12222023 WEEKEND

HOLIDAYS PUZZLES GARDENING ANIMALS ENTERTAINMENT FOOD HISTORY INTERVIEW

Weekend Friday, December 22, 2023

Festive fun

A LAST-MINUTE GIFT GUIDE, YULETIDE ENTERTAINMENT AND A HEARTWARMING WAY TO BRIGHTEN A LITTLE GIRL’S CHRISTMAS

02 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, December 22, 2023

entertainment

Dynamite Daisy gets philanthropic this holiday season

By JEFFARAH GIBSON | Tribune Features Writer | jgibson@tribunemedia.net

D

YNAMITE Daisy Productions has added a philanthropic element to their upcoming showcase this Boxing Day. As this is the season of giving and extending love and consideration to others, part proceeds from “Daisy Hits the Jackpot” will be donated to the “Cookies For Cookie” campaign to defray medical costs for a local nurse who as worked tirelessly during the pandemic and given much of her time and resources to help people during Hurricane Dorian.

Along with Nurse Tamara Fernander, who launched the campaign to raise funds for her medical care, three children fighting various ailments will also be assisted.Lynn Terez Davis, the woman behind the beloved character of Dynamite Daisy, said the production company is more than ecstatic to bring cheer to these families.

“Nurse Tamara has played in one of Dynamite Daisy’s productions. After a car accident in August, she has found herself unable to work from then to now. She has checked with doctors here but now she has found out she had to resort to a specialist abroad,” Lynn explained.

“We recognise the contribution she has made and we feel it is our corporate duty to bring cheer to her and relief. She has helped so many people, having been on the frontline of the pandemic as well as during Hurricane Dorian, and we want to help. We will also help the those three kids and it makes us happy to do so,” she told Tribune Weekend.

The production kicks off Boxing Day at Bahamas Faith Ministries with a 3pm and 8pm showing.

At the centre of the story, as the title implies, is Dynamite Daisy who wins the jackpot.

Jealousy and envy quickly rear their ugly heads among her family and friends.

“Daisy being back on Boxing Day feels like how it was with the Junkanoo groups back on Bay after COVID-19. For 23 years, Bahamians visiting home for Christmas looked forward to a family show on Boxing Day and now they can plan for that again. Not only here in Nassau, but now we head to Grand Bahama to close out the year with a bang,” said Lynn.

This show, she added, promotes the need for “self-actualisation”.

“We will discover how greed had the ability to choke the life out of any relationship and how the saying ‘the first shall be last and the last first’ bears truth,” she said.

The Tribune | Weekend |03

Friday, December 22, 2023

holidays

Eight perfect last-minute gift ideas

By CARA HUNT | Tribune Features Writer | cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

W

ith just a few more days to go until Christmas Day, it’s time to make those final selections for all those people on your “nice list”.

And if you are at a loss trying to decide what to purchase as a last-minute present, here are a few options that are sure to be please and delight.

put thought into it by tailoring the gift certificate choice to reflect the receiver’s interests, and you can also have it match other gifts you know they will receive. For example, if you know they are being gifted a trip, how about a voucher for an activity at their destination? Similarly, if you are gifting parents a dinner or movie tickets, include a small note offering your babysitting services for the evening that they go. Giving the gift of time is always so meaningful, whether it be for lawn care, a car wash or even just providing an ear to vent.

1

3

. An airfryer

This is the perfect kitchen accessory.

Professional cooks will love to experiment with it and it will give aspiring chefs or those with limited cooking abilities endless new possibilities. It will make cooking easy and the clean-up a breeze.

4

This one of those gifts that while not fun or stylish, is definitely one people will reach for time after time and thank you constantly for.

Heating pads are great for that time of month, muscle aches or anytime when you just feel the need for a little extra pampering. And they come in with a variety of features and in different sizes and at a wide range of price points.

5

2

This is a quick and easy gift idea if you’re in a hurry, You can still show you have

.

Coffee table

This another great idea that can be tailored to the receiver, because there are so many great coffee table books available. We especially like the “New Providence” photo book by Alessandro Sarno and the Junkanoo photo book by Mike and Nick Klonaris, both available at local book stores.

.

Craft Cottage gifts

. Heating pad/massagers

. Gift certificates

6

books

7

. Charcuterie supplies

Charcuterie boards are all the range now and a great gift idea and the gift that will keep on giving for the party lover in your life.

Give them their own supplies. This is a super easy gift. Just grab a cute cutting board and pop into a local grocery store and get a selection of cheeses and meats, and you have a gift that they can enjoy at their leisure.

for the film connoisseur in your life.

. Movie merch

2023 saw the release of some great movies for merchandise. Think “Top Gun: Maverick”, “Barbie” the live action remake of “The Little Mermaid”, this year’s MCU films, the “Hunger Games” prequel, “Dungeons & Dragons”, and Pixar’s “Elemental”. Purchasing merch from any of these movies is a great Christmas idea

If you are looking for a wide array of uniquely Bahamian gift ideas, make sure you pop into the Craft Cottage at Doongalik Studios. There, you will find everything from clothing to jewelelry to drums and games. It’s a great one-stop shop for everyone left on your list.

