Just the way I like it

The Wanderer

 

-The Women-

Let’s face it, after all the loves of my life, it’s easy to start right here when it comes to what makes me tick.

    GIRLS  GIRLS  GIRLS !

                           and sunsets

 

Chantilly lace, a pretty face, and a ponytail hanging down………

a wiggle in her walk, a giggle in her talk……….makes my world go round!

A big eyed girl with green or gold eyes and a far away look within them……….

WHAT SOME OF MY FAVORITE WOMEN HAVE:

Betty Davis’s eyes

And Natalie Wood’s tears 

Audrey Hepburn’s smile 

And Jane Mansfield’s body

Karen Carpenter’s voice

And Cyd Charisse’s dancing

Elizabeth Taylor’s acting 

And Grace Kelly’s style

Ann Margaret’s sassy

And Barbara Streisand’s ballads

Judy Garland’s heart and soul

And Virginia Woolf’s writings

Lastly, Artemisia Gentileschi’s paintings

And Mother Theresa’s Faith

Mother Theresa said: “No color, no religion, no nationality should come between us, we are all children of God.”

 

My First Movie Theater Boner

I can remember it like it was yesterday. We were in Radio City for a Sunday matinee. You see, all through the sixties, my pop would take the entire family once or twice a year to see a movie at Radio City Music Hall. Pop really enjoyed the movies, and it was a brilliant way to keep his large young family of rascals quiet and contented.  And, these movies were absolutely magnificent on a tremendously huge curved screen. They called it: “Sense-A-Round”.

I was 10 going on 18 in 1963 and the movie was “Bye Bye Birdie”. When Ann Margaret sings “How Lovely To Be A Woman” while in her bedroom changing from her school clothes into a sweater and jeans, and all the time bouncing on her bed, I was in a very happy place. Good thing movie theaters were dark and extremely comfortable even back then. We were sitting in the 6th or 7th row and I was dead center! It seemed like Ann Margaret was changing her clothes as I lay beneath her bouncing body. Need I say more?

There were so many memorable trips to Radio City. I was just 6-7 when I saw Stephen Boyd, the mighty Messala, get trampled to death by a 4-horse drawn chariot; and, Charlton Heston, Judah Ben-Hur, win the most hair raising and absolutely terrifying chariot race ever filmed. The tremendous curved screen made this race come off the stage and into my lap.

The Sound Of Music, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, Goldfinger, The Pink Panther, The Bridge Over The River Kwai, Lawrence Of Arabia, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Lord Jim, Gigot and My Fair Lady are all movies my parents took me to see in Radio City Music Hall. This was an event that always made me “tick”. It also helped make the “60’s” my favorite and most memorable decade.

Favorite Movies and Performances

Albert Finney as Scrooge and Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates. Fredric March as Al, Dana Andrews as Fred and Harold Russell as Homer in “The Best Years of Our Lives”

Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick in “The Days of Wine and Roses” and other Jack Lemmon movies like “The Apartment”, “Mister Roberts”, “Some Like it Hot” and “Save The Tiger”

Paul Newman in “Cool Hand Luke”, “The Sting”, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, “Hud”, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “The Color of Money”

Kirk Douglas in “Spartacus”, “Lonely Are The Brave”, “Paths of Glory” and “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”

Dustin Hoffman in “The Graduate”, “Little Big Man”, “Midnight Cowboy”, “Papillon”, “Kramer vs. Kramer”, “Marathon Man” and “Tootsie”

Natalie Wood in “The Great Race”, “This Property is Condemned”, “Splendor in the Grass” and “West Side Story”

Peter Sellers in “Dr. Strangelove”, “There’s a Girl in my Soup”, “Murder by Death”, “The Pink Panther” and “The Magic Christian”

Jack Nicholson in “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”, “Chinatown”, “The Departed” and “The Shining”

Steve McQueen in “Papillon”, “Bullitt”, “The Great Escape”, “The Getaway”, “The Magnificent Seven”, “Hell is for Heroes” and “Baby the Rain Must Fall”

Marlon Brando in “The Wild One”, “On The Waterfront”, “Guys And Dolls” and “The Godfather”

Charles Bronson in “The Magnificent Seven”, “The Mechanic”, “The Dirty Dozen”, “Breakout”, “Rider on the Rain” and “Once Upon a Time in the West”

Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, “Sabrina”, “Charade”, “My Fair Lady” and “Funny Face”

