EB and friends

Grandma Barbara's annual Easter Egg Hunt was held yesterday.  A bit smaller this year but still fun to watch.
Here are a few shots, all hastily and candidly taken.  You know everybody here, so no need to identify.
Just be glad I didn't post all 48.

                               Grandma Barb shows Calvin what to expect next year                                                                                                  

                          "Humph...who needs to hunt eggs; they'll bring 'em to me, you just wait."

                                                "You want a picture? How about this?"

                                             "Kate" ready to get out there and find those eggs!

                                                           "On your marks, get set.....":

                                                          "Hey, look what I found!"

                                                  "Anybody seen any eggs around here?"

                                                                "This one is purple..."

                                                    "I think I see one right down there."

                                                       "Look what I found, Mom"

                                                   Enjoying the fruits of her labors.

                                              Lauren found the last egg....with a little help.

                                                                   Comparing their loot

                                                                    Guest of Honor

                                                  "How do you like my big blue eyes?"

                                                                    After the hunt

                                                      "I don't see any eggs up here."

                               This shot is for all the egg hunters in Minnesota, North Carolina and Colorado
                                                                      -30-

A Star is Born

Lauren's sixth grade class presented Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" for two performances today.  We caught the afternoon one. (Thanks, Barb, for taking us.)  The show was sold out, with a gymn floor full of grade school kids and two rows of seats set up for moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and even great-grandparents.  Lauren played the lead, Katherine, the shrew, and she did a good job, as did everyone else in the large cast.  Lots of "Huzzah"s at the curtain calls.

All the key scenes between Katherine and Petruchio were presented, with narrators filling in the gaps in the plot.  I'm sure Shakespeare would be more popular if all of his shows were presented in thirty minutes.  We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon at the theatre.

Following are a few shots  of some of Lauren's scenes.  I apologize for the off-focus ones.  I have a fairly decent camera, but the lense isn't fast enough to overcome my shaky hands. Sorry about that.

And yes, the leading lady got flowers from her dad and her great-grandfather got her autograph.  Now that's star power!
"I swear I'll cuff you if you strike again..."

An unwilling bride 














Petruchio comes to the wedding wearing "a new hat and an old jerkin; a pair of old breeches thrice turn'd..."











 "I am ashamed that women are so simple.."

The cast poses for their avid fans, all of whom came equipped with digital cameras.

The star with her proud grandmother Barb.
(Her other grandmother was there, too ..equally proud.




PS: Check out the DVD of the Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton production. It is excellent.  Or, if you prefer less Shakespeare and lots of music check out the DVD of "Kiss Me Kate" and appreciate how cleverly Cole Porter took Shakespeare's lines and set them to music.

PPS:  I did "Shrew" in 1967 and "Kate" in 1969.

Another look at the Oscars

 On my previous blog I ranted and raved about how dull last month's Academy Award show was.  I still think it was mostly uninspired, but I want to add one more comment before it fades into the oblivion it so richly deserves.                                                                         
      I was deleting the nearly forty shows (mostly movies) from my Dish DVD drive for reasons which I may or may not explain later.  When I came to "Academy Awards" I thought I might as well finish looking at it before I deleted it.  I'm really glad I did.
      Near the end of the show they had their annual "In Memoriam", consisting of brief pre-recorded shots of some of the more notable people in the movie business who had died since last year's program. As the last picture came on the screen, the camera pulled back and.....





...Halle Berry walked out on stage.  For the next few minutes she paid homage to an entertainment legend.  Whoever made the decision to ask Halle Berry to do this should win an Oscar.  No other actress could have brought the ethos to this moment that she did.

The lady she payed tribute to was a true legend, someone who, as Miss Berry said, "paved the way for so many of us."
That would be....

...Lena Horne, a beautiful black woman with an absolutely fabulous voice.  MGM signed her up in the early fifties and put her in two or three all-black -cast movies.  (My favorite was "Cabin in the Sky.")  She was a sensation.  But when  MGM put her into some of their major musicals they used her only in walk on roles.  She would come on screen, sing her heart out, and then disappear from the picture.  Sometimes, if we were lucky, she might even get to sing two numbers.  These movies were edited in such a way that all of Lena Horne's scenes could be cut out of the picture before it was shown in the south.

The real injustice to this fine lady came in 1952 when MGM decided to re-make that great musical "Show Boat".  If ever there was an actress born to play "Julie" in that show it was Lena Horne.  "Julie" is a mulatto, passing for white.  When the show boat arrives in one river town, the local sheriff learns the truth about her and, because she is married to a white member of the show boat cast, she is forced to leave the company.  At the end of the show, "Julie" is a tragic character.

     Lena Horne practically begged for the role.  After all, she was already under contract to MGM.  But she had absolutely no chance.  With the infinite wisdom of the fifties, studio executives determined it would be bad box office.  So they cast Ava Gardner and had to dub her singing voice.  Some sources say the MGM make up artists even used the same make up on Ava Gardner as they had used for Lena Horne.  How ironic can it get?

    Understandably, Miss Horne was not happy at MGM.  She left and never came back.  But she didn't need MGM or the movies to become an outstanding entertainer.  For more than sixty years, through club acts, recordings and TV specials, Lena Horne went on to win acclaim and the adoration of millions.  (Yes, I was one of those millions.)

     So, thank you, Halle Berry, for bringing probably the only real moment of genuine feeling to the Oscars.

And thank you, Lena Horne, for "Stormy Weather" and all those other great numbers you sang with your inimitable style and grace.