THE MT VOID
02/28/25 -- Vol. 43, No. 35, Whole Number 2369
Editor: Evelyn Leeper,
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Topics:
Mark R. Leeper (1950-2025)
Middletown (NJ) Science Fiction Discussion Group
Mark's Picks for Turner Classic Movies in March
(comments by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
Questions and Answers Quotation (letter of comment
by Steve Milton)
This Week's Reading (DEATH ON THE NILE) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Mark R. Leeper (1950-2025)
[I have already sent this sad news to all of you, but I want to be
sure it is also in an official issue of the MT VOID, so that it is
archived somewhere. -ecl]
Mark R. Leeper passed away on February 22, 2025. His end was very
peaceful; one moment there was a breath, and the next there wasn't.
Mark was born in Chicago in 1950, and has lived in Chicago, West
Virginia, Ohio, Massachusetts, California, Michigan, and for the
last 47 years, New Jersey. He received a B.S. in mathematics from
the University of Massachusetts in 1972, an M.S. in mathematics
from Stanford University in 1974, and an M.E. in electrical
engineering and computer science from Stevens Institute of
Technology in 1982. While at Stanford, he had a paper published
in aequationes mathematicae (Vol. 10, Fasc. 1, 1974) on which he
had begun work as an undergraduate, “An Odd Solution to the
Functional Equation P((x+1)/2)=exp P(x)”. He was employed at Bell
Laboratories in Holmdel and surrounding locations for 23 years
until his retirement in 2001. After retiring he ran a free
drop-in math tutoring session twice a week for a dozen years at
the Old Bridge Public Library, and when he had to leave for health
reasons, it was continued by some of the students he had tutored.
For many years, Mark had been the longest-running film reviewer on
the Internet, regularly publishing reviews since 1984, and being a
member of the Online Film Critics Society since 2014. His first
science fiction convention was Boskone VI (1969) and he attended
dozens of conventions, serving on panels about film, and also
leading origami workshops at many of them. In 1978, Mark and his
wife founded the science fiction club at Bell Laboratories in New
Jersey, which existed until their retirement in 2001, and then
continued to produce THE MT VOID, a weekly zine featuring Mark's
editorials and film writing. It was published continuously over
46 years, with over 2300 issues. Mark traveled to about five
dozen countries and published several lengthy travelogues on-line.
He leaves behind him his wife of 52 years Evelyn, sister Sherry,
brother David, and many cousins, nieces, nephews, godchildren, and
friends.
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Status Report (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Clearly my status report in the 01/17/25 issue was tempting fate.
Mark went to the hospital a few days later with a twisted colon.
He seemed to be recovering after they operated, but then he
started having swallowing difficulties (common to Parkinson's) and
a loss of appetite. Eventually he was unable to swallow anything
(even water), and they were unable to insert a feeding tube, and
he passed away just a month after going to the hospital.
Thank you to all who sent condolences. It is good to know he was
appreciated by so many people.
As for the MT VOID, I will continue as long as I can (since
clearly one cannot tell the future). There will continue to be
mini-reviews of films, and a book column, but probably not TCM
picks. As we say below, after fourteen years, most of the good
stuff has been picked already. I will mention if there is
something wonderful available for the first time, though.
As for the schedule, I plan to still publish every Friday, and
neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night will stay it
from its swift delivery, blah, blah, blah. So far it's managed
through Hurricane Sandy, a broken hip, Hurricane Isaias, another
broken hip, several miscellaneous local power outages, and now
Mark's passing.
I still have an exit strategy, but it still involves no change for
the next couple of years.
Now your letters of comment are even more appreciated, since I
doubt I can maintain the word-count of the MT VOID on my own.
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Middletown (NJ) Science Fiction Discussion Group
March 6, 2025: STAR WARS - A NEW HOPE (1977)
play: "William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope"
(2013) by Ian Doescher
audio/text:libby: <
https://tinyurl.com/doescher-1>
===================================================================
TOPIC: Mark's Picks for Turner Classic Movies in March (comments
by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
[This was written before Mark passed away. It's fitting his picks
finish with one of his favorite films. -ecl]
After doing picks on TCM for fifteen years, it's getting harder to
find films I haven't already recommended. This month, I will pick
John Huston's THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING. You cannot do much
better than that. TCM appears to agree, since they seem to run it
just about every other month. I first recommended it in 2012, and
have mentioned it in passing since, but I'll give it another
full-blown recommendation.
I give THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING my top rating of +4 (on the -4 to
+4 scale). This was the last film that Allied Artists made. It
just did not earn enough at the box office to save the company.
It is a pity because the film is nearly perfect. Allied Artists
could not even pay off its stars, Michael Caine and Sean Connery.
