Pop culture Q&A

April 11, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

By Rich Heldenfels

McClatchy Tribune

Q. I’m a huge fan of the Roloff family from “Little People, Big World.” I haven’t heard anything about them lately. Please tell me they are just busy working on another season of the show! I hope they don’t cancel it. I love them!

A. The series began a run of 20 new episodes on TLC on Monday, among them the show’s 200th telecast. Among the promised stories: Molly turns 16 and goes for her driver’s license; twins figure out what’s next post-graduation; Zach and his all-star team of little people athletes compete at the World Dwarf Games in Northern Ireland; Amy gets in over her head organizing a benefit golf tournament, and Matt gets ready for the farm’s biggest pumpkin season ever.

Q. In 1951, I went to Japan and then Korea as a combat medic. On one of the ships, they played a song over and over with the phrase “the world in peace or the world in pieces.” I never heard it again. Maybe you can shed some light on it.

A. You were probably hearing a rendition of a song about nuclear war called “Old Man Atom and Talking Atomic Blues.” The key lines are: “The people of the world must pick out a thesis / ‘Peace in the world, or the world in pieces!’” and “All men may be cremated equal.”

Written by Vern Partlow in 1945, it has been recorded by, among others, Ozie Waters, Sons of the Pioneers and Pete Seeger. It was controversial in the early ’50s, because some listeners thought it was pro-Communist. When Partlow died in 1987, the Los Angeles Times noted: “At the height of the McCarthy era, recordings of the song were withdrawn and its broadcast prohibited. ... Partlow, who was then employed as a political columnist at the Los Angeles Daily News, was asked to publicly declare that he was not a member of the Communist Party. He refused on principle and was fired.”

Waters, according to a Denver Post article, observed that the song ban was short-lived — it was back on the radio a month later — but that was long enough to have killed sales of his recording. And all this was inspired by a mordantly humorous song.

Q. I have not seen “Brothers & Sisters” lately. Will it be back?

A. Yes. New episodes begin airing tonight (a two-hour telecast) and continue through May 16. It also is expected to be back for another season in the fall.

Q. Years and years and years ago I saw a movie that I love with Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda. It was named “The Cheyenne Social Club.” It was about two cowboys who inherited a whorehouse from Fonda’s aunt. However, they didn’t realize that’s what it was at first and were quite naive. It was a great movie and I’ve not seen it or anything about it since. Where can I find it?

A. It is on DVD, including in a package with “Firecreek,” another Stewart-Fonda collaboration.

Q. NBC aired a TV series in the late ’70s called “Pearl.” It starred Kim Basinger and William Devane. It was a takeoff of “From Here to Eternity.” What ever became of it?

A. I think you are remembering two different programs. There was a miniseries called “Pearl,” about events around the attack on Pearl Harbor, which originally aired in November 1978. It starred, among others, Dennis Weaver and Angie Dickinson. In February 1979 came “From Here to Eternity,” a miniseries adapted from James Jones’ novel and the 1953 movie version of it. That cast included Devane and Basinger.

The “From Here to Eternity” miniseries did so well, NBC commissioned a series version, with Devane and Basinger, which premiered in March 1980. It did not draw viewers and was canceled the next month. Both the miniseries of “From Here to Eternity” and “Pearl” were released on VHS but have not found their way to DVD.