The birthday boy
If you’ve seen “White Christmas,” you know the fluffy plot: Two song-and-dance men, Wallace and Davis, want to put together a show for kindly old general Waverly who led them in battle during World War II. And to really make it a swell party, one of the hoofers goes on nationwide TV to invite everyone who served with them in the 151st division. The other hoofer distracts the old guy so he misses the show.
(Stick with me. This really is going somewhere.)
There’s a really big party this Sunday at the Philadelphia Irish Festival down on Penn’s Landing, and it’s for one of our favorite guys: Emmett Ruane, who for 37 years ran Emmett’s Place, a well-known and loved Irish haunt in the Northeast. It’s his 75th birthday, and this party is a surprise. And all of those hundreds of you who attend the festival? You’re invited.
(Now, everyone join me in singing, “We’ll Follow the Old man Wherever He Wants to Go.”)
No worries that Emmett will catch on, just because the big do is now officially online and about as not secret as you can get. Emmett’s son Michael says he doesn’t go online. And even though he has a Facebook page, it’s Michael who manages it on his dad’s behalf. Michael assures us that this is one surprise that will stay a surprise.
If you’re going to the festival—and if you aren’t, you should be, just on general principles—here’s your reason to head for the Delaware.
Zero hour is 2 p.m., give or take a few minutes. The Hooligans will be onstage, and singer Luke Jardel will announce the birthday and lead the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday to You.” Radio host Marianne MacDonald will will wrap things up with a birthday cake for Emmett and his nearest and dearest, at the “Come West Along the Road” tent.
Michael also passed along a couple of fabulous old photos of the man of the hour, and we tossed in one particular favorite of our own.
See you Sunday!
