'Napoleon' in Manhattan

Abel Gance and Kevin Brownlow in 1967

A few years ago, a chat with a master projection booth technician I met brought to mind a unique movie-watching experience. The conversation was with Chapin Cutler; we were talking about old movie houses when he told me that over four decades ago he had worked in the booth at the old Orson Welles Cinema in Cambridge. 

In my early days as manager at the Biograph I had a few telephone conversations with the manager of that famous movie theater (I don‘t recall his name). Occasionally I talked with my counterparts at repertory cinemas/art houses in other cities, usually it was about shipping prints of films back and forth, etc. The Orson Welles (1969-86) was known then as quite a trend-setter.

Cutler also said he was working in the booth at Radio City Music Hall when I saw Abel Gance‘s “Napoleon” on October 24, 1981. He told me he had supervised the installation of the synchronized three-projector system it took to present Gance’s restored 1927 masterpiece. It was no easy task to present it in a fashion that was faithful to what Gance had called “polyvision,” which entailed split screen images and other effects, including some splashes of color. All pretty edgy stuff in 1927.

The restoration of the film is a great story, itself. In a nutshell, it had been a 20-year project supervised by film historian Kevin Brownlow. Then the film, which had been released over the years at various lengths, was edited into to a four-hour version by Francis Ford Coppola, whose company, American Zoetrope, released it.

Just as the French filmmaker had originally envisioned, a live orchestra accompanied the silent film. The new score was written by Carmine Coppola, father of Francis the Zoetrope boss.

Throughout the 1920s Abel Gance had been seen as a great innovator, a visionary, even a genius. Then came the mammoth production, “Napoleon,” and its abysmal failure at the box office. In 1927 it cost a theater a lot of money to install all the equipment it took to present it properly, with three projectors working in unison. Because few theaters opted to install such a system for one film the first run engagements were limited. Talkies soon came along, which meant silent movies, no matter how avant-garde, were shelved.

Although Gance kept working on film-making projects, he sometimes spiraled into dark periods of despair. There was a point when he was said to have burned some of the footage from his original cut of “Napoleon.” So, today, nobody knows what its true running time ought to be. 

 

Hey, I’ve read accounts that suggest Gance wanted it to run nine hours ... maybe he even wanted to make sequels. Eventually, Gance became obsessed with re-editing “Napoleon,” perpetually, trying to transform some version of it into an important film that would be seen and appreciated by a wide audience. Some observers considered him to be a washed up crackpot and anything but a good risk.

To get to Manhattan I drove to D.C. and took the train to New York. During the Metroliner trip from Union Station to Penn Station I read several Charles Bukowski stories from a paperback edition of “Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness.” It had been purchased at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco eight months earlier that year, but I hadn't read much of it since the flight home.

Reading several of Bukowski’s tight, briefly-told tales back-to-back on a fast-moving train really knocked me out. The feeling I had about the story called “The Most Beautiful Woman in Town,” is still easy to conjure up.

To top it off, the whole trip was part of a business project. My Biograph bosses in Georgetown wanted me to assess the commercial potential for “Napoleon” for smaller markets in the mid-Atlantic region, because they were considering a bold move to become a sub-distributor of the film. So I was traveling on other people’s money!

Then, during my walk from the hotel to the theater, bad luck flung a cinder into my eye. When the movie started I couldn’t watch it, because I couldn’t get the damn thing out of my eye. It felt like a sharp-edged boulder. Since my mission was to WATCH the movie I had to do something, so I went out to the lobby.

Corny as it sounds I asked the first Radio City Music Hall employee I encountered if there was a doctor in the house.

The answer was, “Yes.”

Hey this was Manhattan. Of course there was a doctor on duty to take care of medical emergencies and yes, to flush blinding cinders out of the patrons’ eyes; although the cinder had packed quite a punch, the thing actually weighed less than a pound. Back in the auditorium, the movie was spectacular. 

 

The power that music played live by an orchestra added to the overall experience would be difficult to overstate. I left the theater overwhelmed and returned to Richmond more than a little enthusiastic about the possibility of being associated with screening the same movie at the Mosque in Richmond and in other large theaters with orchestra pits in the region. 

Unfortunately, the notion of playing Gance’s greatest film in cities all over the country, accompanied by live orchestras, withered and died. I suppose it was considered a bad risk outside of the largest markets. A year or so later, when it went into general release the sound was put on the film in a conventional way. CinemaScope was used to show the triptych effect. 

So the ambitious deal my bosses had in mind never materialized. Still, the new four-hour version of “Napoleon” did run at the Biograph in February of 1983, to mark the theater’s 11th anniversary. It was still impressive, but not at all what it had been like at my viewing in Manhattan. At least I got to see the part at the beginning I had missed before.