8

. Squishmallows

If you are looking for an adorable gift for the children in your life, then grab a squishmallow. These little plushies are so cute and popular; they are sure to be a hit on Christmas morning.

04 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, December 22, 2023

interview

Eustacia Jennings At a time when people’s thoughts will be turning to their new year’s resolutions for 2024, this safety and environmental consultant is busy preparing to complete her 2023 bucket list - travelling to her 100th country. She tells Cara Hunt about where she’s been, where she wants to go, and how she funds this sometimes-expensive passion.

E

ustacia Jennings is an avid traveller, to say the least. She is now about to reach the milestone of visiting her 100th country when she heads on vacation right after the holidays.

“I don’t want to say where I am going yet, because I want to it to be a surprise when I tell people once I get there, but it has been a long-time dream of mine to travel to at least 100 countries around the world, and this year I was determined that I would reach that goal,” she told Tribune Weekend.

Eustacia said she was bitten by the travel bug when she took her very first trips, which like in the

case of most Bahamians, were to the US, and in particular to Florida for shopping.

“The love was sparked and watered when I first stepped on a Bahamasair flight with my grandmother at age four, headed for the United States. From there my frequent trips to Miami, mostly for shopping and seeing family, and travel became the norm,” she said.

Eustacia is also following in the footsteps of her grandfathers - both of whom were sea captains who sailed around the world.

Her move to Quebec, Canada, to attend McGill University in 2013 literally opened the world to her.

“Being in Canada and the new experiences further sparked my interest in travelling and I was able to really start exploring the world,” she said.

One of her first trips was a European tour where she did seven countries in ten days.

“I started taking a birthday trip every year and then I started taking a birthday and a Christmas trip each year, and then it became birthday, Christmas and Easter trip, and then a just whenever trip and that’s how you end up realising, ‘Oh, I have been to 99 countries.”

Eustacia conceded that it is an expensive pastime and admits that initially, she had a unique way of funding her trips.

“I would get a job; work for a while and then once I had saved enough money, I would quit my job, go away and then get another job and do it again, but I realised that was not a good life plan,” she said.

Instead, she was able to find a way to combine her love of travel with steady employment.

“I have lived and workws in the United States, the Turks and Caicos and Hong Kong,” she said.

“I was teaching in Hong Kong, and so being based there made it very easy to travel throughout Asia during my time there.”

These days, she is based between Nassau and Andros.

“I run my own environment, health and safety consultancy firm, Jennings Environmental, Safety and Security (JESS) Consultants. So now I work for myself and I can work anywhere in the world that I want,” she said.

Being a digital nomad, does come with some challenges though, she noted.

“There are time zones to consider, so I may be out exploring and then have to come back to the room and take a Zoom call or finish a report” she explained.

Of course, 2020 and the pandemic were difficult to navigate, and Eustacia said she definitely missed jetting around the world. However, she said she felt blessed to be able to quarantine here at home in the Bahamas, a destination people from elsewhere around the world dream of visiting.

The Tribune | Weekend | 05

Friday, December 22, 2023

“I tried to have experiences that reminded me of my travels, like going to the beach when I could or eating foreign cuisine,” she said.

Eustacia said the majority of her travels are solo and therefore she is sure to always take practical safety measures.

“I try to stay as safe as possible. I don’t drink. I always am mindful of the locations I go to and I try not to be out late at night. I also always have someone know where I will be that day, either a family member or I will post it on my Instagram, and so my family and friends can track me, and if they don’t hear from me, you can bet they will be calling and checking in,” she said.

Despite all precautions and planning, travel still comes with some mishaps.

“I had my wallet stolen once when I arrived in Houston for a layover on my way to Australia. I have ended up in the ER. Travelling is fun, but you don’t visit 99 countries without having something unexpected happen. That is why it is also important to have always have travel insurance,” she said.

Her favourite countries to visit have been Japan and Bhutan, but she admits she was not overly fond of several of the cities in China that she visited.

“There were some persons there I felt that didn’t respect personal space and boundaries,” she explained.

Eustacia has been to so many countries that it is almost easier to ask her where she has yet to go rather than where she has been.

“Africa is on my bucket list for sure, and despite the fact that it is so close, I have never been to Haiti.”

this

weekend in history

And there are other places where she feels a redo would be nice. She would love to see the famous Miracle Gardens in Dubai which where not open during her visit.

And she would love to see the Northern Lights again from another vantage point and the Southern Lights for the first time.

“I would love to go to Antarctica, but I am bracing myself because I don’t like the cold,” she said.

Surprisingly, she also doesn’t like to fly considering the amount of time she spends on airplanes.

“It is uncomfortable for me because I get very sick on flights and my ears get painful, and so I usually have to travel with medication and try to sleep, which can be a challenge on longer flights.

But it is a means to an end to and so I try to make the best of it. I also factor in jetlag in my travel plans,” she said.

Eustacia said she carries her own supply of supplements to boost her immune system and has signed up global entry which helps speed things up at airports.

Another fun fact is that she has to constantly update her passport because she runs out of pages.

Her advice for those who also may have the travel bug, but are hesitant to venture too far afield, is to just go for it.

“Decide your budget - be realistic - and where you want to go and what you want to do, and just go for it. And if you have to go by yourself, do it, because if you wait for other people, sometimes you never get to go,” she said.

