Of Belles and Muppets

Began the morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. Doctor Anna and Music Man Stan are "Firefighters at School" when they come to show the kids what they do. The kids are surprised to see a doctor and a music store owner volunteering, but they remind them that you can be more than one thing. "Daniel's Doll" is a baby doll his Grandpere made him. He wants to play parents, but his friends want to play other games. He finally convinces them that they can play many different roles.

Worked on writing for a while after breakfast. Brett holds Goodson at bay with a sharp knife she hid on her person as Bill Cullen lets Gene in. He demands Goodson takes them to wherever he's holding his crew and Jack, but Goodson has his own ace up his sleeve...

Broke for lunch at 11. Watched Muppet Babies as I made a quick smoothie. Poor Sweetums is upset when he squishes the yellow tomato Nanny wanted to use for their snack. He just can't control his great strength. Gonzo recalls "The Legend of El Tomahto," a golden tomato in a temple guarded by booby traps. Sweetums is just too big for his own good...until he realizes his great strength can be a major asset. Gonzo wants to play "Interplanetary Kickle Ball" on Planet Gonzo, but he has no partner. Kermit joins him. He plays so badly at first, Gonzo ends up doing everything himself...until he realizes he hurt his friend's feelings, and that the important thing is having a good time with him.

Headed to work shortly after the cartoon ended. This is the only day I was listed for cashiering this week. We weren't bad early in the afternoon. It got crazier the closer we got to rush hour, and we didn't have nearly enough help. At least two customers got upset when they were confused over a Nabisco cookie sale, and they wouldn't listen when I tried to explain it. At least everyone else was in a good mood, including the very sweet young woman who was my last customer of the night.

Went straight into my own grocery shopping after work. I mainly needed fruit and vegetables. Grabbed onions, mushrooms, grapefruit on sale, bananas, and spinach. Treated myself to peppermint white chocolate-covered cookies out of a cart filled with Christmas clearance bakery items. Decorator's sugar is buy two, get one. I ran out of green sugar making the Molasses Roll-Outs last month, and I was already out of blue. Thought I'd try white pearls, too. Had an online rewards coupon for free eggs. Restocked milk, cereal, brown sugar, mandarin oranges, oatmeal, and yogurt.

Not real happy with my schedule next week. In good news, more hours, Monday and Friday off. I just wish all my days weren't 7 and 8-hour shifts. That's a long time to push carts. I'm going to be absolutely dead tired after next Saturday.

After the Uber driver dropped me off, I put everything away while watching Match Game PM. Excited college students in the audience whose football team just won a game made this one of the noisier episodes. Gary Crosby, Fred Grandy, and former beauty queen Marjorie Wallace join Fannie Flagg and the regulars for jokes about what you use tenderizer on, while Brett helps a contestant with "Speedy ___."

Moved on to Sale of the Century by the time I was eating leftovers for dinner. No one really did that well early-on. The guy kept buying Instant Bargains; the ladies kept winning Fame Games. (I can't believe they all missed the Fame Game about George Lucas.) In the end, the champ bought the final Instant Bargain, breezed through the Speed Round, and won a shopping spree on the Match the Prizes board.

Finished the night on Kanopy, one of the two streaming sites the Camden County Library system is connected to. I found a recording of the one-woman play Belle of Amherst there. This is the show Charles Nelson Reilly took that extended hiatus from Match Game in late '74 and early '75 to direct. His good friend Julie Harris won a Tony as isolated poet Emily Dickenson, who spent almost her entire life with her parents and sister. She's absolutely splendid, conveying so much emotion or different characters with just a small change of her voice and face. Apparently, this was filmed for PBS when it was on Broadway in 1976, so it's not the flashiest show in town, but if you love Harris or Dickenson, or just want to see a riveting no-frills play, you'll want to look around for this. 

Went from plays to short stories for Bernice Bobs Her Hair, also made for PBS in 1976. Bernice (Shelly Duvall) is a shy girl from a small Wisconsin town whose cousin Marjorie (Veronica Cartwright) finds to be dull company. She teaches Bernice how to flirt with boys and dance all the latest steps. This works too well, and Bernice becomes very popular among the young men in the town, especially after she claims she'll bob her long hair. Marjorie, threatened by Bernice's sudden popularity, tricks her into actually doing it...but Bernice has her own way of getting even.

Slightly biting tale of manners and mores among the smart set, just as the 1920's started to roar. Delicate Duvall makes for a lovely Bernice, while Cartwright is perfect as her scheming cousin. Love the great costumes and sets that perfectly convey the early 20's setting, too.