Greenwich Village. 1958.
In honor of Valentine’s Day Sophie thought we should ask people about their crushes. AND, Sophie sez, we should rate how cool they are.
In honor of Valentine’s Day Sophie thought we should ask people about their crushes. AND, Sophie sez, we should rate how cool they are.
Because...Valentine’s can
be really boring when you’re a kid.
Ruby (aka me): Can
you have more than one?
1.
Jack Kerouac
Invented
cool, poetically.
Cool
Rating: 7 billion on a 1 to 10 scale
Sophie:
“Thinking about it.”
Aw,
c’mon! (Pause.) (Says she’s still thinking.)
Nell-mom:
“Well, I haven’t had a crush in a really long time.”
I
scowl at her.
Nell:mom:
“My first crush was on Frank
Sinatra. Everything he did seemed effortless. But you always felt like he
was singing just to you.”
Rating: 15 on a 1 to 10 scale
Gary Daddy-o:
Audrey Hepburn
“Best
actress in the world. Beautiful. Smart. Like your mom.”
Rating: 12 out of 10
Mrs. Tanya,
aka Sophie’s mom: Clark
Gable
“The
sexiest man in the kingdom. I was 10 when I fell head over heels in love.”
Rating:
30
out of 10 (Sophie)
12
out of 10 (Ruby, ‘cause he’s old)
Cyn at the leotard store: James
Dean
“Because
he was and always will be the Rebel Without a Cause. Because he lived too hard
and died too young. Because he never faked anything, including his acting.”
Rating:
2 million
Ray: Lauren Bacall
“’You
know how to whistle, don’t ya, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.’
She is the definition of cool.”
Rating: 50 (Sophie and Ruby)
Uncountable
(Ray)
Gordy:
Marilyn Monroe
“C’mon,
do I really have to give you a reason? “
“Yes.”
“Not
only is she the most beautiful woman in the world. She’s funny. She can make you
laugh and make you fall in love all at the same time. She moves like a panther
and she’s sweet, like a little girl, but more of a grown-up little girl that
knows how to turn everything she does into an adventure.”
Cool
rating: 375 (Sophie)
Cool
rating: Infinitesimal (Gordy)
Sky:
my wife Bluma
“She’s
the coolest woman in the world. There’s no rating that can touch her.”
Rating:
12
out of 10 (Ruby)
9
out of 10 (Sophie)
Bluma:
“Well,
Sky, of course. But my first crush was Chuck Berry.
“NO
one plays and sings like he does -- and no one ever will. Makes you want to
stop whatever you’re doing and move. Takes you out of the world you’re in and
makes you want to sing, even if you can’t sing, and dance and swim and fly.
Forever.”
Rating: 30 zillion
Elena:
Rocky Marciano
“He’s
the best, pure and simple. No one can beat him.”
Rating:
8
out of 10 (Ruby)
7
out of 10 (Sophie)
3
million (Elena)
Jimmy:
1. Natalie Wood - "because she's a great actress and almost as beautiful as my Elena, too."
Rating: 100 percent of the highest number in the world (edged up by Ruby)
2. Connie Francis - “Just give a listen to ‘Who’s Sorry Now’. Then tell me she’s not the coolest singer in the world.”
1. Natalie Wood - "because she's a great actress and almost as beautiful as my Elena, too."
Rating: 100 percent of the highest number in the world (edged up by Ruby)
2. Connie Francis - “Just give a listen to ‘Who’s Sorry Now’. Then tell me she’s not the coolest singer in the world.”
Rating: 8 (but much higher for Jimmy)
“Hot,
cool, brilliant, and the bravest woman I know. No one sings it like Nina and no
one can. She makes you feel all the sorrow, all the pain and all the joy in one
note, one smile, one song. She’s an empress.”
Rating: Off the charts
Les: Nina. Agree with everything Bo says.
Me:
Okay,
Sophie, it’s YOUR turn. C’mon!
Sophie:
Can I have three?
(Sigh).
Sophie:
Gene Kelly – Even
if you can’t dance, you want to learn so you can dance with him. He makes it
look fun! He understands comic timing. He’s not afraid to try anything. And I
love his voice. I mean speaking voice.
Harry
Belafonte – He can do anything. Sing, Act. Anything. When he starts
singing, you have to drop whatever you’re doing and listen. You just want him
to smile at you.
Johnny Mathis – the dreamiest.
Just want to be with him forever, like the definition of a crush is supposed to
be.
Rating: Infinitesimal
No
one’s crush: Elvis Presley
Rating: 5 to 10?
What about you? Who's your crush? Tell me here or send an e-mail to The Beat on Ruby's Street author. & hope you have/had/will have... a happy Valentine's Day.
--Ruby T.
Fifties man in bar: Shallowend’s rendering of photo by Walter Watzpatzkowski
Woman’s image: David McLeod, U.
S. Army Competition
Ray: family photo
Mermaid: Andrew StawarzElena: Tom Merton
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