Two Women, Chapter 5

Mona became very curious about Monica, Ted's one-time dentist.  She did some research on the Internet.

Mona was unable to find a picture or too much information about Monica.  She was only able to find an address and a telephone number for her office in Chapel Hill.

Mona was not satisfied.  She asked her agent to get her a booking for a performance at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC).  

Due to a cancellation, Mona got a booking in three weeks.  She then called Monica's office for a dental appointment, simply a cleaning and a check-up.  

Three weeks later, Mona flew to the Raleigh Durham International Airport (RDU).  She checked into the Carolina Inn in the heart of the UNC campus.

Mona's dental appointment was for the following morning.  Her performance the following evening.

After breakfast the next day, Mona called an Uber to take her to Monica's dental office.  She arrived ten minutes early.  Her mood was a combination nervousness and excitement.  

Finally, the receptionist called for Mona to see the dentist.  Mona stood up and walked to the door of Monica's examination room.    

   

Sterling Hayden

 Many believe the best scene in the 1972 classic film, The Godfather, is when Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), Virgil Sollozzo (Al Lettieri) and New York City Police Captain McCluskey (Sterling Hayden) are having a dinner meeting at Louis Italian American Restaurant in the Bronx.  While McCluskey is there as security for Sollozzo, the other two are discussing (in Italian) a business relationship going forward, at least that's what Sollozzo thinks.

Michael takes a bathroom break and finds the gun planted there by a member of his crime family.  He returns to the table and shortly thereafter shoots Sollozzo in the head, killing him instantly.

Michael then turns to McCluskey, who is momentarily stunned.  Michael shoots him once in the neck and once in the head.  McCluskey falls forward dead, tipping over their table, while Michael drops the gun and walks out of the restaurant. 

Sterling Hayden was born in 1916 in Upper Montclair, New Jersey.  As a young man, he worked on ships which sailed around the world.  

A photo of Hayden taken as a young man wound up on a magazine cover.  This led Paramount Pictures to offer him a screen test and then a seven-year contract to act in their movies.

Some of his other memorable films are The Asphalt Jungle (1950), a crime drama with Sam Jaffe and Marilyn Monroe, Johnny Guitar (1954), a western with Joan Crawford and Ernest Borgnine, The Killing (1956), another crime drama with Coleen Gray and Vince Edwards and Dr. Strangelove (1964), a black comedy with Peter Sellers and George C. Scott.   

Sadly, Sterling Hayden died of prostate cancer May 23, 1986 at age 70 (35 years ago today).  Let's use his memory as a reminder for men to get their prostates checked annually.    

Tom Brady

Fourteen weeks ago, Tom Brady played in his tenth Super Bowl of his twenty-one year (so far) career in American professional football.  And his team (this year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) won for the seventh time.

Tom Brady was born August 3, 1977 in San Mateo, California.  After graduating from Junipero Serra High School in 1995, he accepted a football scholarship from the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, a distance of 2,370 miles from his home.  Tom Brady and my daughter, Rachel, were classmates at Michigan for two years.

In Tom Brady's first three years at Michigan, he didn't see much playing time.  However, in 1998 and 1999 he became the starting quarterback for the Wolverines.

In the 1998 season, led by Tom Brady, Michigan had a record of 10 wins and 3 losses.  In 1999, Michigan won its first two games, against Notre Dame and Rice.  On September 18, it was scheduled to play a road game against Syracuse University.

At that time, Rachel (having graduated from Michigan in 1997) was in her third year of law school at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  My son Bret was a freshman at Benjamin Cardozo High School in Bayside, Queens.

As a Michigan fan, I wanted to go to the Syracuse game, which I could drive to with Bret.  I arranged for Rachel to fly to Syracuse from Philadelphia.

To buy the three tickets, I had to also buy three tickets for Syracuse's home game the previous Saturday against Central Michigan University.  As I had no interest in attending such game, I donated the tickets to the Oswego Little League where I played from ages 10-12 (1956-1958).

On the day of the Michigan-Syracuse game, the three of us were among more than 49,000 fans who crowded into the Carrier Dome.  The Wolverines were dressed in white, maize and blue, while Syracuse was in blue and orange. 

Michigan received the opening kickoff after which Tom Brady took the field with his offensive unit.  After a scoreless first quarter, he  was replaced as the quarterback.  