You can follow Eustacia’s travels and see her 100th country to visit on Instagram at ‘Jess.to.the. world’.

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B

BATTLESHIPS

EHE TARGET D T O THE SMALL CROSSWORD CROSSWORD SMALL SMALL CROSSWORD SMALL R TCROSSWORD B EHE DTO THE ALPHABEA

SMALL CROSSWORD CROSSWORD SMALL

SMALL CROSSWORD CROSSWORD SMALL

1

2

3

4

9

10

11 12

13

5

6

7

8

20 Edges, 21 Stem, 12 22 Ceremony.

Infrequent (4) DOWN 1 Embassies, 2 Pair,13 3 Advertise, 4 Nor, Different (5) 5 Astronomy, 7 Escaped, 14 9 Refer, 10 Precise, To incline (4) 14 13 Eagle, 18 Unto, 19 Age. 17 Brave a hostile

15

16

20

17 18 20 21

19

23 24

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

25 28 29 30 31

reception (4,3,5) Long unnecessary rigmarole (4,3,5) Pellets of frozen rain (4) Thick solid piece (5) Widely held but false notion (4) Shy (8) Large leopard-like cat (6) Person of importance (8) Positively (6)

13 Bigchance cat (5)of winning (2,3,7) 18 Hint (4) group of 6 Large 19 Distant cattle(3) (4) 7 A hedging shrub (6) 8 Wearisome (6) 11 Reinforced (12) 15 Condescend (5) 16 Frivolous (5) 18 Barely (4,4) 19 Lack of vitality (8) 21 Refrain (6) 22 Prey (6) 26 Dull and boring (4) 27 Highly exaggerated (4)

*Calls cost 80p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge. All puzzles use The Chambers Dictionary

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The Tribune | Weekend | 07

Friday, December 22, 2023

holidays

A Christmas song and story to ensure a happy holiday for an ailing little girl

By CARA HUNT | Tribune Features Writer | cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

M

usician Diana Hamilton is hoping her new Christmas story and song will help brighten the holidays for a little girl in need of medical treatment.

Ja’Dei Grant is a five-year-old student at the Erin H Gilmore School for the Blind and the Genius Soul Occupational Therapy Centre.

She has several medical challenges, including bilateral anophthalmia (she was born without eyes), mild to severe deafness, complications from a unilateral cleft lip and palate, and she was born with an atrial septal defect (a hole in the heart.)

“She is just a beautiful little girl and she loves music and she loves to laugh,” Diana told Tribune Weekend.

“I wanted to do something to help her with her ongoing medical expenses and so I thought that I would sell copies of my ‘Bahamian Christmas Story’ and donate the proceeds to her.”

The story is about a little boy named Ricky who misses Junkanoo after the parades were cancelled due to the COVID pandemic.

“Instead of asking Santa for presents, he asks Santa to bring back the annual parades, because Christmas is just not the same without the Junkanoo beat. Santa helps Ricky to understand that the Junkanoo spirit has always been inside of him,” she said.

To accompany the story, she has included a rendition of her song “All I Want for Christmas is the Junkanoo”.

The lyrics are inspired by the popular holiday song “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth.”

“All I Want for Christmas is the Junkanoo, the Junkanoo, to see the Junkanoo, Santa won’t you please bring me the Junkanoo, then it would really feel like Christmas.”

Diana is selling Christmas cards which include QR codes for both the story and the song at a price of $7.

DIANA Hamilton

“It is a great way to extend a Bahamian holiday greeting to loved ones as well it being a gift that keeps on giving because all of the proceeds will help Ja’Dei,” she said.

“I believe that every child in this country is our responsibility, and not just at Christmas. As a nation, we should support those parents with children who may require more assistance. Every child has a right to an education under our constitution and these children should not be left in isolation and their parents shouldn’t have to feel overwhelmed with their medical expenses.”

Those who would like to help out can purchase “A Bahamian Christmas Story” by contacting Diana at msdianahamilton@ gmail.com or 242-812-8768.

Cards can also be purchased at Commonwealth Fabrics and the Organic Store in Palmdale.

10 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, December 22, 2023

gardening

The spirit of the season

G

ood day, gardeners. How does your garden grow? Are you reaping the rewards of sowing seeds or transplanting young vegetables and herbs yet? I sure do hope so.

The weather has been favoUrable for the garden. Hopefully, you’ve made some touch ups for the Christmas season, and your garden is beautiful. Some of my guys are frantic in finishing up some facelifting at properties, and even though it’s very difficult to get much done at this time of year, we do the best we can! Shipping after the first week of December is a nightmare, particularly with perishable, live material.

Please don’t leave things to the last minute! I look forward to forgetting it all for a few days and relaxing with family and friends, to sitting back and just taking it in.

Having a beautiful garden makes all of that so much easier.

The peace and tranquility that a well kept garden can provide, to me, is priceless. Are there any parts of your garden that leave questions? Are there difficult areas, or difficult plants?

Knowing where to place plant material is key in creating a magical garden. One method of dealing with difficult spots or difficult plants is to go in, dig them up, and move them somewhere else! Another is to address the deficiencies to allow for better plant health. Plant health is directly proportionate to soil health.

