Ok.  I will admit it.  At age 15 I had a serious adolescent crush on Yul Brynner that began on my first viewing of the film The King and I.  I was enthralled from the opening scene as Deborah Kerr lip-synched “Whistle a Happy Tune” arriving by sailing ship into the fabulously exotic port of Hollywood Bangkok until the post -banquet culmination 1956 era Sex Fest “Shall We Dance?”!  When the dance ended, as far as I was concerned, the movie had too.   It all got too, too sad after reality intruded and romantic fantasies were forced to end.

The movie was a 5-star technicolor extravaganza to one who viewed it in the middle of  a color-starved New England mill-town winter.  I couldn’t get enough of it.  I stopped counting after 16 viewings.  I had to go cold turkey for a long time, but you can imagine my delight when it came out on video tape and I got to watch it again, pretending that I just wanted to share it with my children.  They were most surprised that I knew about 75% of the dialogue.

Now it’s available with the click of a finger.  Just in case you missed it the first time ’round….Happy New Year!