Animation Salutes the Troops

Began the morning with breakfast and vintage Superman cartoons. Given the tenor of the comics in 1942, it was probably inevitable that Superman would fight the Axis on the big screen, too. "Japoteurs" has Superman rescuing Lois and a big modern fighter plane from saboteurs who have no idea Lois stowed away on the plane. "The Eleventh Hour" is a shadowy masterpiece with a mature story depicting Superman committing acts of sabotage in Japan. Lois is captured and used to force Superman to stop fighting the Axis, but he still manages to rescue her. "Jungle Drums" switches to the Nazis as Lois and Superman discover a plot to use a native tribe and their temple to down Allied planes. Superman rescues a "Secret Agent" with information on a saboteur group when members of the group go after her.

Spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon working on my resume. I really just need to update it to add my after-school program work and my new childcare skills.  It needs to be reformatted, too. I added the new details, but I'll mess around with the formatting tomorrow or another time.

Watched Popeye shorts while I worked and ate lunch. Superman wasn't the only Famous Studios character to swing faster than a speeding bullet into World War II. Popeye joined the war a couple of months before the US did in "The Mighty Navy." Once the US followed, he appeared in a series of propaganda shorts that mostly depicted his adventures in the Navy and on leave. He dealt with life at sea in "Fleets of Strength" and "Blunder Below." He's not saying "Many Tanks" when Bluto dumps him in the tank corps in order to steal his date with Olive. He delivers "Spinach fer Britain" when he dodges the Nazis in order to bring cans of spinach overseas.

Of course, Popeye dealt with trouble on the home front and on leave, too. "Kicking the Conga Around" and "Aloma of the South Seas" are spoofs of South American stereotypes and culture of the time. The former involves Popeye learning to dance "the conger" to impress Senorita Olive, thanks to spinach. The latter is basically the same deal, without the dancing. "Olive Oyl and Water Don't Mix" and "Baby Wants a Battleship" have Olive and Swee'pea wrecking havoc on Popeye and Bluto's ship. 

Popeye had just finished when I rushed off to the school. Thank heavens the rain that had come down all morning was long gone by 2:30. It was still cloudy, windy, and much colder, in the upper 40's, but not raining. The kids were out for about a half-hour, but it was really too windy and cold for them to be outside for too long. I did have a hard time helping one of the smallest kids in the bathroom, but I did help her out, and her parents thankfully arrived just a few minutes after I got her back. I told her they would!

We split up the kids after that. Half stayed in the cafeteria to draw or play with toys. The others went in the library to play "Would You Rather?" and "Heads Up 7 Up." "Rather" has the teacher giving the kids too choices. One group who wants one choice takes one side, the other group goes to the other. 

I remember playing "7 Up" as a kid in school. Four kids are chosen. The others all lay their heads on their arms and put up their thumbs. The "pickers" push down a thumb, and those who are chosen have to guess who picked them. If they guess, they get to choose. If they don't guess correctly, the picker stays. They were still playing when I headed out.

Went straight home and into the Looney Tunes wartime shorts. Though Warners' first cartoon star Bosko did the World War I short "Bosko the Doughboy" in the early 30's, most of their war shorts were World War II propaganda. Like Popeye, they dove into the war before it even hit the US in "Meet John Doughboy" and "Rookie Revue." Most of their subsequent wartime shorts were either one-off character comedies like Bugs' in their last war short "Hare Meets Herr" and "The Draft Horse" learning that war is no action film, allegories like "Fifth Column Mouse" and "The Duckinators" on how we got into the war and how we planned on winning it, or sketch comedies about life on the home front like "Wacky Blackout" (country living during the war) and "The Weakly Reporter" (city and suburban living).

My three favorite Warners war shorts all came from the wildly warped mind of director Bob Clampett. I watched these during dinner. "Super Rabbit" has Bugs eating a carrot that turns him into a Superman parody. He fights a cowboy (who sounds like a prototype of Yosemite Sam) and his horse until push comes to shove and he dons the uniform of a real hero...a Marines officer. 

"Draftee Daffy" has Daffy doing everything he can to escape "the little man from the draft board," even if it lands them...down there. "Falling Hare" may be the only time one of Bugs' antagonists gives as good as they get when he goes up against a little gremlin sabotaging planes. This fellow is no dope and leads Bugs on a merry chase through the skies, until the plane goes into a free fall!

