Cold Spring Matches

Got a quick start this morning with breakfast and the 2018 Disney Muppet Babies. "Kermit and Fozzie's Egg-cellent Adventure" sends them around the back yard to find more eggs before the other kids. Fozzie keeps rushing ahead before Kermit can make a plan. When Fozzie loses two eggs, Kermit quits. Talking to Miss Nanny makes Fozzie realize just how important it is to take things slow and plan first. Animal puts off using the bathroom, then regrets it when they travel to the city of Ratlantis. Animal discovers how important it is to go when you need to when "Animal and the Little Accident" doesn't make it back in time. The others assure him that it's happened to all of them.

Switched to PAW Patrol while getting ready for work. "Pups Save the Easter Egg Hunt" when they color and hide eggs for Mayor Goodway after she breaks her arm. Alex contributes a huge colored egg, but an eagle steals the egg, the basket, and Rusty and Chickaletta in it. Turns out the egg was the eagle's baby, and she wants it back. The others have to rescue them and the basket without harming anyone, including the eagles.

Called Uber after the pups ended. No trouble here at all. The driver going to work arrived in 8 minutes. I got to the Acme just in time. The one going home surprisingly only took 4 minutes, despite it being the height of rush hour. 

It wasn't busy when I got to the Acme or when I left, but it got really crazy in between. There were long lines for a lot of the afternoon. The head bagger took over a register during the second hour and would remain there for the rest of the evening. I had a hard time keeping up with the carts until things finally died down in the last hour. It didn't help that, though it was sunny, it was also cold and windy, barely in the upper 40's. 

There was a package waiting for me when I got home. That was a surprise. I hadn't ordered anything. It was my Easter gift from Mom. She sent me scones and a big jar of blueberry preserves from Wolferman's Bakery online. There were twelve varieties of scone, two each. I tried Apple Cranberry. Yum! Nicely crumbly and not too sweet. And I was worried about what I'd take for lunch at work tomorrow. 

Took a shower and grabbed leftovers for dinner, then finished the night with today's Match Game marathon. When 1978 began, Match Game was just starting to slide in the ratings, thanks to ill-advised schedule changes and more conservative tastes. Richard Dawson had noticed, too. He wanted a bigger salary and either equal billing with Gene Rayburn or to be let go. He was by far the most popular of the regular panelists on the show, and he was hosting the huge hit Family Feud. Goodson-Todman said yes to the salary, but no to the build-up or letting him go. 

That and his burnout from working on two shows with frantic schedules didn't improve Richard's mood. He spent most of mid-1978 acting like a grouch. Gene Rayburn did not appreciate his behavior at all. At one point, he even tried to push at Richard's face to make him smile. He did laugh, but the whole incident was disturbing. 

The arrival of the Star Wheel was the last straw. Richard had always been the go-to panelist for the Head to Head bonus round. The Star Wheel was supposed to assure that all of the panelists would get a turn on the Head to Head. Richard saw it as encroaching on his territory and was furious. Ironically, it landed on him the first time they used it, prompting everyone but Scoey Mitchelll (including Richard himself) to walk out. Richard lasted a few weeks after the set was revamped, but the writing was on the wall. By late June, he was barely reacting or doing much of anything. His wearing glasses during his last two weeks to cover an infection (he wore them on Feud during those weeks too) didn't help matters. After June 25th, he left and never looked back. 

(Oh, and though Richard apparently tried over the years, Gene was so offended by how Richard acted in those last weeks, he never spoke to him again.)

At any rate, see how all this went down for yourself in these hilarious and heartbreaking episodes!

Match Game Saturday Classics - Richard's Downfall On Match Game & Exit Marathon

Front Page Games

Began the morning with breakfast and The Scooby Doo Show. "A Highland Fling With a Monstrous Thing" takes the gang to Scotland. They're supposed to be visiting their friend Aggie McDuff's castle, but it's closed to visitors. Seems the ghost of Aggie's great-grandfather has been sighted in the area, using his bagpipes to lure what appears to be the Loch Ness Monster. The gang head into the deepest, least-explored sections of the castle to solve the mystery.

Got Linda and James' cards and surprise together while watching Garfield and Friends. Garfield's not happy when Jon takes him and Odie on one of their occasional camping trips in "The Bear Facts." He's even less thrilled when they're attacked by Binky the Clown's dancing bear, and the only thing that can make him happy is Jon singing a silly little song he can tap along to. The US Acres farm animals are tired of Wade's constant freak-outs and try to convince him that there's "Nothing to Be Afraid Of." "The Big Talker" is a combative talk show host who insults cats. An offended Garfield finds a way to show him just how useful cats are.

Sent out Linda and James' cards, then headed off to work. Work was no problem whatsoever. Despite a lot more help than usual, we were dead the entire afternoon. The head bagger did the sweeping and the trash, so I pushed carts. The weather was chilly, windy, and cloudy, but it never snowed, rained, or did anything besides be gloomy. 

Took out the recycling and trash when I got home, then changed and brought in my Amazon order. I needed a new bike helmet rather badly. The plastic covering the previous one had become brittle and was breaking of in large sections. Though the one I bought from Amazon wasn't much more expensive than the one I picked up from Target, it was bright white, heavy, and looked and felt more like a motorcycle helmet than a bike helmet. That's exactly what I wanted. It even has lights on the front and back. 

Went upstairs and did some things online, then worked on the inventory briefly. Added Smooth Jazz Christmas and two of the WOGL Ultimate Christmas Album CDs. Smooth Jazz Christmas and Ultimate Christmas Volume 1 came from yard sales in 2010. Ultimate Christmas Volume 4 was an Abbie Road find in 2011. 

Watched Match Game '73 as I worked, and later as I had dinner. That week with McLean Stevenson and Nancy Dussault was pure lunacy, and possibly the best from that year. On one episode, McLean claimed the contestant stole his caps after he helped her get an answer on the Audience Match and they smooched for just a little too long. McLean turned up on the last day of the week naked from the waist up except for a bow tie. He claimed none of the other men would loan him more clothes, then fussed when Gene gave him his jacket. Richard made a crack about having to get McLean to the Largo (a then-popular LA strip club). Joyce Bulifant made her debut the next week, joined by comedian and former host Robert Q. Lewis.

Finished the night at YouTube with game shows revolving around news and headlines. These tended to be either panel shows that had celebrities guessing the news or news makers of the day, or quiz shows. It's News to Me from 1951 is one of the earliest. This early version of Liar's Club has contestants trying to guess if the news story the panelist describes is true or not. Honestly kind of fun, especially watching the panelists interact with each other and hear the stories being told. John Charles Daly of What's My Line? is the host.

Canadians had the similar long-running Front Page Challenge. Here, the panelists had to guess the news event that the contestant was involved in. Canadians really loved their news-based game shows. This one was around for so long, it was on from 1957 to 1995! The game play is almost secondary to the goofy questions and the interview with the subject in question about the news they're involved in (in this 1976 episode, a Canadian senator). 

That wasn't the only Canadian news-based game show to run for years. Headline Hunters ran for a decade on CTV, from 1972 through 1983. Host Jim Perry gives clues to a subject in the form of headlines. Contestants guess the subject from the clues. Simple and addictive, no wonder this one ran for so long. 

Wink Martindale tried his own variation with the syndicated Headline Chasers in 1985. Two couples guess hangman-style headlines, then answer questions about the headline. The "Headline Extra" had the winning couple trying to guess a headline without buying too many clues. Not bad, but probably not enough to stand out in what was an overcrowded field in the mid-80's. I do remember catching this and enjoying it occasionally on USA and local channels.

PBS had their own fun with the news in 1978. We Interrupt This Week was their very first shot at a game show. BBC host Ned Sherrin led a panel of "Home" and "Away" celebrities involved with jazz and classical music or literature through a series of ridiculous or comic questions. It's almost a game show precursor to another British import, Who's Line Is It Anyway. It's a shame the episode seen here seems to be the only one available at the moment. This show was really fun.

Meet the news makers, chase headlines, and interrupt this week with these games that bring new meaning to the words "Action News."

It's News to Me (1951)

Front Page Challenge (1976)

We Interrupt This Week (1978)

Headline Hunters (1981)

Headline Chasers (1985)

Peachy-Keen Day

Began the morning with breakfast and the 2003 version of Strawberry Shortcake. "Strawberry's Berry Big Journey" takes the fruit-scented miss and her three best friends on a long car trip to visit their friend Tangerina Torta and see a flower that only opens every ten years. They encounter many obstacles on the road, including lonely Banana Candy, who tries to get them to stay in her one-woman town. In the end, even though they miss what they came to see, Strawberry is still thrilled that they saw so many wonderful things and had such great experiences anyway. 

Dawn picked me up for my interview at 10 AM. We ended up at a clean, modern travel plaza on a service road outside of Cherry Hill. Yeah, the job was strictly stocking and handing the register. Absolutely not. I want out of retail, not to work in a slightly fancier version of it. It wasn't a total loss. I mentioned I work at the Audubon Acme to the lady who did the interview...and the face she made and her less-than-enthusiastic response was enough to make Dawn understand why I want to get out of there so badly. 

After I got home, I dragged out the luggage and my backpack to see what I need for my vacation. Packed most of my clothes, my underwear, and the coloring book, crossword book, and pencil bag with crayons and pencils I keep for the train ride. Watched The Scooby Doo Show while I worked. The gang get involved in "The Ozark Witch Switch" when the Mystery Machine breaks down and they're invited to stay with the Hatfields in their cabin. Apparently, a witch who once threatened to turn the family into frogs over 200 years before has appeared and is making good on her promise. The kids try to figure out what she's really after.

