Guess Who?

This week's Guess Who? was accurately (and quickly) identified by Chris as none other than Annie herself, Aileen Quinn. Though the actress went on to do a number of Broadway shows, she never again captured such an important, worthy of little girl idolatry role.

And yes, I have Annie on the brain....as does every other mother, it seems.

As it goes with the big suits, movies are released for short snippets of time so we all rush out to get them before they are quickly taken back off the shelves to make room for the next release of classic films.

For that reason, Annie is currently the object of obsession from Jessica to Lily's house, and yes, my own.

My daughter walks around the house saying, "I love you Mrs. Hannigan", and though we both share the same hair color and tendency toward inappropriate remarks, it has been a while since I took a bath in gin.

It is a great movie, and now, viewing it as an adult, I have a new appreciation for why it is so wonderful. As a little girl I loved the singing and dancing orphans, I loved Sandy "the dumb dog", and I was fascinated by Punjab. I loved Molly and her pronunciation of "bafroom", and I even found fascination in Mrs. Hannigan, though I took obvious offense to her remark about "stepping on freckles" in "Little Girls".

I loved the movie so much, I was Annie for Halloween.

Twice.

One year I was little orphan Annie, equipped with mop and bucket. The next year I was Daddy Warbuck's Annie, donning the famous red dress. For a red head, Annie and Molly Ringwald were my only role models....and it's a wonder I've survived without therapy thus far.

Now, I love the movie for different reasons. First, Carol Burnett is sheer genius. When trying to think of an excuse as to why Daddy Warbucks shouldn't be able to adopt her for the week, Mrs. Hannigan remarks that, "She's a drunk". She is hysterical and hysterically inappropriate. Like Amanda-in the trenches, I initially squirmed over the adult lyrics and the double entendres, but since I didn't pick up on them at 5 and 6, I'm going to try to relax about them with my 3 year old.

Other things I never picked up on:

-The significance of Daddy "War-bucks"'s name.

-The great way Grace, his personal assistant, passively manages him....as only a woman can.

- The mutual jabs between the democrats and the republicans

- The presence of Bolsheviks (not an easy characterization to work into a musical)

- The touching and endearing song, "Maybe", which, as a mother, makes me so sad.

So, despite not wanting to fall for the marketing machines that control the release of these movies, I simply cannot miss out on these movies....for me, or for them.

**Shout out to Bama, for picking it up for us!