There are smiles . . .

A Stodghill Says So blog:


I scared myself again this morning and it started me thinking about smiles. Remember the old song Smiles? "There are smiles that make us happy, there are smiles . . ."
Nowhere in that song is there a line about smiles that scare the hell out of people. My smile, for example. I'm not sure when it got that way because I never did much of it even in my younger days.
The late James Whitmore had a wonderful smile that improved as he grew older. Remember those Miracle Gro commercials? Another actor, Richard Widmark, had a decent smile but for some reason it was a little menacing. Humphrey Bogart's could be that way or it could be warm. Well, maybe a little warm. OK, warm only if you knew he was pleased about something.
Jackie has a truly heart-warming smile. Other people I know have nice, pleasant smiles. Then there's my smile. When I smiled after finishing shaving today I leaped back from the mirror. It happens every time because a gargoyle is leering back.
Little children stare at me whenever we go out. I have learned not to smile at them. If I do, some go running and hide behind their mother's skirt. Others just stand there in shocked horror. But why? What caused this? Was it because I seldom wore a genuine smile when younger? Are my facial muscles unable to move the way James Whitmore's moved? Could it be that this is a reflection of the real me?
I don't have an answer. I just know that when something is pleasing or strikes me funny the safest thing is to never change expression. That way mothers don't glare at me for frightening their kid and adults don't come up with an excuse for leaving the room.
I have noticed one thing: I kind of like it this way.

I am sorry, Dick.
Your 'smile' does not scare me.

The master of 'scary smiles' is this man:


Here's Johnny!


I still think you are sweet man.

But you haven't seen my smile, JoElle. It even scares elves.

I think I might make my avatar smaller. It jumps out at me every time I view it. Scares the hell out of me!

I understand about your avatar, Shelagh. It has the same effect on me.

Thank you for saying such a nice thing, Marie. You're a sweet person.

Marie is right. You have a pleasant air ahout you.
Why do I think you are tall?


Are you?

My mom always hated her teeth (they are small and when she smiles, you can't actually see her teeth). I never knew until a few years ago that that was the reason she hardly ever smiled. All these years I just thought she wasn't very happy and didn't like to smile.

You have a mischievious look about you, Dick. Even without a smile!

(I think I spelled mischievious wrong. However I spell it, it looks wrong!).

Dick Stodghill wrote:

I understand about your avatar, Shelagh. It has the same effect on me.

I've shrunk -- I was tempted to leave it since it scares you as much as me!

You guys are funny. I don't find any of you scary. I'm with Marie: the eyes don't lie, and I am reminded of the song about 'smiling faces'.

Dick, even gargoyles can bring a smile to my face.

Dear Zada,
Do you remember the gargoyles in the Disney movie, The Hunchback of Notre Dame? I have always loved gargoyles and wierd sculpture. To me, the artist had a good sense of humor.

Love,
Betty

Betty, I never saw that Disney movie, but I am well aware that the gargoyles are guardians and protectors. Their so-called ugliness is to scare the evil spirits away.

Dick, did Rudy Vallie[sic?] sing that song? I can almost hear it in his nasal voice. My uncle had one of those old phonographs that played cylinders. He loved Rudy Vallie.

Ann

Dear Dick,
What a lovely song it is.
Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?

Love,
Betty


Lyric by J. Will Callahan, 1874-1946
Music by Lee S. Roberts, 1884-1949
Published 1917: Jerome H. Remick & Co, New York
MIDI file courtesy Benjamin Tubb.
[Auto-Play] [Download]

Verse: 1
Dearie, now I know
Just what makes me love you so,
Just what holds me and enfolds me
In its golden glow;
Dearie, now I see
’Tis each smile so bright and free,
For life’s sadness turns to gladness
When you smile on me.


CHORUS
[sung twice after each verse]

There are smiles that make us happy,
There are smiles that make us blue,
There ae smiles that steal away the tear-drops,
As the sunbeams steal away the dew,
There are smiles that have a tender meaning
That the eyes of love alone may see,
And the smiles that fill my life with sunshine
Are the smiles that you give to me.


Verse 2:
Dearie, when you smile
Ev’ry thing in life’s worth while,
Love grows fonder as we wander
Down each magic mile;
Cheery melodies
Seem to float upon the breeze,
Doves are cooing while they’re wooing
In the leafy trees.

Ann, I don't recall Rudy Vallee singing Smiles (a big hit by Henry Burr in 1918) but I would bet that he did. When I was three (1928) and again when I was four my mother took me to visit a gang of her Irish relatives in Bridgeport, Conn. They had a then-new radio powered by car batteries and tuned in Rudy Vallee whenever he was on. They told me he sang through a megaphone, which fascinated me even though I had no idea what a megaphone was.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s he had one hit record after another. One was The Maine Stein Song and it drove some people nuts. His popularity tailed off but he still had an occasionally hit on through the WWII years. In 1937 one of them, Vieni, Vieni, drove me nuts.
He had a hit recording of Brother, Can You Spare a Dime in 1932 but I always thought Bing Crosby's version was the best.
One of the odd events was the song As Time Goes By recorded by Vallee in 1931. It was a dud, then in 1943 it was reissued and became a smash hit. It was just the kind of song people wanted to hear during WWII.
So thanks for the memory. No, Vallee never sang that one.

I'd fit right in with that crowd.

Dick,

How old were you in that top picture.
I love that jaunty expression on your face.

Wow, JoElle! You put a big smile on my face with that great photo.

Alice, I was 26 and the Mortar Section Sergeant in Company K, 145th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Division at Camp Polk, La. - 1952.

To answer your earlier question I am not tall, just an even six feet.

That's OK, small is nice.

Dick, was that 4.2, 80mm or 60mm mortars? I trained on a 4.2, just before going to Jump School.

60mm, Don. That was standard for rifle companies in WWII and Korea. The heavy weapons companies had 81s. I believe the chemical mortar companies had 4.2s.

I was one of those "Do as I say, not as I do" sergeants when it came to mortars. Levelling both bubbles and still being lined up on the aiming stake was not one of my great talents. I kept that a secret, of course, and got away with it because I was good at judging distances. God help us if I had to actually get one of the mortars ready to fire while a horde of enemy soldiers was advancing on us. I would probably have ended up swinging the tube or base plate at them.