Mr. Wow Blog
A Very Fuzzy Birthday to Me….
8:20 pm | January 7, 2015

Author: Mr. Wow | Category: Point of View | Comments: 23

62

Yes—this is a crappy selfie I took tonight.   After a good look at my holiday pic, I decided I’d made my point about aging without tweaks.  Tweaks are okay, and maybe I’ll have some, soon.  The neck, at least.  NOT retouching your photos only hurts the one you love. Well, it hurts me, honestly.   Actually, B. is the one who gets hurt.  He has to listen to my screaming as I  insist I certainly do not look “like that.”  He is always too kind to respond:  “You are over sixty!  What do you expect from  a photograph now?” I loved having my picture taken when I was young.  And B.– big surprise!–was an excellent photographer. (There’s really nothing he can’t do.)   I’m like the classic old story that has been attributed to everybody from Pickford to Dietrich to Hedy to Crawford.  After sitting for a session, one of the ladies supposedly said:  “These are not as good as what you did the last time.”  The photographer replies:  “Well, Mary/Hedy/Marlene/Joan–I’m ten years older now.”  

 

 Yeah.  I know.  Whatever my issues, I’m not Dietrich.   You just had to say it, right? 

 

 

 

So this is how I prefer to think of myself.  Kinda blurry, over-lit.  In my cluttered room.  62.

 

Comments:
  • Mr. Wow

    OMG–look at all those obsolete VHS tapes behind me.  And behind those, are Beta  tapes!   I transferred a lot to DVD, but I still can’t bring myself to trash this junk.  And now, DVD is obsolete. 

    8:26 pm | January 7, 2015
  • Deirdre Cerasa

    Happy Birthday!! “Dahling, you look mahvelous”! 

    9:05 pm | January 7, 2015
    • Mr. Wow

      Deirdre…B. laughed his ass off,  and said, “Okay, Miss Desmond, are you ready for your close-up?”

      He’s seen too many old movies with me.  When we first got together he didn’t know a noir from a blah!   And he certainly didn’t know anything about Elizabeth Taylor or Marilyn Monroe.  (Except one of them was dead and he wasn’t entirely sure which one!)


      9:50 pm | January 7, 2015
    • Jean

      Deirdre, those were exactly the words that came to me! Oh my gosh!

      8:37 am | January 8, 2015
  • Jean

    Happy Birthday, Mr. Wow!

    8:38 am | January 8, 2015
  • Rho

    Happy Birthday, many more to come.

    8:52 am | January 8, 2015
  • Susan

    You really do look wonderful! Happy, happy birthday!

    10:23 am | January 8, 2015
  • Mimi

    Happy Birthday! You’re still cute! 

    11:00 am | January 8, 2015
  • rick gould

    Nice eyes and a nice smile go a long way, and you have both!
    I hope your day was fun!
    *PS, too bad we all can’t get Lucille Ball lighting! I guess if all else fails, a Japanese lantern like Miss DuBois!
    Cheers and a big hug. Rick

    11:26 am | January 8, 2015
  • Mr. Wow

    Dear Rick…I have a few years to go before Lucy lighting!  But I’m totally on board with the lanterns.  I don’t want realism, I want magic, yes, magic.

    11:36 am | January 8, 2015
  • Haunted Lady

    Happy birthday, young man. As long as you have that engaging smile, you’ll never be truly old.

    12:48 pm | January 8, 2015
  • BabySnooks

    You do not look 62.  More like you’re barely 42.  And that’s without Lucy Lighting. Which gave me my laugh of the day which I desperately needed. Don’t forget the cheesecloth over the lens. Makes everyone and everything look younger.  Hope you had a wonderful birthday!

    4:23 pm | January 8, 2015
  • Daniel Sugar

    Happy Birthday, Mr. W.

    8:56 am | January 9, 2015
  • lulu

    Happy Birthday!!!! Smile and the world smiles with you!!! I only saw your smile not your neck. Any dame will tell you chin up and the neck disappears. 

