Monday, September 07, 2020

Making a Living

Began a quick morning with essays and poems on Labor Day from the Colliers Harvest of Holidays vintage anthology. The longest item was an essay on Samuel Gumpters, the "Grand Old Man of Labor" and one of the biggest names behind the push for labor unions in the US during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Other material included the poems The Village Smithy and I Heard America Singing.

Moved onto breakfast and the Three Stooges after I wrote in my journal. I always do a couple of Three Stooges shorts on Labor Day. Who did more laboring in a wider variety of jobs than the Stooges? "Dizzy Doctors" is one good example. Desperate for work when their wives threaten to throw them out, they take up peddling Brighto. After they figure out it's a medicine, they bring into to a hospital to see what it does...not knowing that the director is the man whose car they ruined the finish on earlier!

Headed out to work shortly after the Stooges ended. It wasn't busy when I came in, but it picked up around noon and continued to be off-and-on steady for the rest of the afternoon. The only major problem I had was when a woman came up with the Coke 12-packs of soda on sale and not only didn't have the online coupon for it, but had no idea she had to sign up for it and tried signing up right then and there, when I had a long line. A manager just took the coupon off for her to move her along. Otherwise, I was in and out.

Took the long way home down Nicholson Road. It would have been a crime not to. The weather was perfect for Labor Day, sunny, breezy, warm but not humid. Nicholson was a lot less busy than the Acme was. No traffic anywhere, not even around the shopping center entrance. I saw more cars heading off to the last parties of the summer season in Oaklyn.

Worked on writing as soon as I got home and changed. Richard lures Malade outside to keep her from destroying the ballroom. While Betty tries to nurse the frog back to health, Lee reveals to Malade that she was the one who gave the underground spy network their information. She hates her for destroying the royal family and her own family's holdings.

Broke for a tasty dinner of Spicy Chicken Cutlets with tomato sauce and vegetable and sweet potato fries at 6:30. Match Game '74 got pretty wild, what with jokes about what a guy saw on a stripper and Gene and Elaine Joyce practically making out in the opening.

Sale of the Century may have even crazier! Jim Perry lamented how hard his job was when the third Instant Bargain was a trip to Palm Springs...which happens to be where that fast-on-the-draw contestant lives. He desperately switched it to San Francisco and dropped the amount to 10 dollars to convince the contestant to buy. It worked. He bought the trip, won the speed round by a mile, and chose leather luggage to go with his trips in the Match the Prize bonus round.

Jodie knocked on the door while Sale was on. She needed help taking off a necklace...and a shoulder to cry on. She's still very upset about Dad's death. I know this is hard on her. She really, really loved him.

Returned to The Three Stooges while having Cherry Garcia ice cream for dessert and cleaning up from dinner. "Violent Is the Word for Curly" when they're mistaken for professors by a prestigious girls' school. The girls are delighted when they teach them about "Swinging the Alphabet." Their teachers are less amused by their insistence on the importance of athletics. They wanted the girls to focus on their studies.

"Termites of 1938" has them as exterminators mistaken for escorts by a rich woman who needs someone to take her to a fancy party. The guests don't know what to think of them, especially when they try playing the band's instruments in time to a record. It's when a guest finds a mouse at the party that the guys really swing into action...and make a mess of the guests.

Finished online with a marathon of It's a Living at Tubi, which also involves working. "Boys of Summer" from the second season has the waitresses run ragged as they deal with a visiting baseball team. Jan dates the aging third-baseman, while Dot reassures their homesick Costa Rican pitcher that he'll be allowed to return to his village, Cassie dodges the advances of their first baseman, and Maggie (Louise Lasser) pitches a little woo at their coach.

Maggie and Jan are "Horsing Around" when Maggie inadvertently gets a hot tip from a jockey who's supposed to throw a race. They win enough money to encourage the other waitresses, Nancy, and Sonny to throw their own money in. Maggie, however, may throw their bets into jeopardy when Maggie mistakes the menu number the jockey orders for the number of the horse.

Switched to the third season for "From Russia With Love." Sonny's delighted when a Russian track team visits the hotel. All the girls just love his Elvis covers. The waitresses are far more concerned when two smitten track members decide they want to defect - one fell for the freedom the US provides, one fell for Cassie.

"The Prom Show" doesn't start off well when the band ordered for a big prom doesn't arrive, Jan is worried about her fiancee (Richard Kline) wanting children, and Cassie has to reassure a girl who was abandoned by her date. It takes a musical number from Sonny and Dot and Cassie's chat with the girl to bring life to this big night. Meanwhile, Howard just wants someone, anyone, to watch his magic act.

And I hope all of you had a happy Labor Day, whether you labored today yourself or not!

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