"Would you like another fish?"

I think it's a good idea to laugh, but Rick Santorum isn't always on TV, so I keep Dudley Moore DVDs at hand.  Try and tell him that 5'2" British comics weren't going to make it in America!  We enjoyed his voiceover the other night, watching "Milo and Otis," a live-action picture about the adventures of a mischievous cat and dog.

And that brings us to a little movie called "Arthur."  That 1981 "moon pitcha" would be great to watch anytime.  You get to see Dudley as the dipsomaniac playboy (with an unexplained British accent) (and John Gielgud as a butler who is more like a father to him) who is supposed to marry this A-list D-bag named Susan.  If he doesn't marry her, there will be hell to pay, and he won't have a dime to pay it with, because his family will cut him off.  So he goes and falls in love with Liza Minnelli.  

Hey, it happens!

So I'm not about to ruin the surprise for you if you haven't seen it, or if you accidentally got in the wrong line at the Cineplus 16 last spring and saw a version of the Arthur story starring the insufferable Russell Brand.  You should ask for your money back and go get a DVD of the original, so you can enjoy lines such as:

Susan: A real woman could stop you from drinking.
Arthur: It'd have to be a real BIG woman.

Hobson the butler:  You obviously have a wonderful economy with words, Gloria. I look forward to your next syllable with great eagerness.

and of course

Susan: Arthur, will you take my hand?
Arthur: That would leave you with one!

The movie was riddled with gags like that but it made a valid point.  Dudley's other big film was "10," which was more of a Bo Derek-runs-on-the-beach video, but it had its meaningful moments.

Dudley Moore was married four times and divorced four times, so you can't say that he ever found happiness in love.  Life didn't hand him such a great deal at all; he died at 67 of progressive supranuclear palsy, which is a terminal degenerative brain disorder described as one of the worst illnesses known to humans. 

He had musical talent (he played and composed on the piano) and comedy skills and let's hope he knows how much happiness his talents brought to us. It's like Arthur said, "Isn't this fun? Isn't fun the best thing to have? Don't you wish you were me? I know I do."