"Victim" with Dirk Bogarde (1961)

Here is a highly provocative and interesting English film from 1961. "The Victim" stars Dirk Bogarde as a successful Barrister, with high morals as well as a past which is not quite behind him. It begins in such a way which mirrors the secrecy which surrounded the issue at the time, and as a result you are left wondering just what it is that the young victim "Boy Barrett, played by Peter McEnery, is running from. Dennis Price also co-stars in his role as a closeted stage actor.

Married, sucessful and certain to be elevated to the House of Lords, he faces a choice, either stay silent, or risk destroying his comfortable and repected life to stand up for what is morally right.

This film was made at a time when homosexuality was a crime in England, just as it was here in America, and it raises many questions. What is the nature of these "criminals"? And who is the bigger threat to society? The blackmail victims; albeit  "lawbreakers", or the blackmailers themselves?

When Barrister Farr (played by Bogarde) begins to stand up for principles, questions are raised about how far things can go without hurting society; or himself. This is a fascinating film from whichever perspective you view it. And seeing it over 60 years after it's release, makes it even more so.

It's Only Me- Chapter 25- Licensed

By February of 1984 I obtained my Third Officers License for any tons in any ocean. I went to New York for a week to finish up the Radar Certification before shipping out for what would be my last voyage. I would be working once again on the USNS Sirius.

It was hard to leave Baltimore as Sue and I had been enjoying our new relationship. We ate at Danny's, the best restaurant in Baltimore at the time. I wore ripped jeans and a tee shirt but the old couple that owned the place graciously seated us anyway. Our waiter was a bit odd, being drunk the whole time he served us. At one point he even sat down with us! A few days later we saw the ad in the paper looking for a new waiter at Danny's.

Just before I shipped out we saw "The King and I" with Yul Bryner. This was before his last tour a few years later when he was ill, so he was still in top form. We had 10th row center seats. It was truly wonderful.

But still, lurking in the background was the fact that Sue was engaged to this other guy named Ben. I had been aware of him since Sue and I spent our first weekend together and he lent her his car. Since that time they had become engaged. But we were still spending all our spare time together.

On the 2nd of March I flew to Alicante, Spain on what is known as the Costa del Sol. It was a peaceful little town and there was an historic aspect to my arrival as well. Franco,the Dictator, had died several years earlier and now Juan Carlos was King.

Due to the proximity of Spain to Morocco (the Straits of Gibraltar are less than 10 miles wide)there had always been a large amount of hashish and heroin available on the streets. This caused some problems for law enforcement and so Juan Carlos decriminilized the possession and use of these controlled substances. My arrival coincided with this change.

It was like a huge street party- everyone was smoking everywhere under the watchful eyes of the Federal Police, who at that time wore 3 cornered hats similar to the ones worn during our Revolutionary War. It lent a Sgt. Pepper aspect to the occasion.

We left Spain and worked the Med again for several months. The highlight of this trip was our stopover in England. We were to be at the Navy Yard in Portsmouth for 2 weeks. Ironically this was the original homeport of our ship. The United States had only purchased her 3 years earlier from Britian.

England was wonderful. It was early spring, April, and all the gardens were just blooming. The cottages and houses along the shore of Portsmouth were absolutley beautiful. There was a fish and chips place that stayed open until 2 in the morning and they made quite a bit of money serving all the hungry sailors returning from liberty after a night of drinking.

I arranged to take a trip to London by rail. To do this I had to switch watches with a couple of guys. Doing this would give me 4 days in London to walk about and see things.

The train trip was pretty cool- we had one of those compartments like you see in "A Hard Days Night" or "The Lady Vanishes." I was with a couple of other crew members and we were smoking some hash when an English fellow came in and sat down. We were stymied- surley he could smell that we had been smoking, and also he had to notice the cupped hands holding barely concealed pipes. Breaking the awkward silence I asked. "Do you mind if we smoke?" He replied that he did not mind. I asked again, "Well, we're smoking hashish- do you mind?" His reply was classic- "Young man-you will find that in Britian we don't care what you do as long as you do it quietly."

