Worked on writing for the rest of the morning. I decided to do my first Match Game Christmas story. Nutcracker Blank is set during the 1981 syndicated season, and is inspired by Debralee Scott and Bart Braverman's feuding during several weeks where they appeared together. Debralee arrives at the panelists' party in the lounge room. Brett greets her, vodka in hand. Deb admits that she's probably already long gone.
Headed out to work and got there just in time. I cashiered for 20 minutes before they pulled me to help with carts. Though I did take a few customers when it got busy, I mainly spent the day outside, pushing carts and gathering trash. They picked the right day for it. Honestly, it was too nice for November, sunny, breezy, and way too warm, probably in the mid-70's. At least a second bagger came in to help later.
I actually got a good schedule next week, the best I've had in weeks, if not months. Nothing later than 6:30 or earlier than 11. Seven hours on Sunday and next Saturday, but that's not 8 1/2. Tuesday and Thursday off.
Only needed a few things after work. Nature's Valley granola bars are on that buy 2, get them for $2.50 each sale again. Went with two Fruit and Nut boxes. Bought muffins for lunch. I'm supposed to have a free coupon for a two pack of bakery cookies, but it keeps not working. Bryers ice cream is on sale and I have a digital coupon. Grabbed a bag of honeycrisp apples. Needed gift cards for Anny's birthday the day before Veteran's Day and Keefe's the week after.
Put on Match Game '77 when I got home. A young man born in Germany wore a suit based after the national costume of Bavaria that came in for a lot of ribbing. He did well enough to get in two Audience Matches. Everyone kept tossing out German jokes during "Parker __." The second Audience Match was "Werner __," prompting Richard to recall the actor Werner Klemper who played Klink on Hogan's Heroes (and apparently brought his own uniform!). Anson Williams and Mary Anne Mobley got to hear jokes about "Age of __," especially how young-looking the female contestant (and Williams) were!
Had dinner with friends, then took a shower and finished the night on YouTube with versions of The Nutcracker. My favorite of the traditional stage shows posted there is the one by the San Francisco Ballet that sets the story in San Francisco around the early 1910's. We get a lot of this in a charming prologue that depicts the guests arriving at the party and the people passing by the house.
There's been several adaptations of the ballet for TV. One such version debuted in 1958 on Playhouse '90 as the big Christmas Day show from CBS that year. Like The Pied Piper of Hamelin, it's one of the few broadcasts of its era to exist in its original color. It's a lovely confection with George Balanchine choreography.
The direct-to-video Good Times Entertainment Nutcracker wound up being better than its low-budget origins would suggest. It's one of only three screen Nutcrackers I've seen adapt the original story "The Hard Nut" rather than the ballet. The characters, with their wide, pale eyes, were a bit on the creepy side, the songs are boring, and the Mouse Queen was too cute to be scary. On the other hand, there's a genuinely interesting Beauty-and-the-Beast type story of Marie dreaming that only she can rescue the Nutcracker from his cursed form.
If you love this story, all three are very different and worth checking out!
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