h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Silver threads among the gold," check. I even know the parody that starts with the line "While the organ peeled bananas."

I'm not acquainted enough with "Mavournine" to actually hum it, but I've heard the Whiffenpoofs sing it. They seem to continue singing even even in this day and age. Imagine!

Serenading has its serious connotations (in "The Student Prince, for example) as well as its comic ones (in Mozart's "Don Giovanni.") There was also a comic serenade in one of Merritt Parmalee Allen's "Mudhen" stories. I am way too full of obscure literary factoids, I'm afraid.

I adore "Pinafore" (my sister played Little Buttercup when her school mounted a production) and "Pirates of Penzance" (Less than fifteen minutes into the show, we are treated to the notion of a pirate nanny ). "Patience is a show I'm not all that familiar with, but I enjoyed Martin Green's rendition of "If you're anxious for to shine." I can't find that performance on youtube, but here's John Reed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iydc01_ZSg

I can appreciate the snarkiness of Orson Welles's interpretation of the Ambersons as too in love with the past. This reminds me of Edith Wharton's observation that new York Society "was like an empty vessel into which no new wine would ever again be poured."

Yes, I am an old fogey. There are so few places where people would get what I have to say.

Thank you for helping to preserve one such place.

Unless, of course, I am deluded in this belief.

Not at all. Rummaging in the attic of our collective past is a fun activity. We also might learn something. And heck, it's free.

My great-grandmother belonged to the Women's Temperance League. (I think that my great-grandfather got extra points for not drinking.) She said, "Lips that have touched alcohol will never touch mine." Family lore has it that she was something of a , so probably not a *lot* of kissing. On the other hand, other body parts did touch; they had four children.

As for living too much in the past, there are numerous cautionary tales. Andre Maginot tried to solve the problems of the previous war by building an elaborate defensive barrier in Northeastern France. This became a symbol of the futility of fighting the last war.

Another cautionary tale has to do with the Streetcar magnate whose will stipulated that the share of stock in streetcar companies must never be sold. We all know how well streetcar companies have done since then.

The only constant thing in life is change.