Began a sunny morning with breakfast and cartoons. Little Audrey was a mildly popular character in the late 40's-50's, a goofy little girl with a big imagination. "The Lost Dream" is a tad dark. Audrey takes her dream back to Dreamland, but she can't resist peeking in the door where the nightmares are kept. She tells her teacher that she's not a fan of Mother Goose rhymes in "Goody Goody Gander." She dreams of a much more "hip" Mother Goose, but the gangsters from her comics invade the rhymes and wreck havoc. "Tarts and Flowers" has her attending the wedding of the gingerbread boy and the angel cake, and even saving the bride from a slice of devil's food cake.
Work was a bit crazy. They were spray washing the patio this morning, which meant I couldn't do the carts for almost an hour and a half...and when I did get to do them, I had to put them all back by myself. I had no help until a half-hour before I finished. At least I did get the carts done and shelved most of the returns.
Hurried straight home after work. Ran more odd shorts from my public domain set while eating yogurt and an apple for lunch. "Comin' Round the Mountain" is a Paramount sing-along short spoofing hillbilly feuds to the tune of the folksy title song. "Crazy Town" from Harvey Cartoons is an odd mixed-up city where firefighters spray wet houses with flame, prices are literally half-off, and horses ride their jockeys. "Hawaiian Birds" from the Fleischer Brothers is a Silly Symphony imitation that has a girl Hawaiian bird running off with a slick oriole from the city and her mate braving the snow to go after her. "Little Hawk" is a mid-60's Melo-Toon tale of a young Native American who uses his sharp eyes and knowledge of the forest to find his captured sweetheart. "Marriage Wows" is another sing-along, this time as animals prepare for a wedding to the tune of "For Me and My Gal."
Worked on writing for several hours after lunch. Instead of doing a story, I started an essay on the game shows I've watched over the years...and why I'm enjoying watching Match Game and Buzzr now. I didn't get far. I got too caught up reading about the game shows. If nothing else, all the reading I've done has made me appreciate that most of my favorite childhood shows (including the vast majority of the 70's Match Game) still exist in full. Most game shows from the earliest 50's programming to the mid-late 70's were wiped - that is, erased and reused. The versions of Jeopardy and Match Game my parents and older friends watched are largely gone...but I can still answer trivia with Alex Trebek or turn cards with Bob Eubanks or laugh at Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly. It's like playing along with the history of the last part of the 20th century.
Broke for dinner at 6. Had leftovers while doing a few more public domain shorts. "Music Academy" is a strange British cartoon that is a series of skits set to classical music, showing all the crazy things that go on at a music school. "Peeping Penguins" returns us to the Fleischers, this time with the story of a group of curious penguins who explore a log cabin, despite their mother's admonishment that "curiosity killed the cat." "The Cobweb Hotel" returns us to Silly Symphony-style turf. Two flies find themselves having to escape a "hotel" that's really a trap set by a spider.
Moved to Lego Star Wars after dinner. Completed "Speeder Showdown" with less than a minute left. Tried "Great Pit of Carkoon" and "Into the Death Star" again, but didn't finish either. I'll try again tomorrow.
Finished the night with the 1943 version of The Desert Song. I go into further details on this wartime adventure operetta at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
The Desert Song (1943)
No comments:
Post a Comment