For horse racing fans hoping for a Triple Crown in 2008 you'll be riding along with Kent Desormeaux on the back of the Kentucky Derby Winner Big Brown. The obstacles standing in the way of that coveted prize is the Preakness Stakes to be run this Saturday May 17th at Baltimore, Maryland. And three weeks later the Belmont Stakes in New York.

For Big Brown and the Preakness story go to www.espn.com

Super Bowl and the Triple Crown
What do these sporting events have in common?

Here's an excerpt of a blog I posted earlier this year about horse racing and NFL Football and how they go about crowning their champion of champions each year.

"I hadn't thought about a connection between the two until last Saturday when I was writing a post to "So you'd like to know more about horse racing."

In 1919 Sir Barton won the Kentucky Derby and just four days later won the Preakness then a couple of weeks after that he won a race at Belmont that was later to become the Belmont Stakes. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, on January 15, 1967, was the scene of the championship game between the American Football League Kansas City Chiefs and the National Football League Green Bay Packers. The Chief's head coach was Hank Stram and the venerable Vince Lombardi coached the Packers. The MVP of that game was Bart Starr.

The big story coming out of the 1919 Kentucky Derby was that Sir Barton was not in the race to win, he was entered as a rabbit to go out fast and wear down the favorites giving Sir Barton's stable mate Billy Kelly a chance to come from behind and take all the marbles. Well, it didn't work out that way as Sir Barton didn't tire and went on to win.

Sir Barton won the Kentucky Derby on a Saturday, was shipped by train to Baltimore, and just four days later won the Preakness. Then a couple of weeks later he won a race in New York that would later be named the Belmont Stakes. The Triple Crown title for those three races was not used until the early 1930's.

The Thoroughbred Times gives you the Triple Crown history on VIDEO. For link to video go to www.thoroughbredtimes.com.

Let's go to the Movies Part V

Brewster's Millions, an adaptation of a Broadway comedy hit, was next on The Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company's schedule.

Mr. DeMille returned to California, put on his side arm, and went back to work. Even as busy as he was with his production duties on the film Mr. DeMille found time to look over Oscar Apfel's shoulder and began to learn his craft from the director's point of view. Oscar Apfel was an actor, writer and director and had a knack for knowing what would move an audience and what wouldn't. Good timing -- nothing can take its place. C.B. DeMille couldn't have asked for a better mentor and I suspect that later on in his celebrated career an Apfel moment found its way into a DeMille project.

Production of their second film was finished in a reasonable time and following what would become a routine DeMille trained to New York to show the product. Sam Goldwyn and Jesse Lasky decided to avoid any surprises and had the picture screened just for the two of them. The projector started and the credits flashed on the screen announcing the second production of The Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. The motion picture made from the great Broadway comedy hit "Brewster's Millions" was running for those two executives and they began to squirm, because neither of them could see the humor. There wasn't a laugh between the two of them. When the film finally ended and the lights went on Sam and Jesse smiled in a feeble attempt to cover their disappointment. They immediately agreed that they had a turkey on their hands.

The next problem was what do we do, cancel the showing to the buyers or go ahead and screen what they perceived as an obvious loser. In the end they sucked it up and decided to go ahead with the showing. Then with lots of bluster and bravado the two men greeted their enthusiastic buyers and directed them into the little theatre. The audience took their seats and just as the lights dimmed chicken Sam found his way to the exit.

Goldwyn couldn't stand the thought of the humiliation and left poor Jesse to face the music while he paced around the block, walking off his frustration. Finally, embarrassed by his own action, he decided he had to go back and share the burden with his partner in crime. When Sam got back to the lobby, he heard sounds coming from the crowd inside the theatre. He quickly walked to the door and peered in to check it out. Brewster's Millions was in the last reel and the audience was showing their delight with guffaws and gales of laughter. What went wrong? Better still, what went right? The lesson learned that day from "Brewster's Millions" was that comedy needs an audience. Years later Mr. DeMille talked about the early days and said, "Our second production, Brewster's Millions, directed by Oscar Apfel, taught us fledglings a lesson in showmanship which has been of value to me all my life."

(To be continued)

Writers Corner:

We've talked about how importance the subconscious mind is to our writing experience. Shakespeare, Twain and Hemingway used that part of the brain in their creative writing. Here's another example by William Faulkner. Now he doesn't mention the subconscious, but he points us in that direction when he tells about his method of writing a novel. "It begins with a character, and once he stands on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does."

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.

Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.

www.tombarnes39.com
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