FF XVII, 53

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Frank Fax Facts

And Reviews

     Volume XVII, No. 53

       Sunday, March 25, 2012

      It came as quite a shock to my poor old brain, Tuesday, when I heard that it was the first day of spring! You could have blown me down with a mere heat-wave! My air-conditioner had been running night and day for over a month! I was all set for AUTUMN! Mother Nature, I warned you!

      Tuesday, making it 3 of the last 4 weeks, I ended up with the high score at bridge (3 tables). This is totally out of my league: I plan to check the record this week, to see just how long it was before I began my come-back. Needless to say, it has done wonders for my bridge ego!

     

CAT NAPS

“There is more in life than increasing its speed.”

      Mohandas Gandhi

 

The Sicilian Chef’s Corner

Here are two recipes I am often asked for, after serving these two typical Sicilian hors d’ouvres:

Baked Artichoke Hearts

Drain juice from a can of artichoke hearts and place them face-up in baking dish. Melt butter to which you have added garlic (pressed) or either garlic juice or powder. Drizzle this onto the artichokes. Season to taste (salt and/or pepper). This can easily be too salty, so use care. Cover tops with bleu-cheese crumbles.

Cook just long enough to serve hot.

And my personal favorite:

 

Anchovy Bread

Use 1 can anchovies (which usually cover 6 of those soft rolls at Wal Mart-or any similar soft rolls-- split into two halves.)

Open the can, and holding the lid over the contents, drizzle the oil onto the  roll-halves, which you have lined up on a cookie sheet (or pan). If there is not enough to dampen all 12 of these, use a little from a bottle of Virgin Olive Oil. Then, using a knife, make about 6 small indentations in each half roll. Now, take the relatively dry anchovies, place them (wadded together in a loose bundle) on a dry cutting board. Using a sharp knife (electric is best) cut the bundled fish into small bits which you will now put into each slit.

Shake black pepper and dried oregano leaves lightly over the rolls.

Heat oven to 350. Insert tray of anchovy-bread into the oven; then watch like a hawk. You do NOT want the bread to burn! How crisp you prefer the finished product is a matter of taste: from barely tan, to darker brown; or somewhere in between.

Squeeze fresh lemon juice over the rolls after they are done, and serve the little darlings piping hot.

Eat till you (and your guests) drop!

 

New Movie Reviews (for a change)

Beginners

Universal (Focus)  2011

      The overall tone of this depressing drama, is gloom and doom right from the start Mix this with a considerable amount of plot confusion and you’ll get some idea of my impression.

      Basically, it’s the story of Oliver, a graphic artist (Ewan McGregor)l whose father (Christopher Plummer) has just come out of the “closet” and admits to having a boy friend, discovers that he has, also, incurable cancer. Oliver has one of the strangest relationships with Melanie Laurent; who spends much of her screen time, writing on a note pad, her conversations with Oliver- but there is nothing wrong with her voice. You figure this one out. I couldn’t. The gloom and doom abates with Daddy’s demise. Too late for my taste, (*)

Descendants

Fox Searchlight (2011)

This was the second “new” film I had seen in well over a year! This is especially meaningful when you consider that my usual movie going (and I do not miss the theaters—or, what they have degenerated into) averaged five or six flicks a week, for decades!.

Both this film and Beginners, brought me rudely back to the reality of today’s films: and while the foul language was not as bad as in a comedy, there were still enough of the “F word|” (disgustingly spoken mostly by the children in the latter) to make me wince and ask why film-makers insist on using such language. God knows it all began with directors (Martin Scorsese  is one of the almost constant offenders) wanting to be more realistic! And for a few of us, it works the wrong way. I never had a problem with the old-styled substitutes for cursing and “dirty talk”.