As grow the roots, so grow the branches, leaves, and flowers.

It’s no time to worry about all of that though, that is, unless you’re intending on spending lots of relaxing, healthy, soul nourishing hours in the garden over the holidays, as I intend to.

Learning when something in the garden isn’t happy is important.

That’s one reason we are here, and others in the professional nursery or garden center trade, for your gardening success. I

cannot speak for other establishments, certainly, but for our own nursery it is a primary purpose of ours to help you to create the perfect garden space to enjoy your property. Even for the most fickle or outdoor sensitive person, the weather at this time of year ought to be enjoyable outdoors in the garden. If not, well, I’ll pray for y’all.

Let us gather in the spirit of the season and wish happiness upon others. Maybe there’s an elderly person in your neighbourhood who needs a hand?

Maybe there’s someone who’s disabled that could use their spirits lifted. Communities thrive when we help each other.

The gardening community does just that. Some of the most lovely people I’ve met have been through gardening.

My mother Heather, may she rest in peace, Beryl, Marilyn, Mrs Elliott, are some that come to mind and so many others that I can’t begin naming them all otherwise all of the words of this column will be used up. They have a gifted spirit, do they tend to do so because of their love of gardening, or maybe it’s the reverse? I do not know for certain. There’s a certain je ne sais quoi that brings gardeners together. Even the grumpiest of people can crack a smile when speaking of their garden.

If you have a Scrooge in your life, give the gift of garden. It grows on people. Happy Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, or whatever it is that you wish to call it, may it be with gratitude and in the grace of the season. As always, I wish you happy (Christmas) gardening.

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The Tribune | Weekend |11

Friday, December 22, 2023

entertainment

What to stream this week: Bradley Cooper conducts, the MCU asks ‘What If…?’ and Percy Jackson quests

By The Associated Press

A

new Percy Jackson series and a PBS special hosted by cookbook author and restaurateur Lidia Bastianich are some of the new television, movies and music headed to a device near you.

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are a heartwarming CBS holiday special about adoption, a thriller starring John David Washington about artificial intelligence and the return of Marvel’s mindbending “What If...” series.

NEW MOVIES TO STREAM — “Maestro,” Bradley Cooper’s follow-up to “A Star Is Born” takes a loving look at the life of Leonard Bernstein and wife Felicia Montealegre. Cooper co-writes, directs and stars opposite Carey Mulligan in a portrait of the public and private side of the legendary composer and conductor. AP Film Writer Jake Coyle called it a “high wire act of a biopic” in his review, favoring the experimental black-and-white beginning over the later years, which focuses more on the increasingly complex family dynamics. The first hour, he wrote, is “like a dream of 1950s New York modernism.”

The film, streaming on Netflix on Wednesday, is expected to be a big contender through awards season, especially for Mulligan’s lived-in, decades-spanning portrayal of an artist living in the shadow of a genius and a wife grappling with the compromises she’s made to support him.

— Netflix’s ode to “Star Wars” from Zack Snyder is the long-inthe-works “Rebel Moon – Part 1: A Child of Fire.” Sofia Boutella leads a starry cast (including Djimon Hounsou, Charlie Hunnam and the voice of Anthony Hopkins) in this space opera about a small colony that must rise up against a tyrannical threat to

the galaxy. It begins streaming on Friday, December 22 and the second part will follow in April.

— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

NEW MUSIC TO STREAM — Prepare the tissues. Today, CBS will air its annual “A Home for the Holidays” musical special, drawing attention to families and life-affirming stories of adoption through the foster care system. Now in its 25th year, the special — presented in partnership with the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and the Children’s Action Network — boasts of a tear-jerking lineup: Lauren Daigle, Gavin DeGraw, David Foster and Katharine McPhee, Pentatonix and CeCe Winans will take on holiday classics. McPhee will also host the event, airing live on CBS and on demand for Paramount+ and Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers.

— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

NEW SERIES TO STREAM — PBS is celebrating its 25-year partnership with James Beardwinning chef, cookbook author and restaurateur, Lidia Bastianich, with “25 Years with Lidia: A Culinary Jubilee.” Premiering Monday on PBS (check local listings), Lidia is joined by family and friends to reflect on her more than two decades in public television, and some of the dishes she’s made along the way. The special will also stream on PBS.org and the PBS app.

— The animated anthology series “What If…?” is a mind-blowing, meta experience for Marvel fans where MCU characters are placed in different timelines and situations to play out an alternate story.

Jeffrey Wright narrates as The Watcher, observing from afar. The

first season’s storylines explored possibilities including “What If...

T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?” and “What If... Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?” Season two’s premiere, debuting today on Disney+, asks “What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?”

— Alicia Rancilio — Percy Jackson finds out that Greek myths aren’t just a history lesson in a new Disney+ series, based on the bestselling books by Rick Riordan. Walker Scobell (“The Adam Project”) takes the lead as the 12-year-old who goes from dealing with school bullies to battling monsters, while finding out his paternity means he’s a demigod with special abilities. Jackson sets out on a quest to clear his name. The first two episodes of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” are now on Disney+.

