I am going over to Keith and Dan’s on Saturday for a ceremonial screening of Skyward<\/i> and A Skyward Christmas<\/i>. Very exciting.<\/p>\n
As per Glenn’s suggestion, I checked both of them out briefly – to make sure all was a-okay … It has taken an act of superhuman strength to not immediately watch Skyward<\/i>. I basically fast-forwarded through Skyward<\/i>, to check it was all there … God forbid I show up at the screening and half the movie was missing or something! The brief flash-forward scenes I saw thrilled me to no end, and I remembered scenes BEFORE they came, even though it has been almost 30 years since I saw the damn thing. “Oh, next we’ll see the pep rally, and Gilstrap’s boyfriend will be storming by …” VOILA, there was the pep rally with Gilstrap’s boyfriend storming by. And Howard Hesseman appeared gloriously sweaty and crotchety, and Bette Davis, as Billie Dupree, seemed awesome (in a fast-forward kind of way), with her mechanics overalls and her red lipstick, hangin’ out with the boys. Just like I remembered!<\/p>\n
I realized that my memory had played a trick on me. I had told Keith and Dan that Suzy Gilstrap’s boyfriend in the movie had “cro-magnon features”. That was how I remembered it. But as I fast-forwarded I realized I had been wrong. Her boyfriend was not cro-magnon at all. He was more of a lean skinny Dukes of Hazzard<\/i> type. It took me a second to realize why I had superimposed cro-magnon features onto a man who had none. It was because of Babycakes<\/a><\/i>, a television movie starring Ricki Lake, about a fat girl who falls in love with a hunk and I can’t remember the details, but he falls in love back, and there is all kinds of social pressure issues (along the lines of Shallow Hal<\/i> – with his friends thinking he could “do better”, and her parents thinking she is reaching too high … and it’s all about the limitations placed on us, and that we place on ourselves, because of our appearance.) Very similar to Skyward<\/i>, where a shy almost non-verbal paraplegic somehow nabs the football star of her school. I remember Babycakes<\/i> as being a very sweet movie, and the hunk was played by Craig Sheffer who does, indeed, have vaguely cro-magnon features.<\/p>\n But I was haunted by my error, and felt I had mis-led Keith and Dan, so I had to send an email. Here follows our exchange:<\/p>\n Me to Keith and Dan:<\/p>\n I am holding myself back from watching Skyward – although I did fast-forward through both to make sure they were complete.<\/p>\n Turns out I was wrong about the cro-magnon features of the boyfriend. He has more of a 1970s long-haired slim-jawed handsomeness.<\/p>\n But all of that will become clear this Saturday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I received this email as a response from Dan:<\/p>\n Whatever the bf’s appearance, anyone who gives La Gilstrap some love is just fine, in my book–<\/p>\n Best- I just got an email from “Billie Dupree” in which the words “La Gilstrap” were used.<\/p>\n This makes me so happy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am going over to Keith and Dan’s on Saturday for a ceremonial screening of Skyward and A Skyward Christmas. Very exciting. As per Glenn’s suggestion, I checked both of them out briefly – to make sure all was a-okay … Continue reading
\nBillie Dupree, barnstorming pilot<\/p><\/blockquote>\n