KNOTS LANDING

[Vee]

I'm on that binge while procrastinating for work - burning through the last of S2 and probably going to take a break for a bit (hours, days, minutes? who knows with KL) following the Season 3 premiere two-parter.

[Franko]

To some degree or another, it goes all the way up to 1991.

A few years back, Mary Crosby did an interview where she admitting wishing she had better capitalized on her fame. Seems like there were mutual missed opportunities on both sides.

[Vee]

Season 2 Ep 16: More Than Friends

A tad jarring to see legendary character actor John Considine subbing for OLTL original castmember Allan Miller as Laura's boss, Scooter. Considine is always amusing in Altman and Alan Rudolph films, but I hope Miller will return; he was so sweet as Scooter, and the talk about their relationship here was mature if uh, not entirely workplace acceptable today. And Rosemary Prinz! My God!

Poor Richard trying to contain his jealousy over Scooter is admirable. The Averys are strangely sweet now that they are able to actually talk through their problems without him constantly belittling her, and Richard has slowly begun to accept a secondary, submissive position to Laura in the relationship. I know it won't last for whatever reason but seeing them newly functional is refreshing.

Queen Earl Trent has returned and is here to burn Val's writing and then try to mate with her. It astonishes me that this late actor (the 'other' Paul Rudd) apparently was married with children, but you never know what that means, especially back in those days. I accepted Earl to have hanged himself or something by the end, but no, off he goes. Interesting that Gary admits all the advice he gave Earl should apply to himself.

Abby's 'what if we fücked? jk haha.... unless?' moment in the car with Gary was ahead of its time.

Since she was mentioned upthread I will stick up for Karen, at least for now. Yes, she's a lot at times but I love her.

Ep 17: Designs

J.R. has returned! You can see Gary and Abby's minds working in tandem the instant Sid mentions J.R.'s interest in his engine, while sweet saintly Sid dismisses the whole thing. (His emissions concerns are, sadly, more relevant than ever.) This is why both J.R. and Abby were right about Gary; he is an Ewing after all, and I would assume that this connection with Abby will ultimately go far beyond sex.

Abby plays Sid masterfully when he comes over re: the engine plans, but they give you a wonderful grace note before and after where Abby is mothering Olivia and trying to teach her math, even after showing her at her scheming height. These are the full dimensions of the character as we've come to know her so far, and it's impressive work. Still, I don't believe Abby is stupid enough to think she can hand the plans over to J.R. and not have the entire engine stolen out from under her brother in the process. I don't believe she'd intentionally allow that to happen to Sid, and I don't believe for a second that J.R. wouldn't do that. I presume the contract she drew up is intended to protect Sid and the business, or so I hope. Abby is very cunning having started from the bottom, but given her station in life atm I also have my doubts Ewing Oil's lawyers could not shoot something she wrote herself full of holes. We'll see what happens but it's a great storyline so far.

J.R. and Abby's Supercouple That Never Was is great, but I am endlessly amused that J.R. is still! down bad for social justice housewife Karen Fairgate and tbh I am 100% here for it. You can see the gears turning in his mind when she starts calling to them through the door - 'threesome?' Michele Lee and Larry Hagman are great together. And it's interesting the almost love/hate sibling dynamic emerging with Abby and Karen.

Olivia's about to get cancelled for her cornrows request to Val, 40 years late. Kenny continues to have the depth of a wading pool and a single happy expression. I check my texts any time the Wards come on at this point. I'd be fine if Sylvie returned to gun Kenny down provided she simply never speaks again.

The show really kicked into high gear again midway through Season 2 after some doldrums, and I've been pretty pleased with it. The home invasion and angel dust episodes are silly (and some of the Earl return ep as well, the A-plot) but there's still some good character work in those episodes; overall there's a lot of pretty good stuff in the back end.

I know there is apparently some fog of war re: Don Murray's exit. Most stories claim he was bored and/or wanted a pay bump and both coincided with his quitting. Supposedly there's another anecdote claiming he was also pushed out/allowed to quit. I don't know more detail than that but I assume someone else more knowledgeable than me does; it would not surprise me if both came into play. Murray is wonderful as Sid, a soothing presence, but I can see by now why both he and the writers might be bored with Sid - he is too good, too kind, too level. Even his wife is exasperated with his naivete. Of all the adult leads (even Kenny, who has changed overnight from simpleton philanderer to simpleton dad-to-be), Sid is the only one not evolving or showing any vulnerability or other facets. 