Abel Gance died at the age of 92. He lived just long enough to see his reputation as a great filmmaker totally rehabilitated. His death came just three weeks after I saw “Napoleon,” during the run promoted in the 1-sheet seen to the right.  

 

At the time of his death in the fall of 1981, once again, critics were calling Gance a genius. Which provides a rather happy ending to this meandering story.

-- 30 --

VCU Stumbles at Davidson

Final Score: Davidson 65, VCU 57

Location: Davidson, N.C. (Belk Arena)

Current Records: VCU 17-6 (10-4 A-10), Davidson 12-7 (7-4)

 

The short story: On the road Saturday the VCU Rams lost their battle with the Davidson Wildcats in what was the regular-season finale for both teams.

 

OPENING TIP

• With his second double-double of the season sophomore forward Hason Ward continued his noteworthy progress: 10 points and 10 boards. He also contributed a pair of steals and a block.
• Freshman guard Jamir Watkins, in his second game as a starter, finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and two steals.
• Freshman guard Josh Banks provided seven points coming off the bench for the Rams.
• Before an injury sidelined him, Rams junior forward Vince Williams added 11 points, four rebounds and three assists. 
• Luka Brajkovic led three Davidson players in double figures with 15 points.
  

THE DIFFERENCE

• Davidson shot 50 percent (12-of-24) in the second half, compared to 36 percent (10-of-28) for VCU. 
• Davidson cashed in on 15 VCU turnovers with 14 points.
• Williams buried a 3-pointer with 11:31 left in the game, to push VCU in front 43-42. Then on the ensuing possession Davidson’s Kellan Grady answered with a 3-pointer of his own. VCU would not lead again.

NOTABLE

• VCU played its second straight game without sophomore guard and leading scorer Bones Hyland (foot), as well as key reserve KeShawn Curry (who is with his family during a period of mourning). At the 9:59 mark of the second half in yesterday's tilt, Vince Williams left with an ankle injury and did not return. 
• Box score.
  
• VCU has secured the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.
  
• Next for the Rams: VCU will open A-10 Tournament action on Fri., Mar. 5 at 3:30 p.m. Its opponent is yet to be determined. That contest will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network.
• Although the shorthanded Rams (playing without their top two scorers and a key sub) lost two of their last three games, the next men up who got increased playing time showed well. Thus, going into March VCU has strengthened it bench.  
  
• In the A-10 tournament, the games of Mar. 3-6 will be played either at the Siegel Center or the Robins Center. Then, on Mar. 14, the tournament's championship game will take place at the UD Arena in Dayton.

-- Game notes from Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D.

Eating Dandelions, Tasting Freedom

Note: Convicted of murder in 1996, with her appeals exhausted, Beverly A. Monroe began serving her 22-year prison term. In 2002 a federal judge ordered her immediate release. Then she had to wait for months to see if she would be retried. Over the year of 2002 I wrote articles about her plight for three different periodicals. The longest of those pieces was the feature published by FiftyPlus that looked into the case more than the others. It is posted below.

Eating Dandelions, Tasting Freedom
by F.T. Rea

On March 5, 1992 Beverly Anne Monroe began to lose her hold on the strands of the life she had known. That morning her boyfriend/companion of more than a decade, Roger Zygmunt de la Burde, 60, was found dead in the library of his house, situated in Powhatan County, on 220 acres along the James River. De la Burde had been shot once in the head; his own handgun was at his side on a couch. County officials acted on the assumption they were dealing with a suicide. Yet, later that same year, Beverly Monroe found herself listening to testimony in support of the charge that she had committed a cold-blooded murder.

The prosecutor, Jack Lewis, told the jury that Monroe had admitted to David Riley, a state police special investigator, she was in the room when the gun went off. Monroe vigorously challenged that assertion, proclaiming her innocence. The defendant left the courtroom facing twenty-two years of incarceration.

After losing appeals in state courts, on April 5, 2002, Monroe was released from prison by order of U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams. In vacating her conviction, Judge Williams wrote, "This case is a monument to prosecutorial indiscretions and mishandling."

Upon hearing the news she would leave Pocahontas Correctional Unit that day Monroe returned to the stark building in which she had lived, to fetch her belongings.

"In both dorms they [the prisoners] were all pressed against the bars, cheering, screaming to congratulate me," says Monroe. "It wasn’t about me, it was about hope."

*

The original trial wiped out Beverly Monroe’s savings; eventually all she had was liquidated.

"[Then] We sold the house in order to pay for the habeas process," says Katie Monroe, Beverly Monroe’s daughter who is an attorney.

Now 37, in 1996 Katie Monroe set her own career aside, at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, to work exclusively toward her mother’s release. As she labored with appeals she also established a non-profit group to raise funds and network. And, she put up a web site (www.freebeverly.com) to help disseminate and collect information.

"All in all, this has cost over $500,000, says Katie Monroe."

