An Easter Under an Umbrella

It didn't start that way. When I awoke around 9, it was just cloudy. I dozed off for an hour...and when I finally shuffled out of bed for good, it was still merely cloudy and windy. I ran Brunch With the Beatles for a while (The White Album was in the spotlight today) before switching to Easter programming. I found a can of apricot slices in the pantry leftover from last fall (when I needed cheap sources of fruit and vegetables) and made Apricot Whole-Wheat Pancakes for my Easter breakfast.

I'm not terribly religious, so I mainly stuck to specials and a film on the secular side of Easter. The Easter Bunny Is Coming to Town is my favorite of the three Rankin-Bass Easter specials. While the music is no great shakes, the premise is interesting, the characters are fun (love the Hendrews Sisters), and it's the only Rankin-Bass spring special that is completely devoted to Easter, with no reference to other holidays. It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown is also my favorite Peanuts special, mainly due to the hilarious running gag with Peppermint Patty, Marcie, and their attempts to learn how to cook eggs, and Charles Schultz' cracks at holiday commercialism that are even more pointed than in the Christmas shows.

I called Mom during the cartoons. She was just about to hit the shower. She needed it; she'd spent the week spring cleaning while my stepfather was at work (he's a commercial fisherman). She was going to have a much quieter Easter than in previous years. It was just going to be her, Anny, and Skylar for dinner and an egg hunt. They normally go to the Wildwood Boardwalk for their opening weekend, but the weather didn't look like it was going to be conductive to strolls by the beach.

Switched to Easter Parade as I worked on my first doll and stuffed animal photo story since the fall. Easter Parade is one of the most famous of the Freed Unit 40s and 50s MGM musicals. Fred Astaire is a vaudeville dancer in 1912 whose partner (Ann Miller) leaves him to star in a show on her own. Depressed, he tells his best friend (Peter Lawford) that he could turn any girl into as good of a dancer as Miller. He finally chooses a singer in a bar show (Judy Garland). At first, he tries to turn her into an elegant ballroom showgirl, before finally understanding that she's really a down-to-Earth comedienne  All four couples eventually wind up on Broadway and finally settle their differences in time for New York's famous tradition spelled out in the title song.

I've always liked this one. As with the composer biographies, a slight story is wrapped around some fabulous numbers, including Astaire and Miller's "It Only Happens When I Dance With You" and Miller's awesome "Shakin' the Blues Away." Garland gets a fun medley of songwriter Irving Berlin's hits from that era with Astaire, and later got Astaire into hobo costumes long enough for the hilarious "A Couple of Swells." While Peter Lawford was a reluctant musical performer at best, he does get my favorite of the numbers written entirely for the film, the sweet "A Fella With an Umbrella." Recommended for fans of the stars or MGM musicals, or for people looking for non-religious Easter programming.

Peter Lawford wasn't the only one who needed an umbrella. By 3:30, the clouds had burst, and it was pouring. Despite the weather, I walked to Dad's for the party. I should have called for a ride. I was only wearing my thin turquoise spring dress and brown open-toed flats (which got completely soaked). I didn't think anyone would have the time to do it.

The party wound up being pretty big. Everyone brought something to eat. In addition to my cupcakes, Dad and Jodie provided ham, turkey breast, macaroni salad, cole slaw, macaroni and cheese, Jodie's famous asparagus wrapped with bacon, rolls, and tartlets and an egg-shaped cake from Desserts By Design in Audubon. Mark, Vanessa, and Brittany brought mashed potatoes. Jodie's relatives brought egg salad. Dad made two kinds of deviled eggs - one plain, one topped with applewood bacon. The parents of Rose's boyfriend Craig brought bruschetta.

Between meals, I watched my two-year-old nephew Khai hunt for eggs, then chase after the bubbles I gave him. He was so cute. I also got to see my first Doctor Who episode - Jodie's sons Jesse and TJ were watching what I believe to be one of the relatively recent ones with David Tennant as the famous British time-traveler on Netflix. (The Oaklyn Library, of all places, has what I believe to be one of the Tennant seasons on DVD. I really need to check that out, if only because several good friends of mine are fans of the show.)

The boys, TJ's friend Riff, and Jesse's girlfriend Dana switched to Ferngully: The Last Rain Forest after they finished with Doctor Who. Crysta is a young fairy who lives happily in a rain forest, learning magic from a wise older fairy and chasing her guy friend Pips. She gets the shock of her life when she first meets a crazy fruit bat who has been experimented on by humans...then sees a human damaging a tree. She accidentally shrinks the human, Zak, down to her size. Though she and Zak fall for each other, their relationship is doomed. Zak is not only part of a project that will destroy the rain forest, he inadvertently unleashed a toxic substance that takes over the project and nearly poisons the forest. Only Crysta has the power to stop him...

Despite some incredibly lush visuals (and being well-remembered by kids who grew up in this era like Dana and Jesse), this is very, very much a movie of its time. The environmental message is delivered with all the subtlety of a two-ton brick, and some of the freakier images are just plain disturbing. It doesn't help that Robin Williams in Genie-random-voice mode is the bat who has been screwed with by humans and hates them with a passion, and Tim Curry is the villainous smog whose main song was so sexually charged, it had to be heavily trimmed before release. Not for younger kids; older kids who enjoy action and can handle the moralizing and young adults with fond memories are the main audience for this nowadays.

Once again, I got bored long before I finally made it home. There just weren't a lot of people around to talk to. I finally hitched a ride home with Rose and her boys, by which time the rain was down to a fine mist.

Oh, and here's the photo story I worked on this afternoon. My dolls and several stuffed animals are disappointed that the Easter Bunny seems to have left no eggs and go on a quest through the living room to find them.

The Riverside Rest Easter Egg Hunt

At any rate, I hope everyone had a wonderful (and much drier) Easter and Passover!