Real Talk!

Have you ever noticed that “Nonchalant” is a word that almost everyone has slipped into conversation at some time or other? My question is: Have you ever heard any say they were chalant? In fact, if I type chalant into my Microsoft Word, it quickly gets underlined in red and a spell check offers to change it to “chalet”. Nonchalant doesn’t set off any alarms. Hmmm… not really all that ironic.

The going definition of language includes symbols, gestures, voice sounds and just about any other system used to convey information- and it seems that language is constantly evolving.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard someone say “irregardless”- which is, a huge redundancy! However, I know a lot of people that de-thaw their food, too. Sometimes you have to accept it and move on.

I don’t claim to be an expert on grammar or anything even close! Although, I was raised in a house where slips were immediately corrected and vocabulary was a much-respected trove- and no, Pirates didn’t raise me.

Although I must admit that I have always enjoyed a good Swashbuckler flick. How about that Errol Flynn? I sometimes wanted to be Maureen O’Hara, when I grew up!
I kind of liked Gladiator films, as a child, as well. Of course, in my teens, I graduated to foreign films, adored subtitles and the Toronto Film Festival…. And who didn’t love B Monster movies?

Count Dracula was probably my first introduction to sexuality in film! Bela Legosi swooped into my heart with over-the-top facial contortions and he certainly didn’t have to speak to get his message across. Then later, came Lon Chaney Jr.- he was okay but sadly, not as good as Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein but Gary Oldman really nailed it, in the 1992 Bram Stoker’s film directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

It’s funny how certain movies, books or plays stick make an impression. Everyone has their own, most memorable. I had a real fixation on film noir in my early teens. Mystery was never sexier than Phyllis Deitrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) with her fatal charm and clicking stiletto heels- man, she could handle a lipstick!

Lauren Bacall is another classic gorgeous, cool, sultry, wonderful actress. Her films with Bogart are extraordinary. I wanted to be her, too!

I remember being totally excited and absolutely mad about Topal, after seeing Fiddler on the Roof, in the early seventies. I fell for Giancarlo Giannini after “Swept Away” and Kris Kristofferson after “The Sailor Who Fell from Grace” in the early 70s. I began to be very conscious of film making, beyond the acting, from the mid-seventies and I am, to this day.

I was seriously into reading science fiction, during my teens. Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C Clark, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert and others. Sometimes, I would take a break and read a biography, on some celebrity or person of historical significance.

In my teens, I was fortunate to have a friend whose mom had some affiliation with the Toronto Ballet and I saw many performances at what was then called “The O’Keefe Centre”. It’s now called the Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts.

I also remember concerts at Massey Hall, Maple Leaf Gardens and many productions at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. Among my favourites were Debbie Reynolds in Irene and Yul Brynner in the King and I- even from the last balcony; both of these performers seemed to look straight at me and I chalantly hung on their every word.