When Good Luck Comes My Way

Started out another gorgeous day in the neighborhood by finally finishing this month's dusting. My bedroom usually doesn't get as pollen-coated as the living room. My neighbor's house blocks a lot of the wind on this side of the apartment. I wiped the cloth across my dresser around 11:30...and fifteen minutes later, I was in my uniform and on my way to work.

(Dusting my room had one nasty side effect. The pollen did awful things to my nose. I've been sniffling and sneezing ever since this morning.)

Work was on-and-off busy all day. There were no major problems, and I was in and out on time. In fact, I had a very nice stroke of luck. I found a hundred dollar bill next to my register last month. I gave it to a manger to return to its owner. Apparently, the owner was never found, and the manager gave me the hundred dollars. I could really use that money. I just paid my rent, and my recent paychecks have been good but not great.

As soon as I got home, I changed into regular clothes and went back out again for a walk to the bank. Even beyond my good fortune, it was just a gorgeous day for a walk. The sky was blue. The sun was shining. People were out strolling, if they weren't taking their children to the opening of Leo's Yum Yums, the ice cream parlor on West Clinton.

When I got in, I had leftover chicken burger, steamed asparagus, and sauteed spinach with mushrooms, garlic, and fresh mozzerella for dinner. I ran Psych, then Love Me Tonight.

I've read about Love Me Tonight in various books and web sites on musicals since I was 12, but I never saw it until I bought the DVD on Amazon about four years ago or so. Every single book and web site had nothing but high praise for it...and they were all right, for once. This is a delightful confection, with none of the stiffness of early talkie musicals, nor the pretenses of some later ones. Maurice Chevalier is a tailor who travels to a country chateau in France to get a nobleman to pay his debts and is mistaken for a baron. Jeanette MacDonald is a princess wasting away from boredom who falls for Chevalier...until she discovers his ruse.

As with his later Summer Holiday, Rouben Mamoulien does wonderful things with music and dialogue. The Rogers and Hart songs just flow naturally from the script. The songs are some of the duo's best, and probably their best work in Hollywood - "Lover," "Mimi," "Isn't It Romantic." The entire cast has a wonderful time with the sparkiling farce; special kudos to Myrna Loy as MacDonald's man-crazy cousin and C. Aubrey Smith as the stubborn head of the household.