A few years ago, I re-connected with a guy I hadn’t seen in about 50 years.  We’d been friends in junior high, but once my family moved, Gary and I wound up attending different high schools.  Which is pretty much like living on different planets. 

After he came across my stuff on the Internet, Gary contacted me and suggested getting together for lunch.  And so we did.  While reminiscing about the old days, I told him that I was still grateful that he’d taught me to play tennis.  He was surprised to hear that I still played.  But his surprise was nothing compared to mine when he said that he was grateful that I’d introduced him to good books and great music.  Quite honestly, I hadn’t realized I’d done that.  Unlike his teaching me tennis, it wasn’t something I’d set out to do.  But he assured me that I was the first person he’d ever known who read Steinbeck and Dickens, Salinger and Dostoyefsky, Hugo and Twain, Robert Benchley and S.J. Perelman, and who listened to classical music.  (more…)

7pm PST - You’ll Never Get Rich (1941) A Broadway dancing team splits up when the male dancer is drafted. Cast: Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Robert Benchley, John Hubbard Dir: Sidney Lanfield BW-89 mins, TV-G

Those 63 seconds say more about this charming film than any number of words ever could. Astaire and Hayworth were giants because in a simple scene with simple choreography, simple costumes, a simple setting and simple dialogue they still somehow managed to completely win you over. The way Hayworth looks at Astaire for those first few seconds is absolutely priceless. You can’t write chemistry and you can only barely direct it. What you need are movie stars, and Fred and Rita are immortals.