Not mainstream.... well... ceptin' Elisabeth.....

Characters... Ya gotta love 'em...

Most of us fall madly in love with the "beautiful ones" that star in movies - and they become the box office phenoms.. For you chickies - torch was passed from Gable to Newman to Redford to Cruise to Costner with some Travoltas, Cages, Clooneys, etc. thrown in... For us piggies - Garbo to Dietrich to Monroe to Lange to Pfeiffer to Basinger to Roberts to Diaz to Paltrow - with a host of gorgeous ones inbetween....

I prefer characters. Oh don't get me wrong - my screensaver at work has been Elisabeth Shue now for quite a time (sorry Gracie) - but I'm more attuned to characters...

I can't think of the guy with the weird eyes.. but liked him... The Governor (Charles Durning) in The Best Little Whorehouse <-- I could watch him do his song and dance scene anytime... Barney - ya HAD to love Barney (no, not the purple one)... Recently saw Andy, Gomer, Opie on the Larry King show.. long about Gomer's third day on the set he told Barney "you know, you are just as funny as you can be... how do you do it?".. "Well, it helps if you look like I look." Barney Fife nervous - was there anything any better?

I loved the TV show Ally McBeel (damn Victor - haven't you watched any TV within the last ten years? The Lost? CSI? American Idol?... No, actually I haven't watched much.. I prefer other stuff - but I usedta watch Ally semi-religiously).. they were all, in their own way, characters..

Louie (Devito), Horshack. Somehow the wierd ones stick out... Dunno why.. To me, life's better off the beaten track - and yes - we all enjoy staring, ogling, dreaming, salivating at the beautiful ones ---- but the ones that truly entertain - you can't beat em... not the Main Street actors/actresses - the ones that stand out because they're different.. Christopher Lloyd, Kramer.. them guys..

Town characters.. Does/did your town have one? Where my mother grew up - was a fella called "Skippy"... Skipped everywhere. Yes, perhaps a little mentally challenged - but always happy... Skip skipped downtown daily - and about the only words he'd spout where "Gonna rain... gonna rain." Different, not mainstream..

Gotta guy in our home town, we've labeled him "The Penny Man.".. Heard he was in a bad, bad motorcycle accident years ago - walks with a severe limp/drags one leg - actually kinda looks the part of a scary movie character. Harmless as hell. All day every day he walks and walks and walks the streets - hunting for change. He goes in every laundrymat, thru every fast food drive up lane, into bars (people willingly hand him change) - and that's what he does. Sad, but he appears happy. A character.

Jack. I went to high school a long damn time ago. Jack was the "manager" of our football team. Got towels, brought us water, etc. Jack STILL is the manager - some twenty years later. (GD Victor, you know it's been 35 years, whythehell lie? Ok, some thirty-five years later).... Jack is somewhat mentally challenged... He works, drives a car, and simply loves any/every athletic sport at the local high school. A "legend" - a character. Recently, his car went kapooey - local booster club gathered $3-4 thousand and bought him another. Pretty cool.

You? Yes you dammit. The one sitting next to the keyboard. Were there characters in your home town? I'd loveta hear about 'em.. or your heart-throbs, either one. I love characters.. oh, and I suppose Elisabeth too. Happy day, bye bye now.