Reflections on Canada Day 2021

In the wake of the twin tragedies in Kamloops, British Columbia and London, Ontario, The Toronto Star recently posed the question as to whether Canadians should celebrate Canada Day at all this year, or turn this July 1^st holiday into a national day of sombre reflection instead.  My answer is that we should celebrate.  I am heartbroken by what happened, but I am also heartbroken by the level of animosity toward the country I call home.

Let me be clear.  I am not opposed to a national day of mourning and sombre reflection per se.  In fact, I strongly support such an initiative.   However, I don’t think that it should take place on Canada Day.  Canada Day is a day to celebrate this country, not to dwell on its flaws and dirty laundry.  This does not mean that Canada is perfect and above criticism.  It is most definitely not an endorsement of the “my country right or wrong” mentality.  I am deeply agonized and saddened by the sorry history of the residential schools and the brutal attack on the Muslim family in London.  There are no words to express the horror of those two atrocities.  It is not my intention to minimize what happened. 

I would argue, however, that Canadians need to celebrate Canada Day more than ever in 2021.  We are still suffering through a long, nightmarish pandemic.  The situation has improved, but we are not out of the woods yet.  The Delta variant is threatening to curtail our progress and many people have not received their second dose of the vaccine yet.  COVID-19 has caused enormous physical and mental anguish.  A large number of us have lost our loved ones, our businesses and our homes. 

For just one day, can we stop beating our head against the wall?  On July 1^st, can we not think of our achievements instead?  Canada is still the land of Terry Fox, Alexander Graham Bell, Tommy Douglas, The Famous Five, Lester Pearson, Thérèse Casgrain, Dr. David Suzuki, Pierre Trudeau, John Diefenbaker, Dr. Norman Bethune, Dr. Frederick Banting, Marshall McLuhan, Oscar Peterson, Emily Carr,, Viola Desmond, Margaret Atwood, Tom Longboat, The Group of Seven, Lincoln Alexander, Pauline Johnson and Alice Munro.  They are not perfect people, but they and countless other Canadians have made great contributions to humanity and to and a more just society.  They have excelled in their field of endeavour, whether it be music, art, politics, law, literature, sports or medicine and science.

On Canada Day, we would do well to remember these historical facts:

* In 1793, Upper Canada, now Ontario, introduced the Act Against Slavery, becoming the first territory in the British Empire to pass legislation leading to the gradual abolition of slavery in its jurisdiction. 

* Canada is still the country that gave the world insulin, liberated the Netherlands and Sicily from Nazis, ended the 1956 Suez Crisis and instituted the practice of peacekeeping, for which Lester Pearson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957.

* In 1948, A Canadian, John Peters Humphrey (1905-1995), was instrumental in drafting the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights,  Humphrey, a native of  Hampton, New Brunswick, was a legal scholar, a human rights advocate and a professor at Montreal's McGill University.

* In 1979 the Canadian government, along with the CIA, helped six American diplomats evade capture during the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran.

* The  people of Gander, Newfoundland provided hospitality and a friendly atmosphere to stranded American air travellers during the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

* In a world where democracy seems to be losing ground to dictators, despots and authoritarians, Canada is fortunate to have a parliamentary democracy and a free press, however imperfect.  We can change our governments and criticize our leaders.

People and governments are imperfect.  No country is immune from racism and Canada is certainly no exception.  Should Germans refuse to celebrate the achievements of their country because of Hitler and the Nazis?  Should Americans take a pass on their July 4^th Independence Day because of slavery and segregation?

Canada is not Utopia, but we certainly try to acknowledge our shortcomings and our terrible historical deeds.  Unlike some countries, we seek reconciliation and issue apologies.  Refugees risk their lives every day to come to this country.  Immigrants continue to arrive here in search of a better life.  It is one of the freest nations on earth.  From the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains, this is a beautiful country.  I am proud to be a Canadian and I will definitely be celebrating Canada Day this year.

