An Angel By Any Other Name

Sometimes I feel that if I had a Guardian Angel, his name would be Broadway Danny Rose, after the small-time New York City theatrical agent of the movie by the same name. This little gem is written and directed by Woody Allen and stars the master of soulful slapstick himself.

For those of you who are not familiar with the movie, Danny Rose (Woody Allen) represents a small stable of offbeat performers whose talents are not exactly mainstream to say the least. His lovable, but often quite talented nobodies fall between the cracks. He represents the accordion players of the world, tumblers and high-wire acts, old torch singers, schmaltzy baritones whose names end in vowels, archers, rodeo acts, balloon twisters, would-be child stars and their mothers; Mimes! You get the picture.

One of the touching aspects of the movie is that the performers are family to Danny Rose and each other. In one soulful scene, they are all celebrating Thanksgiving together in Danny's office with a small turkey.

Occasionally, Danny manages to find some of them short engagements or minor shticks at supermarket opening or birthday parties. For the less fortunate he somehow manages to send them a few bucks now and then.

Some days I feel as if I belong up on the screen with the rest of Danny's characters, one of those people who fall between the cracks: A little talent leading a kind of a "good, but no cigar" kind of a life.

Let's hope at least that there are guardian angels as good as Danny for those of us who lug accordions to weddings, stand like statues on street corners, paint the New York skyline on the heads of hat pins or write Haiku and sonnets in the age of the word processor and satellite dish.

To my knowledge, I personally have never met or even talked with my guardian angels but I certainly know many people who are constantly in touch with theirs. Let me state for the record that I do believe in angels and may have seen angels other than my guardians, especially as my father lay dying.

To me there is a lot of confusion about "angels." Where some people say intuition, another says angel. Divine protection is another synonym, as are, the forces of good. Inspiration to me often seems from an angel or the Divine in some way, but I seldom experience an actual entity.

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