Watched the first half of Super Password while getting organized and making a grocery list. Dick Gautier and Constance McCashin headline the "First and a Half Annual Tournament of Losers," contestants who failed to win the big money in their first appearances and returned for another go. The Super Password match here was especially exciting, coming down to the last possible second. After the girl got "tank" in on the very last second, she certainly deserved to move forward in the tournament!

Headed out during the next commercial break. My first stop was PNC Bank to get money for my own trip. I won't have the time tomorrow. The outside ATMs were busy, so I went inside. Got my money quickly and got out. 

The Westmont Plaza was next on my list. Looked for humidifiers at Dollar Tree, but found nothing and moved on. Picked up travel-sized shaving lotion, body wash, and mouth wash at Target. Tried the Pumpkin Spice Frappucchino at Starbucks before they got overrun with teenagers on lunch break. Not bad. At least it did taste like pumpkin. Bought bagged caramelized mixed nuts, lemon raspberry dried mangoes (they were really good!), white-chocolate macadamia nut cookies on clearance, and Olipop and Poppi soda at Sprouts. Went back to Target when I couldn't find any cake mixes on the shelves for a decent price. Their boxes of yellow cake mix looked like Godzilla sat on them, so I went with vanilla.

Found a treat sitting on the steps when I got home. I saw the FedEx truck come down the road even as I went to run errands. Yes, that two-disc special edition Headquarters album I bought from Rhino almost two weeks ago finally arrived! It was supposed to come on Wednesday but apparently got stuck in North Jersey. When I saw on the tracking page this morning that it was in Barrington, I knew it would come today.

But first, I wanted to try a recipe I found in my Taste of Home Baking Book. They had a very simple peach crisp that only called for butter, peaches, cake mix, coconut, and pecans. I wanted some friends to try it and I didn't know if they liked nuts, so I left them out. The original recipe listed canned peaches...but perish the thought! I wouldn't insult my baked goods with canned fruit. I still had a bunch of peaches from the farm market and Acme, so I cut up those (including one with a bad spot). It came out of the oven looking like nothing had been done to it, other than the toasted coconut on top...but when I mixed it and tried it, it was delicious, like a peach dump cake.

Watched Blazing Saddles while the crisp was in the oven. Nefarious attorney general Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) tries to drive settlers out of the town of Rock Ridge when the railroad reroutes through them and he realizes the town will be worth millions. He encourages the Governor (Mel Brooks) to hire Bart (Cleavon Little) to be the town's sheriff. Bart being African-American doesn't sit well with pretty much anyone anywhere in the West but The Waco Kid (Gene Wilder), who draws so fast, no one can see him do it. 

Hedley first sends his henchman Mongo (Alex Karras) to attack Bart, then Lily Von Shtupp (Madeline Kahn) to seduce him. Bart is so darn charming and such a nice guy, Mongo ends up becoming his friend, and Lily falls head-over-heels for him. Hedley still wants that land, but Bart is one step ahead of him. The West...and the Warners lot...aren't big enough for the two of them, even as Bart shows everyone that anyone can be a hero no matter what they look like.

One of Mel Brooks' best spoofs and one of the funniest movies of the 1970's, this one digs hard into western cliches and the treatment of African-Americans and others in action films. The title song was even nominated for an Oscar. If you love Brooks, westerns, or any of the cast, you'll want to whip out that bowl o'beans and make music with this one. 

Worked on updating the inventory after that. Finished the C titles with a collection of the Ethel Merman and Dinah Shore Call Me Madam albums, the original Can-Can and Chicago with Gwen Verdon, A Chorus Line, City of Angels, Company, the full London stage version of Copacabana, and Crazy for You. I've had some of these for decades. Can-Can was a birthday gift to me from Mom in 1993 (along with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band). I bought Copacabana from Vibrations, the now-defunct music store in North Cape May, sometime in the late 90's. City of Angels and Chicago go so far back, I have no clue where they came from anymore.

Broke for dinner and Match Game '74. For some reason, Buzzr jumped way ahead to the end of the next year. By this point, Gary Burghoff had temporarily replaced Charles Nelson Reilly while he was directing a play in New York. He got to have his own fun, like when he took off his shirt after getting a question wrong, or when he shyly read a question about what he smells on Brett.

I was watching the show when, while admiring the red and blue translucent vinyl discs for Headquarters, I had a hard time putting them back in their sleeves and accidentally knocked over my Olipop Banana Cream soda all over my table, my chair, and the rug on the floor! I had to dump everything on the wood floor and wipe down whatever got spilled on. The place mats I use to prevent scratches ended up in the laundry basket.

Finished the night with Headquarters. This is the result of the infamous confrontation between Mike Nesmith and their original producer Don Kirchner to be allowed to play their own music...and sorry Don, but the guys were right. This album is a lot of fun, from the playful spoken-word goofiness of "Zilch" and "Band 6" to Micky's sweet "I'll Spend My Life With You" and two of Mike's best songs, "You Told Me" and "Sunny Girlfriend." There's two songs on there I'd never heard before, a decent Mike version of his own "The Girl That I Knew Somewhere" and a new one from Micky and Mike, "Gotta Give It Time." I'm not as fond of the version of "She Hangs Out" here, though, which is too slow and sappy for such a cute song. 

Welcome to the Squares

Began a gloomy morning with breakfast and Rio. I go further into this 2011 hit about two macaws looking for her freedom and his owner at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Animation Celebration Saturday - Rio 

By the time Rio ended and I was heading out to work, it was showering at a pretty good clip. I ended up calling Uber. The one going there arrived in 9 minutes; I got the one going home in 6. No trouble anywhere, with traffic or getting to the Acme. Got in with just enough time to pick up medicine before work.

Work started out quiet, but it picked up around 1 and would be off and on for the rest of the day. The weather probably scared everyone off. Though the sun did try to come out at about 3 PM, it was mostly humid, cloudy, and cool. It even rained again briefly, though not hard like it did in the morning. I did have to put away cold items a few times when I was trying to sweep or do the carts, but there were otherwise no problems. Picked up M&M cookies with an online coupon on the way out.

Soon as I got home, I opened one of my two Amazon orders. (I'll open the other tomorrow.) I'm so glad they're finally putting more soundtracks from the Peanuts specials on vinyl! I splurged and picked up It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown, which was just released last month. Actually, despite the title, it really seems like a collection of themes from various specials, including You're In Love, Charlie Brown. I'll still be looking for more Peanuts vinyl in the future. Amazon has the release for You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown listed for next month, and I'd love to pick up Great Pumpkin and A Boy Named Charlie Brown, too. (And if these do well, I have my fingers crossed that we'll get Easter Beagle and the Valentine's specials somewhere along the line.) 

Finished the night after a shower with dinner and tonight's YouTube game show marathon. Match Game took a backseat tonight as Match Game Productions honored the late Peter Marshall with some of the most famous existing episodes of Hollywood Squares. The earliest existing episode features Marshall's lovely sister Joanne Drew and Rose-Marie protesting being left out of Peter's reference to "beautiful girls." Buddy Hackett was the center square in an infamous 1968 episode where he surprised himself by being right about a question on where the most doctors come from. 

By the early 70's, Paul Lynde had taken over as permanent resident of the center square. His seemingly off-the-cuff quips may have been scripted, but that didn't make them less hilarious. His most famous may have been his response to Peter's question about teeth that stuck out - "Look who's talking, Beaver Face!" The rest of the panel ran with it, making beaver jokes for the rest of the episode. He could be even funnier on the occasional Storybook Squares episodes. I've seen the ones where he played Frankenstein and Atilla the Hun, but the later "Hollywood Squares Party" episode with Mel Brooks as his Native Chief character from Blazing Saddles and Lynde as the world's least-likely Musketeer is new to me. 

Peter had one last blaze of glory on Squares. He finally got the chance to sit in the center square during the 2002 game show week of the late 90's-early 2000's Squares revival. Tom Bergeron stepped down on the only available episode and let Peter ask the questions...and Peter rolled right into it as if he'd never stopped, with a panel that included Jim Lange, Jimmie Walker, and Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers sitting together for the last time. 

You won't be square if you check out the very best from the Master of the Squares himself!

Peter Marshall Tribute - Featuring The Best of Hollywood Squares (1967-2003)

The Second Time Around

Began a sunny, hazy morning with breakfast and the Warner Bros Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation set. All of the shorts on the disc were nominated for awards, but didn't win. In some cases, like the Speedy Gonzales vehicle "Tobasco Road" and Tom and Jerry's "Jerry's Cousin" and "Hatch Up Your Troubles," I can understand why they didn't win. They're not bad, but they're also not that much different from the usual shorts featuring the characters. "Touche, Pussy Cat!" probably falls into this category as well, but I always did love the Tom and Jerry swashbuckler spoofs. Hanna and Barbara had a great time with the Musketeer gags in all of those shorts.

Other shorts were more worthy of the nomination. "Good Will To Men" from 1955 is the remake of the 1938 anti-war parable "Peace On Earth." A grandfather mouse explains to his mousling choir how humans kept warring until there was nothing left of them. Mice eventually found their bible and decided to give up such horrible violence. It's a harrowing and sad short, apparently the last put out by producer Fred Quimby, and likely one of the darkest made during the studio era. 

"High Note" was more fun. One of the notes in "The Blue Danube" gets so drunk, the conductor note has to chase him to get him back in his proper place on the scale. It's hilarious what they manage to do with one little note! Dreamy little boy Ralph Phillips makes his first appearance in "From A to Zzzz." Bored at school, he imagines himself as everything from a cowboy to a deep-sea diver to General Douglas MacArthur. Chuck Jones had a lot of fun with Ralph's wacky imagination here. I especially love him playing around with the numbers on the blackboard! 

