Music

Every morning at 8:00, we hear the Star Spangled Banner over loudspeakers from Camp Foster. At noon and 5:00 PM, loudspeakers around town play music to notify everyone of the time. Like factory whistles, but more interesting. It seems to happen all over the island, because when we drove back from Azalea Park, we heard Edelweiss as we drove through a small town. I am intrigued by the choices of pieces, especially that one, because it was the played on the 55th anniversary of Sound of Music, which we watched again that evening.

I originally saw SofM in a Miami movie theater when it first came out. For some reason, I had ridden over with a high school friend, Mickie, to meet up with some of her friends, I believe Civil Air Patrol cadets. Since she was in CAP, and I wasn’t, I can’t imagine why I went. A question for when I see her at our girlfriends’ reunion in the fall.

SofM was the first  in our Clara-movie series. She was probably six, visiting us, and missing her parents. I tried to get her weeping stopped by singing “These Are a Few of My Favorite Things”. She had never heard of it. We rented the movie, and she was fascinated. I rented Mary Poppins for the next night,  and I had Grant start it while I went to a Finance Committee meeting.

When I got home, Clara grabbed my hand and insisted I watch the actress. “Look at her face! Look at her face! She was in the movie last night!”

I realized Clara hadn’t seen movies with people acting. She, like most children her age, had only watched animated cartoons.  This began our retrospective. Next was Princess Diaries to continue our Julie Andrews theme, (I decided to skip Victor, Victoria.) We went on to Some Like it Hot, A League of Their Own, etc. Especially fun is watching original movies and remakes, then discussing which we like better.

Tsunami Water Level Sign

 Who chooses the songs to be played over the loudspeakers? They are always Western music, usually secular, and old saws. The loudspeakers occasionally make announcements in Japanese, which seem almost like commercials. Mary said during election season, she thought they might be political ads. I assume if there were a tsunami, the loudspeakers would sound the alarm, since there are signs around town telling us the level of tsunami we are safe from. At Araha Beach, the announcements are repeated in English, and are admonitions to be considerate of other beach-goers: share tables if needed, pick up your trash, keep your dog under control, etc.

All the grocery stores play Japanese music at levels loud enough to make me want to hurry through my shopping which I think would be the opposite of what they would want. Out in the malls, it’s back to English songs, including It’s A Small World which I first heard at the 1964-65 World Fair in New York. I know most people cringe when they hear that song, and they ridicule the ride at Disney World, but it is nostalgic for me.

I loved the World Fair. On our way to the Canadian Maritime provinces, we stayed outside of New York City with the Sweets, former Naples neighbors, and rode the train into the fair. I was amazed by all the pavilions but my favorite was the Vatican’s exhibit that displayed Michelangelo’s Pietà. Never had I seen anything so beautiful and so incredible. I still cannot understand how artists can make marble turn into flesh and fabric. I bought the official Fair charm, a flattened sterling sliver globe that rotated on its axis, but I think it was on the charm bracelet I lost at Mount Rushmore. TBD

Mr. Sweet was a photographer for Evinrude Motors, which used travelogues to promote their outboards. It must have been at one of his children’s birthday parties where he show us his film of gooney birds (albatross) living and landing on an island in the Pacific. The premise was that they will sit on anything as eggs, so the crew had great fun putting odd objects in their nests; and, although albatross are graceful flyers, spending most of their lives soaring over the ocean, when they land, they flop and roll. Put to music, it was one of the silliest and funniest movies we’d ever seen. I just looked at EBay, and I could buy a copy for $75. Since I don’t have a 35mm projector, I’ll have to pass.

With non-Americans now being prevented from entering the US for 30 days if they have visited most of any part of Europe, perhaps we should have It’s A Small World played over loudspeakers once a day to remind us how connected we are.