When we arrived in London I split from the group as they planned on roving the Pubs which didn't hold that much interest for me. I wanted to do my usual walk about town and see and hear and smell the place. So I did.

I took a room at the Savoy on the Strand which parallels the Thames. My first surprise was no shower in my room- just a bath! The other surprise was that everything closed by 1 AM. This was a shock as I had always heard about "Swinging London" and expected it to be different.

The walks about town were wonderful and I bought some gifts to bring home at the shops near the Strand. I also got my haircut. This was at the time of Punk Rock and green Mohawks. The woman who cut my hair asked me "What color will you be having then?" I replied, "Mousey brown" and so nothing needed to be done.

After 3 days I was ready to head back to Portsmouth. Due to my trading watches I would have the midwatch on the eve of our departure. This would turn into one of the most magical nights I would have for a long time.

Arriving back at Sirius I slept a bit, ate and then at midnight I took the watch on the Quarterdeck. In about 5 minutes the phone rang and I answered it, "USNS Sirius, Quarterdeck, Williams speaking, this is not a secure line, may I help you?"

A womans voice answered and asked what time the ship was leaving. I told her that I was not permitted to say. We bantered back and forth for a bit and long story short, we spoke for the entire 4 hours I was on watch. At 3:45 AM I was relieved but stayed on the phone a few minutes longer. The woman wanted to meet! Her husband was an engineer working in Saudi Arabia and she was lonely.

Now I had heard of this sort of thing before- women calling the ships and teasing a guy into taking a fruitless and expensive cab ride to nowhere, or to a place where you could be robbed. But I figured that I would chance it. We were due to leave at 8 AM and this would be my last chance to go ashore for another 2 weeks or so. So I went down the gangway and woke the cab driver at the gate to the Navy Yard and off we went into the English countryside. Tallyho!

I spoke with the driver and he agreed to wait a moment or two after dropping me off just in case this was all a hoax. I had figured all along that if it was I would still get to drive around a bit before sailing and maybe snag a quick English breakfast before heading back to the ship. Nothing ventured, nothing lost- or gained. When we arrived after about 20 minutes of driving I got out. As I did the door to the house opened and silhouetted in the doorway was a beautifully proportioned woman! (I only remark on this as she had told me on the phone that she was overweight.)We spoke for a moment at the door and she invited me in. I signalled the driver that it was okay to go.

We chatted a bit, she was a Chiropodist, and then I heard movement in another room and was a little bit worried. She sensed this and informed me that it was her son. Her son was about 17 and huge! So I decided we should go for a drive. She asked if I had seen the sunrise on the beach and I said I hadn't. So we went for a drive and sat in her little car on the beach and by the time the sun was coming up we were both very contented.

Looking at the time I grew frantic! I had no idea where we were in relation to the ship and knew that 8 AM was only a mere 30 minutes away! I explained this to her and she said not to worry as we left the beach and headed to the Navy Yard.

I was out of that car like a shot! Running through the gate and showing my ID I could already see that lines were being singled up and the ship being readied for departure. I got aboard just as they were preparing to raise the gangway and hurried to my post at the helm.

Phone lines were about to be disconnected when the phone rang. The Captain picked it up and listened a bit before saying, "I'm sorry Miss but Williams is at the helm." After a bit of silence he spoke into the phone again, "Yes M'aam, I'll be sure to tell him." Hanging up the phone he turned to me and said, "That is the first time in 30 years of sailing that I have ever had a woman call to say thanks! Now, Mind Your Helm!" Within minutes the tugs would have us in the channel and we were headed back out to sea and our return to the States.

After a 2 week working voyage we arrived in Norfolk and Sue came to visit. This would become a habit- she would fly down to Norfolk every few weeks and we would spend time together.

Around this time- May of 1984, my Mom began to deteriorate at a rapid pace. She had battled so many illnesses for so many years that she was now about 80 pounds. There was nothing further that could be done to prolong her life. It was, as they say, just a matter of time.