Edited May 21, 2022 by Vee

[DRW50]

Rosemary is terrific on here - while I appreciate the array of old Hollywood names who pop up once the show became a hit, I miss the early seasons having so many soap figures in rich support roles. 

I have never really gotten John Considine's appeal, but I blame that partly on how much I hated his AW character. 

[kalbir]

Knots Landing was more of a community based series than a family/business conflict based series, so I found it was structurally closer to a daytime soap (P&G, not Bell) compared to Dallas and Falcon Crest. Here's how I break down the series:

Seasons 1-3: Building the foundation.

Seasons 4-6: The peak. Full-on primetime soap.

Season 7 and 8: Tanking.

Season 9: Signs of going off the rails are showing.

Seasons 10-14: Off the rails plus budget mode.

Edited May 21, 2022 by kalbir

[Vee]

And now, the Season 2 finale (Squeezeplay), written by John Pleshette!

The tipsy ladies of Knots Landing going full wine mom out at lunch and inadvertently running into Gary and the mob is the kind of stuff this show's suburban ecosphere can do so neatly and it feels real. Karen being hungover hours later as the Abby plotline continues to unfold was a laugh. I enjoyed Karen playing Nancy Drew (and needling Sid for never looking at his books - you can def see the show is losing patience with him).

Gary and Abby conspiring together to hide their scheming from Sid and Karen is a massive shift from how they started the season, and indicates that they are already in bed together on a mental level, and you can see they both know it now - not just Abby. It's on Ted Shackelford's face, this growing disease and intensity. I do wonder when the show knew Gary was going to go darker as opposed to staying part of the sweet audience identification couple with Val from Dallas. I know JVA has talked about pushing for Gary/Abby to the writers, and we're fortunate that some KL fansites exist today with both contemporary and recent interviews with the cast and crew which likely delve more into this - I will have to read up more. Their intentions (or at least Gary's, while Abby was obviously out to elevate herself, get Gary and help Sid? sure, why not) started out noble for the business but the thrill of it - the rush, the juice - is the scheming, the triumph and power in and of itself for themselves.

I was wondering where I knew Crazy Jeff from. Sure enough, he is Barry Jenner who played Admiral Ross in the excellent final seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. His mom was way too arch and camp not to be in on it, so I wasn't surprised when she pulled out that envelope.

I loved, loved, loved Karen still being able to go to Richard for help despite their thorny relationship - in which Karen never seemed to stop having seemingly inexhaustible if exasperated affection for him from the very pilot on, almost like he's her ne'er-do-well brother. And his responses to her requests: "Did I fall wrong? Don't flirt, Karen. It's unbecoming in a woman of your height." The last lines Richard had that were that good was mid-Season 2 in Breach of Faith, when he comes home from job hunting and gives Karen a hysterical, withering soliloquy about the hippie kid he interviewed for a job with in a jacuzzi.

Karen's response was to laugh out loud, and to me that interplay sums up their relationship thus far. Anyway, back to the finale: Karen and Richard were a well-oiled team in Sid's office and sharp as hell together (it makes you wish Richard might've been retained as the female leads' consigliere in the business stories of the future) but even funnier is the moment when Laura offhandedly remarks to Sid that Richard joked they were off to break into his office, and the cut back to Don Murray's face.

I did not expect Abby to instantly sell Gary out! Hilarious. Sid is such a dupe for her, but his kingpin act at dinner with the crooks was unexpected and a hoot; Don Murray totally sold it. "Get me a skateboard!" And yet Gary lies to Sid at the end about Abby being in deep, to spare her and Sid's feelings.

in hindsight Val has not had too much active to do this season but react to Gary, and this finale brings that into sharp relief. The fire between Shackelford and JVA as they battle it out over his schemes was more exciting than most of what they've done together in the last season and a half. I do hope she gets a lot more next season, and while I liked their sweet original incarnation, the new Gary and a tougher, more worldly Val would be intriguing.

Val: But Gary, if we don't share the bad as well as the good, what kind of a marriage have we got?

Gary: A normal one.

