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The Year I Was Born

Thank goodness for the Internet! Without it, it would have been so difficult to figure out what was happening in 1952, 64 years ago.

So, I was born in Montreal in 1952. On a macro level, the biggest event was the death of King George V of England and his daughter Elizabeth becoming queen. She has actually just turned 90 so she has been queen a very long time--she is both the oldest monarch and the longest reigning monarch in England's history. My parents weren't terribly royalist I don't think but I do remember some coronation china in my mother's cupboard. And when the Queen visited Montreal in 1956 (?) my mother, grandmother, aunt and cousin all went out onto Hochelaga street and waved at her as she drove by.

Dr. Albert Schweitzer won the Nobel Prize for his medical work in Africa. By today's standards he wasn't a great doctor but when I was a child he was revered for what we were told were his kindness and selflessness. Reading his biography on Wikipedia, I still have tremendous admiration for him.

Miss America 1952 was a Mormon. How funny.

The Best Picture was An American in Paris; I remember that my mother liked that movie. I did for awhile when I was going through my Gene Kelly phase but now I find him to be way too theatrical. The Jackie Gleason Show debuted; that was another show I used to watch with my parents although my mother didn't really approve of Jackie's behavior toward his wife. Still, she held her own and I don't think he would ever dared have hit her. The Stanley Cup (hockey) went to Detroit when it defeated Montreal. My parents weren't huge hockey fans but everyone in Montreal of course followed the game. When my parents used to go visit friends on a Saturday night, "the game" was often playing on the black-and-white TV. Background "music." As far as music goes, some of the top songs were Percy Faith's "Delicado," Jo Stafford's "You Belong to Me," Al Martino's "Here in My Heart," and, of course, Frankie Laine's rendition of the theme from High Noon, "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling." I have just played them all on Youtube and recognize them very well even though I was just born that year. My mother must have played them as did radio stations for years. My mother loved vinyl records and Percy Faith and Al Martino were two of her very favorites. Her favorite Al Martino song was Spanish Eyes. And my favorite Percy Faith number is A Summer Place which made the movie oh so romantic!! Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee, sigh!!!!

In a way, the story of A Summer Place influenced me somewhat to look at Ripplecove Inn in a romantic light too. But that is a story for another time.


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