"Nelly's Folly" was entirely new to me. A giraffe with a beautiful voice is discovered by a hunter and becomes a sensation. She quickly grows bored with fame and gets into an affair with a giraffe in the zoo. After the ensuing scandal ends her career, she finally admits she belongs in the jungle and returns home. 

Watched a bit of Classic Concentration while I quickly had lunch and made a grocery list. It was worth catching the first half just to see Alex Trebek in a Santa Claus suit! He kept complaining about trying to position the beard and mustache over his actual mustache and that his belly got in the way. 

Hurried off to my doctor's appointment next. On one hand, Madison and Dr. Jessica said everything besides my blood pressure is fine. My blood work and mammogram came out negative. However, my blood pressure, while not as high as two weeks ago, is still higher than it should be, and Dr. Jessica claims I have depression. 

I'm not keen on taking any kind of medication at all. I don't trust chemicals. I'll take the high blood pressure if I have to, but I still see no point in taking medication for depression. I just need to find a real passion, something I can get into and work towards. I just wish I knew what that was. Maybe I'd have an easier time finding a job if I really had an idea of what I was into, or how I can turn my reading and writing and weird interests into a real career. 

I also need to start getting to sleep earlier. I get so caught up online, I often stay up as late as 5 AM! I can't help it. I start reading one thing, and then I see something else that interests me, and then something else...and before I know it, it's three hours later. 

I left the doctor's office feeling as low as I could. Took the long way through Collingswood to try to cheer myself up a bit. At least the traffic wasn't bad on Cuthbert, and there was no one out and about on the streets at 2:30. Had no trouble getting to the Westmont Acme, not even on Cuthbert.

There were other things I wanted to do today, so I limited the grocery shopping to the Acme today. Mostly needed yogurt and granola bars. The latter weren't on sale, but there were no good sales on the low sugar and salt bars I like. I did have online coupons for the Acme's bagged brownie cookies. Their bags of low-salt almonds and cashews weren't on sale either, but they're the cheapest I've seen bagged nuts anywhere. 

Went straight home after that, then went back out for that walk Dr. Jessica recommended...and because it wasn't a bad day for one. Though it remains killer humid, it wasn't quite as warm, probably into the upper 80's. I hiked down the steps and into a quiet Newton Lake Park. Most people were coming home from work at 4:30. It wasn't much busier on the White Horse Pike as I headed down that way, or in the neighborhood. At least everything looks a lot greener now. The yards are doing much better; the gardens burst with purple, yellow, blue, and white Technicolor blooms.

After I got home, I put on Darling Lili while having an early dinner. I go further into this World War I romance with Julie Andrews as a very unlikely German spy at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Cult Flops - Darling Lili

Did some more organizing during the second half of the film. My other Amazon Day purchase was a larger CD book. The animated movies were transferred to the large silver book, and the dramas and thrillers to the smaller hot pink one. That should be the last of the DVD organizing I need to do, but I do eventually intend to move the CDs to books, too. There's too many of them for the binders.

Finished the night after a shower with jazz and soundtrack albums while working on my review. Darling Lili was far from Henry Mancini's first film score. High Time is a comedy from 1960 with Bing Crosby as a widower who returns to college at age 51 and gets more than an education from the young people there. I presumed it was a musical. It's not, but it did introduce the standard "The Second Time Around," which is really more associated with Frank Sinatra. 

I'm not sure if you'd call what I have on my vintage Verve set The Essential Count Basie, but there are some good numbers here that I don't have elsewhere. "Jumping at the Woodside," "Blee Blop Blues," "April In Paris," and "All Right, Ok, You Win" are the standouts here. 

Rockin' the Heat

Began a sunny morning with breakfast and Laff-a-Lympics. Considering it got up to 100 here today, the contestants were lucky to start at the "North Pole." Daisy Mayhem's sled being pulled by her huge pig and the Teen Angels pulling Captain Caveman made at least some sense, but Yakky Doodle pulling Grape Ape seems like a recipe for disaster...until the big purple primate lends a hand. Quick Draw and the Doggie pair did their best with igloo-building, and despite the Rottens' cheating, it was good enough for first. The Yogis also dodged the Rottens and their messes long enough to win in the Pontoon race in "Tahiti." Shaggy and Scooby prove why they'd later enter a sand-castle building contest in What's New, Scooby Doo? with their winning entry. 

Spent most of the next few hours starting the rock collections inventory. These are anthologies of mostly rock music from the 50's through the 80's by various artists. I don't have as many of them as I do the regular rock albums from individual artists, but they tend to be 2 to 4 disc sets and take longer to type. I haven't had these for nearly as long, either. Most of them came from thrift shops, yard sales, or the local record stores. 

Watched Half a Sixpence as I worked. I go further into this long but charming vehicle for British pop star Tommy Steele at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews Blog.

Cult Flops - Half a Sixpence

Broke for lunch after the movie ended. Watched Super Password as I worked. Buzzr continues its "Christmas In July" theme with new-to-them episodes that aired around Christmas 1988. Pat Harrington of One Day at a Time and Ilene Graff of Mr. Belvedere helped people guess words and admired the nifty decorations that had jewel-colored glass balls against white frosted trees. 

Headed out around 6 PM. I wanted to get out and stretch my legs for a while. By that point, it was still pretty warm, but nothing close to what it had been during the heat of the day. Stopped briefly at Dollar General for a Gatorade and a roll of regular birthday wrapping paper, then went down the Black Horse Pike to Newton Lake Park. It was past quarter of 7 when I hurried past the Collingswood High School. Between the heat and the dinner hour, the only people I saw outside were a teen girl out for her own walk and what I suspect was a little league team getting some practice in on Collingswood High's fields now that it wasn't quite so hot. 

Went straight into dinner and Match Game Syndicated when I got home. Some of the episodes they showed today were among the craziest of the syndicated run. Charles arrived at the studio on roller skates in one episode. Brett and Fannie turned up wearing blonde wigs in another, and everyone but Charles and Brett changed seats. Poor Eva Gabor put up an umbrella indoors because the fan over her was leaking oil in the last episode of the night.

At this point, I also opened one of my two purchases from Amazon Prime Day. Yeah, I broke down and bought the same pink and white New Balances I had two years ago for work. They were $50, not bad for New Balance, and I can never find the ones I like in South Jersey. 

Finished the night after a much-needed shower with vintage children's records. The Care Bears' Adventures In Care-a-Lot is a basic story about the Bears helping a lonely child who has been forgotten on his birthday. In the negative column, this has the same problem as the previous Introducing the Care Bears with the Bears' (or their voice actors) not being even remotely decent singers. It does make up for it with some mildly catchy songs, including "Hall of Hearts," "Make a Wish," and "We All Count On Each Other." Nifty cover art too, depicting the bears in their cloud kingdom home and designed to resemble the Bears' greeting card art of the time. 

(There's also the fact that this holds sentimental value. My sisters and I owned a copy of this record and played it constantly through the mid-80's.)

We did have a Strawberry Shortcake album when I was a kid, but Strawberry Shortcake Sweet Songs wasn't it. I bought this to hear their covers of such sugar-related tunes as "Over the Rainbow," "Sugar Sugar," and "Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows." The thin story gets around the voice actors' lack of singing talent by having the songs performed by others.

Although the Tale Spinners for Children version of Treasure Island was condensed to fit an hour record, it otherwise came across very well. They even retained some of the darker elements, like Billy Bones' death and all the violence in the second half. The actors playing Long John Silver and Captain Smollett are especially good. I enjoyed this far more than the shorter version on that Peter Pan record I found a while back.

Action-Packed Harts

Began the morning with breakfast and The Busy World of Richard Scarry. There's "No Time for Bananas" when Bananas Gorilla gets a crush on a lovely ape actress. He thinks bananas are the perfect gift, but she doesn't agree! "Sneef In India" takes on a fortune teller who has stolen a fortune in jewels from an elephant rajah. "Sally Cat's First Trip" will be visiting her cousin Lilly by plane. She's nervous at first, until the stewardess who takes care of her turns out to be really sweet despite her intimidating appearance.

Headed out to work after that. No trouble there! It was cloudy, cool, and windy all morning, but the clouds didn't really amount to much besides looking gloomy. By the time it started getting busier, I was an hour from being done for the day. Swept the store and pushed carts with no trouble whatsoever.

Got my schedule during my break. In good news, four days off, one of them Saturday. I'll get to see Collingswood's big May Fair. However, I don't have nearly enough time when I do work. I'm surprised they don't want me to do all of Memorial Day Weekend.

Did some grocery shopping next. I got really lucky. The generic light popcorn I bought a while back was on clearance. I bought two boxes. Mr. Beast bagged oatmeal cookies were on clearance as well. Had online coupons for Chobani Yogurt, Made Good granola bars, and that Olipop soda. (Tried the Barbie Peaches & Cream today). The Cara Cara Oranges weren't on sale, but they weren't a bad price. The only things I bought that weren't on sale in one way or another were the bagels for lunch this week and the baby carrots. I even got garlic cheese spread from the deli for free with another online coupon.

Went straight home after that. Watched Super Password while I got organized. Lauri Hendler of Gimmie a Break and Pat Sajack were the celebrities that week. I did get to hear Lauri announce she was leaving the show at the end of the current season (which she did, if memory serves me correctly) before I went downstairs to pump my tires again.

