Favourite movies: The Facts of Life (1960)

Lucille Ball and Bob Hope star in Brief Encounter with laughs

Directed by Melvin Frank and written by Frank with Norman Panama, The Facts of Life is an adult love story that will surprise you. Frank and Panama are Bob Hope experts, multiple Oscar nominees and the creators of such classic comedies as The Court Jester and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.

Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Ruth Hussey, Don DeFore

Kitty Weaver and Larry Gilbert are two perfectly nice suburbanites. If Kitty's husband (Don DeFore) seems a little preoccupied with work and his gambling habit, and Larry's wife (Ruth Hussey) a little too caught up with the kids - well, that's life. They have no thought of straying. They certainly have no thought of straying toward each other.

However, Fate (in that way of hers) forces these two perfectly nice people to spend time together. Kitty discovers that "the jerk who tells the lousy jokes at the country club" is a genuinely warm and funny fellow. Larry sees a softer side to that stuck up Kitty. Love blossoms with the added complications of vows and conscience.

How Larry and Kitty deal with their feelings, their need to be together and the realities of their lives are played out in a frank, touching and very funny manner. It is wonderful to see two actors who happen to be bona fide comic geniuses working together in such perfect sympathy. The humour of character and situation also involves some gut grabbing slapstick, and some quiet moments that will make you smile or sigh a sentimental sigh for two perfectly nice people.

Broadway to Hollywood Trivia

Did you know that Eduardo Ciannelli (1889 - 1969) played "Diamond Louis" in the 1928 Broadway production of The Front Page?

Did you further know that Abner Biberman (1909 - 1977) played "Diamond Louis" in the 1940 film version of The Front Page, Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday?

Did you also know that in George Stevens' classic 1939 adventure Gunga Din that Mr. Ciannelli played the rebel guru and Mr. Biberman his loyal son, Chota? Go forth and enlighten the masses, my friends.

How carnivores celebrate Thanksgiving!

My baby, baby, baby sister outdid herself with the most scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner ever! A variety of steaming vegetables. Moist turkey and tastey ham. Gravy so rich and savory it should have been served with a straw! Apple crisp! Homemade pumpkin pie! Swell music and lotsa laughs. We have plenty to be thankful for. (Miss Tracey is quite a gal.)

POLITICS AND PEOPLE - THEY NEVER CHANGE!

Number one reason I am not a politician: I obviously don't get people. I'm not a join a party and stick to it person. I have never and don't ever expect to agree 100% with any political party or politician and the perception of those who belong to a group is that they go along with everything they think the group stands for, which may be totally different than others think the group stands for. (See picture of confused infant.) For many, a political party defines them and I think that is just wrong.

Second reason I am not a politician: Very few issues have excited me to action beyond voting, which I deem a privilege and a duty. I am glad there are people who do feel that way about politics. If they like to sit on committees and live in Ottawa - more luck to them.

Whenever there is an election I do start to ponder such matters and find myself in danger of taking the whole thing much too seriously. It is then I re-read a favourite chapter of Mr. Dickens' The Pickwick Papers. I'll save you the trouble of hunting up your copy.

It appears, then, that the Eatanswill people, like the people of many other small towns, considered themselves of the utmost and most mighty importance, and that every man in Eatanswill, conscious of the weight that attached to his example, felt himself bound to unite, heart and soul, with one of the two great parties that divided the town--the Blues and the Buffs. Now the Blues lost no opportunity of opposing the Buffs, and the Buffs lost no opportunity of opposing the Blues; and the consequence was, that whenever the Buffs and Blues met together at public meeting, Town-Hall, fair, or market, disputes and high words arose between them. With these dissensions, it is almost superfluous to say that everything in Eatanswill was made a party question. If the Buffs proposed to new skylight the market-place, the Blues got up public meetings, and denounced the proceeding; if the Blues proposed the erection of an additional pump in the High Street, the Buffs rose as one man and stood aghast at the enormity. There were Blue shops and Buff shops, Blue Inns and Buff Inns;--there was a Blue aisle and a Buff aisle in the very church itself.

Of course, it was essentially and indispensably necessary that each of these powerful parties should have its chosen organ and representative: and, accordingly, there were two newspapers in the town--the Eatanswill Gazette and the Eatanswill Independent; the former advocating Blue principles, and the latter conducted on grounds decidedly Buff. Fine newspapers they were. Such leading articles, and such spirited attacks!--"Our worthless contemporary, the Gazette"--"That disgraceful and dastardly journal, the Independent"--"That false and scurrilous print, the Independent"--"That vile and slanderous calumniator, the Gazette"; these, and other spirit-stirring denunciations were strewn plentifully over the columns of each, in every number, and excited feelings of the most intense delight and indignation in the bosoms of the townspeople.

Paul Newman

1925 - 2008

Creative actor and director. Handsome movie star. Charitable gentleman. Adventurous guy. He bore both his blessings and his troubles with uncommon grace. He will be honoured and missed.

Good for what ails you!

Music therapy is of undisputed assistance for many ailments and disorders. My story will not add to this scientific fact, however, you may not be aware of the healing powers of Joe and Eddie. I was feeling poorly - aches, chills, the yuckies - but one listen of There's a Meetin' Here Tonite, and darn if the miseries didn't disappear.

Joe Gilbert (tenor) and Eddie Brown (baritone) were both born in 1941 and brought up in the southern US. Joe in New Orleans, LA, and Eddie in Norfolk, VA. Their families relocated to Berkeley, CA in the 1950s and it was at Willard High School, in the A Capella Choir that Joe and Eddie met and teamed up for a High School Talent Show. They won first place. Naturally, they decided to pursue show business and the good looking, talented folk/gospel duo won many fans. Record albums, television programs, and night club appearances across North America kept them busy. A 1966 car accident claimed the life of Joe Gilbert. Eddie Brown continued in the music business as an arranger and producer.

From the movie, Hootenany Hoot, 1963, Joe and Eddie perform their hit There's a Meetin' Here Tonight.

Mr. Melendez

Jose Cuauhtemoc "Bill" Melendez
November 15, 1916 - September 2, 2008

If you're ever watching an old Warner Bros cartoon from the 40s and note a credit for animator J.C. Melendez, that would be the young fellow who started out at Disney in 1938, moved to Termite Terrace and in 1964 won an Emmy and a Peabody when, under Bill Melendez Productions he combined forces with a certain "Sparky" and Lee Mendolson to bring us A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Writer, animator, producer, director and actor (the voice of Snoopy), Bill Melendez was the original Joe Cool.

For more, check out this amazingly cool (what else?) site:
http://www.billmelendez.tv/