Guy Rolfe (1911–2003) was a British actor.  Rolfe was born in Kilburn, London.  Before turning to acting at the age of 24 he was a professional boxer and racing driver, making his stage debut in Ireland in 1935.  Repertory theatre led to his screen debut in 1937 with an uncredited appearance in Knight Without Armour.  He was cast as a British Army major dying of tuberculosis for the film Trio (1950), but actually contracted the disease and had to be replaced by Michael Rennie.  He recovered his health in less than a year, but his time away from the screen hurt his career.  One of his most famous parts was the title role in William Castle's cult horror film Mr. Sardonicus (1961), which several decades later led director Stuart Gordon to cast him in his horror film Dolls (1987).  The 1990s saw him continue in a similar vein when he appeared in five films of the Puppet Master series as Andre Toulon.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Rolfe   

To be sardonic is to be disdainfully or cynically humorous, or scornfully mocking.  A form of wit or humour, being sardonic often involves expressing an uncomfortable truth in a clever and not necessarily malicious way, often with a degree of skepticism.  Both the concept and the etymology of the word, while being of uncertain origin, appear to stem from the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.  The 10th-century Byzantine Greek encyclopedia Suda traces the word's earliest roots to the notion of grinning in the face of danger, or curling one's lips back at evil.  One explanation for the later alteration to its more familiar form and connection to laughter (supported by the Oxford English Dictionary) appears to stem from an ancient belief that ingesting the sardonion plant from Sardinia would result in convulsions resembling laughter and, ultimately, death.  Among the very ancient people of Sardinia, who were called Sardi or Sardoni, it was customary to kill old people.  While killing their old people, the Sardi laughed loudly.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardonicism    

The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons.  Members of the genera Botaurus and Ixobrychus are referred to as bitterns, and, together with the zigzag heron, or zigzag bittern, in the monotypic genus Zebrilus, form a monophyletic group within the Ardeidae.  Egrets do not form a biologically distinct group from herons, and tend to be named differently because they are mainly white or have decorative plumes in breeding plumage.  Herons, by evolutionary adaptation, have long beaks.  Although herons resemble birds in some other families, such as the storks, ibises, spoonbills, and cranes, they differ from these in flying with their necks retracted, not outstretched.  The herons and bitterns are carnivorous.  The members of this family are mostly associated with wetlands and water and feed on a variety of live aquatic prey.  Their diet includes a wide variety of aquatic animals, including fish, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, molluscs, and aquatic insects.  Individual species may be generalists or specialize in certain prey types, such as the yellow-crowned night heron, which specializes in crustaceans, particularly crabs.  Many species also opportunistically take larger prey, including birds and bird eggs, rodents, and more rarely carrion.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heron#Distribution_and_habitat

It was January 27, 1908, at the Columbia Theater in St. Louis and Harry Houdini (1874-1926) was about to debut his first theatrical performance.  The great master of illusion stepped inside of an over-size milk can, sloshing gallons of water on to the stage.  Houdini was about to do something that looked like a really bad idea.  The can had already been poked, prodded and turned upside down to prove to the audience that there was no hole beneath the stage.  Houdini was handcuffed with his hands in front of him.  His hair was parted down the middle and he wore a grave expression on his face.  His blue bathing suit revealed an exceptional physique.  Holding his breath, he squeezed his entire body into the water-filled can as the lid was attached and locked from the outside with six padlocks.  A cabinet was wheeled around the can to hide it from view.  Harry Houdini is most often remembered as an escape artist and a magician.  He was also an actor, a pioneering aviator, an amateur historian and a businessman.  Within each of these roles he was an innovator, and sometimes an inventor.  But to protect his illusions, he largely avoided the patent process, kept secrets, copyrighted his tricks and otherwise concealed his inventive nature.  A 1920 gelatin silver print by an unidentified artist resides in collections of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.  It depicts Houdini at his most theatrical, wearing makeup and facing the camera with a calculated mysterious gaze.  Jackson Landers  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/harry-houdini-ingenious-innovator-didnt-want-anybody-know-180961078/   

"At sixes and sevens" is an English idiom used to describe a condition of confusion or disarray.  It is not known for certain, but the most likely origin of the phrase is the dice game "hazard", a more complicated version of the modern game of craps.  Michael Quinion, a British etymologist, writing on his website on linguistics, says, "It is thought that the expression was originally to set on cinque and sice (from the French numerals for five and six).  These were apparently the most risky numbers to shoot for ('to set on') and anyone who tried for them was considered careless or confused."  A similar phrase, "to set the world on six and seven", is used by Geoffrey Chaucer in his Troilus and Criseyde.  It dates from the mid-1380s and seems from its context to mean "to hazard the world" or "to risk one's life".  William Shakespeare uses a similar phrase in Richard II (around 1595), "But time will not permit: all is uneven, And every thing is left at six and seven".  The phrase is used in Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), where Captain Corcoran, the ship's Commander, is confused as to what choices to make in his life, and exclaims in the opening song of Act II, "Fair moon, to thee I sing, bright regent of the heavens, say, why is everything either at sixes or at sevens?"  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sixes_and_sevens   See also https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/sixes-and-sevens.html    

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2728  October 6, 2023