Switched to The Persuaders! while doing job searching. The dead son of a wealthy household arrives to "Take Seven" million from the beautiful daughter (Sinead Cusack) who had been there for years. She gets Brett and Danny to help...but when they're followed by a detective, they realize that there's more to this than siblings squabbling over an inheritance. 

"Greensleeves" is a beautiful old manor that's recently been restored, to the surprise of its owner Brett. He discovers people who claim to be MI5 agents there and passes himself off as an actor recruited to play him. Danny comes along as his butler. Turns out it's all a ruse to get an African leader to give up the vast nickel deposits in his country.

Danny and Brett are competing at waterskiing when they discover a beautiful girl in a wig who had been drowned. Their search for who did this leads them to an annoying cop who isn't interested in the case and to an old businessman (Bernard Lee) and his ruthless wife. He's not what he seems, however. Brett and Danny will have to get past the wife and her lover to expose them as the real masterminds behind the "Powerswitch."

I'd been waiting all day for my newest project to arrive. The Wild Wild West came in a large container with DVDs layered over spokes. They were badly organized; if you wanted to get at later discs, you'd have to remove several. The Vega$ and Good Times complete series sets were in cheap paper holders. Though The Persuaders! was in a smaller case, it too had overlapping discs. I moved them all to a bright blue DVD holder I picked up from Amazon last night, along with the home-made Happy Days seasons 7 - 11 discs Lauren sent me for Christmas. 

Worked on writing for a bit after I finished. Mother Nature explains that her son is the product of her having fallen in love with a human several years before. The man has since passed away, but her son survives. He's also a victim of Lady Jacqueline, who is in charge of winter and doesn't see why she should stop being in charge because it's time for the seasons to change...or why there should be any change at all. 

Broke for dinner and Match Game '78 around quarter after 7. They're really skipping around. They started on the week with Helaine Lembeck before heading into former baseball player Joe Garagiola's only week on the show. Also new that week was a nifty but short-lived camera angle that gave us more of a bird's eye-view of the panelists. 

Finished the night at Tubi with the pilot episode of Hart to Hart. Millionaire Johnathan Hart (Robert Wagner) is shocked when a poker buddy of his seemingly commits suicide on the way home from a health spa. He checks into the spa in the hope of finding out what's going on. Turns out his wife Jennifer (Stephanie Powers) had the same idea, only she's investigating the death for her newspaper. Jennifer befriends a neurotic movie star (Jill St. John) who is taking a strange "anxiety therapy." When she dies too, Johnathan begins to suspect that the heads of the spa (Stella Stevens and Roddy McDowell) have more than their client's health in mind. 

Rainy Day Games

Began a gloomy morning with breakfast and Green Eggs and Ham. Sam does manage to rescue Pam from the sharks during "Three Days of the Mom-dor." His grateful mother allows him to join her, but regrets it when they attend a fancy party and she realizes that the words "Sam" and "blend in" don't belong in the same sentence. She manages to catch up to her rival Trousers and his partner Marilyn Blouse (Gwendolyn Christie). Sam thinks he's gotten the substance they're taking to Yookia from them, but they're one step ahead of him. Meanwhile, E.B explores Dookia and meets a handsome boy, Looka (Darren Criss) at the wall that separates Yookia and Dooka. She's not supposed to talk to Yookians, but she can't help but wonder why the countries are separated...

It was raining hard when I got up this morning, and it hadn't abated by the time I left for work. Unfortunately, I not only had a hard time finding Uber drivers, they took forever to arrive. The ones going there and home were over 12 minutes, and I was late getting to work. 

For all that, work wasn't busy. Many people may have done their shopping over the weekend or were avoiding the weather. It picked up a little later in the afternoon, but was never overwhelming. It helped that the rain slowed down by noon, too. By the time I finished, it had ended all together, though it would remain cloudy and chilly for the rest of the day.

Changed and had a snack when I got home, then opened two early eBay birthday presents to myself. With rumors flying around that the American Girl historical line is going to be revamped again later this year, I figured it was time to finally buy the last item from the previous revamp in 2014 that I wanted and could afford. 

When the historical dolls were branded as "BeForever" that August, all but Kaya came in new outfits. I picked up Samantha's and Josefina's when they came out and Felicity's about two years ago. Molly's wasn't around for long and is now hard to find for a decent price, but I wanted Julie's for Ariel. It's a really cute flower-print tank top and bell-bottom jeans with a yellow crocheted vest. I actually like Julie and Samantha's 2014 meet outfits better than their originals. 

I wanted the full soundtrack for Easter Parade after the LP version proved to be a disappointment. I poked around eBay and came up with a Judy Garland CD lot that included not only the soundtrack for Easter Parade, but also the ones for For Me and My Gal and A Star Is Born, three Garland pop recording collections (including a rare four-disc set from Japan), and the soundtrack from her Christmas special (which I already have and will be donating to Goodwill). Picked up the entire pile for $28 with shipping. The Japanese import alone probably cost more than that.

After all that excitement, I went down for a nap. I got up early, had a long weekend, and will be having an even longer week. I snuggled under the covers around quarter of three and was woken up by Karen confirming us getting together on Thursday at 1 around quarter after 4. 

Next up, I took the laundry downstairs and pulled out my warm-weather clothes. It's going to be chilly this week, but we'll be in the 60's by next week. It'll likely be a while before I need the corduroys or turtlenecks again. I think Mother Nature is done with cold weather until next fall. I still need good summer clothes. I have one skirt and one good blouse. Also want to pick up a few more solid-colored, short-sleeved t-shirts. 

Listened to records while I put the laundry in the dryer, then brought it upstairs. The film version of Sweet Charity came out in 1969 as Bob Fosse's first directorial effort. Shirley MacLaine is perfect as the sweet taxi dancer who is ever-hopeful that the right guy is just around the corner. Sammy Kaye is her boss, Chita Rivera is one of her fellow dancers, and Sammy Davis Jr. is the guru for a hippie-esque religious cult Charity's latest boyfriend is involved in. "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" is especially dynamic, and Davis Jr. steals the recording with the otherwise-extraneous "Rhythm of Life." 

Rupert Holmes' She Lets Her Hair Down came out in 1981, though it was apparently recorded in 1969. That would explain the different feel on songs like the title number and "The World Doesn't Matter Anymore." I especially liked the "name" songs, "Sandra," "Robin's World," and "I Wonder What Happened to Sally." 

Had a quick dinner while watching Match Game '90. It's a tad early for the Halloween episode, but that's probably the single best episode of the entire 90-91 series. You have Charles Nelson Reilly (as Superman with absurd inflatable muscles) sitting next to Brett Somers for the last time, Vicki Lawrence at her most acidic making jokes about her short Little Red Riding Hood outfit, and a close game. Ronn Lucas and his dragon puppet Scorch definitely win for most creative costume, though!

If the Halloween show is the best single episode of the 90-91 run, than the Veteran's Day shows were the best full week. ABC had Marines in the audience and playing the game, and they had a great time either way. They were especially besotted with beautiful soap stars Karen Wittier and Fiona Hutchinson, cheering every answer they gave, good and bad. Charles, Ronn, and Scorch are joined by Jo Anne Worley and Bruce Baum (for once not coming off too annoying). 

Finished the night at YouTube after a shower with episodes of Hollywood Squares in honor of April Fool's Day and Peter Marshall's 98th birthday on Saturday. Squares actually dates back to The Celebrity Game, Heatter-Quigley's attempt to imitate the Goodson-Todman panel games. Two contestants have to vote on how nine celebrities will answer a certain question. This version was a little dull and didn't make it out of 1964.

Heatter-Quigley retooled it two years later as The Hollywood Squares. They kept the nine celebrities and two contestants, but now the celebrities are on a giant tic-tac-toe board and have to give an answer to a multiple-choice question. The contestants need to figure out if they're telling the truth, or are bluffing. If they guess correctly, they win the square, If they miss, the other contestant has to guess their own question. If they get it, they can get the square. One celebrity is a "secret square" that has an extra prize. Capturing that square will win the prize.

Bert Parks was the host in the pilot seen here, but he was never seriously considered for the show. Actor and singer Peter Marshall got the job (apparently to spite his rival Dan Rowan), and would pretty much be associated with it for the rest of his career. The freewheeling spirit of fellow comedy show Match Game proved to be a little too unwieldy with nine celebrities, so most of their banter was scripted, or at least prepared beforehand. 

That suited its most famous center square occupant Paul Lynde just fine. Lynde wasn't a fan of improv, but he could put across a witty scripted zinger like nobody's business. Other celebrities who made frequent appearances in the late 60's and 70's included folksy Charley Weaver, mild-manned Wally Cox, erudite Vincent Price, sweet Karen Valentine, goofy Morey Amsterdam, and acerbic Rose-Marie. The network version ran until 1980; the syndicated show ended in 1981. It was so popular that in 1969, there was a short-lived Saturday-morning children's version, Storybook Squares, with everyone in costume. 

I'm more familiar with the later syndicated Squares. I'm pretty sure I saw the mid-80's John Davidson-hosted Squares on USA as a kid, and I know I watched the 90's-early 2000's Tom Bergeron Squares in college. Joan Rivers was the headliner on the 80's version, which ran until 1989. Whoopi Goldberg started out as the producer and center square of the late 90's show. After she left around 2002, a variety of celebrities filled the center square for the last two years. 

I used to love Hollywood Squares in college. It was so much fun to watch all those celebrities in one place, tossing out classic quips. I'd flip back and forth between Jeopardy! and Squares at 7 PM, then would settle on Wheel of Fortune at 7:30. Whoopi's version has frankly dated a bit better (it even has its own streaming channel now), but both are worth checking out for Squares fans.

