Charlie Update

So, poor Charlie was heartbroken on Friday because he didn't get a 'named' part in the Play "High School Musical" (Junior). He was cast as a 'rebel' which, as near as I can figure, is one of the groups in the cafeteria who sing Status Quo, which is actually a really cool song.

He was crying on the phone when I spoke to him that afternoon, which always breaks my own heart, and he insisted he wasn't going to do the show. Fortunately the director 'gets' Charlie' and apparently spent some time on Friday calming him down, and gave him the weekend to think it over before quitting.

I asked friend on my FB - many of whom are actors - to send Charlie encouraging messages to convince him to do the show, which they did, and I talked to him quite a bit this weekend about how it will be fun no matter what and it's a good experience, so as of this morning he said he was going to do the show.

I had to laugh, though, when I came home on Friday he was sitting on the sofa with the big bucket of Cookie Dough I had, eating it with a spoon, the very picture of abject misery.

His new friend spending the night on Friday went a long way in improving his mood, too. That was nice. His friend wants to be a comic artist when he grows up, and Charlie likes writing stories, so they've decided to team up and make a comic of their own one day. The next Neil Gaiman and Dave McLean, maybe?

(no subject)

Was, for some reason, explaining the song William Wants a Doll to the Boyfriend yesterday - I forget why, but it came up in conversation with my mom, the Boyfriend having missed out on it, being just a tad too old for it when it came out in the early 70's.

For those of you too young to know the song, it's from the hippy-dippy feel good children's album put out by Marlo Thomas And Friends - Friends being some of the stars of the day - Alan Alda, Carol Channing, Mel Brooks. The songs and stories were all about how Girls Could Do Anything, and Boys Are Allowed To Cry (illustrated in song by football player Rosier Grier, I believe).

William Wants a Doll is a song about a little boy who, well, wants a doll. His brother and friends all pick on him, his father tries to bribe him with sports gear, but William is steadfast. Grandma eventually brings him one, pointing out to the Concerned Manly Father that a boy having a doll is a Good Thing, because it will teach William how to be a good father.

Which is true, I pointed out. Learning how, as the song says, 'to dress it, put diapers on double, and gently caress it to bring out the bubble and do all the things that every good father should learn to do would help William be a better father when he grew up.

Assuming, of course, he and his partner are able to adopt.

But the song isn't that brave actually. They actually go through great pains to point out William is not gay - he's good at all the sports his father bribes him with, you see, which is kind of sad when I think of it now. It's okay for William to want a doll if he's perfectly straight, but if he wants a doll because he's...effeminate, that's not okay, apparently.

See what happens when you think to hard about childhood songs?