I opened a gorgeous, sunny day with this week's American Top 40 re-run. We jumped a little further ahead into my childhood and into the 80s with this episode from mid-March 1986. Hits that early spring included "Kiss" by Prince and the Revolution, "How Will I Know?" by Whitney Houston, "Rock Me Amadeus" by Falco, "Tonight Is the Night" by Loverboy, "Nikita" by Elton John, "The Sweetest Taboo" by Sade, "R.O.C.K In the USA" by John Cougar Melloncamp, and "Secret Lovers" by Atlantic Starr. The number one song that week was one of the prettiest ballads of the year, "Sara" by Starship.
I had several errands to run today, starting with a quick trip to the Acme for this week's grocery and schedule run. I had a big order, with a lot I needed, starting with the big dollar a bag sale for produce. I was almost out of a lot of things; picked up bananas, grapefruit, apples, celery, grape tomatoes, carrots, a bag of vegetables for stir fry, and an avocado. Had a coupon off a $1.50 for three bags of Nestle Chocolate Chips. I picked up two bags of dark chocolate and one of semi-sweet. Grabbed small cuts of round steak for a quick dinner tonight. Life and Cap'n Crunch cereals were $1.99 - I went with my favorite Cinnamon Life. Stocked up on butter, Smucker's Natural Creamy Peanut Butter, cooking spray, tissues, and toilet paper.
I was less thrilled with this week's schedule. I wouldn't mind having nearly 40 hours so much if Wednesday wasn't until 10...or if the reason I have all these hours is because at least 10 employees went on vacation this week from the front end alone, and many more from other parts of the store. Despite all the notices in the back lounge area explicitly stating for everyone to NOT go on vacation at the same time! I HATE it when they do that. Why can't they be more strict about when people go on vacation? I'm sick of everyone taking off at once and leaving a handful of people around to do all the work.
I was good and pissed off when I got in. I was originally going to go to the Oaklyn Library, but I decided to stay at home, watch cartoons, and make Carrot-Apple Muffins until I calmed down. I opted for shows with an Egyptian or exotic adventure theme to go along with the books I'm currently reading, the first three from the Amelia Peabody series. I started with a musical tale of ancient Egypt from The Backyardigans, "The Key to the Nile." The kids dance to Broadway showtunes-style music as they tell the story of bossy Queen CleoTasha, who is never polite to her pages Austin, Tyrone, and Pablo. When the Nile dries up, CleoTasha and her pages seek three presents to give to Sphinx Uniqua to convince her to tell them how to get the water back.
The Three Stooges did two very different Egyptian stories during their 25-year-run. "We Want Our Mummy" is a modern adventure that has detectives Curly, Larry, and Moe searching for a kidnapped professor and a priceless mummy while dodging antiquities thieves. "Mummies' Dummies" brings Shemp in. We return to ancient Egypt, where the trio are shifty used-chariot salesmen. When they end up in the court of the Pharaoh, they help him with his toothache, then stop some of his couriers from cheating him out of tax money.
Did a couple of shorts next. In "Genie Grinder and the Magic Lamp," Hello Kitty and Tuxedo Sam try to use the goofy bulldog genie to help them grant wishes and escape the grasp of the evil Sultaness Catnip. Trouble is, Grinder tends to take their requests literally! In "Tut Tut, It's Not Pharaoh," Danger Mouse and Penfold have to keep an ancient Egyptian medallion from Baron Greenback, who'll use its power to take over the world. Donald Duck and Goofy are "Crazy With the Heat" when they're stranded in the desert and keep seeing soda fountain and iceberg mirages.
Maxwell Smart had his own encounter with mummies in the second season Get Smart episode "The Mummy." CONTROL agents are disappearing from a local museum in mummy cases. Max gets really wrapped up in the case when he pursues a pretty curator's assistant who might know what's happening to them...and almost becomes one of the victims.
I made a quick stop at America's Best to make an appointment for my annual eye exam before hurrying to work. Work was busy when I went shopping earlier, and it remained busy this afternoon. In addition to all the sales, there's some fussing about possible snow on Monday morning. At press time, it looks like it'll be too warm (into the mid-30s) for it to do anything really horrible. Not to mention, it's supposed to go right back into the 40s and 50s by the end of next week. If we get anything, it'll be gone within a day or two. Thankfully, it had slowed down enough by 6 for me to leave without a relief.
Tired and frustrated, I went straight home. There was a package waiting for me when I got in. Lauren sent me the Warner Archives set with Red Skelton's three Whistling mysteries as an early birthday present. I ran the first, Whistling In the Dark, as I made beef rounds with the last of the leftover vegetable soup for dinner.
Here, Skelton is "The Fox," a popular radio detective who claims he can solve all crimes. A gang who head a phony spiritualist cult take him at his word, kidnap him, his fiancee (Ann Rutherford), and the daughter of his sponsor (Virginia Gray), and force him to create the perfect murder. He and the two ladies first try escaping through a secret passage. They then use the gang's radio to get a hold of their victim before the murder can take place.
I was actually quite impressed with this interesting comedy-mystery. There's a surprisingly good cast for a B movie; in addition to Skelton and the ladies, we have Eve Arden as Skelton's agent and Conrad Veidt as the head villain. The idea of using radio as a vehicle not only for "The Fox"'s profession but as a means to bring down the criminals is brilliant. I also appreciate that the women are far feistier and more useful than most "love interests" tended to be in this era - they both help Red with the radio and keep the thug watching them (Rags Ragland) off his back. I'm now very much looking forward to seeing what the other movies in this series are like as well.
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