… Well, that was interesting, in a bad way. I’ve just
wasted over thirty minutes trying to access the blog. It refused to let me in,
even though I know I had the right password. I double-checked and
double-checked. I don’t know whether it was hacked or if the website is just
being a moron, but I am royally aggravated. I finally had to reset the
password.
ANYWAY! It’s hard to believe that this blog has been up
for over a year. And today is the first anniversary of the accompanying
website.
We have been looking for new Simon material to
watch, and while we’ve been waiting, we’ve kept Simon in our hearts despite the
lack of posts here. And now, finally, on the 97th anniversary of his
birthday, I can report on two more of Simon’s wonderful guest-spots.
The first is part of a show about Ellery
Queen, a little episode called The Adventure of the Pharaoh’s Curse.
Simon plays Norris Wentworth, a wealthy man who is into aircraft manufacturing
and has just donated a mummy to the museum. His wife is seeing someone else,
his son hates him, and an Egyptian is furious with him for buying the mummy and
then donating it to be on display. He wants the dead laid to rest. Can’t say he
doesn’t have a point, but he becomes far too emotional, making a huge show of
it right at the unveiling and threatening Norris.
Apparently the poor man has been disliked for
years. During World War II, he was accused of not building his airplanes strong
enough, causing the deaths of many young airmen. His wife is quick to point out
that he was acquitted of all charges and that he always insisted he hadn’t done
it.
Norris is eventually, mysteriously murdered,
as it turns out, by suffering a heart attack after the guard in the museum
tries to literally scare him to death with the mummy. His son was one of the
airmen who died. The guard snarls about how cowardly Norris became when he
realized he was going to die, and how he sniveled and pleaded for his life.
The thing about Norris, I was quick to
realize, is that nowhere in the episode did it ever say he really had been
guilty for ruining those airplanes. The guard was convinced of it, but many
people were, and we have to remember what Mrs. Wentworth said. And that, as
well as the guard’s confession, are the only times it’s brought up. Thus, the
question has to be faced, What if Norris really was innocent? What if the
ruined airplanes were the fault of someone else in his company, maybe some lazy
bums working in the plant? It’s a sad and sobering thought.
Norris is a gruff and serious sort, but he’s
friendly and likes a good drink. He also doesn’t believe in superstitious
nonsense, or at least, he doesn’t want to. He knows his son doesn’t like
him and feels badly about it. And I felt plum sorry for the poor man, even
moreso since we don’t even know that he was guilty of the terrible crimes he
was killed for.
Recently, thanks to Netflix, I was also, finally
able to see Simon’s guest-spot on the Ronnie Schell comedy Good Morning
World, in the episode The Lady and the Pussycat. It’s one of Simon’s
rare appearances in a comedy of any kind, and it’s a gem. This time there’s no
doubt that his character, Harry Lewis, is a good guy.
Harry is the father of the main character, and
he sells surfboards and other assorted items in Honolulu. He’s come to the
mainland to see his son and daughter-in-law, and also the two women he’s trying
to choose between for a wife. He’s lonely after fifteen years of his first wife
being dead, and each of these women has touched him in a special way.
The younger Lewises aren’t sure what to make
of either one of them. The first is a girl much younger than Harry, but they
get along well and seem to enjoy each other’s company. They met when she went
surfing with a rented board from Harry and he decided to go out after her since
she hadn’t had experience. They ended up wiping out in a wave, but Harry ended
up nearly dying and Genevieve had to perform artificial respiration on him (!).
David doesn’t like the idea of Harry being
with a girl so much younger than himself. Linda doesn’t seem to mind so much.
When David tries to talk with Harry about it, Harry reveals that there is
another girl too, and he’s having trouble deciding which one.
This girl, Mary-Margaret, is closer to his own
age. She’s very conservative—doesn’t drink, doesn’t like modern music—and she
brings cookies for David and Linda. But there’s something I didn’t like about
her, and it seems Linda was bothered too. David was too caught up in the
cookies and the ages to notice. I’m not fully sure how to explain it, but she
felt somewhat snooty. Maybe it was just in her aristocratic accent. But I really
had the sense that she didn’t care about Harry, at least not as a romantic
interest. When she’s leaving, she even arranges for a cab instead of having him
drive her home. She claims it’s so he can spend time with the kids, and that
could be, but I had the feeling that maybe she didn’t want him to drive her
home, period.
It’s not really surprising when she turns down
his off-screen proposal later on. She feels he’s too immature for her. And when
he asks Genevieve, she feels he’s too old. But she must still like him and want
to be friends, at least, as she comes with him to dinner once again. When David
asks what his father is going to do, Harry gives him a mischievous grin and
says, “Try to age her a little.” They then embrace.
Harry Lewis is quite adorable, a lovable teddy
bear of a man in his fifties who doesn’t feel he’s too old to still have some
fun in life. I like to think that Genevieve later changed her mind about him.
Despite David feeling both girls were wrong for him, I felt that he and
Genevieve were very nice together. They certainly felt more real and lively
than Harry with Mary-Margaret. And Genevieve would definitely have a hard time
finding a catch anywhere as good!
So once again, there we go with two characters
who are extremely different but whom Simon played to perfection and
believability. Today we honor and remember Simon on what would have been his 97th
birthday. A wonderful actor and human being, lost far too soon. But we will
treasure all of the characters he left us. Simon’s acting legacy lives on.
~Lucky
Ladybug