I had a dream this morning in which I was in an unnamed, unidentifiable foreign country. I was teamed with Donald O’Connor, who bore the same physical appearance as he did in Singing in the Rain, and Robert Silverberg, who looked exactly like he does today.

We were in a marketplace, similar to what you’d see in a film like Casablanca. The three of us were circled around a life-sized, hollow cardboard mock-up of a car. For some reason that never became completely clear, it was very important that we convince someone who was about to show up that this was a real, functional car. So I crouched down and hid behind a rear tire (a cardboard rear tire), while Donald and Bob showed off the car and I made automobile noises as best as I could.

I’m no Mel Blanc, so unfortunately, my attempt was rather pathetic and I wasn’t very successful in my part of this ruse. Luckily, I woke before I discovered what would happen if we failed.