Cornel Wilde Talks to a Kingman Little Leaguer & Redneck Mothers Indeed!

 May 10, 2026

   So often, many of the things I try to do come off as half-baked. My recent Pendejo Project comes to mind. But these half-baked plans sometimes lead to real insights, breakthroughs and a leap of imagination. Allow me a couple examples.

Daily Whip Out:

"The Man Who Surprised His Wife"

Edge of Paternity

   One brisk morning in April of 1959, I had to get up a 4 a.m. to go with my dad to open up the gas station for a film crew from Hollywood, so they could film this scene:

Deputy Les Martin pulls into the outside lanes of Al Bell's Flying A in the film "Edge of Eternity"

   In between set ups, I stood in the lube room and met this guy.

Cornel Wilde as Deputy Les Martin

(allegedly the Mohave County sheriff's uniform was custom made for Wilde at the cost of $400!)

   Wilde played Les Martin, who was a former Las Vegas police detective turned deputy sheriff known for his determination and resourcefulness. In the film he teams up with Janice Kenton (Victoria Shaw) to solve a series of killings tied to a scheme involving gold being stolen from a closed mine in Oatman.

   Cornel said to me in the lube room, "You're up kind of early?" to which I replied, "Yes."

   Here's a page of Daily Whip Outs from my quest to do 10,000 bad drawings. Note the da Vinci reference. So pretentious.

Nine Daily Whip Outs from 17 years ago

   I think there is a cool little story tucked into a throwaway line in a Longfellow poem:

A Long Line of Ha Has

Some of you are poets and you don't know it. But your legs show it, they're Longfellows.

Yes, that is an old Swea City, Iowa joke from my youth and here's the backstory, extension of it:

"From the waterfall he named her, Minnehaha, Laughing Water."

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha, 1855

   My grandmother's maiden name was Minnie Hauan. 

Carl and Minnie Ha Ha, 1918

Up Against The Wall Tú Madre!

   My Nogales compadre, Greg Scott reminded me that today is double Día de las Madres Day. He doubts the Razz Band ever did Jerry Jeff Walker but is sorely mistaken. Here for your edification are the key words from Jerry Jeff Walker's hit anthem:

"M is for the mud flaps you gave me for my pickup 

O is for the oil I put in my hair 

T is for T-bird

H is for Haggard

E is for eggs

R is for redneck!"

—Ray Wylie Hubbard, Redneck Mother