Began the day with early work. Other than indoor sweeping towards the end of the day and quickly cleaning the bathroom, I was outside with the carts almost the entire morning. There just wasn't much going on, anyway. It was hot and ridiculously humid for October, but there was a nice breeze that kept it from feeling worse.
Given that my bike seat is still acting up and how hot it was, I spent the rest of the day at home. I broke down and bought a set of 30 Match Game episodes on eBay, The Best of Match Game. To my delight, the set arrived a day early. (It was only coming from Philly.) I took it upstairs and watched a batch of episodes while I ate lunch.
I skipped the first three episodes, all of which are from early in '73 before Brett and Charles were on the show and just as they arrived. From what I gathered, the show wasn't quite as funny when it debuted. I picked up with a favorite episode from 74, featuring Gene Rayburn's former boss Steve Allen along with Fannie Flagg and Kaye Ballard. This was one of the first episodes featuring the answer "boobs" to a question, leading almost everyone to stage a mock walkout! After they came back, Gene asked Fannie to "show us yours"...er, answers. Fannie was shocked, but Richard had no problems showing the panel his chest.
I'd previously caught the Match Game PM (nighttime episode) with puppets Kukla and Ollie on Buzzr and a '76 episode with sweet Joyce Bullifant, Avery Schriber and his oversized mustache, and the wonderfully dry Nancy Kulp on YouTube, but a syndicated episode from 1980 was entirely new to me. The only other star I recognized besides Brett and Charles was a favorite of mine, tart-tongued Marcia Wallace, and it was worth it to watch those three play off each other.
Switched to cleaning the kitchen as I switched discs. The only new-to-me episode was another one from the early 80's. A woman asked to kiss McLean Stevenson...and despite her not winning, they not only gave her the chance, but she got really into it. After she did it, everyone started kissing everyone else, to Gene's general consternation! There was also another nice PM episode, this one with none other than William "Captain Kirk" Shatner and Catwoman Lee Merriweather.
Between cleanings and viewings, I did something I've been meaning to do for weeks - called my mother. Mom is now happily settled in to her new, smaller home in the Villas. Other than she's not used to a small stove, she seems to be doing well. She's finally near WaWas and Walgreens and the Library and other amenities that weren't available when she living next-door to the Cape May County Airport. She said she was going to a special employee party on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry tonight. I hope she had a good time!
(She also mentioned that Rose will be holding Thanksgiving at her house this year, and she, Keefe, and his fiancee are going to try to come. I'll certainly be there, and I'd love to see them again.)
Went into writing around quarter of 5. After much debate, I decided to give Richard a chance to be more of a hero after beating him to a pulp in the previous story and began the James Bond/spy spoof Spy Blank. Richard is reading a James Bond novel when Charles arrives with his makeup. Charles laments that he can't do more flirting on the air, and that he doesn't get chosen as often for the Head-to-Head as Richard. Richard, for his part, admits that while they're popular, he wishes he could do more for the contestants and had more control over the show. He doesn't trust the producer, who keeps buzzing his answers and is more interested in making money than giving it away.
It was past 7 when I finally broke for leftovers. Finished the night with dinner, a crocheting session, and On the Basis of Sex. Ruth Bader Ginsberg (Felicity Jones) enters Harvard Law School with the intention to change the world. When her husband Martin (Armie Hammer) gets cancer, she asks to switch to Columbia to stay by him and raise their child. When they tell her "no," she does it anyway and graduates at the top of her class. All her smarts, however, can't land her a law job in the early 1960's. She ends up teaching law to more aggressive young women.
She discovers an interesting reverse-discrimination case of a man in Colorado (Chris Mulkey) who hired a nurse for his aging mother, but couldn't get a tax deduction because the law at the time stated that caregivers had to be women. Once again, everyone turns her down, including her idol Dorothy Kenyon (Kathy Bates) at first. Ruth is a fighter, and with the support of Martin and her teen daughter Jane (Caliee Speney), pushes to take this fight all the way to the Supreme Court...and change the way Americans look at discrimination.
The plot may be cliched, but there's some strong performances in this story of a woman who set out to prove that sex should not be the basis for how people are perceived. Jones and Hammer were wonderful as the Ginsbergs, with Speney appropriately rebellious as their strong-willed teen daughter who only wants Mom to notice her. Not to mention, a lot of what happens here has been in the news lately, as once again more people question what should be expected of men and women.
If you have any interest in the subject yourself or in Ginsberg's life, or are a fan of the cast, you'll want to check out this thought-provoking biography.
And I must throw in one last Match Game video. I found a very sweet tribute to Brett and Charles on YouTube, set to "Love Survives" from the credits of All Dogs Go to Heaven. (Ironically, Charles actually did one of the voices in that movie.)
Love Survives
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