TRANSITION

A grandson recently gave us the Marx Brothers DVD 'Night at the Opera'. That set off a chain reaction of memories. 'Back then' it was a standard expression to extend the right hand and flick the last three fingers like Groucho flicking the ashes from his cigar. Today the motion has degraded to the index finger.

The name 'Marx Brothers' also brought back a family memory. My maternal grandparents saw a Marx Brothers movie one afternoon; my parents the following night. Later on my grandmother asked my mother "Did Harpo play 'Silver Threads among the Gold' when you saw it?" "I'm sure he didn't change a note," my mother replied.

I thought that conversation was the most stupid thing I had ever heard until my mother gave an explanation. She said that before movies stage plays were presented a week at a time by touring companies. When there was music songs were often changed from one presentation to the next.

Incidentally my grandmother had a first cousin who was on the stage with such a 'touring company'. While on stage he used the name of Will Bingham. I Googled him and found that he toured in Ohio in the early 1900's.

I remember going to the "silent" movies with the dialog printed on the screen. One highlight day the curtains closed in front of the screen; the theater went completely dark; lights slowly came up; the curtains parted revealing the screen. An actor was standing there on the screen and he said OUT LOUD: "Hello, I am Conrad Nagle, and soon this the-ay-ter will have motion pictures in talk and sound." I believe history will show that I was constipated for a week.

Those were great times -1927-I was in the fourth grade, Lindy flew the Atlantic, Babe Ruth hit sixty home runs, and movies started to talk.

And to the one who gave us the DVD : Hope you will see as many changes - most for the better - as I have.