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14 September 2019

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

 The Straw Hat Song (1955)

Unfamiliar with this week's song. Hear it here.

1) In this song, Desi Arnaz encourages us to laugh and sing instead of concentrating on our troubles. Is this an approach to life you could adopt? Or are you a worrier?

Ned tells me I have a negative personality and am a drama queen, so I guess I'm a worrier.

2) Because Desi's public persona was carefree, people are often surprised to learn his early life was hard. In 1933, his wealthy family was targeted by Cuban revolutionaries. Their home was destroyed and were forced to flee the country. In Miami, they lived in a warehouse and 16-year-old Desi helped support the family by cleaning cages for the man who sold canaries outside a drugstore. Think about your friends and acquaintances. Whose life story turned out to be very different than you originally thought?

I knew that my boss at UC Berkeley had fled Austria as Hitler was coming to power but until I found an extensive interview with him on a Holocaust site on YouTube, I didn't know the whole story behind his escape.  Much more complicated than I realized.

3) While still in his teens, Desi got his first job as an entertainer. As a boy in Cuba, he expected to be a lawyer, not a musician. He only began playing guitar because he noticed girls like musicians and he liked girls. Tell us about a hobby of yours, and what inspired you to pick it up.

I decided, on a whim, to take a cake decorating class because I always loved making fancy cakes for our kids.  I ended up becoming "semi-professional," i.e., I made cakes for lots of people in town since the only bakery in town at that time was Safeway, and I even worked in a new bakery a friend opened until she could find a "real" cake decorator.  I was very proud of the cakes I made!

This cake takes 8 hrs to make

4) He discovered he was not only a talented musician but a natural leader. By the tender age of 19, he had organized The Desi Arnaz Orchestra and they were performing in Miami hotels. Have you ever been a boss? If so, did you enjoy it?

I was the office manager for the medical office where I started as a transcriptionist.  I am of two minds about it.  I liked having the "power" to make decisions, didn't like having the responsibility.  Ultimately I lost the job because they said they needed someone with a degree, which I did not have (the office had been taken over by a big medical group).  They needed someone immediately.  It took a year and four different temporary managers before they found someone.

5) When he was 23, he went to Hollywood to try his hand at movies and met a 28 year old actress named Lucille Ball. In Hollywood back in 1940, it was considered embarrassing for a woman to date a younger man. Their initial attraction was so powerful she quickly got over it. Do you think age matters when it comes to romance?

Generally speaking no, unless you're talking about ridiculous age differences.

6) Desi was the first person to call that famous redhead "Lucy." Throughout her entire life, friends, family and coworkers always referred to her as "Lucille," as she preferred. But Desi insisted on "Lucy." He said that name was his and his alone. Ironically it became the way the world referred to her. Do you have a pet name for anyone?

I always called my friend Gilbert "Gilbert," though everyone else called him Gil.  I have a hard time calling other people "Gilbert" and prefer to call them "Gil."  For me there was only one "Gilbert."

7) Lucille and Desi named their son and daughter after themselves. Were you named after anyone?

My aunt Barbara.  They were going to call me Barbara but decided it would be too confusing to have 2 Barbaras in the family, so named me Beverly, which was her middle name.  Interestingly, when Paul's best friend Kag and his wife had a baby boy, Kag wanted to name him after Paul--but Kag's real name is Paul, so they gave him the middle name of "Travis," which was the role Robert DeNiro played in Taxi Driver, Paul's favorite movie.

8) Desi was the founding force behind Desilu. One of the first great production studios of the television age, Desilu grossed $15 million in 1957 (more than $135 million in today's dollars). He credited his success to his unconventional and creative approach to problems. Are you a good problem solver?

Not nearly all that good now.  (I don't know if I ever was)

9) Random question: Who annoys you more, a know-it-all or an ignoramus?

A know it all ignoramus, like the man in the White House.  I think a "know it all" is more annoying because a true "ignoramus" can't help what s/he doesn't know...unless he tries to become a "know it all" about it" (again, the man in the White House.)
 

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Opening night, The Lamplighters' Patience

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