dressing on the side

                                                       (Woodward/Newman 1958)
I like the moving pictures. I liked Paul Newman. For some reason, my exposure to him was limited to a few instances pretty early in life: seeing The Sting when I was young – maybe 8, and not at all getting “the sting”, as it was; Butch Cassidy (“You think you put enough dynamite in there Butch?”); and charity. It wasn’t until well on in life that I learned more about him and listened to, and read, interviews with him. He always seemed to be a headstrong kind of guy that never gave two shits what anyone thought of him; you began to think he had both “rebel” and “liberal” tattooed across his back. I also always appreciated the amazing amount of time he spent before the world’s glare while being able to maintain a perfect sense of dignity. He and Joanne Woodward were probably the grandest Hollywood couple of the last half-century. It’s hard to say that it wasn’t a full life, or that we’ll miss him, because we’ll always have him on film and that’s all we ever really knew, wasn’t it? I think I’ll go back and check out some of the films of his that I’ve never seen. I don’t know that X will watch with me; I don’t think she's quite as enamored of him as I was...she's enamored of me, silly girl. That is one good-looking guy.

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