Pack Up Your Troubles

Began a hazy, sunny morning with breakfast, then worked on packing the rest of the books in the bedroom. I finally emptied the crates I had the journals in for the children's hardbacks and the Christmas books. (If I end up keeping them, I'll take a note from Linda Young and buy Xerox boxes for them.) It'll likely be a long time before I need my fluffy robe or the green knitted blanket on the loveseat; they both went in a bag.

Watched Star Spangled Rhythm while I worked. I go further into Paramount's big all-star World War II hit at my Musical Dreams Movie Revues blog.

Star Spangled Rhythm

Switched to Match Game after the movie ended. The episode I caught kicked off with a young fellow who spent five minutes relating his family history, making Gene sit down and take a rest! Later on, everyone gets some hugs after an "Annie" question on the Audience Match.

Moved on to TV Time Action for The Charge of the Light Brigade while I packed cookbooks and the children's paperbacks. Major Geoffrey Vickers (Errol Flynn) is in India as part of the 27th Lancers division of the British Army. His brother, Captain Perry Vickers (Patrick Knowles), is after his fiancee, the lovely Elsa Campbell (Olivia DeHaviland).

There's a lot more going on in India than the Vickers' love lives, though. Geoffrey had befriended the Rajah Surat Khan (C. Henry Gordon), who promised eternal gratitude. Turns out the guy has a weird way of being gracious. After the British troops prematurely withdraw from their garrison to one further away. Elsa's father, Colonel Campbell (Donald Crisp), surrenders the garrison to Surat Khan. Khan then proceeds to murder everyone in the garrison, including British and Indian families, though he spares Elsa and Geoffrey. Geoffrey intends to get his revenge on Khan at the Battle of Baclava in the Crimean War...even if he has to sacrifice himself and most of his regiment to do it.

Hoo boy. Even the movie admits in the beginning that this has nothing whatsoever to do with historical fact. All of the Indians, even the little boy Prima (Scotty Beckett), are played by obvious white people in Indian makeup, and if they're not subservient or adoring of the British, they're bad guys. It's pure Hollywood romance, though Flynn and Knowles do well enough as the battling brothers, with Olivia DeHaviland mostly enjoying herself as the one between them. There's some exciting devastatingly filmed battle scenes, too, including the actual Charge in the finale.

If you love Flynn and/or DeHaviland or old-fashioned action and can deal with the fudged history and Indian stereotypes, you may enjoy this bit of Hollywood hokum.

Went out for a walk around 3. It was a lovely, sunny day, with a cool breeze that kept it from feeling as hot as it has the past few days...but it remained terribly humid. The blue sky showed over Peter Creek, looking as green as Depression glass, but dark clouds built up over the horizon. It was much quieter than it has been, too, with only a few people out in their yards. Everyone must be at work.

There was a letter waiting for me in the mailbox. Willa wanted to show someone around the apartment at 4 PM next Monday. That was fast. More than likely, Charlie's going to be showing one or more of his many buddies living downstairs around. Charlie came up later to confirm it, and we agreed that he could bring up his friends to check it out on Mondays and Wednesdays at 4.

Tattletales had started by the time I got home. This time, Elaine Joyce and Bobby Van came from behind to win, getting the last question to themselves after missing the first two. The champ came on big in Press Your Luck and was the only one to do so. One woman got two whammies and small amounts; the other man Whammied out.

Worked on writing for a while after the show ended. Bill explains the curse on him further. He kept trying to tell the others what happened, but the curse choked him and left him howling, then invaded his entering their dreams at the Summer-Winter Castle. Jo Ann transforms their clothes into a golden town and a fine blue suit, so they can join the other party goers in the ballroom. Brett's determined to rescue her own cursed husband in the garden and separates from the others. Charles, who saw the statue of Prince Jack (Klugman) earlier, agrees to lead her to him.

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Cooked chicken breasts, mushrooms, and scallions in lemon wine sauce and had them with steamed snap peas for dinner. Enjoyed a wonderful summer meal while watching more Match Game. For the first and only time on the 70's-early 80's run of the show, two men competed against each other. George just kept right on winning, and Richard kept on helping him earn money to send his parents on an overdue honeymoon.

The young woman champ did even better on Sale of the Century. She bought an Instant Bargain and blasted through the speed round. The other two contestants got nowhere near her. This time, she beat the Bonus Round and won the money with time to spare.

Finished the night after a shower with Hart to Hart on The Roku Channel. Jennifer's much-married aunt (Eva Gabor) is the target in "With This Hart, I Thee Wed." She and her most recent husband, a spiritual guru, were married for all of ten minutes before he dies from eating poisoned cake. The Harts investigate his retreat, only to discover that his accountant (William Windom) may have been doing a lot more than cooking the books.