MOTHER'S MONTH

In 1956, Hollywood honored six mothers as "Mothers of the year."
Here is the link for the story: click here

In honor of Mother's Day this month, I have turned to my matriarch and asked her what are her top ten films. With no surprise she listed some of my favorite films that I may have already posted on.

I should mention a little unknown fact about my mother which would explain why I created this blog in the first place. In her youth she had lived in three different parts of the country: Arizona, Utah & California. As with all children, they moved where work could be had by the father.

Her father had worked as a young boy in Hollywood at a department store and would often wait on the Barrymore family. As a teenager he became interested in Radio and a new invention that later became Television.

This love of media grew into a career and he soon found himself picking up Bob Hope and others like Edward Arnold to help them put their show over the air and record it. Now mind you, he was not seen as an errand boy to perform these jobs. As an employee of KSL he was the only one working on this position to make sure it was a success. No secretary, no agent just my grandpa.

Another interesting story about my grandpa was when my mother was in the eighth grade of Crozier Junior High in Inglewood CA. He was noticing that layoffs were coming to his job at Hughes Air Base. Working as an electronic technician he was fearful that he may be next in line. Afraid of being out of work with a family to feed, he got a job at Motorola in Arizona. Howard Hughes, thee Howard Hughes, called him on the phone while he was packing and asked why he was leaving the company. My grandpa told him the situation and Hughes said in response: "Clyde, we would never fire you. You don't take coffee breaks."

These and other experiences, throughout his life, created a great love for the work of Hollywood and the celebrities in it. This love was so great that it spilled over into my mother's life and on into all of my brothers and sisters. This is why I do what I do for this blog each day.

My Mother's Top Ten:

1. A Guy Named Joe (1943)

2. Random Harvest (1942)

3. Blossoms In the Dust (1941)

4. New Moon (1940)

5. Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)

6. The Alamo (1960)

7. Girl of the Golden West (1938)

8. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

9. What's Up Doc? (1972)

10. Mrs. Miniver (1942)

You may notice that with the exception of two of the above listed, all of the films hover around the 1940's. My mother is a firm believer that a humbled people make truly remarkable films. Those were dark days where the sunlight that came from the screen gave hope.

With those years long gone and with nothing to keep us humble, we find the people interested in things that are low and degrading in order to find a cheap laugh.