I found the first third of this film terribly depressing, much as Beginners entirety made me feel. The idea of the story line is so bizarre and dreadful (plus the fact that Clooney’s wife, who is in an endless coma, brought about by a boating accident: is shown too many times-looking really awful!) But the last 2/3 are full of great acting (Clooney has never been a favorite of mine, except for the film O. Brother, Where art Thou. I was blown away by this great southern classic!) and, in spite of the fact that the language became a problem (I find it even harder to take when the younger actors use it all the while, even if the parent is using it himself!) I tolerated, and even enjoyed the rest of the movie. I found the ending surprising and at the same time, immensely satisfying; and I was almost able to forgive the script writers their bad taste---but not quite! (***)

 

 

 

Mozart’s Sister (French, with s/t)

I couldn’t resist this unusual foreign film, which was excellent; but again, depressing. Is it simply me that causes this? I do not know how authentic it was (but then, I was no more confused than I had been with Amadeus) I had so much trouble reading the sub-titles, that I am sure I cannot do it justice.

My personal opinion was that the family, itself, got along too well together. The story covers only one period of their lives: a stop over in France, fresh from their home in Salzburg; where they are the guests of the Royal Family (and Nanurl forms a lifelong friendship with one of the Royal Family’s daughters.)

Beautiful photography: black and white, and there is an excellent cast. Wolfgang is a ten-year old throughout the entire film. (**)

 

Old Time Movie Reviews

Penrod and Sam-(Warner Bros. 1937)

Based on Booth Tarkington’s book for children (Penrod) that was so popular, he went on to write several sequels; this was bought by Warners, to provide a vehicle for Billy Mauch (one of the identical twins who starred with Errol Flynn in The Prince and the Pauper). Since both were still under contract, Warner was looking for screen stories to make use of the pair. There followed several sequels using both twins, as in the original Twain film.)

The plot itself, is so predictable that it was boring, and yet there were overtones of Max Sennet’s Our Gang comedies, that I found it enjoyable. Ok, so I’m old—­and it shows in every way! Also in the cast were Frank Craven and Spring Byington (of TV’s December Bride, and Andy Griffith’s Show. (** for nostalgia)

*The  adult twins stayed at Warner Bros., after they were grown, as technical specialists.

 

 

Lona Belle

Part Five

Lone’s presence in Ellisville did not last very long. Leslie could not seem to get a handle on running what amounted to a snack bar on a college campus. Lone was unhappy waiting on the students, many of whom she found rude and crude. The living quarters were proving to be far too crowded, and one thing led to another. Her brother-in-law finally decided to call it quits, and moved the three of them to Laurel, He was fortunate enough to find a nice enough home, with more than enough room for three people, plus the fact that there was a wonderful screened-in front porch. In those days before central air-conditioning became common, this was literally a life-saver. How many times, throughout the next decades, did one or several of us drive from Ellisville to visit Lone and Ruby. Leslie passed quietly away at some time that I fail to remember, Then, the two sisters became almost miserly with their money. I was always afraid they were about to be turned out into the streets, because they were paupers (to hear them tell it)!

George would drive up, after I had moved to Mobile, to take them shopping and to get lunch at a store called Roses, which was short-lived in Laurel. He said Lone was partial to their fried chicken and potato salad. She did like to eat! But, since most of our family loved their “vittles” I could hardly “fault her” for that.

I have already written about some of our trips to New Orleans, that included Lona Belle, during their brief residence at the Jack and Jill. Once they were in Laurel, she would always manage to get a ride to our house, where she always spent the nights before and after our “Diamond Hunting”.

Now, this is bound to sound made-up: but sometimes truth is really stranger than fiction:

The Rich’s home was on the corner of 5th Avenue, in Laurel. Directly across the street was the Lutheran Church. The pastor was a very nice man, who just happened to be the father of Mary Brown.* Her mother was a saintly women; one of the sweetest in my entire acquaintance. Mary and I had become acquainted through our both being piano teachers. We became close friends, along with Mary Ann Carmichel, affectionately known as “Andy”. I would drive up for visits with Mary and Andy (whose houses were next to each others’), and then began getting invitations to Lutheran church suppers If you have never been to one of these wonderful evenings, I can only express the pity I feel for you! I have never had such wonderful and diverse meals in my life!

Andy and her mother (another “saintly” woman, whose every wish seems to have been making me, and later, Larry Williamson, feel at home any time we might happen to be in Laurel, and had not had supper) This was a particularly wonderful time for all of us!

On the corner of 8th Avenue, and across from the church, was another old acquaintance: a girl with whom I had gone to school in Ellisville.

