Saturday 9: Nice to Be Nice

Saturday 9: It's So Nice to Be Nice (to Your Neighbor) – 1947

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

 

1) In this song, Monica Lewis encourages us to greet our neighbors with a smile and a hello. Tell us about one of your neighbors.

A. One of my neighbors is a fantastic woman. She was the AD at my college. She is long retired now, but she raises cattle. She is quite an interesting person, and I love chatting with her. 

 

2) She reminds us that it's "nice to be nice." Who has recently shown you kindness?

A. My husband, my friends, the guy at the store who was patient with me when I couldn't make up my mind.

 

3) Monica Lewis was born in Chicago, where her mother performed with the Chicago Opera Company. Have you ever been to the opera?

A. I have never been to the opera. Although I did go to a performance of Peter and the Wolf when I was in school. Is that an opera? That feels like a hundred years ago. Well, the Internet says it's an opera, so I guess I've been to an opera. Learned something!

 

4) Her family moved to New York City, where she attended college by day and worked at radio station WMCA in the evenings to help support her family. Which do you listen to more: the radio or podcasts?

A. I listen to songs on Alexa from my personal playlist more than radio or podcasts. Actually, I listen to audiobooks more than I listen to anything else at the moment.

5) In the 1940s she appeared all around New York – in nightclubs, on Broadway, and on radio shows. It was then that she got her best-known and longest-running role: the voice of Chiquita Banana. For decades she was heard singing the jingle, "I'm Chiquita Banana and I'm here to say ..." Do you have any bananas in your kitchen now? 

A. No, we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.

 

6) Around 1950 she moved to Hollywood. She had recently divorced and wanted a fresh start. There she dated an actor who was also newly divorced: Ronald Reagan. Obviously, she never had to ask, "Whatever became of him?" Who is the last former romance, classmate or coworker that you looked up on the internet?

A. Hmm. I don't recall doing that for a long time. A very long time ago I remember looking up the guy I dated in high school, but I couldn't find him.

 

7) In 1947, when this song was popular, actor Ted Danson was born. He's best known as Sam Malone, the bartender at Cheers, "where everybody knows your name." Is there a bar or restaurant where you are recognized on sight?

A. Not anymore. We used to be regulars at Shakers in Roanoke, but after the pandemic, we stopped going out and now we're not regulars much of anywhere, except maybe Bellacinos, the local sub shop. They know my name. And the lady who dishes out the Chinese food at a local spot knows as soon as I come in that I want an order of chicken and broccoli and 3 eggrolls.

 

8) The 1947 Studebaker Champion was one of the first cars to have an adjustable driver's seat designed to accommodate motorists of various heights. When you're driving someone else's car, do you usually adjust the seat?

A. I am short, I have to adjust the seat, or I wouldn't be able to reach the pedals or see out of the mirrors.

 

9) Random question: When someone takes advantage of you, are you angrier at them for doing it, or at yourself for letting it happen?

A. It's over and done with, there isn't any point in being upset about it. People are going to people. Sometimes they're a-holes. The world is full of them and they're hard to avoid.

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I encourage you to visit the posts of other participants in Saturday 9 and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.