Beverly Monroe, 64, now lives in Katie Monroe’s cheerful yellow house on a quiet street in Richmond’s Bellevue neighborhood. That setting provides an opportunity for Monroe to pursue her lifelong interest in outdoor activities as she tends the backyard garden there. In prison the presence of wildflowers had lifted her spirits. Weeds capable of growing anywhere, even along the perimeter of razor-wired topped fences, were an inspiration.

Beverly Monroe asserts, as well, that dandelions have nutritional value.

As she received short rations of fruit and vegetables, and she wasn’t keen on the balogna that was readily available, dandelions mattered. "But you don’t eat them for the taste," Monroe says, nodding her head slightly for emphasis.  

Beverly Monroe’s chief pleasure, these days, is sharing time with her daughter’s son, Asher, who is four. She’s been teaching him to hit a tennis ball, also how to spell and write.

"There are days I take care of Asher and we play cowboys with stick horses," says the proud grandmother, her blue eyes sparkling.

*

A book on the fascinating Monroe case, "The Count and the Confession," by John Taylor, hit bookstores earlier this year. Both NBC Dateline and a TNT cable television documentary have examined the mysteries of the case. Each of these studies has revealed that Special Agent Riley played an especially aggressive role in converting a situation originally viewed as a suicide into a murder investigation.

Judge Willliams called Riley’s tactics, "deceitful, manipulative, and inappropriate," while finding that the Commonwealth Attorney improperly withheld "exculpatory evidence" - information it had in hand that could favor the defense. His sense of outrage that the prosecutor consistently broke with proper form is plain in the 67 pages of his decision.

Attorney General Jerry Kilgore promptly appealed the Williams decision to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a panel of three judges. Briefs have been filed from both sides. On December 3 oral arguments from Monroe’s pro bono legal team - led by Steve Northrup - and the AG’s representatives will begin.

"It feels to me like sheer vindictiveness to keep her in prison," says Northrup. "I don’t understand it."

As for why the commonwealth has moved to set aside Judge Williams’ ruling, Randy Davis, Kilgore’s Deputy Director of Communications says, "It is our duty to protect the citizens of Virginia and continue to pursue violent crime cases. Ten years ago, a jury of her peers from Powhatan County unanimously agreed that Beverly Monroe was guilty of the first degree murder of her lover, Roger de la Burde, and the use of a firearm in the commission of that murder. That conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeals of Virginia and the Supreme Court of Virginia. Since her conviction, 19 judges or justices have reviewed her case. 18 of them, all but one, have concluded she received a fair trial. We have an obligation to the citizens of this Commonwealth to seek judicial review of the ruling of that one judge who has concluded that her trial was not fair."

Katie Monroe says, "The only court to have considered the totality of the prosecutor’s misconduct was the U.S. District Court, which vacated Beverly’s conviction. The majority of the evidence of misconduct was discovered later, after the police and prosecutors were ordered by that court to turn over their files. Neither the Virginia Court of Appeals nor the Virginia Supreme Court considered the impact of what wasn’t seen by the jury. The Attorney General’s reliance on an alleged technicality, to try to reinstate a conviction that was won through prosecutor misconduct, is a disservice to Virginians."

Asked what the appeal is costing taxpayers, Davis responds, "It will cost the same as any other appeal in which we're involved."

*

The daughter of Dallas and Anne Duncan, Beverly Duncan was born in 1938 in Marion, North Carolina. She and her three brothers grew up on a farm in Leeds, South Carolina. In addition to farm chores her father worked for the U.S. Postal Service and her mother was a telegraph operator.

In her teens Beverly Duncan played on the high school basketball team and was named as the prettiest girl in her class. In 1959 she graduated from Limestone College in Gaffney, South Carolina. Then she earned a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Florida. During her two years in Gainesville she met and married Stuart Monroe, who was working toward his doctorate in chemistry.

After living in Wilmington, Delaware for 3 years the Monroes moved to Ashland, Virginia in 1965; Stuart taught chemistry at Randolph-Macon College, Beverly Monroe stayed at home with her three children while they were young.

In 1970 Dallas Duncan walked into the woods near his home. With a borrowed gun he ended his life. This haunting specter of her father’s suicide returned to play a role in Monroe’s dealing with de la Burde’s violent death.

In 1979 she returned to the workplace; Beverly Monroe accepted a job as a patent researcher at Philip Morris. In 1981 the Monroe’s marriage fell apart, ending in divorce. Beginning again, she built a house in Chesterfield County.

*

At Philip Morris Monroe got to know Roger de la Burde. Eventually they became romantically involved. At the time de la Burde was married. And, as Monroe would eventually learn, he tended to lead a hopelessly complicated life.

Roger de la Burde, a count by his telling, grew up in Poland and came to America in the mid-fifties. Although his scientific work at for Philip Morris was impressive - work from which nine patents flowed - he eventually had a bitter dispute with the company that kept lawyers on both sides of it busy.