*Mr. Brown was an exceptional gardener, also. His specialty was the amaryllis bulb, with which he had made some phenomenal advances. Their yard, each year, was like a page out of a horticulture magazine: every imaginable color, or colors on the same specimen) size and shape. The one thing that he did, and which I found unreasonable and totally unfair, was when he threw a minor fit, objecting to the fact that I had taken his daughter to a movie on Sunday. I wanted to point out (after he had said his reason was that we were causing the people at the theater, to work on the Lord’s day) that his sitting in front of the television set, watching a movie, was no less sinful: at least we were giving the people who provided our entertainment payment in return: he seemed to think television did not have to have a projectionist, too, because he got it free!

 

 

Old Movies Trivia Quiz #29

 

 

 

 

 

STORY DETOUR:

I never had a course in European History. Like the subjects that all of my siblings had taken, Latin and Algebra: the Ellisville (and Richton) school systems saw fit to cut these from their agenda during my freshman and sophomore high school years! Similarly, from day one of my school experience, I was never fortunate enough to have any course in handwriting: There was never to be the “Palmer System” or any other for me. I therefore had two (one would have been too much) years of Mississippi History and three of American History. And my writing never had that “Refined” quality of the rest of the family’s.

The next-to-last of these courses in American History, was taught by a funny little man, who rode his bicycle to school every day, with his pants’ cuffs protected by corset-like bands around his ankles. He had a perfectly nice wife, and two fairly normal (albeit overly studious) children: a girl and a younger boy. He used strange and archaic-sounding expressions, like “perchance”; and we were never late for his class: we were “tardy”. His name was Mr. Lord, and one got the feeling that he considered himself to be exactly that! I had the misfortune to have his class immediately after physical education every day.

Coach Reed, our wartime Phys-Ed teacher, had the infuriating habit of making us jog (hence his nickname “Jogging John Reed) till the bell rang for the next class. His daily chant, as the bell continued to clang, was “Take two laps around the track and then hit the showers!” Naturally, I was “tardy” almost every day! I was warned, repeatedly, that I was getting a demerit each time that I came into his classroom long after the bell had rung. I assured him that it was certainly through no fault of my own, and that I would greatly appreciate his having a little talk with Jogging John to ask him to let me go in time to avoid the wrath of the Lord. He very much regretted that he could not do that. Why are some teachers such wretched bastards? So, after having had that year of American History back in Richton (in which I had made an A) I got a C on the second year. His answer was short, to the point, and totally unfair: he was forced (he explained) to deduct two letters from my grade because of my tardiness.

To call Mr. Lord’s classes “Boring” would be, “Gilding the Lily”, He read (in a lifeless monotone), his lesson for each day, neatly typed on the backs of advertisements for Chase and Sanborns’ coffee (I recognized them the first day he pulled the all-too-familiar pages carefully from his moldy-with-age, dark brown brief-case). George and I used the same things as typing paper. It saved Daddy money that he had to spend when we took a fresh package of typing paper from the market. As Daddy always said, a penny saved was a penny earned; and my freaky history teacher had to save every copper cent he could from his meager salary (as I was to find when I became a faculty member there, decades later). His tone quality when reading these tedious history-with-a-vengeance items of sheer ennui, never varied, it seemed, until he reminded me (every single day) that he was forced to enter “Demerit” beside my name in his attendance report.

Imagine, if you can, my surprise and joy when I entered the classroom (tardy) to find him telling one of the prettiest girls in the class, to “See” him after class. We all liked her. She was one of the most popular females in high school, and not a bit conceited. So, all of us were literally dying with curiosity as we filed out into the hallway when the bell rang at noon Normally, I made a bee-line for the stairs and the front door, in order to be on time for “Dinner” (as our noon meals were always known in our family). I did get tired of waiting (as always, I was usually “starving” for dinner) but most of my classmates were as determined as I was, to find out what our friend had done (or not done) to incur the wrath of “The Lord”.

When the door was opened soundlessly, seventeen minutes later, and our classmate emerged, I looked at her with surprise. I had never seen her angry in all of the years I had known her; but she was literally foaming at the mouth with fury!

“What did he say?” Several of us asked at the same time.

