# These are a few of my favorite things. #
Acrobatics and gymnastics, as a spectator
All-time favorite films: Auntie Mame, Ben-Hur, La Cage aux Folles, Caged, Ghost, The Green Pastures, High Anxiety, Hollywood Shuffle, Imitation of Life (remake), Inherit the Wind, The King and I, Murder by Death, My Cousin Vinny, Night of the Living Dead (original), The Odd Couple, The Out-of-Towners (original), Same Time Next Year, Silver Streak, Sister Act, Some Like It Hot, The Ten Commandments, Theatre of Blood, 12 Angry Men (original), Wait Until Dark, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, What’s Up Doc?, Witness for the Prosecution, The Wizard of Oz, The World According to Garp
Bitchfights
Books, bookstores and libraries
Bridges
Cinematic train wrecks
Eating and food
The Empire State Building
Favorite acappella groups (other than those I have been involved with myself): The Bobs, Chanticleer and The King’s Singers
Favorite female actors: Jennifer Anniston, Lucille Ball, Ellen Burstyn, Bette Davis, Doris Day, Loretta Devine, Edith Evans, Whoopi Goldberg, Goldie Hawn, Eileen Heckert, Allison Janney, Madeline Kahn, Deborah Kerr, Nicole Kidman, Angela Lansbury, Queen Latifah, Cloris Leachman, Jenifer Lewis, Shirley MacLaine, Niecy Nash, Edna May Oliver, Geraldine Page, Julia Roberts, Rosalind Russell, Margaret Rutherford, Susan Sarandon, Madge Sinclair, Maggie Smith, Meryl Streep, Barbra Streisand, Holland Taylor, Emma Thompson, Cicely Tyson, Vanessa Williams, Shelley Winters
Favorite male actors: Matthew Broderick, Michael Caine, Jim Carrey, Robert DeNiro, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr., Peter Falk, Colin Firth, Michael J. Fox, Morgan Freeman, Hugh Grant, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, John Hurt, Leslie Jordan, Christopher Lee, Jack Lemmon, Thomas Lennon, Steve Martin, Roddy McDowall, Eddie Murphy, Al Pacino, Tyler Perry, Sidney Poitier, Vincent Price, Richard Pryor, Adam Sandler, George Segal, Tony Shalhoub, William Shatner, Kevin Spacey, James Spader, James Stewart, Ben Stiller, Christoph Waltz, Denzel Washington, Robin Williams
Favorite adventure film series: The Indiana Jones Tetralogy
Favorite Andrew Lloyd Webber work: Tell Me on a Sunday
Favorite animals: chimpanzees, dolphins, felines, most baby animals
Favorite authors and novels of theirs: Dan Brown (Angels & Demons), Stephen King (The Stand), Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City series), Thomas Tryon (Harvest Home)
Favorite automobile: Ford Mustang
Favorite card games: Hearts and Spades
Favorite cartoonists: Gary Larsen and Don Martin
Favorite character names: Cruella DeVil, Howdy Doody, Elmer Fudd, Motel Kamzoil, Foghorn Leghorn, Scrooge McDuck, Strangé, Truly Scrumptious, Pootie Tang, Darth Vader
Favorite choral works: Beethoven Ninth Symphony “Ode to Joy” Finale, Bernstein Mass, Handel Messiah
Favorite colors: black, green and purple
Favorite conductors: Ernest Ansermet, Robert Shaw, Arturo Toscanini
Favorite film producers: William Castle and Tyler Perry
Favorite flavors: coconut, garlic, lemon, mint, pepper
Favorite foods: cheese, deviled eggs, pasta, pizza, pork, potatoes, poultry, salads, soups, veggies
Favorite TV game shows: Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, The Chase, Generation Gap, The Hustler, Jeopardy!, Mental Samurai, The Million Dollar Money Drop, Name That Tune, Password, To Tell the Truth (reboot), The Wall, The Weakest Link, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (of course!)
Favorite Italian opera composer: Joe Green (aka Giuseppe Verdi)
Favorite lyricists: Oscar Hammerstein II, Tom Lehrer, Stephen Sondheim
Favorite movie directors: Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Alfred Hitchcock, Mike Nichols, Frank Oz, Carl Reiner, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, Billy Wilder
Favorite non-rhyming inspirational poem: Desiderata by Max Ehrmann
Favorite opera divas: Marilyn Horne and Leontyne Price
Favorite operas: Aida, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Carmen, Porgy and Bess
Favorite operatic arias: “E Lucevan le Stelle,” “Glitter and Be Gay” and “Nessun Dorma”
Favorite people: actors, babies, men(!)
