Hot Days Ahead

It was already like a sauna when I headed to Lucile Roberts around 11 for my first gym trip in ages. The sun was beating on the dry grass, the sky was hazy blue, and no amount of wind could cut through the warmth. I was sweating already when I locked my bike against a stop sign across from the building.

Good thing Lucile Roberts was practically freezing. They had the AC going full blast and the fans on. Surprisingly, the place was dead the entire time I was there. You'd think a chilly gym would be a popular place on a sweltering day, but there were only two other people working out on the cardio machines while I did the stationary bike and watched The Price Is Right. I had the leg weight machines completely to myself.

Went to the Acme after my workout to pick up my (much needed) paycheck and do my grocery shopping. This time, I really did have a short list. The crab salad used up the last of my plain yogurt, and I had the last of the skim milk with my oatmeal for breakfast. I'm about out of wraps, too. Grabbed some more of those Newtons' Thins, this time in Lemon Crisp flavor. The sale wasn't as good as the one at Wegman's last week, but I really do love those. I was also out of brown sugar, and they were having a really good sale on Arrid Deodorant.

I went home and ran the musical Flying Down to Rio while putting everything away and having leftovers for lunch. Though usually found with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers sets, this was their first movie, and they're once again second bananas, this time the conductor and lead singer respectively for an orchestra who are taking their act to the title Brazillian city. Their pilot manager (Gene Raymond) is in love with a fiery Latin woman (Dolores Del Rio), but she already has a finacee (Raul Roulien). When their back arruptly pulls out of their big show, Raymond finds a way for it to go on...in the air!

Ok, so this one is a little weird. At the very least, it's something different from the other backstage semi-revues being made in 1933. For all of Astaire and Rogers' low billing, they get quite a few good numbers. Rogers sings "Music Makes Me" in a sheer gown that definitely marks this as a Pre-Code movie; Astaire does a nice solo tap routine to an instrumental version later.

This movie is best known today for two numbers that are emblematic of this musical era. The first, "The Carioca," gave Ginger and Fred a duet that introduced them as a major force in film dance. The second, the finale title number, put show girls on plane wings for death-defying stunts...literally, at one point when a girl seems to fall.

Work was busy for most of the afternoon with people trying to escape the heat and the usual beginning  of the month crowd. Other than some annoying people, there were no major problems, and I was in and out.

I'm not crazy with my schedule next week. While I have slightly fewer hours (and they're more spread out), not only do I have to work on the 4th of July, but I don't have off again until next Saturday! Why, oh why can't I have a regular, dependable schedule? I hate this back-and-forth business.