She walked with determination to the stairs, with us forming an entourage behind her, and once she reached the downstairs, she turned and told us the following story: He had, first of all, told her to bow her head as he prayed for her. Then, she said, it was what he prayed for that had made her so furious: he had literally called her a “fallen woman” and did a lot more than hint at the fact that she had (according to him) carnal knowledge of most of the male members of her junior class! He told her he was going to try to “Save her Soul”, and had kept her all that time, pleasing with God to get her to mend her ways!

I had heard enough to sicken me, thoroughly, but I knew if I didn’t run every step of the way home and back, I would be “Tardy” for my piano lesson at one o’clock with Miss Gay.

I decided it best if I didn’t mention to Mama, why I had been detained. She would no doubt have advised me, to be careful to avoid our “Scarlet Classmate”.

As it turned out, the girl in question, left school, and relocated to Laurel, where she had been living when Lona Belle and the Riches, moved across the street from the Browns. During this time, she had married a Baptist preacher, and (according to Lone) the two of them fought constantly, “Like cats and dogs,” she had said somberly; then (in typical Belle fashion) had given a hearty guffaw!

So, here I was: visiting my old friends from Richton, who had just moved into the same neighborhood, with a Lutheran minister, whose daughter I was dating, and next to them was the Carmichaels (one of George’s best friends from his JCJC days just happened to have been Susan Carmichael -Andy’s older sister) and now I had just discovered the “Girl from my American History class- with Mr. Lord!” next door to Lona Belle!

Yea, verily, the Lord moveth in a mysterious fashion!

 

 

Movie Trivia Quiz #30

1,Charles Boyer was cast as Napoleon, with what famous star as Marie Walewska, in Conquest? MGM 1937.

2.Grand Hotel was based on a novel by Vicky Baum. It has an all-star cast. Can you name the female star who decades later, won an Oscar?

3Rio Rita starred what duo who achieved fame as comedians in numerous comedies (not always good). Who was on first?

4,Another famous pair had one of them remarking (often), “Well, this is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into”. Who were they?

5.And then there was RKO’s twosome: Bert Wheeler and------ who was the other half?

6. She was often the maiden aunt; the jovial grandmother; and?   even a detective (shades of Jane Marple). She is best remembered for her role in 1939’s Drums Along the Mohawk.

7. She was the glamorous star of MGM’s answer to Sonja Henie, in The Ice Follies of 1939, which even had a Technicolor production number at the end. James Stewart and Lew Ayres are ice skating partner.

8. Barbara Bel Geddes portrays author Katherine Forbes, in the film of her best seller I Remember Mama. Who was “Mama”. Hint: she was also Wm. Powell’s wife in Life with Father,

9.Who played Queen Victoria in The Mudlark?

10. She was Heathcliff’s unhappy wife, in Wuthering Heights; and also Bette Davis’ best friend in Dark Victory (for which she won that year’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar. George Brent was the doctor whom she married. Extra credit if you name the two “supporting actors” who became two of Warner Bros. all-time top stars? One became an Academy Award winner; the other achieved something much grander!

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                   Answers to Old Movie Trivia Quiz, #28

1.     Deborrah Kerr played a nun in two different movies: Black Narcissus was one (with Robert Mitchum as her co-star for the fourth time) Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison was Kerr’s 2nd Nun movie.

2.     Shirley MacClain was a nun in Two Mules for Sister Sarah in 1970. Extra credit if you remembered that Robert Mitchum was her macho co-star.

3.     Helen Hayes also was cast as a nun (with Clark Gable as co-star) in 1933’s The White Sister

4.     Whoopie Goldberg made two highly successful musical comedies for Disney as a gangster’s moll, hiding out disguised as a nun in Sister Act & Sister Act 2.

5.     One of the greatest performances as a nun was given by Jennifer Jones as a canonized saint in The Song of Bernadette. Her first Oscar role.

6.     Mary Roberts Rinehart’s Tish, had Aline MacMahowan and Zasu Pitts with Marjorie Main, star of The Egg and I?

7.     Till We Meet Again, starring Merle Oberon and  George Brent, was a remake of One Way Passage, which starred William Powell and Kay Francis, star of RKO’s In Name Only.

