Dyno-O-Mite Matches

Began the morning with breakfast and something a little different. I never did finish that Classic Fairy Stories CD set I picked up at the Mount Laurel Library book sale in April. The first disk starts off with the original "Brave Little Tailor." Not only does the Tailor get rid of the giant here, but he frightens away the king's servants to win his daughter. "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" is your basic tale of a little girl who wanders into the home of the title character and disrupts their breakfasts. You may not have heard of the Scandinavian tale "The Princess On the Glass Hill." The youngest son of a farmer catches three different horses eating their hay. He tames them and uses them to rescue the title character from the famous slippery glass mountain.

Worked on writing next. The little blue man with the beard calls himself Papa Munchkin and says Joyce liberated his people from the Wicked Warlock of the West. They think Joyce is a witch, but she's hardly that. To her surprise, a bubble drops in from the sky...a bubble that turns into a lady in a blue dress, ginger-red hair with thick bangs, and a familiar nasal honk...

Had a very quick lunch, then headed out around 12:25. Turns out I should have left much earlier. I must have gotten the numbers mixed up in my head. I was supposed to come in at 12:15. I'm not sure anyone even noticed I was late. It was dead when I came in. We were off-and-on steady for most of the afternoon. The only times we got busy was when there were only one or two registers open. I'm still frustrated about letting something so stupid happen. This is the second time I've been suspended. The last time was December 2014. At least they warned me this time, and it wasn't in the middle of a busy holiday season. At least I was able to dash off soon as they finished checking my money.

Finished the night at home with dinner and the next Match Game marathon. Jimmie Walker is still best known for starring in Good Times, a series from the mid-70's about the trials and tribulations of a black family. Other actors from the show, like Esther Rolle and Johnny Brown, appeared too, but Jimmie turned up the most starting in 1974. In fact, he remained popular on Match Game straight through 1991, long after the show was in re-runs. 

Jimmie's endless enthusiasm and eagerness (mostly) tempered his bad jokes and tendency to rile the audience over his bad answers. He was worse about the latter in Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour, often yelling to the audience at the top of his lungs. He was around for that wild week with Tom Poston and Nancy Lane near the end of Hollywood Squares Hour and in 1991 heard Sally Struthers announce that she was doing a voice for a new ABC show, Dinosaurs. (For the record, she was the pre-teen daughter Charlene.)

While Jimmie has yet to clear many of his syndicated appearances, his 70's and nighttime episodes are easily available. He took Charles' seat when he was late for a taping on two days in 1975 and happily hugged a contestant along with Gene when she won in early '76. A question during that wacky week that also featured Roz Kelly in '76 involved what an updated Snow White would look like. Jimmie thought she should look a little more like him. He featured in two classic PM episodes, including the one from 1980 where Debralee Scott spent the episode flirting with a handsome young contestant. They got so into kissing after she gave him a good answer to "__ Turkey" on the Audience Match, everyone tried to break them up and Billy Daily covered them with his coat. Richard had far less luck with a contestant from an earlier PM episode in 1976.

(Incidentally, Jimmie's another one who is still with us today. Most people nowadays know him best as a spokesman for health companies.)

Join in for some dyn-o-mite answers in this wild marathon!

Match Games Sunday Classics: Featuring Jimmie Walker Episodes