Babes In Musicland

It was a lovely fall morning when I rolled out of bed, sunny and far less windy. Had just enough time to do the book-and-record version of Bedknobs and Broomsticks I bought yesterday while having buttermilk pancakes and Cranberry Flummery for breakfast. I'm pretty sure I heard a female voice (not Angela Landsbury's) on "Subsitutionary Locomotion." Otherwise, most of the songs were performed by a British man (or at least one with a very convincing English accent), who was also narrating the story as Professor Brown. "The Age of Not Believing" became a chorus number. While this did mean "Beautiful Briny Sea" was now a solo, some of the songs weren't too bad. "Eglantine" was especially charming.

Headed off to work shortly after the album ended. It was crazy when I arrived, with long lines. Except for ten minutes bagging when I arrived another ten spent gathering baskets later, I spent almost the entire day rounding up carts outside. I had no problems with that. For one thing, it was too nice to be inside. It was still a bit cool for this time of year, but not nearly as much as it has been for the past few days, with a far calmer breeze. It eventually slowed down a bit, too. While it was never quiet, it wasn't nearly as busy when I left as when I arrived, or as it was at this time last year. The Eagles being off this week probably helped.

(I did watch some football today, though. Switched to the Steelers-Colts game while eating lunch during break. The Colts stampeded ahead during the first half and were up 10-0 when I was there. The Steelers apparently made a huge comeback; by the time I was off work, they were tied 17-17. The Steelers finally got one last field goal that won them the game, 20-17.)

Worked on writing as soon as I rolled in and changed. Leia and the king in the shadows meet by a stone bench in the moonlit rose garden...but they're not alone. Their young charges hide in the bushes as the king rubs Leia's back under her stays, and she kneads his shoulders. It's the way he rubs her back that gives him away to her. He's Han, her husband, who vanished years before and is presumed dead by most of Alderaan.

Unfortunately, they're disrupted twice before Leia can kiss him. Their wayward wards tumble out of the bushes, where they'd been spying on their rendezvous. Leia scolds all of them...but when she returns to Han, he has vanished. Only the withered old sorcerer in the black cloak remains. Leia uses her power to slash him with vines, but he turns his lightning on her again, taunting that, even though she has found her husband in the night, she will never free him in the daylight.

Had leftovers from Jodie's party yesterday for dinner around quarter after 7. Listened to Mickey and the Beanstalk while I ate. Though it claimed it used the original cast, actually, the only voices that were the same as in the film and TV versions were Clarence Nash as Donald and Pinto Colvig as Goofy. Jimmy McDonald, who voiced Mickey from the 50's through the early 80's, did Mick and Willie the Giant. The female narrator who sang "My, What a Happy Day" and woman who played the singing harp were actually better singers than the harp in the original short!

Moved on to my Decca Babes In Toyland/The Red Mill CD as I went online. This was a part of a series of CDs Decca put out about a decade ago that had two older operetta recordings on one disc. This one brings together a pair of Victor Herbert family favorites from the early 1900's. Kenny Baker presumably takes Tom the Piper Son's role, as he sings "Castle In Spain" and "Song of the Poet." (He also does "Floretta.")

The Red Mill is about as prototypical of a musical romance as you can get. Two normal New Yorkers help a Dutch couple fall in love while avoiding the love-minded innkeeper's daughters. Wilbur Evans gets this show's two standards, "The Sidewalks of New York" and "Every Day Is Ladies' Day With Me."

I'm now listening to another version of Babes In Toyland, this one from the early 60's. I found this album of songs from the Disney Babes at a thrift shop a few years ago. It's a bit of an oddity. Ed Wynn can be heard on "The Toymaker's Song" and Ann Jillian on "Don't Cry, Bo Peep," but it's mostly studio singers and the Disneyland Chorus. That's not always a bad thing. Thurl "Tony the Tiger" Ravenscroft makes "And We Won't Be Happy 'Til We Get It" sound a lot more menacing than the comic rendition in the film!