8.     Zasu Pitts, noted for her comedy roles of the 1930’s. was the dramatic star of D. W: Griffith’s 6-hour epic: Greed

9.      The Ku-Klux-Klan was pictured as heroes in Griffith’s Civil War masterpiece: Lillian Gish (not Dorothy) had a starring role: along with Mae Marsh in The Birth of a Nation

10.Two for the Seesaw starred Shirley MacClain, Oscar winner (again) with Robert Mitchum

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

FF XVII, 50

Frank Fax Facts

And Reviews

     Volume XVII, No. 50

Sunday, March 4, 2012

      This has been an unusually busy week for an 83 year old codger! Monday, I had to be at Providence Hospital at 8:00 for my 3-mos check up (it has gone from a year, to 6 mos. and now this) Dr. Galla has started me on a new type of heart medication, and all I can do is pray it helps me. I took swallowed the first pill this morning, along with three other meds. C’est la vie. But, at least, it still is VIE!

      Tuesday, I had my best bridge game in over a year: I had fantastic hands most of the day. With Peggy as my partner, I bid a slam: and made a grand slam. Sadly, I had bid only the small slam.

      Wednesday, a visit to Dr. Johnson, to continue the treatment against the fungus I am battling (and he prescribed some sleeping pills at my request). He is a graduate of MS State, so we always get in some good ole “low-rating” of Alabama and Auburn, while lamenting the troubles of our respective alma maters.


      Thursday, I had my monthly pedicure with Shae, after which I left my walking stick on the pavement when I got in the car and drove to K Mart Pharmacy to pick up some prescriptions. I drove through at Checkers, getting a hamburger and fries for my lunch. In the evening, Elizabeth French and Peggy Raines came by to transport me to the Bonefish restaurant, where Father Gorman was treating six of us to dinner. It is not my favorite restaurant, by any stretch of the imagination: I find it overpriced, noisy (we could barely hear each other for the constant noise) and most of the things I have sampled, are completely  ordinary. I will give them credit for their crème Brulee (sp?). It was almost enough to make me overlook the rest of the minus-es they have in my little black book.


          I called Shae, who had retrieved my Walking stick and has it inside for me. I will try to pick it up tomorrow. Meanwhile, I am using the walker Helen gave me over a year ago. It is infinitely better than the “Stick”, but awkward to get in and out of the car trunk. Why must there always be a “Down Side”?

 

CAT NAPS

“If there is one spot of sun spilling onto the floor. A cat will find it and soak it up.”

      Jean Asper McIntosh

 

Old Time Movie Reviews

The Guns of Navorrone (1961)

Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn, Richard Harris, Anthony Quale, Irene Papas, James Darren and Gia Scala unite to bring this great WWII adventure film to the screen. I remembered the goose-flesh it had created back then, as I watched in the Ritz Theater, in Laurel. Just writing that last phrase caused a painful lump in my throat, as it brought back so many happy memories of that small theater and the multitude of great films I enjoyed there.

The Ritz had been open about a year, competing with the chain of three theaters owned by one of Laurel’s wealthiest families: the Taylors. The Arabian was the newest (circa 1936) and was really a gorgeous theater. From the start, it had the new air-conditioning system that was superior to all others, It was a part of the Pinehurst Hotel building, and belonged to the chain known as Paramount-Richards (which spawned Saenger Theaters all over the South. It showed its biggest films (all first-run) on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday; the Strand had a real stage and back-stage, as it had originally had silent films and stage shows. The big hits moved from the Arabian to this theater, and finally to the Jean; The Jean, was named for the proprietor’s youngest child, and was the smallest of the trio. It got the leftovers, westerns, and re-runs, from most of the major studios.

The Ritz had Universal, Monogram and movie rejects for the simple reason that the Paramount-Richards theater chains had some sort of parting of the ways Universal, and two years later: Metro Goldwyn Mayer; and all over the South, smaller and less elaborate movie houses sprang up: usually named Ritz , Crown or Royal, as is to defy their own plain-ness. The Ritz thrived on such films as Abbot and Costello’s Buck Privates and, the horror films for which Universal was the great grand-daddy (it is one of the oldest movie makers in Hollywood, along with Paramount).

