Z is for...

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….

Back in 1983, my husband John and I went on “Date Night” to see a movie, called “Terms of Endearment”.  Not knowing much about the film except its strong acting cast, we thought it would be excellent.  Which it was, of course; it won best film, best actress, best supporting actress, and maybe best director. 

Shirley MacLaine plays a strong-willed, vain mother whose daughter, played by Debra Winger, develops cancer.  Ms. MacLaine is helped through this horrific experience by her neighbor, played by Jack Nicholson.  Mr. Nicholson plays a former astronaut, who is thrown into helping this family during this heart-wrenching time.  Jeff Daniels plays Debra's unfaithful, but likable husband.

Heart-wrenching, sobbing-tears, and nose-blowing.  That is what half the theater was doing during the entire movie, once Ms. Winger’s character goes into the hospital.  Oh, I was probably the noisiest and most prolific when it came to the sobbing and blowing.  All my tissue, which was an ample supply, disappeared into a sodden mess in the empty popcorn container. 

Half the theater, did I say?  Yes, all the women in the theater were crying buckets of tears.  The men?  A few of them had moist eyes, discreetly wiped; my husband was one of them.

During the biggest scene of all, when Ms. Winger’s character is in the last moments of breathing, and silence reigned in the dark theater, there was a sound.  It cut through the air like a buzz-saw in a timbered forest.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…snort, snark, and hiss…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The source of the sound was behind me, and I turned to see a man in his 50s.  He was completely asleep, head thrown back, mouth open, and arms crossed.  The buzz-saw sound was erupting from his slack mouth.  His wife saw me watching him, along with every woman in a twenty foot radius.  She gave him an elbowing that must have bruised straight to the ribs.  He jumped up, saying, “What?  What?  Where?”

As Ms. MacLaine welcomed the grandchildren into her home, and we were supposed to be prostrate on the movie floor, sobbing with grief among sticky popcorn, we instead were busting with laughter. 

I guess every tragedy needs some comedy.
A big THANKS goes to the A-Z Blog Team!  Check out the link below:
http://tossingitout.blogspot.com
 

K is for

K is for…Danny Kaye

Danny Kaye was an amazing actor, dancer, singer, comedian, and a self-less humanitarian.  Born in the 1913 of immigrant Jewish parents, Danny Kaye was a truly self-made man, who happened on entertainment as a career, purely by accident, and of necessity.  That said, learned from Wikipedia, I have to say that Danny Kaye was someone who influenced my life.

I was all of ten years old when I saw “White Christmas” in color at a friend’s house.  Danny Kaye was supposed to be the comic relief to the somber Bing Crosby, but in my view.  Danny Kaye took off with his part and dominated the screen.  At my young age, I didn’t see the sizzling desire between Bing and Rosemary Clooney.  What I saw?  Danny Kaye, with his rubbery face, funny voices, danced without the demands of gravity.  Danny Kaye made me laugh.

Year later, I saw much more of Danny Kaye in different movies.  He was Hans Christian Anderson in one film, then he was a court jester in another.  He had a successful television variety show, which always began with one of his famous tongue twisters:

“git gat gittle-giddle-di-ap, giddle-de-tommy, riddle de biddle-de-roop, da-reep, fa-san, skeedle-de woo-da, fiddle de wada, reep”

Danny Kaye was so versatile as a performer, and even more so in his personal life.  He was involved and interested in learning.  He was an accomplished pilot, an internationally recognized Chinese chef, a regular USO performer, an ambassador for UNICEF, and even an honorary member of the American Medical Board of Surgeons.

The thing I will always remember about Danny Kaye is that at the end of each TV episode, Danny would dance freely around a white sound stage, with each step displaying his joy in life.  He died at the age of 71 following complications of heart surgery and heart attack.  

http://tossingitout.blogspot.com