Another day, another public brawl on the streets of Parabellum City. Will Falk quell the unrest and clean up the streets? Are there laws requiring reporters to have alliterative names and film critics to use French terms? Listen to find out!

Black Cats and Bad Habits, episode 138 of This Gun in My Hand, was Rob Northrup crossing your path. This episode and all others are available on Youtube with automatically-generated closed captions of dialog. Visit http://ThisGuninMyHand.blogspot.com for credits, show notes, archives, and to buy my books, such as Sisyphus, Eat Your Heart Out, available in paperback and ebook from Amazon. What contains several bits which can form a fragmentary story when used together? This Gun in My Hand!

Show Notes:
1. The Black Cat in this episode is NOT a rip-off of the Marvel comics character with the same name. It’s a rip-off of the public domain superhero Black Cat who first appeared in Pocket Comics #1, August 1941, and had her own title from Harvey Comics with various name changes (Black Cat Western Comics, Black Cat Mystery Comics, Black Cat Mystic) until 1963.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Cat_(Harvey_Comics)

2. When Wordplay took his second play “Shoot” on tour, he found it was not as popular outside of Parabellum City.

3. Lana Krang presumably uses a paper or cardstock folder for her Bits file. Mine is digital but the filename is “Bits.”

4. If I was trying to cheer up Miss Krang, I’d remind her of some artistically and monetarily successful novelists who were late bloomers: Umberto Eco wrote a lot of non-fiction before his first novel, The Name of the Rose, was published when he was 50. Alan Bradley was 71 when his excellent first novel, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, was published. Many such cases.

Credits:
The opening music clip was from The Sun Sets at Dawn (1950), and the transitional and closing music were from The Big Combo (1955), both films in the public domain. Most of the music and sound effects used in the episode are modified or incomplete versions of the originals.

Sound Effect Title: The cat begs for food. Meowing.wav by tosha73
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
https://freesound.org/s/548352/

Sound Effect Title: HARP GLISSANDO DOWN.WAV
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/people/olver/sounds/505064/

Sound Effect Title: Cat Eating Dry Food by qubodup
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
https://freesound.org/s/218181/

Sound Effect Title: footsteps cellar.wav
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/people/gecop/sounds/545030/

Sound Effect Title: Kicking/Forcing/Breaking Wooden Door
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/people/qubodup/sounds/160213/

Sound Effect Title: Gun Fire by GoodSoundForYou
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
http://soundbible.com/1998-Gun-Fire.html

Sound Effect Title: Foley_Phone_Old_PickUp_HangUp_Mono.wav by Nox_Sound
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/s/559475/

Sound Effect Title: Clean phone tones.wav by FreqMan
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
https://freesound.org/s/24371/

Sound Effect Title (coin drop): Pay Phone.wav by everythingsounds
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
https://freesound.org/s/197141/

Sound Effect Title: phone rotary dial number.flac by kyles
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/s/637751/

The image accompanying this episode is a modified version of a public domain postcard painting by Frances Brundage, via Wikimedia Commons.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frances_Brundage_schwarze_Katze.jpg

Image Alt text: Painting from an old greeting card by Frances Brundage shows a rosy-cheeked little blond girl in a black hat with a red ribbon and bow around it, somewhere between a witch’s hat and a Puritan’s hat. She holds up a distressed black kitten with a huge red bow and ribbon around its neck. The girl wears a white shirt with sleeves to her elbows and a red shawl.

How much is a set of gold dentures worth? How many people have to die before this lovable American scoundrel in Havana and his lovely, smokey-voiced ward decide “will they or won’t they?” Listen to find out!

Gold Dentures, episode 137 of This Gun in My Hand, was crafted and gilded by Rob Northrup. This episode and all others are available on Youtube with automatically-generated closed captions of dialog. Visit http://ThisGuninMyHand.blogspot.com for credits, show notes, archives, and to buy my books, such as Sisyphus, Eat Your Heart Out, available in paperback and ebook from Amazon.

How do I sound like someone from a foreign land? This Gun in My Hand! (Wait, I don’t mean they fire guns more often. How could anyone have more guns than Americans? Never mind. This Gun in My Hand.)

Show Notes:
1. If you haven’t heard the old time radio drama Bold Venture, you should give it a try. It ran from 1951-1952, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, set in pre-Castro Cuba.
https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Bold_Venture_Singles

2. The part of King Moses in Bold Venture was performed by Jester Hairston. One of the first black students to attend Tufts University, Hairston studied music at Julliard, collaborated with Russian composer Dmitri Tiomkin for 30 years, wrote the song “Amen” that became a hit for The Impressions in 1964, and acted in tv and films like The Alamo, To Kill a Mockingbird, In the Heat of the Night, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka and Being John Malkovich.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jester_Hairston

3. Music for the Bold Venture radio show was composed by David Rose, who later wrote music for films and tv shows like Leave it to Beaver, Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven. If you think of the jazzy trombone song that has become a cliche of burlesque, you’re probably thinking of Rose’s composition “The Stripper,” which hit #1 in 1962.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rose_(songwriter)

Credits:
The opening and transitional music clips were from episodes of the public domain radio show Bold Venture. Closing music was from the public domain film Killer Bait (1949). Most of the music and sound effects used in the episode are modified or incomplete versions of the originals.

