Brigadoon

I thought this story was good enough to warrant a telling.

My granddad phoned me about two weeks ago. He hardly ever phones me, so it was a very pleasant surprise. He is going on 85, and is very dear to me. Anyway, he wanted to ask me something about an old movie, a musical. He’d asked my mom, and she didn’t know it, but told him to ask me, as I ‘knew that kind of stuff’.
He didn’t know the title of the movie, or any of the people who acted in it. He just knew the basic story-line, which involved a little village in the Highlands of Scotland. One day, every hundred years it came alive, and then it disappeared into the mists again, invisible to the rest of the world. My granddad also said that there was a song in it, something about the Highlands. I told him that I wasn’t familiar with it, but that I loved a challenge and would try and find out.
Now, this is important: My granddad phoned me on Friday the11th of August, just before 1pm. That evening, I went online and did a search on the basic storyline he had given me, not really expecting much. I trawled through the results pages, and eventually something sparked an interest. That specific page was about Broadway musicals being revived this year, and one of them was called BRIGADOON, the story of A village in the Scottish Highlands that comes alive once every hundred years…
Hmmmm. I immediately did a search on Brigadoon, and got plenty of results. I had hit pay dirt. Brigadoon was a 1954 musical starring Gene Kelly, a big hit in its day, with a fabulous musical score.It was originally a stage musical on Broadway.
The name, Brigadoon, rang a bell with me. I went to get the tv guide to page through it. I ran my eye down the column for ‘classic’ movies for each day, and it wasn’t long before that word that I was so longing to see caught my eye. Brigadoon. I glanced up quickly to read the date. And would you believe it?! The date was Friday the 11th. It had bloody well shown at 2pm that afternoon, nearly exactly an hour after I had spoken to granddad on the phone. Talk about your bad luck! And that was the only day that it was showing, no repeats. I phoned granddad the next morning to tell him about the whole saga. He laughed about the timing, but was very happy to hear that it was Brigadoon, as it had really been bugging him that he couldn’t remember the name of the movie. I promised that I would keep an eye out if it ever showed again.

So today we get our September tv guide. I immediately start flicking through the classic movies column, looking for the ever elusive Brigadoon, which by now I am also plenty interested in seeing. I spot it and get all excited, high-fiving Michael, and carrying on like a lunatic. Friday the 11th at 2pm, I say, gleefully. Until I realized that I was looking at the old tv guide, not the new one. Sh*t!
So I trawl through the new one, hope rapidly fading as I get later and later into the month, and no sign of it. Eventually, I only have one page left to scan, the 30th of September. What are the chances, I think sadly. I hardly bother to read it through, it’s too depressing. And then there it is! Brigadoon, 12pm, September 30. Yay! I check the cover of the guide, just to make sure that it is indeed September’s issue. And it is!
I phoned granddad to tell him the happy news. He insists that he gives me the money for a new VHS tape to tape it on. He is pretty pleased. It is a movie from his youth that obviously made quite an impact on him, if he can remember it fifty years on.
I’m thinking of inviting my grandparents to come and watch it here by me when it shows, and having a bit of a party for them. I’ll get a lemon meringue pie (their absolute favourite!) and we can have a nice get together. It can be in my granddad’s honour, as his birthday is only fifteen days later. It should make him feel special.