Abby's wine-guzzling breakdown alone in her increasingly chic, upscale, chrome-and-glass house - the ghost of '80s yet to come, a reflection of her vision of her personal future - was a great silent sequence. Her subsequent meltdown at the end was a bit wild, but I couldn't fault it: There is a notable moment which you don't necessarily hear clearly unless you're listening closely, where Jeff is stodgily droning on about her sexual history and how it factored into his mad decision on the cassette tape, while she's crumpled on the floor sobbing. That moment feels like the period at the end of the sentence about how we've met Abby and all we've learned so far re: the duality of who she is, and how she isn't purely evil or good.

Notably zero sign of the Fairgate kids for most of this major family finale. I was wondering where they're supposed to be right as Michael shows up near the very end (and his ADD/diet is still in the mix! - I love that they just keep weaving the domestic subplots in). There's a sick irony that Sid dreamed of being a race car driver, and this is how he goes out.

IMO, a very strong end in the last quarter, to a season that really turned the corner around the time Gary cuts Judy Trent loose. I am very amped for Season 3, the big changes and the return of the immortal Julie Harris, who I adored in The Haunting and other things and didn't know she spent years on Knots. Her episode of S1 was a highlight and I am looking forward to seeing how she figures into the future.

Edited May 21, 2022 by Vee

[DRW50]

@Vee amazing writeup - I especially love the details about Abby's house. 

I was never that thrilled with most of Lillimae's writing in her years as a regular compared to her guest shot, with the exception of two story arcs, but Julie was always at her best. 

[Vee]

Season 3!

Episode 1 (The Vigil):

The new opening is nice - I wondered if they were going to use Don Murray in the opening credits to fake the audience out, and to my surprise they did. Many shows didn't back in those days and simply adjusted for immediate cast changes, giving the game away. The idyllic scenes of sun-baked serenity in Abby's backyard as Val and Karen shoot the shít while waiting on Sid were a nice contrast to the crash.

There is a bracing, grim bluntness to the hospital stuff, even the terse dialogue between Karen and the surviving agent ("You're entitled, we blew it"). The moment where Karen walks in on them drilling into Sid was gruesome and shocking even though nothing is seen. The nauseating detail as the surgeon outlines all of Sid's bodily trauma (flecks of bone, etc) while Karen struggles not to vomit was how I felt, tbh.

Diana has gotten a red-blonde rinse between seasons, but who cares, it looks good. Another grim moment as Michael keeps asking about the dead agent.

Everything with Michele Lee and Don Murray was stunningly good - their easy wit and humor with each other as Karen tries to mask her horror and play it all off as her usual merry self, and Sid's wry candor about his condition. Donna Mills is also astonishingly vulnerable and heartbreaking; I've never seen her like that as Abby breaks down ranting about the hospital and Sid's doctor.

The very stark cuts to the house as Michael dreams and wanders through his empty parents' bedroom (and later cutting back to him having fallen asleep in their bed), then as Karen stumbles through the hospital alone over the haunting music, even the brief cutaway to Gary alone on the beach, were quite cinematic. You don't see that stuff often in the modern era without a pop song blaring over it. Not to say those montages don't work too, but they're old hat now. This is more subtle.

Richard is Karen's dark angel, showing up at the hospital with breakfast and a rose on the table as Karen breaks down crying and laughing. I really love that relationship. The community sphere is beautifully re-woven in here after some distancing in late Season 2, by having Richard call up the Ewings and get them to bring more clothes and provisions while Val also takes care of the kids.

The great character actor Clyde Kusatsu played Dr. Akura here. He's in a zillion movies and TV shows, but I had no idea he'd done so much daytime as well.

This episode was another written by John Pleshette, and it seems a shame if he was not nominated or awarded anything for this. I haven't checked. They fake the audience out brilliantly, thinking it's all a happy ending and tidy bow at the end as Sid wakes and Karen promises him and the viewers he'll be okay.

Episode 2 (Critical Condition) is also very strong, but especially the harrowing cross-cutting between Sid's operation and the family slowly relaxing, losing their nerves and fear, and beginning to laugh and talk as Sid is literally dying. I had no idea they'd show that much of the operation and his death and the whole last half of the episode is pretty grueling. The direction on the reveal to Karen and the family, with the wide shots down the hall and back again, is very well done. I will say I can't believe Val, etc. let Karen and the kids drive home by themselves.