Humphrey Bogart in “Casablanca”, “The African Queen”, “The Big Sleep”, “The Caine Mutiny”, “Sabrina” and “The Desperate Hours”

Peter O’Toole in “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Lord Jim”, “The Sandpiper” and “How to Steal a Million” with Audrey Hepburn

Robert De Niro in “Raging Bull”, “The Godfather Part II”, “The Deer Hunter”, “Once Upon a Time in America” and “Falling in Love” with Meryl Streep

Elizabeth Taylor in “Giant”, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, “A Place in the Sun”, “Cleopatra”, “Raintree County”, “Little Women”, “Father of the Bride”, “Jane Eyre”, “National Velvet”, “The Taming of the Shrew”, “Suddenly Last Summer”, and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

Tony Curtis in “Operation Petticoat”, “Spartacus”, “Trapeze”, “Some Like It Hot” with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, “The Boston Strangler”, “Houdini”, “The Defiant Ones”, “The Great Imposter”, “The List of Adrian Messenger”, “Sex and the Single Girl” and “The Great Race”

Cyd Charisse in “Black Tights”, “Party Girl”, “Silk Stockings” and “Brigadoon”

Betty Davis in “All About Eve”, “Dark Victory”, “The Man Who Came to Dinner”, “Pocket Full of Miracles” with Glenn Ford and “Now, Voyager”

Robert Mitchum in “Crossfire”, “Out of the Past”, “Cape Fear” with Gregory Peck, “The Longest Day”, and “The Enemy Below”

Other great performances like Michael Caine and Lawrence Olivier in “Sleuth”, Anthony Perkins in “Fear Strikes Out”, Barbara Streisand in “The Way We Were”, Al Pacino in “Dog Day Afternoon”and “Serpico”, Bruce Willis in “The Twelve Monkeys” and “Pulp Fiction”, Kim Novak in “Bell, Book and Candle” and “Vertigo” with Jimmy Stewart and “Picnic” with William Holden, Charlton Heston in “Ben Hur” and “Soylent Green”, Gary Cooper in “High Noon” and “The Pride of the Yankees”, Jimmy Stewart in “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Rear Window”, Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” and “A Star is Born”, Teresa Wright in “Shadow of a Doubt” and “The Best Years of Our Lives”, Charlize Theron in “Monster”, Jessica Lange in “The Postman Always Rings Twice” and “Frances”, Robert Redford in “The Natural” and “The Sting”, Clint Eastwood in “Dirty Harry” and “High Plains Drifter”, Richard Widmark in “No Way Out”, and “Pickup on South Street”, Glenn Ford in “3:10 to Yuma” and “Blackboard Jungle”, Faye Dunaway in “The Eyes of Laura Mars” and “Bonnie and Clyde”, Cary Grant in “Father Goose”, “North by Northwest” and “Charade”, Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Departed” and “Titanic”, Marilyn Monroe in “Bus Stop” and “The Seven Year Itch”, Frank Sinatra in “The Manchurian Candidate”, “Some Came Running” and “Pal Joey”, Spencer Tracy in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and “The Old Man and the Sea”, Gregory Peck in “Moby Dick” and “The Omen”, Warren Beatty in “The Parallax View” and “Shampoo”, William Holden in ” Sunset Blvd.” and “Stalag 17”, Burt Lancaster in “Jim Thorpe – All American” and “The Rainmaker”, Mel Brooks in “High Anxiety” and “The Twelve Chairs”, Mickey Rourke in “Diner” and “Angel Heart”, Jane Fonda in “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”, “Klute” and “The China Syndrome”, Gene Kelly in “Singin in the Rain”, An American in Paris” and “On The Town”, Robert Preston in “The Music Man” and “Victor/Victoria”, John Travalta in “Michael” and “Pulp Fiction”, Walter Matthau in “Hopscotch”, “The Odd Couple” and “Charley Varrick”, Richard Gere in “Internal Affairs” and “Days of Heaven”, The Marx Brothers in “Duck Soup”, “Monkey Business” and “Cocoanuts”, Abbott and Costello in “Buck Privates Come Home”, “Hold That Ghost” and “Abott and Costello Meet Frankenstein”, John Favreau and Vince Vaughn in “Swingers” and “Made”, Robin Williams in “Good Morning Vietnam” and “Aladdin”, Ben Stiller in “The Heartbreak Kid” and “Flirting With Disaster”, Jerry Lewis in “The Nutty Professor”, “The Bellboy” and “The Patsy”, George Segal in “Where’s Poppa” and “A Touch of Class”, Griffin Dunne in “After Hours” and  Steve Martin in “The Jerk”……….JUST TO MENTION A FEW ! 