(The most recent versions of Squares have been more for niche audiences. Two separate runs of Hip-Hop Squares in 2012 and 2015 and Nashville Squares from 2019 seem to be hard to find today. The current version, Celebrity Squares on BET, apparently returns to rap for its celebrity base.)

You won't be square if you spend your April Fool's Day checking out some of the wackiest fools to ever put over a bluff!

The Celebrity Game (1964)

Hollywood Squares Pilot (1966)

Hollywood Squares (1968)

Storybook Squares (1969)

Hollywood Squares Syndicated (1972)

Hollywood Squares Daytime Finale (1980)

Hollywood Squares (1986)

Hollywood Squares (1998)

Of course, Hollywood Squares is hardly the only comedy game show around. Match Game Productions put out this short marathon of shows filmed on April Fool's Day in 1976 and 1991 tonight as well.

Match Game April Fool's Day Episodes

Springtime Matches

Started off the morning with breakfast and a pair of animated spring specials on YouTube. I go further into the Easter tale Peter and the Magic Egg and the last Berenstain Bears special, The Berenstain Bears Play Ball, at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Spring Short Subject Special - Peter and the Magic Egg & The Berenstain Bears Play Ball

Hurried out to work right as Play Ball ended. Spent most of a busy afternoon pushing carts. The head bagger kept ending up in a register or going in for someone's break, so I was alone for most of the afternoon. I have no idea who won the hot dog eating contest. I had to sweep when it was going on. Oh, and as it turned out, they just had leftover hot dogs in the back. Despite the flyer saying people could bring sides, no one brought any. 

(I also found out why I got so many hours next week. Eight people took off for Easter break, including the head bagger. I do want to take my birthday weekend off in two weeks, but I'm mostly going to wait until Lauren visits in June for long vacations.) 

It was sunny and windy when I rode to work. Silvery clouds moved in around 1:30. It showered lightly off and on for the rest of the day. Thankfully, the rain held off as I hurried home, though it remained a bit windy and chilly.

Soon as I got in, I took a shower, then cut up what I could salvage of the strawberry loaf cake and brought that and dinner upstairs. Watched tonight's Match Game marathon while I ate. Tonight, we saw some of the biggest winners ever on the syndicated nighttime show. And considering the contestants could win up to $21,000, there were some big winners. 

Bill Daily actually managed to come up a winner twice later in the series, once with a $20,000. He was so excited about it! One contestant told Richard she wanted four kisses for her and her family. He gave her those four kisses, then dipped her for one more! Gene's crack to a Japanese-American man who was in World War II would have gotten him into more trouble nowadays. Joey Bishop was a little annoyed in 1976 that a contestant who claimed she wanted money to fly home actually lived in Burbank, where the show was filmed.

See who came up a big winner this Easter weekend in this wild marathon! 

Match Game Saturday Classics - Match Game PM Best Big Wins

My second Amazon package arrived while I was upstairs. Yes, my new record player came! I love it. It's bright red and has shiny chrome trim and cool vintage knobs for the volume and to turn it off and on. I had to turn it sideways to get it where the old one was, but other than that, it's awesome. I also bought a new record set to play on it, which arrived yesterday. If you can believe it, at press time there is a musical version of Back to the Future on Broadway and in London. Considering how big those movies were in my childhood, I had to hear it. I gave the old record player to a friend who says her daughter now collects records.

Lawrence Welk and his musical family also had big Easter parties this weekend. Their '69 show started with everyone singing "A Tisket, a Tasket" in a yellow basket. Then-popular country singer Charley Pride joins in as Cissy King and Bobby Burgess dances a bunny hop in rather goofy costumes. Norma Zimmer and Jimmy Roberts are waiting "After the Shower Is  Done," while Roberts leads the "Easter Parade." A very pregnant Jo Anne Castle is a female Easter bunny playing "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" while fellow bunny Arthur Duncan taps along.

1978 began with the Easter parade in Victorian costumes. Bobby and Cissy do "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" in fancy dress here. Kathie Sullivan reminds everyone why we'll be worshipping "Next Sunday Morning." Ken Delo has more fun with "It's a Lovely Day Today." Anacani gets "This Little Light of Mine," while Arthur's tap number is "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise." 

Anacani and Delo get my favorite number from the 1980 Easter episode. Anacani's an adorably hilarious little girl singing "Peter Cottontail" while Easter Bunny Delo hides the eggs in the background. We also get a nice "Tip Toe Through the Tulips" with Jack Imel and Mary Lou Metzinger, while trumpeter Bobby Zell gives us the instrumental jazz solo "My Tribute." Burgess encores "Sunday Clothes" with his new partner Elaine Niverson. 

Celebrate Easter with your family and Lawrence Welk's!

Easter Show - 1969

Easter Show - 1978

Easter Show - 1980

And here's even more vintage holiday specials to tide you over until it's time to find the eggs!

A Family Circus Easter

The Fat Albert Easter Special

Buttons and Rusty and the Easter Bunny (A Chucklewood Easter)

Madeline - Just In Time For Easter

The Tale of the Bunny Picnic

Easter Egg Mornin'

Greatest Adventure Stories From the Bible: The Easter Story

The Pink Panther - The Easter Panther

Thumpkin and the Easter Bunny

Veggie Tales - An Easter Carol

The Smurfs' Springtime

The Jack Rabbit Story

Follow That Bunny!

Come On Down for Christmas

Started off the morning with breakfast and Alice's Wonderland Bakery. Alice, Hattie the Mad Hatter, and Alice's sentient cookbook Cookie have been invited to the Queen of Hearts' big Christmas dinner! Fergie the White Rabbit is disappointed when he's not included. Alice finally decides she'd rather be with her best friend and declines to go. When the Mome Raths invade the castle, there might not be a dinner. Alice and all of Wonderland finally build "The Gingerbread Palace" as a place where everyone, no matter who they are, can have Christmas dinner together...Mome Raths included.

Mom called during the cartoon. We chatted for nearly 40 minutes. Mom got their box yesterday. Aurora loved her new stuffed puppy. Keefe and Julia loved their Amazon gift card. Apparently, they're big Amazon shoppers. While I won't be able to get green boots - they're out of them in 8 1/2 - I will be able to get gray, and that's ok, too. Good boots are good boots. Oh, and Mom said that Rose and Craig's Thanksgiving trip went badly. They stayed in an Airbnb, and it was lovely but cost a bundle. Driving during the holiday was a pain, too. I'll have to text Rose, but it sounds like they'll be here for Christmas again. 

Grabbed my little cart and headed out after I talked to Mom. Not only am I not sure my wrist is up to a bike ride yet, but I intended to buy too much to carry on the bike anyway. The Westmont Acme isn't that far, a 20 minute or so walk from where I am. It was too gorgeous not to cut through the park. It was sunny, breezy, and in the upper 50's-lower 60's, ridiculously warm for mid-December. I dodged people walking their dogs and their children and out for strolls.

The Westmont Acme was really busy, too. Not a good thing, as I had a lot of shopping to do. I'll be making Christmas cookies and fudge starting Monday. I stocked up on flour, coconut, butter, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, dark and semi-sweet chocolate chips, mint and vanilla extracts, evaporated milk, ground ginger, yellow cake mix, and baking soda. Needed granola bars, yogurt, grapes, and mozzarella cheese balls to snack on. Found red velvet cake bites and a bag of bagels on the bakery clearance racks. Treated myself to a container of coconut milk eggnog.

Walked home through the park as well, this time pulling my full cart up the hill and past the Haddon Township Environmental and Historical Center. It's winter in all but name and temperature in South Jersey now. The trees have long been bare; gardens are empty except for trimmed bushes. Brown leaves crunched underfoot as I made my way up the hill.

Went straight into I Believe In Santa Claus as I ate lunch and got organized. I go further into this bizarre 1984 French musical fantasy at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Family Fun Saturday - I Believe In Santa Claus (J'ai Recontre Le Pere Noel)

Watched A Christmas Story next. It's Christmas 1940 in small-town Indiana, and all Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsly) wants is a Red Ryder Range Model Air Rifle (with a compass and a stock and this thing which tells time). Everyone in the universe seemingly conspires against Ralphie getting this much-coveted gift. His mother (Melinda Dillon) doesn't like guns to begin with, his teacher Mrs. Shields (Tedde Moore) gives him a low grade when he writes about it in a school assignment, and his father (Darren McGavin) seems to be too involved with his "Major Award" and battles with the furnace and the neighborhood dogs to notice much else. Not to mention, Ralphie may not survive childhood pitfalls like bullies, cursing in front of parents, or radio shows that turn out to be commercials to make it to Christmas Day!

One of the funniest - and most realistic - movies ever made about the holidays. I grew up in New Jersey in the 80's and 90's with two sisters and a brother, a working mom, and a stepdad who was more of a motorcycle man, and I can still relate to so much of this. From kids hiding under the sink when they're upset to the infamous tongue-on-the-pole-triple-dog-dare incident, there will more than likely be at least one thing you can relate to here, too. Don't wait until the 24-hour marathon on Christmas Day to check this comedy classic out.

Let the DVD run into the Muppet special Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas. Emmett and his ma are facing a bare Christmas until friends tell them about a talent show on Christmas Eve. Emmett and his friends form a jug band, while Ma sings a folk ballad solo. The winners of the contest end up being a suprise, but Ma and Emmett wind up getting something even better afterwards.

Switched to Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol next. I went further into this classic 1962 special at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog in December 2019.

