Abraham's Son, Chapter 2

 EXT. PARKING LOT WHITE ROCK BEVERAGES ­ NIGHT

ABRAHAM leaves office building and walks to his car.

EXT. DRIVEWAY NEXT TO ABRAHAM'S HOME ­ NIGHT

ABRAHAM arrives at his home, parks car and enters home.

INT. ABRAHAM'S KITCHEN ­ NIGHT

ABRAHAM broils a hamburger, boils a potato and makes a salad with lettuce and tomato.  He then sits at table and eats it all.

INT. ABRAHAM'S LIVING ROOM ­ NIGHT

ABRAHAM sits in his comfortable chair in his old­ fashioned furnished living room and watches TV tuned to Turner Classic Movies.  TV presenter is heard. 

ROBERT OSBORNE (O.S.): Hi, welcome to Turner Classic Movies.  I'm ROBERT OSBORNE.  Tonight we have a classic film from 1938 with James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart and a newcomer then, Ann Sheridan... 

EXT. IN FRONT OF SYNAGOGUE ­ DAY

ABRAHAM arrives at his synagogue for Saturday morning services and enters it. 

INT. SANCTUARY OF ABRAHAM'S SYNAGOGUE ­ DAY

ABRAHAM, with many other men, wears tallit and tefillin, recites various Hebrew prayers during the Shabbat service.  Later, after the service, ABRAHAM greets the RABBI, a man about ABRAHAM's age, distinguished looking.

ABRAHAM: Gut shabbos, RABBI.  How are you today? 

RABBI: Gut shabbos to you, ABRAHAM.  You look well.  How's work? 

ABRAHAM: All's well.  Do you need more soft drinks?  I can get you plenty.  

RABBI: No, we don't need any more. 

SYLVIA (ABRAHAM'S COUSIN): Sorry to interrupt, RABBI, but I need a word with ABRAHAM.

RABBI leaves to talk to another congregant.  SILVIA, middleaged woman, a little heavy, leads ABRAHAM away from others and they sit together on bench. 

SYLVIA: So, ABRAHAM, how are you? 

ABRAHAM: The same.  I'm fine.  

SYLVIA: The same.  That's the problem.  You've been the same for twenty years since your folks passed away.  You go to work, sit in that house alone and go to the movies on Sunday.  You can't be happy.

ABRAHAM: You forgot I come here every shabbos.  So, who's happy?  Are you, SYLVIA?  

SYLVIA: I'm sure I'm happier than you.  I've got Morris (husband) and the children and the grandchildren.  I've got loads of friends and things to do.  You've no woman to keep you company.  

ABRAHAM: How do you know I've no woman to keep me company?

SYLVIA: Well, do you?  Surprise me! 

ABRAHAM: No...I don't.  I've told you how I feel.  I have a wife, I have Helen.  Unfortunately, she's dead, but she's still in my life.  I can't imagine being with another woman.  It would be a betrayal of her memory.  And how could I be fair to another woman, knowing I'm still in love with Helen.  I still miss her. 

SYLVIA: I know you miss her, ABRAHAM.  We will never forget her blessed memory, but you're alive and life is for the living.  L'chaim!  You don't have to be in love with another woman. But, a man needs the warmth and companionship of a good woman to be complete.  God forbid, if I die before Morris, I'd want him to find another woman. 

ABRAHAM That's you, SYLVIA, not me.  Look, I have friends at work.  I love being around good young people whom I can teach about life.  I really enjoy mentoring them.  I'm so sorry my child died along with Helen.  I miss them both.    

SYLVIA: Me, too.  Sorry you don't have children.  They're such a blessing.  Can't imagine not having them in my life.  I almost can't remember when I didn't have any.  (pause) So, how are things at White Rock?

ABRAHAM: Good, real good.  You and Morris want more soft drinks? 

SYLVIA: No thanks.  By the way, do you have plans tomorrow night?  I'm having a small dinner party and I want you to come.  Please, ABRAHAM.  Please, come! 

ABRAHAM: Will there be single women there?  Are you trying to fix me up again? 

SYLVIA: I have a number of widows among my friends and I love giving dinner parties.  So, forgive me.  And my favorite cousin is a widower.  What's wrong with bringing people together.  And you know I'm a very good cook.  

ABRAHAM: I'm flattered I'm still your favorite cousin after all these years.  You are a great cook.  But, almost anybody is an improvement over what I can do in the kitchen.  Do I know these widows you're inviting, one of whom will be my date? 

SYLVIA: I believe there's one that's new.  I just met her.  Recently moved from Long Island.  She's attractive and kinda zaftig.  At least Morris thinks so.  How about it? 

ABRAHAM: Maybe.  I'll call you tomorrow.  Please don't hock me.  I promise I'll let you know.  I have to go.  Bye, bye. 

SYLVIA: Bye, ABRAHAM.  Love you.

ABRAHAM gets up from the bench and walks out of the sanctuary.

Ricky Nelson

 Ricky Nelson was born May 8, 1940 in Teaneck, NJ.  His parents, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, were famous entertainers.

