Saturday, May 31, 2014

A Kvetch about Old Age in Italian (of all things)


 
 I am sure all you faithful readers will remember my talking about my beloved, amazing, world renowned  friend, Bruno, the Walt Disney of Italy.  I consider this friendship one of the miracles I have been lucky enough to have had bestowed upon me.  After encountering his work on the internet I was so blown away by his genius that I wrote him a fan letter and was totally blown away even moreso when he answered me and (get this) thanked me and apologized for his imperfect English.  That was many years ago and since then we have maintained an email correspondence, have exchanged drawings,  various gifts to share delights, have met........first in Milan, Italy on one of my trips when I offered to buy him a cup of coffee and he and his twin daughters drove into Milan and took me out for a fabulous lunch and lots of talking and hugs and a second time when he came to LA to be honored at the Disney Studios and he asked me if I could meet him and his family at their hotel nearby.  He is really a genius with fabulous wit, artistic talent and, of all things, humility!   I feel incredibly honored to have him for a friend, to put it mildly.

Anyway, he recently emailed me a birthday greeting and a few lines to bring me up to date on his activities and we exchanged a few quick emails back and forth updating each other.  Now I must reveal that he is 12 years younger than I am and in good health, thank heaven, but in his 70's he can empathize with all my rants and gripes about old age.  In his note to me today he included a recent drawing of one of his main characters......Mr. Rossi is to Bruno as Mickey Mouse was to Walt Disney..........I decided it was too wonderful to keep for myself so I am sharing it with you. 

Hope you enjoy it.  (the translation of the caption is in the last line of his letter)

Love, Lo
*****************************************************
 from a Bruno Bozzetto email
.........I perfectly understand your problems about the bad vision, the getting old, etc etc.
I'm running on your same way... just after you.

In these days I did this drawing about this problem... that means (approximately) "Getting old has some advantages...help me to find just one"...

Love
Br1
                                              *********************************

P.S from Lo
I am devastated that some of you did not see the drawing.....I had the same problem when I first viewed my blog but it took a minute or so for it to appear. If you encounte that problem try waiting a bit to see if it will finally download the cartoon. SO SORRY







Il giorno 30/mag/2014, alle ore 01:02, LMS52927@aol.com ha scritto:





Il giorno 30/mag/2014, alle ore 01:02, LMS52927@aol.com ha scritto:

11 comments:

  1. Well now I am jealous, especially as this man has had the pleasure of actually meeting you. I will just have to be satisfied with being a faithful blogging friend.

    Love, a Jealous Cranky Old Man

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  2. What gracious people you all are. I love your stories about the people you know and the places you travel. You have gathered so many memories and I thank you for sharing them with your readers.
    I did not see a drawing (probably my computer) but I thoroughly enjoyed your story.

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  3. I was unable to see the drawing either, but what a friend you have there!! More precious than any picture ~

    Hugs ~

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  4. I am devastated that some of you did not see the drawing.....I had the same problem when I first viewed my blog but it took a minute or so for it to appear. If you encounte that problem try waiting a bit to see if it will finally downbload the cartoon. SO SORRY,

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  5. No image via iPad. Just blanks frames with a question mark.

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  6. You don't have to apologize when it's not you, it's the technology.

    "We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works." ~ Douglas Adams

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  9. Lo: The links in today's blog entry are to email messages, not to the image files. Try downloading to your hard drive the image files that were attached to the email, and then upload the image files to your blog page. By the way, you sure have met a lot of talented people in your exciting life!

    Followers of Lo: Here's a link to Bruno Bozzetto's web site http://www.bozzetto.com/misterrossi.html. I don't understand Italian, but perfectly understood the adorable, funny animations anyway!

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  10. So disappointed that the link by Albireo didn't work! The blog is always wonderful, but would've loved to see the cartoon! A lurker!!

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