Ramblin' with Roger

Movies by year – found post

The Moon is Blue

From Here to Eternity Back in 2008(!), I started a post referencing movies by year, beginning with when I was born. Clearly, there must have been some source that listed the leading films from each period.

1953
Favorite: From Here to Eternity
Runners-up: The Glenn Miller Story; Roman Holiday
Great films of that year I have yet to see: The Moon Is Blue; Call Me Madame
Worst film of that year I have seen: The Robe
Mostly want to see The Moon is Blue because it as referred to in an episode of the TV show MAS*H.

1954
Favorite: Rear Window
Runners-up: On the Waterfront; A Star Is Born
Great films of that year I have yet to see: Carmen Jones; White Christmas
Worst film of that year I have seen: ??
It may be that Rear Window ranks ahead on Oscar winner On the Waterfront because I saw the Hitchcock film in the theater when it was re-released, while I saw the Kazan film on TV. Carmen Jones intrigues me because it’s an update of the Bizet opera Carmen in an African-American setting

1955
Favorite: Lady and the Tramp
Runners-up: Oklahoma!; Mister Roberts
Great films of that year I have yet to see: Marty; The Rose Tattoo
Worst film of that year I have seen: Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, by default
Lady and the Tramp made $80 million. The runner-up is Cinerama Holiday, a movie now so obscure that it doesn’t even rate a Wikipedia post, made $12 million. The third was Mister Robers with $8.5 million.

Two MASH references

1956
Favorite: Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Runners-up: The King and I; Carousel
Great films of that year I have yet to see: Lust for Life; Anastasia
Worst film of that year I have seen: The Ten Commandments, easily
The big b.o. that year was my worst pic that year.

I didn’t get far when the list inexplicably skipped to 1970, which was repeated about six dozen times! Weird.

1970
Favorite: Patton
Runners-up: Catch-22, MAS*H
Great films of that year I have yet to see: Brewster McCloud, Five Easy Pieces
Worst film of that year I have seen: Myra Breckinridge

But, unlike the ones from the 1950s, these did not seem right. I don’t even remember seeing Patton all the way through or Myra at all. I wasn’t all that fond of Catch-22, which I saw 1.5 times. (Very long story.) Maybe I had filled the record with dummy information?

Lydster: South Africa again

Amarula

The Daughter went to South Africa again, specifically Cape Town, from early July to mid-August. Only late in her previous trip in the first half of 2025 did she discover how easy the train system is.

Part of the appeal is seeing the beaches more often than when she was attending classes. She went to Muizenberg and Kalk Bay. She particularly appreciated the fisheries at the latter locale. Also, she visited Table Mountain again, Victoria Wharf, and Cape Point, among other sites. There were lots of penguins and some whales.

She said that she only went to the clubs twice. She was never IDed because the drinking age is 18. Once, she went to Barcadia, “Cape Town’s first and only Retro Bar Arcade. Arcade games were included for free when purchasing from the bar.” She discovered Amarula and directed me to buy a bottle in Albany if I could, and I did; it’s not dissimilar to Amaretto, but I may like it better.

One cultural phenomenon she noted is that people were generally paid only once a month, on the first Thursday. As a result, many cultural entities, such as art galleries, opened much later. My daughter noted that the cadgers were more aggressive, more in one’s face, than they were in, for instance, New York City or Albany.

Planning ahead

She booked two places to stay back in late December. The first place was mostly fine, though she noticed some mold hidden behind some drapes in the last of her four weeks there.

Her second place, also booked on Booking.com, was far more complicated. When she arrived, she was told that her booking had been canceled because they had stopped using Booking.com in February. But she hadn’t received any notification.

After considerable negotiations with the rental official, they eventually found her another place to stay on their properties. My daughter doesn’t particularly enjoy conflict, but she didn’t feel that the rep was listening to her.

As it turned out, the refrigerator did not work. Another one was brought in, but it didn’t fit into the space it was designated for. The water from the faucet left her mouth sore; she boiled it, then refrigerated it, and it was tolerable.

(Much of this was documented in a 25-minute WhatsApp message to my wife’s phone.)

To get to the swimming pool, she had to go through a restaurant. She found no towels, so she went to the main desk. When she attempted to go back through the restaurant, she wasn’t allowed because she didn’t meet the dress code, even though she had a blouse and shorts. Instead, she had to return to the room on the 8th floor and change to slacks.

One thing she did with a friend I met last year was compare American versions of various foods that they could buy at an import store. They found a South African version of Froot Loops cereal, which my daughter thought was “nasty” and her friend decided was “too sweet.”

She told me a lot more. I’m sure she’ll say, “Why did you leave THAT out?” Mostly for time and because I can’t read my own handwritten notes.

Les Green would have been 100

Les Green

Les Green would have been 100 on September 26, 1926. He was my dad, or, as I gleaned from a speaker I saw in Chautauqua in 2024, he IS my dad. His death in 2000 does not change that fact.

