Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
1) In this song, Mr. Como maintains it's impossible to ask a baby not to cry. When did you most recently hold a baby? Did you ask him or her not to cry? I can't recall the last time I held a baby. I've chatted with a few when their moms or dads brought them into the office. But I never reach for them. I always feel kind of sorry for them, handed back and forth from stranger to stranger. They look so overwhelmed. I think sometimes we forget babies are people, too.
2) Perry Como was known for his casual, easy going style. Therefore people were surprised to learn that he could lose his temper. His long-time musical director reported that bad drivers really got under Perry's skin. What is one of your pet peeves?
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| She didn't pay a fare for those bags! |
4) He met Roselle, the girl he would marry, when they were both still in high school. Tell us about a high school classmate you were crazy about back in the day. He was the second tallest boy in the whole high school (6'4) and incongruously drove the tiniest VW Beetle. He had to practically fold himself in half to get in and out. He had the shiniest black hair. He was a year ahead of me. I was besotted. He didn't know I was alive.
5) When he was just 14, his father's ill health made it essential that Perry begin working after school to help support his family. He apprenticed to a barber but was so short, he had to stand on a box when he cut hair. Again, going back to school, were you taller than your classmates? Shorter? Or were you the average height for a kid your age? Shorter.
6) While taping his annual holiday special in 1971, he fell from a platform and broke his knee. He had to wear a cast and endure 8 months of rehab. Have you ever broken a bone? I broke my clavicle when I was still in preschool. I have only the vaguest recollection of being in my mother's arms as my aunt (whose home I'd been at) explained to my mother that I'd been playing on the stairs. I've seen photos of myself in a sling, but I don't remember it at all.
7) During the decades when he was a recording and television star, Perry Como was also an avid golfer. He was so popular that many of the best pro golfers of the day -- Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, etc. -- were happy to play with him. It's estimated that it takes about 4 hours to play 18 holes of golf. What celebrity would you most like to hang around with for four hours? Harry and Meghan!
8) After he retired, Perry's passion switched from golf to fishing in the waters near Palm Beach, Florida. His catch of the day often ended up as his family's dinner. What's for dinner at your house tonight? #3 has me thinking Italian.
9) Random question -- They say "birds of a feather, flock together." But that's not always true. Can you think of an area where you are out of step with most of your friends/family? I'm more conventionally spiritual than my friends and family. I'm the only one in my immediate circle who belongs to a congregation and actually show up at church every now and again. I don't know what's in everyone's heart so I don't know whether they have a relationship with God. I just know I'm not surrounded by churchgoers.
