Seems the problem is hardware Darrel!

I wanted the pic to be able to switch on & off power to the LCD, so I used a BD649 transistor to switch the ground pin of the LCD display.

The base is connected via 2.2K resistor to a spare pic pin, collector to the LCD ground, and emitter connected to the circuit ground.
Then the idea was to set the pic pin connected to base high, and then wait the "PAUSE 1000" delay time for the LCD to be ready each time I used it.
If I now short the emitter and collector of the BD649 while powering up, the display works every time (with LCD_anypin).

I can then release the short between the transistor pins, and the display stays on! What's happening there?

It's probably become obvious it's for a car circuit.
The idea is to have the LCD (VFD) powered only when the car is started, but the pic circuit should be running all the time.