Bill & Jim working on yet another crossword puzzle together
Tomorrow will be 4 months since my husbandās identical twin brother died suddenly. His wife returned home from a walk and found him on the bedroom floor; she said he was still warm. The news felt like an arrow ripped through our hearts. Jim was dead. How was my sister-in-law ever again going to walk into her bedroom without picturing her husbandās body? How was my husband Bill going to face the rest of his life as the lone twin? At one time there were three brothers; now there is only Bill. This is the most difficult trial for him. My husband lost a piece of himself that day. We are numb, disbelieving, questioning, dazed, numb, numb, so unbelievably numb.
You know how people say that time flies? Not when it comes to Jim; time has stopped for us. Logically we know heās dead but our hearts cannot accept it. Itās unbelievable, inconceivable for us. It doesnāt feel possible. We function normally every day, do the same old crap, talk and eat and laugh. We watch movies, go shopping, pay bills, gab on the phone, babysit. We live the same lives we lived before Jim died except heās not here to share them and we cannot wrap our heads around that. It just doesn’t feel like he’s dead. He should be here. It’s not right that heās not here. It’s like someone has played the cruelest joke on us.
Now, when my sister-in-law looks at Bill, itās Jimās face she sees. And sometimes when I look at my husband, I see Jim and I find myself pondering why Jim was the twin who was taken.
I am Bill’s wife but Jim was his other half.
save them in your heart golden summer memories for when winter comes
City Island, Bronx NY circa 1950 No idea who’s who!
We visited the Poe Cottage this week, former home of the poet Edgar Allan Poe. Itās about a 30 minute drive from my house and I thought my two teenage grandchildren would enjoy the walk-around since theyāre both reading the works of Poe in school.
Itās a quaint old place with small bedrooms, a common kitchen-parlor-dining room downstairs and an upstairs loft. My 6ā tall grandson questioned how a grown man could sleep in the tiny bed.
At one point I realized my grandson had gone missing. Imagine my embarrassment when he was found napping in Poeās bed!
The layout of Freedomland; I’d forgotten it was in the shape of the US!
Back in 1960, before the first Six Flags opened in Texas, there was Freedomland USA ā¦. a fantastic, 85-acre amusement park with rides, restaurants, attractions, shopping, etc. And one of the things that made this wonderland so amazing was the fact that it was about 20 minutes from my house in The Bronx, NY. We would sit on our front porch at night and watch the fireworks coming from Freedomland.
“What else was so special about the place?”, you ask; well, it was the music hall known as the Moon Bowl!
In an attempt to attract visitors of varying ages, the Moon Bowl featured swing bands from the 1940s and contemporary pop stars. There was a stage and a 15,000 square foot outdoor dance floor. Among the performers who entertained us (and who I saw) were the Count Basie Orchestra, Paul Anka, Bobby Darin, Connie Francis, Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker and more.
A ticket to Freedomland; check out the price of admission!
Bobby Darin performing at the Moon Bowl
Somewhere in my attic I have many tickets and autographs tucked away with all my Beatles scrapbooks and R&R memorabilia. I was a very lucky girl who got to meet a lot of famous people! Unfortunately, Freedomland USA went belly up after just five seasons but I have memories that will last forever.
Today I am featuring one of the performers I saw at Freedomland, the place where I fell in love with him when I was 10 years old ā¦. the one-and-only Bobby Darin, definitely tops on my list. He can bring me out of a lousy mood or help me chill when Iām feeling stressed out.
There arenāt enough adjectives to describe the incredible talents of Bobby Darin. He was the consummate performer, a one-man show who composed songs, conducted the orchestra, sang different genres of music, danced, played the drums, piano, harmonica and guitar, did impressions, acted in movies and dazzled us with his Sinatra-like charm, mannerisms and sense of humor. My fellow-New Yorker was born Walden Robert Cassotto on May 14, 1936. It was a time when ethnic-sounding names such as his were frowned-upon by music producers; they felt something more white bread Americana would help these performers with strange names go further in the biz so Walden Robert Cassotto became Bobby Darin.
Bobby was only 37 years old when he died .ā¦ recurring bouts of rheumatic fever as a child left him with a seriously weakened heart. Believing his time on earth was limited, he lived his life to the fullest, pushing himself to all he could. In 1973, after failing to take antibiotics to protect his heart before a dental visit, Bobby developed sepsis. On December 19, 1973, a four-person surgical team worked for over six hours to repair his damaged heart. In the early morning hours of December 20, Bobby Darin died in the recovery room without regaining consciousness. That day the entertainment world lost one of its brightest stars and my own heart broke a little.
Ā āMack The Knifeā is undoubtedly Bobby Darinās most famous hit ā¦. a cool, finger-snapping song about the notorious killer, thief and arsonist, Macheath (AKA Mac the Knife). The song was originally written in 1928 for the German dramatic play Die Dreigroschenoper (Threepenny Opera) and sounds totally different than Bobby Darinās version.
Another one of Bobbyās hits is āBeyond The Seaā, a jazzed-up version of a romantic love song based on the classical piece called āLe Merā by French composer, lyricist, singer and showman Charles Trenet. The 2004 movie Beyond The Sea was released starring Kevin Spacey in the role of Bobby Darin. In case you only Spacey for his dramatic roles and have never seen him in a musical role, youāre in for a treat. Spacey is a master of impersonations and sang all Bobby Darinās songs himself. He became Bobby Darin and if you like dramatic biographies with a splash of nightclub routines, youāll love this movie.
Anything else you want to know about Freedomland, USA or Bobby Darin you can Google or read in Wiki. Iām just so grateful I had a chance to spend my pre-teen years in a place like Freedomland where I got to see Bobby Darin up close and personal and got his autograph. People have asked me āWhy donāt you sell some of this stuff? Youāve got a treasure trove packed away.ā Yeah, itās a treasure trove and thatās exactly why Iāll be keeping it for as long as I live.
This is Bobby Darin performing his greatest hit, āMack The Knifeā on the Ed Sullivan Show, May 31, 1959.
Now āBeyond The Seaā, also from the same airing of the Ed Sullivan show.
In this video, several of the many talents of the fabulous Bobby Darin are put on display. Bobby sings, plays bluesy harmonica, boogies on piano and performs a blistering Gene Krupa style drum solo. Live on the David Frost Show, 1972 ā¦. 18 months before his death.
I hope you enjoyed taking a walk with me down Memory Lane …. not just sharing my fond, girlhood memories of Freedomland but remembering the remarkable Bobby Darin.
The Elephant's Trunk 