THE LATE GREAT GEORGE BURNS

 

“I smoke 10 to 15 cigars a day”

George Burns said when he was still a thing

Approaching his hundredth birthday

“At my age I have to hold on to something”

 

January 20^th,1896 - March 9^th, 1996

I REMEMBER MY WISH WAS TO CHANGE

 

I remember my wish was to change

The World when I was a young man

Now that I’m old, my wish has changed

And I want is to change the young if I can

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – THE BISHOP'S WIFE (1947)

 

Directed by Henry Koster, the Christmas classic, The Bishop's Wife, tells the tale of an Episcopal Bishop, Henry Brougham played by David Niven, who has been working for months on the plans for a new cathedral, paid for by a selfish and stubborn widow Mrs. Hamilton, (Gladys Cooper).

As a result he begins to lose sight of his wife, Julia, (Loretta Young) and daughter Debbie (Karolyn Grimes) and of why he joined the church in the first place, so Dudley, an angel in human form, played by Cary Grant, is sent to help him, with the task of building a new cathedral and repairing his fractured marriage.

Dudley help’s everyone he meets, but not always in the way they would have chosen, nonetheless everyone liked Dudley, with the exception of Henry.
As Christmas approaches Henry begins to believe that Dudley is there to replace him, at work, and in his family’s affections.

He even manages to affect his maid Matilda (Elsa Lanchester) and Secretary Mildred Cassaway (Sara Haden).

Even the cynical old atheist family friend Professor Wutheridge (Monty Woolley) falls under his spell, eventually, but Dudley must be careful not to become too fond of earthly distractions.

It’s a gem of a movie which can be appreciated any time of year and has many memorable scenes, but my favourite is when Sylvester, the taxi driver (James Gleason) befriends Julia and Dudley and they go ice skating in the park, in fact the sequence is one of the best things you’ll see in many a film, enjoy.

THE WISDOM OF OLD AGE # 1

 

You can tell a lot about a man

By the way he handles certain plights

A rainy day, lost luggage,

And tangled Christmas tree lights

MY POETIC LICENSE

 

Something has happened

That I don’t think is nice

Because my poetic license

Has been revoked, Twice

THE GIANTS GRANDLY FEAST

 

The Giants grandly feast

In their great dominion

And the favourite delicacy

Among them is pickled minions

WE DON’T HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD

 

We don’t have all the time in the world

Make each day count, is my view

So, focus all of your efforts on today

And do the things you really want to do