QUARANTINE BLOG # 94

July 2, 2020

Well, I missed it, and I apologize.  Yesterday was “Bobby Bonilla Day” and I did not give you appropriate greetings.  Actually, our son, Matthew, wished me Happy Bobby Bonilla Day and I said, “What?”  He said, “Google it,” and I did.  What a great story (that I never knew or have totally forgotten).

The New York Post reports: “If not for the perpetrator of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, the Mets may not own one of baseball’s most ridiculed deals.  The 10th  annual Bobby Bonilla Day is upon us, during which the 57-year-old former outfielder – who retired from baseball in 2001 – will collect a check for $1,193,248.20 for another 15 years.”

Coming off four straight All-Star seasons and two consecutive top-three MVP finishes with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Bronx native became the highest-paid player in a team sport when he signed a five-year, $29.1 million deal with the Mets at the beginning of the 1992 season.

Here is a clip showing one reason why he was paid the $29.1 million (although at the time of the 10 pitch at ball walk-off grand slam, he was with the Marlins): https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=145&v=BgI9u6C0wnk&feature=emb_logo

The Mets owed Bonilla $5.9 million when they released him after the 1999 season, and agreed to defer the payments through 2035 – at 8% interest – largely because the owners of the team had been told their account with Bernie Madoff would produce annual profits of at least 10 percent.

So Bonilla gets paid an ever-growing windfall, which will reach nearly $30 million by the time the deal expires in 2035.  He will be the 7th highest paid Met this season, even though it’s been 21 years since he played for them.  Good on you, Bobby!  And you looked better in black and gold than blue and orange.

👉 Only one correct answer – 18 – has been submitted for yesterday’s pyramid puzzle, and it came from Amy Herrington.  Congratulations!  Kyle Sisler, who answered “one,” gets a commendation for original thinking.  Here is the solution:

👉 On Tuesday I wished Matt and Carey a happy 13th wedding anniversary.  I was looking for the absolutely quintessential photograph for that piece, and was trying to keep it a secret.  I did too good a job because the people who were helping me look couldn’t find it.  I told the groom about it today, and he sent the picture to me.  The executive pastor at their church, Philip Maxwell, told Carey if she would, he’d give her $100.  She did.  There were only two people in the church who didn’t see it live, the officiants, Rev. Bryan Matthew, and me.

👉  I promised you some more music from the King of Swing, Benny Goodman, but first a couple of different musical pieces.

And if you don’t click on the links, you’ll miss the best part of this blog, except for the above picture.

Looking back from my position on dry land to those wonderful days of salt air and cruising – may we all get better soon! – I think on every cruise we’ve been on for the last several years “the kids” (our name for the ship’s singers and dancers) have done a number to “Uptown Funk.”  It’s an energetic song that doesn’t make sense 100% of the time – but then I am almost as old as dirt.  Anyway, you don’t have to look it up, just click on this link for “Old Movie Stars Dance to Uptown Funk”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1F0lBnsnkE and enjoy a remarkable piece of film editing (someone with too much time on their hands actually did something worthwhile).

👉  Next up is a clip from one of my favorite movies, Robin and the 7 Hoods.  The 1964 musical stars Frank Sinatra as “Robbo,” Dean Martin as “Little John,”  Sammy Davis Jr. as “Will,” and Bing Crosby as “Alan A. Dale,” and transplants the Robin Hood legend to a 1920s Chicago gangster setting.  This clip features Frank, Dean, and Bing in “Style” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjjzEYLU1rM

One more from Robin and the 7 Hoods.  This one a solo by The Chairman of the Board, singing “My Kind of Town”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=don1x4DHn2A

👉  I promise, Benny Goodman is just one piece away.  But I want you to watch one of the most incredible dance pieces every choreographed and filmed.  It’s from Royal Wedding starring Fred Astaire and Jane Powell.  The royal wedding being celebrated in the film was that of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip on November 20, 1947.

June Allyson was originally cast to co-star with Astaire, but she left the project within weeks when she discovered she was pregnant.  Judy Garland was tapped as her replacement, but when she failed to appear for costume fittings, MGM severed her contract and Jane Powell took over the role.  Ironically, towards the end of filming, Jane Powell also discovered she was pregnant.

This scene shows Fred Astaire dancing a complete circle – floor, wall, ceiling, wall, and floor.  It obviously wasn’t done with computer generated graphics, but rather with skillful editing.  The dancing on the ceiling number appears to be one long continuous take.  However, people with better eyes than mine say if you watch closely, there are at least three and possibly four very subtle cuts in this scene, as Astaire had to wait until the set completely turned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1AQjcmzvx8

👉  In 1962, the Benny Goodman Orchestra toured the Soviet Union as part of a cultural exchange program between the two nations after the Cuban missile crisis.  Both visits were part of efforts to normalize relations between the United States and the USSR.   The Bolshoi Ballet came to the United States, and the Benny Goodman Orchestra toured the USSR (and following the near-holocaust, diplomacy by artists was a brilliant idea).

From 1943, “Why Don’t You Do Right” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zRwze8_SGk features soloist Peggy Lee.  It’s a pleasure to watch a singer sing, and not jump around like she ants in her pants.  It’s about the song, not the hoochie koochie dance.

How do you select from such an incredible catalog of songs?  Well, how about this one from the 1943 movie, The Gang’s All Here, a World War II romance movie.  The film featured Brazilian actress Carmen Miranda in a garment she would make famous – a fruit hat (bananas in this one).  The song, “Minnie’s in the Money,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VULGK6CZH3g with a rare vocal solo by Benny Goodman, has a patriotic theme with “She’s a welder on the old assembly line.  So bless her, yes sir, for Minnie’s in the money.  Minnie’s in the money, that’s fine.  She’s helping Uncle Sam to keep these people free.”

Benjamin David Goodman performed through out his life.  This last clip was recorded on October 7, 1985.  He died of a heart attack June 13, 1986.  Here is “Stealin’ Apples.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mloNLKV4F0&list=RD3mJ4dpNal_k&index=8

👉  Adrian Rogers says, “The greatest responsibility in America is not in the White House but in the church house.  We’re to pray for our government and all those who are in authority.

“Would you pray for America right now?  You might pray, ‘Oh God, bless America.   Lord, we deserve judgment, but we need mercy.  Bring this nation, Lord, back to You.  The troubles that we see in our land are tokens of Your love to bring us to our knees.   Lord, it’s beyond us.  God, we need You in America.’”

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