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Dear Group, I look forward each Monday to Doug Muder’s weekly emails under the title The Weekly Sift. (I encourage you to visit his website and sign up for them.) Yesterday Mr. Muder ended his email with a must-see video. Remember when westerns on television came in 1/2 hour segments and often came with a moralistic overtone? The parallels between this episode of “Trackdown” (click “full episode” below) and our current predicament with the Trump shutdown are uncanny. I found myself questioning if this were a modern production made to look like 1950s TV, but, no, the main actor really is Robert Culp, and Robert Culp died in 2010 at the age of 79. “Trackdown” aired on CBS between 1957 and 1959 and took place in Texas following the Civil War. The series followed Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman, played by Robert Culp, on his adventures protecting the people of the Lone Star State. The 30th episode of the show, titled “The End of The World,” premiered on May 9, 1958, and saw a con man named Walter Trump, played by Lawrence Dobkin, attempt to scam the entire town. The fictional Trump warned the Texans that apocalyptic meteors would strike the town at midnight, but he could protect everyone. … His solution was to build a wall made of magical metal that would repel the meteors and keep everyone safe. The full episode is on YouTube. Keep to the high ground, Jerry |