I was driving a cab at night in Norfolk, mostly as a way to kill time between watches aboard Sirius. I was sleeping very little and it showed. One night I was driving through Virginia Beach when I was pulled over for swerving. I was high and tired looking so the cop assumed I was stoned. I told him I always looked that way. When he saw my license he exclaimed, "You really do look like that!" He gave me a verbal warning.

At the beginning of June I went to visit my Mom in New York and we settled any remaining differences between us. There were not too many left. Over the years at sea I had called her from many of the ports in the places that she loved and during those conversations all our past differences were erased. 5 weeks after I saw her last I received a call via Police Radio in my cab that my Mom had died.

Getting home should have been easy. But it wasn't. I had a Captain who was a prick. He actually tried to stop me from going to the funeral without prior Red Cross authorization, which is usually asked only of Active Duty Military personnel. His remarks to me that "It's not my fault that your people bury so quickly" inflamed me!

I called Congressman Steve Solarz office, he represented my Congressional District and was a family friend. I had worked for his earlier campaigns for State Assembly. A call from his office to Military Sealift Command Atlantic got immediate results, as I knew it would. But I can't tell you how the Captain reacted to it- I was already on a plane to New York.

At home for the funeral I was comforted by the fact that my Mom had finally found peace. And now, with her death, I was expecting to find peace too.

"Witness For The Prosecution" with Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich and Tyrone Power

This is an adaptation of the Agatha Christie play written for the screen and directed by Billy Wilder. The story is a murder trial in London at the close of the Second World War.

Charles Laughton stars as the beleaguered and aging Barrister Sir Wilfrid, who has just been released from the hospital. He is recovering from a severe heart attack and cannot take on any more important and exciting cases. A private nurse, played by Elsa Lanchester, follows him about to ensure that he takes his pills and does not smoke his favorite cigars. Much of the film has him outwitting her efforts.(Laughton and Manchester were real life husband and wife.)

Tyrone Power plays an innocent man accused of a capital crime. He meets and befriends an elderly widow who turns up dead one week after having named him heir to her estate. The only person who can provide him with an alibi is his wife, Marlene Dietrich, who plays her character with an icy coldness. She claims that her marriage to Leonard Vole (Power) was a sham and this allows her testimony to be used against her husband, much to his detriment.

Billy Wilder drew remarkable performances from both Tyrone Power and Marlene Dietrich. Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester are superb in their respective roles and the whole production is flawless.

Ultimately setting her husband free with false testimony and a surprise witness, the ending is explosive as the full realization of what has transpired is laid bare before your eyes. In a climactic scene worthy of Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder pulls off an ending in which the schemers become their own victims.

With one of the best courtroom scenes ever filmed, this is a movie not to be missed.

"Did She Kill Him" by Kate Colquhoun (2014)

This is Kate Colquhoun’s long awaited “next” book. It will be out in bookstores and available on line this Thursday October 16^th. Long time readers here will remember her 2011 smash “Murder in the First Class Carriage”, an account of a true life crime which I compared to an Agatha Christie whodunit. Well, get ready to enjoy her latest release “Did She Kill Him”.

This is the story of the case which has become known as the “Maybrick Mystery”. Although the action is set in Liverpool, the Maybrick Mystery was as widely celebrated (an odd term for a possible murder) at the time as the infamous Jack the Ripper case was in London. Both events occurred around the same time; in 1889. But there all similarity between the two ceases.

Not only location, but social circumstances made the two episodes vastly different in nature; each with its own set of characters. The problem for Florence Maybrick was that the characters in her drama were so familiar to most people in Britain at the time, that it was easy for the public to conjure up a villain in her. Class and privilege; and the attendant gulf between the servants and the served; these were just part of the reason why Mrs. Maybrick was found guilty of killing her husband, James Maybrick; a well-known cotton trader from Liverpool; by slowly poisoning him with arsenic.