- Joanne     

Meditations at Home During the Pandemic #9

This is the ninth and final installment in a series of reflections while I've been at home during the COVID-19 pandemic

Hello to readers from around the world.  Greetings and well wishes from Toronto, Canada.  I haven't written any COVID reflections since November of 2020.  So, it's time for an update.  First of all, I have not contracted the virus, for which I am most thankful,  I am also fortunate enough to have received both doses of the vaccine at a local pharmacy.  Both were AstraZeneca.  I can also report that I did not experience any reaction from either dose, not even a sore arm.  

I was given my second does on June 4, 2021.  Two weeks later, I began taking public transportation again.  This this past week I dined at an outdoor patio.  Here in Canada, we took far too long to get our vaccine rollout started, but now it's really moving fast.  It's sad that we did not produce our own vaccine when this pandemic began.  We should never be caught off guard again.  Indeed, the whole world should have been better prepared for this pandemic.  It also didn't help that Donald Trump was president of the United States when the COVID crisis began.  He failed to inform the American people of the imminent danger.  It also did not help that he and his followers resisted wearing masks and saw it as a sign of weakness.  To them, wearing a mass represented a loss of freedom, even though it meant protecting themselves and others.  Unfortunately, the vaccine program in the United States did not get rolling in the U.S.until Joe Biden took office.  So many more lives could have been saved.

Here in the province of Ontario, we are slowly emerging from our lockdown in three phases.  Ontarians begin phase 2 on Wednesday, June 30, 2021.  We remain cautious because the highly contagious Delta variant is still in the picture.  We are not out of the woods yet, but I am cautiously optimistic that we won't have to endure a fourth wave.  Yesterday, a record number of people were vaccinated at the Scotia Bank Arena, home of Toronto's professional hockey and baseball teams.

Even though this pandemic has ben long and difficult for me and everyone else, we are fortunate compared to many places in the world.  That is why we have to get the whole world vaccinated.  My thoughts are with the people of India and Africa who have suffered greatly.

Take care and stay safe.  If you haven't had the vaccine yet and are unsure whether you should, I urge you to get that little jab in your arm. 

- Joanne

Whatever happened to Anita Bryant?

Anita Bryant in 1971

Anita Bryant has kept a low profile for many years now.  Her name is seldom in the news anymore, but back in the 1970s, the singer made headlines as a vocal anti-gay rights activist.  In the years that followed, Anita's life fell apart and her career was destroyed.  She suffered from severe depression, underwent a painful divorce and filed for bankruptcy.  A polarizing figure, she has been revered by those on he conservative right and reviled by liberals and homosexuals.

Anita Jane Bryant was born in Barnsdall, Oklahoma on March 25, 1940. the daughter of Warren Bryant and Lenora A. (Berry).  Her father was 19 and her mother was 18 when Anita was born.  They were divorced by the time she was two years old.  When she was three, they remarried, and were divorced again when she was 13.  Both later married others.  

Anita was born in the home of her maternal grandparents and she almost didn't survive.  When the doctor failed to find the newborn Anita's pulse, she was thought to be stillborn.  However, her grandfather, John Berry, refused accept any talk of death; so Anita's head was plunged into ice water and she began to breathe.

Due to her parents' rocky marriage, Anita's childhood was very unstable.  She and her younger sister, Sandra, were frequently uprooted.  Their father, Warren Bryant, worked in the oil fields and went from one job to another.  As a result, the family experienced periods of poverty.  After the divorce, Warren joined the U.S. Army and Anita's mother went to work, leaving the children with their maternal grandparents.

It was Anita's grandfather who recognized her singing ability.  He taught her how to sing "Jesus Loves Me" when she was two years old.  During her childhood, she began singing at church and in talent contests. She also worked in radio and television in Oklahoma City, eventually starring on her own show on WKY-TV.  Before completing high school, she was performing on network radio.

In 1958, Anita graduated from Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  After high school, she entered beauty contests, becoming Miss Oklahoma in 1958.  At the age of 18, she was second runner-up in the 1959 Miss America pageant, which was held on September 6, 1958.  That same year, she signed a contract with Carlton Records and later with Columbia Records in 1962.  With the money she won in beauty contests, Anita enrolled at Northwestern University in Chicago,  Due to the heavy demands of her burgeoning career, she dropped out of the university.

