Started off a lovely, sunny morning with breakfast and Body Language. Catherine Hickland of the then-popular daytime soap Capitol and Nathan Cook of the nighttime soap Hotel compete with two very noisy and enthusiastic young ladies. It came down to a tie, but Hickland's team got it, though they didn't win the extra money in the bonus round.
Blockbusters didn't move quite that fast. In fact, the two rounds played by a young man and a mother and her son seemed to take forever. It didn't help that the mother at one point chose a D hexagon that was nowhere near her row, was boxed in by other hexagons, and was completely useless. (To her credit, she did look embarrassed when she realized what she did.) They hadn't even finished the second game when the show ended.
Got organized and checked out a few things, then headed out to run errands around 11:30. The sun was out, but the wind was bitter and heavy. I figured it would be easier to haul my clothes on the cart than struggle with the bike in the wind. I picked the right time to do it. The laundromat was empty when I arrived. Dropped the laundry in the largest washer that takes the longest. Not only did I have the time to spare, but I had things I wanted to get done.
Next stop the House of Fun to poke around. I'm finishing Amanda's Christmas bag and Lauren's box. Didn't see anything I thought would work for Amanda, but I found something extremely unique and unusual among the wrestling action figures for Lauren. (And they had a second figure from the line. If she likes the one I picked, I'll get that one for her after the holidays.)
After I got my load into the dryer, I headed in the other direction to Family Dollar. Hoped they had a plastic container I could use for cake flour, but they only had glass ones. Headed another block to WaWa for a Cinnamon French Toast (Cinnamon and caramel) Smoothie, a blood orange sparkling water, and "The Gobbler," a hoagie with stuffing, cranberry sauce, cheese, and turkey that only appears at this time of the year.
At least it was a nice day for a walk. Despite the wind and cold, the sun shown warmly, the sky was a brilliant deep blue, and the air had a good smoky fall snap to it. I wasn't surprised to see many other people out and about, from folks on bikes to children playing in front yards to people who were also walking home with groceries and other necessities from errands.
Put everything away while watching Very Merry Christmas Songs. This expansion of the original Sing Along video includes songs from then-new direct-to-home-media offerings like Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, along with three additional older tunes, "Jingle Bell Rock," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," and "White Christmas" (the last-named in its original Bing Crosby version).
Switched to Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving while having lunch and making yeast dough for Stuffed Rolls. This is actually one of the holiday specials and two episodes of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh vaguely connected by new material. In the first segment, Rabbit thinks it's Groundhog's Day and demands Piglet tell him if spring is coming...and regrets his pushy behavior when he realizes it's nowhere near February.
The second is the Thanksgiving special. Rabbit's being pushy again, this time telling everyone that Thanksgiving is a time of tradition, and they have to do things the traditional way. Pooh's the one this time who points out that Thanksgiving is more about sharing what we have than "tradition."
Rabbit's also the focus of the Christmas segment, as he explains how he once rescued a baby bird and raised her as more-or-less his daughter, and the trouble he had seeing her grow up when she was ready to fly.
Returned to Buzzr for Tattletales as I finished up the dough. I was more than a little surprised to hear the voice of a familiar orange lasagna-loving cat while I kneaded! Lorenzo Music, the original voices of Garfield and Peter Venkman on The Real Ghostbusters, played today with his wife Henrietta. The big winners were Elaine Joyce and her dancer husband Bobby Van, who got the finale double-point question right.
Press Your Luck got even more exciting. The previous champion Whammied out; the other two had three each. It came down to a woman who picked up a car and nothing else, and a man who racked up the money. He finally picked up a sail boat and a trip to Hong Kong that put him over the edge and made him the new champ.
Worked on writing for a while as the dough rose. Joyce is falling asleep over her bowl of stew. She's been tired ever since she had rum with the crew, she tells them. Brett's starting to become a more than a little suspicious, but it's too late. She's already yawning. Gene's realizing too that they've been played for fools. Not only was Richard the only person to handle the tea and the rum, but he's navigating them straight towards that other ship...
Broke for dinner and to fill the rolls with peach and cherry jam at 6:30. Watched Match Game '74 as I dropped jam onto the dough and slid the rolls into the oven. Gene joked about his microphone being moved up and down in the opening; later, he and the others tried to explain who Long John Silver was to a woman who had never heard of him.
Everyone joked about what Betty White's host husband Allen Ludden just realized was over on Match Game PM. The girl said Password (she likely meant the 60's original), but Betty and the others had their own ideas. This was followed by the panel's performance of their own chain gang song.
We had the second close game in a row on Sale of the Century. Once again, the woman bought both Instant Bargains, but the other man tied the champ in the Speed Round and won the tie breaker. Didn't have much luck in the Bonus Round, though.
Oh, and the rolls didn't come out too badly. Almost forgot to add the yogurt. It originally called for sour cream, but I don't like sour cream, so I used plain yogurt. I don't think I made the indentions big enough. The jam went everywhere but in the roll. They tasted good enough and the recipe wasn't that difficult, so I may try this again. Next time, I'll make smaller rolls with larger indentions and less jam.
Finished the night online with Two on a Guillotine on TCM. Cassie Duquesne (Connie Stevens) will inherit her late father Duke's (Caesar Romero) mansion if she can spend a week there. Reporter Val Henderson (Dean Jones) offers to stay with her in order to get the scoop on her father's promise to return as a ghost. Indeed, there's many spooky goings on and happenings in his huge old castle-like house, from a skeleton popping out of a closet to music and noises heard when there's no one around. It all goes back to the mysterious death of Cassie's mother Melinda (Stevens) after a trick involving a guillotine went wrong. The two look up several people involved in that act, including his former assistant Dolly (Virginia Bast) who loved him, and find out that there may be more to Duke's threat and Melinda's death than meets the eye.
Odd little old-dark-house story is marred by miscasting. Jones and Stevens aren't exactly known for their horror work and come off as too lighthearted for such a creepy tale. Romero's better in the Vincent Price role as the former magician who thinks recreating his final trick will bring his beloved wife back from the dead. The scares are more effective, especially the haunting and lush score by Max Steiner (his last).
If you're a fan of campy vintage horror from the 50's and 60's or either of the stars, you'll want to try catching this spooky little tale on TCM.
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