Mr. Maybrick was about 20 years older than his American born wife; the two met while aboard a ship bound for Britain from America. Encouraged by Florence’s social climbing mother, the Baroness von Roques, the two are soon wed. They were both looking for financial security; he with a seemingly financially stable American; her with a seemingly successful merchant. They were both wrong in their assessment of the other.

Florence was a slightly spoiled young woman; think along the lines of Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone with the Wind” and you wouldn’t be too far off target. She was a spendthrift and soon accumulated a good bit of debt which she kept hidden from her husband. He had life insurance which would have left her well off if he died.

For his part he was not the well to do merchant he appeared to be. A failing crop in America and a bad investment in what amounted to today’s “futures” trading left him strapped for ready cash. And keeping up appearances with a large house and staff only drove him further behind financially. But appearances in Victorian England were important; important enough that to not keep them up could mean financial ruin in business. And, he was also addicted to eating arsenic.

Arsenic eating dates back centuries. Ms. Colquhoun uses the Styrian peoples of what is present day Austria to illustrate the history of this odd; and deadly; practice. Introduced at a young age to arsenic the body will adapt to it; although with some discomfort; but then the problem really first begins. In order to not die from the arsenic already ingested, the user needs more and more to stay alive. To stop would be death. And yet, to continue will eventually do the same.

The servants in the Maybrick home offer a window into the lower end of the social strata at a time when England; along with the rest of the world; was changing. Domestics, who used to have only one way to make a living, now had opportunities in factories, with  jobs made available by the Industrial Revolution; and in trade, at jobs which had been previously been off limits to them by custom. Their loyalty towards their employers was not as solid as it had been in former times. The class system was crumbling.

When James Maybrick took ill his doctors were baffled; yet in spite of knowing about his propensity to take various poisons they did nothing. As a matter of fact they gave him more in the form of the insidious concoctions they prescribed. In essence they were only making things worse.

When Mr. Maybrick dies from his illness, a series of seemingly innocent actions on the part of Florence Maybrick become the basis for the theory that she killed him by poisoning him with arsenic. A bottle of medicine innocently moved from one place to another becomes just one of many apparent “clues” which were all missed until her husband had died and an explanation was needed. After all, it couldn’t have been the doctors fault.

In this atmosphere a love note from Florence to another cotton trader; who was an acquaintance of her husband’s; becomes a log thrown on the fire as Florence finds herself the victim of circumstances that ultimately lead to her being sentenced to prison for her husband’s death. The only real evidence is circumstantial, and yet she is found guilty.

But the real question brought forth by Ms. Colquhoun is this; what was really on trial here? An outmoded society in which respectable women were relegated to lives like Nora’s in Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”? Or was it the “New Woman” which Florence may have represented to some?

In the end all the medical evidence pointed against James Maybrick having even died from an overdose of arsenic; accidental or otherwise; in the first place. There simply was not enough arsenic in his body to explain his death. That is, unless someone withheld the drug from him. And even that explanation then leads to the question of whether that deprivation was done by design, or out of caution.

A good mystery is one which can’t be solved. And in this book Ms. Colquhoun has presented us with a timeless parlor game; one which can be played for decades and never be truly solved. It is extensively annotated with a Bibliography and chapter by chapter notes on the sources. There is also a very helpful list of People that serves as a cast of characters. In short, this book was all I expected it to be and more.

And, with her steady style and keen sense of history, Ms. Colquhoun has done a superb job of both chronicling the Maybrick Case; keeping the mystery alive for future generations; while also addressing the social inequities which may have played a part in the whole sordid affair.  This is the mark of a truly gifted writer.