Richard and Laura are happy together again, while Abby is the unwelcome interloper at their home during dinner. Never thought I'd see that.

Gary wanting to skip town over this mess is classic Gary, and so rooted in his background that they didn't even need to mention it that much at this point.

The shot of the family in the elevator is stunning - especially Donna Mills' shellshock right into the camera - and so I have made it my new avatar. The end credits appear to run over a shot from the ADD episode in Season 2 with Sid embracing Michael on the beach. I was glad they did something special and didn't use the jaunty theme tune.

[Soaplovers]

Where is everyone watching this?  Private message me?

[Chris B]

@VeeTo answer your question on the previous page about Gary and Val on Dallas 2.0, they did reconcile in the end, but it was poorly done. Gary was one of the few returning characters they got right and they did give him a bit to do, but that show was so plot driven that there wasn't much room to develop stuff. With Lucy, she appeared semi-regularly, but we never learned a thing about where she was in life now and when her parents returned, they cut one scene with Gary and Val (and didn't even include it on DVD). If the show was better written, they should've done more with the potential Sue Ellen/Gary/Val triangle. It felt so incomplete because Sue Ellen and Val literally only had that one scene and nothing else. As well as Gary fit in, I would've kept him and at least have Val make regular guest appearances here and there.

[victoria foxton]

 

 

[Soaplovers]

Season 3 of KL always interested me because they had continuing threads arcs (Karen dealing with widowhood post Sid, Abby/Gary/Val, Richard/Laura's marriage issues with Scooter in the background, while Kenny/Ginger dealing with a newborn plus her wanting to break into singing)...while there were interesting standalone episodes (3 sisters was interesting..but I feel it should have been episode 9 instead of episode 10 because how Abby was acting in 3 sisters toward Val would have led to her first subtle move to get Gary in the Rose and Briar episode.

 

@DRW50I liked the Ginger being stalked episode and revealing her backstory about her abortion..plus her tense relationship with her mom.  I wish the writers could have used that history in season 3 when she became a mom instead of the music aspect.  Also, I wish Val could have been mixed on Ginger having the abortion given her own backstory.  Would she have sympathized with Ginger, been a bit resentful that she willingly opted to not have a child, etc.

Also, I co sign on liking Val's relationships with Abby and Laura better. 

Seeing lots of Val/Abby friendship scenes in season 2 and 1st half of season 3 really made the affair between Gary/Abby more impactful.  Also, Abby was the one to tell Val her babies were alive, and had told Gary that he had to be honest with Val that they weren't married anymore when Val had her mental block.  She didn't coddle Val.

Laura also didn't coddle Val...in fact, she was the one to tell Gary not to lead Val on...hence why Gary married Abby...to show Val that their marriage was over 

Edited May 22, 2022 by Soaplovers

[Vee]

Episode 3 (Aftermath) has some good stuff in the opening with the funeral, the no-dialogue sequences like Eric weeping in Sid's restored roadster/hot rod - I think Sid and Karen made love in that car at the end of the pilot, but don't quote me - and more. Michele Lee does great work, especially when she's coming back down from each subsequent violent outburst that she's been trying to hold in, and you can see her trying to put the pieces back together behind her eyes. The Abby stuff early on with her struggling to compose herself with Karen was heartbreaking.

Also great was a mournful, angry Gary telling Val he is tired of her being so accepting of him and tired of her forgiving him. That's a deeper window into their relationship than the story of this single episode might present, I suspect.

A very funny, throwaway sardonic scene with Richard, Laura and Jason in the middle of the episode. "Did you just mix a metaphor?" "Martini." Constance McCashin and John Pleshette are legitimately sparkling in this mode, however shortlived it is.

Why am I not surprised that Grinnin' Kenny (still grinning through it all) is demanding Ginger take no drugs in labor? I wish that doctor had clotheslined him instead of simply dismissing him. That was one clean, full-grown baby Ginger gave birth to. Karen's catharsis at the end with baby Erin was earned.

Notably no pics of Diana on Sid's desk at the dealership. Hmm!

Episode 4 (Moving In): Following a brief and undignified cameo by Gary and Val in a Season 5 Dallas ep between KL eps, where everything and nothing seemed to be happening at once - a trend on Dallas, it seems, in my casual viewing of it so far - we are back to the triumphant return of Julie Harris, complete with Dukes of Hazzard incidental theme music following her around. That trick with the suitcase and the shopping bags was inspired. And Richard was right about Gary's ad - he was doing something with his arms.

