WHAT’S SO FUNNY: Taking it to the street

My grandmother Myrabelle Sherwood, whom I knew as Nan, was a shrewd and feisty little woman and said a lot of things that have stayed with me.

They weren’t all true, these things she said. For instance, she told me if I learned to play the piano I’d always be popular, a prediction that turned out to be flawed. But she was often right. For instance, when her feet got sore she’d tell me, “Someday you’ll know how it feels,” and sure enough ...

Another thing she said was, “When we were young we didn’t depend on other people for entertainment. We entertained ourselves.” She meant my sister and I should be putting on our own shows instead of watching TV all the time.

When she’d say that, I used to think, well, you had vaudeville and radio back then; you relied on professionals, just like us. Didn’t say it, though.

Nan was right in maintaining that homemade entertainment has a quality you don’t get from TV. One example is the local parade.

I attended the Patriot’s Day Parade on Saturday, and it was good to see so many cheerful people downtown. Of course, it’s hard not to smile at a parade.

This year’s version had its own special felicities. The Waste Management people had a shiny garbage truck with flags on it and a sign saying they recycled enough paper last year to save more than 41 million trees — a statement so striking I remembered it without writing it down.

A group called the Peace Vigil came along with peace-and-love banners, followed, in equal-time juxtaposition, by a self-defense class featuring somber boys wielding nunchucks and wooden poles.

An elementary-school honors chorus came by singing “This Land Is Your Land” in perfect tune, which isn’t that easy to do when you’re walking. There were vintage cars, a band, can-can dancers and some guys dressed as old-time Westerners shooting pistols, which briefly alarmed our dog, Booker.

There were several other dogs around, known to Booker as “Uh-ohs” because that’s what we used to say when we saw a hostile dog in the neighborhood. The expression gradually came to cover all dogs and is no longer ominous; now when we say “Uh-oh,” Booker looks around hopefully. All the Uh-ohs downtown were friendly.

All in all, a fine parade — entertainment without stunt doubles or computer-enhanced imagery, by and for the home folks. Nan would have approved. In fact, she’d have been walking down the middle of the street, representing the DAR.

SHERWOOD KIRALY is a Laguna Beach resident. He has written four novels, three of which were critically acclaimed. His novel, “Diminished Capacity,” is now available in bookstores, and the film version will soon be out on DVD.