The happy homemaker

The last day of the year, the last blog entry, the last rousing game of "Celebrity Death Alert!"

Other morbid people play this too--guessing who'd be the last to die this year and the first to go in the new one, but Jim,  early this afternoon, warned me not to look at my phone, that there was  major  breaking  entertainment news.

I asked the opening questions I usually do:  Are you sure I've heard of this person?  Male? Over ninety? 

And just like that, as soon as he answered those inquiries,  I had my answer, but it was more of a question.

  It was more like "oh no, it's  not Betty White, is it?"

She had just over two weeks to make it to her centennial..would it have killed the powers that be not to have killed her?

We waited for sad confirmation and got it shortly after, and I started thinking about all the ways in which this beloved actress touched my life.

The brilliant choice to cast a "Betty White type" as a promiscuous, often arrogant TV host was inspired. It's as 'though producers had a crystal ball, saw her as Rose Nyland in "The Golden Girls" and thought: "That's our Happy Homemaker!"..don't even bother  auditioning  the 

 sultry Ann-Margrets or  the sexy Julie Newmars, this is our Sue Ann!"

 "A "Rose Nyland" type."

I'll never forget her confrontation with Mary Richards, who thought she knew what " real rejection" was all about, never having personally suffered the indignities that Sue Ann had.

And I don't think I'll ever look at a plastic seashell filled with "soap dish jelly" without wondering what Sue Ann would  have recommended to remove it. 

It was a cruel year to rob us of our Phyllis Lindstrom and Lou Grant and Murray Slaughter and now Sue Ann Nivens...we superfans  need to hang around Mary's desk for a good cry. 

A last hurrah.

I'll go first:

"It's a long way..to Tipperary"...

I always feel awful for those celebrities who pass after the magazines do their yearly wraps, and their names are not included, knowing they won't be considered a celebrity death in the following year.

I've been  talking mostly about "The Happy Homemaker" which in itself sounds like an oxymoron.  There was a time I couldn't afford to pay someone to help scrub the tiles and the toilets but I remember this:  It, homemaking, NEVER made me "happy."

This blog will be as long as a CVS receipt if I also include my feelings about her role as a "Golden Girl" but they were wonderful, and I'll always cherish the memory of  the script my college BFF, Jim Donio, and I,  wrote that was actually read by some behind the scenes folks in production.

"The Mein Event" may not have been sold, but it was READ(and critiqued) and it meant the world to us.

I've been to Los Angeles twice in my life..once with BFF Jim in 1987, and then again in 2019 with my husband Jim, and both times, I stepped onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame..and immediately,  my feet landed in front of Betty White's deserved star.

The things I remember...!!

I can't do a year-end blog without some pop culture(although what I just wrote about Betty White probably fits the description) so I'll discuss two films, one that I streamed last night and one we saw in an empty movie house today, that was followed by dinner in what could have passed for a ghost town--a good thing.

Three or four friends recommended "The Hating Game" which I'm sorry to say..I hated. I'm a sucker for a good rom-com, not a contrived one, and this one was as predictable as a Punxsutawney Phil on February 2nd.

I wanted to yell out to the screen:  "You superficial knucklehead!  You  have the audacity to complain that you have only one pair of FLAT shoes??  I am like NORMAL people..I only have one set of HEELS that I can't even wear!" but then I realized that was a reference from "And Just Like That"..a show I love.

I did not love "The Hating Game."

Today's matinee has been getting a lot of mixed reviews.  There's no in between--you either love it or hate it.

Jim was interested in seeing "Licorice Pizza" because he grew up on Ernie Anderson(aka "Ghoulardi") in Cleveland, and his son, Paul Thomas Anderson, directed this movie that's getting a lot of Oscar buzz and a lot of WTF's?

I probably would have liked "Ghoulardi"..in Philly, we had "Dr. Shock Presents Mad Theater" a similar show that I actually wrote part-time for.  I submitted cringe-worthy material, but I'll take it:  blink and you'd miss it, but I was a credited writer for a Saturday afternoon horror show that nobody watched--except those I forced to watch.

To those of you who have a LOT of patience and are still reading this, and wondering what I thought about this movie that people either love or hate, let me start with this tease:

I DESPISE licorice.  Black, red, shoelace, thick braided, sticks with the tops and bottoms snipped off so they can double as a drinking straw--I hate it all. 

 Positively hate it.

I absolutely LOVE pizza, especially thin crust, with a sauce that isn't too sweet and a cheese that doesn't taste fermented..a pizza that's not from Domino's, for example.

The combination of licorice and pizza sounds revolting, but for those of you who cannot wait a single second longer for my feedback..

I am..Jim is..we are..Team..... PIZZA!!

We LOVED this movie and can  see why it's ending up on a lot of the year's best list.  It's an acquired taste--like I'd imagine real licorice pizza would be, but it was so much fun and it was quirky and unpredcitable and messy and chaotic.  The leads had such a strong chemistry, and sometimes they were above average looking, and sometimes they were not, and that's what relatable characters are all about.

Or at least..should be.

Sean Penn and Bradley Cooper gave unforgettable performances...

the cinematographer captured the look of the 70's magically.

This was the perfect movie to end a not-so-perfect year with.

OK..thanks for reading. 

 Now go put on your slippers and pajamas, grab some champagne and your pet, and have yourself a very merry New Year's... now.