An Elephant Never Forgets

I slept in again this morning. Didn't start out to the Haddon Township Library until past 11:30! It was warm and humid, but once again, the clouds kept it from being quite as steamy as last week. I passed by many people on my way there. Kids played in the park with their folks. Several people rode bikes or jogged.

The library was a bit busier than it has been. I worked on organizing the kids' DVDs until the librarians were able to sign in more titles. Cleared a pretty good-sized stack of foreign films out of the regular adult DVD titles, too. I don't know why more people don't pay attention to the labels. Even if they don't see the (admittedly small) blue "foreign" rectangle on the spine, it's usually easy to tell that a title is in another language.

The library's gotten a ton of new titles in lately. I ended up with last year's Thor and The Muppets, the 1938 Bette Davis vehicle Jezebel, and the first season of the 1989 Babar cartoon.

Rode across Westmont and Audubon to Simply Soups for a simple and late lunch. I had my favorite meal from them - the Italian Wedding Soup with breadsticks and a can of soda (Diet Mountain Dew today). Though it was 1:30 before I arrived, there were still quite a few people picking up containers of soup for office lunches. A father and his impatient toddler daughter enjoyed bowls of soup before she got bored and almost dragged Daddy out the door.

(I noticed a few changes since Lauren and I were there in May. That beautiful view of Pine Street from the wide front window has been blocked by dark plastic sheets and a heavy curtain. It's probably for privacy and to keep the metal furniture from getting boiling hot, but it's also a lot less interesting to look at.)

Went straight to the gym after lunch. This time, I remembered the iPod, and I had a great soundtrack as I worked up a sweat on the stationary bike and watched the American Women's Volleyball team play the Dominican Republic in the Olympics. (Team USA ultimately won, 3-0.) Had to wait for a couple of the leg machines, despite it not being that busy. The cardio machines were barely used. This is the first time I saw no one on the treadmills.

I was tired and spent the rest of the evening at home. Ran Jezebel when I got in. This is set in the same era as the recent Marie-Grace/Cecile American Girl books, early 1850s New Orleans. Julie Marsden (Bette Davis) is no sweet little girl in pink ruffled dresses, though. She's a strong-willed, egotistical woman who knows what she wants - and what she wants is equally strong-willed banker Pres (Henry Fonda). He and her quieter aunt (Fay Bainter) are shocked when Julie opts for a red dress instead of white at a major ball. Pres is so mad, he makes her dance among the crowd that's treating her like a leper, even though she realizes she made a mistake and wants out. After that incident, he just drops the engagement.

A year later, Julie's still in shock over losing Pres. When she hears he's coming home, she holds a big party for him, including the white dress she was to have worn to the ball in the first place. Trouble is, he comes home with a bride...right in time for the yellow fever epidemic that also struck Marie Grace and Cecile's families, along with most of New Orleans. Julie is determined to prove to him that she can be as noble as anybody in the Old South.

Released to capitalize on the popularity of the novel Gone With the Wind and to pacify Davis after she lost the role of Scarlett O'Hara, I wasn't sure what to make of this one. I'm not a real big fan of Wind, either. Henry Fonda seems a bit uncomfortable; the ladies are generally happier, with Davis and Bainter both showing why they won Oscars for their work here. The costumes and sets are gorgeous, too, especially the two dresses that cause all the ruckus. (The infamous red dress is on the cover of my Classic Costumes From Great Movies paper doll book.) Great for fans of Davis or Fonda, Gone With the Wind, or southern-set stories...but watch out for the same racial stereotypes that mar Wind.

Switched to the far quieter Babar while having cornmeal-crusted chicken fingers, corn on the cob, and sauteed Chinese beans and peppers for dinner. The original 1989 Babar was an oddity in several respects. It followed the books fairly faithfully, it featured series-spanning storylines (which Western animated series were only just starting to do in the 80s) and characters who learned things, grew up, and changed, a far cry from the loonies and mystery solvers of 60s and 70s animation. This was intended for young children; there's a death scene in the first episode that's discussed in the following two, but after that, it settles down into a more kid-friendly affair.

I fondly remember watching this on I believe the Disney Channel in the late 80s. It's still a very sweet show, and I'm glad to see it again.