Although Anita Bryant is condemned by many for her anti-homosexual views, she really did enjoy a very successful career as a popular singer.  She had 11 songs on the U.S. Hot 100 list, including a pop hit with her first single, "Till There Was You," in 1959.  Anita's recording of "Till There Was You," from the Broadway musical The Music Man earned a Gold Record.  She also had hits with "Paper Roses" (1960), which was later covered by Marie Osmond in 1973,  and with "In My Little Corner of the World" (1960), also covered by Marie Osmond in 1974, and "Wonderful Night" (1961).

On June 25, 1960, 20-year-old Anita Bryant married Robert Einer "Bob" Green, a disc jockey whom she met while promoting a record in Miami, Florida.  Upon his marriage to Anita, Bob began to  manage her career.  Born to Swedish immigrants in the Bronx, New York on June 13, 1931, Green was an Air Force veteran.  He and Anita had four children: Robert Jr. (Bobby), whom they adopted in September of 1963, Gloria Lynn (born May 1964), and twins Billy and Barbara (born prematurely on January 3, 1969).

Anita and Bob Green

From 1961 to 1968, Anita often accompanied Bob Hope on his Holiday Tours at Christmastime, entertaining American soldiers and sailors with the United Service Organizations (USO).  She also joined Hope for televised shows during the Vietnam War.  She received the Silver Medallion Award from the National Guard for "outstanding service by an entertainer."  

Anita is known for her her endorsements of various products and businesses.  From 1960 to 1967, she served as a spokeswomen for Coca-Cola in television commercials, and was nicknamed the "Coca-Cola Girl."  She also appeared in ads for brands like Kraft Foods, Holiday Inn and Tupperware.

Below is a photo of Antia Bryant during a photoshoot for Coca-Cola.

In 1969, Anita became the spokesperson for the Florida Citrus Commission.  She promoted Florida oranges and the Sunshine State in numerous television commercials, In the ads, she sang the orange juice jingle, "Come to the Florida Sunshine Tree and chanted the slogan, "Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine."  In the 1970s, she was teamed up with the Disney character Orange Bird.  Bob and the children also appeared in some of the ads.  In addition, to TV commercials for orange juice, Bryant hosted Orange Bowl Parades.

Disney World's Orange Bird

On March 23, 1969, Anita Bryant participated in a Rally for Decency at the Orange Bowl in the wake of a performance by Jim Morrison and the Doors at the Dinner Key Auditorium.in Miami.  Morrison was knocked off the stage and rushed away by police.  After the band left Florida, six warrants for Morrison's arrest were issued, including one for lewd and lascivious behaviour in public.

In January of 1977. Anita stirred up controversy when she and Bub Green joined a protest against a Miami city ordinance allowing homosexuals to teach in public schools.  Anita and her supporters put forth the argument that since homosexuals were unable to reproduce, they would inevitably recruit.  Bryant claimed to love gays but not homosexuality.

Anita's conservative politics, particularly her opposition to gay rights, became more strident.  She led a crusade called Save Our Children, which called for the repeal of a Dade County, Florida ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.  She also opposed the passage of a bill in Congress to recognize homosexuals as a minority group.  With the support of Rev. Jerry Falwell, Anita eventually spearheaded a movement against gay rights that spread across the United States."  

Bryant's campaign resulted in the repeal of Florida's anti-discrimination ordinance on January 7, 1977.  Nevertheless, Anita paid a hefty price for her anti-gay activism.  She faced a huge backlash from gay rights advocates, who boycotted the products she promoted, especially orange juice.  Her reputation was severely damaged, as was her show-business career.  Although seen an icon and a patriot among right-wing and evangelical groups, Anita was forever linked with bigotry and homophobia in other circles.  The boycott on Florida orange juice was supported by many celebrities, including Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand, Paul Williams, Liza Minnelli, Bea Arthur, Carroll O'Connor, Mary Tyler Moore and Vincent Price.  Anita became the target of jokes by TV hosts such as Johnny Carson.  Her orange juice commercials were parodied by Carol Burnett.  There were buttons reading "Anita Bryant sucks oranges."