Worked on The WENN Nutcracker Suite while everything was on. While Betty helps the Nutcracker, whose wooden arm is loose, back to his feet, she gets a chance to look around. Most of the toys and all of the tin soldiers were taken prisoner by the Mouse King's army...except one. Annie the Rag Doll (Maple) finds diminutive Lieutenant Foley hiding behind a gift. He's a new recruit and had never fought a battle until that night. Annie and Betty coax him out from behind the present and tell him it's ok to be scared. Mack the Lion (Mackie) says he's a lot more sensible than most toys.

Finished the night at YouTube with Family Feud. From 1989 through 1991, the Ray Combs Feud did a series of yearly tournaments that pit all five branches of the Armed Services against one another. In 1989, the Army kicked off by, alas, kicking the Navy's rear. The Marines did by far the best. They had the best trash-talking, some of the best answers, and won the Fast Money the most. When they won the second time, one of the largest Marines swept the only woman off her feet! I don't think her feet were on the floor for a good five minutes. 

Celebrate Veteran's Day by honoring the men and women who fought and Feuded for our country with this anything-goes Armed Forces battle!

Day 1 - Army Vs. Navy

Day 2 - Marines Vs. Air Force

Day 3 - Army Vs. Coast Guard

Day 4 - Air Force Vs Coast Guard

Day 5 - Marines Vs. Navy

Day 5 - Army Vs. Marines (Tournament Finale) 

Musical Harvest

I awoke to a cloudy, gray morning that sort of suited my mood. Listened to Billy Joel's An Innocent Man on CD to cheer things up a bit. Mom and Dad-Bill were big Billy Joel fans (Mom caught him when he was still playing pianos in bars, Dad's a fellow Long Island native), and this album came out at just the right time to be one of my absolute favorites during my early grade school years. Pretty much every song in this album is a winner, from the opening "Easy Money" to the ballad "This Night" to the oft-covered hit "Uptown Girl."

I got up late and didn't get out to the Collingswood Farm Market until nearly 11. Despite the humidity and the heavy, dark clouds, they were crawling with people looking for produce for their barbecues and garden parties. I still had quite a few vegetables left over from last week and not a lot of money. I settled on peaches, an onion, and a type of yellow plum I'd never seen before.

Since the clouds were holding off for the moment, I took the long way across Newton Lake Park. Dodged a couple of people walking dogs. Otherwise, you can probably guess that they were pretty quiet. It was too humid for anyone who didn't have a dog or were running errands like me to be out and about.

Made a quick stop at the CVS on the border of Collingswood and Oaklyn next. I needed to restock my brush picks, and they're the only one in the area who seem to carry them. There were a few people at the pharmacy counter in the back; otherwise, they weren't that busy.

Since I was in the area, I rode by Dad and Jodie's house to see if they were home. They weren't, but I saw Jesse and Dana loading up their car. Seems everyone is going away for the weekend. Dad and Jodie went to Ocean City, Maryland to visit friends. Jesse and Dana are heading into the mountains. I chatted with them for a few minutes before heading back to my place.

Put my food away, then had yogurt, a breakfast cookie, and a Greens-Tea Smoothie for lunch. Listened to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds while I ate. This classic album wasn't a huge hit over here in the States when it came out in 1966, but it did better in England and is now recognized as one of the most influential rock albums ever. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "Sloop John B" were the hits; I also like "God Only Knows" and "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times."

It sprinkled lightly while I was on the way to CVS, but the rain held off until after lunch. It was raining, and raining hard, by the time I was dusting the bedroom. I also made the bed and cleared out almost all of the stuffed animals on the DVD shelves in the living room but a couple of flamingos and little Amalthea the Unicorn (who is just too cute to get rid of). Amalthea was moved to the Beanie Baby shelf in my bedroom.

Worked on writing and updating my resumes for the next couple of hours. Leia and Luke escape Vader via the fire escape. They jump off when Vader comes after them, landing through the roof of Laurence's Rolls Royce. After fussing at them over the damage to his car, Laurence tells them that they couldn't catch up with Roberto Fettara's armored truck; he and Harry are gone. Leia finally tells them that they're returning to LA to talk to her boss Dr. Martha Mothma and pursue Harry at Yasmin Hutt's club.

