Friday, June 24, 2005


Abdel Fattah al-Qosari (1905-1965)

How can anyone not love this man?! I love his waddle and the eccentric way he talked, especially his intentional mangling of English words, which will always put me in stitches (“Bzrentation”, “Knock-Aawet”). I remember the whimsical name of his boat in Ismail Yasin in the Navy: "Norm-andy II" (accent on the Two). One of my favourite scenes is in Bishara Wakim’s Laaw Kunt Ghani (If I Were Rich, 1942), when he dishevels his copiously glycerined hair and puts on a zany act to extort somebody, yelling “Katakeet! Katakeet!”