Switched to Match Game '77 while I made the bed and dusted the living room. The first episode began with Roz Kelly kissing a very happy audience member. When Gene asked her if it was as good as kissing the Fonz, she said it was better! The second episode featured Joyce Bulifant's unique way of writing undergarments and everyone's differing answer to what the foot doctor served for dinner instead of liver and onions.
Jessa picked me up right at 1 PM. We ended up at Sabrina's Cafe. I've been there many times, but not with anyone else. We both had the lunch special with a small bowl of soup, half of a very large sandwich, and fries. I had the "Cali-turkey" sandwich with turkey, avocado slices, sprouts, tomato, and spicy mayo. Jessa had the "Vegan Philly," roasted vegetables smothered with cheese on a hoagie roll. She had regular fries. I had sweet potato fries. We both had a small bowl of tomato basil soup with vegetables and pasta. Oh, yum! The sandwich was delicious, the fries were terrific, and the soup was even better. She had a cherry limeade; I had an iced tea. They came in cute little mason jar cups with handles.
We went for a short walk after lunch. Unfortunately, there wasn't as much to see as usual. Many stores in Collingswood are either closed on Monday or closed all together this week for their summer vacation. We briefly stopped at GrooveGround Coffee, but decided we were full and didn't need fancy drinks. I directed Jessa to the bathroom at the library, while I dug Shakespeare for Squirrels by Christopher Moore and a paperback copy of Charlotte's Web off the sale shelves. (The latter replaces the copy my mother read to Rose and me when we were little in the early 80's. We literally read it to pieces. It's falling apart so badly, I really can't read it anymore.) Found Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley on the free book cart outside.
Jessa's doing pretty well. Right now, her big thing is running. She entered a 5K marathon and did well enough to enter a 10K...well, before she realized she'd actually be running ten miles! She says she's still willing to try it. We're also going to be better about getting together. I love Rose a lot, but I relate more to Jessa.
Went straight into dressing the dolls for September and back to school after I got home. Kit now gets to wear her original blue School Outfit with the brown oxfords and the high knitted socks. I put Molly in the blue gingham dress I found at the Barrington Antique Center a few years ago and her own white t-straps. Samantha wears her current "meet" outfit, the pink Swiss-dotted dress with the big lace collar and the black strap shoes. Felicity gets her second "meet" outfit, the lavender Traveling Dress with the embroidered flowers. Ariel also wears what she came in, a pale blue Swiss lace minidress with a crocheted vest.
Whitney is ready for her first day at school in the late 50's in the "Sweet Memories" Our Generation Retro outfit with the lavender and white checked skirt, pink knitted shrug, and a turquoise scarf around her neck. Josefina looks beautiful in her empire-style orange and yellow Summer Dress with the ruffles on the skirt and the fake leather vest. Jessa's mix-and-match in her original "meet" t-shirt with the stripes and the high neck, the white and turquoise sneakers from another meet outfit, and jean shorts. Barbara Jean is pretty in a woven pink minidress with gold threads.
Listened to the two Television's Greatest Hits CDs I picked up from Abbie Road earlier this month. This long-running series from the 80's and 90's covers theme songs from a wide spectrum of TV shows. The first one mostly had songs from shows of the 50's and 60's. I recognized all of the kids shows but the British puppet sci-fi drama Fireball-XL5, and the only sitcom theme I wasn't familiar with was The Andy Griffith Show. I had a harder time with the dramas. Some, like Batman, The Adventures of Superman, Star Trek: The Original Series, Flipper (which Rose used to love), and Secret Agent Man are among the most famous themes ever. Others, like Surfside 6, The F.B.I, and Mannix, are based after shows that wouldn't have interested me when I watched older programs on Nick @ Nite. (And two, F-Troop and Get Smart, really belonged in with the comedy shows.)
On the other hand, I recognized almost every theme on Television's Greatest Hits: Remote Control, which was mainly songs from shows of the 70's, 80's, and early 90's. I loved almost every sitcom they had listed as a kid, and even if I wasn't a big fan (like with Family Ties and ALF), I at least knew the theme in question. The only ones I didn't recognize were the fairly short-lived action shows Movin' On and BJ and the Bear, the even shorter-lived James at 15, and the PBS documentary miniseries Cosmos and Vietnam: A Television History. (And the country-flavored themes for BJ and Movin' were really good. Movin' apparently became a number one country hit in 1975.)
Took the laundry downstairs, then worked on writing for a while after I finished with the dolls. Charles the Scarecrow admits that he doesn't remember who he is, how he ended up covered in straw, or much of anything else. He'd only been strung up a few weeks ago. He wishes he had more brains, or remembers when he had them. Joyce wonders how he's even talking, and he says he only started doing it to shoo the crows away.
Broke for dinner and Match Game '79 at 7 PM after I put the laundry in the dryer. Joe Santos of The Rockford Files and Laurie McCafferty of Happy Days joined in as Gene asked the first "Herman Brickelmyer crosses the picket line" question that would become so prevalent in the syndicated series. Meanwhile, Brett scolds Charles for eating on the air, and Marcia Wallace tries to figure out "Cookies and __" in the Head-to-Head.
Switched to The 1973 version of The Three Musketeers on Amazon Prime after I brought the laundry upstairs and had a light dinner. This is a pretty accurate version of the first half of the book, with the most British cast I've ever seen in a movie about France. Michael York made for an especially tough D'Artagnan, while Charlton Heston makes for a far less-likely Cardinal Richelieu. Other stand-outs include Geraldine Chaplin as the fragile Anne of Austria, Oliver Reed as Athos, Faye Dunaway as Milady De Winter, and Christopher Lee as an especially scary Count De Rochefort. I also loved the gritty and fairly realistic filming locations in Spain and absolutely gorgeous period-appropriate costumes. I think we saw this and its sequel occasionally on cable when I was a kid. Highly recommended if you love the story, swashbucklers, or the cast.
And MG Productions' tribute to Bob Barker started tonight with his first week on the show. He was actually one of the earliest celebrities on the show, appearing on the second week. His wisecracks about selling refrigerators to the audience and genuinely good playing made him popular enough to return. Della Reece, who was upset when her answer "Count Basie" didn't turn up on the "Count __" in the Audience Match, would also be back, as would jovial Arlene Francis (who sat in what would later be Brett's seat). The only ones who didn't return were the pair from The Waltons, sweet Richard "John Boy" Thomas and his mama Michael Lerned. They both played well enough, and while Lerned seemed to enjoy herself, Thomas was really too sweet for this spicy show.
Check out Barker's first week in this first tribute!
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