For the feast day of
St. Ingrid Bergman:
Like Shakespeare, Ingrid Bergman was born and died on the same date… In her case, August 29.
To honor her performance in “Spellbound,” here is a copy of the first crossword puzzle ever published.
“This puzzle appeared in the November 1874 number of ‘St. Nicholas.’
ACROSS, from top to bottom:
1. A consonant. 2. A number. 3. Measures of distance. 4. An abyss. 5. A consonant.
DOWN, from right to left:
1. A consonant. 2. A snare. 3. A name. 4. The point of anything small. 5. A consonant.
S
T E N
M I L E S
P I T
MThe across words are different from the down words, but there is a direct relation between them: one is the reversible form of the other.”
One might also compare an eerie sound clip from the Oscar-winning score of “Spellbound” with a weird clip from “Selim,” by the World Saxophone Quartet. The latter is from the album “Selim Sivad” (Miles Davis backwards). One reviewer claims that this album displays “astonishing, telepathic group interplay.” This may or may not be true; if the services of a psychiatrist are required to help decide the issue, let us hope she is as attractive as Saint Ingrid.
The above remarks are, of course, intended as a partial antidote to the music inevitably associated with Bergman… “As Time Goes By.” (Please do not play it again, Sam.) Of course, the World Saxophone Quartet may be too powerful an antidote… It reminds one, as does the greatly superior weird music from the “Forbidden Planet” soundtrack, of Monsters from the Id. From such monsters, let us pray to Saint Ingrid for deliverance.