Spring Into Summer

Began the morning with breakfast and Angelina Ballerina. The Roku Channel currently has the original early 2000's cartoon as part of their Kids and Family line-up. "Angelina In the Wings" is upset when her little cousin Henry gets to dance with Madame Zizi as one of her Sunbeams, and she has to understudy him. Zizi's conductor is ready to throw Henry out, but Angelina insists she can teach him the steps. Angelina nurses "Arthur the Butterfly" back to health, but is reluctant to let him go. She's furious when Henry accidentally releases him, but learns a lesson in what it's like to be trapped when she and Henry fall into a deep hole and can't get out.

Headed out to work shortly after the cartoon ended. Work was quiet for most of the day, except during the noon rush hour. It was too nice to be busy! The temperature was already in the 70's when I went out at 8:30. By 11:30, the lingering haze and clouds were long gone, replaced with sunshine, sizzling blue skies, and a warm wind. We're still short on help, though. I spent the afternoon rushing from sweeping inside to gathering inside recycling to doing carts because I had no one helping out inside.

Took the long way home down Nicholson Road again. It would have been a crime not to! It was too nice to rush. Everyone else in Audubon agreed with me. There was a smattering of traffic around the mall entrance. Otherwise, even Nicholson Road wasn't that bad. Enjoyed the scenery, the pale green leaves and rainbow gardens.

Thankfully, Buzzr on Pluto TV was up and running again by the time I walked in the door. I changed, then watched Tattletales. Milton Berle and his delightfully witty wife Ruth and Carolyn Jones and her goofy husband Orson Bean were the big winners today, over Amanda Blake and her animal tamer then-hubby Frank Gilbert. 

Press Your Luck could have used a lot more luck today. The game started well, with two contestants getting money in the first half. There were so many Whammies in the second game, the only contestant who didn't Whammy out was a very funny older lady. She became the champ by default, despite not winning anything.

Worked on writing for a little while. Ira Skutch sports a far more expensive and elaborately cut suit than the western wear Gene and Mayor Allen Ludden wear. Richard jokes about admiring it before Gene explains why he's really there. He wants Richard to be the new sheriff. Allen has already heard stories about Richard's prowess with a gun, but Ira doesn't like what he sees of this stranger...

Broke for leftovers at 6:30. Match Game '79 gives us a major milestone as Gene announces that Fannie Flagg is in the midst of writing her first book. (That would eventually become Coming Attractions, later Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man. It was finally released in 1981.) We also get a rather weird question about whom Harry the Super Salesman sold Polygrip to. 

Steve Kanaly of Dallas joins Elaine Joyce, Patty Duke, Richard Paul, Gene, and Brett and Charles for Match Game PM. We get a lot of interesting answers to what the snake gave Eve in an updated version of the bible and a Lawrence Welk joke (with Richard Paul doing a pretty darn decent Welk imitation). Later, Charles attempts writing in Yiddish, though it looks more like he tried to write a song, and helps a contestant answer "__ On White."

The champ dominated most of the game on Sale of the Century. While the other man did win a Fame Game, he bought an Instant Bargain and the Instant Cash and just got through the Speed Round. Didn't have as much luck with the Bonus Round as he did last night.

Finished the night on Disney Plus with The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffith. Eric Griffith (Roddy McDowell) is the butler for Arabella (Suzanne Pleshette) and her 12-year-old brother Jack (Bryan Russell) Flagg. Jack's obsessed with all things Wild West and California Gold Rush. When he discovers he and his sister are now broke and their home has been repossessed, he runs away to San Francisco. Loyal Eric joins him on the ship and becomes its cook. Arabella follows them too, hoping to keep them out of too much trouble. 

Eric and Jack hope to find gold with the help of a map given to them by actor Quentin Bartlett (Richard Haydn), but it's stolen by disreputable Judge Higgins before they can get far. They manage to find gold anyway, only to lose it again. Meanwhile, Arabella's taken a job at the local saloon as a singer, to Eric's horror. He accidentally knocked out saloon owner Sam Trimble's (Harry Guardino) top prize fighter Mountain Ox (Mike Mazurki), and now Sam wants to promote the rematch as the biggest thing to hit San Francisco in years. Arabella protests at first, but Eric insists it's the only way they can get their money back...if he can avoid Ox and his buffalo-sized fists!

I remember running into this one on The Disney Channel occasionally as a kid, but time hasn't been kind to it. Several gags involving Asian and Native American stereotypes can be more than a little uncomfortable for some people nowadays, and the goofy sped-up slapstick in the end looks more silly than exciting. McDowell and Pleshette do have a great deal of fun as the uptight butler who discovers he might have more tough guy in him than he thinks and the smart lady who wants to do things her way. I also love the charming cartoons used as transitions from one sequence to the next. In the end, I'd say this one is mainly recommended for fans of McDowell, Pleshette, or the Disney family comedies of the 50's, 60's, and 70's.