Larry Thor

(1916 - 1976)

I received an e-mail from Larry's son, Leifur Thor, last night.  We finally hooked up on the phone, him in San Francisco and me in Raleigh.  What a pleasure talking with him and strolling a bit down memory lane.   Its funny that we're both the same age and knew some of the same neighborhood kids, but never really got to know each other.   Better late than never!

He also sent me this anecdote about his father.   I loved the story and had to share it with y'all.

We used to rent the beach house in Malibu during the summer to help pay bills. One summer , when I was about nine years old, we rented our house to a family from the middle east. The father was mostly gone on business leaving the mother with their son, who was three or four, and the daughter who was about two.

Now in the middle east, a woman may not strike or punish a man or a boy. This basically left the boy to do whatever he wanted without any consequence of being punished.

So our neighbor's sons, with their warped sense of humor, decided to teach the little boy who knew no English all of the swear words that they knew.

In short order, the boy was running around and giving anyone he came in contact with "The Finger" (including his mother) and yelling at them "F*** You. F*** You A**h***!"

It was a very strange sight and left most people's mouths gaping in disbelief.

So one day my dad and I were dropping by to say hi and make sure everything was going OK. No one answered from the open door, so we walked in calling out to anyone there, of our presence.

As we entered the living room, the little boy came running around the corner and up to me and my dad.

My dad said looking down to him "Well hello there young man, how are you?"

The boy looked at him and promptly gave him The Finger and told him to "F*** off A**h**!"

I had heard already of my neighbor's English lessons, and was curious to see how my dad would react.

My dad looked pretty surprised, and turned to me for an explanation. I gave him none, and just shrugged my shoulders trying my best to hold back laughing.

So he crouched down in front of the little boy whose finger was still extended, and after a pause gave the kid The Finger back, and with a smile said very gently "F*** You Too."

The little boy was aghast. Of all the reactions he'd gotten, this wasn't one of them.

He turned and ran away calling "Mommy Mommy."

And my dad had to pull me off the carpet I was laughing so hard....

So there's a bit of what my dad thought like on his toes. And I have yet to meet a man who's sense of humor and integrity I admire more.

Here is a link to the Internet Movie Database that credits Larry with several Film and Television works... but glaringly omits this wonderful album! ;)