In Which Two Old Movies Touch Our Lives

Part The First: Wizard of Oz
So. I saw a Munchkin today.

I was at lunch in Westport with Friends #2, #3, #4, Mr. #4., and #3s baby niece. Suddenly Friend #3 (Marcia 'Wanzenknicker') leaned in and said “Isn’t that one of the Munchkins?” I looked at a short man at a nearby table. I said “No, he’s not a Munchkin, all the Munchkins are dead.” (Boom. Just like that. Death to Munchkins. Dead, all of them.)

“No, that’s him,” she said excitedly, “He lives in Saint Louis.”

I began to reprove, “First of all, nice people say ‘Little People’,” when I followed her gaze away from the short man and saw a Celebrity Munchkin. He was giving autographs on movie stills he pulled out of his little briefcase. His briefcase, which was labeled “Mickey Carroll! Munchkin!”

Marcia went and got his signature on a still photo and brought it back. I tried to figure out what was wrong with the photo. Finally, three hours later it struck me: it’s a black and white photo. Munchkins are Technicolor, never black and white.

In case you too thought the Munchkins had all passed and were not doing soft-shoe routines in Westport Plaza, a number of them are still quite alive. Our Munchkin was not only alive, evidently in the past he wrote speeches for FDR. If I had known that, I would have gone over and gotten his autograph too. Not to mention that his Godfather literally was Al Capone.

Which brings us to...

Part The Second:The Godfather
Thursday before last, The Godfather was on Bravo. The TiVo willfully ignored it, despite having been told to grab The Godfather 1 or 2 the next time they were on. I had a dim (and of course entirely incorrect) recollection that it starts with a wedding and ends when Marlon Brando dies. I checked and saw I had many, many hours of the Godfather to go. I pushed the record button and went to sleep.

I didn’t get to watch any of it during the next week, due to my hectic napping schedule, until I was flipping through channels and saw The Godfather was on again. Only this time it began at four and ran through the end of time. I’d only missed 45 minutes, so I jumped in. So I watched for a long time as Don Vito Corleone got his start as a Mafioso. He shot some guy in a white suit, he got some widow her apartment back, ice caps melted and froze again, there were commercials. Eventually, Marlon Brando showed up and mumbled his way into the wedding scene. I assumed they added the Italian flashback scenes to make up for having to cut every single curse word. (“I don’t wan’ my bruddah comin’ oudda da john wid his stick in his hand.”)

So, Don Vito dies, Michael takes over, animals evolve into new species. After four hours I gave up and played my guitar. Later that night, I turned the TV on and Michael Corleone was talking to the Senate ... in Godfather 2! A seminal movie I have not seen. Dang it!

It appears Bravo has decided to take Godfather 2, snip it up, and drop Godfather 1 into the middle of it. Perhaps dollops of Godfather 3 are mixed up into it somehow as well. I’m thoroughly confused. I’m going to have to rent the DVD and get it all straight in my head again.

Comments

[robin]

(“I don’t wan’ my bruddah comin’ oudda da john wid his stick in his hand.”) -This made me laugh out loud.

The only way to get it straight it to rent the DVDs and dedicate an entire day to it.

Make sure you have lots of good junk food.

[TheQueen]

Yep, that's what I did this weekend. I didn't watch Part 3 though. Evidently, it is a disappointment.

[Hot Mom]

Way back when, before Godfather 3 was released to the horror of all Godfather fans, the nice people who made Godfathers 1 and 2 decided "Hey! Since our audience is too dumb to follow the past-present switchbacks of Godfather 2, let's roll both movies into one and put it all in chronological order."

TADA! That's the movie-parts you watched.

It's much more fun to watch the two movies separately. You get a better feel for the parallism of Vito's and Michael's lives that way.

[Vaguely Urban]

Even with the autograph sesh, I can't believe anyone would recognize an aged, non-orange munchkin. Kudos!

[TheQueen]

Vaguely Urban, you break my heart. Munchkins, orange?

Oompa Loompa -
http://mocklog.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/13/oompaloompas1971_3.jpg

Munchkin -
http://mocklog.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/13/muchkins_2.jpg

[Mike]

I thought your title was funny. Yes, you saw a Munchkin today. You saw a Munchkin LIE to you today. Mickey Carroll has been lying about his career, friends, accomplishiments for years. You are just another naive one who believes his bull. He WAS a Munchkin (not the Munchkin coroner he's told people for decades), he was NOT in Our Gang shorts, he did not live with Judy Garland during filming, Ronald Reagan was not his roommate in Hollywood...and last but not least, notorious gangster Al Capone was NOT his godfather. Mickey adopted that story not long after watching "The Godfather" in the 70s because he like the movie so much and he is Italian. I'm a member of his family and I know better. Shame he has lied to so many for so long. He's a nice little guy, but his tales are TALL.

[Friend #3]

I won't dispute what you know as a family member, but the list of accomplishments in the original post (correct or not) were retrieved from the Internet, which is obviously, not always a reliable source for information. Still, Mr. Carroll made no such claims in person, and in fact, said he was the fiddle player, not the coroner.

We had a lovely visit with him, and he was utterly charming to my 15-month-old niece. We will have a great story and a wonderful keepsake for her when she's old enough to watch The Wizard of Oz.

[TheQueen]

I kind of like the idea of a lying Munchkin. It makes me want to start a web page titled "Muchkin Debunker!"

I did think the FDR story was a bit much, but then I thought I was just being size-ist.

I have plenty of people in my family who lie, and none of them have the added cachet of being Munchkins. Thanks for commenting, Mike!