"Being married is like having a color television set: you never want to go back to black and white."
- Danny Perasa
Wise and funny, romantic and scruffy, Danny Perasa recalls proposing to his wife Annie as follows:
"I said, 'You represent a dirty, four-letter word. That word is love.' I says, 'If we're going anywhere, we're going down the aisle, because I'm too tired, too sick and too sore to do any other damn thing.'
"And she turned around and she says, 'Oh, of course I'll marry you.'"
That was on their first date in 1978. In 2004, the two sat down in StoryCorps' recording booth to document the touching tale of their mid-life marriage. On February 16, 2006, as Danny lay dying, the Perasas did a final recording together in their home. Eight days later, Danny passed away.
From Danny's charming love analogies (which, in addition to television sets, incorporate cars, radios and weather reports) to Annie's poignant decision to walk behind his casket alone, it is easy to understand how the Perasa's story emerged as one of the most popular among the tens of thousands in StoryCorps' ever expanding archive. Be forewarned that this is NSFW unless you are okay with dissolving into a teary mess during work hours.
Directed and produced by brothers Mike and Tim Rauch in partnership with POV and Public Broadcasting Atlanta. For more on StoryCorps' experiment in going from audio to animated short to broadcast and web, check out this New York Times article.
