Congratulations!! Your film, “We Need Rent Money” has been selected for live screening in Knight Of The Reel Awards

Hi,

Heartiest greetings from Knight of the Reel Awards.

We are immensely pleased and excited to inform you that your project has been chosen for the monthly special screening by our panel of juries. 

Venue– Rotary Sadan, 94/2,Chowringee Rd, Maidan, Kolkata, West Bengal-700020

Time–  1:30 PM – 4:00PM

Date–   14.07.2022

Good Luck!

Regards,

Team Knight of The Reel Awards (KOTRA).

Dear KOTRA Team,

 My heartiest thanks for allowing my movie to make the cut.

I’m immensely pleased and excited that WNRM will be live-screened in India.

Hope you can send me an email on how the audience responded to my film.

Sorry, but I will not be able to attend.

Thanks again.

 Blake Laitner, Director

When I looked at the Knight of The Reel Awards logo, I had a flashback.

You see, when I was a nine-year old, I wanted to be a knight of the realm. (Now you get it.)

For you non-Anglophiles, The Knights of the Realm were a group of Bretonnian

 nobles who had proven their skill and valor in combat.

Every week, I watched another episode of “Ivanhoe” on my black and white Zenith.

I remembered the “Ivanhoe” opening theme.

For those of you who forgot the title song, here it is:

Ivanhoe, Ivanhoe

Side by side we’re proud to ride with Ivanhoe

At his call we spring to help him ride along

The song we sing is free and joyous song

Ivanhoe, Ivanhoe

Far and wide throughout the countryside they know

There’s freedom on his banner

Justice in his sword

He rides against the manor

Where tyranny is lord

Rich and poor

Together we go

Forward with Ivanhoe

With I-van-hoe

Sorry, I couldn’t find credits for the lyrics.

Ivanhoe was played by Roger Moore.

Yes, Roger was the third James Bond and The Saint.

Ivanhoe  was a noble knight who fought for justice during the brutal reign of the wicked King John. (Based on the 1819 novel by Sir Walter Scott)

My parents bought me the complete “Ivanhoe” silver-colored plastic, three piece costume set.

And I loved that costume.

 I galloped around the house pretending to ride my stallion, while bellowing:

 I am Ivanhoe

Forward with Ivanhoe

With I-van-hoe.

 I made an ideal Ivanhoe, wearing my helmet with the long red feather sticking out of it, while holding my shield in one hand and with the other hand, I waved my sword or was it a lance in the air.

I was ready to fight for my honor.

All I needed to complete my fantasy was a steed wrapped in armor.   

Sadly, I never got that horse.

But thanks Knights of the Reel for bringing back one of my treasured memories.

And if by chance you’re in Kolkata (formally Calcutta) on July 14th at 1:30 PM go see Blake’s movie.

You’ll love it.

Thanks to Movie Play International Film Festival and your jury for selecting We Need Rent Money for inclusion your festival.

 Your sentiments about our work were a joy to read:

“Your movie is your art piece!”

“It’s your artistic creation of aesthetic value.”

We now have an even split: 4 wins and 4 selections.

What does this number 8 mean in the world of numerology?

Who knows?

But one day after our win, WNRM got rejected by a film festival.

The email read, “Please be advised your movie has “not” been selected to be shown at our festival.”

Well, Blake can handle the rejection, and I can definitely handle another loss but WNRM was really upset.

WNRM whined, “Why?”

“How can this happen to me?”

“How can I get even with that s.o.b. film festival?”

“How dare they reject me?”

“I’ll find a way to get even.”

I’m surprised by WNRM vindictive attitude.

But losing is hard on the ego.

 I say to WNRM, “Don’t be sad. Don’t worry be happy. Good news is just around the corner.”

So as we wait for another decision, Blake wants to thank the following people for helping to make his film a reality: Jeremy Ferguson, Ryan Olson, Hannah Ahern, Damien Hayes Shannon Swords and Matthew Hewlett.

And for those of you who feel sorry for WNRM, all email words of counsel or advice or condolences will be gladly accepted.

Until next time.

Btw— WNRM promises to keep a stiff upper lip.

“So we raided the joint. We went over there and grabbed everything insight, all their bullshit signs, and smacked the shit out of them, broke them up the best we could. Nobody could pay me for this work. It was my patriotic duty.”

Quote from L.A. gangster, Mickey Cohen, on bashing up a meeting of the American Nazis in 1938.

I enjoyed listening on Audible to  Gangsters vs. Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis In Wartime America (Citadel Press Books, 2022) for a number of reasons:

Likud stalwart Steinitz announces retirement weeks before primaries

As a student of American history, I found the book a well-written and well-researched study of America fascists and American Jewish mobsters, a rabbi and a Jewish judge and how their lives intersected prior to the beginning of WWII;

I loved when US mobsters beat the crap out of German American Bund and Silver Legion members;

I liked reading about the Jewish mafia, with its fascinating characters like Meyer Lansky, Mickey Cohen, Bugsy Siegel, and Jack Ruby;

I also found it interesting when the author speculated on how present-day American Jews are going to handle a neo-Nazi (Proud Boys and Oath Keepers) takeover of this nation.

Finally, I like books that I can relate to the persons and places mentioned within its pages.

Benson’s book did that for me, since I grew up in the Borscht Belt, in the small Catskill Mountain town of Woodridge, New York and I had neighbors who were hoods or associated with them.

In Woodridge, I also had a small number of Jewish American heroes.

One of them was Barney Ross.

Barney participated in smacking the crap out of Bund members. He was associated with certain members of the underworld.

In 1938, Barney was part of a team of tough mobsters, who raided a Bund meeting and swung lead pipes, blackjacks, sawed-off pool cues, brass knuckles and baseball bats at the Nazi’s bodies.

Their actions helped dissuade many of these Jew haters from attending further meetings.

Barney was also famous for being:

A world champion boxer in three divisions: lightweight, light welterweight and welterweight;

A decorated marine in World War II. He fought in the Pacific theater, Battle of Guadalcanal, where he was awarded a Silver Heart for single handedly fighting off two dozen Japanese soldiers and saving another marine’s life.

Quite a guy.

And Barney Ross summered in my hometown of Woodridge. (Years before I moved there.)

He hung his fedora at the Kentucky Club, which was Woodridge’s only eating, drinking and entertainment establishment.

So of course, I loved this guy and reading about him in Benson’s book made my day.

Benson’s book reminded me that the Bund had a Nazi youth camp in the Catskills.

Pretty scary.

Gangsters vs. Nazis made me recall tales of Sullivan County anti-Semitic rats who were given a brand new pair of cement shoes by members of Murder Incorporated. Those rodents learned to swim with the fishes in Kiamesha Lake in Monticello.

Pretty interesting.

So why am I recommending Benson’s book to my readers.

The answer is found at the end of his book, in a quote by E.A. Bucchianeri, “Once evil is invited in, tremendous effort is required to show it to the door and kick the cloven hoof off the threshold.”

Benson understood who invited the evil, cloven hoofs out of the darkness and into our homes.

And Benson asked two important questions.

Since the Jewish mob is all but gone, who is going to knock the heads together of these Proud Boys or these Oath Keepers?

Where do American Jews find replacements for the strong arms, killer instincts, organizational skills and guts of the mobsters who loved fighting and hurting Nazis with their lead pipes, blackjacks, sawed-off pool cues, brass knuckles and baseball bats

And for those two great unanswered questions alone, I recommend you read Gangsters vs. Nazis.