Till The Clouds Roll By

Began a gorgeous day at work. We were as quiet as we have been the past couple of days, which was fine by me. I loved rounding up the carts this morning. The sun was out, but it wasn't nearly as hot as over the weekend. A cool, strong wind kept it from feeling too warm. The humidity had vanished overnight, leaving a brilliant robin's-egg sky. When another bagger arrived to take over the carts, I spent most of the rest of the morning gathering baskets and doing the very few returns. The bathrooms didn't even need to be done. It wasn't even that busy when I left just after the noon rush hour

Took the long way home down Nicholson Road, just to enjoy the day for a little while longer. There was some traffic around the Wal Mart/Marshalls' entrance. Otherwise, they weren't much busier than the Acme. Admired the last of the big, creamy yellow-white roses on Nicholson and the tall gold wildflowers growing alongside the hill into Oaklyn.

Had a quick tuna salad lunch when I got home. Watched an episode of Good Eats while I ate. With the arrival of cooler weather, I can start baking again. Ginger snaps are some of my favorite cookies to make, but they're not the only baked goods that require molasses. "Pantry Raid X: Dark Side of the Cane" from season 12 demonstrates the many other uses of the thick, dark sweetener, including Amish favorite Shoo Fly Pie.

Took a short nap for about an hour after lunch. I'm not used to getting up early for work anymore! Besides, this was the nicest day we've had in ages. It felt great to not be sweating in bed.

Worked on writing after that. Hank and Charlie finally get Jasper to reveal what he planned to do to them. He was going to dunk the duo and Luke into a trap door that lead to a vat of cement, where they would be made into statues for his front lobby. He tries to force them into it, hoping to get them out of the way for good.

Leia turns up at this point, angry as hell and sporting a gun she swiped off one of his men. She's finally figured out what happened to Jasper's previous mistress - he drugged her, cut up her face, and dumped her in the cement vat. The moment he threatens to do the same to her boyfriend, her brother, and her boyfriend's best friend, she shoots him. Unlike in the movies, she's not used to guns and is too angry to aim straight anyway. She gets Jasper in the shoulder, the kickback nearly knocking her off her feet. Still raging angry, she tries to strangle him before finally knocking him into the trap door over the cement vat.

No sooner has Jasper Hutt been dispatched than the local cops and the FBI show up. Lance called them earlier in the day, telling them they had a line on one of New York's most notorious gangsters and his illegal activities. Bobby Fett takes off for the lobby, but Charlie and Hank catch up with him. Hank finally knocks him into the waterfall when he sneeringly tells him he was among the goons whom Jasper forced Leia to dress in front of.

Broke for dinner at 7. Made Italian Casserole with green and red peppers and diced tomatoes. I had some pears and peaches that were going bad, plus the last big Macintosh apple. Cut them up and made them into fruit crisp. Other than I overdid the spices, it came out very well. I liked replacing the regular sugar with brown sugar; gave it a richer, darker flavor.

Watched Till the Clouds Roll By as I baked and ate. I still wasn't in the mood for anything heavy, so I went with another composer "biography" semi-revue from MGM. Composer Jerome Kern is in the spotlight in this one. Kern (Robert Walker) had been pounding Tin Pan Alley as early as the 1910's...but in the first two decades of the 20th century (as it would be in the final decade of the 20th century), England dominates the Broadway musical scene. Encouraged by his friend James Hessler (Van Heflin), he travels to England to meet producer Charles Frohman. He also meets his future wife Eva (Dorothy Patrick) when he stops to use the piano in her house to work on a song idea. World War I finally ends Frohman's life (he went down with the Lusitania) and the importation of European shows. By the Roaring 20's, Kern's a smash hit. Hessler's daughter Sally (Lucile Bremer) has ambitions of being on the stage, but throws a fit when she loses her big song to star Marilyn Miller (Judy Garland). She runs away, and Kern spends three fruitless years searching for her. After he finds her alive and happy, he's able to focus on helping Oscar Hammerstein (Paul Langton) create his biggest triumph, Show Boat.

The first half of this movie, other than the addition of the fictional Hesslers, is relatively historically accurate. English shows really were frequently imported by producers like Frohman, who inserted songs by American talent when he brought them over to New York. Kern did just barely miss sailing on the Lusitania. He actually did meet Eva when he walked into her father's tavern and played a song on the piano. Oh Boy! and Leave It to Jane were two of the biggest hits of the late teens. Marilyn Miller was a hit in Sally and Sunny (the latter did have a circus setting), and she specialized in numbers like "Who?" with chorus boys and waving scarves.

It's the second half where things lag...because after the late teens, Kern pretty much went from success to success. The entire incident with Sally and Marilyn and Kessler is obviously manufactured and rather ridiculous. Bremer does get the film's best number later, performing a wonderful "I Won't Dance" with a relaxed Van Johnson. I'm also fond of the "Till the Clouds Roll By" ensemble number, the aforementioned "Who?", Dinah Shore's gorgeous "They Didn't Believe Me," and that fifteen minute mini-Show Boat.

This is in the public domain, but you're definately better off seeking out MGM's DVD release (which is what I have) if you're a fan of Kern's music, 40's musicals, or any of the stars.