For the Rooftop Review of Ms. Colquhoun’s previous book, “Murder in First Class Carriage”, use this link;

http://robertwilliamsofbrooklyn.blogspot.com/2011/12/murder-in-first-class-carriage-by-kate.html

And for more information on the release of "Did She Kill Him" see this link;

www.overlookpress.com

And to order any of Ms. Colquhoun’s previous books, go to;

http://www.amazon.com/Kate-Colquhoun/e/B001JRXCS0#

"I'll Never Find Another You" - The Seekers Live (1968)

The Seekers were one of those groups from the early 1960’s who were acceptable to the younger and older viewers on Sunday night TV shows, such as Ed Sullivan, or the more edgy Smother’s Brothers Comedy Hour. The truth of that statement is in this video from a July, 1968 performance at the BBC in London. They had been singing the song for about 5 or 6 years already, since before the Vietnam War had really begun in earnest, dividing a generation.

The Seekers were able to bridge that divide with their beautiful harmonies and a non-threatening selection of material, which usually included songs about love, family and flowers. Who, on either side of the day’s political issues could argue with that? This was the group that parents loved, saying such things as “Why don’t those other groups sing like that?” We kids would roll our eyes, thinking, “They just don’t get it, do they?” But, still, there was something unifying about these songs. They could be sung in the car with the family. That doesn’t happen much anymore. I mean, my folks never could remember the words to “In a Gadda Da Vida Baby.”

Though most folks think of The Seekers, and this record, as American folk music, both really Australian in origin, having formed there in 1962. The song itself is an adaptation of that genre. Even the original recording of the record was done at Abbey Road studios in London, in November 1964, at just about the same time the Beatles had finished working on “Beatles for Sale”,  which had been recorded there and was scheduled for release only weeks later. “I’ll Never Find Another You”; composed by Tom Springfield; became The Seekers first #1 hit in the United Kingdom and America.

Though the original group disbanded in the late 1960’s, the New Seekers were formed in 1969, and they continue to unite generations with this wonderful song.

"The Great Pearl Heist" by Molly Caldwell Crosby (2012)

100 years ago today a string of the world’s most valuable pearls, arranged in a necklace, left Paris for an overnight journey to London. It was sent by Solomans, one of the world’s leading jewelers of the day, to a jeweler named Max Meyer. The pearls never arrived at their destination.

The story of the heist; and the men who pulled it off; is set like a gemstone by the author in a narrative that depicts the final years of the Victorian Era just as the Edwardian Era dawns. Europe was in an upheaval which would lead to world war, and the old aristocracy was beginning to crumble. In many ways, it was the beginning of the end for the British Empire.

Joseph Grizzard, also known as “Cammi” in the criminal underworld, was the mastermind of the whole affair. From humble beginnings in the East End of London, he rose to be a respected gentleman. He had but one flaw; he was a thief of the first order. He had been involved in some of the most notorious crimes of the era; never violent crimes; this man was no Jack the Ripper. He was a jewel thief, and now he had his sights set on the biggest prize of his lifetime.

With a very skilled hand, Ms. Crosby guides the reader through the London known to many as a labyrinth of criminal characters, while at the same time drawing upon the history of crime in the city. So much of this book will remind the reader of “Oliver Twist”, as it takes place in the same crowded quarter of the city as that story did. Indeed, Dickens used to walk these streets in search of inspiration for his books. All of this only serves to make the book more enjoyable, as it lends a familiarity to the locations, drawing the reader further in.

The book is not only the story of this one particular crime, but also a history of crime detection techniques and their rise in use during the early years of the last century. From fingerprints to profiling, this was the era in which it all began. New York already had its Rogues Gallery of mug shots, and Scotland Yard had fingerprints. They also had a cadre of undercover policemen, dressed as tramps, thieves, even prostitutes, in an attempt to penetrate the criminal underworld of the day.

In addition, the author takes the time to develop the histories of each of the principal characters, giving them a depth which makes them more “real” to the reader. In turn, that knowledge is translated into admiration, or pity, for the people involved in the story itself. It may sound easy to do; but it’s not.

As to the case itself; Joseph Grizzard was caught; albeit by other thieves looking to cash in on the reward; but the double crosses and deceits come quickly in this book, so you need to pay attention. To that end, Ms. Crosby has prefaced the book with a wonderfully arranged list of principal characters, as well as a short introduction of the necklace itself.

