Jims of Wyzdom 2/1/19
OK, go ahead and curse me for too many “Bon hivers.” Now that winter has landed on us with zero temps, all we can be thankful for is that it isn’t accompanied by a foot or more of snow. And I like snow, except for that part about shoveling out our inclined driveway that makes me want to park in the flat front yard but then you have to de-ice all the car windows! 47 more days of winter…
Life is constantly providing us with new funds, new resources, even when we are reduced to immobility. In life’s ledger there is no such thing as frozen assets. [Writer Henry Miller]
Movies: I will have to admit that we did not get to “The Wizard of Oz,” so I hope some of you did go. We should have gone on Sunday during the last balmy weather. It’s not as if we don’t know the movie by heart. However, it looks like we have a few big Oscar contenders here, including: Stan and Ollie, Green Book (Regal); Vice and The Favorite (AMC). There are no changes as of Friday.
If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut. [Physicist Albert Einstein]
Opera: I loved loved loved the Richard Eyre production of Carmen when it premiered on the Met in HD series what, 5 years ago? But here it is, back for the 4th time tomorrow at the Regal, with a somewhat different cast. We’ve seen it 3 times and have the DVD—enough, already! But if you haven’t seen it, it is gorgeously designed and staged and the weather will be much warmer tomorrow.
A stockbroker urged me to buy a stock that would triple its value every year. I told him, “At my age, I don’t even buy green bananas.” [Politician Claude Pepper]
Reading…”this is the winter of our content”…is such an agreeable activity during the winter in our retirement years. I’ve been trying to finish several things I’ve been working on. Political books are now dead to me; reading in depth about the making of “2001: A Space Odyssey” is sheer delight, getting behind the scenes at the film’s planning between Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick—WOW! I had forgotten that Kubrick’s last film before “2001” was “Dr. Strangelove,” a huge success at the time. I also finished Meg Wolitzer’s new novel, “The Female Persuasion.” If you haven’t tried Wolitzer, she is a wonderful craftsman of fascinating characters and plots. She also wrote “The Wife” (now a film with Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce),“The Interestings” and “Surrender Dorothy,” among others. We heard her conversation with Roger Rosenblatt at Chautauqua a few years ago…one of the best talks we’ve heard there.
And… Last week or so, one of my favorite actresses passed—Carol Channing. She was most famous for playing Dolly Levi over 5000 times on Broadway and tours and revivals. She was one of three great ladies to star in “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” a wonderful musical spoof of the roaring twenties that we will definitely include as one of our summer musicals with Film Forum. What I’ll bet you didn’t know about Carol is that her great grandfather was William Ellery Channing, a pal of Bronson Alcott and one of the last of the Transcendentalists of the late 19th century in Boston. The leaders of that movement that was part Unitarianism, were poets Emerson and Thoreau. They all read Kant and Hume and tried to imagine a more progressive, positive outlook on temporal life and the spiritual journey.
Keep your powder dry, your heavy coat and gloves nearby, and if all else fails, stay put and let me know what you are reading…
Jim