News of the Week: Desi Arnaz, Spelling Bees, and What You Need is Some Good Country Cooking

In the news for the week ending May 30, 2025, are new books, old game shows, and delicious country cookin’.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, 1955 (Picryl)

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Six new books to read as summer approaches …

Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman. The award-winning author of the Tess Monaghan series returns with a new book featuring another character from that series. Muriel Blossom finds a winning lottery ticket in a parking lot and decides to take a cruise, where she encounters murder and an art-world mystery.

Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television by Todd S. Purdum. Arnaz wasn’t just Lucille Ball’s straight man; he was the driving force behind I Love Lucy.

A Mind of Her Own by Danielle Steel. I don’t know how many books Steele has written – it’s over 200 at this point – but they’ve all been written on a manual typewriter!

Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America by Sam Tanenhaus. A detailed biography of one of the leading conservatives of the 20th century. Buckley himself chose Tanenhaus to write the book.

Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard by C.M. Kushins. Another biography, this time of the acclaimed author of such novels as Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Rum Punch, Pronto, Freaky Deaky, and Maximum Bob.

The Art of Classic Crime and Mystery Movies by Ed Hulse. A beautifully-designed history of the movie posters for crime, noir, and mystery films, from the earliest productions to the 1970s.

A Nickel for Your Thoughts

This is an update on a story I brought you a while back: the possible elimination of the penny. Well, you can take “possible” out of that sentence as it has become a reality.

While I see the logic behind not spending 3.69 cents to make something worth a penny, especially in this day of everyone using cards and apps to pay for everything, it’s still sad to see Lincoln’s coin go away (though they’ll still be plenty still in circulation and/or in jars in our homes). I would just hate to see us become a “cashless” society.

And as for businesses no longer having 99 cent pricing and rounding everything up or down (probably up), it currently costs 13.78 cents to make a nickel, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens with that.

This Week in AI

This might become a regular feature (unfortunately).

Last week it was Agatha Christie, and this week it’s Orson Welles. The voice of the famed director/actor, who died in 1985, is being used to narrate stories on the Storyrabbit app.

Can’t AI sweep and mop my floor instead of doing stuff like this?

Word of the Week

The annual Scripps National Spelling Bee took place this week, and the winner was crowned (or whatever they do to spelling bee winners) last night outside Washington, D.C.

The last person standing was 13-year-old Faizan Zaki, last year’s runner-up. The winning word? “Éclaircissement,” which, according to Merriam-Webster, means “a clearing up of something obscure” or “an enlightenment.”

Other words the finalists had to spell included “penannular,” “radicicolous,” “daimiate,” and “isopag,” which my spellcheck doesn’t recognize but is defined as “an equiglacial line on a map or chart that connects the points where ice is present for approximately the same number of days in winter.”

Now I have to look up “equiglacial.”

RIP Phil Robertson, Charles Rangel, James McEachin, Rick Derringer, Mara Corday, Peter David, Jeff Margolis, and Gawn Grainger

Phil Robertson was the star of the hit A&E reality show Duck Dynasty. He died last weekend at the age of 79.

Charles Rangel was a Democratic congressman for 46 years. He died Monday at the age of 94.

James McEachin was one of the more familiar faces on TV throughout the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, on shows like Tenafly, MatlockColumbo, All in the Family, Dragnet, and the Perry Mason TV movies. His films include Buck and the Preacher, Fuzz, Sudden Impact, and Play Misty for Me. He died in January at the age of 94.

Rick Derringer was a rock guitarist known for the songs “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo” and “Hang on Sloopy,” a hit for his band The McCoys. He died Monday at the age of 77.

Uploaded to YouTube by The McCoys

Mara Corday appeared in such films as Tarantula, So This Is Paris, Man Without a StarThe Black Scorpion, and Sudden Impact (with good friend Clint Eastwood, who gave her work in his films so her health insurance wouldn’t run out). She also appeared in many TV shows. She died in February at the age of 95.

Peter David was a legendary sci-fi and comic book writer. He did everything from Star Trek novels to comic books featuring The Incredible Hulk, Aquaman, Spider-Man, and The X Factor. He also co-created (with Lost in Space star Billy Mumy) the TV series Space Cases and wrote for Babylon 5 and Ben 10. He died last weekend at the age of 68.

Jeff Margolis started out holding cue cards for Monty Hall (his uncle) on Let’s Make a Deal and went on to direct the Oscars, Emmys, American Music Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as specials featuring Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dolly Parton, Jerry Lewis, and Sammy Davis Jr. He died last week at the age of 78.

Gawn Grainger was a British actor and writer. He appeared in many acclaimed plays as well as TV shows like Doctor Who. American audiences might know him from his appearances on What’s My Line? He also wrote and produced several plays and wrote for British TV shows. He died last week at the age of 87.

This Week in History

Samuel Morse Sends First Telegraph Message (May 24, 1844)

The first message sent was “Who let the dogs out?”

(Actually, it was “What hath God wrought?”)

Brooklyn Bridge Opens (May 24, 1883)

It spans the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan. It’s also the title of a very underrated short-lived TV show from the early ’90s that should be on DVD but isn’t.

This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: “Does a College Education Pay?” by Francis X. Leyendecker (May 26, 1900)

As high school kids graduate, it’s somewhat comforting to know that the question of whether or not college is worth it isn’t new.

June Is Country Cooking Month

What is country cooking? Well, first, it probably depends on what country you’re talking about.

But this is a U.S. thing so let’s concentrate on those recipes — the down-home, comforting regional foods. Like this Broccoli Chicken Casserole from The Pioneer Woman, the Biscuits & Gravy from Delish, or this Country Fried Steak from Food.com. Country Recipes has Kenny’s Cowboy Beans, Mommy’s Kitchen has Golden Skillet Cornbread, and Food Network has Southern Baked Mac and Cheese.

For dessert, the New York Times has a Rhubarb Pound Cake, The Country Cook has Strawberry Fudge, and Taste of Home has an Apple Slab Pie.

Next Week’s Holidays and Events

National Game Show Day (June 1)

The Buzzr network has expanded the celebration and is calling June National Game Show Month. Their celebration includes the airing of rare episodes of classic game shows.

Since I mentioned Desi Arnaz above, here he is on the October 2, 1955 episode of What’s My Line? (with his wife).

Uploaded to YouTube by What’s My Line?

NBA Finals (June 5)

We don’t know who the finalists are yet, but the first game starts at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

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Comments

  1. Great opening shot Bob, but you knew that. Of course I’m ordering the book. Thanks for the ‘What’s My Line’ link here. Now I’ll get more, which is fine. I swear YouTube does read my mind. I was thinking about Jayne Mansfield recently, and an episode of this show featuring her (as the mystery guest) showed up within a few hours.

    With my birthday (Memorial Day this year) now past, I’m getting my present 4 months later. Ordered tickets to see Garbage on Sept. 26th in Dana Point. Very lucky. Nothing else on my wish list (Candy-O tribute band, Pet Shop Boys, The ELO Experience to name 3) is close to me at all, or even in the U.S. A Styx fix would be nice, but no also.

    No surprise on the Scripps Spelling Bee contest other than the words themselves. As far as the 1900 Post cover goes, the question IS really old, and more relevant than ever. The answer seems to be an overwhelming ‘no’ from what I see online, for good reason. And weren’t there students burning their diplomas just last week at one of the radicalized Ivy League universities?!

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