"I do know there were times he felt afraid, or even paranoid," says Monroe. "He bought the gun around the time he filed the suit against Philip Morris in about 1987-88, out of some perceived fear. Roger was terribly depressed about the way that was going. He wished he'd never started it."

To gain leverage on the tobacco giant de la Burde is said to have seized some company documents he believed were related to hidden health issues about cigarettes. Shortly after his death that material was carted away by Philip Morris agents, never to surface again.

In published reports after his death de la Burde was remembered by some for his energy and charm. Others saw him as a swindler in business, a fraud in general, and a womanizer. Researchers from all angles seem to agree that his claim to noble ancestry was bogus, as were aspects of his vaunted African art collection.

Katie Monore and her sister, Shannon Monroe, still speak of their fondness for him. Yet, there was a dark and somewhat hidden side to Roger de la Burde. For one thing, he had been taking Librium to help him cope with his anxieties and mood swings and Monroe was completely unaware of that.

Significantly, this information, furnished to the police shortly after his death by his ex-wife, a doctor, was withheld from the defense. This, while the prosecutor built a case on the theory that de la Burde, in spite of his flaws, was an upbeat guy who wouldn’t do himself in.

Beverly Monroe declines opportunities to comment on Burde’s mounting troubles concerning business dealings in real estate or art. She also remains convinced, as do others who were close to him, that he took his life in a fit of depression.

*

As there was little in the way of physical evidence presented, the hinge on which Beverly Monroe’s fate swung in her trial was what she said to David Riley in their conversations - what she said, and why she said it.

To believe Riley’s account and interpretation one must see him as a canny bloodhound that smelled a crime where others had missed it. In a series of meetings set up by Riley, in the weeks after de la Burde’s death, he urged Monroe to accept that a trauma-induced amnesia could have been blocking her memory of that evening; suggesting to her that she was probably present when Burde pulled the trigger. Meanwhile, he didn’t reveal to her that she was being considered as the only real suspect in a murder investigation.

Monroe says she was convinced that Riley, as a professional who knew about such things, was trying to help her. Consequently, she didn’t think to consult an attorney as she discussed trying to recover her supposedly lost memory with Riley. By entertaining the stealth sleuth’s theory of why her grief was so paralyzing in the weeks after de al Burde’s death, Beverly Monroe, herself, unwittingly opened the prison door.

Later, when the commonwealth’s forensic experts testified that de la Burde hadn’t pulled the trigger, the door slammed shut.

Monroe’s motive, the prosecutor told the jury, was jealousy over de al Burde’s other girlfriend, Krystyna Drewnowska, a 40-year-old professor at the Medical College of Virginia, who was pregnant with his child.

Doubting Riley, one might see him as a man who became determined to produce a result that jibed with his first impression as he looked over Polaroids of de la Burde’s body and the position of the gun.

However, what Riley saw as a clue may well have been a bum steer. No one treated the library as a crime scene on March 5, 1992. As the county’s officials examined what they thought to be a suicide, physical evidence was lost. Two Marlboro cigarette butts in an ashtray were thrown away.

Yet, since de la Burde smoked Players and Monroe didn’t smoke, one is left to wonder who may have visited him after Monroe says she left to go home, following their last dinner together.

And, too, the county’s personnel wasn’t overly concerned when the estate’s caretaker, Joe Hairfield - the man who found Burde dead - told deputies that morning he had inadvertently moved the gun as he examined Burde’s body.

As well, Monroe’s forensic experts, who have studied the evidence collected in 1992 since the conviction, insist the commonwealth’s homicide theory is inconsistent with the residues found on Burde’s body, including  the presence of primer residue - an invisible chemical that flies out of the back of a gun - found on Burde’s right hand.

*

"I’m going to rebuild my life, we’ve been robbed of it," says Beverly Monroe. "I know it won’t be easy."

Once this ordeal has run its course she wants to continue working in conjunction with others on "wrongful convictions." Without knowing how she will earn a living, she hopes to connect with an established group, or perhaps start her own.

"This has been a ten-year education, I don’t want to waste it," say Monroe.

As she reaches to gather the strands of a new life, Monroe sees her future focus as a matter of righting wrongs. Her sense of solidarity with those who’ve been sprung from prison by post-trial revelations is strong.   

"If it happened to me, it can happen to anybody," says Asher’s stick-horse sidekick.

*   *   *

[Actual Testimony Sidebar]

September 17, 1999: Regarding his tactics during meetings with Monore, Riley’s testimony during a discovery session ordered by Judge Williams was:

"You repeat the theme or modify it slightly, you bob and you weave and commiserate ... And I was very close to her, and ... I wouldn't lose eye contact with her ... I said, we need to work this thing out. And then it didn’t seem like she was willing to accept remembering that she was present or openly remember that maybe she had -- would think of some variation of that such as blocking it from the memory or shock type situation and sometimes it does happen. People are involved in very traumatic situations, the shock is so bad that they really don’t remember the actual event. It’s more like a dream.... I gave her an example of my own father who actually did commit suicide. And I lied to her ... about the fact that I was so shocked that I had blocked it from my memory ... but I was acting with her and doing a darn good job, okay.

