Our little neighborhood community wouldn't have been as interesting back in the 1960s and 70s without the ever-entertaining Mrs. "S". She was one of the oddball characters that made our street the special place that it was. Wanda was quirky, but at the same time educational; and she left an impression on all us 'Block Blazer' kids that will last a lifetime - or parts thereof.Capturing Wanda on film wasn't difficult. All I had to do was point the camera in her direction and she was ready for her close up; ready to take center stage. I'm sure there's still more scenes of her to be uncovered in my collection - old footage of Wanda doing her 'schtick' up and down the block. But these warm and fuzzy moments (below) were all I could find from the latest reel of super 8 film transferred to DVD; a project that I'm still in the early stages of.
Sadly, Wanda's energetic ways began to fade after her beloved pooch 'Troy Boy' passed away in the summer of 1980. The jitterbugging and bizarre theatrics that had made Wanda such a homegrown celebrity for nearly 20 years were now being replaced with serious health issues in the 80's and 90's until, near the end, it wasn't uncommon to see Wanda shut down completely while out for a stroll or when trying to visit the hapless neighbours across the street.
Unfortunately, this 'diminished' Wanda is the one we see at the start of our short video today.
1 comment:
She took my tennis racquet.
Nice to see some of the other characters from the street as well.
Wonderful video & an excellent musical score too!
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