This is a short, quick, and easy read.
Some Sample Anecdotes:
- During a long-distance telephone call, choreographer Agnes de Mille told her soldier husband, Walter Prude, that she was pregnant: "We're having a baby!" He managed to say, "Good God, are you sure!" before they were disconnected - telephone service during World War II was not as good as it is today. Twenty-five minutes later, they were reconnected, and Agnes asked, "Are you all right? Have you something to drink?" Walter replied, "A bottle of Scotch. I'm well along in it."
- TV's Mister Rogers was a rambunctious kid. Whenever he was attempting to walk on a stone wall at his grandparents' farm and his mother or grandmother would try to stop him, his grandfather, who was named Fred McFeely, would tell them, "Let the kid walk on the wall. He's got to learn to do things for himself." Mister Rogers loved his grandfather, and in his TV "neighborhood," one of the characters was a lively old deliveryman named Mr. McFeely.
- When telephone psychic Dougall Fraser was working for the Psychic Friends Network, a woman who called herself Champagne called him every morning at 11 a.m. to ask such questions as "When is my husband getting out of jail?" and "When am I getting my welfare check?" Finally, Mr. Fraser could stand it no longer and told her, "Champagne, the next time you want to call me, I want you to take $50, open a window, and throw it out. Because that's what you're doing every day. It is a complete waste of your money." She slammed down the telephone receiver and never called him again.
- W.C. Fields, Jr., neither smoked nor drank, unlike his famous father. Why not? His mother had made him promise that he would not smoke or drink until he was 20 years old, and when he reached that age, he discovered that he did not want to smoke or drink.
- Rabbi Morris N. Kertzer once officiated at a wedding of elderly people. The 76-year-old groom, whose best man was his grandson, was hard of hearing, and in the middle of the ceremony he thought the blessing was over so he gave his 69-year-old bride a passionate kiss. The grandson whispered to Rabbi Kertzer that to people as old as the groom and bride, time was precious.
Author Biography:
It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly a cry rang out, and on a hot summer night in 1954, Josephine, wife of Carl Bruce, gave birth to a boy - me. Unfortunately, this young married couple allowed Reuben Saturday, Josephine's brother, to name their first-born. Reuben, aka "The Joker," decided that Bruce was a nice name, so he decided to name me Bruce Bruce. I have gone by my middle name -- David -- ever since.
Being named Bruce David Bruce hasn't been all bad. Bank tellers remember me very quickly, so I don't often have to show an ID. It can be fun in charades, also. When I was a counselor as a teenager at Camp Echoing Hills in Warsaw, Ohio, a fellow counselor gave the signs for "sounds like" and "two words," then she pointed to a bruise on her leg twice. Bruise Bruise?
Oh yeah, Bruce Bruce is the answer!
Uncle Reuben, by the way, gave me a haircut when I was in kindergarten. He cut my hair short and shaved a small bald spot on the back of my head. My mother wouldn't let me go to school until the bald spot grew out again.
Of all my brothers and sisters (six in all), I am the only transplant to Athens, Ohio. I was born in Newark, Ohio, and have lived all around Southeastern Ohio. However, I moved to Athens to go to Ohio University and have never left.
At Ohio U, I never could make up my mind whether to major in English or Philosophy, so I got a bachelor's degree with a double major in both areas, then I added a Master of Arts degree in English and a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy. Yes, I have my MAMA degree.
Currently, and for a long time to come (I eat fruits and veggies), I am spending my retirement writing books such as Nadia Comaneci: Perfect 10, The Funniest People in Comedy, Homer's Iliad: A Retelling in Prose, and William Shakespeare's Hamlet: A Retelling in Prose.
If all goes well, I will publish one or two books a year for the rest of my life. (On the other hand, a good way to make God laugh is to tell Her your plans.)
By the way, my sister Brenda Kennedy writes romances such as A New Beginning and Shattered Dreams.