"Anyway, she accepted the shock theme. And the thing that really got her to accept it was it was so clear to her that I believed it. It was so clear to me that she believed that I believed people could be shocked to the point where they could block things from their memory. And when I gave her the example of my ... my father’s suicide, that was what seemed to put the cork in it. And so she sort of -- it was sort of like she was in a trance."

December 4, 2001: Beverly Monroe’s testimony about the same at an evidentiary hearing was:

"[Riley] said I know - I know what’s happened. I’ve seen it so many times. He said you have to let me help you with this thing .… But it was going so fast and he was sort of right over me like this and right in my face and it was so loud and nonstop .… He knew I had to have been there. He said this is what he knew had to have happened … and this is what was causing me to have such terrible grief and this was causing me not to be able to remember and that I would never get over it. And that’s truly how I felt; that I would never get over it.

"Riley sounded so knowledgeable and so concerned and so believable … and I had just disintegrated inside from letting this happen to both my father and to Roger. … [Riley] kept trying to put images in my mind by verbalizing what "must have happened" … like my "being asleep on the couch." … He just kept pressing, saying I had to remember .… He was the person in authority and must be right, and I was sure there was something wrong with me because I couldn’t remember."

Note: Due to space concerns, or perhaps other considerations, The Actual Testimony Sidebar I included above was not run as part of the magazine feature in 2002. So the readers of FiftyPlus didn’t get to see it back then.

Finally, Beverly Monroe was exonerated in 2003 and remains free. That’s something for which I’m sure she remains grateful. Since that turbulent time she and her daughter, Katie, have both become tireless advocates for the wrongfully convicted. To this day, I imagine Beverly can remember the taste of those dandelions.

Had Enough of Trumpism, Yet?

In the days immediately after Biden was declared the winner of the election by the networks, when Trump and his loyal supporters refused to accept that Biden had won, well, it was not all that surprising. 

After all, when you've been swallowing "alternative facts" daily for four long years, maybe it's not all that easy to stop, all at once. Then came the recounts, which changed nothing. Biden still won. Trump fumed. 

Then, in various courts, came some 60 rejections to overturn the legitimate votes of thousands of citizens. That made way for the certification of Biden's victory on Jan. 6, 2021. But, as it happened, Trump's scheming also delivered mayhem that day and he probably had more fun than any previous day of his presidency. For payback, on his way out he wrecked Congress. 

Two weeks later Trump left D.C. with new reasons to be paranoid. When will his mob reappear?

Speaking of the sixth of January, that day's events tell us where the line must be drawn. After the riotous storming of the Capitol, anyone still spouting Trump's lamest alternative fact -- that the election was stolen from him -- is playing a lowbrow game that has become too tedious to put up with any longer. 

After all, Trump was the only one who could actually see his landslide victory. Now we know those flunkies who've said they saw it, too, just took his word for it. 

How dangerous Trump's neo-fascist cult is likely to be to the country remains to be seen. Still, my decision has been made. From here on, I want nothing to do with them. They've made their choice to live in a broken world in which torturing the truth is routine and cruelty is admired. They mean to impose that scene on the landscape. I hope those of us still striving to make the U.S.A. a more perfect union, won't let them. 

Now that the election's aftermath dust has settled the TV networks, hopefully, will see fit to stop presenting blathering Trumpists so much -- just to set up more tiresome confrontations -- and leave all that contrived bullshit to the crackpot channels. Meanwhile, rather than debated, pushy Trumpists should be shunned as much as possible. Arguing with that ilk won't change a damn thing, except maybe to help legitimize them. 

What's most wrong about the Trump cult's members and their sick agenda needs to be exposed -- revealed with well-executed oblique moves. Not confronted, head on ... especially not by debating with provocative trolls and such on social media.

That the Republican Party still has room under its tent for the insurrectionists of 1/6/21 and their fanboys tells any clear-eyed observer what they need to know about today's Grand Old Party -- a political party with the welcome mat out for white nationalists.  

-- 30 --

Short-handed VCU Tops St. Louis

Final Score: VCU 67, Saint Louis 65
Location: Richmond, Va. (Stuart C. Siegel Center)
Current Records: VCU 17-5 (10-3 A-10), Saint Louis 11-5 (4-4)
 
The short story: Freshman Ace Baldwin Jr. sank a pair of go-ahead free throws with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift VCU past Saint Louis, 67-65 Tuesday night at the Siegel Center in a critical Atlantic 10 Conference match-up.

