the All American sport. Actually, a worldwide activity. Pleasure without cost. Both sexes enjoy. Absent any death causing malady spread by kissing, it would be impossible to do away with two pairs of lips meeting. On that, you can make book...

STAY OUT OF CIVIL WARS / FIGHT WARS TO WIN

The title aptly portrays the theme of this column. Stay out of civil wars, fight wars to win.

Modern day warfare involved. Starting with the Russian Civil War 1917-1922.

The following will surprise you. A little known fact. The United States invaded Russia in 1918. Remained through 1920. The United States was part of an Allied Expeditionary Force. At least a dozen other nations involved. Including Britain, France, Japan and Canada.

The United States sent 13,000 U.S.Army troops. Five thousand to North Russia and eight thousand to Siberia. All at one time. Not piecemeal as is done today.

A primary purpose of the Expeditionary Forces was to squelch Communism. The White Russians initially controlled the new government following the overthrow of the Tsar. They were forcefully kicked out In 1917. The Red Russians led by Lenin and Trotsky took over.

Fighting continued through the early 1920s. Civil wars take time. In the end, the Reds were firmly ingrained.

History reports President Wilson was a sneak. The United States Expeditionary Force was put together  in secret. Wilson was clandestine about it. The American people were not interested in sending troops to Russia.

The people of the United States and their leaders were opposed to Bolshevism. Another term for Communism. They feared an influx of immigrants would include Communists. They were also anti-Semitic, feared Jews in large numbers would enter the United States. Even racism came into play. It was feared militaristic American blacks might be motivated to overthrow whites once influenced by Communists.

The name of the game was to keep Communism out of the United States.

The United States withdrew from Russia in 1920. Not much had been accomplished, except a lot of dead. Millions were killed in the Civil War itself. American troops included.

Mass killings / genocide were rampant. Both sides engaging. Each side killing the other in one time numbers of 1,000 and more. Sometimes in excess of 100,000 over a period of time. Jews included. For some reason, Russians on both sides disliked Jews. One hundred thousand were killed in the Ukraine alone.

Typhus took three million.

The United States and the Expeditionary Force were fighting the Reds. The Reds won. Never forgot the nations who fought against them on their way to independence.

The United States had backed the loser.

The Japanese remained to 1922. Japan's concern was to grab huge amounts of land so as to create a buffer between Japan and Russia. Japan had no success.

Russia initially sided with Germany in World War II. When Hitler sent his Panzer divisions into Russia, Russia joined the Allied side.

The Russians never trusted the Allies. Nor did the Allies trust Russia. It was a game of outfoxing whenever Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met.

Historians claim the Cold War began almost instantly following the end of World War II. I disagree. I believe it began in the 1917-20 time frame when the United States and Britain sent large numbers of troops to defeat the Reds. The same Reds who became partners with the Allies during most of World War II.

The United States intervened in Russia's Civil War and Russia never forgot. Except for a few years following 1989-90 when the Soviet government fell, some degree of Cold War has always existed.

Putin is now in power and has been for many years. Russians love him. Russians are having a hard time economically. The people do not care. He is their man. He is returning Russia to its days of former glory.

The two World Wars were wars to end all wars. It never occurred. The United States has been involved in a number of wars since.

The United States either stalemates or has lost subsequent wars or defeats a non entity opponent.

North Korea cannot wait to drop a nuclear device on the United States. Vietnam was unquestionably a humiliating defeat. Lebanon in the early 1980s is difficult to categorize. After 241 Marines were killed in a bombing, Reagan pulled all U.S. forces out saying these people are crazy. Meaning the Lebanese, of course.

The United States has had one victory. No question about it. The first Iraqi War.

Other victories include places too small to consider victories. The United States merely stomped the aggressor under its boot. Places like Grenada, Panama and Haiti.

Now comes the Middle East. Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. No war with Iran yet.

Can any of the United States' efforts since 2001 in the Middle East be considered victories? No way.

In the Middle East, the United States has been involved in civil wars. Beware, my admonition continues throughout this article. In none o fthem has it appeared the United States fought to win. World War II was won because there was the commitment to win. A nonexistent virtue in recent times.

The United States fought to win the first Iraqi War. No other war since World War II and since the Iraqi War.

Wars cannot be won sending 50 or 100 men to fight at a time. Wars must be fought to be won. Right away. Full force and equipment. Not years later.

Victory seems an illusion, except for World War II and the first Iraqi War.

There is a study that suggests ninety percent of all wars the United States has been involved in since World War II have been civil wars.

I suspect another reason wars have not been won is that the United States is the greatest power in the world. For shame were the United States to inflict its power on a small country. 

One step further. The small country involved in a civil war fights as if the war is the most important thing in its life. It is! People with such dedication are hard to beat.

I started this article intending to discuss the United States' invasion / intervention in the Russian Civil War. Nothing else. No moral to the story. Merely an occurrence in history.

I got carried away. Glad I did, however. Things like stay out of civil wars and fight wars to win are rarely heard these days.

Wake up America!