Skyward: “My sneakers were sticking to the tar! SHIT!”

Yesterday I went out to Brooklyn, with my DVDs from Glenn of the mythical Skyward and the even more mythical Skyward Christmas in my bag, terrified that they would be cracked or scratched en route, and then where would I be?

Dan had emailed me the day before saying he had waited all his life to see Skyward. As a huge Bette Davis fan, he thinks that there are only three movies out of the 100-plus movies she made that he hasn’t seen, Skyward being one of them. Another one he hasn’t seen was from the 30s, and it was about contraception, and it is called (grossly) Seed. Ew. But it’s nigh on impossible to find, so I’m just putting it out there, to the Google universe … just as a man named Glenn taped Skyward and Skyward Christmas back in the early 80s … maybe someone out there has a bootleg copy of Seed (ew). If you do, please shoot me an email. Dan will be very appreciative.

The three of us were GIDDY from the second I walked into their house. It was nonstop hilarity from start to finish. We talked about NOTHING BUT SKYWARD … it’s like we have no lives outside of Skyward … we barely said “Hi, how are you, how have you been …” We just launched into Skyward.

The best part was that Dan had taken out his Bette Davis books and had placed bookmarks in all the Skyward passages (it was usually only a paragraph long). Dan did dramatic readings of the passages for us, while Keith and I cried with laughter. It was absurd! As a matter of fact, I walked in the main room, I hadn’t even taken my coat off, we were all talking at once, and bursting into random guffaws of laughter – when Dan picked up one of his books and launched into a dramatic reading … but I was still too giddy to even process what was happening – and had to beg him to start over. He was doing Bette Davis impersonations when she was quoted – and I just couldn’t take it all in. “Start over!!”

So Keith and I sat on the couch, as though it were story hour, and Dan read out loud to us, complete with Bette mannerisms and invisible cigarette.

When asked what she thought of Suzy Gilstrap as an actress, Bette sniffed, “She’s okay.”

In Bette’s daughter’s book, Bette goes OFF on poor Suzy Gilstrap – in a monologue that I find highly suspect. “SHE, the little crippled girl, got to sit in the shade – while I had to stand in the 110 degree heat. My SNEAKERS were sticking to the TAR! Shit!”

That is a direct quote. From the book, anyway.

Keith and I were CRYING. “My SNEAKERS were sticking to the TAR! SHIT!” became one of the refrains of the day. We’d be watching Skyward and there’d be some scene with Bette standing on the tarmac, and one of us would shout, “My SNEAKERS are sticking to the TAR! SHIT!”

Then, with no fanfare, no leadup, no small talk, we sat on the couch, and popped in Skyward.

“Hey whassup. Let’s watch Skyward.”

It is one of the funniest weirdest most awesome byproducts of my blog that has ever happened.

Thank you, Glenn!

Bigger more detailed post to follow.

A couple of photos below. They capture what the day was like. In the first photo, please notice the small neat pile of books on the table beside Dan. That’s his Bette stash, all ready with post-its and bookmarks for our screening. And look at how Keith is pointing up. You know, skyward. Look how crazy and hyped-up and hilarious they both look! We were out of our minds.

Brilliant.


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7 Responses to Skyward: “My sneakers were sticking to the tar! SHIT!”

  1. Stevie says:

    Awesome!!!

  2. mitchell says:

    um..could they be more adorable??? i think not.

  3. red says:

    You’d love them, Mitchell – they’re smart, funny, silly, and a lot of fun. It was such a funny afternoon!

  4. red says:

    Next time I come visit you, I’m totally bringing Skyward.

  5. Cullen says:

    Thank you for pausing on that opening screen. So hokey … It’s a beautiful thing.

  6. red says:

    Ron Howard had that hokey spirit from the beginning!

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