Number please?

Fifty years after its release, "The Godfather" stands as the best American movie ever made in many opinions. 

I mean, if you haven't seen it even once, you have stood there many times wondering what everyone was talking about when they said:

• "I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse."
• "Leave the gun.  Take the cannoli."
• "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes." (I say this any time I open any sort of package)
• "Bonasera…Bonasera…What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully?"
• "Don’t ever take sides with anyone against the family again.  Ever."
• "Tom, can you get me off the hook?  For old times’ sake?" (When the actor who played Tessio,  Abe Vigoda, played a detective on "Barney Miller," it was even funnier to quote him saying this).
• "Revenge is a dish that tastes best when served cold."
• "It’s not personal, Sonny.  It’s strictly business."
• "You can act like a man! What’s the matter with you? Is this how you turned out, a Hollywood finocchio that cries like a woman?"

So I believe that you should run right out and watch this movie and marvel at how they wove such a story with so many lessons. Just tell your boss you will need the afternoon off. 

Virgil Sollozzo

A small thing I always think about is the scene where Sollozzo's men have taken Tom Hagen hostage, after Don Corleone is shot 147 times while buying fruit, and Sollozzo calls Sonny to say that Hagen will be released in three hours.

I always marveled at Sonny, writing the time down on the wall by the telephone. I mean, shouldn't the home of a leading olive oil importer have a note pad near the phone, to write down important messages?

Then I got to thinking about other times people wrote something on the wall.

When 911 service came to Baltimore County in the early 80s, we printed up about a zillion little white stickers saying "Baltimore County Police Fire Ambulance - Dial 911 for emergencies" and when I was passing them out at community meetings and fairs and supermarket openings, more than one person told me, "We don't need the sticker; we already wrote the number on the wall right by the phone!"

In the song "Memphis" by Chuck Berry, the singer says:

"Long distance information, give me Memphis Tennessee

Help me find a party that tried to get in touch with me

She did not leave a number but I know who placed the call

'Cause my uncle took a message and he wrote it on the wall"

Younger folks, yes, there was a time you could dial "0" and get help from a friendly voice, a woman who would look up a number for you, tell you what time it was in Memphis, what time it would cost less to call long distance, and a nice recipe for leftover roast beef.

And in those days, it was fine to take a pencil and jot down messages and phone numbers and, I guess, recipes on the kitchen wall. Once a year, Uncle Nutsy would get the Kem-Tone and a brush and slap on a new coat of paint, readying the wall for new notes.