— Hilary Fox

12 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, December 22, 2023

Literary lives Mickey Rooney (1920 - 2014)

The tumultuous life of a Hollywood dynamo Sir Christopher Ondaatje remembers the extraordinary life of the American actor, entertainer and vaudevillian who, in a career spanning nine decades appeared in more than three hundred films and was among the last surviving stars of the silent film era.

“When I was nineteen years old, I was the number one star of the world for two years. When I was forty nobody wanted me.”

- Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney was born Joseph Yule, Jr, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on September 23, 1920, the only child of Nellie W Carter and Joseph Yule.

His mother was a

former chorus girl and burlesque performer from Kansas City, Missouri, and his father a Scottish born vaudevillian.

You’re Andy Hardy! You’re the United States!

You’re the stars and stripes. Behave yourself!

You’re a symbol.”

Rooney’s parents separated when he was four years old and his mother moved to Hollywood the following year. He made his first film appearance when he was six in the film “Not to be Trusted” (1926). He got small parts in the films “The Beast of the City” (1932) and “The Life of Jimmy Dolan” (1933), where he worked alongside stars Joel McCrea, Coleen Moore, Clark Gable, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, John Wayne and Jean Harlow.

He went to the Hollywood Professional School and later attended Fairfax High School.

Rooney nodded his approval and Mayer let go of his coat lapels.

His mother saw an advertisement for a child to play the part of “Mickey McGuire” in a series of short films. He got the role and played the part of Mickey McGuire in 78 of the films from 1927 to 1933, starting when he was seven years old. At fourteen and fifteen he played Puck in the play and subsequent film “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

“One of the cinema’s most arresting pieces of magic.”

- D Thomson, Movie critic In 1977, Rooney moved to Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) and was selected to play the part of Andy Hardy in “A Family Affair”– a “B” movie where he played the son of Judge James K Hardy (played by Lionel Barrymore) as comic relief. The unexpected success of the film led to 13 more Andy Hardy films between 1937 and 1946. He also met and befriended the child actress Judy Garland and began making a series of musicals that propelled both of them to stardom.

Behind the scenes, Rooney was the hyperactive, girl crazy teenager he portrayed on the screen. He was eventually severely reprimanded by Louis B Mayer, MGM head: “Listen to me! I don’t care what you do in private. Just don’t do it in public. In public, behave. Your fans expect it.

In 1937, Rooney made his first film alongside Judy Garland in “Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry”.

They became very close friends and a successful song-and-dance team. The two stars revealed a wonderful chemistry and talent, and audiences delighted in seeing them perform in a string of musicals including “Babes in Arms” (1939), for which Rooney was nominated for an Academy Award – one of the youngest ever to be nominated.

“Judy and I were so close we could have come from the same womb. We weren’t like brothers or sisters but there was no love affair there. It’s very, very difficult to explain … it was so special. It was a forever love.”

- Mickey Rooney In 1937, Rooney also received top billing as Shockey Carter in “Hoosier Schoolboy”. However, his real breakthrough as a dramatic actor came in 1938’s “Boys Town” opposite Spencer Tracy as Father Flanagan, who runs a home for wayward and homeless boys. Eighteen-year-old Rooney and seventeen-year-old Deanna Durbin were awarded special Juvenile Academy Awards for “significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth”.

Later, Louis B Mayer was to say that “Boys Town” was his favourite film during his years at MGM. Rooney was one of the biggest box-office draws in 1939, 1940 and 1941. Actor Laurence Olivier once called Mickey Rooney “the greatest actor of them all”.

“Hollywood’s No 1 box office bait in 1939 was not Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, or Tyrone Power, but a rope-haired, kazoo-voiced kid with a comicstrip face, who until this week had never appeared in a picture without mugging or overacting in it.

His assumed name was Mickey Rooney, and to a large part of the more articulate of his cinema audience, his name was becoming a frequently used synonym for ‘brat’.”

- Motion Picture Herald, 1940 During his long career Rooney worked with many of the screen’s female stars, including

The Tribune | Weekend | 13

Friday, December 22, 2023

Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet (1944); Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961); Marilyn Monroe in “The Fireball” (1956); and Grace Kelly in “The Bridges at Toko-Ri” (1954).

For his performance he received nominations for a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Actor in a musical.

He followed this touring in Stephen Sondheim’s “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”; and in the 1990s he returned to Broadway for the final months of “The Will Rogers Follies”. He wrote a memoir titled “Life is too Short”.

Rooney was extremely popular and active. He said that one year he made nine pictures, and that it was similar to being on a conveyor belt that made movies. He had to go from one set to another.

***

“Mickey Rooney is the closest thing to a genius that I ever worked with. There was Chaplin, then there was Rooney. The little bastard could do no wrong in my book … All you had to do with him was rehearse it once.”

Despite the millions of dollars that he earned over the years, such as his $65,000-a-week earnings from “Sugar Babies”, Rooney was plagued by financial problems late in his life. He gambled away his fortune again and again, and had to declare bankruptcy for a second time in 1996. He kept performing on stage and in the movies, but his personal property was valued at only $18,000 when he died in 2014.

- Clarence Brown, director of “The Human Comedy” (1943) and “National Velvet” (1944) Mickey Rooney was inducted into the United States Army in June 1944 and spent most of his time entertaining US troops. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for doing this work in dangerous combat zones. He also received the Army Good Conduct Medal and the Victory Medal for his military service.