Also included, in the very first chapter, is a breathtaking description of just how pearls were harvested by natives who would attach themselves to heavy stones and then plunge 100 feet below the surface, holding their breath while they gathered as many of the oyster shells as they could hold, before cutting themselves loose for the sudden ascent to the surface. Some made it, others did not. And, with only 1 of about every 200 shells likely to yield a pearl, they were just as rare; and more perfect than diamonds. Even the best diamonds need to be cut. Pearls are perfect as is.

Grizzard was eventually charged and convicted of the heist; mostly due to the work of Chief Inspector Alfred Ward of Scotland Yard, with a bit of help from some seedy characters looking for the reward. And after he was released from prison in 1920, he went on to do one more heist, this time using a front man with whom he provided the cash necessary to gain the confidence of a local jeweler. Then, after several cash purchases,  when that confidence was secure, he had his front man purchase a necklace worth more than he had already spent in cash, paying for that final purchase with a bogus check.

Sick and weak from diabetes, Grizzard was convicted of this last crime and  allowed to serve his sentence at home, dying there from the effects of diabetes. He passed away on September 11, 1923, the exact day; as the author points out; when insulin first became available to fight the disease that killed him.

Only one pearl; the largest; was ever recovered from the Great Pearl Heist. It was the centerpiece which hung at the bottom of the necklace. It had originally belonged to a Royal family from Portugal before making it's way to Max Mayer's necklace.

If you love true crime stories, seedy characters right out of Charles Dickens, along with foggy London streets and overnight train trips to Paris; this book is everything you could hope for.  

"Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad" - Jerry Lee Lewis (1983)

Jerry Lee Lewis grew up in a religious atmosphere. His two cousins; the legendary Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart,  also made their fortunes entertaining people using the gospel; Mickey as a performer, and  Jimmy as a preacher; entertaining people in his own unique way. But  Jerry Lee took a slightly different path, and wound up entertaining people by playing rock and roll, with gospel music, also making a fortune in the bargain. See the difference? Neither do I.

This recording of the iconic country ballad “Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad” was evidently inspired by Mr. Lewis knowing the song; which was written in 1890; coupled with his having just recently seen the TV movie “Mr. Horn”, with David Carradine and Richard Widmark. That film was made for TV and later remade into the feature film “Tom Horn” with Steve McQueen. It’s the story of an overly idealistic frontiersman, cavalry scout and bounty hunter who takes things too far, and is hung for his excesses in 1903.

The book was originally written as a novel by William Goldman and found its way to television in the late 1970’s. Apparently, Mr. Lewis had seen the film and remembered the old gospel song from his youth. The song was written by a Baptist Minister named M.E. Abbey as a hymn, with the only written part being the chorus. The other lyrics were added later by Eliza R. Snow. Curiously the song was copyrighted in 1890 by Abbey and Tillman, with no mention of Ms. Snow’s contribution. The song has been a staple in country music for almost a century now, with recordings by just about everybody from the Carter Family to Linda Ronstadt.

The message in the song is pretty clear; life is like a mountain railway, with cliffs on one side and a steep wall of rock on the other. That’s the path of the “straight and narrow”. No room for error. The engineer is all of us, who must work hard at keeping the train on the track against the overwhelming obstacles which life constantly heaps in our path. And of course, there is always someone who watches over us, lending an unseen hand when the going gets too rough for us to handle.

"Life Is Like A Mountain Railroad"

Life is like a mountain railroad

With an engineer so brave

We must make this run successful

From the cradle to the grave

Watch the curves, the fills the tunnels

Never falter, never fail

Keep your hand upon the throttle

And your eye upon the rail.

Oh, blessed Savior, thou wilt guide us

Til we reach that blissful shore

Where the angels wait to join us

In God's grace forever more.

As you roll across the trestle

Spanning Jordan's swelling tide

You behold the union depot

Into which your train will glide

There you'll meet the superintendent

God the Father, God the Son

With a hearty, joyous greeting

Weary pilgrim, welcome home.

