Saturday 9

 Saturday 9: As Time Goes By (1958)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song begins with, "You must remember this." Do you often write things down to help you remember? I regularly write my grocery list on a piece of paper, slip it into my jeans, and forget about it until I find it when I go through my pockets in the laundry room. I'm just hopeless.

 

2) The lyrics tell us that moonlight and love songs are never out of date. Tell us about something else that seems timeless. Pearls and a black dress.

3) Originally written in 1931, "As Time Goes By" is best known as the love theme from the 1942 film, Casablanca. According to the American Film Institute, there's only one song from a movie soundtrack that's more expressly identified with the film: "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz. What song reminds you of your favorite movie? I just saw The Sting at the TCM Classic Film Festival, and so this has been going through my head.

 

 

4) This version is from The George Sanders Touch, an LP recorded by an Oscar-winning character actor. There is scant evidence that it sold well. Tell us about something you thought was a good idea at the time, but looking back, would have done differently. About 12 years ago, my friend Barb offered me a job at her agency. I didn't take it because I was worried about the impact it would have on our relationship. (She would have been my boss.) It's hard to know for certain, but I'm pretty sure I'd be better off financially today if I'd made that move. Plus, she moved away and we drifted apart anyway. Oh well, la de dah. What's done can't be undone.

 

5) This album was really something of a consolation prize for George. He worked with a vocal coach, hoping to win the romantic lead in the film version of South Pacific, but alas, the role went to a younger man. He had fun making this record instead. Have you recently taken lemons and made lemonade? I think it's cool that George got to reap the benefit of his singing lessons, even if he didn't get the part in South Pacific. (I never really liked that musical anyway.) I try to make lemonade out of lemons all the time at work. Clients (or, more precisely, my client's lawyers) make changes to our work and it would be easy to get discouraged. But I take those revisions and often find that, with imagination, the work can still be good. Different, but effective. 

6) He usually played suave but unsympathetic characters. That's why he gave his autobiography the self-aware title, Memoirs of a Professional Cad. What would you call your life story? Either "The Thing of It Is" or "Frankly ...", because those are two phrases I use often.

 

7) The night he won his Oscar, George Sanders accepted the statuette, bowed deeply and then, safely behind the curtain and away from cameras, surprised onlookers by crying. Have you ever cried tears of joy? Cried? No. I've choked up and come close, though. The Cubs World Series, seeing my niece's happiness on her wedding day ...

8) George Sanders wed perennial talk show guest and occasional actress Zsa Zsa Gabor in 1949. Sixteen years after their divorce, he married Zsa Zsa's less famous but also glamorous sister, Magda. After a month, George and Magda thought better of it and had the union annulled. Sam thinks this is one of the oddest romantic tales she's ever stumbled upon while researching Saturday 9. Have you ever known anyone who divorced one sibling and then married another? (Hallmark movies don't count.) No. The George Sanders/Gabor sister saga was wild. Especially because he was 65 when he married Magda, old enough to know better!

9) Random question: You're in a line of 25 people at the post office. How many of those other 24 are more patient at waiting than you are? As long as I've got headphones or a book, I'm pretty patient.