Saturday, November 18, 2023

Last Harvest Day

Began the morning with breakfast and Care Bears Family on Tubi. A little boy has to make a speech for his Thanksgiving town festival, but is shocked when everyone is too grumpy to come out for it. He and Share Bear discovers that Sour Sam has given everyone - including several Care Bears and Cousins - his Crabby Apple Pies that have turned everyone cranky. "Gram Bear's Thanksgiving Surprise" is that she's become quite a bit more hip and youthful...but she can still make her Happy Apple Pies and encourage the boy to make sure that his town remembers the importance of being thankful.

Hurried out after that. It was 11 AM, and I wanted to hit the farm market before they closed for the year. Once again, there were far more craft booths than produce tables, but I still found Asian pears, lovely little gala apples, herb and garlic cheddar cheese, and multi-grain bread. Saw many people buying broccoli, greens, apples, and cauliflower for Thanksgiving and birthday parties. I had a harder time with the bakery booths. Apple cider donuts and pretzel rings were gone, and the multi-grain loaf was the cheapest one they had left. 

Went across the street to WaWa for a treat. Though I'd try their Caramel Apple Smoothie. It was...ok. Too sweet. It did taste like apple, but there was more caramel than apple. Considering how busy they were, I used the self-checkout and got out as quickly as I could.

I completely forgot there's two record stores in Collingswood. Collingswood Music is hidden down a side street. Fortunately, they open earlier on Saturdays. They don't have quite the selection that Innergroove does down the street as they also sell musical instruments and lessons, but I did come up with:

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - the original off-Broadway cast for this 1964 musical adaptation of the James Thurber short story.

Soundtracks for National Lampoon's Animal House and Superman III

The rest of my time in Collingswood didn't go nearly as well. I put my caramel apple smoothie near a door in order to check out the Time Lapse thrift shop. I didn't know anyone lived over it! Just a few minutes later, a college girl came in whining that someone left their "nasty drink" on the door and she cleaned it up. I didn't tell her it was mine. I didn't feel like being yelled at, and I felt bad enough. 

Saw a pile of records at the Dig This 60's furniture shop. Some man told me that they weren't for sale. When I pointed out that they were clearly left on the sale floor. he snapped that he played them in the store. I left quickly after that. Haddon Culinary was too busy to find much and expensive, too. Didn't see anything I wanted at Clutter Thrift Shop, the Occasionette gift shop, another gift shop with a coffee bar that specialized in leather goods. 

I was so upset and frustrated with myself, I wandered into the library. I didn't see anything I wanted on their sale racks, either. Went upstairs to sit down and collect myself while I colored an Indian design with colored pencils at one of the Teen Area tables. 

After that, I felt calm enough to head home. At least it was a nice day for all of this. Windy, yes, and colder than it has been, but sunny and bright, probably in the lower 50's. Just right for this time of year. I considered going to Dollar General, then decided I'd do that on Monday.

When I got home, I had lunch and put everything away while watching Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving. I go further into this anthology of A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving and two New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh shorts at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog in an entry from 2021.


Switched to the 1973 Filmation version of Treasure Island after I ate. I also go further into their second crack at British literature at the Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 


Moved to writing after the pirates ended and I took an early shower. Cora tries to stop Harron from harming Stephen, but he throws a leash and collar around the prostrated king and tells him he's nothing more than a servant. He then turns on Cora and is about to attack her when she wakes up screaming. It was a bad dream, but she suspects it was telling her something very important...

Listened to one of my Firestone Christmas albums while I worked. I have all seven of these. I've always loved the covers, with their huge bows and mistletoe against bright-colored backgrounds. They just scream "late 50's-early 60's Christmas" to me. My mother had a couple that used to belong to her mother in the 1980's. We used to listen to them when we decorated our Christmas tree. Rise Stevens and tenor Brian Sullivan are the main performers on numbers like "O Come All Ye Faithful," "Carol of the Bells," and two medleys of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "The First Noel" and "Away In a Manger" and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear." 

Finished the night on YouTube. Lawrence Welk and His Orchestra didn't get quite as into Thanksgiving as they did some other holidays, but they did do a few really fun episodes devoted to it. The 1973 show opens with everyone on their way "Home for the Holidays." Guy and Ralna insist "Ya'll Come to See Us," while the female singers remind us to "Count Your Blessings." Motherly Normal Zimmer wants to "Bless This House." Arthur Duncan celebrates by tapping away to the "Stealer's Waltz." Bobby Burgess and Cissy King do a waltz to "Somewhere My Love," then finish with a sprightly polka.

I have fond memories of catching the 1978 Thanksgiving episode in college. They open the episode with the rousing "On This Thanksgiving Day." Mary Lou Metzinger thinks Jack Imel is a chef and asks him "What'cha Got Cookin'?" Bobby and Cissy's Native dance in rather ridiculous Indian costumes works a lot less well today.  Guy and Ralna get "Count Your Blessings" here. Ken Delo reminds the older folks in the audience to "Button Up Your Overcoat."Arthur dedicates his number in this episode to "Dear Hearts and Gentle People." Anacani performs a lovely Spanish hymn, "May You Go With God." 

"Home for the Holidays" also opens their final Thanksgiving show in 1981. Guy and Ralna's ballad here is "A House With Love In It." Anacani picks up the pace with a Spanish-language version of "Put Your Hand In the Hand." Close friends and partners Ken Delo and Arthur Duncan go "Back In Your Own Backyard" as they recall why everyone wants so badly to get home for Thanksgiving. Bobby and his new partner Elaine Niverson get their square dance on for "Turkey In the Straw" and "Polly Wolly Doodle." Joe Feeny reminds everyone to "Be Thankful," while country singers Ava Barber and Jim Turner join in for "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma." The show ends with "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You" in honor of its author, Meredith Wilson.

Celebrate Thanksgiving with your family and Lawrence Welk's!


Finished the night with this Saturday's Match Game marathon. Character actor Robert Donner, best-known for his work in Mork & Mindy, made his first appearance on the show late in 1979. He would continue as a semi-regular through syndication and The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour. His dour demeanor, no-nonsense sense of humor, and nifty artwork on his cards really livened up some of the later syndicated episodes. Once, his answer was so bad, Gene sent him down to talk to the contestant whose answer had been equally odd. He got to see soap star Heather Thomas show off her tight, backless striped dress and hear Charles and Brett bicker over whether or not he stole her answers. Charles, who had so often been scolded by Brett for not wearing socks, would really hear about it when he walked around on the shag carpeting barefoot. Then there was the time almost everyone on the panel but Marcia Wallace walked off the set due to some bad answer. 

Donner may have had even more fun on Hollywood Squares Hour. On his last week of the show, he decided he wasn't getting enough attention and hired a guy he called Crazy George to play a drum and scream loudly in the crowd whenever he gave his answer. George was so noisy, he unnerved several viewers watching the show online! Needless to say, Robert was the only person in the studio who thought this was a good idea. Gene eventually had to subdue the guy.

Drum up a little out-of-this-world fun with this wild and wacky marathon!

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