The Reader's Page

Arabella Speaks out…..

"Rose"

This story has nothing to do with movies or movie stars …unless you are a certain senior citizen who always wanted to write about movie stars and never got the chance…until now. I found it in my e-mail one morning and it struck a chord. Perhaps you have already read it somewhere but please bear with me.

I have no idea who wrote it and I have never met the kind lady who sent it to me. A friend had sent it to her and gave me permission to use it here. So here goes…..

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.
I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being. She said, "Hi handsome.
My name is Rose.
I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze.
"Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked.
She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids..."
"No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
"I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me.
After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.
We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.
Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went.

She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet.

I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.

Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know."

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day.
You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.

We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!

There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.

If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.

Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability.
The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change.
Have no regrets.

The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."

At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.
Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

Thanks for sharing, Lucy. And thank your friend, too.

I have only one thing to add…..Always follow your dreams no matter how long or rocky the road…

Arabella

 

A little mouse told me...

….about the May-December wedding of the year in 1960. Douglas Dumbrille, the famed character actor (“Naughty Marietta” 1935, “I Married An Angel” 1942 ), married his best friend’s daughter. He was 70 and his bride, Patricia Mowbray (Alan’s daughter) was 28.

….Art Acord, Universal’s cowboy star of the 1920’s, was a real cowboy and rodeo performer in Wild West shows. His career ended with sound and then his life took a tragic turn. He was arrested for bootlegging, went broke gambling and then died tragically in a Mexican hotel of cyanide poisoning. Suicide was the ruling but homicide was never completely ruled out.

….Philip Ahn, the son of a Korean revolutionary and diplomat who died in a Japanese prison camp, was consistently cast as a Japanese in WWII action films.

***********************************

Ask Arabella...

 

From Rev. E, Harper ELCA (Ed)… “What can you tell me about Sunset Carson and Johnny Mack Brown?.....What kind of people were they off the screen?”

Dear Ed, I am sure you thought I had forgotten you. Sorry for the delay. I never met either of these gentleman but I dug through my files and here is what I found out…. Sunset Carson was born Winifred Maurice Harrison (but called Michael by family and friends or else) in Gracemore, Oklahoma on November 12th. But then the year seems to dance from one document to another. No birth certificate has surfaced but..it is 1918 (SS application), 1920 (family bible), 1926 (death certificate), or 1927 (drivers license). I prefer to stick with the family bible. The name “Sunset Carson” was given to him ( no self-respecting cowboy went anywhere with the name Winifred) by Herbert Yates, prez of Republic Studios, to coincide with a Western character they were scripting. Carson was an expert rodeo trick rider and won a host of awards to prove it. The family bible also provided the following: he was apparently the oldest of six siblings (Dale was born last yet Sunset often introduced him as his twin brother!) and he married four times producing four children over all. Carson made over 20 films, most of them with Republic Studios. His association with Republic ended abruptly when the studio terminated his contract in 1946 and reliable sources claim it was due to his bad behavior at a studio function (he was supposedly drunk and accompanied by a minor not his wife). Sunset toured with the Clyde Beatty Circus for two seasons then retired. He died on May 1st, 1990 at the age of 69 (if you believe the family bible). Johnny Mack Brown was born in Dothen, Arkansas on September 1st, 1904. he attended public schools and then Alabama University where became an All-American football star. On New Year’s Day 1926, in the Rose Bowl game between Alabama and the University of Washington Huskies, Johnny caught a 59-yard pass that helped Alabama win 20 to 19. He made that year even more memorable by marrying his childhood sweetheart Cornelia Foster. MGM descended on him, contract in hand, and he became the leading man for some of silent movies’ leading female stars…Marion Davies, Joan Crawford, Mary Pickford, and Greta Garbo. Then, in 1930, Brown made “Billy the Kid” and his screen image changed entirely. Uneasy, with his slow, southern drawl, MGM let him go and he went to Republic, Universal and Monogram to become one of cinema’s enduring cowboy stars. Castmates recall he always left the wrap of a picture with “Thanks for letting me make this picture with you”. Johnny retired about the time “B” westerns also retired and became the maitre d’ of the Tail of the Cock restaurant in Los Angeles, his smile and good humor intact. He had made over 160 movies. Johnny Mack Brown died on November 14th, 1974 from complications of a heart condition,

 

 

Now Arabella Asks...

 

The Post Office has issued another stamp to honor John Wayne. He is in their series for the Legends of Hollywood. But why still no honors for America’s Singing Sweethearts, Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald? Let’s complain loudly! Call, write or e-mail the Postmaster General about this continuing omission… pmgceo@e-mail.usps.gov/

and

for your help to fight a world-wide health crisis....AIDS!
From now on on every page and in every issue,
you will see this little heart..reminding you to open yours!