Have you ever played that game of having your life over again—but as a person of your choosing?  If I had to choose, I would come back as that embodiment of entertainment and enjoyment: Danny Kaye.

Danny, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind my familiarity, was an entertainer in every fibre of his being.  He started by entertaining school-mates, never finished high school and after a run of pointless menial jobs went professional at 20.  Of course, the early years were tough: no matter how good you are, success never falls into your lap.

But Danny was a phenomenon, and when he partnered with and soon married Sylvia Fine (see photo), a song writer, his talent became magnificent.  He was an all-rounder: excellent as More...

When the mood of society is bleak, as it is now, Hollywood produces films mirroring that mood.  Hence the seemingly endless flow of black films: zombie and vampire films, horror films, films ending on a note of bleakness, and TV series characterized by fear, distrust, suffering, betrayal and the abuse of power.

There must be something wrong with me because when things are bleak, I prefer to be cheered up. I like to watch films in which good triumphs over evil.  What benefit do I get from a diet of films proving the futility of rationality and common human decency? 

So I've turned in recent months to Jacques Offenbach and been indulging in his operas: taking More...