Sometimes simple is well enough

Something’s should not be messed with, some traditions are sacred and should remain untouched. But there are always some who feel a little twist here and a little change here makes things better. Take, for example all the restaurants that feels a need to “fix” the American classic, grilled cheese. A simple delight as it is, but some feel a need to “spice it up” change it around and make it “new and improved”. Hogwash! That’s what I say. It worked as it was, it was simple and delightful… Two slices of white bread, 2 slices of American cheese, slap some butter on the bread and grill… Simple and good as it is. No need to add aged cheese from the basement of some monastery in some obscure town in Europe, or artisan bread that coast as much as a new car. Sometimes simple is better.

When I travel to Germany and visit my good friends there, we always make time to have some nice home cooked foods. He is a marvelous cook, and can create some very fancy meals. We seem to always have one posh meal before I leave to return home. But off all the meals, the simple poor man dishes are the best. Simple pasta dishes or the working mans German dinners. They are simple, flavorful and, well, comforting. As food should be…

This also applies to other areas of life, such as family or religious  traditions. Why mess with proven ways… Why change just for the sake of change? What progress is there in that?

Last weekend I took a coworker and friend from Mexico to Downtown Detroit, to show him the sights and he wanted to get a hat from the Detroit Hard Rock Café. As part of my fifty cent tour of Detroit we walked to Fox Town, where the Fox Theater is. What a theater it is, it is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, it truly is the gem of Detroit. Currently the Fox has a production of Irving Berlin‘s “White Christmas”. One of my all time favorite movies. I mean what’s not to like, Bing sinning White Christmas, as only he can and Danny Kaye dancing and, well, being Danny Kaye. A simple story line, clean humor and best of all, it’s just a good plain simple feel good movie. One that I watch all year-long…

As part of our night in Detroit, we decided to take in the play, enjoy the sounds of Christmas and experience the Fox in all her glory. the Fox did not let us down, she is a majestic ornate theater and she was all done up for Christmas. What a sight!

But the same cannot be said about the play…

Why change a classic? Why make it what it is not? Why add to what is perfect?

All theses questions where running through my head as I watched this thing unfold. Was it a bad musical, not, the actors were fine and the singing was good, but was it “White Christmas”, nope, they could have called this play anything they wanted…. And maybe I would have enjoyed it more if it was not called White Christmas.

What did they do to it, they sexualized it, turned Bing’s character in to a fool and Danny’s into a sex hound, made the general an ass and the house keeper his love interest. Why? for what purpose? The story was fine as it was. Sure I understand that you need to rewrite the move for the stage, but why reinvent the characters? Like the grilled cheese, an American classic, so it White Christmas. It was simple, and decent, it was and is one of the finest movies made, yet the producers of the play felt a need to update it, to bring it into the 21st century. To what ends? For what purpose? None that I can see. Sometimes simple is well enough.

In a world full of complex situations and over sexed everything, sometimes sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket and watching White Christmas while eating a simple grilled cheese sandwich is all we need. Sometimes simple is the best way to go.

 

God Bless

Paul

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• White Christmas – sknetworksinternet (itunes.apple.com)