But then his career declined precipitously. He was now an adult and it was difficult to get work for someone only 5 2 tall, who could no longer play the part of a teenager. He had the lead in the 1948 film “Words and Music” and briefly appeared with Judy Garland for the last time.

ROONEY with frequent co-star and close friend Judy Garland in 'Love Finds Andy Hardy' (1938)

Rooney was married eight times, with six of his marriages ending in divorce. His eighth and final marriage lasted longer than the previous seven put together.

Although over the years he had earned over $12 million, he was forced to file for bankruptcy.

In 1979, Rooney made his Broadway debut in the acclaimed stage play “Sugar Babies”, a musical revue co-starring dancer Ann Miller. It opened to

“One of the biggest stars of all time, who remained aloft longer than anyone in Hollywood history, was in the end brought down by those closest to him. He died humiliated, betrayed, nearly broke, and often broken.”

He suffered from bipolar disorder and attempted suicide two or three times over the years, with resulting hospitalisations and reported nervous breakdowns.

His career had almost hit rock bottom. At one point he was reduced to touring the Southern States in the US with the Hadacol Caravan promoting a patent medicine that was eventually forced off the market. He made various short-term deals with MGM with low pay; produced a television series for NBC created by Blake Edwards; starred as an egomaniacal TV actor “The Comedian” (1957), and as himself in “The Musical Revue” of 1959 based on the 1929 “The Musical Revue”. He got some work – but it was spasmodic.

This was a period of professional and personal distress for Rooney. But there were some bright moments. He took small roles in good films: “Requiem for a Heavyweight” (1962), and “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” (1963), and eventually Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Black Stallion” (1979), which earned $40 million and gave Coppola’s struggling studio American Zoetrope a significant boost. He also made many gueststarring roles in TV, and in 1983 the Academy of Motion Pictures gave Rooney their Honorary Academy Award for his lifetime of achievement.

An October 2015 article in The Hollywood Reporter maintained that Rooney was frequently abused and financially depleted by his closest relatives in the last years of his life.

ROONEY and his eighth and final wife Jan at a Beverly Hills military concert in 2000 rave reviews and this time Rooney did not throw success away. He and Miller performed the show 1,208 times in New York and then toured with it for five years, including eight months in London.

“At 59, Mickey Rooney was reincarnated as a baggy-pants comedian – back as a top banana in show biz in his belated Broadway debut.”

- Alvin Marill, Rooney biographer

In 1942, he married his first wife, Ava Gardner, who at the time was still an obscure teenage starlet. They divorced the following year because he had been unfaithful. In 1958, he married the model and actress Barbara Ann Thomason. She was murdered by stuntman Milos Milos, her lover, who then shot himself. He married his eighth and final wife, Jan Chamberlin, in 1978 and the marriage lasted until his death in 2014, a total of 34 years, although they separated in 2012.

Mickey Rooney died on April 6, 2014, of natural causes (including complications from diabetes) in Studio City, Los Angeles. He was 93 years old. His eight surviving children said that they had been barred from seeing him in his final years.

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14 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, December 22, 2023

history

Our national flag carrier

By PAUL C ARANHA | Forgotten Facts

I

set out to write about Bahamasair’s being my family’s airline of choice, for my wife and I have experienced nothing but good on our many flights this year – no late departures, many early arrivals, no lost luggage.

In 1973, a few weeks before Independence, when the Bahamas government bought shares in Out Island Airways (OIA) and changed its name to Bahamasair, I was living in West Berlin (the Wall was a very real factor in that divided city) and flying Convair 990 As Coronados for Modern Air Transport. At that time, except for the supersonic Concorde, it was the world’s fastest commercial airplane.

The demand for charter flights was seasonal and one wondered what would happen when the summer of mass tourism travel came to an inevitable conclusion. Meanwhile, Modern Air, based at Berlin Tegel Airport, was flying to a host of holiday destinations in Southern Europe, North Africa.

To fly in West Berlin, one had to be American, British or French. I qualified because the Bahamas were still a British Colony. I was the only pilot who did not have an American passport.

The city of Berlin was surrounded by what was then East Germany and every flight had to be approved by a majority of the four occupying powers. America, Britain and France always said ‘yes’. The Russians always said ‘No’.

Three 27-mile wide air corridors connecting West Berlin to West German, but planes were not allowed to fly higher than 10,000 feet (the Russians would not agree to change the height, because they wanted the western airlines to waste a lot of fuel.)

Our longest route was to the Canary Islands (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife). Flying time was 51/2 hours each way and the cockpit crew was served breakfast and lunch.

The American pilots did not like German food, so I could choose which one I wanted. For breakfast, I was surrounded by three servings of fruit, bread rolls, jams, and cheeses.

I started eating when we were over Frankfurt, Germany, and continued through Switzerland (our view of Mont Blanc was stunning), France and all the way to Madrid. Flying in the Bahamas had never been like this.

One day, I got a call from the newly created Bahamasair, inviting me to come home and fly their BAC One-Eleven planes. My first day as a Bahamasair captain was October 1, 1973.

Bahamasair had a lot of problems that needed to be sorted out. Of course, I had not authority, except when I was on duty and in command.