Took me longer to update my resumes than I thought. Didn't break until quarter of 7. Ran Deep In My Heart while eating a leftover chicken and cheese wrap with cucumber-tomato salad for dinner. If Sigmund Romberg (Jose Ferrer) doesn't sound as familiar as other MGM biographical subjects like Jerome Kern and Rogers and Hart today, it's likely because he's probably better-known to aficionados of light opera and operetta. He did start out like his contemporaries, playing piano in a middle-European dive run by an old friend (Helen Traubel) and writing numbers for girlie revues and goofy Al Jolson vehicles for low-brow producers the Shuberts, but he has loftier ambitions. He finally gets them to produce his romantic operetta Maytime. It's a huge success during World War I, but while he does adapt a hit show (Blossom Time) for the US and write a few more Jolson shows, he feels he's hit a writer's block until he meets the lovely and strong-willed socialite Lillian (Doe Avedon). She inspires him to create some of the biggest hits of the 20's, including The Student Prince and The Desert Song.

Critics were apparently rough on this when it came out, but it was a hit at the box office, and I think it's actually dated pretty well. Sure, the story is a storm of cliches, but there's some lesser-known material here that you just aren't going to find anywhere else. Among the rarities are Gene Kelly and his brother Fred dancing to "I Love to Go Swimmin' With Women" (which was partially written for the film), "Your Land and My Land" with Howard Keel and the chorus from the almost never-performed Civil War musical My Maryland, and "It," a comedy number featuring Ann Miller that's originally from The Desert Song. Other good numbers include a lovely "Road to Paradise" and "Sweetheart, Will You Remember?" from Maytime, performed by Vic Damone and Jane Powell, and a sexy "One Alone" pas-de-dux danced by Cyd Charisse and James Mitchell that's sexier than anything in the 50's film version of The Desert Song.

Underrated musical treat that's highly recommended for fans of the cast or Romberg and his operettas.

Finished the night with a rarity on YouTube. TV musicals were rarer in the 1970's than they had been a few decades before, but they still occasionally popped up, as with Cindy from 1978. This all-black retelling of Cinderella sets the story in Harlem during World War II. Cindy (Charlayne Woodard) is a girl who has just come up from the south to live with her daddy (Scoey Mitchell) and his new wife (Mae Mercer) and her two spoiled daughters (Nell Carter and Alania Reed). Cindy wants to go with her sisters to a big dance that decorated officer Captain Joe Prince (Clifton Davis) will be attending. Cindy's stepmother doesn't have the time to make her a dress. Her "fairy godmother" is actually Miles Archer (W. Benson Terry), the guy who lives upstairs and is too cowardly to join the services. He loans her a beautiful gown and drives her to the dance. Prince is so smitten with her, he wants to marry the girl on the spot...but unlike in the fairy tale, Cindy's not so sure she really wants him. Especially after she learns that Miles has joined the Army...

Not bad. The music's just ok, but the cast is having fun, especially in the swinging dance sequence. The nifty period-accurate costumes were Emmy-nominated. Davis made a particularly dashing "prince" charming, and I liked Mitchell as Cindy's supportive dad.

It's on YouTube in parts if you're interested:

Cindy, Part 1

Budgeting Balance

I did yoga class today. For the second week in a row, Rose was supposed to join me and never showed. Just as well. It was a full class today, 18 people including the teacher Jill. We did a lot of work on "core" movements - stretching, stomach crunches, moves that open the hips, joints, back, and stomach. It was mostly a bit easier than some previous weeks have been, but I'm still can't quite hold some poses as long as most people can.

Went straight home after that via Newton River Park. It was an utterly stunning day, 80 degrees, sunny, with no wind at all. There were quite a few people out and about this morning as well. I passed a whole family riding bikes, joggers, dog walkers, and teenagers wandering around.

Spent the rest of the morning working on things on the computer, including this month's budget. Mom wanted me to e-mail her my resume, so she could give me some pointers, but I couldn't find the disk it was on. I still have actual copies I made to give out to job interviews that never materialized. I might just type it from the most recent version of one of those.

Perhaps because of the gorgeous day and this being the middle of the week and the month, work was dead as a doornail tonight. I'm just glad it went much faster than I'd anticipated. I figured it would drag, but I was in and out with no problems.

Building A Resume

Updated my resume today. I added the new library volunteering gig and my summer job at the Cape May County Special Services Schools Media Center I always forget about and updated the thrift shop volunteering to show that I'm no longer doing it.

Now I just need to gather enough courage to contact local schools to send my resume to. I'll start with the elementary schools, which is really what I want to do anyway, and work my way up to college.

The Acme was relatively quiet today. It was on-and-off busy, but nothing like Monday.

I did get a nice surprise, though. Apparently, this month's Mystery Shopper came through my line and was so pleased with the job I did, she gave me a perfect score! I recieved a $5 gift certificate for outstanding achievement. At least SOMETHING'S going right at work.