OPENING TIP

• Baldwin Jr. totaled a career-high 15 points and recorded seven assists in the game
• Junior forward Vince Williams Jr. scored a team-high 16 points and tallied nine rebounds to help the VCU cause
• VCU senior forward Levi Stockard III contributed nine points on 57 percent (4-of-7) shooting from the floor
• Freshman forward Jamir Watkins chipped in nine points, grabbed four rebounds and recorded three assists for the Black and Gold

 

THE DIFFERENCE

• The Billikens held a 65-63 advantage with just over one minute remaining in the contest. Baldwin Jr. drew a pair of fouls and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe down the stretch to give the Rams the game-deciding advantage. Saint Louis missed a long 3-pointer as time expired
• The first half was a back-and-forth affair that featured 12 lead changes. Saint Louis clung to a two-point lead with just over five minutes remaining in the half, but freshman guard Josh Banks knocked down a 3-pointer that sparked a 9-3 VCU run and gave the Rams a four-point lead at the break
• With Saint Louis leading 44-39 six minutes into the second half, VCU ripped off a 10-2 run that spanned three minutes of game time. The run was capped off by a 3-pointer from Williams Jr.
• The Rams scored 13 points off 15 Billikens’ turnovers
• VCU recorded 16 assists on 24 made field goals

 

NOTABLE

• VCU improves to 11-4 all time against Saint Louis, including 3-1in the Mike Rhoades era
• Williams Jr.’s nine rebounds match his career-high
• Saint Louis’ 15 turnovers are tied for the second highest mark by the Billikens this season.
• Box score
  

 

NEXT UP
 

VCU will hit the road to close out its 2020-21 regular season against Davidson at 2 p.m. Saturday. The game will air on ESPN2.

 

-- Game note from Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D.

 

Update on Bones' Injury Status

Bones Hyland's injury update from the VCU Athletic Dept.: Bones has a sprained foot. MRI/X-rays were both negative. While his condition is considered to be "day-to-day," he will not play Tuesday against St. Louis (6 p.m. at the Siegel Center; TV: CBSSN). 

At today's Zoom presser Coach Mike Rhoades said that one of his freshmen recently told him that since June he hasn't met anybody new at VCU outside of his teammates. 

With that sad truth in mind, Rams fans should remember just how unusual and demanding this sheltered from the outside world policy been for these 18-to-22 year-old student/athletes. Furthermore, just how dedicated to sticking by the rules this batch of VCU players has been over the course of this crazy season. Many other teams have only played a few games, due to COVID-19 outbreaks. 

Then Rhoades was asked what he's telling his kids about all the closed off living conditions for his players, the sudden cancellations/postponements and the changes lineup changes, Rhoades said, "I tell them to be where your feet are."

Bottom line: VCU's basketball players are lucky to have such a steady, caring, forthright coach. 

VCU Falls to Mason in OT

Final Score: George Mason 79, VCU 76 OT

Location: Richmond, Va. (Siegel Center)

Current Records: VCU 16-5 (9-3 A-10), George Mason 10-8 (6-6)

 

The short story: Junior forward Vince Williams scored 15 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished for five assists. But it wasn’t enough to prevent the Patriots from halting the Rams winning streak at six games.

 

OPENING TIP

• Sophomore guard Bones Hyland provided 17 points for the Rams prior to being carried from the court with 2:06 remaining with a foot injury.
• Williams finished 4-of-9 from the field, including 2-of-5 from 3-point range.
• Freshmen guards Jamir Watkins and Ace Baldwin Jr. supplied 13 and 12 points, respectively. Baldwin added six steals.
• Mason's Josh Oduro was unstoppable with a game-high 27 points. He added six rebounds.  

 THE DIFFERENCE

• The Patriots owned a 42-26 advantage on the glass, which included 15 offensive boards. Mason outscored VCU 13-2 on second-chance points. 
• Mason also owned a 46-32 scoring edge in the paint.
• The Patriots’ Javon Green hit a pull-up jumper in the lane with 2:21 left in the extra period to snap a 69-69 tie. Moments later, Otis Frazier turned a VCU turnover into a jumper and provided the Patriots with a 73-69 cushion with 59 seconds left. Oduro made 3-of-4 free throw attempts in the final minute to keep VCU at arm’s length. 
• Oduro scored six points to spark a 15-5 George Mason run that gave the Patriots a 65-62 lead with 2:42 left in regulation. VCU’s Levi Stockard III converted a traditional three-point play with 1:09 left to give VCU a short-lived 67-65 lead.
• Last gasp: VCU missed a 3-point attempt at the end of regulation.
  

NOTABLE

• VCU leads to the all-time series between these two schools 43-22.
  
• The Rams saw their six-game win streak come to an end Saturday. 
• Box score. 
  

NEXT UP

VCU will host Saint Louis at the Siegel Center on Tuesday, Feb. 23, at 6 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.