My first shock was that the first officer had not turned up and I had to perform his share of the pre-flight checks. When the plane was ready for passenger-boarding I still had no co-pilot. He strolled in the flight deck amidst the boarding passenger.

I remember telling him that I understood that this was normal behaviour at Bahamasair and recommending that he check which captain he would be flying with, and if it was Aranha, I expected him to be on time.

Coming from a well-organised American charter airline, I found it hard to believe how totally undisciplined our flag carrier was. I had to choose between being a part of the mayhem or changing what I could change. I chose the latter.

After six weeks with the company, I was told that the general manager, Max Healey, wanted to see me in his office. So off I went. Wasting no words, Mr Healey appointed me to a newly-created position as “Chief Pilot - Administration”. The existing “Chief Pilot” became “Chief Pilot – Technical”.

Suddenly, there were two desks in the Chief Pilot’s office, though I considered myself the lesser of two equals.

So many changes had to be made, but I was impressed by how willing the pilots (and many other staff members) accepted my way of doing things. Some of the pilots complained about the very long hair styles of their colleagues and asked me to put up a notice, telling them to get a ‘proper’ haircut. As it was, I attended a meeting in downtown Nassau and used the occasion

to have my hair cut. Without my saying anything, within two days all the pilots came to work with short hair. Soon after that, they were all reporting to work at the correct time and this rubbed off on the cabin attendants. I had no authority over the stewardesses, but they too came to work on time. If one of them was more than two minutes late, she came looking for me to me to explain why.

The two-letter code of Bahamasair is “UP”. They tried to get a code that started with the letter ‘B’, but the only one available was “BS”, so they borrowed “UP” from the motto of the Bahamian nation ‘Forward Upward Onward Together’.

Fifty years later, it gives me great pleasure to make it my family’s “airline of choice”. When you fly with Bahamasair, be sure to read their excellent “Up and Away” in-flight magazine.

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The Tribune | Weekend | 15

Friday, December 22, 2023

animals Animal matters Kim Aranha

PET OF THE WEEK

M

erry Christmas to those with two legs, and those with four.

Merry Christmas to those who have feathers and those who have scales.

Merry Christmas to those marine animals, fish and mammals and reptiles.

So many creatures put on earth to live together and support each other, in most marvelous ways. When you stop to think how nature and the ecosystem works it really is the ultimate of master plans; everything with a reason and a reason for everything.

Man was intended to be but a small part of that master plan, however, the brash ways of many humans, the carelessness of the masses, have caused devastating consequences that we are all living with now, human and not.

Christmas is upon us and we need to thank those who help animals throughout the year - a most unglamourous task. The hardworking staff of the Bahamas Humane Society are no exception, and their hours are filled with moments of great joy and great unhappiness. They see what their fellow man is capable of and, without doubt, that leaves an indelible and lasting impression. It is always difficult to realise how frail our civilisation really is – a thin veneer of polished behaviour frequently hides a very nasty and cruel disposition.

A notable point is that the Bahamas Humane Society turns 100 years old in 2024; twice the age of our nation, older than any other charity in this country.

We are frequently laughed at for wanting to care for and protect animals, sometimes vilified, because so many people do not understand that you can love and show compassion for both humans and the animals who share this planet with us. Over the years I have had more insults slung at me because the (apparent) automatic assumption is, ‘She loves dogs so she can’t love people.’ I wish somebody would explain that logic to me.

(PHOTO BY JUDY YOUNG)

Merry Christmas to all of us!

Favourite Fred

By The Bahamas Humane Society For our pre-Christmas pet, we’re focusing on Fred, who is a favourite with the Bahamas Humane Society staff and with the dog walkers.

In fact, four-year-old Fred was the impetus that started the dog walks! Fred needs a home that will be willing to spend time on training and obedience (he already knows how to sit), as a smart, occupied dog is a happy dog!

He’s big, goofy, loving, and gentle to boot. He’d love to be an only dog so he has plenty of time to spend with his human(s). Would you like to make Fred’s Christmas

Lynovia Harrison receives her Employee of the Year award with shelter manager Percy Grant

As we march into our second century of existence, the Christmas spirit is alive and well at the BHS. We have dreams and they are well within our grasp. With the help and support of the local sectors, individuals and government, we can and will develop with the times, becoming more tech savvy while also embracing basics that nature and animals prefer to use.

The photo included is most of the staff at the BHS, some of whom are working their way through college, striving to hold down a job and get through classes, those looking to become vets eventually, know that they have to meet high standards and stringent

The BHS staff wish a Merry Christmas to all

wish come true and adopt him? If so, come to the BHS to meet him or call 323-5138 for more information. Fred looks forward to meeting you.

•The BHS Thrift Shop will be closed between Christmas and New Year’s, reopening Thursday, January 4. The staff and volunteers wish you all a very Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you next year. (We’re still open Saturday, December 23, from 10am to 2pm)

requirements, it is more difficult to get into veterinary school than medical school, countless hours of studying.

Hats off to these young man and women with the vision to go far in life.

This year our employee of the year was Lynovia Harrison.

She is a member of the veterinarian assistant team, in charge of the adoption dogs, but does not limit herself to her job description, helping out everywhere she can and being involved with many different projects within the BHS. She is a team player, and judging from the roar of approval from her fellow workers when her name was announced as 2023 Employee of the Year, her honour was well approved by her collogues.