In 1977, at a Des Moines, Iowa television news conference, Bryant was hit on the face with a banana cream pie by gay activist Tom Higgins, who had posed as a reporter.  Using a pun on a derogatory term for homosexuals, Anita quipped, "At least it was fruit pie," and then bust into tears.  The incident was shown on camera and Anita became one of the first people to be "pied" as a political act.  

Anita Bryant "pied"

In May of 1980, Anita Bryant made a surprising announcement.  She declared that her marriage to Bob Green was "irretrievably broken."  The couple was just shy of celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary when Anita, 40, filed for divorce from Green, 48, citing emotional abuse and suicidal thoughts.  Green, for his part, refused to recognize the divorce, claiming that due to his fundamentalist religious conviction, he did not acknowledge civil divorce and that Anita remained his wife in God's eyes.  In 2007, he blamed gay people for the upheaval, saying that their "stated goal" was to put Anita "out of business and destroy her career.."  "And that's exactly what they did," he added.  "It's unfair." 

In an open letter, Green pleaded with Anita to reconcile.  He wrote: "Let us both put aside all other earthly considerations and reunite in Christian love."  However, Bryant refused to reconsider.  In June of 1980 explained her position.  She told People magazine that divorce "is against everything I believe in.  I wanted to save my marriage, but I decided that was not the route to go."  In her divorce suit, Anita sought half the couple's property, which included their 25-room mansion, and custody of their four children.  After the breakup of her marriage, she left Florida and moved to Selma, Alabama and then to Atlanta, Georgia.

By 1981, after Anita's divorce and the effects of the nationwide boycott of Florida orange juice, the Florida Citrus Commission decided not to renew Bryant's lucrative contract.  The commission stated
stated that the singer had "worn out" as a spokesperson.  After a twelve year reign and over 75 television commercials, the undisputed Queen of Orange Juice was unceremoniously removed from her throne.

When  Anita filed for divorce, she was accused of hypocrisy by fellow conservative Christians.  They blacklisted her because they considered her divorce to be a betrayal of her stated beliefs about family life and the sanctity of Christian marriage.  She found herself shunned by her former supporters and excluded from evangelical events.  Around this time, Anita sank into a depression.  She couldn't sleep at night and she had suicidal thoughts. "My state of mind was depressed," she said, "and I didn't know how I was going to make a living."

Not long after her divorce announcement, Anita commented on the fallout from her anti-gay activism.  In a December 1980 Ladies Home Journal interview, she stated, "I'm more inclined to say live and let live, just don't flaunt it or try to legalize it."  

In 1990, Anita wed her second husband, Charlie Hobson Dry, 72, in Nashville, Tennessee.  Day, a NASA test astronaut and military test pilot, had been her childhood sweetheart.  The couple moved to the Ozarks to recharge Anita's sagging career in Arkansas and Missouri.  She appeared in a string of small venues, including Branson, Missouri, where both the state and federal governments claimed over $100,000 in unpaid taxes.  

In 1997, Anita and Charlie filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Arkansas after a failed  Anita Bryant show in  Eureka Springs, a tourist area in Arkansas, left them in debt.  Bryant and Day opened a new theatre in Pigeon, Tennessee called Anita Bryant's Music Mansion.  The enterprise was unsuccessful and they were unable to meet payments.  They filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy again in Knoxville in December of 2001.  In 2008, the pair was living in Edmond, Oklahoma.

In a 2012 article for The Oklahoman, Anita is quoted as saying that she did the right thing and that she did not hate homosexuals.  "I never regretted what I did," she stated.  In an interview with the Windy City Times that same year, Robert Green, Jr. said that his mother "would be putting a lot more energy into fighting gay rights if she still felt as strongly."

These days, Anita is reportedly doing charity work for youth organizations and she heads the Anita Bryant Ministries International.

END NOTES

* Anita Bryant's first husband, Bob Green, was found dead in his Miami Beach home on January 26, 2012.  Green suffered from heart problems and, according to his sons, was on kidney dialysis at the time of his passing.  He died of kidney failure at the age of 80.  For more than 30 years, Bob Green lived a solitary life filled with resentment.  

