The Oklahoma Kid

“Kurtz fascinated him —

characters who shared

the name in The Third Man

and Heart of Darkness”

— Michael Shelden,

Graham Green, The

Enemy Within

What better place—

Than ruined bombed-out

Vienna to play the old

Heart of Darkness game?

Kurtz goes crazy—

Deep in rotting Africa but

Vienna also is one of the

Dark places of earth

Herr Kurtz meets Holly—

In the outdoor café with

His copy of Holly’s pulp

Fiction “The Oklahoma Kid”

Herr Kurtz’s toupee—

It makes Holly dislike

Him at first sight right

Away at their rendezvous

It keeps slipping off—

Like Akim Tamiroff’s

Greasy little tacky wig

In “Touch of Evil”

There’s something —

Phony about a man

Who just can’t accept

His baldness gracefully

It’s flat and yellow—

Cheap and ill-fitting

Clinging to his bald

Head like a ratty rug