The Music of My Soul

Give me the “MOODY BLUES” and any of their albums or live performances. I’m a “Moody Blues” fan club member and have seen them 7 times to date. And yes, I will be seeing Justin Hayward once again Saturday night October 2nd, 2021 on Long Island, N.Y. .

After that, Elvis, Elton John, The Beatles, Neil Young, Cat Stevens, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Dion, and Neil Diamond round out the top 10!

Soul, give me Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Ray Charles, Diana Ross, The Delfonics,The Stylistics, The Temptations and Earth, Wind & Fire.

Jazz, I’ll take Tom Grant, Art Tatum or Dave Brubeck on keyboards and Pat Matheny, Wes Montgomery or George Benson on guitar, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Al Jarreau and Nina Simone on vocals, Charlie Parker, Stanley Turrentine, Stan Getz and Sonny Rollins on sax, and Gene Krupa on the drums.

Country, I’m old school, give me Charlie Rich, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Conway Twitty, Glen Cambell, Marty Robbins, John Denver, Skeeter Davis and Reba McEntire to name a few.

 MY FAVORITE ALBUMS:

1) The Seventh Sojourn (The Moody Blues)

2) Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)

3) Behind Closed Doors (Charlie Rich)

4) Tea For The Tillerman (Cat Stevens)

5) Deja Vu (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)

6) Songs in the Key of Life (Stevie Wonder)

7) Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles)

8) The Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd)

9) The Stranger (Billy Joel)

10) Harvest (Neil Young)

Favorite Songs

1) New Horizons (The Moody Blues)

2) Old Man (Neil Young)

3) Oh Girl (The Chi-Lites)

4) I Dreamed Last Night (The Blue Jays) 

5) Sunday Kind of Woman (Charlie Rich)

6) Take A Pebble (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)

7) Silver Stallion (The Highwaymen)

8) Holding on to Yesterday (Ambrosia)

9) Locomotive Breath (Jethro Tull)

10) Where do the Children Play (Cat Stevens)

11) Country Girl (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)

12) Tonight  (George Michael) and (Elton John)

13) Kentucky Rain (Elvis Presley)

14) Superstar (The Carpenters)

15) Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (Elton John)

16) Old and Wise (Alan Parsons Project) 

17) Time (Pink Floyd)

18) Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (Billy Joel)

19) I Used To Be A Brooklyn Dodger (Dion)

20) Send Her My Love (Journey)

21) Another Star (Stevie Wonder)

22) Moonshadow (Cat Stevens)

23) Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (Paul McCartney)

24) Poor Side of Town (Johnny Rivers)

25) If You Don’t Know Me by Now (Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes)

26) Young Girl (Gary Pucket and the Union Gap)

27) Stand Tall (Burton Cummings)

28) Sing Me Home (Kenny Loggins)

29) Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)

30) What is Life (George Harrison)

JUST TO NAME A FEW………

BEST DECADE: The Sixties / BEST YEAR: 1969 / BEST ACHIEVEMENT: Earning  Series 7, 31, 63 & 65, as well as, Life and Health Insurance Licenses in 1998 / BEST MOMENT: The first of my four grandchildren, Tommy, is born 10/08/2009.

 

FINALLY

 

True love of amusement parks and fast Roller Coasters

Watching Evil Knievel jump cars, buses, over rattlesnakes, or a pool of sharks, etc.

The 69 Mets especially Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman  // The 86 Mets especially my favorite, Sid Fernandez, the true World Series savior.  “*FU* Vin Scully” !!!

The Super Bowl winning Giants of 1986, 1990, *2007*, and 2011.

The Rangers of 1993-94 – Stanley Cup Champions.

The 1969-70 and 1972-73 Knickerbockers.

Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicholas, and Tiger Woods on many magnificent Sunday Afternoons.

Willie Mays, Lawrence Taylor, Willis Reed, Wayne Gretsky, Tom Seaver, Eli Manning, Henrik Lundqvist and A.J. Foyt.

Superman, Captain Kangaroo, Popeye, Bonanza, Mission Impossible, You Asked For It, Night Gallery, The Wild, Wild West, Star Trek, Wanted Dead or Alive and The Twilight Zone.

“Pluck your magic Twanger, Froggy!” and Midnight the cat.

 

Let YouTube play a couple of the songs I listed that you might not remember or possibly never even heard.                                   T*pster smilin at yas……………………….