The Wolverines scored first on a 41-yard field goal.  Later, an interception led to second Michigan field goal.  

Syracuse then scored a touchdown to take a 7-6 lead.  However, in the last minute of the first half, Drew Henson, Michigan's other quarterback, threw a touchdown pass to give the Wolverines a 13-7 halftime lead.

Early in the third quarter, Syracuse tied the score at thirteen on a touchdown pass.  The extra point was missed. 

Michigan took the lead for good (15-13) when the referee called a penalty on the Syracuse quarterback while in his own end zone (resulting in a safety).  The Wolverines later added a third field goal to make the final score, Michigan 18, Syracuse 13.  

Tom Brady only played in an uneventful first quarter against Syracuse, but after a brilliant twenty-one year professional career, I'm glad we were there that day to see him play.      

     

Pedro Armendariz

 Pedro Armendariz was born May 9, 1912 (109 years ago today) in Havana, Cuba to a Mexican father and an American mother.  After the death of his mother, he went to live with an uncle in Laredo, Texas.  While earning a degree at the California Polytechnic State University, Pedro participated in student stage productions.

After graduating, Pedro moved to Mexico and worked a few different jobs.  He eventually became a movie actor, starring in films with Katy Jurado and Delores del Rio.

In the late 1940s,  Pedro moved to Hollywood, making American movies, including three with the legendary director John Ford.  I first became aware of him in the 1948 Ford classic, Fort Apache.  

There is a memorable scene in Fort Apache in which Pedro Armendariz, portraying Sergeant Beaufort (U.S. Cavalry), acts as interpreter at a contentious meeting between U.S. Army Lt. Colonel Thursday (Henry Fonda speaking English) and Apache chief Cochise (Miguel Inclan speaking Spanish).  I was amazed at Pedro's bi-lingual skills.

Pedro's other Ford pictures were The Fugitive (1947) with Henry Fonda and 3 Godfathers (1948) with John Wayne.  Besides Hollywood films, he acted in a number of European movies, such as Lucrece Borgia made in France in 1953.

Pedro's last film is my favorite James Bond movie, From Russia With Love (1963).  He portrays a Turkish spy, Kerim Bey, who works for British Intelligence in Istanbul.  

Sadly, Pedro was dying of cancer during the filming of From Russia With Love.  He succumbed to the disease on June 18, 1963, at 51 years of age, just four months before the film's release in the UK in October.

 

   

Harvey

 Harvey is a 1950 comedic film staring James Stewart (nominated for Academy Award for Best Actor, won by Jose Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac) and Josephine Hull (won Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress).  It was adapted from a play I saw Stewart and Helen Hayes perform on Broadway years later.  

The main character of Harvey is Elwood P. Dowd (Stewart), a middle-aged man of independent means, who lives with his sister, Veta (Hull).  He spends most of his free time at various bars around town drinking martinis and chatting with other patrons, especially his friend Harvey, a very tall, imaginary and invisible white rabbit.

As Elwood, in his naivete, continually disrupts her social life with his insistence that Harvey is real, Veta attempts to have him committed to a mental institution.  However, at the last minute she reconsiders her decision believing she shouldn't try to change her otherwise kind and sweet brother.

Variety in its critique wrote that "escape from life into a pleasant half-world existence has many points in its favor."  Really?  

Stewart said that "of all the films I've made, Harvey is one of my favorites.  I have a special admiration and love for that big white rabbit.  The whole idea of the character, Elwood P. Dowd," is... what?  

Elwood P. Dowd is an alcoholic who lives in an imaginary world with an invisible white rabbit as his best friend.  Is this something we should strive for?  Is this the movie's message?  I hope not.

I think society's view of drinking has evolved since 1950 and I don't think Harvey the film could be made today.  Drunkenness used to be considered funny.  No more!  

Check out The Lost Weekend (1945), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), Leaving Las Vegas (1995) and Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot (2018) for serious examinations of the affects of alcoholism.  It's not a joke as Harvey seems to be.

On the other hand, last week the Danish film, Another Round, won the Academy Award for best International Feature Film.  Its premise is based on a psychiatrist's theory that "having a blood alcohol level of 0.05 makes you more creative and relaxed."  

For the four friends in the film, this is but the start of an attempt to push the limit.  And for one, it led down a slippery slope...to oblivion.

Finally, working for an alcoholic beverage company for more than 31 years left me with a sense of guilt about what the product can do to some.