Will Rogers

"When a man is staring out a window, no wife will believe he is hard at

work." I couldn't remember who said it, but Burbank resident Dan McBride

did. It was the late screenwriter Nunnally Johnson. McBride even sent me

an excerpt from a collection of Johnson's published letters, a forward

written by Johnson's widow. In it Dorris Johnson mentioned the lament.

Given her husband's credits, his screenplays included "The Grapes of

Wrath," and "The Dirty Dozen," I suspect she eventually came to believe

he was working.

My reference to the quote, incidentally, was in a column celebrating

an end to reruns of the Miss Burbank Pageant on the City Hall cable

channel. I've since learned the show had some fans, and they didn't

appreciate my smart aleck remarks any more than school boosters do. One

caller told me she watched the show a half dozen times, beginning to end.

That causes me more concern than schools not knowing the difference

between dollars and quarters.

Will Rogers' column appears in every edition of the Leader. He can be

reached 24 hours a day at 241-4141 voice mail ext. 906, or by e-mail at

WillColumn@aol.com.