Nineteenth Annual Ten Commandments Post

For this year's Ten Commandments post, I thought I would highlight a certain scene from the movie that has a significance for people even to this day.  The night before the Israelites were to leave Egypt, they were instructed to paint lamb's blood around their door.  In this way, God would "pass over" their house and not inflict the final plague decreed by the Pharaoh; that each firstborn should die.  And on that night, they had one last meal before they left.  This has become known as Passover.  Here is the scene from the movie where they were celebrating this Passover meal:

 

The Passover meal is celebrated to this day.  My church, even though we're Southern Baptists, celebrate it at our church as well.  Here are some pictures that show what it is like.  These pictures were taken in 2022 when we still had our pastor as pictured below.  He led the ceremony.  In this first picture, he is talking about the unleavened bread, which had to be prepared without yeast because of the haste needed:

Here is what we used for the unleavened bread, it was like an unsalted cracker:

 

At this point, a drop of wine, or in our case, grape juice, is used to represent the ten plagues:

We dip the end of our finger in the wine and put a drop on a napkin to signify each plague:

Some of the foods the Israelites must have eaten will have included some of these items.  Dates, prunes, olives, grapes, eggs, lamb meat and possibly two different soups:  Matzah Ball soup and Lentil soup:

 

A closeup of the Matzah Ball soup.  The Matzah balls are made of matzah meal, eggs and fat and served in a flavored chicken broth:

 

               

 

So, that is the typical Passover meal.  I celebrated it at my church this past Wednesday evening.  Of course, during my annual viewing of The Ten Commandments movie this Sunday night, my personal tradition for Easter has been a meal of ham and Baby Swiss cheese on rye bread, mashed potatoes and stuffing or a vegetable of some kind.  Something like this:

 

Enjoy the dinner and the movie!

Thirteenth Annual Ten Commandments Post

This post could just as easily be called "Family Memories."  That's because every year at Easter, my family would gather and enjoy a meal that always included ham and then we would watch the movie The Ten Commandments.  Whatever else we would do that day depended on the period of time it was held.  This, then, are some pictures and memories from the past that include my family members.  Memories which became engrained in my life.

Easter eggs from 1978.

Easter eggs from 1979.  Notice the one painted chrome silver in the middle.

The annual showing of The Ten Commandments on ABC from 1980.

My Mom and Dad on Easter 1981.

My brother Matthew with his Easter basket, in 1986.

Mom and Dad clowning around on Easter 1991.

Easter 2008 ham.

Playing Wii on Easter 2008.

More Easter eggs, from 2018.

What it all boils down to - ham and The Ten Commandments.  I think it's time to make some more memories.

So Let It Be Watched

I just had to post this quick update. As you are probably aware, Easter was yesterday and it was the time of the annual viewing of my all-time favorite movie - The Ten Commandments.

I have to relate two of my favorite lines from it. One is when the Pharaoh Sethi, played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke is playing hounds and jackals with Nefretiri, portrayed by Anne Baxter, and his Priest Jannes, the great character actor Douglass Dummbrille, is petitioning him about Moses. Jannes comments that Moses is stealing the grain from the temple granaries and Sethi pats him on the stomach and says "You don't look any leaner." This is too funny!

The next great line happens right after this in the motion picture. Rameses, played by Yul Brynner, comes in and tells Sethi that Moses is trying to raise an army against him, using the Hebrew slaves and the Ethiopians. Sethi goes to see why Moses didn't obey his command to come to court and finds Moses, who is perfectly characterized by Charlton Heston, hard at work raising an obelisk. After it's safely in place, Rameses does the whole weight thing on the scales as an analogy for all the things Moses has done wrong. Moses picks up one brick and says "The strong make many.... the starving make few.... the dead make none. So much for accusations." And then he places the brick on the scales and it outweighs the other side completely. This particular line is one that has stayed with me ever since I saw it in the theaters on it's intial rerelease in 1966.

This is just a perfect example of the brilliance of everyone involved with the movie - the director, Cecil B. DeMille, the writers and Charlton Heston's acting abilities, along with the rest of the cast. Is there any wonder why this wouldn't be my favorite movie? Now, if only they would release an authentic soundtrack album for it.

And one final picture before I go. Here's me dressed as Moses one year for Hallowe'en which I photoshopped and added in the desert background. I really like this movie!

So Let It Be Written

Well, it’s Easter and you know what that means. Yes.... the time of year when Christians celebrate Christ rising from the grave, but that’s not what I’m talking about. What I’m celebrating is the annual watching of The Ten Commandments on TV. I do it every year about this time and have been doing so since the 1970’s. That makes it around 50 times that I’ve seen it.

Now, regular viewers of my blog will know the significance of this movie – it’s my all-time favorite flick. I’ve seen it so many times, I practically know the lines by heart. "So let it be written, so let it be done." "The dead make none." "Let my people go." "Moses, Moses, Moses." "His God is God." You get the idea. So many classic lines. I’m telling you, I really like this movie! In fact, one year for Hallowe’en, I went dressed as Moses. See the picture below.

A couple stories about the picture. First off, everyone that sees it always asks how come I only have 5 commandments in my hand, e.g. – only one tablet. My response is this: I hadn’t received them yet. Second humorous story surrounding my dressing up as Moses on Hallowe’en. At that time, I played in a rock and roll band, (still do, as a matter of fact), and we had a gig on Hallowe’en night. Once I got to the bar, in full costume, of course, I had to get a drink before we started playing. So, I strolled up to the bar and when pulling up my robe, I reached into my pocket to pay for it. I had shorts on underneath the robe, but the waitress must have thought perhaps I didn’t have anything on and gasped. I assured her that it was all right. Moses wasn’t about to become a flasher after all this time. True story.
Now, my love of The Ten Commandments goes back even farther than the ‘70’s. It must have been around 1967, when I was 6 years old, I actually got to see this motion picture at the theater. This was from the 1966 rerelease. It was still making the rounds up until the 1970’s, I suppose, when it began it’s annual appearance on television. And, that’s when I started watching it every year.
I purchased my first VCR in 1984, just in time for it’s Easter showing on ABC-TV, and recorded it. Since that time, about 5 or 6 years ago, I rerecorded it from my sister’s store-bought videotape. It had been restored and was back to it’s full 3 hour and 39 minute length. Since that time, I have heard it’s been released on DVD, more than once, in fact.

One version of it on DVD includes the original 1923 silent version, also directed by Cecille B. DeMille. It was shown on television about 15 years ago, once, and I recorded that version. But, I’m thinking about breaking down and purchasing the deluxe DVD set that includes both movies and a whole lot of extra features. Since it is my most favorite movie, the clarity that DVD discs offer is just something I’ve got to have. Maybe I’ll have found a copy and acquired it before next Easter. If so, you can be sure that I’ll post that fact in my blog.
But, just in case my regular readers can’t find a copy of their own or wait another year for me to talk about it, here is a link so you can hear some of the magnificent music heard in the movie. Play it and it will be almost like you’re watching it right now! (Written on April 8th, 2007.)

Click here to download the Main Title theme of The Ten Commandments.