CARY GRANT remembered.

                                              We lost Cary Grant on November 29, 1986.

Born Archibald Alexander Leach, he was born in Horfield, Bristol on January 18, 1904 and passed away on November 29, 1986 at the age of 82.

His skill at playing comedy and dramatic roles with equal ease, was unparalleled in his time and as of today, there's still no other actor that can match his style or charismatic screen presence and charm.

I immensely enjoyed his early screwball comedies from the mid thirties through the forties like GUNGA DIN, THE AWFUL TRUTH, BRINGING UP BABY, PENNY SERENADE, HIS GIRL FRIDAY, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE and MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE, and I still watch them repeatedly whenever I can.

But my favorite films are the ones from his later career like TO CATCH A THIEF, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, OPERATION PETTICOAT and CHARADE, probably just because I was born in the fifties and I related to these more closely.

                                              

                                 

Anyway, Cary Grant was one of my very favorite actors and, like every male back in the day, I also wished I was more like Cary Grant.

               

               

Cary Grant and his fifth wife, Barbara Harris.

Cary Grant, like many celebrities, was the subject of many affectionate caricatures throughout his career.

 By Al Hirschfeld


         Hollywood Steps Out (Merrie Melodies) 1941

 By Mort Drucker

It should be mentioned that Cary Grant was one of the names considered when Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli were about to cast the first James Bond film, DR. NO, back in 1962.  Grant didn't want to sign for a multi-picture contract so he passed on the offer.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)

CHARADE (1964) 

Here's a video showing how Cary Grant could've handled 007's duties: 

THANKSGIVING TURKEYS!

And here's the famous and nostalgic Norman Rockwell painting from 1943, 

"FREEDOM FROM WANT":

GAHAN WILSON (1930-2019)

Some sad news from the world of cartoons: famed cartoonist Gahan Wilson passed away on November 21. He was 89.
Over the years, Wilson drew cartoons for PLAYBOY, THE NEW YORKER, COLLIER'S, LOOK and THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION.
I always looked forward to his creepy and off-beat cartoons when I got the monthly issue of PLAYBOY magazine. His brand of macabre humor always appealed to me and some of his drawings haunted my dreams.
He was diagnosed with dementia during the last years of his life but he continued working even then.
His work touched the lives of many generations. Forever rest in peace Gahan Wilson!

From WIKIPEDIA:

Wilson's cartoons and illustrations are drawn in a playfully grotesque style and have a dark humor that is often compared to the work of The New Yorker cartoonist and Addams Family creator Charles Addams. But while both feature vampires, cemeteries and other traditional horror elements in their work, Wilson's work has a more contemporary, shocking aspect to its humor, featuring atomic mutants, subway monsters and serial killers.

                                           Visit the Gahan Wilson website for more:
                                                         https://gahanwilson.net/

The Clock is Ticking...

...one hour behind today! Daylight Saving Time is over!

                                                      Harold Lloyd in "SAFETY LAST" (1923)

My Hohner Student Accordion years.

These vintage ads reminded me of my two years in grade school where I took accordion lessons and played with the Modern American School accordion band under the leadership of my music teacher, Miss Anne Pertack.  The highlight of that experience was a performance at a concert hall inside the Palace Of Fine Arts In Mexico City.

I never pictured myself as the Mexican Lawrence Welk although I have to admit I enjoyed The Lawrence Welk Show quite a lot, in a guilty pleasure kind of way.

                          

These ads promise hours of joy and pleasure and claim accordions are IN, which of course, 

were slight exaggerations. All I can say is that an accordion, played by a talented musician, makes delightful and very happy music.

My accordion was the Hohner Student VII and it was sold for a paltry amount when my mom died, in 2009.

But I still remember with nostalgia those boring hours practicing the instrument in the full knowledge I would never become a skilled musician.

Years later, I took up the clarinet and learned to play it with some proficiency. I even got to play it on an episode of a local TV sitcom and on a nightclub show. 

After that, I wisely left the music in the talented hands of professional musicians like Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw.  My real passion is listening to music, not playing it.

And here's a sampling of good accordion music with Lawrence Welk!