Heaven Waited: March 20, 2025

Heaven has been waiting for Joe Pendleton since 1978. He wasn’t supposed to arrive until “10:17 a.m. on March the 20th of the year Two Thousand and Twenty-Five.”

That was what was written, and Joe would have been happy to abide by what was written. But there was a little mix-up right when Joe was back in the pink—er, had just gotten his body back in shape. The young quarterback (well, in any other profession he would have been young) was set to start for the Los Angeles Rams in a few days, but there was an accident as he rode his bike into a tunnel on an otherwise quiet highway.

Joe Pendleton (Warren Beatty). Disaster ahead?

Except, as an athlete, he had fantastic reflexes and would have missed the car careering toward him. Probably. But his heavenly escort did not wait for the outcome, bringing Joe Pendleton to the Way Station nearly fifty years before his time.

Mr. Jordan himself verified Joe’s expected due date as March 20, 2025. It was written.

"Im not supposed to be here! You guys made a mistake!"

"Joseph Pendleton, due to arrive 10:17 a.m., March the 20th, the year 2025."

This is what was written by Elaine May and Warren Beatty in their 1978 screen adaptation of a play by Harry Segall, Heaven Can Wait. (An earlier screen adaptation was called Here Comes Mr. Jordan.)

To remedy Joe’s (Warren Beatty) loss of several decades of winning Super Bowls and falling in love, and so forth, Mr. Jordan (James Mason) scouted an available body for spirit Joe to Quantum Leap into. The requirement was that the death of this neomort would not yet have been discovered, so Joe could simply assume his identity. He was to carry on as that person, rather than as himself. But Joe couldn’t help being himself, could he?

Spirit Joe would have turned Farnsworth into a philanthropist

First up was the unscrupulous industrialist Leo Farnsworth, murdered by his wife and private secretary (Dyan Cannon and Charles Grodin). Joe transformed this not-yet-dead Leo into a naive but fair-minded (scrupulous) industrialist. And of course he fell in love with the first beautiful environmental activist he met (Julie Christie). She saw something in his eyes. (Remember that.)

"I'm not really Leo Farnsworth! My name is Joe."

Whatever had been the rich bastard’s destiny in life ended with his interrupted murder, and we can assume the real Leo Farnsworth abided by what was written for him, whether his final destination was Heaven or Hell. No matter. Joe needed to get Leo’s body in shape in order to pursue his own destiny—playing in the Super Bowl.

To help him, Joe called on the Rams’ trainer, his good buddy Max Corkle (Jack Warden). Joe first had to convince Max that this Leo Farnsworth was just a body and that, inside, Joe really was the friend Max had mourned. It helped that spirit Joe still carried his old soprano saxophone and could play a single tune, very badly and recognizably so.

"Joe, you never could play that thing!"

Reunited, Joe and Max then had to get this Leo Farnsworth a tryout with the Rams. Anticipating failure, Joe used Farnsworth’s wealth to buy the team so he could install himself as the new quarterback. Joe’s skill and athleticism easily converted the skeptical team.

Whatever had been written in Heaven or Hell for the rich bastard Leo Farnsworth, it did not include playing quarterback for the Rams in the Super Bowl. So once again his wife and secretary conspired to murder him.

Sensing that his time as Leo Farnsworth would be cut short, spirit Joe reassured his sweetheart not to be afraid of what might happen. She might even meet another quarterback and see that something special in his eyes.

Murdered out of Farnsworth’s body, Joe must abide by what was written. So Mr. Jordan took Joe to the Super Bowl where the Rams’ quarterback, Tom Jarrett (not seen in picture) collapsed after a violent play on the field. Joe, back on his proper journey, rose as Tom to complete the win.

Spirit Joe rises as Tom Jarrett

Max Corkle would be the first to recognize the real Joe in Tom Jarrett’s body. It helped that the saxophone arrived with spirit Joe in the locker room.

But Mr. Jordan threw a twist into the metaphysical plotting here. Or playwright Segall did. Or screenwriters May and Beatty did. It has always bothered me.

"Wanna tell me why you keep calling me Joe?"

"You're the quarterback!"

Mr. Jordan erased Joe Pendleton’s memory and merged his spirit completely with the body of Tom Jarrett. He was to live the next 47 years—until March 20, 2025, as Tom, not as Joe.

That’s what was written? Are you kidding me? Max lost his friend, but at least Tom got the girl (yes, she saw spirit Joe in his eyes). Hopefully, when Joe makes it back to Heaven this week, he’ll have a word with Mr. Jordan about that whole big chunk of life he lost.

Love, hosaa
restoring lifetimes

Detecting Art

With enough time on my hands (and apparently I have) I could easily spend two days "researching" the art work used as set decoration in classic TV shows and movies.

My first detection came years ago while watching Bewitched and noting the reproduction of Picasso's "The Old Guitarist" in Samantha and Darrin Stephens' living room.

It wasn't until I actually visited the original at the Art Institute of Chicago that I realized the set decorators of the classic sit-com hung the image on its side. A few others here on the internet have noted the error. Reportedly the picture was hung this way because it was too tall for the set, which begs the question, Why didn't they just find a horizontal masterpiece? Bewitched apparently abandoned Picasso after the second season.

Another mystery (or series of mysteries) obsessed me over the last couple of days after watching Elaine May's classic 1971 dark comedy A New Leaf. Though I've been a fan of the movie since it first came out, eagerly snapping up the VHS tape (with the wrong soundtrack) and then the DVD (original soundtrack restored), I hadn't paid a lot of attention to the art work in the set decoration of hero Henry Graham's apartment. The paintings are clearly "modern" (with a sprinkling of "primitive" sculptures) and intend to showcase the character's wealth.

A recent course on modern art at the Smithsonian set my curiosity for mid-Century American abstract expressionists (and others of that era), so I made it my unassigned mission to find out who these artists were. But I only found one I could definitively source.

The piece featured most prominently in Henry's (Walter Matthau) posh apartment is Multifarious (1959) by Morris Louis.

I am sorry to say I could not source any of the other artists, though the styles are very recognizably those of well known artists from the era. Mark Rothko? Barnett Newman? Robert Motherwell? Adolph Gottlieb?

In the film's credits, several galleries are given credit for providing the art (Marlborough-Gerson Inc., Edward R. Lubin Inc., Andre Emmerich, and French and Company). It's possible these particular pieces remain somewhere in private collections, never auctioned or sold to museums, and thus no records or images of them exist on the internet.

The image of Multifarious, identified above, is copyrighted by the Maryland Institute College of Art, but MorrisLouis.org states that the provenance of the painting is the estate of the artist and its whereabouts is unknown.

There is some evidence at least one piece in Henry Graham's collection is a work of fiction. The sculpture at risk of being destroyed by a young wedding guest is identified as a "Montrazini"--an artist who appears nowhere on the Web except in references to this film!

"She's unscrewing my Montrazini!"

At any rate, I've flunked the art identification exam. But I've enjoyed the investigation!

Love, hosaa
Returning over A New Leaf