I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it
I’m about to lose control and I think I like it!

 

Hi, there!  I have been working diligently on the biography of my father, Eddie Green, for the past couple of weeks, because I am so close to finishing and I want to get the manuscript sent out for proofreading before I send it to a publisher. One year ago I bought my first laptop and started this project. AND THEN, last week, out of the blue, I received a message from a lady whose 90-plus year old Grandmother, whose name is Millicent, had been in one of the movies my father directed, produced and starred in, “What Goes Up.” The movie was made in Fort Lee, New Jersey in 1939.

Evidently, Millicent had for years been telling  the younger members of her family about those days, but no one really listened until one family member decided to investigate. She went on line and found my blog (yay!) after typing in Eddie’s name, and now I get to add a bit more information to my book, and I get to share a little of Millicent’s story (she played a chorus girl in the movie) with my readers. This is exactly the type of thing I wanted to happen, though I wasn’t sure it would.

Millicent is the shorter woman in the front in the black dress.  I have had a copy of this photo for a long time, but had no idea who these women were. Now I know one of them.  Millicent and I live in different cities and have never met, but, boy, am I glad her relative found me.  (Laugh Jamboree was a Toddy Pictures production, though the movies, Dress Rehearsal, What Goes Up and Comes Midnight, were Eddie’s.)

Through her granddaughter, Millicent has provided me with more insight into Eddie as an entertainer and as a movie producer than she will ever know.  For instance, she says that Eddie was “all business”.  Well, in a Baltimore Newspaper article from around the same time that Millicent knew Eddie, the headline reads: ” As a Comedian, He’s Very Funny, As a Business Man, He’s Very Sensible and Comedy is a Business.” The article goes on to say “The fact that Eddie is so funny on the screen, stage and radio is due to the highly intelligent and efficient manner in which he conducts his work.”

The other thing about this contact with Millicent, is that, had my mother, Norma, still been alive today, she would have been 92 years old. For those that don’t know Eddie married my mom when he was 54 and mom was 22. So Millicent was a cast member in Eddie’s movie, about the same time Eddie first met my mom.  I love Millicent, I don’t know her, but that’s ok. I have a few more tidbits to share (Millicent was a beauty contest winner), but I will save them for another post.

Being able  to look back and “experience” the past through my book and this blog, brings me so much joy.  I mean, just because its 2015 does not mean past times are inconsequential. Past times, older people,  are extremely important to who we have become today, and well worth the attention, in my opinion.

Thank you, Sharon.

And, thank you, for stopping by.

Lyrics for “I’m So Excited” courtesy of The Pointer Sisters

 

 

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