Rushed out soon as the episode ended. I emerged into blinding sunshine and a few fleecy clouds. Though it remained humid, it wasn't doing anything else at that point. Nor did it look like it had for hours. I figured I'd be fine riding to work. I did bring my rain coat, just in case.
Work was off-and-on busy. I think a lot of people may have gone down to the Shore once they figured out it wasn't going to rain for the entire weekend. There weren't really any major problems...until my last customer, of course. It was a very old woman who did everything super slow. She took one item out at a time, and took forever to do that. She claimed her son was around to help her. If he was, he didn't appear while I was there. I had to load the food into the woman's cart...and then she threw a fit when the money on her food stamp card didn't cover everything she had in her cart. I tried my hardest to explain, but she just wouldn't listen.
It was so late by that time, I called a manager to handle her and the woman behind her. Oh, and the managers told me at the very last minute I had no relief. I wish they'd tell you these things instead of assuming you know what's going on.
I was so frustrated when I got out of work, and the weather didn't help. Dark clouds gathered quickly on the horizon. I rode fast as I could, hoping to get home before the storm hit. I made it half-way down Kendall Boulevard when not only the rain came down in torrents, but hail, too, and crazy wind and thunder. Tried to take shelter under the trees, but they were too small.
It finally slowed down enough for me to hide under an awning on West Clinton. There were a group of ten to twelve-year-old boys on bikes across the street, hiding under the overhanging roof of Common Ground Coffee House. I got so tired of listening to them curse at each other after a few minutes, I decided dealing with the rain was better than listening to them. I think I made the right choice. The low street between hills under the train bridge was already starting to flood. I turned down Newton to dodge the onslaught. Finally got home ten minutes later soaking wet.
(Incidentally, the storm didn't pass until more than an hour and a half after I finally got home. The sun came out again around 7 PM, and it hasn't rained since.)
Spent the next few hours listening to records. Flahooley is one of the strangest stage musicals ever created. Sylvester, the creator of the laughing Flahooley doll, wants to sell many dolls and marry his sweetheart Sandy (Barbara Cook, in her debut). After another company undercuts the one he works for and sells cheaper dolls, he wishes on a magic lamp that every child should have a Flahooley doll. Unfortunately, the genie misunderstands and gives them away for free, undercutting the economy. When a mob tries to destroy the dolls, they nearly kill the genie, too.
Ohhhhkay. Yeah, you can see the problems here. Writer, producer and lyricist E.Y Harburg got burned by the early 50's Hollywood blacklist and wanted to parody that here, but frankly, the songs don't have much to do with anything. Trilling Peruvian singer Yma Sumac sings three songs that sound exotic but otherwise are out of place. Cook has a lovely ballad, "He's Only Wonderful," and shares a charming duet with Jerome Courtland, "Here's To Your Illusions." Otherwise, most of the satire was diluted before opening, and the chorus numbers are dully and silly. This is only for the biggest fans of Harburg, Cook, or 50's musicals.
Switched to Jack and the Beanstalk during dinner. This is one of my Peter Pan book and records that I hadn't gotten to yet. Jack sells his cow Milky White for magic beans. His mother is upset that they now have no cow and no money, so she throws the beans out the window. They grow into a beanstalk that reaches the sky. Jack discovers a giant's castle among the clouds. He'd love to bring home the giant's golden egg-laying hen and his bag of coins...if he can dodge the boy-eating ogre!
Basic version of the story enlivened by several charming songs. Jack and his mother sing a number about them not needing anyone besides each other in the opening. The Giant gets "I Want Boy!" and "Fee Fi Fo Fum," while his annoyed wife booms "I'm Tired!" I'd love to find more of these Peter Pan fairy tale LPs, and maybe some of their Looney Tunes stories, too. The songs are charming and the performances aren't bad.
Finished the night on YouTube with the Match Game Sunday Night Classics Marathon. This time, crotchety character actress Mary Wickes was in the spotlight. She may actually be one of the best-known stars on the show. She'd been playing reliable secretaries, tough mothers, and tart-tongued maids and housekeepers on film and TV since the 1940's, and would continue to do so well into the 90's. In fact, most people today probably know her as the housekeeper from White Christmas or the older nun who originally led the choir in the Sister Act movies before Whoopi Goldberg took over.
Mary began on Match Game in 1976 and became one of it's most popular semi-regulars. She shown in both the fourth and the sixth seat, never failing to come up with a crusty quip or great line. She got one of the best lines in the entire series when the brand-new, much-touted Star Wheel landed on Richard Dawson its first time out in 1978...when it had been designed to give other stars besides Richard a chance to play. "Do you know how much that thing cost?" She complained to Gene as most of the panel walked out. "And it's right back to Richard!" She also got a great crack at one of Gene's infamous plaid jackets around the same time. "Somewhere a horse is mighty chilly."
Mary missed Hollywood Squares Hour, but she returned to Match Game for a week in 1991. By that point, she was appearing as a regular on The Father Dowling Mysteries and was just about to make the first Sister Act film. She was as spry as she ever was, and just as quick-witted.
Join one of the coolest older ladies around on this merry marathon!
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