Some things...

Movie preview handout 26th September 1966 in Perth



John Patrick O'Grady, Medical Officer, Australian Army WWII

I read other people's blogs and they are very interesting. Mine is mostly historical, recording events that happened. Oh, I know I've published some of my poetry on here, some of my articles I've written, and made comments on events I have posted, but...I never seem to be able to put in here what I really think. I love writing and reading other people's works. Blog writing I still haven't come to terms with yet. Some write an entry every day, others do it once a week. I add something now and again. Maybe I don't like letting everyone know how I feel. Well!! If you want to know how I feel about my writing I could say frustrated. How do I write what Dad feels while the Manunda was dragging anchor at Morotai while a war raged around him. What was in his mind when he found he had to wear a .38 gun to prowl the island? Why was he so against the Yanks as he called them, though many went out of their way to give him lifts in their barges, jeeps and landing craft so he could visit the island, and a grand slam view of the Woma Drome and visiting with the marines whe held the Nips at bay while the Aussies bombarded them into a starving submission? How do I NOT write Nips and Yankees when they are the terms Dad used in his journals and to do so made the story seem constrained! Help! And how can I find a publisher who would be interested in Dad's Story up until the time he published his first famous and well-known book They're a Weird Mob in 1957. A reserved Dad, a quiet Dad, a romancing Dad. Well, John now holds all of the copyright of Dad's, particularly the film rights after all these years, its no longer in the hands of William Powell and so he is talking with people to make this book and movie into a musical. They're A Weird Mob a musical? Dad would turn over in his grave, or his ashes I should write, would come back and slap us all in the face! Dad wrote to John in 1957 as his book was gaining popularity and said he would never look at it being made into a musical. So what do you say as readers of this blog, that was 60-odd years ago or something? But I ask you, can you see anyone writing a lyric or two about us weird aussies as Dad wrote them? I gotta think about this.