Never been such a day in Beverly Hills LA

Every year Rachel and I watch White Christmas as part of our holiday ritual. This year we borrowed her parents DVD and watched it with Rosemary Clooney's commentary track. I'm a fan of the Clooney's, and her commentary was more fun than most - including her calling her screen character a dummy repeatedly for making the foolish assumptions that drive the standard romantic comedy plot. It felt like watching a movie with a favorite aunt who has an infectious laugh and a willingness to turn that laugh on herself.

More touching, however, was the wistfulness in her voice when she discussed her co-stars. The track was recorded just a few years before Clooney's own death in 2002, and by that point all of her friends from the production were long since gone. (Crosby in 77, Vera-Ellen in 81, Kaye in 87 ). The sense of loss is palpable, especially for Crosby, with whom she had worked many times. For some reason it just struck me as being noteworthy - the last surviving member of a group of friends who had done great things, blessed or cursed with outliving them all by a considerable margin. The sort of note I'd like to capture when the PCs question an old adventurer for details on a returning menace, the sense of time both girding you down and polishing the gems of your memory. 

Now to put the Last Concert on and say goodbye to the girl singer again.