"The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" with Judi Dench (2011)

This unusually captivating movie follows the adventures of 7 English people, all elderly, who go to India; and the dilapidated Marigold Hotel, located in Jaipur, India; some to discover themselves, and others to recapture the past. Their lives become one story, concerning aging, and the changes one must accept in everything, from thinking to doing. To that end, this story has an interesting perspective on the question of whether all things really do turn out all right in the end.

Tom Wilkinson plays a retired judge with a secret. He is gay, laboring all these decades under a burden of guilt stemming from a relationship he had with an Indian man when younger. He feels that he has ruined the other man’s life, and he has kept the whole event bottled up. When he dies in India, after meeting with the man and his family, he realizes the irony of his whole life, yet dies contented when he sees that the other man has not forgotten him, and has not suffered from the affair. He has even told his wife about his feelings, underscoring what the judge has missed out on his entire life; an honest relationship. His former lover scatters his ashes with his family, and the judge’s fellow travelers, in full attendance.

There is also the widowed woman, played by Julie Dench, who goes to India for financial purposes. When her husband passes away she is forced to leave England in order to live more cheaply. By obtaining a job in a call center, she is able to help others understand that the person on the other end of the phone is a real human being, not just a script to follow in order to close the deal.

The married couple; Douglas and Jean, played by Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton; are both locked in a marriage clearly on the verge of collapse, and must come to terms with the end of their relationship. This part of the film is one that hits home for a lot of people. They are mismatched; he wants to live and explore life, while she is bitter and unhappy with the 40 years they have behind them. When she goes home without him, he is free to finally admit that the relationship never worked, and so he moves on; surprisingly with the widowed Judy Dench; with whom he has formed a close bond.

There is also the elderly woman who is a bigot, Muriel, played by Maggie Smith, who leaves for India in order to have a hip replaced cheaply. It is there that she discovers people are really all the same, regardless of class or color. When the chips are really down, she is the one who pulls it all together, having learned so much from what she has experienced.

One other woman, whose name I did not catch, plays a character who is closed off to almost everything, except finding a man to grow old with. Money is definitely an object with her. The question is will she change, learn to compromise, or continue to be whom she has always been?

The seventh person is a man, Norman Cousins, played by Ronald pickup, who is desperately trying to recapture his past romantic adventures. But, boorish as he may be, a chance encounter with a wealthy widow leads to a true romance, with the two meeting in the middle, blending their lives into one.

And, leading this whole story is the hotel’s owner, Sonny Kapoor, played by Dev Patel, the irrepressible son of a man who shares the vision of his deceased father to create a hotel in which older people can come to live out their last days; and dreams. His 2 brothers, and judgmental mother, almost scuttle the dream; but dreams die hard, and as he struggles against tradition in order to attain his vision; he has to come to terms with the judgments of others as he seeks his own center with the woman he loves, Sunaina, played with great charm by Tena Desae. But in his own words, “Everything will be all right in the end...and, if it's not all right, then it's not the end.” This film has a lot to say about living, and dying, as well as all of the things which we go through in between, and how they ultimately define who we are as individuals.

Rooftop Reviews - Society News

In an effort to remain current,we dispatched our correspondent, Stacey Redgrave, who happens to be my cousin and works cheaply, to London to cover the Royal Wedding. This postcard arrived yesterday. Notice the date and postmark. We will have to get all the details from her when she returns. The groom was an unemployed fellow by the name of William. Actually, I'm told that he is from a wealthy family. He married the elder Milligan daughter, Kate. We wish them all the best. Co-incidentally, these were the first names of my great-grandparents, William and Kate Williams. Meantime, on the local social scene, we have the following to report;

Our frog, has returned from his winter vacation home. It only took a couple of weeks, but he now comes willingly when called. He gained a bit of weight over the winter, but that's to be expected when you just lay about all day for several months. We're looking for a frog family, preferably in the area, with a young frog of their own, one who has not been in any significant trouble, to meet our frog. Who knows? They just might hit it off and make some beautiful frog music together.