Good Grief, can it finally be the Spring Flickr?

[andyg0404]

Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr

I hope I’m not being premature in starting this new Spring Flickr thread but today was a pretty beautiful day, albeit a little windy. I left the Winter coat home and just wore my sweatshirt and flannel shirt. And the hat and gloves of course. But still, it’s a start.

I had plans today to go into the City and see an exhibit of art by the cartoonist Drew Friedman. He is a caricaturist and has appeared in newspapers and magazines for years, most notably the New York Observer, a weekly newspaper. He has recently published a book of drawings of elderly Jewish comedians, and as they are all the people I grew up with I knew I would enjoy the exhibition. There is an article in The Forward with illustrations at this link if you want to know what I am talking about. http://blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/194694/meet-drew-friedman-picasso-of-old-jewish-comedians/

I wasn’t thrilled about the timing due to the fact that the Gallery doesn’t open until 12PM which is late in the day for me. I am truly a morning a person now and by 12PM I like to be heading back home to have my coffee and relax. And those who know me, know that I am a very routine person who does not like to have his routine altered. I joke about it, like I when I say I do my laundry every other Friday night and then add, not that I’m rigid!  But I do like my routine. So I was already grumpy when I left but I was looking forward to the exhibit. I walked up to 128 East 63rd where the Society of Illustrators is located and arrived at 12:02 PM. The shades were drawn and I wondered if the guard was running late like with other venues I’ve visited. I waited a minute then I rang the bell. A minute later a man opened the door and told me the Gallery was closed due to another event involving MOCCA. I stepped back outside and just stood there for a moment and must have audibly cursed because there was a man standing right behind me and when he heard me he laughed and said, Me too! So I turned around and walked back to the Port Authority, annoyed. The reference to MOCCA was a sore point as for a while I had plans to visit The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art and when I finally decided to go I discovered it had closed. This was several years ago and I had to Google it to find that MOCCA is now a part of the Society and they have an annual show at the 69th Street Armory. Today as a matter of fact. So the only art I saw today was an article on John Singleton Copley that I read in the current Smithsonian. And all I accomplished was a long walk.

Today is April 5th and yesterday 0404 rolled around as it does each year and as it does each year it rolled me forward another year. 63 years in the bank now. Two years away from Medicare and either retirement or working from home. I’d like to retire but working from home for a few more years wouldn’t be bad as I could put off collecting social security which increases in amount the longer you wait and also continue saving for my retirement which would also be beneficial. Guess we will have to wait and see. Not anxious to quickly put another two years in the chronological bank as there is no withdrawal policy. Age doesn’t bother me that much although it’s still a little startling to see those age numbers in conjunction with my life. And I swear when I brush my teeth and look in the mirror I see the faces of the men who I made sandwiches for in my Father’s store when I was a teenager.

On an absolutely unrelated note I’ve always been aware of the musician Artie Shaw but I’d never paid attention to his music as its heyday was prior to my birth. Then I started listening to the Burns and Allen radio programs and one season they had Artie and his band as their orchestra. And I discovered they were really outstanding. Anyway, this is a 45 minute live concert of theirs from 1945 in which they play Gershwin, another favorite. Very pleasant music to have on while you do what ever it is you’re doing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r9gyxabuBc

So ends our trip down memory lane as we head over to Flickr central.

Andy G.

Amber Littlefeather

https://www.flickr.com/photos/amberlittlefeather/13087288704/

transgender willy

https://www.flickr.com/photos/32012104@N00/12978259335/

Priscilla drawing - ready for a man

https://www.flickr.com/photos/priscillapinkpussy/13056979004/

Pink Sissy

https://www.flickr.com/photos/10310398@N04/13057323833/

HousewifeDress2

https://www.flickr.com/photos/24078110@N08/13023456804/

Katie's Progress Report...**2002 to >> 2014**

https://www.flickr.com/photos/14676683@N08/13127164965/

Claymore

https://www.flickr.com/photos/greyloch/13102583074/

White flower

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sabine57/13193878455/

7156166459_3b5e51095f_b Lisa Thomas is sitting on the coach wearing her beautiful wedding gown.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/99993729@N06/13184657075/

angela or oleg (45,000+ views; 102+ favs)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/beccakiss/4436667652/

Blue Sailor Gurl

https://www.flickr.com/photos/62488796@N06/13156896233/

[samantha1]

Thanks for the link of jewish illustrations which i enjoyed reading about.As a jewish person myself and of your age era i truly enjoy the cartoons ,so this was a great link for me.

[Angela M...]

Well as usual I enjoyed reading your post today and the referance to Burns & Allen brought back memories. I found some DVD's of their weekly shows in a bargain bin at a discount store a few years ago. They were $2 and of course black and white but they were great fun to watch. I had forgotten all about them until now. I will also check out the you tube link later as I do like Artie Shaw also.
Thanks once again for an interesting post to brighten my saturday evening.
Angela M.

[andyg0404]

Hi,

Glad you both enjoyed the post. If anyone is interested in the old radio programs I've mentioned, there are a number of sources for tapes of the old shows. This link is for one of the best and has thousands of broadcasts, listed by artist, chronologically, which for me is the best way to listen as you can "watch" the artist developing his routine and cast. For instance I listen to Jack Benny and they have the first shows that Phil Harris and then Dennis Day appeared in. The only disappointment is that there are shows missing and some of them are truncated. But that's mostly the very early shows from the 1930's. This is the link. http://otrrlibrary.org/index.html

Andy G.

[Sisiam]

I have always been a fan of both Jack Benny and Burns & Allen.  The transition from radio to TV was especially good on The Burns & Allen Show.  George leaning against the proscenium of the set and making comments about was had happened or about was was going to happen was brilliant.  And Gracie's verbal and visual comedic skills were unmatched by anyone else short of Lucille Ball.

[andyg0404]

And sometimes George would watch the show on television upstairs in his den, along with the viewers. In one episode I remember, he is watching what's going on and Harry Morton comments something to the effect that George seems to always know what they're doing. Immediately the phone rings and when Harry picks it up, it's George confirming that to be true.

[Sisiam]

A brilliant use of the medium!

[alison]

Now that you mention it, I vaguely remember George watching the program on TV.  Many years later Mel Brooks did a similar thing in Spaceballs, where they were watching the video of the movie as part of the movie.  Here's the point where they are watching now.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNIwlRClHsQ" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNIwlRClHsQ</a>

[Betty]

Congratulations! You're our first user to notice that we can now embed you-tube directly in our posts, & figured out how to do it.

[alison]

Thanks, Betty.  Yes, I noticed the ability to embed the videos on another thread you did, and tried it here with the same bbcode tags as I use on another forum.  When it worked in the preview, I figured it would also work on the post.