 

 

Lona, the Belle

      Part Two

 

       I walked across the lawn to the Oliver’s house, and up the steps to the front screen door. I could see inside the house, made dim by the time of day, and Lona Bellle saw me. “Come on in,’ she sounded tired.

      By this time, they had been our next-door neighbors for over a year. In addition to her job at the WPA Library, she had also been put in charge of a recreation program for the children of Richton. I helped her in deciding what games we should play, and felt rather important. She had a way of making me feel that way most of the time. She had become like another member of our large family, and fit in as naturally as you please.

      The day before they moved into the house, George and Lona Bella scrubbed the rough boards that formed the floors, and you would not believe the filth that had accumulated on the wood.

      I stood on our side of the fence that separated the two lawns, and watched, spellbound, as the soot black water poured from the inside floor to the ground below. It actually looked as though it had never seen a mop, much less soap! I was so proud of George for volunteering to help our new neighbor.

      When Mama met Lone’s parents, she fell in love with Jeanie, as we all did. She was one of the sweetest and cutest older woman I had ever seen. Mr. Oliver (I cannot remember a first name, though I am sure he had one) was rather stern, and certainly a man of few words.

      Karl did not come for a visit until several months after the family had relocated. But I shall never forget his first visit to see his family’s new place of residence. He and his mother came over after supper, and Mama, George and I gathered in our living room where we sat and chatted for a few minutes. But I could see that most of Karl’s attention was focused on the grand piano that had been George’s high school graduation gift at the end of the school year. He finally got up and walked over to get a better look at it. Of course, it was brand new, and sparkled like a black diamond.

      “Play us a tune,” Mama said.

      “Oh. Miz Imbra-gool-yo, I don’t think I am ready to play anything at this time.”

      “Oh, go on,” his mother urged him.

      “Is it OK, George?” he was smart enough to know that George might not want just any-body playing on his new “Baby”.

      “Heavens, yes!” I think George was glad, for a change, not to be the one being coaxed to perform!

      Karl sat down on the piano bench, and stretched both hands by pulling all ten fingers back and forth, Then he played a scale (I noticed that he was doing something strange with his facial muscles, so it looked as if he were about to have a fit. Finally, he seemed to relax. He turned on the bench, and faced his “audience” and announced, “I am going to attempt to play the Fantasy Impromptu of Chopin.”

      My musical education was at the point that I was aware that “Show-Pan” was a famous composer, but the way his name was actually spelled had caused me to ask George who Choppin’ was, on Miss Alline Hill’s piano students’ recital in May, on which we had both performed.

      We did not have Community Concerts in Richton, with the results that I had never heard anything like Karl Oliver’s “Piece”. It was mind boggling. Of course, I was accustomed to George’s pyrotechnics and stunning performances, but at this stage of his life, I cannot remember his having studied anything by Chopin (or I would surely have been able to pronounce it!)

      The work is technically very difficult, and has had a large number of imitations; one of which my brother and I both performed as high school students: An Impromptu by a composer named Reinhold.

      There is a haunting melody that sings its way through the brilliance of the main theme, and I happened to glance across at Mama, who was sitting in the chair directly across from mine. She was smiling as if she had just seen a dear old friend I did not find this strange in the least. Mama often smiled when listening to music, but it was usually when the pianist was George.

      Karl had gotten valiantly through most of the Impromptu, but the ending (as he apologized later) was still in the formative phase of his performance. I could hardly find any fault: I was quite literally, spellbound.

      We all gave Karl an ovation, when he rose from the bench and looked rather apologetically at us. “That was gorgeous!” Mama was effusive in her praise. “Now I think I know where they got the old tune, ‘I’m Always Chasing Rainbows.” I had, at this time, never even heard of such a piece, and felt embarrassed that Mama had made a fool of herself.

      “Yes, Miz Imbra-gool-yo; that is exactly where that old piece came from!”

      George began asking Karl all sorts of questions about the man with whom he was studying at Mississippi Southern College (which had been State Teachers’ College” when Josephine got her degree from there a few years earlier.

      “You should study with Mr. Marsh, George. He is a marvelous teacher!”

      But it would be after two years of piano study at Jones County Junior College, in Ellisville, that George would finally be able to take lessons in Hattiesburg.

