My one editorial of the day. We will soon be into March. You would think that vaccinating a group of 6.5 million people (2% of the population)--those who work in K-12 schools in the USA--should be a national priority. It is not because old people and other frontline workers were deemed more important. Now, while this makes some sense, the next group should have been those associated with schools. He won't, but if President Joe Biden were to today proclaim that, for the good of the nation (meaning our economy, but also education), K-12 teachers and related workers should be next in line for the Johnson&Johnson (one shot, with a good chance to be approved around the end of the week) vaccine, immediately after Easter (April 4), it will be safe to open schools. While somewhat short, a two-month period will be adequate under these extraordinary circumstances to finally prepare the current class for next fall.
One more unexpected shortfall about vaccines.
Well, one more bit of interesting news. Here is a 3 minute video from NASA's Perseverance rover's touchdown on Mars.
I yesterday posted on My Fair Lady and Audrey Hepburn. Well, I did go ahead and watch Roman Holiday last night. So this is part 2 on this series with Audrey.
Rotten Tomatoes bestowed 97/93 scores, and the effort set the standard for a fantasy romance. Toss in sites most have visited in Rome--Three Coins in the Fountain (Fontana di Trevi), the Colosseum, Spanish Steps (my hotel was just around the corner at the top)--and the ambience...how can you go wrong? This was Hepburn's first hit movie, and she won an Oscar for Best Actress. Paramount wanted to shoot the film in their Hollywood studio, but William Wyler, who directed and produced, threatened to walk out if not made on site in Rome.
I won't say much more about the movie except to dream on about the sequel. Twenty years after 1953 there was serious talk about one. Roman Holiday was instead made for television in 1987 with Tom Conti and Catherine Oxenberg, who came from a European royal family. But it was just a remake of the original.
There was not much to it, except I later learned that the original script was loosely based on the real-life story of Princess Margaret, younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II. She had just become queen, and there was talk about the forbidden romance of Margaret and commoner Peter Townsend. They fell in love during her world tour.
A promising third production came out in 2001, a jukebox musical of the 1953 film, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. Did not do much. There was a revival in 2012, then a San Francisco run in 2017. Just One of Those Things, Night and Day, etc.
So what about a true sequel today? I've been thinking about when they're perhaps 30 years older. She becomes queen of this fictional country, gets married, has a son and decides in her 50's to abdicate in her son's favor when her husband dies. He too gets married, becomes editor of The New York Times, and in his 60's retires, also after his spouse passes away. Of course they re-meet in Rome. They did have two serious kisses in the original, so.....
While the original was bittersweet, why not a happy ending? So who will do the acting?
Here is the very end of Roman Holiday. Watch Hepburn smile. She looks like Julia Roberts, who is 54.
The male? Peck was 13 years older than Hepburn, so someone at least 65 years old. The person who has just the right characteristics is Liam Neeson. I would go see that movie.
I might add that this past Saturday I wrote about disco music and how there were two films that came just at the peak in the later 70's, Saturday Night Fever and Thank God It's Friday. That night I went out of my way to try to find both. TGIF was so lowly rated, that it was available for free on Prime. It deserved it's 30/37 Rotten Tomatoes rating, but, nevertheless, was a worthy re-experience. Discos began disappearing in the the U.S. in the early 1980's, but continued flourishing in the Orient through the 1990's. A lot of memories with those songs.
Donna Summer stuck around the whole movie, but the Commodores were featured, with Lionel Ritchie. He was then just one of the group. He now is one of the judges for American Idol. One of the memorable auditioners this year is 15-year old Casey Bishop. She's from a small town in Florida, and had never before performed in public. Worth your while to watch her.
Saturday Night Fever got decent 82/71 scores from Rotten Tomatoes, but cost $4 on Prime. So I went to Red Box, where most of films are only $1.50. Well, SNF was $5 for the high definition version, so I actually paid that sum, and re-lived those moments. Those songs. Did you know the soundtrack is the second-biggest-selling of all time? The Bodyguard is #1. The Bee Gees were not involved with the movie until the post-production. As Travolta is quoted, they were dancing to Stevie Wonder and Boz Scaggs. The Bee Gees wrote all their songs in a single weekend. Click on THIS to watch all that music.
Did you see John Travolta in one of those Super Bowl ads disco-dancing with his daughter Ella? The family has had a string of tragedies. Son Jett, who was autistic, died of a seizure in 2009. Then, this past summer, his wife Kelly Preston passed away. Her real name was Kelly Kamalelehua Smith. She was born in Honolulu and I worked with her stepfather, for her real father drowned when she was three. We were in the same company. Kelly and Barack Obama graduated from Punahou's class of 1979. She was linked to George Clooney and Charlie Sheen, but married Travolta in 1991, so they were together for almost 30 years.
To close, Hawaii Aloha, probably the most celebrated song in the state for influential events. Here a second set, ALOHA FROM HAWAII, which continues on to a third, so keep watching.
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