Favorite plays: The Boys in the Band and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Favorite playwright: Neil Simon
Favorite poet: Ogden Nash
Favorite reality-based TV shows: America’s Got Talent, Big Brother, Crime Scene Kitchen, Don’t Forget the Lyrics, Inside the Actors Studio, Judge Harvey, The Masked Singer, Penn and Teller: Fool Us, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Show Me Your Voice
Favorite real person’s names: Fletcher Surratt, Ciro Tesoro, Tonda Tiedge
Favorite snacks and guilty pleasures: cake, dark chocolate-covered cranberries, donuts, egg nog, ice cream, marshmallows, mixed nuts, pie, popcorn, potato chips, white chocolate
Favorite sisters: Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad
Favorite standup comics (still living): Margaret Cho, Alec Mapa, Trevor Noah, Sherri Shepherd
Favorite Stephen Sondheim musical: Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Favorite tenors: Mario Lanza and Karen Carpenter
Favorite TV characters: Archie Bunker, Lt. Columbo, Sheldon Cooper, Genevieve Delatour, Fran Fine, Jessica Fletcher, Lorelei Gilmore, Scott Guber, Maxine Gray, Thelma Harper, Sue Heck, Florence Johnston, Adrian Monk, Bonnie Plunkett, Lucy Ricardo, Alan Shore, Wilhemina Slater, Suzanne Sugarbaker, Douglas Wambaugh
Favorite TV dramatic series: American Horror Story–Freak Show, Any Day Now, Army Wives, Boston Legal, Boston Public, Breaking Bad, Bull, Castle, Charmed (the original), Chicago Fire, Chicago Hope, City of Angels, The Closer/Major Crimes, Columbo, Desperate Housewives, Devious Maids, Diagnosis Murder, Doc Martin, Downton Abbey, Drop Dead Diva, The Equalizer (reboot), Evil, Fantasy Island (reboot), Father Dowling Mysteries, FBI, Feed the Beast, Forever, For the People, The Fosters, Franklin and Bash, Gilmore Girls, Glee, God Friended Me, The Good Doctor, The Good Wife, Greenleaf, Grimm, The Haves and the Have Nots, House, Judging Amy, L.A. Law, Lethal Weapon, Magnum P.I. (reboot), Matlock, Medium, The Mentalist, Monk, Murder She Wrote, Murdoch Mysteries, 9-1-1, 9-1-1 Lone Star, Nip/Tuck, Northern Exposure, Orange Is the New Black, The Orville, Oz, Picket Fences, The Practice, Proven Innocent, Queer As Folk, Rescue Me, Rizzoli and Isles, The Rookie, Royal Pains, Scandal, Scorpion, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Shakespeare and Hathaway, Smash, Suits, Switched at Birth, This Is Us
Favorite TV producers: Marc Cherry, David E. Kelley, Norman Lear, Ryan Murphy
Favorite TV sitcoms: Abbott Elementary, All in the Family, Ally McBeal, American Housewife, The Big Bang Theory, ‘black-ish,’ Bob [Heart] Abishola, Call Me Kat, The Carmichael Show, The Cool Kids, Designing Women, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Ghosts, The Goldbergs, The Golden Girls, Hot in Cleveland, I Love Lucy, The Jeffersons, Malcolm in the Middle, Mama’s Family, The Middle, Mom, The Nanny, The Neighborhood, The Neighbors, Psych, Raising Hope, Roseanne/The Conners, 227, Ugly Betty, The Wonder Years (reboot), Young Sheldon
Fresh chlorinated water for swimming in
Games and puzzles, especially word games (particularly cryptic crosswords)
Ghost stories
Grocery shopping
Magic acts and illusions
Making lists (Hello?!)
Making music–performing, composing, arranging, notating, sequencing
Most-talented artist, in my opinion: Noel Coward–he was an actor, dancer, singer, songwriter/composer, playwright, director and humorist.
Movies and television
My three greatest inspirations and most-admired: Michael Callen, Nelson Mandela and Elizabeth Taylor
The number five
Parties and social gatherings
Peeling things
Poetry that rhymes
Records (listening, playing, shopping and collecting songs)
Riding my bicycle
Rollercoasters
Satisfying an itch
The sex act
Solitude
The Statue of Liberty
Taking pictures
Visiting houses of worship
Walking (but not so much anymore)
Warm and hot weather
Wearing caps
Words
Writing/typing
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# On the list of the things that I will not miss… #
Alcoholics
Bigotry
Chain letters
Deceit and dishonesty
Extremely cold weather
The filth on New York City streets and littering
Firearms of any kind
Gin
Hypocrisy
Injustice
Loud, obnoxious or incredibly stupid people
Megalomanic law enforcement officers
Perpetual inflation
Politicians, especially those in higher positions
Religious fanatics
Saltwater for swimming in
Spectator sports
Strenuous exercise
Unwanted phone solicitations
Vandalism and destruction of public property
Waiting in lines
Warfare
Wasting things
[Related article: Philosophical Epigrams]