Girls, Remember When We All Wanted To Look Like This??????????

                              The year was 1965, darlings, and at that point in time I was frantically marching back and forth in front of my house, or jumping forwards and backwards on my front steps, desperately trying to emulate Angela Cartwright or Heather Menzies in "The Sound Of Music," whom I so much wanted to be.

                                But there was another film that year, "Doctor Zhivago," that was a bit much more for a child, but what I managed to take away from it stayed with me into adulthood, resulting in many more viewings thereof.  Now, everyone who was young and had ears at the time could not miss the haunting "Lara's Theme"; it played on radios incessantly, and once it was set to lyrics (entitled "Somewhere, My Love) everyone, it seems,. from Andy Williams to Perry Como, were recording it.  Even if you did not  see the film, or know  the story, there was no way at this time you would not know the theme song.

                                  There was quite a lot in "Doctor Zhivago" I did not understand.  The Russian Revolution was new to me, and I did not understand then what "rape" was. Nor did my parents, with whom I first saw the film, bother to explain. But, then, I never bothered to ask.

                                    But there was so much to this film that did stay with me, even at such a tender age. The panoramic, snow covered vistas, the fields of daffodils, the haunting Maurice Jarre music, the sequence where those shot out turn out to be innocent schoolboys on a march..

                                     The sequence that still sends chills up my spine, and comes early on, is the funeral of the young Zhivago's mother.  From the haunting choral music, to the way it is shot, David Lean captures, as no other filmmaker can, the traumatic impact of death on a young child.  Nearly fifty years later, this sequence still unnerves me, every time I see it.

                                        Then there is another, equally defining moment, later in the film. Zhivago, now a young medical resident in Moscow, gets on a cable car in a snow covered Moscow.  We see him poised, waiting to get off, but sitting behind him, dressed in black, a scarf wrapped around her, so only traces of her hair and eyes are exposed, is the most striking young woman present.  That is our first view of Julie Christie, as Lara, and it is as unforgettable, as the first time I saw it.  Darlings, ever since, I have been wrapping scarves around my face in winter, trying in vain to look like Julie Christie, because who the hell wouldn't want to???????  And I am sure there are lots of my girls (and boys) out there, who have done the same thing.  Don't try and kid me, loves; many of us were spellbound by Julie as Lara.

                                         A lovely vision to contemplate,. after some of the dismal posts of late.  Meanwhile, while only Miss Christie can look like, well, Miss Christie, be inspired by the photo above, and make sure your hair is as coiffed and combed, before you leave the house, darlings!!!!!!!!  You may not be a symbol of Russia, darlings, but there is no excuse not to look your best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                            We love you, Julie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!