Going On the Town

Slept in today. It was almost 11:30 when I finally got to breakfast. Watched Doc McStuffins while I ate. "Celestial Celeste" is a star projector Doc borrowed from school to work on a project. She hears rattling in her projector after Stuffy knocks her off a shelf, but ignores it...at least until her star show goes haywire. Doc and the others finally convince her that our bodies give signals when something's wrong, and we need to be checked out right away. "Run, Doc, Run" has Doc practicing with her dad for a local marathon. She's upset when she turns her ankle on a toy and has to rest it. The others help her fix the lost unicorn, so she can run and the unicorn can find its owner.

Switched to Match Game '78 as I got organized. Gene gives sweet soap star Carol Jones a smooch in the beginning of the first episode. They didn't do nearly as well in the Audience Match, striking out with "Come to ___." We ended with a grinning musician contestant who was a dead ringer for a brunette Peter Frampton. 

The next episode has tape problems and is skipped...taking us straight into the Christmas Day show, one of my favorite episodes of '78. Charles reprises his Santa Claus role from previous years. He's joined by Brett as a little girl on his knee, complete with ruffled pink pinafore and Shirley Temple ringlets.

Headed out as soon as Brett and Charles finished their holiday skit. I've spent almost the entire winter sitting inside. It was too nice to sit inside anymore. It was a bright, sunny, warm day, probably in the mid-60's, perfect day for a bike ride to Collingswood. Cut through Newton Lake Park both ways. Spring's finally starting to show here, with daffodils and pansies popping up in flower beds and new green grass pushing through the old crackly yellow growth.

Collingswood was a lot busier than I figured it would be. Pandemic or no pandemic, it's still popular with workers on their break looking for decent lunches. I opted to explore a few small stores and save lunch for home. Gift shop Occasionette's third location Occasionette Joy Shop replaced the closed consignment shop...and they're pretty much more of the same expensive bath and kitchen supplies and fancy note books. I checked out some of the kitchen supplies, but didn't see anything I couldn't live without and moved on.

Did much better at InnerGroove Records. I haven't gone through their piles and piles of dollar albums and rare titles in months. After over 40 minutes, I finally came up with:

K-Tel - Mindbender (another K-Tel collection of rock and pop songs; came with a second K-Tel collection I didn't see in there until later)

Fred Astaire - Starring Fred Astaire (2 disc collection of songs from Astaire's 30's films)

Ronco - Do It Now (60's rock collection, including the Beatles' "Nowhere Man")

Mystic Music - Instrumental Magic (3 disc 1991 collection of instrumental music, including many TV show themes)

Got home around 3, in time for Super Password. Came just in time to see Vicki Lawrence help an older gentleman blast their way through the Super Password bonus round. She wasn't nearly as crazy about the Ca$hword round, moaning and groaning they announced it. William Shatner and his wife Marcy were the big winners on Tattletales today, over Claire and Scoey Mitchilll and Alana and George Hamilton. 

We also had a new champ on Press Your Luck. One of the guys Whammied out early in the second round, leaving the lady and the champ to battle to the end. In the end, he hit a Whammy and just couldn't get enough money to beat her. She happily picked up trips to Las Vegas and London along with a ton of money.

Worked on writing for a little while after the show ended. Gary Burghoff, one of Marshal Rayburn's three deputies, hurries into the saloon. Owner Fannie Flagg tries to head him off, but he insists to his former teacher Charles that Marshal Rayburn needs help with a gang of bandits who attacked the bank. Richard agrees to help.

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Made pasta, turkey meatballs, and spinach salad while watching Match Game '76. Dry-witted Nancy Kulp finishes out her only week on the show as several contestants took a while to give answers, especially to one about where all the rats in America are. Avery Schriber falls out of his seat to illustrate when the parachute jumper yells "Geronimo!" and Richard and Joyce have some very interesting answers to what thing of a mad scientist's got stuck in a test tube. 

Things get even wilder on Match Game PM, thanks to a crowd of rowdy UCLA college students celebrating their defeat of USC. Fred Grandy tosses around balloons and reminds the crowd that he was a member of a fraternity. The others try to help Brett with a 10,000 "Speedy ___" Head-to-Head.

Made Trailside Oatmeal Cookies  as Sale of the Century's "End of Summer Bash" came down to the wire. The boy picked up the Instant Cash, but the girls got the Fame Game and the Instant Bargains. In the end, the girl who hoped to be an artist just barely won, and picked up the money on the Bonus Game, too. This was the last night of the "Bash," and we got to see all the kids try for the jeep, too. 

Finished the cookies while Classic Concentration ran in the background. The young guy tried, but the woman eventually picked up half the prizes and got the puzzle in the end. She did even better with the second round, guessing the puzzle after only three prizes were revealed! Didn't have nearly as much luck with the match-the-car bonus round, though.

Ended my night with The Show of Shows on TCM's website. I go further into Warner Bros' big early talkie revue at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

The Show of Shows