Thoughts For The Day From Papa ‘a

Good Morning All and Happy Wednesday!

A great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to MaryBeth, my friend in Birmingham, Alabama…human resources professional extraordinaire who celebrates her birthday today!  Here’s to you MaryBeth and I hope you have lots of fun on your special day of celebration!  And here’s to my friend and volleyball player extraordinare, Rachael, who celebrated her 21st birthday yesterday.  Here’s to you too!  Happy Birthday wishes also go to actress Lee Meriwether of “Baraby Jones” T.V. fame and a former Miss America, who turns 85 today; to actor Louis Gossett, Jr., who is 84 today and to actor Richard Schiff, who turns 65 today (welcome to Medicare!)!

Prayers continue to be lifted up for my childhood friend Tim, who is being treated for a significant brain injury.  May God give the health care professionals treating him wisdom and discernment and strength for Tim’s family.  He’s a terrific guy and has certainly made this world a better place.  Please join me in praying for a good outcome for Tim.  Our world needs him!

I took my mom to see her cardiologist yesterday and he said that mom’s heart capacity had increased from 35% to 55% since she had her heart procedure that resulted in three stents being placed in a major artery near the heart.  That’s quite remarkable for a 93 year old woman, don’t you think?  Medical science is an amazing thing…not to mention all of the great caregivers who are part of the health care system.  We realize that more and more during the current coronavirus challenge, for sure.

Mom and I were waiting in the drive through line at her pharmacy yesterday afternoon and the truck immediately ahead of us in the line featured a huge sign on the back windshield that said “Lady Zags”…no doubt a parent of a Gonzaga University basketball player and/or a HUGE fan…the truck also featured the following bumper stickers…”Try A Little Kindness” & “Pursue Good Stuff.”  How about that?

I came across one of my collectible cards from the 1950s & early 1960s the other day that featured the old T.V. series “Wagon Train.”  One of its stars was Robert Horton…he played alongside the famous actor Ward Bond.  Robert Horton’s given name was Meade Howard Horton, Jr..  He was born in 1924 in Los Angeles, California.  Horton said that he never fitted into his proper Mormon household because at times he was rather impetuous.  He survived several surgeries in childhood, including hernia repair and treatment for an enlarged kidney.  He attended California Military Institute in Perris, where he played football.  After graduation in 1943 at age 19, he enlisted in the Coast Guard, but was medically discharged because of his kidney.  Although there is some evidence to suggest that Horton actually graduated from Hollywood High School in 1942…In 1945, a chance encounter with a talent scout led to an uncredited part in the film “A Walk In The Sun” (1945).  Horton studied dramatic arts at the University of Miami but later changed schools and graduated cum laude from UCLA.  At age 28, he signed a contract with MGM, appearing in films.   It was there where he met younger actors Robert Fuller and James Drury (of “The Virginian” fame), who both became Horton’s lifelong friends.  In his six decades of television, Horton, who became known for his voice, was most noted for his role as the frontier scout “Flint McCullough” in the television series “Wagon Train” from 1957 to 1962.  His co-stars were Ward Bond, John McIntire, Terry Wilson & Frank McGrath.  He eventually quit the series to pursue a career in musical theater.  The ruggedly handsome Horton made dozens of appearances in movies and television series between 1951 and 1989, including “Police Woman” with Angie Dickinson in 1976.  In the 1960s, Horton made two 45 RPM singles on the Columbia Records label:  “The Very Thought Of You”/”Hey There” and “King Of The Road”/”Julie.”  He performed for many years in theaters and nightclubs all over America, and in Australia as a singer (sometimes with his wife, Marilynn Bradley).  In 1963, producer David Merrick hired him as the male lead in the musical version of N. Richard Nash’s play “The Rainmaker” (titled “110 In The Shade”).  Horton had a varied career, as he co-starred in “The Green Slime” in 1968, a low-budget Japanese-American science fiction film, directed by Kinji Fukasaku and shot entirely in Japan, but with an American & European cast.  His character, Jack Rankin, leads the crew of a space station in a battle for survival against one-eyed tentacled aliens that rapidly multiply as they feed on the station’s sources of electricity.  Horton even tried his had at daytime soap operas, playing the part of Whit McColl on “As The World Turns” in 1983 & 1984.  He was an accomplished pilot and aircraft owner.  His frequent co-pilot was his French Poodle, “Jamie.”  Horton was  lifelong Republican and campaigned for Dwight Eisenhower in the 1952 presidential election.  He was married to Marilynn Bradley for 56 years and they lived in the same house in Encino, California for 55 years.  Horton was the recipient of several lifetime achievement awards for television, including the Golden Boot in 2004, and also the Cowboy Spirit Award at the National Festival of the West.  On his 90th birthday, he received the Western Legend Award.  He died of natural causes in 2016 at the age of 91 after he had been injured in a fall in November of 2015.  At his request, he didn’t have a funeral.  Here’s to Robert Horton who I enjoyed watching as a kid, dreaming of being a heroic cowboy in a Western!

 

Here’s the funny thought for the day from the cartoon “Pickles””

Grandson:  “Grampa, is it fun being a Grampa?”

Grandfather:  “Well, it’s a big responsibility…

A Grampa is the patriarch of the family, the pater familias, the head of the family, the lord of the manor…”

Grandmother:  “Earl, the garbage needs emptying.”

Grandfather:  “It’s mostly an honorary title.”

 

Here is the word definition for the day:

Blithesome:  A 17th century English word meaning “Having a cheerful disposition”…”Filled with, marked by, or causing pleasure.”

Wouldn’t it be grand if we were all a little bit more “blithesome”?

 

Here’s the thought for the day:

“Every role is challenging in its own way, but the most challenging roles are the ones that are badly written—then it’s completely up to you to come up with something that is interesting to the story and myself as an actor.”

—Richard Schiff, American actor (born May 27, 1955)

 

Here’s to a great Wednesday and lots of love & good wishes always!

Press on,

Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, Mark, etc.)