My Maine in-laws were also part of America’s 1960s counterculture. With their own four hands they added a seemingly infinite and charmingly whimsical labyrinth of rooms to an august old farmhouse in the woods. Not only the four children they raised there but everyone on the planet, most assuredly including your truly, feels at home there. When I’m not there, Gaye (my son in-law’s mother) delights me with email:
Of Cold and Cold Comfort by Gaye Bussey
Well, all is well. By the time Dave found the little heater and we got it into the cellar without either of us crashing down the cellar stairs, the radiator in the cellar had warmed up. Turns out it has on on/off valve, which was OFF. When in doubt, turn it on. So, water started flowing…inside the pipes…and we’re hoping that prevents freezing, bursting, flooding and other problems that we probably wouldn’t be able to ignore, try though we might.
Meanwhile, I have a new movie dream boat. Edward Petherbridge. He’s 86, assuming he hasn’t died since the Wikipedia posting. I found some old, BBC TV series of some of the Dorothy Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. A few old-time actors had played Lord Peter, but they were just wrong, wrong, wrong. Finally, when I clicked on one of the newly discovered versions…ta-dah…the perfect Lord Peter: Edward Petherbridge.
I found some neat, short talks/interviews he did for British TV. My favorite, only 17 minutes, long is:
In it Edward Petherbridge presents the way you might imagine Lord Peter Wimsey presenting, when he’s being himself. I guess it’s that old timey very very British thing. Wonderful when he’s talking about and demonstrating the postures actors are (or were) taught to assume when depicting particular types of people such as pompous, I-am-the-king types, or timid, or extremely elderly.
Once I discovered him on YouTube, I found some more…all shorts of him giving talks or readings. I hope he’s not a big jerk in real life. Since he’s unlikely to become tabloid fodder, I will never know and will keep thinking of him as an actor when actors were craftsmen. You are invited to join the Edward Petherbridge Fan Club. It’s very exclusive. I am the members.
