Switched to the Bowery Boys movie Jinx Money next. Slip Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) and his buddies are thrilled when his best friend Sach (Huntz Hall) discovers $50,000 in a rolled-up newspaper. Turns out it originally belonged to gangsters who won it from an illicit poker game. Each gangster from the game tries to retrieve it, only to end up dead, shot or poisoned by a man carrying an umbrella. Sach keeps seeing the umbrella, but no one believes him...until the gorgeous moll (Betty Caldwell) of one of the gangsters goes after them, and they almost wind up as victims of "The Umbrella" too.
Called Uber even before the movie ended. I wanted to see The Smurfs, but I was going to need to eat lunch first. The driver took 8 minutes to arrive, then proceeded to hit almost every light going to Somerdale. At least there was no traffic going there. I got off at Amy's Omelette House in 15 minutes.
Which proved to be a bad idea. I forgot Amy's closes at 2, and it was nearly 2 when I arrived. I went to the pizza parlor across the street and got two not-bad slices of tomato-basil-mozzarella and sausage instead. Washed it down with a Diet Pepsi as I hurried past empty lots and emptier buildings and new dispensaries to the Cinemark 16.
Thankfully, I was only about 20 minutes late to the movie. I think I missed the first couple of minutes and a Spongebob Squarepants short, but it could have been worse. I'll be going further into The Smurfs at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog this Saturday.
Considered a stop at Wal Mart, but I really don't need anything right now. Just took the bus home instead. It was on time, but I didn't realize the button to make it stop was broken. The bus driver yelled at me for not yelling to her and telling her to stop. I'm not yelling over people's heads. The buttons should have been working.
At least the weather was gorgeous for all of this. It's still a little humid, but it was also off-and-on cloudy, breezy, and far cooler, probably in the lower 80's. Made the walk to the movie theater and the brief walk home a pleasure.
Went straight into Remember WENN when I got in. Victor Comstock returns "In the WENN Small Hours." Turns out he's really working as a double agent in England and Germany, broadcasting propaganda with a bad Texan accent under the name Johnathan Arnold. No one but Betty can know he's still alive...which proves to be a problem when Eugenia's guest for the Agitato Alert, explorer Cutter Dunlap (Malcom Gets), catches them. Good thing he's been gone for the past three years and Betty can give him some very unique insights into how things have changed...
"Prior to Broadway" switches the focus to Hilary and Jeff. Hilary is tired of Scott's harebrained ideas and wishes she could appear on a real stage play. She gets her chance when a playwright from the Giels Aldrych Academy, Eurpedes Moss (Harry Hamlin), presents them with a play he claimed was written for them. They convince the kindly Sweets (Peggy Cass and Louis Zorich) to sponsor the play as well, but they never can decide whether it should be a comedy or a drama. Meanwhile, Betty re-reads Scott's letter of introduction from Victor and realizes it sounds a bit like Scott wrote it himself...
Moved to Dames after WENN ended. I go further into this Busby Berkeley extravaganza that introduced the standard ballad "I Only Have Eyes for You" at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
Worked on Hilary and the Beasts while Dames was on. Hilary and Troll do watch the fireworks together as the fountain tinkles in the background, but they end up making their own fireworks when Hilary admits that she's not crazy about Eagle and Bear running around with her sisters. She wants them to marry humans, not animals. Troll angrily argues that they weren't always like that, and it's his fault that they got hurt. He didn't want to divorce his first wife, but did it to save his friends, something Hilary sees as absurd. Even after their argument, Hilary still agrees to help him plant more roses.
Had dinner while watching Match Game '76. We skip ahead to spring 1976, joined by Dick Gautier, Mary Ann Mobley, and Betty White. Mary Ann's just thrilled she's actually getting the right answers for once. Dick's happier making goofy voices.
Finished the night listening to more new record and CD acquisitions. Dolly Pardon and Burt Reynolds are the stars of The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas and get the lion's share of the songs, including a new one, "Sneaking Around." Pardon sings all of "Hard Candy Christmas" here (the girls sing it with her in the film), and she tossed in her "I Will Always Love You." The real stand-out here, as in the film, is Charles Durning's utterly hilarious "Dance a Little Side Step." It's just as much fun here as it is in the movie.
The Manhattan Transfer brought the 30's and 40's into the 70's and 80's, adapting and interpreting earlier standards like "Tuxedo Junction" and "A Gal In Calico" for modern audiences. Those can be found on The Manhattan Transfer Anthology, but my favorites are the newer ones written in the style of 30's and 40's big-band hits. The live "Heart's Desire," sultry "Mystery," and charming "Sing Joy Spring" are all equally fun.
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