Spies, Irregular Lies and Occasional Pop Flies

Another year without a Yankees Championship; I'm afraid that we'll just have to win one next year. What would The Babe and Lou be thinking right now? Remember Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig in "The Pride of the Yankees"? "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth". No Yankee fans are thinking that right now. Gary Cooper was a lousy Lou Gehrig anyway. He didn't even look like a ballplayer and he didn't even get the words right. He was married to an interesting lady named Veronica Balfe; her nickname was "Rocky". While married to "Rocky" and during his conversion to Catholicism, he had an affair with Patricia Neal, who aborted their child at his insistence. No wonder no one wanted to help him in "High Noon".

"Yo Adrian", the Phillies won their second World Series. This might help eliminate that other "Rocky", Rocky Balboa, as the number one sports hero in the City of Brotherly Love. Speaking of whom, I happened to notice the other day that the lovely "Adrian Pennino" was playing the part of a therapist in one of those Geico "caveman" commercials. That's right, the 2 time Academy Award nominee, Talia Shire, is making Geico commercials. For those of you who didn't know, Talia was born a Coppola; a sister to the director Francis Ford Coppola. Also, in case you didn't know this tidbit of entertainment trivia, Nicholas Cage is her nephew. Talia was initially married to a music composer by the name of David Shire, who has, over the years, garnered several Grammy Awards himself and also won a Best Song Oscar for Norma Rae.

Aden and I were watching our favorite Thomas the Train movie, "Thomas and the Magic Railroad", the other night when I finally recognized the Shining Time Station hostess. It was none other than Didi Conn, who played in the original Shining Time Station TV series several years ago. For those of you not into the younger (more intellectual) shows, you may remember Didi as Frenchy in the movie Grease. Strangely enough, the talented Didi Conn is now the current Mrs. David Shire.

Also, in this movie, there is a talented young actress by the name of Mara Wilson. In this Thomas the Train movie she is visiting her grandfather, Burnett Stone, played by that Easy Rider of old, Peter Fonda. Mara Wilson also played the title role in "Matilda", a movie about a smart young girl with two really terrible parents, played by Danny DeVito and his real life partner, Rhea Perlman. "Matilda" was based on the book by the same name, which was written by that great children's author Roald Dahl. For you chocolate nuts, you might remember Dahls' great epic "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". This book was initially made into a movie starring Gene Wilder, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and again with Johnny Depp in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".

Roald Dahl was a British pilot early in WWII, who came to the United States in 1942 and worked in espionage activities with the great Canadien spy, William Stephenson (Code Name: Intrepid). Roald was later married to Gary Cooper's old fling, Patricia Neal, for over 30 years. Details of his espionage activities are very well presented in a recent book by Jennet Conant titled "The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington". Another member of this outfit was the famous James Bond 007 writer, Ian Fleming. "James Bond is a highly romanticized version of a true spy. The real thing is ...William Stephenson" -- Ian Fleming. Some of you 007 fans might not realize it, but Ian Fleming also wrote that fantastic children's book, "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". In the film of the same name they created my favorite character's name of all time, "Truly Scrumptious", played by the truly scrumptious, Ms. Sally Ann Howes.

I'm taking the weekend off from all outside activities and just spending time with young Aden. I'm just going to sit around, read about "The Irregulars", watch "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", Rocky, Willy Wonka (and the Oompa Loompas), maybe a Thomas the Train movie or two, think about the Yankees winning number 27 next year, grill me a rib eye and a baked potato and maybe even get something "truly scrumptious" for dessert. Aden will probably have one of his favorites, beanie weenies or mini raviolis. Cheers and be safe out there trick or treatin'.