I was very glad they didn't end the episode on a too-pat resolution between Val and Lilimae - their issues are clearly going to be ongoing. I cannot wait to see more of her around the cul-de-sac. Gary and Val are more appealing this season so far than they have been in awhile; he has more verve and humor, perhaps as his station in life rises, and she is smarter and feistier.

The second Dallas crossover in two consecutive weeks ("Five Dollars a Barrel") was equally frothy, colorful and diverting, but ultimately nowhere near as substantial to me as any given episode of KL. I enjoy watching the Dallas crossover eps as a kind of junk food, I like a lot of the cast, but I am probably never going to dedicate myself to bingeing it like I have KL, though I may casually watch its run over time. While I have very slowly begun watching Dallas from its initial miniseries onward, I keep dipping in on the KL crossover eps much more frequently, and the show seems deeply repetitive in a lot of ways any time I've looked in on Seasons 1-4 - lots of smiling men in offices or restaurants (most particularly Dennis Patrick from Dark Shadows!) meet up to talk about 'getting J.R.' but routinely fail to do so in any material way. The Southfork ranch and its bright greens and yellows by a pre-fab pool and patio increasingly look like a Tim Burton-esque astroturfed homestead. Most of the men fear J.R. taking their women, their money, their balls or all of the above, most of the women worry about having babies, losing babies, losing their minds or keeping J.R., and the exceedingly tiresome Lucy gurgles her lines through a mouthful of grease and shoots wan bon mots at Uncle J.R. from her lazing position on the couch. (I do not believe Lucy will have any clue what to do with Gary's shares let alone what they are, and may instead search for a duffel bag to store them in.) Audrey Landers is at least a sparkplug, I like Donna Krebbs, and Steve Kanaly remains very hot, and Larry Hagman and his beloved showrunner rule the roost above it all.

I like Larry Hagman a lot and always have, including in his early supporting part in Sidney Lumet's terrifying Fail-Safe, and he's very enjoyable to watch here, but that's not enough for me to hang viewership on when most of the rest of the show feels profoundly subservient to both his towering charisma and more importantly, Leonard Katzman's(?) macho power fantasies. When Amanda on Melrose Place went down a few times, for example, we saw her get dragged and knocked around hard; she came back, but we saw her bleed and bowed. Granted, I have only watched a smattering of Dallas but I have yet to see this kind of vulnerability or weakness from J.R. Now, in this particular episode and season (Season 5), things are a bit different, in that he is in fact brought low by Cliff Barnes and his alliance of anonymous businessmen, but the audience is primed to dislike Cliff or find him to be a nebbish loser for years running so the pattern only deviates so much. (I understand Jock Ewing's death comes immediately after this, which makes me want to continue watching this season to see how far down J.R. falls for awhile.) Overall, Dallas is just a lark for me by comparison to KL so far.

Edited May 24, 2022 by Vee

[DemetriKane]

Me too. I am not a fan of Karen's friendship with Val or Laura. Like you said, it rings a bit false. Laura and Val seems more realistic and compatible. And i just didn't believe Karen ever cared much for Laura's feelings.

@Vee I genuinely like her bond with Richard, i got a lot of love for him. But, the way Karen interacts with Laura always bothered me for some reason. And it gets worse in season 3 & 4, imo.

And also, we are >>><<< regarding Dallas. The show is a fun enjoyable watch, but the storytelling is can be too "rinse and repeat" to truly touch me the in the way Knots does.

Edited May 24, 2022 by DemetriKane

[Paul Raven]

Interview with Michelle Lee. The marriage didn't last. Love James Farentino choosing a career woman because it would benefit him. Maybe Michele had a rethink on hubby's attitude?

Interesting to note that none of the Knots ladies worked when the show premiered (did Ginger?), a reflection of the times that middle class women were expected to be 'housewives' and content with that.

But things were changing...

