Work was a pain this morning. We were busy up through about 3:30. Everyone was buying huge orders for Father's Day barbecues, birthday or graduation parties, or just to feed kids who were now at home all week. Lots of gift cards for dads, grads, and birthday presents, too. Once again, we didn't have enough help until later in the afternoon...by which time, everyone made it to their barbecues and parties and we were dead. We were so quiet by 5:30, I just shut down and left with no objection.
Went straight home after work. Had dinner while listening to one of my many recent record acquisitions, The Girl Who Came to Supper. In this musical version of the play The Sleeping Prince and the Marilyn Monroe/Lawrence Oliver movie The Prince and the Showgirl, the members of the West End show "The Coconut Girl" are excited when they learn the Prince of Carpathia (Jose Ferrer) is in London for the coronation of King George V and will be seeing their show.
The star of the show, Mary Moran (Florence Henderson), catches his eye when she trips instead of curtseying. He invites her to dinner and becomes enchanted with her, and she's overwhelmed by his charm. But his teen son is aligned with those who want to overthrow the throne, and she's hardly versed in royal etiquette. Though their worlds are too far apart to make things work, she still teaches him a lesson in democracy and seeing the world in a different and more open way.
This was...just ok. It's especially disappointing for one of Noel Coward's works. Tessie O'Shea and Henderson stole the show. O'Shea got a supporting actress Tony for her medley of Cockney songs that takes everyone on a jolly musical tour of London. Henderson gets a sweet ballad, "Here and Now," after she's been invited to the Coronation, and a tour-de-force number that has her reenacting the entire "Coconut Girl" for Ferrer, including five songs. Ferrer and his material come off far less well. He can't sing, and it makes his ballads and patter songs sound all alike.
Lesser Noel Coward is still worth hearing, so if you love him or the big brassy Broadway musicals of the 50's and 60's, you'll want to look up this one at least once.
Worked on writing for an hour after dinner. As they look down, Brett sees a wall with a familiar egg-shaped figure. Humpty Dumpty was supposed to help her jump to the next square. She gets the Jabberwock to let them down far enough away that he won't scare Humpty before taking off again.
Finished the night on YouTube after a shower with game show episodes honoring Pride Month and Juneteenth. Homesexual actor, director, and voice artist Charles Nelson Reilly and lesbian writer and comedienne Fannie Flagg are two of my favorites on Match Game. The only time they appeared together on Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour was the final week. I went with the very last episode, where Charles cries over his answers in Match Game and Fannie gets a few risqué ones in Hollywood Squares.
Celebrity Bowling was what it says on the tin. Stars played four rounds of bowling for charity. Charles appeared at least twice. In the episode I chose where he's partnered with Gabe Kaplan from Welcome Back, Kotter, he accidentally hits Shelly Berman with his ball just as he's about to start! Charles did a lot less damage as a panelist on What's My Line in 1964, during the time he appeared in Hello Dolly on Broadway.
One of Fannie's funniest appearances on Match Game was also her last. She and Brett came rushing in late for the show! Gene gave them a good scolding for that. Fannie also did her last Head-to-Head, helping a gentleman with "__ Rebellion," and got to hear Brett complain how no one would rebel against whiskey!
Actor and "poet laureate of television" Nipsey Russell's natural habitat was word games like Password Plus. He did very well in early 1980, easily helping his contestant to the Alphabetics round. Jimmie Walker and his then-girlfriend Samantha did even better on a 1975 episode of Tattletales against experienced couples Lynda Day and her husband Chris and Don Galloway and his sweet wife Linda.
There's so much to celebrate this month! Honor some of the best panelists in game shows with these classic episodes!
And here's the Father's Day marathon Match Game Productions put together last year for even more June holiday fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment