It’s 6:30 A.M. as I cut across the Park, west to east to run the rest of the way home. I like this 5 minute stroll past the tennis courts since it’s a part of the city, changing at the speed of light, that never changes. I can even hear the bounce of tennis balls as early risers play before sunup. 
There’s a middle-aged couple seated on a bench with three dogs: a Golden Retriever, a Maltese and a Miniature Poodle who’s getting brushed with what looks like a Mason Pearson hairbrush, the Tiffany of brushes. The other two stand side by side waiting patiently.
I stop and smile.
They smile back as the man vigorously works the snarls out of the Poodle who’s taking it all in stride.
The woman says, “They all like getting their hair done.”
I laugh and ask, “Are they women by any chance?” Suddenly seeing them in pink curlers 
sitting under the dryer.
“All but him,” pointing to the Maltese, “and he likes it the best.”
I swear the dog nods and smiles, but then again I’m half asleep.
I look at the man making me flash to Warren Beatty in the film Shampoo and say, ‘Listen, I could use a wash and set too.”
The man, without missing a beat, nor brushstroke says, “So get in line.”
Just another New York story. 
SB
That was gently hilarious! You are a top-notch story teller.
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Wish you had been there. It was truly like a hair salon, just with fur flying. 🙂
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Susannah, it’s so relaxing to have your hair brushed or head massaged. Pookie massages my head once in a while; my hair is too curly to brush. I look like the Bride of Frankenstein when he’s done.
I love the man’s response – “So get in line.” He must be a lot of fun to be around.
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And he does hair. What a guy…:)
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This was wonderful, Susannah!
Love the response from the man, too… what a guy 😉
Wish Zeke didn’t loathe being brushed. It’s a pain and ends up costing me big buckaroos to get him done elsewhere because I lose patience with trying to get him to stay still. Sigh.
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He’s all man, your Zeke, plus he’s German. What was that Saturday Night Live Arnold S. phrase? He’s no sissy boy.
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That he is… well, when there are no thunder storms, anyway. The last one we had, had him jumping on my bed (when I gave the okay).
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That’s that feminine side he tries to hide.
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That’s it. 😀
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Woof
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Another great little vignette!
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Thanks. So many little vignettes, so little time. sigh
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I watched “Splendor in the Grass” recently. Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty did NOT come from this earth, no way Josie. They were delivered from some place else, far away.
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I weep over that film. I love the end when she visits Bud with his new family. Zora Lambert was so great, the way she coaxes Natalie Wood in, welcoming her. And we mustn’t forget the verse. What though the radiance that was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass of glory in the flower We will grieve not rather find strength in what remains behind? KLEENEX!!!!
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I might have shed a tear or several myself. Okay, many. It’s why TCM is my very favorite movie channel. There’s always something else on, they don’t repeat themselves like every other network. And THAT. The ability to have you running for the Kleenex.
I watched West Side Story for the millionth time a few weeks back. I had the chance to do so because my daughter was away for the weekend and I can NEVER get through that flick without crying my eyes out.
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Sometimes I go by the street where they filmed it, all razed now. The Jets and the Sharks. Anita sassing Maria. A boy like that..will kill yer brathher…
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One of my favorite musicals/movies (both) ever. I could watch it every night. And ugh, that saddens me that it’s gone. Like Ebbetts Field and all the rest of it.
Rita . . oh Rita!
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Spielberg, as we speak, is filming a new version. Started here about a month ago. Don’t know much about it but, it’s a big deal.
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I did not know that! Susannah, you just made my night.
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TONIGHT TONIGHT…IT ALL BEGAN TONIGHT…I SAW YOU AND THE WORLD WENT AWAY….
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And just like that, thoughts of J-Lo dissolve into their block of clay and I’m feeling good about West Side Story 2020 (or whenever it comes out). Thank you for the virtual pipes.
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Google it. 🙂
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December of 2020. It will be a nice Christmas present if it happens that way. 🙂
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He’s usually pretty on time. My price of admission is on him.
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I’m so excited for this one.
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I can already see you dancin’ in the gym. 🙂
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Try dancin’ in the living room.
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Funny you mentioned that. During our banter on West Side Story, I remembered as a kid…10, 11? I used to put the soundtrack on when my parents went out and dance to that. I had these stolen mesh tights hidden in a drawer I’d put on with I don’t recall what, and just blast around the living room like I was one of the Latina girlfriends. I loved George Chikaras, who was gay and no one knew. It was such an anathema back then. Sigh…I can still hear the beginning of ‘Dancing in the Gym.’ It was really a watershed alright. God bless Bernstein, Laurents and Sondheim.
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Welp, what I do could not rightly be considered a dance, unless you’re into movies about possession. I do a fairly intense Tang Soo Do exercise in which I break out my old karate moves. Seeing as how I’m well removed from my dojo, so the moves take on equal parts technique and Rob Zombie dance. And that’s what I call the thing. My Rob Zombie workout. Gets the blood pumping as I jam to his tunes or the like.
I remember doing the same as you when I was a kid. I would pretend I was dancing with whatever celebrity crush I had at the time. Streisand was a big one for me. Those pipes, they just made my scrawny knees quiver.
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Must be a kid’s thing. I thought I was really something.
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Me too! LOL
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We were Rebels with a Cause, so to speak.
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Spirited savages hell bent on foot loosing ourselves of the establishment.
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That’s a bit too deep for me Mr. I.
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I might have overdone it there. I blame the heat.
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Very hot here too, like strollin through New England clam chowder, JFK’s favorite come to think.
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Seeing as how I ain’t down with Bahstahn, I should hold it against him but I can’t. He loved his chowdah, and that’s alright with me.
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I liked the way he said…viga
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Really liked your JFK JR. essay. 🙂
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Thank you Susannah.
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You’re welcome. You’re a fine writer Marc. Passion felt.
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Stay cool today, chica. 🙂
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You’re welcome Skinny.
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🙂
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DID YOU KNOW…The night it premiered on Broadway with Carol Lawrence playing Maria, at the end, after SOMEWERE, no one stirred. not a sound. She said in an interview, the whole cast was horrified…you have to remember it was the first of its kind…but then, she said, like thunder, the whole audience rose in massive applause. Did you get goosebumps just now Mr. Imma? I did. TONIGHT TONIGHT…:)
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That is just the most amazing thing! I love that beyond just loving it, and yes . . goosebumps aplenty because holy wow!
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If you could get a hold of the Great Masters documentary on Leonard Bernstein, that in its entirety is great, watch it. There’s a whole section on the birth and making of West Side Story. It’s where I got the Carol Lawrence quote from. It opens with his funeral cortege his son speaking, when they’re taking him to Greenwood for burial, by way of all his loved haunts like Lincoln Center. At that time they were doing restoration on the Brooklyn Bridge, and the workers who knew it was him coming across, all took off their hardhats, placed them over their hearts and screamed…”GOOD BYE LENNY.” His son said, ‘My dad would’a loved that.” 🙂
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I will, gracias!
That is some story, and I can totally see that happening. New Yawk is a one of a kind place in that respect.
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It’s a great film. Try. I’ll bet your library has it. I see Mr. Imma with a trusty library card ya see, shoved in his wallet next to his drivers license and American Express card.
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You’re quite the observant chica when you’re not being totally cheeky.
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Well, being cheeky is simply part of my charm. sigh
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You make cheeky look like a superpower. Charm indeed . . .
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I just love the word. Would like a tight little T that said in big letters…CHEEK TO CHEEK. 🙂
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To borrow from Rod Stewart, you’d wear it well.
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I love that song.
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Not surprised.
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And isn’t there a line…Jackie O has nothin on you? Did I make that up?
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You ain’t imagining it, but he used Madame Onassis.
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Close but no cee-gar.
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Right lady, just a little off on the time.
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Every picture tells a story, like Rod says.
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He was, like so many of his peers, a poet with a microphone.
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He kinda was, wasn’t he. I always liked him.
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Me too. And a stylish dresser to boot.
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And you’re modest I see. 🙂
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Modesty is a virtue, I heard. And I need extra credit on that grade from somewhere, 🙂
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Virtues are overrated.