Animation Celebration Saturday - Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol

Finally finished the fairy tale while all of these were on. Stephen is elated when Charelton recognizes him. Better yet, so do his men, who have come looking for him and Cora. They help the duo back to the castle, where Stephen recovers. He and Cora agree to postpone the wedding in order to properly court and get to know each other better. They repeal the heavy taxes Harron placed on the kingdom, give the food from his wild parties to the poor, and spend time in book stores and the antique shops together. The dog from the fortress becomes their pet; the lion is returned to Africa. Stephen's guards search the rubble and find bones, blood, and bits of fabric, confirming that Harron did not survive the one-two punch of a lion attack and the fortress coming down on him. 

When they do finally get married, it's quietly in the garden, with just Cora's parents and a few trusted servants surrounding them...and they, their kingdom, and their dog live happily ever after.

That took me a little while, but I think it came out pretty well. I'll likely return to Nutcracker Blank for the remainder of the holiday season. If I can finish it by mid-late January, great. If not, I'll pick it up again next year. For right now, here's my unnamed original fairy tale!

Fairy Tale, Part 1

Fairy Tale, Part 2

Fairy Tale, Part 3

Had dinner while watching Tattletales when I got home and got organized. These episodes were among the funniest in the entire series. Comedy writer Donald Ross somehow hosted the first question and a half of the first episode when Bert Convy showed up late. Patty Duke spent the second episode throwing out hilarious quips every time her husband John Astin gave a mismatched answer. Bill Macy is more amused by his newlywed bride Samantha Harper.

Lauren sent me one last box of presents. I opened them tonight. She found a bootleg set with the remaining five seasons of Happy Days that aren't yet on DVD on eBay. She says it's a good quality set, as she has it, too. She also bought two My Life As Walmart 18 inch doll outfits for my dolls. Whitney will get the one-shouldered dance costume. I haven't decided if Jessa or Ariel will get the windbreaker and floral sundress. Jess isn't much for dresses, but Ariel has several similar outfits. 

Finished the night at YouTube with something totally different. Match Game Productions celebrated Christmas and Bob Barker's birthday with a marathon of holiday Price Is Right episodes. It was fascinating to see how the show - and Bob - evolved over the years. The marathon began in 1980, when Bob still had dark hair and Johnny Olson was still announcing. Rod Roddy of the flashy suit jackets took over after Olson's death in 1985. Some of the Showcases that had Johnny or Rod playing Santa, with the models as little girls getting presents or sitting on their knee, were especially funny. 

Come on down and celebrate the holidays with Bob and The Price Is Right!

A Bob Barker Christmas - Featuring Episodes of The Price Is Right 1980 - 1999

Warm for the Holidays

Began the morning with breakfast and A Walt Disney Christmas. I dubbed this collection of classic Disney holiday shorts off of a very old video about a decade ago. The video came in one of the original thick white clamshell covers and began with the Scanimate Mickey Mouse silhouettes. This video is so old, it's the first time I saw "Santa's Workshop" and "Donald's Snow Fight" uncut. The others included are the charming "Once Upon a Wintertime," the other Santa Silly Symphony "The Night Before Christmas," the funny Mickey and the gang short "On Ice," and probably the most famous Disney Christmas short, "Pluto's Christmas Tree." 

Switched to Buzzr for Match Game '78 next. Today begins Buzzr's annual "Betty White Christmas" marathon. All morning and afternoon weekday programming and all weekend programming will feature Betty White in some way or the other from today through Christmas Day. Gene and the panel are more than a little nervous when a contestant announces that his wife is in the audience and is in labor! Thankfully, she's gotten to the hospital by the time of the second episode. Former baseball player Joe Garagiola doesn't appreciate the Howard Cosell jokes. Brett points out they're typical on the show.

Got my schedule at this point. In good news, three days off again next week, which I absolutely did not expect, and more hours. Sunday's seven hours, though, but I have Monday and Tuesday off after that, Tuesday for a dental appointment. Probably just as well that I only had baking and candy making planned for next week anyway along with the dentist.

Decided I would test how my wrist was on the bike today. Pumped my front tire, then went outside...before coming right back in. A box from L.L Bean for me was on the front porch. I hadn't ordered anything. It was a Christmas present from my mom, really nice boots with strong rubber soles. Alas, they were much too small. Research reveals that L.L Bean does have 8 1/2 sizes left. I do like the boots, so I'll send out the exchange next week.

(Had more luck with gifts later this evening. My second Amazon present from Lauren arrived! I got the last two seasons of Laverne & Shirley and the sixth season of Happy Days, the last season  currently available on commercial DVD.) 

Headed out even before the second episode ended. I wanted to run errands and have lunch at the Westmont Plaza before it was overrun with teenagers out of school. Started with lunch at the Westmont Bagel Shop. It was 1:30 by then, well past the lunch hour. I enjoyed a delicious, just right-sized spinach and feta omelet with hash browns and a toasted multi-grain whole wheat bagel while listening to 80's hits on their radio.

Made quick runs to Sprouts and Target next. Sprouts didn't have granola bars on sale, but they did have a good price on whole wheat flour. I bought my usual coconut milk here, too. Target was slightly busier. They didn't really have any granola bars on sale, either, but I got Make Good anyway. Bagged gala apples were a good price, and I picked up my usual bag of nuts and one yogurt for tomorrow. Stopped back at the bagel shop before I left to buy bagels for lunch this week.

Hurried out after Target, just as the kids began to arrive. It took me long enough to cross Cuthbert just as the schools finished for the day. And...I think I might hold off on the bike another week. My wrist is still sore and can't really grasp the handlebars without pain. I've been pushing carts one-handed. We'll see how I feel Wednesday. It's supposed to rain on Sunday. I may end up doing Uber that day anyway.

At least the weather was nice. In fact, it was too nice. It remained sunny, but it had jumped into the mid-50's. I was warm in my heavy coat and scarf when I ran errands!

Put on Super Password while I got organized upstairs. These episodes finish out the Lucile Ball/Ann Dusenberry/Betty White/Estelle Getty week. The first episode was particularly hilarious. The entire set was determined to be troublesome. The buzzer wouldn't work, then the slats covering the answers wouldn't move. It got kind of ridiculous after a while. The set behaved much better on the second episode. Betty White and Estelle Getty ended the week as the winners, picking up money for The Humane Society.

Moved to the original 1945 Christmas In Connecticut next. Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) is the author of a wildly popular cooking and lifestyle column that describes her adventures and recipes developed while caring for her baby on her Connecticut farm. Trouble is, it's all fiction. Elizabeth is really a city girl who can't boil water and lives in an apartment. All of her scrumptious recipes come from her good friend Felix (S.Z Sakall). 

Her house of cards comes crashing down when her boss Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet) insists on not only coming to her farm for dinner, but bringing handsome soldier Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan) with him. In desperation, she agrees to marry the dull architect John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner) who does have a farm in Connecticut. His housekeeper Norah (Una O'Connor) even takes care of babies for the local factory workers. John and Elizabeth keep trying to get married, but something always interrupts them. Not to mention, Elizabeth is starting to fall for Jefferson. After a long Christmas Eve of switching babies and runaway cows, she finally learns that honesty really is the best policy, especially where love is concerned.

Charming romantic comedy is stolen by Greenstreet and Sakall as the bosses with very different ideas on listening to their employees. A perfect cozy watch for a chilly holiday afternoon curled up at home.

The Warners DVD comes with the Oscar-winning short "A Star In the East." Master of accents J. Carrol Naish plays Tony, a hotel owner in the Arizona desert whose demanding customers have left him with a low opinion of humanity. A mysterious stranger points out that there's peace and goodwill in the heart of everyone at this time of year. Tony learns how true it is when his customers and three wandering cowboys come together to aid a Hispanic youth and his pregnant wife.

Worked on writing for a while after that. Charleton, Stephen's valet, is the first person from the castle to find Florrie's cottage. Everyone's looking for them, he tells Cora and Stephen. The wedding had to be called off until they were found. To Stephen's utter delight, he recognizes him despite his disfigurement. Turns out no one in the castle has any memory of the past few months, other than their king is going to get married. 

Broke for dinner and Match Game Syndicated. For some reason, they skipped two episodes, ending up with the last of the week with Gary Collins. Bill Daily sported a snazzy tuxedo, while North Jersey native Debralee Scott teased the male contestant about his decided lack of New York  in an answer. Bart Braverman and Robert Walden came along for the next episode as everyone complained about it being cold in the studio in the opening. (Including Brett - Robert kindly let her borrow his jacket.) Connie Stevens has less luck with "Mail __" in the Head-to-Head.

Moved to Kanopy for another holiday movie I never heard of before, the British The Holly and the Ivy from 1952. Reverend Martin Gregory (Ralph Richardson) and his children and two maiden aunts gather for a big Christmas celebration at his rectory in Norfolk. Older daughter Jenny (Celia Johnson) wants to marry an engineer (John Gregson)  who'll be leaving for South America in a month, but she also doesn't want to leave her father without care. Younger daughter Margaret (Margaret Leighton) was living in London as a writer, but recent tragedies and her lack of work have left her a bitter alcoholic. Son Michael (Denholm Elliot) is currently in the Royal Artillery, but he's not a fan of religion and questions going to college after he gets out of the services. 

They come together with no-nonsense Aunt Bridget (Maureen Delany) and dreamy Aunt Lydia (Margaret Halstan) to share Christmas dinner and morning together. During the course of the evening, old anger and resentments bubble to the surface. The three younger Gregorys see their father as formidable and fear offending him. Turns out that Martin isn't so easily offended after all, and maybe all the three Gregory children need to do is to see past their feelings on religion and remember that their father is human, and that we humans were meant to communicate with one another.

