cup of java

“I’m Writing A Letter For Daddy”

If You Know The First Words To The Song.

Then You Already Can See The Google-Eyes Of Bette Davis!

October 11, 2026

This morning’s coffee comes with an eye-opener. I hadn’t planned to start the day this way, but the idea landed in my lap last week while I was lying around with a broken right ankle and leg. And—poof!—on came a flick I’ve seen so many times I can practically recite the dialogue: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Apparently, a broken leg wasn’t enough to keep me uncomfortable. Bette Davis had to drop by and finish the job. I can tell you I know “What Ever Happened To Baby Jane!”

A scene from a classic film featuring two women; one sitting in a wheelchair and the other standing with a silver tea service, set in a vintage interior. — *_{^{Joan Crawford as Blanche (left) Bette Davis as Baby Jane (right)}}*

I have watched What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? so many times that I can almost recite the dialogue along with the actors.

I first discovered it late one night while caring for my ailing mother-in-law. I watched it again when my own mother was in similar circumstances, and recently returned to it while recovering from a broken leg. Somehow, this wonderfully unsettling film keeps finding me when I’m already confined to one spot.

Bette Davis plays Baby Jane to perfection. Her performance gets under my skin every time. Joan Crawford, as her sister Blanche, makes you feel the helplessness of being trapped upstairs and dependent on someone increasingly cruel and unpredictable. From the moment Jane claims Blanche’s bird has escaped through the window, you know something is terribly wrong. Before long, you’re worrying that anyone who gets too close—including the neighbors—might meet the same fate as the housekeeper, Elvira.

Then there is the singing. Davis’s strained, childlike rendition of “I’ve Written a Letter to Daddy” makes my skin crawl, yet I still want to hear it. For me, it has the same unsettling, irresistible quality as the Silver Shamrock jingle in Halloween III: Season of the Witch (which, by the way, is our anniversary song—Steve’s and mine) Once it gets into your head, it settles in and refuses to leave.

Although the story includes murder, its final scene relies on something more haunting than a bloody spectacle. That is part of what keeps bringing me back: the performances, the dread, and the feeling that even familiar scenes can still unsettle me.

But I’m left with one thoroughly impractical question: whatever happened to the Baby Jane doll? Can I get one—and, more importantly, will it sing that tune? Apparently, watching the film repeatedly hasn’t disturbed me quite enough.

I say bring it back for this years Christmas sales! Why not reconcile with a symbol of pure craziness. It is in style today. Isn’t it?

Signature of Benjamin Groff with the text 'By Benjamin Groff II GroffMedia© benandsteve.com ©2026'

The world may be ready to rush us into the day, but mornings deserve a gentler beginning. Sometimes the best way to prepare for everything ahead is to slow down, enjoy the coffee, and simply notice the quiet moments before the day begins.

September 3, 2o26

Good Morning,

hand holding coffee cup reading good mood juice — _{^{Photo by Connor Scott McManus on Pexels.com}}

The coffee is poured, the day is waiting, and somewhere out there the world has already decided we should be in a hurry.

There is always something waiting for us.

A message that needs answering.

A chore that needs finishing.

A place we are supposed to be.

A problem we have convinced ourselves must be solved before breakfast.

We spend so much of our lives rushing toward the next thing that sometimes we forget to notice the thing we are standing in.

This morning.

This cup of coffee.

This moment.

I think mornings were meant to be entered gently.

Not attacked.

Not conquered.

Not treated like the starting gun at a race.

There is something about those first quiet minutes of the day that belongs only to us.

Before the telephone rings.

Before the television begins telling us what went wrong overnight.

Before somebody somewhere needs something from us.

There is that little pocket of time when the house is still quiet and the coffee is warm, when we can sit for a moment and remember that simply being here is enough.

I have noticed through the years that some of the best mornings are the ones when absolutely nothing happens.

No emergency.

No unexpected visitor.

No major announcement.

Just the familiar sounds of life beginning again.

Maybe a dog stretching nearby.

A refrigerator humming in the kitchen.

A bird announcing itself outside the window.

The soft clink of a spoon against a coffee cup.

Things so ordinary we hardly notice them.

Yet those are often the sounds we miss most when life changes.

We are always being told to make every minute count.