By the Beautiful Creek

Started off a beautiful morning with Blueberry Pancakes and George M!. Yankee Doodle Dandy isn't the only musical biography of George M. Cohan's life out there. Joel Gray was Cohan and Bernadette Peters played his sister Josie in this 1968 Broadway show. With the real Cohan having passed away shortly after the release of Dandy in 1942, they were now free to be a tad bit more honest about his life. Both of his wives are prominent characters, and it touches on his siding with the producers during the Actor's Equity Strike of 1919 and how that damaged his career. The real attractions are a plethora of rarely-heard Cohan tunes, such as "Twentieth Century Love," "Musical Moon," and "Push Me Along In My Push Cart," that give a more complete view of his considerable talents.

After breakfast, I continued to work on my story. The chase is on all around the steps over the ballroom as Henry and Leia try to keep the jewels away from the Coruscant Army. Though they both think they dodge them, Henry's finally caught after he falls off the chandelier and into a piano, and Leia comes after him.

Hux arrives, wearing an ill-fitting uniform he borrowed from a soldier. He tells Leia he'll let Henry go if she marries him. Leia will do no such thing. Not only that, but they don't have the Crown Jewels on them. Hux orders their execution, right in front of the crowd.

Broke around 1 for a quick lunch and to get ready for work. Did another rarely-heard tale of turn-of-the-20th-century performers while I ate, By the Beautiful Sea. This charming 1954 musical was a vehicle for comedienne Shirley Booth, who plays a vaudevillian on vacation at her dad's boarding house near Coney Island's boardwalk. Baritone Wilbur Evans is the singer she falls for. I've owned this CD for over 20 years now, since I found it at a long-defunct music store in North Cape May as a teenager. The dull book is part of the reason this show was apparently tinkered with constantly before hitting Broadway, but some of the songs aren't bad. I'm especially fond of Booth's comic lament "I'd Rather Wake Up By Myself" and her "Sea Song" with the chorus, Evans' lovely ballad "Alone Too Long," and a fun number for cabaret performer Mae Barnes as Booth's maid, "Happy Habit."

Work was dead when I arrived, and only picked up a little bit around 4. The weather was probably the main reason. It was an utterly gorgeous day, sunny, breezy, dry, and in the lower 80's. Good thing it was too nice to be inside. I did carts and gathered trash for most of the day. There was one other bagger, but I saw her maybe twice helping old ladies out to their cars.

Had leftovers for dinner when I got home, then played some Lego Star Wars: Clone Wars. Did Free Play on "Ambush!" and "Jedi Crash." I did better on "Jedi Crash," coming up with 6 minikits and almost two million studs. Kept dying in "Ambush!" and didn't get nearly as many studs, but I did find a cave I hadn't seen before with a minikit piece in it. Next time I play, I'll probably return to Grievous to see what else I can find on the Malevolence.