Sunshine Matches

Began the morning with breakfast, The Secret Garden, and the Over the Rainbow CD. This is a budget collection of mostly songs from what sounds like a Garland concert. Sounds of the audience are easily heard under - and sometimes over - most of the songs. The title number is the only non-live recording, likely one of her pop versions. "Too Late Now," "When You're Smiling," and "It's All for Me" don't sound too bad, but her belting doesn't work on slower numbers like "You Go to My Head." If you're a fan of hers and run into this, it's worth checking out, but casual listeners and those hunting for essential Garland will want to look elsewhere.

Didn't get the chance to finish the CD before I hurried out. Work was really busy when I got in. I had a hard time keeping up with the carts at first, especially when they kept throwing me into other things like taking cold items back or cleaning the bathroom when the only thing that needed to be done was the trash. The crowds began to subside around noon; the afternoon bagger arrived shortly after and took over the sweeping and trash. In fact, it died so hard by 2, I got the carts finished and spent my last hour returning unwanted items.

Made a very short stop on my way home. Today is Rose's birthday, so I headed a block or so down Kendall to drop off her gift card. I didn't see her around. She probably took the family out to enjoy a lovely day. I left her card in the mailbox and rode home. I hope they did get out. The weather was a vast improvement today over the past week. By 3:30, the wind had diminished, the clouds were almost gone, and it was much warmer, probably in the mid-50's.

Finished out the Judy Garland CD when I got home, then switched to The Commitments while eating dinner. I had the soundtrack on cassette as a kid, but it's long gone. It's as good as I remember it. "Mustang Sally" and "Try a Little Tenderness" were the hits, but my favorites came from the female singers. I've always loved their "Destination Anywhere," "I Can't Stand the Rain," and "I Never Loved a Man."

Ended the night at YouTube with that Bill Daily marathon Match Game Productions couldn't run yesterday. Comedian and character actor Daily was one of the more popular semi-regulars. He appeared pretty much throughout the entire run of the series, from late 1973 through The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour in 1984. He switched between the first and fifth seats after Richard Dawson left, doing well with both. He was known for being very twitchy and for his oddball answers that matched Joyce Bulifant's in their strangeness (and lack of matching). 

When Bill was excited, he was inclined to do just about anything. He nearly took off his clothes when he landed a right answer on a Head-to-Head. Another time, he exclaimed "I'm gonna be kissed by a man!" after he hit a really big answer. (Patty Duke actually took over that duty.) He showed off the navy jacket Gene Rayburn gave him for his second wedding during the very last episode of the syndicated series in 1979. He and the rest of the panel barely survived a week during the later syndicated shows where the audience was so rowdy, Gene was right that they sounded like the cast of Animal House. 

Bill seemed to have a lot of trouble with chairs in later episodes. In one syndicated episode, his chair sunk below the desk. (The very same chair that broke on Bob Barker the year before, in fact.) He ended up sitting on a director's chair that was too high. Another time, he took off the chair to lower it, only to forget and sit on the pointy base! Needless to say, his voice was higher for a few minutes after that. Gene had to take him offstage to get him tended to.

Come fly the wacky skies with Bob Newhart's favorite neighbor and Alf's favorite psychologist in this marathon that's nutty as the man himself!

Match Game Sunday Night Classics - Featuring Bill Daily On the Panel