dual personalities

Today is the first day of August! Where did July go? It is Herman Melville’s birthday once again! Hard to believe that our 200th birthday party for Herman Melville was five years ago! It was our best party ever.

Well, let this be a reminder that every day is a good day to read Moby-Dick.

“Heaven have mercy on us all — Presbyterians and Pagans alike — for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending.”

And here’s another movie recommendation: Naughty Marietta (1935)–nearly 90 years old and still fresh and entertaining. Based on the 1910 Victor Herbert operetta, it was the surprise hit of 1935. Its key song, “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life”, became a hit and earned Nelson Eddy his first gold record. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, received the Photoplay Gold Medal Award as Best Picture, and was voted one of the Ten Best Pictures of 1935 by the New York film critics.

The Jeanette MacDonald–Nelson Eddy duo went on to make seven more films together, all of which are worth watching. The music is wonderful, but the stars themselves, in all their black-and-white glory, are appealing and natural. You would never know this movie is almost an antique!

Meanwhile the boy and his family are having super fun at the beach…

…and the prairie girls are trying on hand-me-down Halloween costumes from their cousins…

Sunrise/sunset…what ho, Tashtego!