"Here's Looking at You, Kid"

I hope you all had the opportunity of celebrating Thanksgiving with people you love . . . and that it was both delicious and provided an atmosphere in which everyone could express gratitude. I know that I for one, am terribly grateful for my wonderful wife Annie, who is a truly amazing woman; for our family, our fur baby Greta Garbo and the ability all of the family - the Stones, Wachholders, Schimbergs, Posards and Zamosc’s - have to engage in so many challenging, rewarding and ofttimes exhausting activities on a daily basis. One thing (among many, many others) Erica and I had going for us throughout our lives, is that the Stones were and are, never, ever boring.

One of the things I am personally most grateful for is when and where I was born, and the loving, talented people who raised me and my “slightly older sister.” Growing up in and around Hollywood - with a mother who was a walking encyclopedia of the film industry (not to mention a very talented actor/singer) and a father who was classier and more handsome than Cary Grant - was a great way to learn what occurred both on and behind the silver screen. Learning all about how motion pictures were made was of great importance. Indeed, many years later, I started doing lectures and writing essays on the making of some of Hollywood’s best-known and most celebrated classics . . . and continue to this day. Along with all the other areas in which I have long engaged (rabbinics, medical ethics, politics, performing as the Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem, and committing more than than 2 million words to print) doing lectures and documentaries on “The Making Of . . .” continues to be my favorite.

In oh so many ways, Erica and I led privileged, interesting lives . . . without really knowing it. To this day, my sister and I continue having some of the same friends as we did back in the 1950s and 60s. One of my oldest friends (nearly 65 years), is Alan Wald, with whom I am in email contact 2, 3, even 4 times a day; he continues to be one of the most erudite, literate and witty people I have ever known. This is most fitting; he is the scion of two of the best screen writers in Hollywood history. He is also one of the few people who knows even more than I do about old Hollywood . . . its history, personalities and especially, its greatest films.

At the top of my personal, all-time favorites list are Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator, Orson Welles’ Citizen Caine, and Warner Bros. Casablanca . . . the last being the only one of the 3 to win an Oscar for both Best Picture and Best Director (Michael Curtiz . . . the man who spoke 7 languages . . . all unintelligibly).

A while back, I had the opportunity to create a documentary on the making of this utterly brilliant film, which I want to share with you, my readers, students, medical colleagues and lifelong students, as a Thanksgiving gift.

And so, without further ado, get yourself a bowl of popcorn along with a tumbler of your favorite liquid, and click the following link . . . and do enjoy!!

Kurt Stone's Documentary on Casablanca

Happy Thanksgiving!

KFS