Heat Wave

Heat or no heat, I had a few errands to do today that I wanted to get done. I just took it easy walking to the Oaklyn Library this morning. They were actually quite busy. There were several families picking books when I arrived, another almost all of the computers were full. I guess everyone wanted to get out before it gets into the 100s. I organized the DVDs (including pulling one without a label and a few kids' titles that needed orange stickers) and did what I could with the kids' books.

I made a quick (at least, as quick as I could in the heat) run to WaWa next. Normally I would have gone to Doria's Deli for lunch meat, but they're on vacation until the end of next week. I picked up a whole wheat roll, a half a pound of turkey, and treated myself a Coke Zero from the fountain with a little vanilla and cherry syrup.

When I got in, I had my turkey sandwich for lunch, then cleaned the kitchen while watching Me and the Colonel. A rare dramatic role for Danny Kaye, this touching 1958 film is by far his best acting in a non-musical. Based after the play Jablowsky and the Colonel, Kaye's the Jablowsky, a gentle middle-aged Jew from Poland who has fled all over Europe in order to escape the Nazis. He finds himself on the run again in 1940 Paris right before they're overtaken by the Germans.

Though he does manage to get a car, he doesn't drive. Instead, he convinces an obnoxious Polish colonel and his lackey to join him and do the driving. Along the way, they pick up the colonel's very pretty fiancee. As the quartet make their way across France, the colonel and the survivor learn that there really is always two sides to everything...and that, with a little resourcefulness and common sense, we'll all be here tomorrow.

A sweet film with a lovely message of understanding between religions and classes...and that one can love two people without it becoming messy. Kurt Jurgens is also excellent as the blustery military man.

(Incidentally, Jablowsky and the Colonel was heard from again on Broadway in 1979, as a vehicle for Joel Gray with a Tony-nominated Jerry Herman score, The Grand Tour. The show was a flop, but I've heard some of the songs on The Dress Circle and they're quite good.)

Work was a pain. I was asked to put candy away, which I'd really rather do...but we were so busy that it kept getting disrupted. It wouldn't have been a big deal if there wasn't still a ton to shelve. We just got a huge lot of newly-released items that need to find places at the registers. I was hoping to get it all done tonight, but I still didn't manage to finish.