There's a new one now. George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck". "Ed Murrow" says, "The terror is in this room". And the close-up at the end of one of "Ed"s broadcasts when the mouth tightens and the eyebrow quivers.
John Henry Faulk (daddy) had a great story: when he was a kid, his mama was a butter-&-egg woman(sold those items to folks further out in the country without chickenyards or dairy cows). One day, she's out in the barnyard doing maintenance work--raking gravel, etc. Daddy and a friend are playing Texas rangers/deputy sherriffs on hoehandle horses with thumb/firstfinger 6shooters, racing around causing a ruckus. They chase a bad guy into the henhouse with appropriate whoops & hollers. A large blacksnake, enjoying the egg bounty in the upper tier of nest boxes, gets curious about all the fuss, raises up head and upper body to look over at the boys. 'Bout then there gets to be a boy-shaped hole in the side of the henhouse, and 2 not-so-big kids are scrambling around in the dust & gravel yelling scared. My grandmother helps them up, brushes them off, digs gravel out of their palms, tut-tuts, and allows as how she thought she was under the protection of the great Texas Rangers(lawmen, not sports team) and Travis County sherriff's posse. "Don't you know a black snake can't hurt you", she asks them. "No, ma'am, Miz Faulk", responds daddy's friend. "but he can scare you so bad, he make you hurt yo'seff." Molly Ivins tells this story almost as good as daddy. If you're ever around her, ask her if she remembers it and will tell it.    Tw