Happy birthday today to my wonderful mother, who taught me about so many of the essentials of life, including thank you notes, how to tell a joke, and why you should respond to bad behavior by taking the high road (it’s the right thing to do and it will drive bad guys crazy) and for helping to inspire my love of movies.  She even appeared in a movie — she was Henry Fonda’s secretary in Advise and Consent.  It’s a little blurry, but you can see her here, sitting behind his left shoulder.

In honor of Mom’s birthday, here’s one of her very favorite movie moments, with Ava Gardner (singing by Annette Warren) in “Show Boat.”