Balladeer’s Blog presents another examination of an ancient Greek political satire. In this case it is one of those works of Aristophanes which have survived only in very fragmentary condition.
MERCHANT SHIPS
Merchant Ships was written and publicly staged in approximately 424 B.C. to 421 B.C. according to the available data. It was another of Aristophanes’ comedies protesting the pointlessness of the Greek city-states warring among themselves instead of uniting against the encroachments of the Persian Empire.
Aristophanes’ most popular surviving comedy about this topic is of course, Lysistrata, in which the women of Athens and Sparta unite to withhold sex from their men until those men agree to end the war. Merchant Ships has more in common with another of Aristophanes’ Peace Plays – The Acharnians, in which a separate peace with Sparta is made by an Athenian man named Dikaiopolis. (I always picture Rowan Atkinson in full Blackadder Goes Fourth mode playing him.)
In the case of Merchant Ships it’s more than just one person establishing a personal peace treaty with Sparta.
In this comedy the captains of two separate merchant ships – one from Athens and one from their foe Sparta – have grown weary of the pointless conflict and make a separate peace with each other. They and their crew members get to spend the play enjoying the food and drink from their cargoes and living out a metaphorical return to the prosperous days before the Peloponnesian War when peace reigned among the various Greek city-states.
Franchises aka Merchant Ships
If enough of Merchant Ships had survived to be staged, in a modern-day adaptation (as opposed to a straight translation) the situation could be depicted by having a Chick Fil-A restaurant right next to a Starbucks coffee shop. The managers and employees of these stereotypically Republican (Chick Fil-A) and stereotypically Democrat (Starbucks) establishments could grow tired of the political feuding, especially since both political parties often call for boycotts of the opposing business.
The managers and employees of the two franchises (in fact Franchises would be an ideal title) would make a truce separate from their home offices. Continue reading
FRONTIER CIRCUS (1961-1962) – The traveling Thompson & Travis Circus roams the 1880s American West performing for audiences and having adventures. 
DEPTHS OF FEAR (1st episode) – Ben Travis signs a formerly great Lion Tamer (Aldo Ray) who has become a town drunk. Ben coaches the man back to performing status despite the attempts to derail him made by a jealous bully. Guest stars Vito Scotti, James Gregory and Bethel Leslie.
HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the Union Army’s Michigan Brigade of Volunteers – nicknamed the Wolverines – from the U.S. Civil War. I’m focusing on them because, though not unknown, increasing numbers of people have taken to ignoring their contributions to the Union victory just because of the post-Civil War career of the Brigade’s commander – General George Armstrong Custer. 
The brigade was first being formed in December, 1862 and on June 29th, 1863 newly promoted General Custer assumed command. 
Balladeer’s Blog hopes all of you are having a respectful Memorial Day weekend. I’ll have a brand new Memorial Day blog post tomorrow, but for another seasonal post here are some of my Memorial Day offerings from years past. 
2012 – 
2013 – 
Balladeer’s Blog offers up a Memorial Day weekend post. In keeping with World War One’s “Eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” tradition that spawned Veterans Day in November, here are eleven WW1 figures who were awarded the Medal of Honor. 
JAKE ALLEX 
MOVIE: Trunk to Cairo (1966). If the only bad movie show you know is MST3K think of: Operation Double 007, Danger: Death Ray and Secret Agent Superdragon. 
IRON MAN Vol 1 #169 (Apr 1983) 
Tony’s personal pilot and friend Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes, who had been a supporting character in the series for years at this point, catches Tony drinking even more after the meeting. Iron Man’s old supervillain foe Magma, his tank and troops attack Stark’s Long Island HQ. 
THE MAD SCIENTIST: A TALE OF THE FUTURE (1908) – Written by Raymond McDonald, a pen name for two Canadians – Raymond Alfred Leger and Edward Richard McDonald. An unusual aspect of this novel was the publisher’s offer of a thousand-dollar reward for any reader who deciphered and provided the best breakdown of a coded message in the story. 
OGROFF aka The Mad Mutilator (1983) – This thoroughly bizarre French movie whose maker somehow conned horror icon Howard Vernon into appearing is easily one of the worst films ever made. Norbert G. Moutier owned a video store in France and published a horror fanzine. 
RIDDLE OF THE SULIOTEN MOUNTAIN – Kapitan Mors and his crew land their air ship on a mountain on a Greek island between Korfu and the Ionian Isles. A Suliot sponge diver sees the Luftschiff land and informs the villainous autocrat who imposes his own iron rule on the locals. 
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