    Be happy and healthy and the world will be your oyster  Hugs XOXO

    10:26 am | January 9, 2015
    • Mr. Wow

      Thank you, Lulu!  I’m always looking at the sky!

      1:05 pm | January 11, 2015
  • rick gould

    Rod Taylor RIP!
    Opinion Q: Mr. WoW, do you think Rod should have been a bigger star than he was? 
    As a kid, I remember having a big crush on him in the TV hit, “Here Comes the Brides” and thinking Rod had it all over heart throb dork Bobby Sherman…
    I also find it interesting that Rod did 3 movies with the other Taylor, Elizabeth: Giant, Raintree County, and The VIPS. I know she was busy with Mike Todd and Richard Burton on the last two, but always wondered if he caught her eye on Giant, though her two gay bffs Rock and Jimmy might have kept her mind off failing marriage to Michael Wilding ; )
    Thoughts?
    Rick

    1:06 pm | January 9, 2015
    • Mr. Wow

      Rod was smokin’ hot.  He should have had a bigger career, but did pretty well.  He and Maggie Smith were certainly a more lively couple than Taylor and Burton in “The VIPs.”  (I was always distracted by the hair-spray seeking missile on the top of Taylor’s head in that one.)   My impression was that Rod was too down-to-earth to pique ET’s interest, and she was WAY too high-maintenance to attract him.

      1:10 pm | January 11, 2015
  • Daniel Sugar

    12:57 pm | January 14, 2015
  • rick gould

    Mr. WoW-
    Loved the “This Property is Condemned” words and pictures in today’s “Liz Smith” column ; )
    Haven’t seen “Condemned” in ages… remember loving Natalie in it. And a great supporting cast, Mary Badham from “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Charles Bronson and Robert Blake… and Kate Reid is chilling as the mercenary mama. Funny how movie stars like Nat, Liz, Lana, Joan etc. worked out their issues on film?!
    Did you know that originally “Condemned” was considered for Liz with Burton directing her after he did “Iguana? Don’t think it got much past the talking stages as Liz was a bit long in the tooth for Alva. I read a great comment once by director Sidney Pollack that there was only two actresses that he knew personally that had a strong sense of vulnerability and femininity (sp!) and that was Nat and Liz…
    Also read that Natalie turned down “Barefoot in the Park” with Redford, which was foolish since it was such a smash…I think Wood would have been wonderful but Jane Fonda was pretty fantastic in it ; ) And of course, “Bonnie and Clyde.” But that would have meant working with Warren…and there would have went all those years of therapy down the drain!
    I found Natalie and Redford to be an interesting team and I have read that she really wanted to play the mother role in “Ordinary People” but that RR was already set on Mary Tyler Moore and that it was hard for him to turn Natalie down…again, RR tapped into MTM’s brittle side to great effect, so…sigh… Sometimes it’s hard to catch a break in show biz!
    Cheers and love reading your writing wherever they are!
    Rick

    1:17 pm | January 15, 2015
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Rick–yes, Liz was offered it first.  What a horror show that would have been.  Love my girl Liz, but the time had passed for her to try anything like Alva.  Natalie was perfect.   

      Yeah, the ladies–and I’m sure some of the gents–loved to act out phases and aspects of their own lives on screen.  For most of them, the line between truth or illusion (as Martha said) was perilously thin.

      1:07 pm | January 27, 2015
  • Daniel Sugar

    birthday animated GIF

    11:50 am | January 16, 2015
  • NSH

    The recent piece in Ms. Smith’s column about Natalie Wood was greatly appreciated; the photos from This Property is Condemned are stunning, as was she in this picture.  I always liked this movie, except for the sad ending, and thought it one of her all time best.  Thank you.

    2:14 pm | January 16, 2015
    • Mr. Wow

      Thank you!  Loved Natalie.  Now that was a real tragedy and loss. 

      1:03 pm | January 27, 2015
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