Upon his ex-husband's death,  Anita remarked, "Bob internalized a lot of his own anger and frustration and disappointments.  That's what happen, she said, "if you don't let your faith rise up and and you give in to all those anxieties."

* In 1968, an American presidential election year, Anita sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.  In 1973, she also sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" at the funeral burial service of Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President of the United States.

* Anita published an autobiography in !970 entitled Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory.

* In 1978. 1979, and 1980, Good Housekeeping named Anita Bryant as the Most Admired Woman of the Year.

In March of 1980, Anita hosted a television special called The Anita Bryant Spectacular.  The special included a medley of prerecorded songs, Pat Boone was interviewed.  The West Point Glee Club and General William Westmoreland also appeared.

* In 1988, Anita became the first female member of the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame.  In March of 2012, she sang for an audience of 100 people at the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame Gala at Nors Mayo Hall in Winter Haven, Florida.

* In 1998, Dade County overturned Anita's successful campaign of 20 years earlier and voted to protect individuals from discrimination based on sexual orientation.  In November of 2008, the Florida statute prohibiting gay adoption was overturned by a Miami-Dade circuit court.

* In 2005, Anita returned to the place of her birth, Barnsdall, Oklahoma, and she attended the town's 100th anniversary festival.  A street was named for her.  In 2007, she paid a visit to her high school in Tulsa and took part in the school's annual musical revue.  

* In 2008, Anita Bryant was the subject of a musical called The Loneliest Girl in the World.  It had its world premiere at the Diversionary Theatre in San Diego, California.

SOURCES; People (People.com Archive) "Anita Bryant Rates Family Bliss Next to Godliness, but After 20 Years She's Divorcing Bob Green" by Kip Sinclair, June 9, 1980; The Oklahoman, "Stories of the Ages: Anita Bryant - Sunny Side of Life," by Robert Medley, March 20, 2011; The Washington Post, "Bob Green, former DJ and ex-husband of Anita Bryant, dies at 80," by Elinor Brecher and Steve Rothaus, February 23, 2012; Encyclpedia.com (www.enclyopedia.comj), "Bryant, Anita;"  The Ledger, "Anita Bryant appears at citrus gala," by Ledger Media Group, March 5, 2012; Wikipedia; IMDb (Internet Movie Database).

- Joanne

The Life and Times of B.J. Thomas

"Mr. Thomas blended country, soul, gospel and soft rock, singing warm and occasionally wistful songs about love, family and looking for sunshine on a rainy day."

- Harrison Smith, Washington Post obituary for B.J. Thomas, May 29, 2012

"Ever since the beginning, I've tried to do positive music, even though it has meant a lot of struggles against record companies and producers.  I want my music to have a positive effect on people.  When I perform live I hope the audience will leave with their heads lifted up."

- B.J. Thomas, 2006 interview with Pentecostal Evangel, a Christian magazine

I have intended to write about B.J. Thomas for a while now.  I have never gotten around to it because I have such a long list of subjects to write about.  Well, two days ago, I woke up to the news that B.J. died on May 29, 2021, of complications ions from Stage Four lung cancer.  He passed away at his home in Arlington, Texas at the age of 78.  So, I decided it was finally time to write about him.

Billy Joe Thomas was born in Hugo, Oklahoma on August 7, 1942.  However, his family moved to Texas and during his childhood, B.J.  lived in four different places, all in the Houston area.  He graduated from Consolidated High School in Rosenberg, a city within the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan area 

In a 2016 interview with Jeremy Roberts, B.J. Thomas discussed his childhood.  "My dad was a great guy, but he had a little problem with alcohol," he said.  "That always will bring about some ups and downs.  For the most part, I had a good childhood."  In the interview, Thomas described himself as "a happy kid" who "played a lot of baseball with my big brother, Jerry."

