Even swashbucklers get spooky in the wacky historical action show Jack of All Trades. When Jack's alter ego the Daring Dragoon is accused of desecrating sacred burial grounds, his partner Emilia takes a potion that turns her into a "Dead Woman Walking." Unfortunately, her ruse goes over too well with French Governor Croquey, who has her cremated! Even after she and Jack get out of that, they still have to get Croquey back for accusing the Dragoon...
Put on Match Game '77 as I made my grocery list. Today was the infamous episode 1005, aka the School Riot. Things didn't get really crazy until the end of the episode, when producer Ira Skutch wouldn't accept Richard Dawson and Debralee Scott's answer of "finishing school" for the contestant's school. (Or a terrified Patti Deustch's "night school.") Richard and Deb protested loudly, the contestant got the audience in on it, and Gene Rayburn couldn't keep order. Charles turned up on Gene's entrance stairs as "the victim of the school riot," but the damage had been done. The lower tier kept their answers up in protest for what little remained of the episode.
After all that, I figured I was safer on the road. First stop was lunch at a fairly busy Genova Pizza on Cuthbert Road. While cloudy and humid, it also remains fairly warm for the time of year, probably in the lower 70's. I enjoyed my square "grandma" slice, regular cheese slice, and Diet Coke outside on their patio.
Took the long way through Audubon and down Crystal Lake Road to the stores on Haddon Avenue in Westmont. I haven't checked out Salvation Thrift in a while. They close at 3, and I keep missing them. They were open today, and really busy with people looking for bargains and bringing in donations. I eventually ended up with a small pillow printed with a pretty fall scene, a cute felt bat with googly eyes, and a CD as a Christmas present for Lauren's parents.
Westmont Party is next door. They're one of the few party stores left in Camden County, and as such, were really busy too. I will absolutely be checking them out for Mystery Bag trinkets next year. They had bags of every little Halloween toy you could think of hanging on the walls of their narrow aisles, and lots of paper decorations I never see anywhere else. I did see some costumes, some for as little as 99 cents, but nothing for Red Riding Hood.
Made a brief stop at Walgreens across the street next. They usually have a terrific seasonal section, but while they did have some Halloween items left, they're mainly down to candy. I just moved on.
I was mainly out to do a grocery store run at the Westmont Acme. I'm not going to get to the farm market tomorrow, so I bought grapes, apples, and strawberries on good sales with online coupons. Restocked my yogurt and bought Kind bars on sale. They were expensive, but a container of small pumpkin-shaped spice sandwich cookies looked so intriguing, I thought I'd try them.
Took the long way home across Newton Lake Park, up the hill, and past the Haddon Township Environment and Historical Society. The leaves are finally starting to turn colors here. Some of the trees are very pretty shades of rust, scarlet, and gold. The sun had tried to come out, but gloomy clouds would be in and out for the rest of the day.
Went straight home and into Disney's Halloween Treat while I put everything away. Mom originally recorded this special off The Disney Channel around 1988, and I've watched it at least once almost every year since. It's basically a combination of spooky shorts like "Lonesome Ghosts," "The Old Mill," and "Trick or Treat" and segments from the various versions of The Wonderful World of Disney. There's one on the cat's contribution to the horror genre, and another with Hans Conried as the Magic Mirror discussing Disney's most famous villains up to that point. (If you know Disney, it's easy to tell the segment is from 1977. Madam Medusa from The Rescuers, which was released that year, is the most recent villain seen.)
Worked on writing after Halloween Treat ended. Cora and her parents are greeted on arrival by what appears to be King Stephan and a small platoon of servants. While Stephan vaguely looks like the paragon Cora was promised, he acts like an obnoxious creep, criticizing her plain dress and trying too hard to ingrate himself with her parents. Cora suspects there's something not quite right here...
Oh, and I got my schedule at this point. In good news, not only do I have Halloween off, but I'm off the day before as well. I'll be able to get a lot done for the holiday, give out candy, and take part in Oaklyn's parade. I also have slightly more hours than I did this week. That 12 to 4 shift on Saturday means I'll be able to hit the farm market, too. However, I work the rest week after Tuesday, including another early shift Wednesday.
Broke at 7 for dinner and Match Game '79. The episode began with Daryl Anderson of Lou Grant showing off his long putty nose and ended with him and Charles admitting they swapped glasses. In between, we got a contestant whose very funny quips and bantering with Gene were a lot funnier than her answers.
Speaking of Anderson, I moved to Lou Grant on YouTube after a shower. Reporter Billie Anderson learns more about "Ghosts" than she ever wanted to when a man claims that the ghost in the haunted house they own pushed his wife off the stairs to her death. Her psychic sister holds a seance in the house to prove that the ghost of a girl previously killed there still exists...but a very living little girl is the one who eventually revealed that the real culprit is definitely flesh and blood.
Moved to Amazon Prime for the first two Night Court Halloween episodes in honor of Richard Moll, who passed away tonight. Bull, the show's towering ballif and strange comic relief, was probably my favorite character on the show along with Harry. We get an idea of why in the third season episode "Halloween, Too." While he has his own method of making a jack o'lantern, Harry is delighted to fall for a beautiful woman who shares his bizarre sense of humor. He's not so thrilled when she's dragged into his courtroom after she was found doing bizarre rituals in Central Park. She's a witch...and he can't handle the existence of any kind of magic.
"Halloween II: The Return of Leon" brings back the orphan Leon whom Harry had taken an interest in. He's worried when the boy is brought in for stealing food, then tries to run away. His fear and desire to help the boy leads him to being more than a little harsh, or so it seems. Meanwhile, Dan Fielding would do anything to get invited to his very short boss' Halloween party.
Finished the night back at YouTube for the other really bizarre Halloween variety show, Boo! This Canadian special from 1980 features various famous Universal monsters in very short blackout sketches ranging from Frankenstein being used as a charger for Dracula's shaver to a hypnotist making the Werewolf go crazy whenever he hears the word "flowers" instead of "moon." Rip Taylor tries to sell gags and props to an uninterested audience of monsters and aliens and turns up in a few super-short skits as one of two prisoners in a dungeon. Dionne Warwick performs a lovely "Deja Vu" in a soft-focus sequence and assures the Frankenstein monster that she loves him "Just the Way You Are."
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