Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head

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

1) In this week's song, BJ Thomas sings that he knows it won't be long until he finds happiness. What are you looking forward to today? What's going to make you smile?

I'm going to watch this week's movie group film, Johnny Apollo. Tyrone Power is a classic movie star I've heard/read more about than actually watched. Last week I saw him in Witness for the Prosecution, now this, and I'm happy to fill this gap in my cinematic knowledge.

2) BJ Thomas met his wife Gloria at a bar. She was there with his drummer, but BJ let his friend know he felt a connection to Gloria and was going to drive her home. BJ and Gloria were married for 50 years, until his death. Have you and a friend ever found yourselves attracted to the same person? If yes, how did you handle it? Back in the long-ago 1980s, my friend Mindy and I were both twitterpated by the same handsome coworker. We compared notes and decided how we would share him (we'd each get him 3 days/week, and on Sunday he could roam free). Fortunately, he chose another girl entirely, so we all lived happily ever after.

 

3) This song is from Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, which has been called "the most entertaining Western ever made." Do you enjoy Westerns? I now enjoy the TV Westerns (Bonanza, Gunsmoke) I avoided as a kid. I don't why.

4) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of the most popular movies Paul Newman made, but he liked to say his "favorite role is philanthropist." He raised an amazing $500 million for children's charities through his Newman's Own brand. The most popular Newman's Own product is salad dressing. What flavor of salad dressing would we find in your kitchen right now? Thousand island and honey mustard.

 

5) Burt Bacharach won the first of his three Oscars for this song. Yet 20th Century Fox originally wanted to cut the song from the movie, maintaining that that song and the famous "bicycle sequence" between Paul Newman and Katharine Ross were anachronistic and made the movie too long. Burt and the movie's director George Roy Hill fought for it, insisting that it helped define the optimistic character of Butch. Tell us about a time you were glad you stood your ground. The last big work battle of my career. Alex, the executive creative director brought in for a specific project, wanted us to do expensive, high-profile stunts that would get a lot of industry buzz and win awards for the agency. I argued for us to stay within or under budget and do "smaller" things that would get our client measurable results. After all, it was the client's money. They should always come first. Alex won, and within six months the client fired the agency and I lost my job. Others lost their jobs, too. Life isn't fair.

But isn't it a lovely jaw? Sigh.

6) Edith Head also won an Oscar for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. She said that Robert Redford, who played Sundance, presented a wardrobe problem. His jawline is too strong so she had to create special wider-brimmed hats to balance it. If you could magically change one of your physical features, which would you choose? And which feature would you never change? I wish my face wasn't so damn round. Even when I was a size 6, I had chubby cheeks. On the plus side of the ledger, I like my dimples.

7) In 1969, when this song was a hit, The Beatles played their last concert on the roof of Abbey Road Studios. When did you last climb onto the roof? I've only been up on this building's roof once. I accompanied the inspector when he checked it before I made an offer on this condo. He said it was fine but I had no idea what he was looking at or for.

8) Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries sold at a brisk pace at Christmastime 1969. They're still popular today. Were you a fan? Yes! I read all the Nancy Drew books I could get my hands on: from The Secret of the Old Clock to The Mystery of the 99 Steps (newly published when I was 8 and at height of my Nancy-mania). That's 43

books in all. I don't recall the plots, but I still remember Nancy, her friends Bess and George, housekeeper Hannah, boyfriend Ned, and father, attorney Carson Drew. Her dad is the one who gave her the blue roadster for her 16th birthday. I often have to ask Alexa to call my lost cellphone, but I remember the blue roadster!

9) Random question: Do you consider yourself old fashioned? At times.