WTVS News

Archive for the ‘Cinema’ Category

Lots of people understand very well that Washington, DC is the center of politics in the United States, being the place where all the decisions get made.  It’s got an enormously vibrant energy to it, with a very lively urban population.  It’s a very diverse place, with many cultures, perspectives, and economic backgrounds, that make it an ongoing conversation that’s always in process.  It’s been that way for quite awhile.  Checking into a DC luxury hotel is just the beginning of the introductions to this rather fabulous place.

It’s a pretty splendid introduction, too.  There are plenty of opportunities to be blown away by conveniences, amenities, and excellent hospitality.  Then it’s time to dig into DC culture.  Learning the history of the place is as fascinating as any place, but it’s rather surprising to some to discover that so many influential people have lived here, or live here now.  The usual suspects, always, are the politicians, but there are a number of artists and actors, including the movie veteran Alan Hale, Sr.

He’s from DC, and his career may have been a second mate, but his legacy is first-rate.  He is the character actor who played alongside Errol Flynn in dozens and dozens of films.  He’s one of the old-school greats, that generation of distinguished gentlemen to make films about swashbuckling heros.  He played alongside Humphrey Bogart, Douglas Fairbanks, Clark Gable, and James Cagney.  He was one of the big players in making the notion of hearty men being naturally brave heros an icon for generations to come.  He died of liver failure before he was 60.   He was also famous for his role as Little John in the Robin Hood films of the 30s.  He is also remembered by later generations as the father of Alan Hale, Jr., who is remembered by many as the captain of the SS Minnow on Gilligan’s Island.

Steve was determined to get into a good law school. From the time he was seven he knew he wanted to be a lawyer. His first passion was to be a judge and when he found out that you had to be a lawyer he was initially disappointed because it meant a further delay in his life’s ambitions. When he was a young child he would set up a courtroom and make his friends and cousins play the guilty and innocent, which is how he first declared it. In these early days, the sides pleaded their cases and Steve made the final judgment decision. He had no idea that lawyers even existed. He became so popular and thorough in his role that the neighborhood kids had started to bring him in to settle simple disputes.

About the time he was eight years old he saw his first courtroom film, The Verdict. He had happened to run in from playing ball outside and caught the image of a courtroom on the television. He planted himself and was about to make a discovery that would change his life. After a few confused sounding questions Steve was informed that lawyers not only existed but were a fundamental component of court and legal life. This astounded Steve and then immediately dismayed him when he was further told by his older brother that he would need to become a lawyer before he could serve as a judge. Never having been one to give up, in all of Steve’s eight years of life, he immediately began to investigate this role of the lawyer.

It was many years, or at least three, before Steve realized that he didn’t actually have to become a lawyer to be a judge but by then the passion had already taken hold and he realized that it was what he was meant to do. Throughout his teenage years he spent numerous hours in the Chicago Public Library where he fed his passion for law as well as for history, which manifested during those years. His parents worried that he didn’t have much of a social life but then decided they preferred that he spend too many hours in the library than out on the streets. Meanwhile, everyday after school Steve would make the walk to the library and pass by one of Chicago’s luxury hotels and imagined himself returning to his hometown one day and staying there while he tried a nationally significant case.