The Monkey’s Uncle, or why I blame my entire creative approach on Uncle Walt

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You know, I live in La La Land. But it has come to my attention that my entire creative effort to date may just spring from this seminal film. My muse, so to speak, might just be… a chimp named Stanley. Get this, I dreamt whole swatches of my novel (sleep learning) and in days gone by I would do the same with screenplays. When I was collaborating with my Limey chum, Robert Winter across the pond in mist-shrouded perfidious Albion (as he says, that’s England to the sane) he would often ask me what I was I listening to (dancing to) in between the volley of email that would pass back and forth in regard to his notes… This was a constant on my playlist. Minus the fetching stiletto heels Annette sported, you can really get your heart rate up…

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And then there are further similarities, or odd parallels between film and fact, but I’ll only mention a couple; I married a man whose name contains a variant of Tommy Kirk…and I just realized I christened one of the characters in the novel Joe Merlin (Merlin Jones, geddit?) and the heroine is Anne… Forgive me Annette! It appears I forgot a vital three letters…

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7 Comments

  1. Heather in Arles
    March 20, 2014

    Isn’t it fascinating to trace back to see how much of how we are, we were already?

    • March 20, 2014

      Ah oh, if what you say is true, I might have been born with a very fine pelt… Which might explain why any movie with a monkey I find absolutely charming, including Clint Eastwood’s Every Which Way But Loose!

  2. March 20, 2014

    It cracks me up that “Annette” had no last name at that time, too!

  3. March 22, 2014

    I love everything about this video clip – the dancing, the fashions, the music. Fabulous!

    • March 22, 2014

      It’s strangely infectious! I love it too! And suddenly I’m thinking of some colorful (à la 1960s) additions to my wardrobe, although I don’t think I could deal with girdles I used to watch my mother and sister wriggle into…

    • March 25, 2014

      They are AWESOME. Thank you!

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