Sound Effect Title: Ocean waves white noisy BAHAMAS 180520.wav by TRP
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/s/573179/

Sound Effect Title: R28-47-Man and Woman Screaming.wav by craigsmith
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/s/482833/

Sound Effect Title: 38 Caliber Gun Shot 5x
Recorded by Mike Koenig
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
http://soundbible.com/375-38-Caliber-Gun-Shot-5x.html

Sound Effect Title: Footsteps in Sand by kessir
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/s/264124/

Sound Effect Title: 22lr Caliber Rifle Shots and Reloading
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/s/717133/

Music Title: rmr morphagene reels - latin_guitar by jjbbllkk
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/s/530725/

Sound Effect Title: 05 - Swing doors by 14GSionJ
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/s/419387/

Sound Effect Title: Footsteps Dress Shoes Wood Floor.wav
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/people/allrealsound/sounds/161756/

Sound Effect Title: custom_TMNT_punch_sounds_part_2_12242024 by Artninja
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
https://freesound.org/s/779939/

Sound Effect Title: Coconuts hit together then fall onto a wood floor by JHo3000
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/s/693517/

The image accompanying this episode is a modified version of a 1940s postcard, artist unknown, presumed to be public domain.

Image Alt text: A colorful postcard labeled “Souvenir of Havana, Cuba” with a rectangle in upper right that says “PLACE STAMP HERE” and a few lines to write an address. A photo of the National Capitol Building in Havana colorized to highlight flowers, palm trees and a cloudy blue sky in the background.

Has Petra finally given up her pursuit of Falk and found a new love? Is he man enough for her? Is he a man? Is stress a killer? Listen to find out!

The Bitter Tears of Petra Wojciehowicz, episode 136 of This Gun in My Hand, were dispensed from the coin-operated intelligence Rob Northrup. This episode and all others are available on Youtube with automatically-generated closed captions of dialog. Visit http://ThisGuninMyHand.blogspot.com for credits, show notes, archives, and to buy my books, such as Sisyphus, Eat Your Heart Out, available in paperback and ebook from Amazon. Into what mesmerizing object do I gaze to view the future? This Gun in My Hand!

Show Notes:
1. Anyone who grew up within broadcast range of Detroit tv in the 1980s will remember Ben Franklin’s unlikely proverb from the ubiquitous Highland Appliance commercials on Presidents’ Day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6waErG4Qwc

2. The commercial for Ghost Detective was inspired by “The Thing in The Tunnel,” an episode of Weird Circle radio show originally broadcast March 4th, 1945.
https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Weird_Circle_Singles

3. In November-December 1997, Burger King kid’s meals contained toys promoting the animated feature film Anastasia, including the white bat Bartok who spoke three phrases. One of the phrases was “Stress, it’s a killer.” Due to the cheap mechanism that played recorded phrases, a parent claimed on tv news that this delinquent toy was telling her child, “Hey, have a tequila.”

4. I’m almost positive Falk has used the expression “love is love” in a past episode. But his memory is as bad as mine.

Credits:
The opening music clip was from The Sun Sets at Dawn (1950), and the closing music was from Killer Bait (1949), both films in the public domain. Most of the music and sound effects used in the episode are modified or incomplete versions of the originals.

Sound Effect Title: old pinball.wav by mapleleaf
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
https://freesound.org/people/mapleleaf/sounds/34730/

Sound Effect Title: MM Project -10 Pinball by RTB45
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
https://freesound.org/s/368767/

Sound Effect Title: money_box.mp3 by Taira Komori
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
https://freesound.org/s/212398/

Sound Effect Title: Ticket machine printing a ticket by Licorne_En_Fer
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/s/772976/

Sound Effect Title: Footsteps on gravel by Joozz
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
https://freesound.org/people/Joozz/sounds/531952/

Sound Effect Title: Footsteps Dress Shoes Wood Floor.wav
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/people/allrealsound/sounds/161756/

Sound Effect Title: scifi_scare_b.aiff by realtheremin
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/s/119012/

Sound Effect Title: Squeaky Car Door
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/people/coltures/sounds/262325/#

Sound Effect Title: S37-24 Car starts; revs; skids; crashes; skids; footsteps; voices sirens.wav by craigsmith
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/s/675839/

The image accompanying this episode is a modified detail of the public domain cover of The Century, Midsummer Holiday Number 1895, from a lithograph by artist Louis Rhead (1857-1926).

Image Alt text: Colorful art nouveau style illustration of a woman in a gauzy yellow dress leaning back against a stone bench. Her right hand holds a huge brown leaf which she’s fanning over her head. Her left arm is draped along the back of the bench. Sunflowers rise behind her. We can also see a large body of water with sailboats in the background, and a small sun-dial beside her. She has brown hair and a wistful expression, maybe pleasant, maybe bored. Letters in the upper right say The Bitter Tears of Petra Wojciehowicz.