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That made me laugh out loud!
Such the lapsed Catholic girl thing to say, I love it.
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It’s true. What do you have exactly with this pile of virtue neatly stacked. Just another pile of stuff you probably in the long run end up not needing anyway.
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You’re not wrong.
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Nice when we agree.
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I think we agree on the most important stuff.
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That’s true.
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You’re good people, SB. 🙂
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Bobby Kennedy whenever he came upon a group of people who loved him would yell out…THESE ARE MY PEOPLE. You made me think of that.
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I agree with Bobby. You are.
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Bobby. I just reread that book I’m always lauding. Didn’t want to get to the end cause…well…it kept him alive a little longer. If Only, said Mr. Imma.
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That’s something I’d have done. Don’t read the ending, keep him here.
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Did I already carry on about Ken Burns and Lincoln, if so…indulge me. When he was editing The Civil War, when they came to Fords and he’s about to get mortally wounded by Booth, they all sat there, no one wanting to put in the gunshot. In his inimitable way, Burns said…that way, we could keep him alive just a little longer. Always makes me wistful.
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I love it when you share these stories. So please, by all means, don’t stop.
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I thought I already told you. Hate repeating myself. It is a great one though, and so poignant. We love Ken.
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Right? Chris Mathews wrote a Bobby book last year, and ended it at the podium. I was THRILLED by this. We didn’t have to go into that God forsaken kitchen.
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As it should be. Forever at that podium, the world a better place.
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We agree on all the important things, don’t we Mr. Imma?
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We do indeed, Ms Thin Girl, we do indeed . . .
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I found the post and will attach it for you.
https://sorryless.com/2018/02/13/if-only/
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Will read when I get home. Thanks.
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You know it. 🙂
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I’m sure everyone, person or animal, likes getting their hair done. I used to like getting mine cut but now I have so little of it, I just do it myself. 🙂
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A built-in barber. Handy. I wish I could trim mine…hate going to the hairdresser’s. But…if I don’t, look like a coked out lamb.
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Somewhere…oh my! I love that and the tears fall fast and furiously. My best friend’s favorite song; she died after a long fight with cancer. Didn’t worry about brushing her hair; there was none to brush. Did get to brush their dogs though. This is a gem, Susannah, love the owners & their pals.
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Humbling about your friend. Puts things in their right prospective.
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Susannah, this was a fun one. And Spielberg working on a new Westside Story. Who needs Daily Variety! I had no idea, but then I’m usually left in the dark—and so were you … on Saturday. 😀
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My lights didn’t go off, I’m happy to say. And yes, ET’s dad is busy making his latest epic. Should be interesting. Whenever you challenge a slam dunk like the original, it’s either a revelation or it shoots blanks. But he’s awfully great so those new Sharks and Jets just may soar, bad pun intended.
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Glad to hear your lights didn’t go out. Sounds like New Yorkers handled it really well. With Spielberg, you can usually expect something wonderful, and I hope this one won’t be any different. Loved West Side Story. :O)
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He never disappoints. I was working recently and Saving Private Ryan was on a TV set with no sound. For an hour I watched it still totally riveted. You didn’t even need to hear the words. You saw it all on their faces. Now that’s top-of-the-line movie making if you ask me Paul. GO STEVE!!!
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He’s a great director and I can’t help but agree with you. He truly gets the best out of an actor.
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Lincoln comes to mind. Now that was a performance.
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Daniel Day-Lewis can do anything.
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This is true.
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Liam Neeson was his original choice for Lincoln but then too much time went by I guess. Daniel Day Lewis was a force so it was for the better.
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I don’t like getting my hair done. I just get it cut because I am a shampoo and go kinda gal…no blow dry, no curling, no coloring. But I like brushing Jack and he likes it, too. Teddy is another story for another day.
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Teddy. He’s such a man. 🙂
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A sweet but cranky one.
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Well, men get that way some times. It’s part of their charm.
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I like him; sounds like me.
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Magnanimous are ya?
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Nah…didn’t think of it that way, so how could I be? lol
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It’s a nice trait, magnanimity.
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Yes, I just didn’t think of it. lol
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