If'n I was God

When I was little, I listened repeatedly to a musical story album of the 1973 film Tom Sawyer. (I say musical album rather than soundtrack because as I recall there was more story than music.)

It had a track called "If'n I Was God," sung by Tom (Johnny Whitaker) or Huck (Jeff East), which put a child's perspective on what's wrong with the world and how to fix it.

Mom didn't like the song and mentioned it a few times, but didn't ask us stop listening to it. She thought (I think) it was sacrilegious, and wanted us to have some context for the message, which was wise, for that is a tool instead of a rule, and tools serve you your entire life.

(Has anyone ever given you advice you didn't ask for, and you were a little miffed? I'd prefer not to put myself in that position with God :-)

Children preserve an idealism well into early adulthood. It's that idealism that in my day fueled Vietnam War protests and today the Occupy movements that began on Wall Street. Too bad most of us grow out of that.

Children can teach us a lot.

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All children in 1973 knew Johnny Whitaker as Jody from A Family Affair, with the loving Uncle Bill (Brian Keith) and reserved but sensitive gentleman's gentleman, Mr French (Sebastian Cabot, who also narrated the animated Winnie the Pooh specials during that period).

We watched Family Affair weekly in my family, and I have very fond memories of it. A few years later, Whitaker was was Johnny Stuart on Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, a live action Sid and Marty Krofft Saturday morning show. If you don't remember the era of Sid and Marty Krofft, you missed something very special.

This is the opening sequence to A Family Affair
(poor quality, nice memory)

Started: 2012-09-16

c0