Wednesday, March 11, 2020

The Hawk and the Identical Cousins

Started a sunny, warm day with breakfast and the second half of To Tell the Truth. Today's guests were three older women who claimed to be one of the heads of the Gray Panthers, a militant group that fought for the rights of those 60 and older. Answers were all over the map, but it turned out to be number one, the soft-spoken British woman. It was fascinating to listen to her talk about how she and her group held sit-ins and protests to bring the elderly out of old people's homes and into regular society, especially given the Acme is two blocks from an apartment building for the elderly and at least a quarter of our customer base is over 60.

What's My Line was absolutely hilarious. The panel didn't get close to guessing what a retired colonel did for a living - he made and sold castanets to dancers. He let them test his musical wares and try dancing with them. Soupy Sales and Jim Backus really got into it, doing the most adorable flamenco I ever saw.

Work wasn't anywhere near that much fun. First of all, I didn't discover they were waxing the floor in the back room until I tried to get in the back. Second, though I did finish the carts, that was all I managed to get done today. They tossed me in the register an hour after I got in. One of the cashiers called out, and they're still short on help. The lines got long during the noon rush hour, and I was really nervous. Thankfully, it slowed down enough by 1:30 for me to get out at the regular time and dash home.

Watched Classic Concentration and Password as I changed and had lunch. The champ in Concentration managed to win a tie-breaker and make it to the bonus round, but had no luck matching cars. Password held a "Tournament of Champions," including at least one contestant I'd caught on a previous episode. June Lockhart of Lost In Space and Ross Martin of Wild Wild West competed in a duel of words, with their partners often getting them in one guess.

Tried to focus on looking up writing opportunities for an hour after Password ended. I wanted to write down sites I could send in articles or blog entries or stories for, but I'm so tired, it was hard to think. I did write down a few ideas; I'll see if I can get some more tomorrow or this weekend.

Got a little further on writing. Arlene mixes a chocolate brew that she claims will bring Richard back to life. Poor Orson can't control his troll body and keeps knocking things over, though he is able to retrieve a cocoa tin without damaging the room. With Gene's help, they do manage to get Richard to drink the cocoa mix. He awakens...just in time to see a beautiful redhead name Fannie flutter into the room. Seems she had a hard time getting away from her stepmother and her many chores...

Broke for dinner at quarter of 7. Esther Rolle and Jack Silver continue their run on Match Game. Charles is more interested in needling Gene's fashion sense. Everyone did some shopping on Sale of the Century. None of the contestants went home empty-handed, but the champion pulled ahead in the speed round.

Switched to Hudson Hawk on Crackle after turning the gingerbread mix I got at the Acme into a moist gingerbread loaf. Eddie "Hudson Hawk" Hawkins (Bruce Willis) is a master thief and safe cracker who just got out of prison. He's no sooner joined his buddy Tommy (Danny Aiellio) at their bar for some coffee than he's attacked by a Mafia family who want him to swipe a horse statue from a museum. Turns out they're not the only ones after horse statues. A bonkers group of gung-ho CIA agents, headed by George Kaplan (James Coburn) and insane tycoons Minerva (Sandra Bernhard) and Darwin (Richard E. Grant) Mayflower are also after not only the statues, but what they lead to. Three crystals hidden in three museums hold the secret of Leonard DiVinci's machine to create gold from lead. Joined by Tommy and Vatican operative Sister Anna Baragli (Andie MacDowell), Eddie has to figure out how to keep that machine out of the hands of these human cartoons, dodge murderous butler Alfred (Donald Burton), and finally get that cup of cappuccino he's been wanting.

Hoo boy, is this a weird one. I remember it being a massive flop in 1991. I suspect they were expecting a heist caper, not a bloody, foul-mouthed Looney Tune. Everyone is chewing the scenery all over the place...except for Coburn, who plays it straight and manages to be even funnier. If you like your action movies bloody and nuts or are black comedy fans, you may want to take flight with this wild heist story.

Finished the night with The Patty Duke Show on The Roku Channel. Rose and I used to love this show on Nick @ Nite when we were little. We may not have looked alike like Patty and Cathy, but we were as different as sisters could be, had a little sister who drove us crazy like Patty's brother drove her up the wall, and thought Patty had the best dad in the universe (William Schallert). In the first season episode "Horoscope," Patty becomes obsessed with reading the stars and starts fortune telling for her friends and her dim boyfriend Richard (Eddie Applegate) to earn money for her mother's birthday present. She even enlists Cathy and her brother Ross to help with the load. Turns out that not only is fortune telling illegal in New York without a license, but Patty's predictions aren't entirely true.

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