Yet I would say it is pretty much the best film either of them
ever made. And that is going some. During the age of the British
East India Company two likable scoundrels, formerly soldiers of
the British Army and now at loose ends decide to travel north of
India to Kafiristan where with the aid of army guns they figure
they should be able to set themselves up as kings. And the scheme
almost works. Almost. Originally this film was to be made with
Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart. It was a project that John
Huston planned for decades before the film could finally be made.
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING is adventure writ large. This is a
smart, enjoyable, exciting adventure film, superbly written.
Christopher Plummer is perfect as Rudyard Kipling. Also on hand
is popular Indian actor Saeed Jaffrey. The dialog between Caine
and Connery is priceless. I give this film a very strong
recommendation.
[THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING, Tuesday, March 25, 5:30PM]
Other films of interest:
MONDAY, March 3
8:00 AM Tom Thumb (1958)
9:45 AM 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)
2:00 PM The Time Machine (1960)
3:45 PM Mighty Joe Young (1949)
5:30 PM 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
WEDNESDAY, March 5
6:00 AM Kongo (1932)
7:45 AM Freaks (1932)
9:00 AM Doctor X (1932)
10:30 AM Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
1:15 PM Thirteen Women (1932)
2:30 PM Svengali (1931)
4:00 PM Rasputin and the Empress (1932)
6:15 PM Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)
FRIDAY, March 7
2:30 PM The Rocking Horse Winner (1949)
SATURDAY, March 8
12:30 AM Being There (1979)
4:00 PM Them! (1954)
TUESDAY, March 11
6:00 AM Three Ages (1923)
7:30 AM Our Hospitality (1923)
9:00 AM Sherlock Jr. (1924)
10:00 AM The Navigator (1924)
11:15 AM Seven Chances (1925)
12:15 PM Battling Butler (1926)
1:45 PM The Great Buster: A Celebration (2018)
3:30 PM The General (1927)
5:00 PM Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928)
6:15 PM The Cameraman (1928)
WEDNESDAY, March 12
6:30 AM Becoming Hitchcock - The Legacy of Blackmail (2024)
8:00 AM The Lady Vanishes (1938)
10:00 AM Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)
12:00 PM I Confess (1953)
2:00 PM The Wrong Man (1956)
4:00 PM Stage Fright (1950)
6:00 PM Dial M for Murder (1954)
FRIDAY, March 14
12:00 AM Yentl (1983)
2:30 AM Crossing Delancey (1988)
9:45 PM Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and
Love the Bomb (1964)
SATURDAY, March 15
1:30 AM Blood Simple (1984)
3:15 AM The 39 Steps (1935)
8:00 PM The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)
SUNDAY, March 16
2:15 PM Suspicion (1941)
MONDAY, March 17
6:00 AM Little Nellie Kelly (1940)
8:00 AM Peg O' My Heart (1933)
9:30 AM The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady (1950)
11:30 AM The Irish in Us (1935)
1:00 PM The Fighting 69th (1940)
2:45 PM The Rising of the Moon (1957)
4:15 PM Girl with Green Eyes (1964)
6:00 PM Odd Man Out (1947)
10:15 PM Young Cassidy (1965)
TUESDAY, March 18
12:15 AM Finian's Rainbow (1968)
2:45 AM Ryan's Daughter (1970)
TUESDAY, March 18
12:00 AM What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
TUESDAY, March 18
12:00 AM What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
THURSDAY, March 20
6:15 PM Westworld (1973)
FRIDAY, March 21
6:00 AM Mad Love (1935)
7:15 AM Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
8:45 AM Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)
10:30 AM Bedlam (1946)
4:00 PM What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
6:15 PM Eyes Without a Face (1959)
SATURDAY, March 22
12:15 AM The Wrong Man (1956)
12:00 PM Brigadoon (1954)
10:00 PM Angels in the Outfield (1951)
MONDAY, March 24
11:00 PM Victor/Victoria (1982)
SUNDAY, March 30
2:00 AM She (1965)
4:00 AM Tarzan and the Amazons (1945)
MONDAY, March 31
4:00 AM Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Questions and Answers Quotation (letter of comment by Steve
Milton)
In response to the quotation at the end of the 02/21/25 issue of
the MT VOID, Steve Milton writes:
Decouvertes does not look like a real name. Is it a pseudonym?
[-smm]
Evelyn responds:
Good catch! It may be a publisher or company; the original quote
("It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.") is by
that great fantasy author, Eugene Ionescu. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
I have had little time to read and even less to write a column.
But I can put in at least one book comment: in DEATH ON THE NILE
by Agatha Christie, if Jackie makes only 200 pounds a year, how
could she afford to follow Simon and Linnet to Egypt?
If all goes as planned, a full column will return next week.
[-ecl]
===================================================================
Evelyn C. Leeper
evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com The only thing you can't get back is time.
--Megan Park, MY OLD ASS
MT VOID, 02/28/25 -- Vol. 43, No. 35, Whole Number 2369
Re: MT VOID, 02/28/25 -- Vol. 43, No. 35, Whole Number 2369