Apparently based after a hit play on the West End in 1950, this was a very sweet and simple tale of one English family learning a lot more than they ever planned on about each other during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Leighton is particularly devastating as the Gregory sibling with the most heartbreak whose city life isn't nearly as glamorous as it seems at first. This is another good cozy watch for a chilly evening.

Finished the night on YouTube with the original Rankin-Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I went further into their first major holiday special at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog in 2018. 

Animation Celebration Double Feature - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

Silence Is Golden

Overslept this morning and barely had the time to eat and rush to work! I wish I hadn't. Work was a royal pain in the rear. I'd been there for barely a half-hour when I got yelled at by an older woman who didn't think I knew what I was doing, when I was only trying to explain something to her. She just wouldn't listen. Her daughter scolded her for behaving badly, but I should know how to explain things better. 

After that, I was pulled for the next few hours to do carts. It mostly went well. It was another gorgeous day, sunny, dry, and even warmer, into the 80's. I wasn't thrilled when I had to chase a cart all the way across the shopping center, though. I was told someone abandoned one of the electric carts by the building with America's Best and Pep Boys. It wasn't there. It was behind that building, between the former Golden Corral building and the back exit, closer to the Pizza Hut/Taco Bell. That's all the way over at the very end of the mall area! It took me forever to get that poky thing back; I was late with my break by the time I did. And I ended up back in the express line because another bagger arrived.

Had some grocery shopping to do after work. Berries are on sale; went with blueberries. Grabbed some coconut milk, too. It's been a long time since I bought any. Got a bag of vegetables to snack on and lemon shortbread cookies, along with a fruit parfait for a treat. I'll have muffins for lunch at work.

My schedule for next week is...almost exactly the same as this one. Three days off, Tuesday and Saturday paid vacation days, Tuesday for counseling and my ultrasound appointment. One late day, and next Friday is 7 hours again. 

At least I got my last big birthday order. I bought a mini fridge for my room online. The vegetables I buy for snacks keep going bad, and I'd like to keep cold drinks up here, too. That's why I bought the coconut milk today - I now have a place to keep it. 

Watched Match Game '73 while I worked. Buzzr jumped way, way back for Nipsey Russell and Mary Ann Mobley's second appearance on the show and Bert Convy's first appearance in weeks. Even at this early point in the series, Richard was the choice for "Soft __" on the Head-to-Head in the first episode. The episode ended with a young contestant with a considerable Afro who claimed he wanted to be a game show host himself someday.

For some reason, they skipped the next episode and went on to the one after. Gene began the episode by honoring one of the great announcers, Johnny Olsen. He announced the entire run of Match Game 70's-80's, along with the 60's Match Game, both runs of Tattletales, and The Price Is Right until his death in 1985. (And I give Johnny credit for being a good sport. Not many announcers would put up with some of the crazier stuff that happened on Match Game, or the weirder Showcase skits.) 

Buzzr went from the beginning of the show's CBS run to its end for Match Game '79. Charles wore a captain's cap, prompting a lot of nautical jokes and referring to him as "captain" or "sailor." It didn't help that a contestant who was a retired sea captain turned up at the end of the episode. Robert Pine didn't have as much luck with "Older __" on the Head-to-Head.

Finished the night at Kanopy with Little Annie Rooney. Since I just read the chapter in that silent movie stars book on Mary Pickford, I thought I'd do one of her vehicles. Annie (Pickford) spends her days running around the New York slums with her gang, starting fights and making mischief. Annie's brother Tim (Gordon Griffith) belongs to a far more threatening gang, led by Joe Kelly (William Haines). They're trying to make money by selling tickets to a dance. They're not the only ones who need to come up with money. After they scare a fruit seller's horse away, Annie and her crew put on a western play to get junk to sell for cash. The horse nearly runs away with her, but she's grateful when Joe not only saves her, but convinces the fruit seller to take tickets to the dance.

Annie adores her cop father Officer Rooney (Walter James), and she's horrified when another officer tells him he was shot on his birthday. Seems he tried to break up a fight at the dance and was killed accidentally for his troubles. Gang members Tony (Carlo Schipa) and Spider (Hugh Fay) put the rap on Joe, whom Tim seeks out to kill. Annie and her friends think otherwise...but even after they get the evidence to the police, they may still be too late to save Joe...

Given Pickford was 33 when she made this and playing probably about 13-14, you'd think she would be a bit creepy in the title role. Far from it. I wouldn't want to make that woman mad! She can fight just as ferociously as the boys, maybe even more so. She's equally at home in the kitchen and is adorable around burly James. Almost everyone else pales beside her, although her diverse "gang," who rather resemble tougher Our Gang kids, are obviously having a great time throwing everything in sight and putting on their idea of a western.

If you love Pickford, this is highly recommended; look around for the restored copy from 2015 with yellow tints for fights and indoor scenes. 

Tales of Old Ireland

Top o' the evenin' to ye! I started off my St. Patrick's Day with the Colliers Harvest of Holidays anthology. They only have one piece for the holiday, but it's a biography of St. Patrick himself. I didn't know much about him until I read that. 

After I wrote in my journal, I moved on to breakfast and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. When "Minnie's Rainbow" appears at the Clubhouse, she and the others follow it to see where it leads. Donald's more interested in that famous pot of gold. Leprechaun Pete plays every trick he can think of to keep them from his precious gold!

Doc McStuffins celebrates the holiday with "A St. Patrick's Day Dilemma" in the third season. She brings home a paper doll in an Irish step costume for the holiday. Fiona teaches the others step dancing, which inspires them to put on a St. Patrick's Day parade. Doc's brother Donny accidentally draws on Fiona's dress. Doc wants to change it, but Fiona's upset she can't wear it for the parade. Doc "cleans" it and admonishes Fiona in the importance of wearing clean clothing and keeping clean. Professor Hootsburgh is delighted when Gillian, a doll version of the legendary giant in her story, comes home with Doc. She's such a big toy, though, she keeps knocking everything over. Gillian nearly runs away until she makes "A Giant Save" and realizes it's not so bad to be a big girl.

Worked on writing for a while after breakfast. Richard gets turned around on the wide open prairies going home. He's hoping the horse knows her way home...until he hears coyotes growling awfully close-by...

Broke with enough time to change and grab everything for work. I had a harder time getting Uber, despite the continuing nice weather. They must have been busy with folks who imbibed slightly too much green beer and needed rides. It took me 14 minutes this morning and I was almost late arriving, 9 minutes tonight, and there was some traffic on the White Horse Pike both ways. 

Work was off-and-on busy, and that was with enough help for once. Considering I had a few grouches in the express lane, I wonder if a few people came straight from celebrating at Rexy's Bar and Applebee's and into shopping. Not everyone was feeling the effects. One lady burst into laughter at my Irish accent and said I was "a delight." 

Mixed feelings on my schedule next week. Slightly more hours...and also slightly longer and later hours, including a 7 hour day  until 7 PM on Sunday. I asked for Tuesday and Friday off for counseling and the job fair with Karen respectively.

Did some grocery shopping after I got my schedule. The granola bars weren't on as good of a sale this time, but I still wanted them; picked up two boxes. Grapes were on a good sale, so I also got two large containers of reds. Had online coupons for the Acme's generic bag of almonds. I originally wanted Irish soda bread for my St. Patrick's Day treat, but by the time I got off work, they were sold out. I went with a small box of Irish potatoes - a candy made of coconut and cream cheese rolled in cinnamon - that was on sale. Went back and bought Mom a gift card - her birthday is Monday.

Another box awaited me when I got home. I picked up the second version of Kit's Reporter Outfit released after American Girl started calling the historical characters BeForever. I'll probably get both of them eventually, but I'm going to wait on some of her older clothes until I see what gets released. This one is an adorable red and white polka dot skirt and vest over a white blouse with turquoise rickrack trim. It came with the felt cloche hat with the huge red bow from Kit's BeForever accessories. 

Went straight into Match Game '74 when I got home. This one ends with a question about what the Mission: Impossible crew would do if Brett was a part of that impossible mission. They have a harder time with "___ Johnson" in the Audience Match.

Since Buzzr is still repeating last week's Match Game Syndicated episodes, I returned to Match Game PM on YouTube.  There's technical difficulties in this early episode when the toaster slides out of Gene's reach during the second round, and he needs the contestants' help to retrieve it. Richard doesn't have much more luck with "Fine __" in the Head-to-Head.

Finished off the holiday with a St. Patrick's Day double feature, starting with Darby O'Gill and the Little People at Disney Plus. Darby (Albert Sharpe) is the caretaker for wealthy Lord Fitzpatrick (Walter Fitzgerald) who spends most of his time chasing King Brian of the leprechauns (Jimmy O'Dea) and his pot of gold or regaling the men in the taverns with his tall tales. Tired of his neglect and aware of his advancing age, Fitzpatrick replaces him with the younger and more dedicated Michael McBride (Sean Connery). Darby begs Michael not to tell his pretty daughter Katie (Janet Munro) that she's about to lose her home in the caretaker's cottage. When Darby does finally trap Brian, he keeps him in a bag until he can make three wishes. He learns a lesson in what really means the most to him when Janet is hurt during a storm, and he'd give up a hundred pots of gold to keep her safe from the banshee!

Disney's charming take on Irish folklore is one of their better movies from the 50's. Spunky Munro makes a delightful couple with a young Sean Connery (who even sings, and rather well), while Sharpe and O'Dea have a blast playing off each other as the chatty old codger and the king of the legendary wee folk. Speaking of, the special effects remain darn good to this day. The leprechauns are integrated so seamlessly you think there's really tiny people dancing with Darby, and the banshee remains a truly frightening sight. 

