GRAHAM GREENE

"He was the Harry Lime

of the literary racket.”

— Michael Sheldon,

Graham Greene: The Enemy Within

One of the more seminal —

Book discussions from back

In the NYTimes days was

“The Third Man” soiree

Orson Welles played noir —

Cold War Harry Lime

A black-market drug dealer

Extraordinaire character

A screenplay collaboration —

Between Greene & Carol Reed

About depressing postwar

Viennese Weltschmerz

Joseph Colton played the —

Pulp fiction western writer

With Alida Valli as the sad

Tragedienne actress Lover

Filmed in 1949 —

Halfway between infamous

Bankrupt RKO Studio

“Citizen Kane” (1941)

And “Touch of Evil” (1958) —

Greene’s novel flowing like

Expensive slow gin down the

Back of your thirsty throat

Accompanied by maddening —

Irritating nervous Zither music by

Anton Karas constantly there

Slithering in the background

The ironic thing was that —

During our book discussion

Led by erudite Whiskey Priest

Lovely Alida Valli passed away