On February 20, 1949 (73 years ago) Ricky joined his parents (as their eight year old son) on their popular radio program, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.  In 1952, the program transferred to television and ran for another fourteen years to when Ricky was twenty-six.

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet allowed Ricky to become a music idol.  Ozzie realized the impact his musically gifted son could have on the series, and went on to write storylines featuring Ricky singing. 

Ricky first sang in the April 10, 1957 episode performing a version of Fats Domino's hit "I'm Walkin" and later signed a recording contract with Domino's label, Imperial Records.  Subsequent episodes that aired after Ricky became one of the nation's most successful musicians were some of the series' highest-rated episodes.

In 1958, Nelson released his first #1 single, "Poor Little Fool."  It sold over two million copies.  

Following his success on TV and as a singer, the director Howard Hawks cast him as the gunslinger Colorado in his film Rio Bravo (1959) along with John Wayne, Dean Martin, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan and Ward Bond.  Hawks attributed much of the film's box office success to Nelson.  In the film, he sings "Get Along, Cindy."

In 1961, he recorded my favorite of his songs, "Travelin' Man."  In 1972, Nelson reached the top 40 one last time with "Garden Party."

On New Years Eve 1985, Ricky Nelson was flying from Guntersville, Alabama to Dallas, Texas for a concert.  The plane crashed and all seven passengers were killed.  Ricky Nelson was forty-five.

  

 

Blood

Blood transfusion (from one human being to another) became a routine clinical practice about one hundred twenty years ago.  The American Red Cross, founded by Clara Barton in 1881, has been collecting blood for this purpose since the 1940s.

I was employed by Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc. from 1968 until 1999.  During that time, it was involved in a variety of public service programs.  

The program I was most supportive of was the American Red Cross annual blood drive.  Seagram would provide space for the Red Cross to set up its employees and equipment on site to accept blood donations from Seagram employee volunteers.

After my first personal experience donating blood, I volunteered to be the blood drive captain for the Tax Department.  I canvassed our small group every year to attempt to get 100% participation.  I never got near that number.

As a reward for my services, I once received a purple and gold Crown Royal travel bag which I used multiple times until it wore out.  

After I started working at the Office of Sponsored Research for The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2008-2013), I again volunteered to be a blood donor.  I received two gifts which I still use.  

I have my red and white bowl out of which I eat my daily dose of oatmeal served with blueberries, cranberries, honey and cinnamon.  I also occasionally wear my white and red long-sleeve t-shirt with the inscription, "A gift that really means something.  Give blood."

Another plus for donating blood is the free beverages and food (orange juice, coffee, crackers, bagels, donuts, danish, etc.) we received after the donation in order to help replenish the donated blood.  

I found the whole process of blood donation painless and made me feel good about myself for helping others.  

However...once...I convinced a colleague, who was hesitant, to finally give blood donation a try.  Afterwards, he almost passed out.  I saved his life by making sure he had the best medical attention before it was too late.

Give Blood!  The life you save could be your own.    

                 

Lilies of the Field

From the Bible, Mathhew 6:28, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.  They toil not, neither do they spin."  

Lilies of the Field is a 1963 black and white film which starred Sidney Poitier and Lilia Skala.  It was nominated for five Academy Awards:  Best Picture (won by Tom Jones), Best Actor (won by Poitier), Best Supporting Actress (Skala, but won by Margaret Rutherford for The V.I.P.s), Best Screenplay (James Poe, but won by John Osborne for Tom Jones) and Best Cinematography (won by Hud).

Homer Smith (Poitier), a travelling jack-of-all-trades, stops for water at an isolated farm in Arizona run by a group of East German nuns led by Mother Maria (Skala).  The nuns believe he was sent by God to build their chapel.  

Smith starts doing some odd jobs for the nuns hoping to earn some money, but is never paid.  They have no money.  

Eventually, people from the community come to help when he finally agrees to build the chapel.  "Smith brings the chapel to completion, placing the cross on the spire himself and signing his work where only he and God will know."

Sidney Poitier was born February 20, 1927 in Miami, Florida to Bahamian parents.  After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he attempted a career as an actor.

In 1950, Poitier appeared in his first movie, No Way Out, as a doctor who treats a bigoted patient (played by Richard Widmark).  In 1955, he portrayed a problem high school student opposing his English teacher (played by Glen Ford) in Blackboard Jungle.

In 1958, Poitier and Tony Curtis (playing a racist) were two escaped prisoners chained together in The Defiant Ones.  In 1961, Poitier was the eldest son of a Black family moving into an all-White neighborhood in A Raisin in the Sun.

After Lilies of the Field, Poitier hit the trifecta in 1967 with three outstanding films:  To Sir, With Love (as a teacher in an inner city school in Britain), In the Heat of the Night (as a police detective investigating a murder in a racist town in Mississippi, co-starring Rod Steiger as the local police chief) and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (as a doctor engaged to a rich young White woman in San Francisco, co-starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy as her parents). 

Sidney Poitier recently died in Beverly Hills, California at the age of ninety-four.