Winter Interlude

I slept in so late, it was nearly 11:30 before I began Chocolate Chip Pancakes for brunch! I skipped the Beatles and opted to finish The Phantom and run more Popeye instead. By 1940, when the second set ends, the Fleischers were on a roll. They'd settled into their new, larger studio in Miami and were churning out not only more Popeye and the Superman shorts, but two feature-length films to compete with Disney, the fantasy Gulliver's Travels and the modern-set Mr. Bug Goes to Town.

Alas, the failure of Mr. Bug and a rift between the Fleischer brothers ended with Paramount forcing them out...but not before they released some fun Popeye tales. The episodes had lost some of the grit of earlier stories but were still pretty tough compared to the competition from Disney or MGM's Harmon and Ising. "Fightin' Pals" explores the contentious but somewhat friendly relationship between Bluto and Popeye. When Bluto disappears in the South Seas, Popeye is determined to rescue him..if only to give him someone to fight with! The Fleischers' show business aspirations come to the fore in "Shakespearean Spinach," in which Popeye and Bluto fight for the role of Romeo, with Olive as their Juliet. I surprisingly remember "Puttin' On An Act," in which Olive and Popeye enact their old stage routine for a delighted Sweet Pea, from occasional showings on TNT during my childhood. (Only I remember it being in color - it was probably colorized.) That short was the first time I'd ever heard of vaudeville.

I called Mom while the shorts were on. As it turned out, Cape May County got the wind from Friday's storm, but no snow, or even rain. Mom could turn her mind to other happenings. My brother Keefe got his orders; he's being relocated to a Naval base in upstate New York, along with two friends of his from his unit. His girlfriend Vicki is probably going to join them there. She and Keefe are crazy about each other, and she's apparently tired of living with her mother.

Dad also celebrated his birthday yesterday. His family took him out to dinner at the Rio Station, his long-time favorite restaurant, and gave him several good gifts. He told his wife it was the best birthday he'd had in years.

After I got off the phone, I put on the soundtrack for the 1980 Popeye musical and did chores around the apartment. I made my bed, which I only do every once in a while. Who's gonna see it? I changed my Cabbage Patch Kids dolls Carrie and Dulcie into overalls with a plaid shirt and a cute red and white Swiss-dotted dress with an embroidered strawberry on it. I vacuumed the entire apartment. The bedroom in particular was a pain. There was tons of hair all over the place; you can tell how long my hair was until last week.

The cleaning took so long, I was almost late to work! When I finally did get in, work was steady but not overwhelming, unusual for a Sunday. A lot of people must have done their shopping over the weekend. It was quiet enough when I finished to leave without a relief.