Of Angels and Genies

I awoke to the soft patter of rain on the roof. It started to slow down as I ate my breakfast and watched To Tell the Truth. Three men claimed to be a cat burglar who swiped millions of dollars from Hollywood's elite, then taught people how to avoid burglars after getting out of jail. Everyone chose number 2, with his roguish little mustache that screamed "gentleman thief"...and they all turned out to be right. (As Gene Rayburn put it, "he looks like a thug.")

The guests on What's My Line weren't quite as exciting. Critic Gene Shalit of the massive mustache guessed that the first gentleman was an expert in bird calls. He demonstrated his uncanny talent for the audience and panel. They didn't catch on about the young lady who worked in the city dump in Miami. She claimed she actually enjoyed her job and only left to focus on college.

Work was a bit of a pain. It wasn't bad when I came in. In fact, the rain ended even as I rode to work. I rounded up carts and the trash and did returns for most of the morning. Things started picking up after lunch, which proved to be a problem. I kept ending up in the register, and stayed an hour on the register because they just didn't have enough help scheduled to deal with customers. Thankfully, by the time I rushed home, the rain was long gone. It remained cloudy, cold, and damp for the rest of the day.

Had a snack when I got in while watching Tattletales on Buzzr. This celebrity panel show from the 70's has three famous couples winning money for three color-coded sections - red, banana (yellow), and blue. Bert Convy keeps the game going and cracks jokes as the men answer a question about how they think their wives will act or see them, and the ladies come on a monitor in massive orange headphones to give their answers. The winners split $150. Married comedians Charlie Brill (who also had an admirable mustache) and Mitzi McCall got every question right and won the most money by far (and were adorable, to boot).

Did the vacuuming while the late 70's-early 80's Card Sharks ran. Wanted to get it done yesterday, but I just ran out of time. It was pretty bad; there's still strands of Mylar and tinsel garland leftover from Christmas.

Went into writing after I finished. A rose bush rustles in the now all-Summer Garden and disgorgeous a short, slightly nervous dark-haired man in a blue prince's uniform. Marcia asks him his name, but he doesn't answer. He just keeps rambling about his timing and entrance. It's Gene who finally gets him to stop and reveal why he's there...

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Had leftovers and banana-orange whirl (frozen banana and orange sorbet) while watching Match Game. Allen Ludden gets a look at the panel's usual lunacy when his wife Betty White rolls up host Gene Rayburn's pant legs while he talks to the upper desks. Chou Chou continued to kick rear on Sale of the Century. Even with buying the two Instant Bargains, no one could touch her. She still couldn't get that bonus round, though...

Finished the night with two vintage TV favorites on Crackle. They currently have season 4 of the original Charlie's Angels. Guys may see this as "jiggle TV," but I see it as three ladies kicking rear and solving mysteries. Given my musical bent and love of old movies, "Dancin' Angels" was a natural. The ladies - by this point, Kelly (Jacklyn Smith), Kris (Cheryl Ladd), and Tiffany (Shelly Hack) - and Bosley (David Doyle) join a ballroom dancing marathon at a new dance club after one of the dancer's partner goes missing. Kris deals with the two owners who have seen a few too many James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart gangster films, while Kelly befriends the aging orchestra leader (Caesar Romero) and Bosley and Tiffany hit the dance floor to keep an eye on a young couple who will do anything to win.

In the season 1 I Dream of Jeannie episode "Bigger Than a Bread Box and Better Than a Genie," Major Roger Healy (Bill Daily) claims he has a new friend who's "better than a genie" - a fortune teller named Madame Zolta. His buddy Tony (Larry Hagman) smells a phony and attends a session with her. He convinces her to hold a seance that will reveal her to be a fraud...but Jeannie (Barbara Eden) wants to check this out, too.

(And incidentally, the rain returned late this evening while I watched Buzzr and has stuck around ever since. I hope it's not really going to rain as hard as it's supposed to tomorrow. I don't know if I could get a ride to work.)