Living in a Chicken Coop

From that Frank Sinatra bio I continue to read: "Americans began spotting flying saucers: over Mount Rainier in Washington State; over Idaho, surrounding a United Airlines DC-3; over Roswell, New Mexico. And then all over the place... At the same time, Frank Sinatra was reporting to Culver City every weekday morning to play Ricardo, the kissing bandit." Ha ha! By editing out a grandiosely sweeping paragraph-and-a-half elaborating on "national anxiety," I have emphasized - perhaps unfairly! - the role of aliens in Frank Sinatra's film career. Meanwhile, McNeil is reading a biography of Robert Mitchum. "I am kind of amazed at how long he was poor. He and his wife lived in a converted chicken coop up until he made OUT OF THE PAST. I'm pretty sure that's right. If it's not, I'm really close. Then he got some money, but it was stolen shortly thereafter," writes McNeil.