Some violence, plenty of drinking, and that spooky ending with the banshee makes this for families with older kids and young teens who'll enjoy the romance and Darby's banter with Brian.

Left the leprechauns and fairy stories behind for a slightly more realistic take on Irish culture, The Quiet Man, at Paramount Plus. Sean Thornton (John Wayne) returns to the tiny village of Innisfree in County Mayo, Ireland to live a peaceful life in his family's ancestral cottage. Big Will Danaher (Victor McLaughlan) wishes he'd get out - he wanted the land for himself. Thornton's more interested in courting Will's fiery sister Mary Kate (Maureen O'Hara). 

He does manage to win her, but things go south when Danaher learns they tricked him and the Widow Tilane (Mildred Natwick) has no interest in him. Danaher does finally let her have the furniture left to her by their mother, but not her dowry. Mary Kate is horrified Sean won't fight her brother for it. Sean has his reasons for not fighting...but when Mary Kate almost leaves him, he finally decides he's had enough. He faces down her bully of a brother in an epic donnybrook that gets so wild, half of Ireland comes to see it!

This love letter to Ireland and its people was a favorite of Wayne, O'Hara, and director John Ford. It was a real passion project of Ford's for years; he won one of his four Oscars for it. The stunning color cinematography of Ireland in all its emerald green shamrock glory also won. O'Hara and Wayne are backed by a terrific supporting cast that also includes Ward Bond as the local priest obsessed with catching a legendary fish, Barry Fitzgerald as the town's matchmaker, and Arthur Shields as the town's other priest. Though the treatment of Mary Kate and Irish stereotypes are slightly dated and once again, there's several brawls (including that huge fight in the end), this is mostly a delightful look at what happens when cultures based on older and newer traditions collide. 

(And interestingly, despite - or maybe because of - the mild stereotypes in these films, I've read that they're both wildly popular in Ireland.)

Tossed in one more animated short from the Looney Tunes. We return to the leprechauns for "The Wearin' of the Grin"...but these little fellows are far less benevolent than King Brian. They think Porky Pig is after their pot of gold and sentence him to wear green shoes that dance forever. Porky finds himself in a surrealistic Irish nightmare where he just can't seem to escape that emerald foot wear, no matter where he goes!

(Oh, and it was actually pretty nice this morning, breezy, sunny, and in the lower 60's. It clouded over by the time I got out of work, but the rain didn't arrive until I was long online and chatting with Lauren.) 

The Eagles Smash the Giants

Got a quicker start than I planned this morning after I overslept! Had just enough time for breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. Daniel's ready to enjoy "A Snowy Day" with Miss Elainia. They want to go on an astronaut mission in the snow, but Dan learns to wear the right equipment when the cardboard helmet he wears isn't warm enough. Katerina wants it to be "Tutu All the Time" at school, until she spills paint on it while doing art and can't get it through the entrance to Daniel and Prince Wednesday's bear cave.

Headed off to work even before the episode ended and barely got there in time. We weren't busy when I got in. I spent the first hour and a half doing returns. It picked up around 12:30 and stayed busy for the rest of the day. I'm still having trouble with people who can't figure out those new government benefit cards. One lady threw a fit because it didn't cover her whole order and she didn't bring enough money for the rest. I wish the government had explained that card better! At least it slowed down enough by 5 for me to shut down without a relief. 

Went straight into writing when I got home. They pull into the stables as the Nutcracker helps Debralee out of the sleigh. Gene and Betty are greeted by Betty and the King's majordomo, who reminds Gene that he's so far failed to aid the Princess. Gene insists that they brought the man who can save her.

There was a package waiting for me when I got home. I ordered one last late Christmas gift for myself. I found a set online with the Alice Faye comedies Hollywood Cavalcade and The Great American Broadcast on silent film and radio history and the musicals Down Argentine Way, That Night In Rio, Greenwich Village, and The Gang's All Here. I already have the last-named, but I've wanted to pick up the others forever.

Broke at 6:30 for dinner and The Secret of Mulan on Tubi. I go further into this late 90's direct-to-video animated movie "inspired" by the Disney Mulan at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Honoring Chinese New Year - The Secret of Mulan

Finished the night online after a shower with the Eagles-Giants game. Now this is more like it. The Eagles dominated the game full-stop. They were up 21-0 by half-time. The Giants couldn't get anywhere near them. While they did manage to get a touchdown in the third quarter, the Eagles picked up two more in the fourth to win the game 38-7. 

Love In a Home

Slept in so late today, it was past 12:30 when I finally got going. Watched Match Game '75 as I had breakfast. Gossip queen Rona Barrett and singer Clifton Davies joined the panel during this week. Clifton gets a rare chance to help the contestant with "Left __" in the Head-to-Head.

Put on that new Peanuts Happy Holidays DVD while finishing up breakfast and getting organized. This is a collection of a French-made series of Peanuts shorts from 2016. I like the different animation style. They're made to look more like the comic strips, with the kids yelling or reaching across "panels," than the original series. Most of the shorts, like the opening ones that dealt with Snoopy worrying about who'll feed him when Charlie Brown was away, didn't really have much to do with the holidays. There was at least one short with Woodstock being offended by Lucy talking about carving the Thanksgiving turkey, and another with snowman building antics. Snoopy tried to snitch Linus' blanket when he stayed at their house, too.

Went downstairs at 1:30. It took me a while to round up everything I needed (and I still didn't have the baking soda), but I did manage to get the first two batches of cookies started. This year, I'm doing four simple recipes. Started with chocolate chip and cake mix peanut butter today. The chocolate chip came from the Alpha Bakery cookbook I found at the thrift shop in Marlton back in July. I printed the cake mix peanut butter off the Betty Crocker website.

The cookies came out a little brown, but mostly very well. I had to use baking powder in the chocolate chips when I couldn't find baking soda. It did make them puffy instead of wide...but they remained sweet little morsels of rich goodness anyway. The cookies go to the Acme for their luncheon on Saturday and to friends, neighbors, and families. 

Finally got them out of the oven at around quarter after 4, packed into boxes I had leftover from 2019, and went upstairs for writing. The Nutcracker claims he'll protect Debralee at the cost of his life. She has a bit more sense and points out to Gene that they're outnumbered. To her surprise, he's able to make the ornaments and toys on the tree come to life.

Broke at 6:30 to head out for a walk. I'd been inside all day. Time for one of my annual traditions, my stroll to check out lights in the neighborhood. I always do this after a day I spent over a hot stove. I love how creative people on both sides of Oaklyn get with their holiday lights displays. They ranged from homes with simple outlines of gold lights on their roofs to those who decorated every inch of their small front yards in holiday splendor, from giant lit candy canes to lit wire Santa and reindeer sculptures. One house with a rare large backyard had a wrought-iron fence lined with elegant lit garlands. Another across the street had an inflatable Santa and reindeer on the smaller roof, surrounded by those gold lights. A few doors down, another roof was surrounded by lit snowflakes, with slit snowmen cut-outs on the lawn.

Inflatables aren't as common as they were a decade ago, but some folks do still put them out. The biggest was a gigantic Santa who nearly stretched to the top of a house's porch roof. On the next street over from me, one house had little Grogu (Baby Yoda) and an AT-AT walker wearing Santa hats. I saw a unicorn at one house, two polar bears (one upright, one sliding on his stomach) at another. A house on the next street over had a rather grumpy-looking bulldog in a sweater and a tree hung with faded vintage plastic gingerbread men. An inflatable "Merry Christmas" banner held by Santa and an elf greeted people further down. 

Even the Oaklyn Baptist Church had sparkling lights strung off their building to look like a tree, with a tiny star on top. Most other local businesses and religious buildings didn't go quite that all-out. Aunt Berta's was bustling with soul-food lovers, but they mainly had a tree. St. Mark's Lutheran Church on the next block down from me had no outdoor decorations, but I did see some lovely trees and lights in the windows.

Had dinner when I got home while watching Match Game '79. Having gotten to the end of the show's run, Buzzr jumped back to the first day of the year. Gene stumbled through his door, draped in streamers leftover from the previous New Year's episode and looking more than a little bleary-eyed. He sobered up long enough to field jokes from a balding contestant whose wife bet him he couldn't get on the show.

Finished the night online after a shower with more holiday specials. I went further into the original Rankin-Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in a Musical Dreams Movie Reviews entry from 2018. (It's the first review on the page. 

Animation Celebration Double Feature: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

Papa Bear is determined that The Bernstein Bears' Christmas Tree should be a beauty he chopped down himself. He and the cubs hike up into the mountains to find the perfect tree, but every one is already occupied by animals celebrating their own holiday festivities. After Papa spares the home of a snowbird family, the animals have a big surprise waiting for them when they return to their tree house.

Crooner Andy Williams has an even crazier holiday in The Andy Williams Christmas Show from 1967. It starts off simply enough, with Williams performing his most famous holiday song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" as he and his French wife Claudine Longet head into town with his parents for shopping jokes. While the Osmonds do get a bizarre version of "Whistle While You Work" that has them performing as pink-clad elves in a store window and Andy and his brothers perform "It's the Holiday Season" together, the bulk of the special is set either at Andy and Claudine's home or his parents' and comes off as far cozier. I'm especially fond of their charming duet "Love In a Home" from the 1956 stage musical Li'l Abner. 

(Oh, and Lauren got her box today. She loved everything. Said she put the bear-shaped bottle of soap in her bathroom right away, will play the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Nintendo Switch game tomorrow, and thought the Alan Jackson Christmas CD I found at the record store in Woodbury in October was perfect.)