-- Game notes from Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D.

Rams Outlast Spiders

Final Score: VCU 68, Richmond 56
Location: Richmond, Va. (Stuart C. Siegel Center)
Current Records: VCU 16-4 (9-2 A-10), Richmond 11-5 (4-3)

 
VCU held Richmond to a season-low 56 points. Sophomore guard Bones Hyland's double-double led the Rams past their crosstown rival at the Siegel Center.

 

OPENING TIP

• Hyland finished with 20 points and corralled 12 rebounds, as well as six assists
• Freshman forward Jamir Watkins tallied 10 points, dished out three assists and grabbed three rebounds
• Freshman guard Ace Baldwin, Jr. scored 10 points, collected seven rebounds and recorded four assists
• Sophomore forward Hason Ward scored 11 points, pulled down seven boards and blocked two shots
  
• Nathan Cayo led Richmond with 18 points and seven assists

 

THE DIFFERENCE

• The Rams’ defense held Richmond to just 13 percent shooting from beyond the arc 
• Richmond shot just 33 percent (20-of-61) in the game overall 
• VCU out rebounded Richmond 43-27 
• Trailing by five with eight minutes remaining in the first half, sophomore forward Hason Ward threw down a dunk that sparked a 16-4 VCU run that spanned six minutes. The run help secure a 32-24 advantage at the break 
• With just over eight minutes remaining in the contest, Richmond cut the VCU lead down to one. The Rams proceeded to outscore the Spiders 17-6 to end the game 
•  The Rams outscored the Spiders 42-28 in the paint

NOTABLE

• VCU improves to 55-31 all time against Richmond, including 4-3 record in the Mike Rhoades era
• The Rams registered 21 assists on 26 made baskets
• Hyland scored 20+ points for the 10^th time this season. The Rams are 9-1 when the sophomore scores over 20
• VCU has won six straight games and 14 of its past 16 games 
• Box score
  

 

NEXT UP

VCU will be back in the Siegel Center at 2:30 p.m. Saturday for a matchup against George Mason. The game will air on NBCSN.

 

-- Game notes from Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D.

About Forced Compliance

The simmering National Anthem controversy moved to the front burner with quarterback Colin Kaepernick's rather quiet gesture in 2016. Here we are nearly five years later and the arguments for and against athletes taking a knee during the playing/singing of the Anthem haven't changed much, even if many people have grown more tolerant. After all, this is an excellent time to rethink a lot of things.

Occasionally, discussions about that controversy remind me of an odd episode from my childhood about recitation duties: When I was in the second grade there was an obligatory start-the-day ritual. First the teacher called the roll. Then one student was summonsed to the front of the class to lead in the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and the Lord's Prayer. We kids took turns. Like some of my peers, I didn't like doing that job. 

 

It made me nervous. Yet, then, I hadn't gotten to the point in my career as a student that I might have protested, or flatly refused to do what was expected. That came later...

The Pledge came first. So I faced the flag, as required, and started saying the spiel with my hand over my heart. Except, with my gaze locked on the flag over the blackboard, I had started reciting the Lord's Prayer – “Our Father, which art in heaven...”

Naturally, the kids laughed. A lot. 

Of course, I surely must have changed gears to say the proper speech, but I don't remember that part. The embarrassment and laughter I remember all too well. Later on some kids accused me of doing it on purpose. That was not the truth. Eventually, it occurred to me later that the Pledge of Allegiance was sort of like a prayer. 

 

Anyway, over the years, I have grown to be more uncomfortable with watching, or being in on, any kind of prayer or chant. Hey, I don't even like the chanting that goes on at political demonstrations when I agree with the sentiments being expressed. 

 

Maybe that comes from watching too many WWII movies about Nazis forcing compliance. I don't remember when I decided to stop putting my hand over my heart during the National Anthem at games. It was a long time ago.

 

My practice is to stand, quietly, hands clasped together in front of me, but I don't sing along. Yes, I've been glared at a few times, but there's never been a scene. Out of respect, I try not to call attention to myself.

Sometimes, during the anthem I flash back onto that first time I was made to feel uncomfortable about forced patriotism and/or forced prayer, back in elementary school. Still, I have nothing against playing the National Anthem before games; if folks like to salute the flag during the ritual, that's fine with me, too. Of course, it's also OK with me when athletes take a knee during the playing of the Anthem. Hearing a good rendition of it is nice.

 

Forced compliance, with any imposed show of loyalty, from the top down or by a mob, is what the optimistic side of me hopes is going out of style. Of course, the same side of me thinks a reverence for the truth is about to become popular.

Paradise Unvarnished

Note: This piece was first published in SLANT in 1991. This was the first episode of a series. But I can't find the others.

No talent. It wasn’t easy to stomach. The public had no use for his abstract expressionist paintings. They were too big for most walls. He’d be a has-been, except he never was. 

