"It's A Big Screen....But A Small World..."

Words have power, kids.

Make no mistake.

Three little words can touch a heart, change a life, plant the first seeds of a new family.

Two little words can crush a friendship, end a relationship, break a heart.

Especially if they are accompanied by that infamous finger.

This morning, though, I was touched by four little words.

Last night, TCM, paying tribute to Jimmy Stewart with a mini marathon of Jimmy Stewart, ran the iconic 1962 western, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" in the prime time, "Essentials with Robert Osbourne and Alec Baldwin" slot.

If you have seen this film, enough said.

If you have not seen this film, see this film.

Enough said.

As the opening credits rolled, I happened to be lap-topping in my typical multitasking mode (yeah, it sounds like efficiency, but, truth be told, its just usually more the perfect storm of my ADD, OCD and Asperger's duking it out with each other), bouncing around between CNN.com, EBay, IDMB and Facebook when I felt moved to post a quick say hey on the FB wall of Vera Miles.

If you have seen the film, enough said.

If you have not seen the film, Google away.

Enough said.

That moment of "reach out and touch someone" was possible because of the remarkable technology that allows everyday people like you and me to "know" well known people like Ms. Miles via social networking sites.

"Know", of course, a relative term, as I have never met the lady and found her in my FB friends list as a result of the friend knowing the friend knowing the friend, et al....

Then again, isn't that the whole point of social networking?

But, I digress.

A movie/TV buff since kidhood, I thought it remarkable that, through this technology, I had actually been given the opportunity to "connect" with a lady who had played a part in so many of the films I had enjoyed through the years from "Psycho" to "The Searchers", not to mention the tons of appearances in the TV shows of my upbringing years, "The Fugitive", "The Twilight Zone", "The Outer Limits", ad infinitum.

And while I've been in, and around, enough celebrity in my work through the years to know how to respect the fine line between admirer and restraining ordered wack job, I wasn't hesitant, in that lap topping moment, to post that quick tip of the hat.

A simple "watching Liberty Valance, nice work, congrats.." thing.

This morning, four little words greeted me on my page.

Life will be business as usual today, from world unrest to political melodrama, good news and bad news and the everyday comings and goings and doings of another day and Ms. Miles will go on with her life and I will go on with mine.

For a couple of seconds, though, we shared a moment.

I typed a few quick words of hello and congrats.

She typed back four little words.

"Vera Miles likes this".

Enough said.

"Name Three Obsolete Things.....Black and White TV....Eight Track Tape Players....Respect for Our Elders...."

Old saying.

Politics makes strange bedfellows.

New saying.

Politics, and blogs, make strange bedfellows.

For example...

Bob Dylan...

...and Jerry Lewis.

Jerry, of course, is in the news because he has been, for all intents and purposes, kicked to the curb by the Muscular Dystrophy Association after forty five years and close to two billion dollars in funds raised.

That's billions with a b, by the way, not millions with an m.

First up, I'm not a knee jerk advocate/fan of Jerry Lewis. While I respect what he has accomplished professionally through the years, his sense of humor/movies have always left me underwhelmed and his air has always seemed to have just the tiniest aroma of "holier than thou".

And, to this day, I can't figure out why the French consider him an iconic "comedic genius".

Then again, this is a country that thinks cheese is one of the two major food groups, lactose intolerance be damned.

Admittedly, I don't know the man personally and he could be the nicest guy on the planet. In fact, of late, I found myself sincerely impressed with his work, a season or two back, as the aging, poignantly afflicted uncle of Richard Belzer's character on a very well done episode of "Law and Order-SVU".

And, credit where due, he did father Gary who, unknowingly, helped me score a modest grope or two in the sixties, by giving my teenage garage band such chick pleasing favorites to play such as "This Diamond Ring", "Everybody Loves A Clown" and, the sure fire melt their resistance piece de' resistance, "Save Your Heart For Me"

Regardless of personal taste or opinion, though, nobody who plays fair in life can be anything but disgusted at the MDA's seemingly callous showing of the door to Jerry without so much as a rubber chicken dinner or gold watch to express much deserved gratitude and appreciation.

That said, their action, while both class, and taste, less, is a predictable point in the timeline of life.

Out with the old, in with the new.

Here's your hat, what's your hurry?

Your old road is/ Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one/If you can't lend your hand...

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, performing the theme song from the forthcoming "The Jerry Lewis Story"....




Pretty prophetic, there, Bob.

Watch your back, though.

You turned 70 this year.

Jerry, on the other hand, might find himself yet another career.