I love the picture above, though I don’t know how old he is here.

Of course, I’ve written about him more than two dozen times, usually on September 25. On September 26, I write about the grandchild he never knew, my daughter. Also, I note August 10, the date he died.

I only discovered in 2019 the name of his biological father, Raymond Cone. But he was raised in the household of his grandparents, Samuel Walker and Mary Eugenia (Patterson), as well as various aunts and uncles, in Binghamton, NY.

For years, the 1930 Census confounded me. He was listed as Wesley Walker, the “son” of Samuel and Eugenia. The fiction of the relationship didn’t confuse me, but “Wesley” did. Eventually, I visited the state archives and confirmed that he was born Leslie Walker.

Les Green

Flower child

I love this photo because it reminds me of his longtime talent for arranging flowers. He worked occasionally at Costas’s flower shop in Binghamton and arranged flowers for several family weddings, debutante balls, and the like. I had /have NO talent for this, but I would accompany him and my sister Leslie and schlep stuff.

BTW, I have no idea where or, especially, when these photos were taken. He looks so happy, full of joy. There’s no sign of that weird rollercoaster that I assume he experienced living with his mother, Agatha Walker, and his stepfather, McKinley, and then not, but ultimately being adopted by Mac just before Les’ 18th birthday.

Les Green

I feel as though that, maybe, I had seen these photos before. But I certainly never had copies of them until my daughter and I went down to Charlotte, NC, in May 1974. He, Mom, and baby sister had moved down there in 1974. The daughter and I selected and scanned a bunch of pics.

It seems that I should have some profound observations on the centennial of his birth. There was some talk of maybe some family members rerecording some Green Family Singers songs, but that didn’t happen.

I still have the unanswerable questions I’ve had since he passed away. Happy birthday, dear old dad (D.O.D.), as you dubbed yourself.

Seneca Falls: Women’s Rights

an endangered historic place

My wife and daughter had planned a trip for us to the Finger Lakes region of New York on September 4. Because I was busy, I didn’t even know exactly where we were heading.

It turns out we were going to Seneca Falls. We had been in the village a decade earlier, on the return leg of our 2016 vacation. But when we went to the Visitor Center of the Women’s Rights National Historic Park, it was closed. We did see the wall with the Declaration of Sentiments.

On this return visit, we did get to the visitor center, which was quite interesting. One of the NPS staff, Anha Wilson, led us to the Wesleyan Chapel, the site of the Women’s Rights Convention on July 19-20, 1848, where the Declaration was codified.

Our guide explained how Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Mary M’Clintock, Martha Coffin Wright, and Jane Hunt came to Seneca Falls, where none of them grew up, to create the document.

We did not get to the other parts of the National Park, though I did subsequently take a virtual tour. Interestingly, shortly after we returned home, we saw a news story about how the park has experienced $12 million in “deferred maintenance.”

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has dubbed the Women’s Rights National Historical Park one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2026. One may support the America the Beautiful Act (S.1547). “This bill would provide up to $16 billion of dedicated funding over 8 years to tackle the deferred maintenance backlog of the National Park Service and other federal agencies.”

Dinner

We headed to our hotel room. On the way, we saw remnants of tornadoes from two days earlier, with large branches and even whole trees in yards and curbs. There were at least a half dozen utility trucks in the hotel parking lot, suggesting a lot of disruption to be rectified.

We went to dinner at Wolffy’s Grill and Marina. It was quite decent place to eat. But the view of Cayuga Lake was EXTRAORDINARY.

Ask Roger why he hates his cellphone

Ask Roger Anything

Ask Roger why he hates his cellphone. He hates it because he despises long text chains. He had been working on a project with four or five people, and they had to share a lot of information.

But once the narrative exceeded his screen length, he totally lost focus on what was being conveyed. Moreover, he had difficulty retrieving specific information.

He recently noted this to one of the participants. “I don’t see/perceive them well, so I can’t find information within them, and they gave me raging headaches. I am just better with email.

“I am old-fashioned (or just plain old) in that I generally use texts to say ‘I’ll be there in 15 minutes’ ot ‘Can we reschedule?'”

Moreover

Also, I was waiting for a callback from a good friend. I had the volume up to the maximum and STILL missed the call. About half an hour later, I saw their text, so I called them back.

Somehow, I’ve taken pictures I didn’t want to take and sent audio messages to people I didn’t intend to. I can be such a Luddite.

On the other hand, it lets me take silly pictures like this one.

This is a preamble to my periodic request for you to Ask Roger Anything. The aforementioned project ate up a lot of his time, and still does occasionally. Your clever, or flippant, or insane questions are just what he needs to alter his focus for a bit. Because he is a noble sort – or so he has deluded himself into believing that he is- he will answer almost any question, no matter how off-the-wall, and in short order.

You can leave your questions in the comments section of this blog, in my email, referenced elsewhere on this blog, or on my Facebook page (Roger Owen Green); always look for the duck.