July 1980

 Michele Lee calls 'Knots' ' a precedent-setting show By STACEY JENEL SMITH Chicago Tribune Service

Michele Lee hates to admit it, but she nearly turned down her role in "Knots Landing." "My response was 'Oh, God playing the mother of a teenager! I'll be typecast as a matron and won't be able to get work. "The roles society puts on women ! It's as If once they're mothers, they're put out to pasture. "But the last few months have given me a whole new positive perspective on it, a whole new awareness,". she says. I know now I'm really lucky. And maybe it sounds funny to say this, but I really feel that this character is a contribution."

Certainly the past decade has brought changes in television's treatment of divorcees and widows with the emergence of such shows as Bonnie' Franklin's "One Day at a Time." But as far as Michele is concerned, the "Knots Landing" character is still a precedent-setter. "You now have the opportunity for a viewing audience to see a positive, 'now,' 'together' wife and mother," she says. "She's liberated and she chooses not to work. I used to think I was liberated because I worked, but now I know that being liberated has to do with what's inside you. Karen doesn't consider herself 'just a housewife' and she isn't."

Michele who like her  her character, Karen, is 37, sits in the sunny patio of a Los Angeles cafe, excitedly expounding upon all the plus points of her video alter ego. She describes scenes from the "Knots" series in which Karen has distinguished herself as honest, bright and capable sparing no detail. It soon becomes clear not only that the show's producers need not be concerned about her dedication to "Knots," but that effervescent, enthusiastic Michele could make quite a filibuster artist. She is equally enthusiastic when it comes to discussion of her 14-year-old union with actor James Farentino, a topic which, naturally, she includes during her talk about "now," liberated women and progressive marriage. "He conscientiously searched for a career woman to marry and that was before the new awareness, before the women's movement got started. He felt it would give him more freedom. ' That's how he saw it. He'd known men whose wives' days didn't begin until their husbands came home, husbands who were under real pressure to fulfill this other person. He saw it as a stifling influence. , "Sometimes things get uncomfortable when we're both working, when neither of us is at home," Michele says with a shrug, "but that comes with the territory." .

She explains that under such circumstances, the Farentinos' longtime housekeeper is entrusted with the care of their 10-year-Old son, David Michael. Making the commitment to the long hours a TV series involves was a weighty decision for Michele. "One of my Own personal goals was to be on a television series," says the woman who grew up around show business as the daughter of a Hollywood studio makeup man before hitting Broadway for the first time at age 17, going on to the stage and screen versions of "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," and becoming a steadily working theater, film and TV actress and singer. "I know the enormous responsibility of being a parent and I don't take it lightly. I know I'm responsible to David and I also know that I'm responsible to myself. When I'm working, I let him know how rewarding and fulfilling it is to me. I also make it a point to reserve a period of time every day just for him, really concentrating with direct, one-to-one contact."  If there's any doubt of her intensity when it comes to parenting, Michele goes on at length discussing the numerous child-rearing methods endorsed by the group PET (Parent Effectiveness Training), of which she is a member. And discussing child-rearing advice she has gleaned from books. And discussing how some of the tips she has picked up in her research (such as the importance of avoiding "labels" in describing people) have had a great impact on her life. "Sure it's tough to have a career that's important to you and to be a wife and mother at the same time. It does become a juggling match. But I think that any woman who wants it all can do it.

Hopefully one day it'll be common for men to share more in the responsiblities of the home. A lot of working women today come home from their jobs jobs that are nine to five just like their husbands' and go bananas trying to prepare dinner while the men are relaxing with a martini. Because the woman's role is to cook." One would guess that's not the case at Michele's and Jim's house. "He cooks, he cooks," she assures with a laugh, "more often than I do. It's something that happened out of pleasure because Jim really likes to cook. He cooks when he wants to or, sometimes he might say, 'Hey, cook tonight, will you?' which is fine with me." Michele envisions a not-so-distant future in which both men's and women's job schedules may be planned around home responsibilities, when mothers and fathers will. trade off days of working and days of being home with their children. "After all the upheaval and all the shifting and all the pain of the changes we're going ' through now," she says, "we'll come out of it with ' a new flexibility for families. I don't buy the idea that the family is disappearing, though, because we need it too much. I am absolutely positive that the family will always last." She wants to get into such current sociological matters as the liberated-into-confusion woman and the threatened man on "Knots Landing," particularly since, she jokes, her character serves as such a wonderful mouthpiece. "Karen feels the same way about things as I do, 'cause I say so." 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by Paul Raven