a little worried

 

The poster for the 1967 movie The Graduate said, "This is Benjamin.  He's a little worried about his future."

It's an invitation to wonder how "Benjamin" will work this out. ...

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are you here for an affair, sir?

 In The Graduate, when Benjamin Braddock takes Mrs. Robinson up on her offer to see him if he wants to call her, they meet at the Taft Hotel in Los Angeles.

        The clerk behind the counter asks Benjamin, "Are you here for an affair, sir?"

Benjamin (astounded) - What??!

        Of course, the clerk meant "affair" as in an event, like a wedding reception or whatever.

----------------------------- Benjamin is very nervous and shy and awkward and out of his element - (his "element" being school and his parents' house....)

As he and Mrs. Robinson sit at a table in the bar, he tries to order her a drink when a waiter walks by - putting up his hand with two fingers extended, to catch the waiter's attention, but he doesn't say anything and the waiter doesn't see his signal, and keeps walking.

Benjamin (apologetically, to Mrs. R.) - "He didn't see me."

Mrs. Robinson (calmly, firmly commanding) - "Waiter." (waiter turns around and comes over, attending to her) - "I will have a martini."

Yes.  Yes, indeed she will.  And there will be no two ways about it.  (lol)

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days of August

 

4 things that happened and live murkily in my memory - two of them during the month of August:

December, 1967 -- the feature film, The Graduate appeared in theaters.

August 26 - 29, 1968 -- the Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago, accompanied by massive anti-war protests.

August 15 - 18, 1969 -- Woodstock, 3 Days of Peace and Music in upstate New York.

September 24, 1969 -- the trial of the Chicago 7 began.

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police riot

 

Jerry Rubin

Abbie Hoffman

Tom Hayden

Bobby Seale

Judge Julius Hoffman

        The Trial Of The Chicago 7 is on Netflix.

        Recommended.

                It could be good to watch this back-to-back with Best Of Enemies - that debate documentary with Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, also on Netflix.

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"a little secret, just the Robinsons' affair"

 

Simon and Garfunkel wrote - and sang - all the songs for the movie, The Graduate.

On You Tube, a video titled:

Mrs. Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel- Lyrics

channel / uploader:  @Tina05vs1

The song plays with scenes from the movie.

Enjoy.

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reason will always fall short

 
Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft in The Graduate

When the movie The Graduate came out, I was nine or 10 years old, and I remember seeing an advertisement in the newspaper for it.

        When I was seventeen or eighteen years old, the History teacher in high school told our class about The Graduate.

        I think he kind of went through the whole movie, and was very enthusiastic and exuberant about the ending scene.  He was laughing and smiling and was just so into it. ...

        And - my memory is uncertain, but I believe he mentioned to us that the music in the movie was written and performed by Simon & Garfunkel.

A few years later, while I was living in Boston, I went to see The Graduate at a second-run movie theater.

Then several decades went by wherein I didn't watch The Graduate.  And now, in recent years, I see it every time it comes onto Amazon Prime Video.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

On You Tube, there are a bunch of videos analyzing The Graduate. 

A viewer comment under one of them says:

----------------- Reason will always fall short when grappling with the level of beauty and mystery emanating from sublime works of art.  "The Graduate" is no exception.  It remains, and always will remain elusive.  In the finest sense of the word. -----------------------------------

The film's director, Mike Nichols, said "It's the great American danger we're all in.  That we'll bargain away the experience of being alive for the appearance of it."

_________________________________________

-  "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me.

    Aren't you?"

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unexpected, ongoing noise

 I was listening to (and part-time watching) a 1970s situation-comedy on You Tube, and there was a scene where the husband-and-wife main characters had a disagreement in the kitchen and they start throwing dishes on the floor real hard, so that they break.

It's played for laughs, of course, but it caused me to remember a sort of incident that happened many years ago, which I did not find funny, but rather, puzzling and dismaying.

        I was a student at Boston University, and part of my financial aid was my being in the Work-Study program, where you work for a professor.  I typed a lot of stuff for this guy, who was originally from Poland and came to America after World War II.

 

He invited me to rent an apartment in his basement in the Brookline home where he and his wife lived.  He said, Get a roommate, because there are two bedrooms.  He wanted two rent checks, not just one.

        I found a roommate, and we moved in.  It was very nice, for students who aren't making a living yet.  An apartment in the "basement" doesn't sound too fancy - but it was good.  The windows were partially above ground, so we had sunlight, and although there wasn't any air conditioning, our space was plenty cool in the hot, humid Boston summertimes, just naturally, from being partly underground.

It was fine.

        Then one night when I was home alone - my roommate spent some nights at her boyfriend's apartment (they got married later so it's ok) - suddenly I heard all this noise of crashing, banging, breaking dishes coming from upstairs on the main floor.

I was like, 'What the - - - ?!...?'

        I exited my small bedroom, and went out into the living room - dining room area where my stereo and record albums were, along with sofa, dining room table, and art prints on the walls...

I looked up at the ceiling - as if I'm going to be able to see what's going on,..lol 

The crashing and banging and smashing continued... the wife was yelling at the husband, in an exasperated, distressed, desperate tone, and I heard him say calmly, "I don't ever hear you talk to your friends this way...."

        I was a little scared, and intimidated, and kind of embarrassed.

I lived there for two and a half years, and that was the only time that occurred, at least when I was home to hear it.

I found it weird.

I didn't grow up in a home where people threw things or broke dishes.

I didn't know what to make of it.

        I didn't really "know" either the husband or the wife.  I worked for the husband, at school, and felt comfortable to be in his office in the School of Public Communications (SPC).  It felt just normal, and OK.

When I met his wife, I did find her vibe to be a little scary.  She seemed tense with a lot of anger, and spoke like Katharine Hepburn.  (This is not a knock on Hepburn, I'm just saying, that - certain - accent....I never knew if it was real, or put on.)

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