      Later, as one of Marsh’s most brilliant students, my brother would play the Grieg Piano Concerto, with Karl Oliver playing the orchestral part on a second piano. I was as proud as I could be when this momentous occasion took place.

 

“I’m just gonna fix myself a little something for my supper,”  Lona Belle was already walking towards the kitchen.

      “Where’s your Mama?” I asked.

      “She and Papa went to visit the Beards,” she said. Then she laughed mischievously. “Wonder what Miss Willy Mae’s been up to lately.”

      I didn’t take the bait. In spite of all the criticism and slander, I always felt sorry for this unfortunate creature. It was her obnoxious brat that I simply could not stand.

      “What’cha gonna fix?” I was always interested in food.

      She was standing next to an open cabinet in the kitchen, moving cans of this, and bottles of that around, glancing at the labels, Her brow was furrowed with her attempt to make a decision. “You like brains?” she asked dully.

      “I love em!” And I really did. When Mama would cook pork or beef brains, and scramble eggs all over them, I felt I could have eaten my weight in them.

      Then I realized that the object that she was showing me was a tin can containing pork brains! My first reaction was to recoil in horror; but, of course, I didn’t. As if reading my mind (which she seemed to be getting better and better at doing) she laughed and said, “They really are pretty good.”

`    I watched as she used the old fashioned can opener to cut the small can’s top. Then she carefully removed it. Her immaculately manicured nails were cut to a discreet length, and the polish was barely noticeable, so modest was it. She took good care of herself, and worried a lot about her weight. She was not fat; but there was a tendency towards plumpness. I was at the stage where I was beginning to feel overweight.

      “Let me see those things,” I said.

      She shoved the can over, where I was able to see what looked like dirty milk with hunks of nasty looking brains. “Satisfied?” She laughed.

      “Yeah,” I said, sitting down to watch her preparations for her meal. She took an iron skillet from the cabinet with their pots and pans, scrutinized it critically, then took it to the sink and let the water run over her hand until it was hot enough to satisfy her; then she proceeded to scour the skillet. She would never use anything that had not been washed to within an inch of its life! “Finnicky,” I  called her. Mama called her “Picayunish!” (Whatever that meant).

       When she was finally satisfied that there wasn’t a speck of dirt, she took a clean dishcloth and wiped the insides dry. I couldn’t keep from smiling, as I mentally prepared how I would later exaggerate the whole scene, in order to get a big laugh out of George.

      As the brains began sizzling in the iron skillet, they gave off a most tantalizing aroma. (Oh, I am well aware of most of my friends’ reaction to that particular statement: It is almost exactly the same as when I mention Oysters on the half-shell---or anchovies. Can I help it if you deny yourselves these wonderful treats?) Then, when she cracked the eggshells and added the eggs, which she delicately scrambled, to her meal, I thought I would surely have to beg her to let me taste the ambrosia (or was it “manna from heaven”?) I did not. Even before she took the first bite, she generously offered me that morsel of delight.

      She had set a loaf of Colonial bread on the table, and now she held the opened end of the wrapper towards me and I took a slice. It was good and soft: just the way our families liked their bread.

      “Lona Belle, this is delicious!”

      “Aw, you’re just sayin’ that!”

      “No. Honest! These are almost as good as the fresh ones!”

      “I need to put on some lipstick, and wash my hands. Then we can go.”

      There was no specific time for us to meet. We usually gathered at “Dark Thirty”; which meant any time you wanted to come: come on.

      Now, the town bully (Billy Ray Carey) was almost always there. And he ruined the games we tried to play, by being so mean and hateful.

      The short walk to the long deserted building that was provided for our Fun and Games was, well, would you believe “Deserted”. “Wonder where they all are?” Lona Belle mused aloud.

      “I told you time you said we were having this WPA thing that I didn’t think it was going to work.”

      “Well, maybe they’ll be in later.”

      “And maybe they won’t. If Billy Ray Carey has given up on it, then I don’t look for anyone else to show up.”

      I had barely finished this gloomy assessment, when she looked across the road and saw someone approaching. “Here comes somebody right now!”