Next year brings us the mammoth task of Operation Potcake, a massive spay and neuter programme put together by the BHS and BAARK. We will have five clinics across New Providence and the objective is to spay or neuter over 3,000 animals in eight days. Kudos to all the supporters: businesses and individuals who are sponsoring. It is not too late to join them and help if you wish. Just write to operationpotcakke242@gmail.com and we will send you all the information.

May our 100th year really special by stamping out cruelty and neglect. Join us to make a difference.

Have an amazing day on Monday.

Don’t let your dog get out or eat the wrong things. Drive carefully and make 2024 the year you love and laugh more.

16 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, December 22, 2023

film

Movie Review:

‘The Color Purple’ is a stirring big-screen musical powered by its spectacular cast

By JAKE COYLE | AP Film Writer

E

xuberant performances from a cast led

by Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P Henson and Danielle Brooks breathe life into Blitz Bazawule’s stirring “The Color Purple,” adapted from the Tony-winning Broadway production.

Alice Walker ’s Pulitzer Prizewinning 1982 novel, which Steven Spielberg turned into the 1985 film, may be an unlikely book for such bright adaptations. Walker’s novel, told through Celie’s letters penned to God, is harrowingly bleak in its tale of trauma, poverty, abuse and rape. Much of Walker’s “The Color Purple” doesn’t scream song and dance.

But the emotional triumphs of Walker’s novel and its soul-stirring tribute to the power of Black women lend themselves to the kind of maximalist spectacle of Bazawule’s razzle-dazzle adaptation. The tragedy found in “The Color Purple” makes its final release all the more rousing.

It can still be an awkward mix, and, like Spielberg’s movie, not all of the tonal changes work in this version of “The Color Purple.” But the payoff is immense, as are the thrilling performances at the movie’s centre.

Barrino, who in 2007 took over the role on Broadway, plays Celie with a raw soulfulness. In the film’s opening scenes, she’s picked by Mister (Colman Domingo) to be his wife, though her role at his messy, ramshackle home is much closer to servant.

Life with Mister, who regularly beats her, is a nightmare. That Domingo is able play such a loathsome, cruel character and yet still find subtle notes of woundedness and ultimately redemption in Mister is a testament to his dynamism as an actor. The roots of Mister’s barbarism are traced to his own brutal father (Louis Gossett Jr.), one of the numerous ways in which “The Color Purple” contemplates cycles of abuse and inherited pain.

“The Color Purple” sometimes shows.

But the film takes off when Shug (Henson) makes her show-stopping entrance.

Shug, a glamorous singer who breezes in and out of their country lives, is whom Mister most pines for — and whom Celie has great affection for, as well.

Henson, outfitted sumptuously by costumer Francine Jamison-Tanchuck, gives “The Color Purple” a vivid, movie-star splash. Celie and Shug’s romance has often been downplayed — it was almost totally absent Spielberg’s film.

This version, while still falling short, does a little better thanks to their tender duet “What About Love?”

In this lengthy and starpacked musical (Ciara, Jon Batiste, H.E.R. and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor are just some of the cameos), there are more dramatic ups and downs to go. But the movie builds DANIELLE BROOKS, centre, in a scene from “The Color Purple.” (Warner Bros. Pictures irresistibly toward the hard-earned via AP) emancipation of Celie, and Barrino’s climactic, impassioned Celie, separated from her beloved performance of “I’m Here.” sister Nettie (Halle Bailey), has Bazawule, the Ghana-born filmlittle to look forward to. But after maker, has made one previous years go by, signs of possibility begin feature (“The Burial of Kojo”). But entering the orbit of her savage rural he also performs as the hip-hop corner of early 20th century Georgia. artist Blitz the Ambassador and First there’s Sofia (Brooks), the directed Beyoncé’s “Black Is King” wife of Mister’s more sensitive son visual album. And his adroitness in Harpo (Corey Hawkins), who builds capturing musical performance is a juke joint on a pier above a swamp. easy to see in “The Color Purple,” Brooks, reprising the role she played produced by a trio of heavyweights in the 2015 stage revival, is a revelafrom the first film: Oprah Winfrey, tion as the strong-willed, admirably Spielberg and Quincy Jones. reckless Sofia. Her forceful and the meek Celie. The numbers are But it’s the movie’s own power trio funny entry (and her thundering richly conceived — the juke joint of Barrino, Brooks and Henson that song “Hell No!”) announce a female (part of the excellent production makes “The Color Purple” one of empowerment Celie hasn’t ever design of Paul Denham Austerberry) the most moving big-screen musidared to imagine. is pierced with light shining through cals in recent years. Each in their Bazawule’s film, penned by playwooden planks. But some flights own way transforms suffering into wright Marcus Gardley, wavers most of fancy, like one number in which exhilarating portraits of survival and in the balance of its first half. The Celie is transported onto a giant strength. musical scenes, with kinetic choturntable, make for a herky-jerky reography from Fatima Robinson, flow. The jumbled book-to-movieRunning time: 140 minutes. Three perhaps come too fast and furious, distracting from our connection with to-musical-to-movie-musical path of and a half stars out of four.