B.J.'s father found contentment around music, especially country music.  The young B.J. enjoyed listening to gospel, soul and the music of such artists as Little Richard, Michael Jackson and Jackie Wilson.  As a teenager, he sang in his church choir and in his high school choir.  He first realized that he wanted to be a professional musician when, at the age of 15, became a member of a Houston-based band called The Triumphs.  

In 1966, B.J. Thomas was signed to a record contract with Scepter Records by Steve Tyrell.  Tyrell,  a jazz artist and producer, who became his manager for a few years.  B.J. then launched his solo career with an uncharacteristically maudlin single, a cover of a Hank Williams hurtin' song, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," which he had originally recorded with The Triumphs.  It reached Number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.  He also released an album of the same name.

In 1968, B.J. had great success, first with "The Eyes of a New York Woman" and then with "Hooked on a Feeling,"  "Hooked on a Feeling" appeared on the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.  The song was written by Mark James and it was later covered by Blue Swede, a Swedish pop band, in 1973.  It became an even bigger hit for Blue Swede, who added the primal "ooga-chaka-ooga-ooga" intro to the song.  "Hooked on A Feeling" serves as a theme song to the Guardian of the Galaxy films.

The year1969 brought even further success for B.J. Thomas, including the biggest hit of his career.  He will always be remembered for his smash single "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head."  The catchy tune was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  The film, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, was the biggest box-office hit of 1969.  "Raindrop Keep Fallin' on My Head" was set to a scene in the movie in which Paul Newman, as Butch Cassidy, shows off some bicycle tricks to Katharine Ross, who portrayed Etta Place.

On April 7, 1970, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in a 1969 film.  On December 3, 2013, "Raindrops" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame..

In the 1970s, B.J. Thomas recorded "I Just Can't Help Believing," a song which was later covered by Elvis Presley (Elvis was a B.J. fan and B.J. performed at Presley's annual New Year's Eve party in 1968 at the Thunderbird Lounge in Memphis, Tennessee).  Thomas also recorded "Rock and Roll Lullaby," with its chorus of sha-na-na-nas by The Blossoms, and "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song," another country-tinged hurtin' song.

On December 9, 1968, B.J. married singer-songwriter Gloria Richardson (born October 15, 1949 in Lynchburg, Virginia).  The couple had three daughters: Page (born January 13, 1970 in New York City), Nora (adopted from North Korea in 1978) and Erin (born June 4, 1979 in Arlington, Texas).

However, all was not as rosy as it seemed for B.J. Thomas.  He went through a very dark time in his life and struggled through years of drug and alcohol addiction.  It almost cost him his marriage.  In 1976, he turned to Christianity, sobered up, and reconciled with Gloria.  

Sadly, on March 23, 2021, B.J. announced on his Facebook page that he had been diagnosed with Stage Four lung cancer and was undergoing treatment in Texas.  In the post he wrote: "I just wanted to take this unique opportunity to share my gratitude to Gloria, my wonderful wife, and my rock for 53 years, my family, friends and fans.  I'm so blessed to have had the opportunity to record and perform beautiful songs in pop, country, and gospel music, and to share those wonderful songs and memories around the world with millions of you.  I ask all of you for your prayers during this time and that my music can live on with you."

END NOTES

* B.J. Thomas was a five-tune Grammy Award winner who sold over 70 million records during his career.

* When B.J. performed "Radindrops" on the The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969, water was rained down on him as a special effect.  B.J. later described this as "the most singular dumbest thing anybody ever had to do."

* At the age of 30, B.J. was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry.  

* B.J. recorded "As Long as We Got Each Other," the theme song for the TV sitcom Growing Pains.

* B.J. Thomas wrote an memoir, Home Where I Belong, with Jerry B. Jenkins, about his struggle with drugs, family collapse and bankruptcy.  It was first published in 1978.

* B.J. released an album called The Living Room Sessions on April 2, 2013.  It contained acoustic arrangements of popular hits.

SOURCES: Washington Post obituary, "B.J. Thomas, who sang 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head,' dies at 78," by Harrison Smith, May 29, 2021; "Just a regular guy with a burning desire to sing - The B.J. Thomas interview," by Jeremy Roberts, December 27, 2016; Wikipedia; Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com) 

- Joanne