I never played basketball for my high school but let it be noted that I played three years for the Morman chapter of Queens ward for a kindly neighbor Warren Smith. Warren lived a few houses over from me and we would talk about college football when in essence I wanted to pick the winning team on my gambling sheet. One day Warren was asked by his bishop to put together a basketball team. Warren had only a few that were interested but for the most part he couldn't find the players for his team. One day he invited my friends and I to play a pick up game out in Plainview, Long Island against a squad of Mormon member players from Terryville. We handled ourselves very well and played with an enthusiasm and dexterity which caught the eye of the regional director. Warren admitted that his team was made up of mostly non members of the Latter Day Saints but assured the director he would do his best to proselytize each of us and join the Mormons. I had to change my name to Roberts and not to reveal my real ethnic name. That was the first time I used an alias and not my real identity. Precursor to the Movie Catch Me If You Can in 2002. Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr. took all the short cuts and most certainly did not play by anyone's rules. From being a poor boy in Massachusetts to a Naval Surgeon in Her Majesty's Royal Canadian Navy. This movie is quite a ride for the adventurous soul hidden in all of us. From the army Prisoner to becoming a prison warden's right hand man, Mr. Demara is an employer's dream doing everything asked of him and more. Tony Curtis exploits his charm and personality in all those demanding and responsible occupations and somehow pulling off the near impossible with spectacular results.As we follow Waldo throughout his life's journey we just happen to notice Television personalities burst on the scenes. Doodles Weaver, Larry Gates, Gary Merrill, Edmund O'Brien,Jerry Paris and David White as we see a Bewitched TV show connection here. Raymond Massey portrays an Abbott. Arthur O'Connell plays a Prison Warden to name a few. Doodles Weaver shows up as an inebriated truck driver. Dick Sargent and David White both play Doctors. Frank Gorshin and Mike Kellin show their talents as disgruntled convicts.Always 10 steps behind is Karl Malden (Fr. Devlin), who is the Demara's family Priest as he tries to follow our mountebank along his dissent from one job to another always Ten steps ahead. Fun for all to watch and just when the authorities step in to catch our star in the act you'll be surprised who is hired to solve this dilemma. Great vehicle for Tony Curtis! As for the Mormon Church, Warren's failed attempts to convert us was not in vain but rather a collection of wonderful memories during my adolescence and if one of those holier than thou members ask what part of the church I'm from? I would answer, "The religious part!" G-d Bless you Warren!
Review of The Great Impostor