      It was hard to recognize anybody at this time of the day. “Whoever it is surely does look familiar.’

      “Hey, y’all!”

      “My Lord, it’s Jackie Wilson!” Lone was ecstatic! I was simply happy that it was not my mortal enemy, which is what I considered Billy Ray,

      Lone took the key out of her purse and opened the door. I walked in and found the cord that was dangling from the single light bulb that we had to work with.

      Jackie walked in behind me, as Lone was saying, “If we had one more, we could play Rook!”

      “But there are only three of us,” I said gloomily.

      “Puney was right behind me. She oughta be here by now.”

 Jackie had a baby sister named Joanne. Their father had always referred to her with this unflattering name. And no sooner had he said the words than she walked into the building.

      “Joanne,” her brother called out to her, “Run back home and get that deck of Rook cards.”

      “Go get-em yourself! I’m not your servant!”

      Before anything was resolved, a brand new Chevrolet sedan drove up to the curb and Billy Ray Carey got out. His sister, Sibyl drove away and we were now five in number.

      “Billy Ray," Jackie used his most wheedling tone of voice, “Stop Sibyl and ask her to run Joan home to get some Rook cards so we can play, please!”

      ”She’s awready gone!” he stated flatly.

      “Listen, let’s think of something five of us can play,” I said, thinking our “Director” might like to join us.

      “No, y’all don’t need me. Can you go and get the cards, Jackie?”

      “I’ll go if Francis’ll go with me.”

      I could have happily wrung his neck. But I could see we were probably seeing the last stages of this WPA program, and I wanted so very much for it to work out.

      And so we trudged across the railroad tracks and to the Wilson home, where Jackie went in and by a minor miracle was able to find the cards without taking forever, as he usually did.

      By the time we got back to the so-called Recreation Building, Joanne and Billy Ray had left, and only Lona Belle was there to tell us that our trouble had been for naught.

      That marked the ending of one of the bitterest disappointments of my childhood.

 

Movie Trivia Quiz #26

All About the Oscars

1.     What popular Paramount star hosted the most Academy Awards shows? (And never won an Oscar)

2.     What black actress won the Gene Hersholt award last Sunday night?

3.     Whish actress won the most Oscars?

4.     How many Best Actress nominations has Meryl Streep had?

5.     Who was the British actor who beat out Clark Gable in 1939, when GWTW took home the lion’s share of trophies?

6.     Who composed the Award Winning musical score for GWTW?

7.Aunt Pittty Pat Hamilton was played by what actress?

    8. He was Professor Henry Higgins in Pygmalion, in 1938, He never read the novel, yet he played Scarlett’s true love, Ashley Wilkes in the blockbuster film.

      9. She portrayed Daphne DuMaueier’s 2nd Mrs. DeWinter in an Oscar winning role: what actress played the first Mrs. DeWinter?

     10. Gaslight won this Ingrid Bergman her first Academy Award. Who was the husband who was trying to drive her insane?

 

Answers to Quiz No.

1.    Romeo was played by Leslie Howard, in the 1936 version of Shakespeare’s play; Norma Shear played Juliet.

2.    In The Nun’s Story, the title character was from Belgium.

 

3, Mighty Joe Young was a sequel to RKO’s original King Kong.

4.    John Houston won two Oscars in the same year for directing his father (Walter) and his wife (Angelica) in the same film. Prizzi’s Honor.

5.    The 3 MGM stars, who were all nominated from Mutiny on the Bounty. in 1935 were Clark Gable, Franchot Tone and Charles Laughton.

6.    Trail of the Lonesome Pine starred Sylvia Sidney with Fred MacMurray, and a very young Henry Fonda.

7.    Bonita Granville livened up These Three, was Nancy Drew and was also the star of RKO’s wartime drama Hitler’s Children.)

8.    Jennifer Jones was married to Gone with the Wind producer, David O. Selznick, who He starred her in Love Letters; Duel in the Sun; and Since You Went Away.

9. The House of the Seven Gables was made into a movie in     1940, with George Sanders, Margaret Lindsey, and Vincent Price, of Dragonwyck.

      10. Susannah Foster starred in The Phantom of the Opera, with Claude Rains.

 

 

 

Sunday, March 4, 2012