MOVING PICTURES

Edith Shain claimed that she was the nurse seen in Alfred Eisenstaedt's photograph of a sailor dipping a nurse and kissing her in Times Square on August 14, 1945. The picture became an icon symbolizing the feelings of America when World War II was finally over on V-J Day. (Former NYC police detective Carl Muscarello claimed that he was the sailor.)

Mrs. Shain passed away last Sunday at the age of 91. She had been long retired from her job as an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles, but she was still making public appearances as an honorary grand marshal of Veterans Day and Memorial Day parades. Mrs. Shain hoped to use her "accidental celebrity" status to promote a permanent national day of remembrance on the second Sunday of every August to honor the men and women of the World War II generation.

That's the way it is, as the late Walter Cronkite would say, here in the real world. But in Toobworld, that all changed in 2002 when an under-rated science fiction show called 'The Chronicle' aired its last episode.

Here's the information from tv.com for "A Snitch In Time":

Grace is investigating a case of spontaneous combustion when her boyfriend Louis dumps her without warning and disappears from his job. Grace tracks him to a dentist, who is also spontaneously incinerated. She tracks Louis to a mausoleum where mysterious Swedish men with melting rays attack him. They escape, although Louis loses a key. Louis reveals that he is from 300 years in the future and is in the Witness Relocation Program. He testified against the Swedish Mob, was put into hiding in the past, and the mob tracked him down. The reporters manage to get the key back from where the Swedish Mob is hiding out at an Ikea store, and Louis leaves a message in the mausoleum just in time for the Feds to read it in the future and take the mobster into custody. Louis is relocated and asks Grace to go with him. She finally agrees, leaving only a note for Sal. She apparently has relocated with Louis back to 1945, as we see her in a photograph of the era at the end of the episode.

The photo of the two of them in Times Square is a retouched real photo in the National Archives. The only additions are Grace and Louis, replacing a real sailor [and nurse] in the photo. Eisenstaedt always claimed that he only took pictures of that one sailor and nurse couple. (And he never actually knew who they were; he forgot to get their names.) But in Toobworld he must have photographed at least one more, that being Grace (played by Rena Sofer) and Louie......

'The Chronicle' was a fun show and should have been given more support by the Sci-Fi Channel. It would have worked now on Syfy in a schedule that also has 'Eureka' and 'Warehouse 13', both of which could have been a boon with crossovers.

I just wish somebody had a decent fan site dedicated to the show, which I've linked to 'Doctor Who' (thanks to a theory of relateeveety involving Sal the Pig Boy).

BCnU!