Better Shop Around

We began another killer hot and humid morning with some classic Scooby Doo, Where are You? "What a Night For a Night" has the kids running around a museum, trying to find the professor who brought a suit of black armor to the US, while finding out if the suit really can come to life. "Hassle In the Castle" puts the kids on an island that seems to be inhabited by a ghost who wants them to leave, and now.

We headed out around 11 to pick up the bus to Voorhees. We got off directly across from the Voorhees Library. Today was the first day of the Camden County Library's Book Sale. I couldn't believe how busy they were, especially around the CD/DVD/video shelves. I couldn't get near the CDs! Surprisingly, the kids' area wasn't as bad. Lauren found a pile of R.L Stine books (she's a big fan), a book on teddy bears, and a Jude Deveraux novel. I also found a (different) teddy bear book, three videos (the serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel, the Mary Martin version of Peter Pan, and the James Cagney/Joan Blondell movie Blonde Crazy), the Alice Faye musical Rose of Washington Square on DVD, and the book Can't Help Singing: The American Musical On Stage and Screen, by Gerald Mast.

My best find by far was a DVD. The last movie I expected to encounter at a library book sale was the 1930 musical Chasing Rainbows, still in its original plastic! This vehicle for Bessie Love, Jack Benny, and Marie Dressler is a Warner Archive title. They're expensive online and even moreso on the rare occasion they turn up in stores. While the color numbers in the finale of this tale of heartbreak in a traveling musical have been lost, enough remains to make the movie interesting for musical buffs.

Lauren and I headed across the street to the Voorhees Town Center next. We browsed around in Boscov's for about an hour. I didn't find anything I liked. She picked up two blouses. (No toys this time - their collection was rather picked over.)

We had lunch after leaving Boscov's. Lauren doesn't have a Chick Fil'A in her area, so we ended up there. I had a Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich. She had the regular Grilled Chicken. Expensive, but quite tasty, especially the huge, potato-y waffle fries.

We browsed around the Voorhees Town Center for the next hour or so. We bought cards for our dads at Hallmark; Lauren also got a bag of Swedish fish. Bath and Body Works was having a huge sale. I bought two bottles of hand soap (Watermelon Lemonade and Mimosas and Magnolias) for the regular price of one, $6.50. Lauren got five little bottles of soap for five dollars.

Spent a pleasant half-hour or so enjoying a treat at Victorian Savories, the bakery/cafe on Restaurant Row. Lauren had a raspberry cookie bar and a Snapple Raspberry Tea. I had a slice of white cake with tasty sweet buttercream icing in spring sherbet colors and a Snapple Apple (Juice). (Lauren was highly amused when the cap of my Snapple Apple revealed that "The Star Spangled Banner" isn't allowed to be used as dance music in her native Massachusetts.)

The two of us briefly wandered through Macy's after heading back inside. Lauren bought two more blouses for work. I finally found a decent pair of brown shorts. I look better in black than brown, but as the cashier pointed out, brown is a hard color to find, for some reason. They'd had the shorts at the Macy's in Philly, but not in my size.

We took the 3:55 home. I wish we hadn't. Not only did the driver keep hitting the brakes hard on every single stop (and there were a lot of them), but someone spilled something sticky on the floor under us. I had to wipe my feet off hard when we got back in Oaklyn.

Neither of us were really up to any more walking around. It's still hot and humid. The rest of the evening was passed playing Pac Man Party (Lauren won the Crystal Caves board) and Kirby's Epic Yarn. We ate out of the fridge for dinner and finished the spinach and strawberries.

The first movie we did as we ate was I Dood It. This 1942 vehicle for Red Skelton and Eleanor Powell was inspired by the Buster Keaton comedy Spite Marriage. Powell marries smitten pants presser Skelton to make her fiancee jealous, but it backfires spectacularly. Now Skelton is out a job and a bride, but his knowledge of her current show may help out when it turns out that one of the actors is a spy.

To be honest, a lot of this movie seems to have been rather hastily put together. At least two of Powell's numbers are cribbed from other films (Honolulu and Born to Dance). Powell and Skelton do have one good moment where he just cannot drag her into bed after she's taken sleeping pills, no matter how hard he tries. Otherwise, this is strictly for fans of the stars, big band music, or 40's musicals only. Like Chasing Rainbows, it's in the Warner Archives for those interested.

Moved onto more WENN next. "Mr. and Mrs. Singer" and "Eugenia Bremer, Master Spy" were the best out of this lot. (Lauren hasn't seen Casablanca, so I skipped "From the Pen of Gertrude Reece" despite my own fondness for it.)

We finished the night with more Police Academy. City Under Siege returns us to the unnamed city as the cadets try to solve a crime spree initiated by an unknown "Mastermind" and his goofy gang. The gang seems to know their every move...and they seem to have a leak among them. When Commandant Lassard is framed, the group springs into action to find out just who wants them off the case for good.

The series was down to a PG rating by this time, which means plenty of goofy gags, but the sexual humor is limited to a few cracks at Callahan's...assets. I used to love this one as a kid when it ran constantly on cable in the late 80's - early 90's. Time hasn't been as kind to it as some of the other movies in the series. References to hard rock and bad rap date this much more than earlier entries. Actually, if you want to start slightly younger kids on this series, I'd recommend coming here first and going backwards to the raunchier entries. Otherwise, same deal - if you loved the other titles in this series or have fond memories of catching it on cable, it's worth a peek.