Party, Version 2: GHOSTS (2:16)

The one-minute version showed the zany side of my folks. The fun was in scoring the movie to reinforce that sense of abandon.

And yet, watching each little clip a thousand times is a haunting experience. It is so long ago and so far away. World War II was barely over and my mother's family had lost 5 young men, including her fun-loving brother.

This gave me a challenge: if I can make them laugh, can I make them cry? Could I use the same footage and change the mood completely? So... I added "part 2." The first minute is the same. In the second minute, the movie runs backward and the score "turns minor."

Additional voices:
"Danny Boy": my grandmother and mother
"Old Mill Stream": my grandfather and his pal Joe

I may not yet be a master Spielberg-like manipulator of emotions, but it works for me. What gives me a chill each time is my grandmother's voice -- her cackle when the tune goes sour is so real to me. And then there is that beautifully phrased ending... 

"Danny Boy" was Her Song and she often sang it at the end of long family parties. I know now that it had become the song about her dear lost son, but in my memory it is always a song sung with that cackle of laughter because she was one of those great dames who learned how not to be defeated by life's sorrows. 

8.6.02 
8.10.02 On some computers, the one of the soundtracks was odd, so a corrected version was posted.