Cool cats

Tonight we did Movie Night again at my mom's. She is well again! Which means I can get back to this Web log and to Leonard Pennario.

The movie we saw was "The AristoCats."

I had never seen it! It is from 1970, a little on the new side for us.

It was fun. My brother George had done some Googling and knew that the voice of Duchess -- that's the white cat -- was Eva Gabor. So funny! Probably some of the other voices are noteworthy but I did not recognize the names. Phil Harris who was the tomcat, he was a band leader. One quote attributed to him is: "I can't die until the government finds a safe place to bury my liver." Ha, ha!

The kids have gotten good at watching movies. It is a far cry from back when they could not concentrate. They were fixated on "The AristoCats" and we were all laughing along with little George who took great enjoyment in the movie and laughed and laughed, this funny loud little-boy laugh.

We all laughed together at Uncle Waldo, the goose who had been basted in white wine! Handily that clip has been posted on YouTube. I loved how they showed the geese from behind, waddling.

That jazz song at the end is a kick: "Everybody Wants To Be a Cat."

I am in my second childhood!

Do I hear a waltz?

Last night's Movie Night feature: Disney's "Cinderella."

I love the visuals in the waltz scene. When they go drifting over the footbridge, the water sparkling beneath them. "So this is love..."

Wait, was this movie for me or the kids?

The kids were patient and paid attention. We have made great strides in this department. Of course they loved the crazy mice. Our little Georgie, it was funny, at one point it looks as if Lucifer, the evil cat, has caught the one mouse, and Georgie just gasped.

Today it is funny, that song "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" was on my brain, and it was unfortunately on my brain in the nattering mouse version. The mice sing that song in a crazy, sped-up performance as they work on Cinderella's dress for the ball.

I do not want to post it lest it wind up on your brain! You do not want it there, trust me.

Listen to a waltz instead.

May we suggest...

Scary movie

We did Movie Night again with the kiddies. We saw "Pinocchio."

Anyone ever see "Pinocchio"? I do not think I ever did before tonight.

It is a very strange film!

Fevered, was the word I came up with afterward when it was over and we were all sitting there in shock.

My brother George said he looked it up in some movie guide and it is considered the scariest of the Disney masterpieces. There is this one scene in particular where Pinocchio has made this bad friend and the friend is sitting around playing pool and smoking cigars and drinking beer and all of a sudden he starts turning into a donkey and there is no stopping it.

He gets terrified and it is awful to see! He crashes into a mirror and he starts screaming. Really, not fun.



Hahahaa... I am reading the comments to that YouTube video and somebody writes: "I threw up when I saw this for the first time."

The movie takes all kinds of strange turns. You think it's all sweetness and light, "I Got No Strings" and "When You Wish Upon a Star." Ha. Ha. HA. (As Laurel and Hardy used to say.)

Then they have to go underwater and find Gepetto in the belly of this whale. Disney is unhurried as heck through this part, having fun filling something like an hour with all kinds of weird bubbles and fish.

One funny thing, the part everyone thinks about, about how Pinocchio's nose grows when he tells a lie, that is actually a very brief and minor episode.

There is a Leonard Pennario connection with this movie that I will have to make sure to put in the book.

One good thing, this was hands down the most successful movie with the kids. They were glued to it. It was not like last time, I will tell you that. There was hardly any talking, just one whimper from our little Georgie that it was getting too scary.

Secretly I agreed.

I think we are all going to have bad dreams!