When I woke up from my nap, Sparky told me that he wants to be a scientific dog.  He said he’d be a good scientific dog because he can sniff and smell, et cetera, et cetera, etcetera.

As usual, I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about.

When I fell asleep, The King and I was on.  It’s the1956 movie with Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr and Rita Moreno.  I watched it to find out what Sparky was on about.

There is a play within the movie that mentioned scientific dogs.  The play is a Siamese interpretation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  The scientific dogs are used to track the runaway slave.

Sparky may be a racist, so it’s troubling that he wants to associate himself with any part of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  I prefer to think that Sparky thought Maurice was a bear, so he wasn’t being racist for barking.  I don’ t know, maybe thinking that a brown guy in a brown uniform is a bear, instead of a human, may be racist.

I didn’t want to get into it with Sparky, so told him that scientific dogs don’t get to go on car rides.  If he really wants to be a scientific dog, I would submit the paperwork.

In the movie, the king uses ‘scientific’ to mean ‘European’.  Deborah Kerr is a ‘scientific teacher’ from Britain who is contracted to educate the king’s children so they are more worldly.

For a seventy year-old movie, The King and I holds up.  For an Oscar Hammerstein musical, the music isn’t great.  Deborah Kerr is fine as the scientific teacher, but any number of actresses could have done as well.

Yul Brynner is the star of the show.  He does a great job of portraying the king of Siam who wants his kingdom to become Westernized.  Brynner was usually cast when a role needed an exotic and charismatic actor.  He was born in Vladivostok, Russia, but never talked about his background to remain mysterious.

Rita Moreno portrays a slave-wife who wants to escape the king.  She is now 93 years old, and still looks healthy and energetic.

Maybe the King and I doesn’t hold up, but it’s worth watching for Brynner.