“who knows if the moon’s a balloon?”*

by chuckofish

The Iris are insane again this year. And look at my Christmas Cactus–zut alors!

What a lovely spring we have had–albeit a rainy one. And my prayer plant has doubled in size since I got it last Mother’s Day!

Daughter #1 mentioned in her post this week that the bar is set real low these days regarding movies and television. Who can disagree? That is why I advise you to watch an old movie whenever possible. And by “old movie” I don’t mean a movie from the 1990s! This week, for instance I watched three films from yesteryear: The Sea Chase (1955), Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962) and Sergeant Rutledge (1960). All were very enjoyable.

The Sea Chase takes place at the beginning of WWII and John Wayne plays a “good” German (i.e. non-Nazi) who is nonetheless set on taking his ship back to Germany from Australia by way of South America while being pursued by the British navy. Lana Turner plays some kind of agent with whom Wayne is saddled. Even after weeks of living in a closet on an all-male freighter, she looks perfect, but would we want it any other way? No one is surprised when they fall for each other. For once, Turner is matched with someone she doesn’t overwhelm and it is a good yarn.

Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation is one of those family movies from the 1960s that is easy to watch and mildly amusing. But the screenplay is by Nunnally Johnson, the music by Henry Mancini and it is directed by Henry Koster–all pros who knew what they were doing and did it well. The result is more sophisticated than you might think. James Stewart and Maureen O’Hara make a good pair.

Twisting at the yacht club with the kids

Sergeant Rutledge, directed by John Ford, stars the inimitable Woody Strode as a Buffalo Soldier falsely accused of the rape and murder of a white woman. The story begins in a courtroom and it is told through flashbacks. It is an edgy film and Woody delivers big time in the climactic scene where he declares, “It was because the Ninth Cavalry was my home, my real freedom, and my self-respect, and the way I was desertin’ it, I wasn’t nuthin’ worse than a swamp-runnin’ nigger, and I ain’t that! Do you hear me? I’m a man!”

Anyway, you will not waste your time watching these movies.

It was a long, busy week and I am ready for it to be Friday! Daughter #3 is going to be out of town this weekend, so we will be helping out the boy by watching the wee twins on Saturday. The weather looks sketchy, so we’ll have to be creative. Keep us in your prayers.

By the way, I’m still laughing about Myrna Tellingheusen.

*e.e. cummings

who knows if the moon’s
a balloon,coming out of a keen city
in the sky–filled with pretty people?
(and if you and i should

get into it,if they
should take me and take you into their balloon,
why then
we’d go up higher with all the pretty people

than houses and steeples and clouds:
go sailing
away and away sailing into a keen
city which nobody’s ever visited,where

always
it’s
Spring)and everyone’s
in love and flowers pick themselves