EGGS....and SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES

Okay, why are eggs so expensive?  Actually, if the media did not inform me, I would not have noticed.  However, the average person in the U.S. eats nearly an egg a day (278/year), and is troubled by a doubling of the price.  From the New York Times this morning:

One reason is the price of feed:

But grain prices were higher a decade or so ago, and there was no effect on the cost of eggs then.  

So what about avian flu?  Yes, there were outbreaks last year, and 44 million egg-laying hens were killed.  43 million similar birds were sacrifice eight years ago, and the price of eggs did jump, but not quite as much now.  Further, 44 million hens only account for 10% of all egg-layers.

Some might actually turn to alternatives, but eggs are eggs and can't really be substituted.  Anyway, people today go shopping and barely notice a $5 item.  We'll survive this crisis.

Oh, another piece of news.  There are reports that 200,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in the Ukraine war.  President Vladimir Putin, on the 80th anniversary of their triumph in World War II, vowed that Russia will be victorious again.

However, Wikipedia shows lower numbers.  Maybe when you add wounded this could be.

Changing the subject again, I've always liked Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.  The song was written by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach for the 1933 musical Roberta.  The first recorded performance was by Gertrude Niesen (left), under the orchestral direction of Ray Sinatra, Frank's second cousin.  The B-side was Jealousy, another of my favorite.  Well, not this one.  The song I remember was actually titled Jalousie, composed by Jacob Gade in 1925.  The first hit recording of SGIYE, however, was by Paul Whiteman and his orchestra in 1934.

My all-time favorite is by Irene Dunne, who performed the song in the 1935 film Roberta, co-starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Randolph Scott.  If you click on that, you can see the whole film, rated 86/66 by Rotten Tomatoes.  Here, Dunne singing Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.

Lovely to Look At was a 1952 film remake, with Kathryn Grayson's Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.    My second favorite.

Most remember the 1958 Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by the Platters, which hit #1.  I used this version because it has the lyrics about what the song is all about.  This second version shows them singing.

There have of course been numerous also popular renditions:

• 
  Benny Goodman Orchestra.
• Glenn Miller recorded this song in 1944, but soon died in World War II, and this performance wasn't released until 1995.

• 
  Nat King Cole sang it.
• Jo Stafford.
• Blue Haze in 1972.

By now you know that the the so-called greatest of all-time Tom Brady finally retired from football as the oldest starting quarterback at the age of 45.  Well, there is a new film, 80 for Brady, with his participation, and starring Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Sally Field and Rita Moreno.  Their combined age is 335.  Now you know the reason for the title.  Rotten Tomatoes reviewers did not like it, giving it 64%, but audiences scored it at 88%.  Good preparation for the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 12.

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