FF XIV, 15

Frank’s Fax Facts and Reviews

Vol.. XIV No. 15

Sunday, July 7, 2015

 Since I was never able to find last week’s edition; I shall just give you a gist of the articles that were contained therein.

       Sicilian in Italy became “Sicilian in Scandinavia” and I do intend to write as close as I can to the original version of that.

Here is the CAT FAX (which was unusually brief and funny)

“If a cat could talk, he wouldn’t.”  Nan Porter

 

A Sicilian in Scandinavia!

       On my last morning in Naples, I rose early and took a cab out to the US Airport, where I had been told I could get a free  ride to London,  on what I believe was called a MAT flight. This military flight was for anyone in a USA uniform. I went into the main building and filled out a form for any flight to London on that Sunday (May the first: or, May Day, which is celebrated much more in Europe than here in America) I sat in the waiting room and did what I had finally learned how to do best:: sitting there, and managing to pass the time by working crossword puzzles. This had become a life saver (read that as a Brain Saver, because, as everyone knows, in the military you do nothing but wait 9/10 of the time) For some reason, it used to make most of the other GIs furious to see me calmly working puzzles while they had to try to keep each other entertained!

       Around noon, my  name was called over the loud speaker, and after I had walked up to the spot where I presumed I would board the plane: sadly, this was not to be the case. I had been bumped by an officer. There were no more flights until Monday, and I certainly was not going to stay in suspense that long. As a sort of consolation prize, as I thought of it.  I was given the opportunity of a free plane ride to Rome, where I was assured there would be many flights to different cities, and thanks to Lynwood’s advice, I had placed Copenhagen, Madrid and one or two others on my furlough papers.

 I just about gave up the entire thing, however, when I saw the plane that was to fly me to Rome: It was a 2-seater, with barely enough room for me and the pilot. As the passenger I had to ride in the section of the plane below his seat. But I was determined that they would not spoil my furlough! Gritting my teeth, I crawled laboriously into that second cockpit, and began praying!

       When we were finally flying over the Naples’ US Army airport, I felt as if I would surely die before we got off the pavement. And when we did, the pilot took off like a scalded dog! We were going so fast (it probably just felt this way because I had never flown under such primitive conditions!)

       Once again on terra firmer, I went into the Rome Airport and found that a train was leaving almost immediately for Copenhagen! They rushed me forward and before I could say, “Jackie Robinson”, the beautifully equipped train was streaming northward. I was so hungry I felt I could have eaten a horse! But I went to the dining car instead, and had a sandwich and my usual Coca-Cola! I felt perfectly content after that, and sat (with my trusty puzzles in my lap) waiting for Denmark!

2.

       My train from Rome to Copenhagen, amazingly enough, took me all that distance and I never had to change trains, nor even change my seat! I was literally bowled over when, once the train reached the last stop of Germany, it merely drove onto another set of rails that loaded our entire world (at that moment) on another set of rails that were meant to take us (over the waves) to Copenhagen! This was one of the biggest surprises of my total tenure in the Army!

       Once we were moving across the water to Denmark, they invited us to a Smorgasbord, which had every imaginable edible I could imagine, plus several that I had no wish to get familiar with! But there were enough really great dishes, to compensate for the eels, succi and other unmentionables!

       But the food in the metropolis was, in general excellent. As usual when I was in a strange new city, I always relied on the Information Bureau at the depot to get me a reasonably priced room. And as I had a whole week there, I wanted a better than usual room. They said I could stay in the College Men’s dormitory, while at that time of the year, all of the students were away. So, that’s exactly what I did. The nicest part of all was that I could take as many showers as I wanted, without paying a cent for it (Europe, I soon discovered, does not look upon bathing as we do: to them, it’s a luxury for which you are charged outlandish prices. The ultra modern College was located very close to the heart of the city.

3.

When I saw the statue of The Little Mermaid, I was reminded of that wonderful 1952 movie, Hans Christian Anderson, which I have seen many times. The brass statue is the highlight of visiting Copenhagen for the first time. The waterfront is packed with people selling fresh fish, and it is truly a memorable sight to behold.

The Danes were celebrating Mid-Summer while I was there: at that time the winters still were so severe, that they never got too hot, in their really mild summers. This made for lots more attendance at the Tivoli Gardens. And I had become enamored of the entire country. I could have taken a side trip to Finland of one of the other countries, had I the foresight to add any of those to my military orders. But I felt fortunate enough to have been able to spend an entire week in this wonderfully beautiful city!

 

Ginger Gets Sheared

Dr. Frank Brown, Who has been my vet since the days of Judy, suggested that I start having my little Angel groomed ever so often. I agreed and left her with his staff. When I went back to get her, I was struck dumb by what I saw: were still intact!

I quickly let it be known that I was not at all pleased with the job I had to pay for. When I got Ginger home, in this weird looking mess, she went into hiding! I’m not kidding, she did not want me to see her looking like this! And it made me sick each time I looked at her.

Old Movie Review

       A Millionaire for Christy (1951)

                This was one of several films I watched last week, as TCM honored the films of Eleanor Parker, and it was the worst. This sit-com, without the benefit of being conceived for Television, was a total waste of its female star, and not treating Fred MacMurray a whole lot better. It went from slapstick to worse, so when it returned to slapstick, it was better than before! Basically, Christie works for a business firm which handles prize-winning contests. She is assigned the task of locating MacMurray (who is a TV star) to deliver the equivalent of two million dollars: in Mexican Pecos. By the time she delivers this wealth to him, they have found themselves in a hodge-podge of embarrassing situations. MacMurry is scheduled to be married to his best friend (Richard Carlson)’s girl friend, which adds many more embarrassing moments to an already over-loaded amounts of corn, Do yourself a favor: forget it! (Bomb)

Old Movie Trivia Quiz for July 7

1.     What MGM film, concerning the 4^th of July, starred Mickey Rooney and Marilyn Maxwell?

2.     Who was the author of the play on which is it based?

3.     What was his title?

4.     What playwright gave us Summer and Smoke?

5.     Laurence Harvey and what beloved actress were the leads?

6.     Summer Magic starred Burl Ives, Dorothy McGuire and which extremely popular star. Hint: it’s a she!

7.     Summer of ’43 remains one of my favorite films of all time: Who was the Older woman who befriends young Robert Mulligan?

8.     A Summer Place made a lot of money for WB, The song made money, and presence of Troy Donahue and which budding starlet brought in the throngs?

9.     Summer Stock was a huge hit for MGM, because it starred with Gene Kelly, its greatest talent: Who was she?

10. Summertime, which was filmed in Venice, when this star fell into the disease laden canal, and it almost caused her death.

Answers to THE last quiz:

I need help in knowing which quiz you received last!

Everything seems so messed up that I am very discouraged!