Awoke to a stunning blue and gold fall morning. Enjoyed some more Match Game along with breakfast. Once again, I skipped the '73 episodes and moved ahead two years, this time to the show's prime. Years before she became the most popular villainess on prime-time, Joan Collins added a bit of wit and elegance to an episode that also included tough guy Scoey Mitchell and loopy Patti Deustch.
As soon as the episode ended, I hurried out. Began my errands with the Collingswood Farm Market. It was just starting to wind down when I was there. Saw Brussels sprouts and pears for the first time this season, and spinach for the first time since the spring. I pears and a small bunch of spinach, plus apples.
The other reason I was in Collingswood was for their big Book Festival. While not as big or extensive as the craft show or May Fair, it's much cooler. Tents line Haddon Avenue, selling every type of book, most of which were written by local authors. There's a poetry tent, a tent for teens, and a whole side street 'Loompa Land," that's set off for the littlest readers. It does have typical food trucks and musicians. I saw an accordion player and guitarist wandering around playing songs, along with live and piped-in music, along with food trucks and tables selling pizza and ice cream.
My real interest in the Book Festival was the last block. This is where all the used books, DVDs, and other media is sold, on shelves and tables and in many boxes. It took me almost an hour and a half to decide on what to pick! I suspect by the time I got there, the shelves and boxes were a tad picked over, but I still managed to dig up some interesting items. I came up with:
The Whole Town's Talking by Fannie Flagg (been meaning to try her books anyway, even before I got into Match Game)
The original cast album for the 1952 Broadway revival of Pal Joey on CD
Waiting for Guffman on DVD (I've had a lot of luck with Christopher Guest movies lately)
Judy's Journey, Blue Ridge Billy, and Cotton In My Sack by Lois Lenski
Heart of the Home: Notes on a Vineyard Kitchen by Susan Branch
By that point, I was long past ready for lunch. My first thought was Cafe Antonio's, but their main room was a mess! I settled on two slices of cheese pizza from the vendor in front of Villa Barone and had my quick meal at a sidewalk table there. Grabbed a soft pretzel and a Pumpkin Cream Smoothie from an only slightly less-busy WaWa.
Took the long way home across Newton Lake Park. It was too nice not to! The river sparkled like jewels lapping against the greenery on the shore. I was surprised it wasn't busier. I only dodged a few folks out for a stroll. Maybe everyone was still at the Book Festival.
Finished up Match Game when I got in and organized my new finds. Feisty Debralee Scott gets very hot and bothered over a handsome contestant in a nightime game from 1980, to the point where she won't stop kissing him after she wins him an Audience Match! Everyone tries to separate them, and Bill Daily attempts to shield them from prying eyes. Elaine Joyce's ditzy tendencies come in for a lot of ribbing in a daytime 1979 show, while hotter Rita Moreno gets somewhat similar treatment in one from a month later.
Opted to skip the pilot for the original The Match Game from 1963. It's in the public domain and can be seen anywhere. I did enjoy an all-too-brief overview of the life and times of the long-time host of Match Game, Gene Rayburn. A still-sharp Brett Somers hosted this look at how Gene ended up with the job...and how much he, she, and everyone who appeared on the show thoroughly enjoyed it. (Really wish someone could have corralled Charles Nelson Reilly for an interview, too, but I think he was busy with his one-man show at that point.)
A lot of people who have bought this set has complained about it mostly being later episodes...but that's really the reason I bought it. In the decade and a half since this was released, most of the earlier episodes have turned up online and been shown on Buzzr and Game Show Network. The later episodes aren't shown as often and are only just starting to be posted on YouTube.
I know folks said the show went downhill after Richard got fed up and decided to stick to Family Feud, but I think this set disabuses this notion. If anything, the real heart of Match Game wasn't Richard, no matter how popular he was with the ladies. It was Charles. He was the second-best player after Richard and at the center of many of the gags and jokes (including all his fussing with Brett). The show loses something when he's not there. (And I'm not the only one who figured this out. He was so connected with the show, he was retained for the 1984 hybrid The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour and the 1990 Match Game revival.)
(If nothing else, I'm glad to have this for those interviews with Brett. She and Charles died within months of each other in 2007, less than a year after this set was released.)
Overall, this is a nice overview of the show for the curious, those with fond childhood memories, or major fans like me. If you get as into the show as I have, you can find far more content online and on Buzzr, including that black-and-white 60's pilot.
After I ate, I figured it was finally time to put away the summer clothes and pull out what I have for fall. While it'll get into the 70's this week, it won't go too far above that. I think we're now done with really hot weather. I still really need a good fall skirt or dress, and those winter boots I bought last year were too small. They also just changed our dress code at the Acme to let us wear jeans. I need to get a pair or two intended strictly for work.
I tried some writing after the shows ended, but I couldn't concentrate. I made a half-hearted attempt at a spoof of ski action sequences like in the opening of The Spy Who Loved Me before I realized I just didn't have enough ideas to sustain the opening. I'm going to put this one aside for a little while, or at least until I come up with some better ideas.
I do know something I am familiar with - fairy tales. Tomorrow, I'm going to do the story I probably should have started in the first place, Fairy Tale Blank for Charles. This time, Charles is the one who's reading. Brett finds him poring over a book of fairy tales on the set. He claims he's trying to get ideas for stories that his acting classes can bring to life. She teases him, but he admits he's enjoying the darker versions. Charles admits that while he can teach and act, what he can't do is get their producer Ira Skulch and his bosses to lay off them. He feels like there's a wicked witch controlling everything. Rich is already complaining about Skulch and his choices again. He feels like an outlaw.
Charles insists that he's no hero. He's just a performer...which leads us to our story. Charles is a traveling minstrel whose services are no long encouraged in the kingdom of Columbia. A wicked quieen and her henchman Lord Skulch have taken over, capturing the king and forcing the queen and six Legendary Princesses into exile. With the help of Richard of the Hood, wizard Gene, and mysterious sorceress Brett, the quartet look to bring the royal ladies out of hiding and the queen and king back into power.
Hopefully, I'll be able to do better with this one. I'll start it tomorrow, after the Eagles game.
Finished the night with leftovers for dinner, and then online while watching Sleeping Beauty. I go more into one of Disney's loveliest and most popular "Princess" movies at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
Sleeping Beauty (1959)
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