R.I.P. Elders

The deaths of two classic film directors were announced
within days of each other this week: Ingmar Bergman,
whose movies deeply influenced the Boomer generation
of filmmakers as well as filmgoers (see more on Bergman
here). He died at age 89.

Michelangelo Antonioni died at age 94. His films influenced
many filmmakers and cinema buffs of the Boomer film
generation, but he also made several films that directly
reflected on the 1960s, such as Zabriskie Point and his
most famous film, Blow-Up, with Vanessa Redgrave
(pictured here) in an early screen appearance.

Classic Stuff

We played baseball a lot in the 50s. Catch in the "vacant lot" between houses, pickup games here and there. For the first few years I had to make do with castoff gloves, which usually were for right handers. I'm a lefty--which means throwing left-handed, catching with the right. So for awhile I had to catch the ball with the glove on my left hand, take the glove off, and throw the ball back.

Then at some point I got my own glove. It was probably a darker leather than this one--this actually looks like the one I have now, though I can't remember when I bought it. But it's a lefty glove. It's leather, as "real" gloves were then, and you used a ointment with a unique, pleasant smell to keep it lubricated. I kept the tube of that blue paste on a narrow shelf next to the stairs leading to the basement. It stayed there for decades. The house has a new owner now, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's still there.