Uncle Dudley’s letter was still in his pocket. It said, “Come home to run the restaurant, or it’s going on the block February 1st. It’s time you should make a living, already. Either way, Rebus, I’m retiring." Could Rebus leave Key West? Face real winters?

 The temporary life of the aspiring artist/bartender/cab driver is better suited to the young Turk, still waiting for his ship to come in. Meanwhile, this old Turk hadn’t had a new idea in years. His opinion was stale. Out of schemes, Rebus sighed, polished off his beer and reached for another.

Dudley’s ultimatum. This was his ship coming in? After all the years of sweat and turpentine it looked more like a dinghy.

Like so many before him, Rebus had believed that once he finally got old enough to dwell on anything other than getting laid, his serious work would inevitably emerge.

On the road in South Carolina, he could see the plain truth. The artist scheme might have gotten more traction if he’d been half as talented as he’d been horny ... and maybe if he'd made smaller paintings.

--  Art and copy by F.T. Rea

McConnell Post-Acquittal Speech

Sen. Mitch McConnell's rather surprising post-acquittal speech struck me as an important moment in the history of our contentious time. If it works as I think it will, maybe there's a decent chance it will prove to be what he's most remembered for when his days in the Senate are done. 

Meanwhile, please get over your disappointment from watching Trump escape conviction. It merely confirmed that Trump's icy grip on the fraidy cat Republicans in Congress is still a thing. But we all knew that going into the trial. 

And, yes, House Manager Jamie Raskin lifted my hopes, too. He made his case convincingly. Nonetheless, today I'm already over letdown of the impeachment vote results. 

What I mostly wanted out of it, anyway, was to see Trump disqualified. And, practically speaking, that isn't really out of reach now. To me, McConnell's galling hypocritical "not guilty" vote mostly said he simply doesn't want to viewed as the one most responsible for splitting the Grand Old Party in half. 

Not if he can avoid it. Thus, McConnell plans to bide his time and allow Trump to be that man. Still, I'm glad that McConnell evidently wants to be part of the ad hoc movement to see to it two important things happen: 

1. Trump gets plenty of what he deserves, from here on. 

2. Trump loses control over most of the GOP. 

Which probably means being content to leave him with his following in the crackpot anti-government fringe and the white nationalists elements of the Republican Party. Now I figure McConnell's speech will have a significant impact and play a positive role in launching the aforementioned movement for people of all reasonable political persuasions, even strange bedfellows. 

It clearly signaled that from here on it's fine for forward-looking Republicans to attack immoral Trump, to knock him off of his perch. And so, I expect copies of the video below will become widely viewed. Hopefully, they will be persuasive.

 

Yes, it feels strange to view Mitch McConnell in a positive light, but it goes to show you... 

Rams Hold Off Bonnies

Final Score: VCU 67, St. Bonaventure 64
Location: Richmond, Va. (Siegel Center)
Current Records: VCU 15-4 (8-2 A-10), St. Bonaventure 10-3 (8-3)

The short story: Friday night sophomore guard Bones Hyland scored 22 points, as VCU stiff-armed St. Bonaventure's determined comeback. In the doing, the Rams seized possession of first place in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

 
OPENING TIP

• Hyland also grabbed eight rebounds and was 9-of-10 from the charity stripe
• Rams junior forward Vince Williams Jr. chipped in 11 points and grabbed nine boards
• VCU freshman guard Ace Baldwin Jr. turned in an all-around performance with seven points, six rebounds and four assists
• Jalen Adaway led the Bonnies with 23 points

 

THE DIFFERENCE

• St. Bonaventure narrowed a 12-point VCU second-half lead to just two, but the Rams converted 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute to hold on for the win
• VCU out-rebounded the St. Bonaventure 43-34, including a 19-10 advantage on the offensive side of the ball
• The Rams outscored the Bonnies 18-11 off turnovers and 16-10 on second-chance opportunities 
• Knotted at 24 apiece, VCU went on a 9-2 run that spanned the last four minutes and 25 seconds of the first half. The run was capped off by a stick-back from senior forward Corey Douglas as time expired
• With nine minutes remaining in the second half, St. Bonaventure cut the VCU lead down to two with a 9-3 run. The Rams promptly responded with an 8-0 run of their own
  

NOTABLE

• VCU took over sole possession of first place in the Atlantic 10 standings with the win
• In winning its fifth consecutive game VCU avenged a 70-54 loss at St. Bonaventure on Jan. 20 in Olean, N.Y.
• The Rams improved to 7-4 all time against the Bonnies
• Hyland has recorded 20 or more points in nine games this season. The Rams are 8-1 when the sophomore records 20+ points
• Box Score
  

 

 NEXT UP

VCU will face crosstown rival Richmond on Friday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Siegel Center. The contest will air on CBS Sports Network.

Game notes from Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D.