In the Still of the Day

Began another sunny morning with public domain Popeye shorts. It's "A Haul In One" when movers Bluto and Popeye compete to see who can get more of Olive's furniture out of her apartment. It's "Insect to Injury" when a group of termites decide that Popeye's house is their buffet lunch. A clean-shaven Bluto pitches some "Parlez Vous Woo" when he poses as the romantic TV star "The International" in order to take Olive out. Popeye tries to prove that he can be as romantic as the next sailor. "The Crystal Brawl" is one of several clip-show shorts Paramount did for Popeye in the 50's, this one showing how Popeye tricked Bluto with a crystal ball that shows him his failures from other shorts.

First outing on the agenda today was getting the laundry done. It wasn't nearly as busy as last week when I arrived, just a couple of folks with one or two loads. My own load was so small, it was done in less than an hour. I worked on story notes and half-listened to the news on NBC. Waved to a co-worker who lives near-by coming in as I was heading out.

Put everything away when I got home, then made a plum-ginger smoothie for lunch, with shelled peanuts to nibble on. Did more Popeye while I ate. Bluto is "Cooking With Gags" when he spends an April Fool's Day picnic playing pranks on Popeye. It's all fun and games, until the pranks turn on Olive, and Popeye has to prove that he wasn't the one pulling them. Popeye claims "I Don't Scare" when he and Olive go on a date on Friday the 13th. Olive's superstitious, though..and Bluto is determined to use every superstition in the book to frighten her into a date with him. Olive is a screen writer who adapts "Aladdin and His Magic Lamp," with Popeye as Aladdin and her as the princess.

Headed out around quarter of 1 for this week's library volunteering sessions. Started out at the Oaklyn Library. They were absolutely dead when I arrived, with no one but the librarian around. I looked over the DVDs and the board books, shelved a few kids' books, and moved on.

The Haddon Township Library was only slightly busier. I guess everyone left town early for their Labor Day trips. I did have some DVDs to shelve, especially kids' titles, but not to the degree of last week. I also put away audio books and a lone CD. Took out four movies, Rosalie and The Hunchback of Notre Dame to review for my musical blog, plus Moonrise Kingdom and the stop-motion animated film Isle of Dogs from earlier this year.

I also got to say good-bye to one of the older librarians, who is retiring this month. (There's a lot of people retiring this summer. Two co-workers at the Acme retired; one was going to but changed her mind.) Sampled some apple pastries from the Acme and a marble chiffon cake and mini-cinnamon rolls from McMillan's Bakery in Westmont.

Worked on writing for a while when I got home. I completely re-wrote Yasmin's entrance. After Leia sees her for the first time and envies her glamour-girl looks, she leaves Harry with Roberto Fettara and her pig-like bodyguards and joins her chorus for Hollywood's idea of a native "ceremony," complete with chorus girls in nothing but feathers and beads and a "bride of the gods" (the hypnotized FBI agent) being "sacrificed." Leia still wants to get to Harry, but her goons block him, and Yasmin herself isn't so eager to share...

Broke for dinner at 6. Poached chicken legs in a white wine-water-lemon juice broth, then turned most of the vegetables in my refrigerator, along with the tons of grape tomatoes I got from Charlie, into ratatouille. Ran a few more Popeye shorts as I ate. It's a "Spree Lunch" when Bluto and Popeye compete for Wimpy's non-existent dollar at their diners. "Let's All Sing With Popeye" is a sing-along to "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man" created for his fan club. All of Hollywood has come out to celebrate "Popeye's 20th Anniversary," but Bluto isn't thrilled with the attention to his rival. Popeye and Bluto are competing yet again, this time to fix Olive's plumbing, in "Floor Flusher." Popeye takes on Bluto's eternally bragging Sinbad in the "featurette" "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor."

Finished the night after a shower with Rosalie. I discuss this massive 1937 vehicle for Eleanor Powell and Nelson Eddy further at my Musical Dreams Reviews blog.

Rosalie