Sleep

ZZZZzzzzELIG

On the subject of sleeping, let's talk about Woody Allen's 1983 movie Zelig. “ Fictional documentary about the life of human chameleon Leonard Zelig, a man who becomes a celebrity in the 1920s due to his ability to look and act like whoever is around him. Clever editing places Zelig in real newsreel footage of Woodrow Wilson, Babe Ruth, and others ” I've been fascinated by this movie since first renting it on VHS, c. 1984.  The premise is compelling.  The process by which Allen's Zelig is insinuated into historic film footage is high art, even today.  The problem was - is-, I fall asleep every time I watch it.  When it's appeared on HBO or Showtime in the intervening years,  I watch, and fall asleep.  This happened so many times that I became aware of it.  I had the same problem reading the book Trinity, by Leon Uris. Everyone I know said it was a "can't put it downer," but for me it was "I can't get past chapter three without dozing off. "   But back to Zelig. A few days ago Zelig was again on one of the movie channels - mid day, mind you - so I started watching.  Aware of my problem, I recorded as I watched. Next thing you know I'm asleep. That night I figured to put Zelig to good use, so I watched around midnight, and lasted just a few minutes.  Amazing.  Last night, determined, I forwarded it to new, unviewed territory and voila!  I finished it, finally, after a quarter century of trying. It's stuff nobody understands. Here's the clip TUA mentioned below ... the Tom Mix deal knocks me out. (begins @2:46)