Thursday, July 09, 2020

Hot Times In the Summer

Woke up a bit earlier than I have been lately. Put on Molly of Denali while eating breakfast. Molly and Tooey's new amphibian friend is "Froggy of Denali" when they find a wood frog sitting alone on a road during the spring thaw. They dub it "Bandifer" due to the bandit-like rings on its eyes and take it home to keep it warm until spring kicks in. They need to do a lot of research in a book on frogs to find out what Bandifer eats and what kind of home she likes. "Molly Mabray and the Mystery Stones" takes the duo to Sitka to visit Molly's Grandpa Nat. The kids want to see petroglyphs - markings left in rocks by their ancestors - on the beach, but all they get are wet shoes. Grandpa not only teaches them about harvesting sea cucumbers, but how many things can be revealed at low tide.

Returned to Buzzr as I cleaned up the breakfast dishes. Three new contestants battled it out on Split Second today. The one guy, a hip music video producer, and one of the women were back-and-forth the whole time, but he finally got ahead in the Countdown Round. He became only the second person I've seen hit the car on his first try in the bonus round, too.

He wasn't the only one who went home a champ. The mother-daughter team that's dominated Blockbusters for the past few weeks ended their run with another win on the Gold Rush round and 120,000 dollars all together. They'd just started another game with a new solo lady and brother pair as the show ended.

Headed out to run errands shortly after Match Game started. First stop of the day was the laundromat. I picked the right day to do it. There was one other person inside when I arrived. I got my change, dropped my laundry in the washer, and moved on. Family Dollar wasn't busy, either. My laundry detergent is almost empty; grabbed a smaller yellow Tide. They're also out of their store-brand sugar. I just grabbed Domino's. Also got a Bubbly lime sparkling water.

Though the laundromat remained quiet when I got back in, I still sat outside in the shade. For all the heat and humidity, it was still nicer than inside. Worked on my story notes and only went in to switch my load to the dryer and throw it back into the laundry bag. Even with towels to wash, I still didn't have that big of a load anyway.

I finally got home around 1. Let Classic Concentration run while I folded the clothes and put them away and loaded the kitchen linens into a bag. The winning streak continued with a young man who got the puzzle in less than 10 minutes, then got all the matches for a car in 35 seconds! Alas, the young woman who won after him was able to get more prizes, but didn't have as much luck with the car.

Had lunch, then worked on crocheting while watching Follow Thru on YouTube. I go more into this rare 1930 two-strip Technicolor golfing comedy at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Follow Thru

Grabbed the trash and recycling canisters as soon as the movie ended, then went down to the backyard to use the hose. The trash can and recycling canisters desperately needed to be scrubbed. I'd put it off for way too long. I normally do them in mid-late May, but that's when I broke my elbow. My elbow now moved well enough to scrub into the plastic vessels and get all the gunk off. It took me about 20 minutes.

Left the canisters to dry on the porch, then went inside for more crocheting and Buzzr. Mitzi McCall and Charlie Brill came from behind today to be the big winners on Tattletales, even after getting into their second big shouting match of the week. We also had a new winner on Press Your Luck. The woman and previous champ got three whammies each. The new champ got none, and a sailboat and one of those "Selectavision" disc-video machines in the bargain.

Worked on writing for a while after the show ended, or really re-writing. Wanted to make the end duel between Richard and Ira more dramatic, so I went back and eliminated Richard getting hurt before he's drained of his energy in the Beauty and the Beast segment. Charles arrives in time to see Ira's men corral the others, throw a net on Orson (Bean) the troll, and take Gene's wand. Ira is about to run the older wizard through when they hear a call from the ceiling...

Broke for leftovers at 6:30. Soap star Rosemary Forsyth joined Gene, the regulars, poet and comedian Nipsey Russell, and sweet Joyce Bulifant for a Match Game episode from 1977 that included jokes about toupee soup and Gene utterly insisting on kissing the "new kid on the block." Sale of the Century crowned a new champ when the kid from yesterday and the other man tied on the speed round. It came down to the other man knowing who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. He, too, had less luck winning the bonus round.

Finished the night on Tubi with the stop-motion early 60's fantasy Jack the Giant Killer. Young farmer Jack (Kerwin Matthews) bravely rescues the Princess Elaine (Judi Meredith) from the fearsome one-eyed, horned giant Cormoran. King Mark (Dayton Lummis) is delighted to have his daughter home, but he's also concerned for her welfare. Pendragon (Torin Thatcher), the wicked wizard who tried to capture her, will do anything to get the throne. He sends Jack to take her to a convent, only for the two to fall in love.

Pendragon's evil witches capture Elaine and turn her into a witch. Jack wants to follow them, but the crew refuses and throws him and the little boy Peter (Roger Mobley) overboard. They're rescued by the hearty Viking Sigurd (Barry Kelly) and the rhyming leprechaun (Don Beddoe) he keeps in a bottle. Jack uses his wishes from the little fellow to get him to Elaine...but he isn't aware of Pendragon's treachery. Jack will have to rely on his own wiles and the unusual magic of the rhyming imp to free him and his friends from Pendragon's hideous giants and terrifying sorcery.

Rose used to love stuff like this in the 80's. She was a big fan of the Sinbad Ray Harryhausen movies when we were kids. So was Dad. I think I appreciate these more as an adult. The dialogue may be cheese, but the actors are obviously having fun, and the stop-motion is actually pretty well-done for the time, especially the giants and the sea monster who fights one off. A lot of fun if you love fairy tales or other Ray Harryhausen films of the 1960's and 70's.

(Wikipedia mentions that some copies of this turn it into a musical. Tubi's print had no music besides the background scoring; I'm guessing it's the original version.)

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