Fortunately, it takes less than 5 minutes to get to Collingswood on my bike. The PATCO was busy, but it wasn't so full that I couldn't get a seat. Followed a family and got one in the front. The stations were busier. I just followed the crowd until I got up to 13th Street, which is two blocks from the parade route on Broad Street.
I arrived just in time for the "comic" wench brigades. They're the ones in the ruffly dresses and caps in weird prints. As I walked up and down Broad Street, from Doubletree up to the Philadelphia High School for the Performing Arts, I saw one group with a cow theme in white and black prints with red trim. The one before them were construction workers in orange with neon yellow trim and gray reflector fabric on the waists. There was a Barbie-themed group in pink, blue, and orange, with some guys walking down Broad Street in pink "boxes."
An alien group wore silver and blue and sported sparkly feelers and green makeup. Another group had outfits in every color of the rainbow. There was a Toy Story group with a mom as Bo Peep, dad as Woody, and kids as Jesse, Buzz, and in an inflatable dinosaur costume, a Mario group with red and green Mario and Luigis, and scarecrows in yellow, white, and green with straw-trimmed hats. I loved the Route 66 group in map-printed outfits with red and blue trim.
The crowds were nearly as crazy. Big families pushing huge strollers pushed between drunk college students who got up on ledges to yell out in the crowd. I saw people walking dogs of every size and shape. They ranged from a beautiful white Samoyed who just watched the crowd to a frisky King's spaniel who barked at everything.
The weather cooperated for the parade, too. While not warm like it was this time last year, it wasn't freezing, either. It was probably in the mid-40's, perfectly normal for early January. The sun was out when I was there, and there was no wind, but there were clouds on the horizon even as I started back down 13th Street to the PATCO entrance. The only other people waiting with me were a group of college kids who were probably on their way back to Rutgers. By the time I got off at Collingswood, the sun was disappearing again.
Cut through Collingswood to the Westmont Diner for brunch. When I ate there last month, they gave me a green envelope that was only to be opened in front of my server between January 1st and 31st. Enjoyed super-soft pumpkin pancakes with dried cranberries mixed in. When my waitress brought the check, I opened it to reveal a coupon for a free dessert or appetizer. I knew what I wanted. While I waited 20 minutes for a booth to be ready, I got to admire the cakes and pastries in the display as you come in. I wanted to try the long Napoleon cake with the white and chocolate trimmed icing.
Went straight home after that. My wrist and big toe are still sore, and riding around on the bike and running around in Philly didn't help. I spent the rest of the afternoon resting, doing the laundry, and watching the Universal adventure movie Arabian Nights. The dancing girl Scheherazade (Maria Montez) is convinced she's to marry a caliph and become a queen. She thinks it'll be Kamar (Leif Erikson), who has taken over the throne in the absence of his brother Haroun (Jon Hall). Haroun was attacked by Kamar's men and left for dead. He was taken in by acrobat Ali Ben Ali (Sabu) and the troupe of actors Scherazade works for.
The Grand Vizier Nadan (Edgar Barrier) wants both brothers out of the way. He orders his captain of the guards (Turhan Bey) to sell the entire group into slavery. Even after the troupe manages to escape, they still end up in Kamar's clutches. Kamar forces Scheherazade to marry him, but Ali knows he's not the brother she wants. It'll take a final rallying of the people and a fight to the death between brothers to finally put Haroun back on his rightful throne.
Delightful bit of blarney is the second of four films to pair up Montez, Hall, and Sabu. We also have Billy Gilbert as the head of the troupe and Shemp Howard as the least-likely Sinbad the Sailor ever onscreen. To tell the truth, this doesn't have much to do with the actual Arabian Nights stories, but that doesn't make it any less fun. Gorgeous production (this was Universal's first movie in three-strip Technicolor) definitely helps. Well worth your time if you love Arabic swashbucklers or fantasies or the three stars.
Switched to writing after getting the laundry in the dryer. The lion who attacks the group is small, plump, and has a very curly mane. Joyce recognizes him as comedian Avery Schreiber, and she's right. She's also right that he won't hurt them. He's a coward who can't bring himself to harm any living creature.
Watched New Year's game show episodes while eating dinner. New Year's goes back a long way on game shows. What's My Line celebrated their very first New Year's episode in 1950 by having none other than Guy Lombardo as a Mystery Guest to discuss his annual concert in New York to kick off the New Year.
One of the very few episodes of the second run of the Alex Trebek High Rollers still in existence is its New Year's 1979 show. Alex dons a snazzy tux, while the models wear fancy gowns. A twinkly-eyed older woman did manage to win a big prize package, but she still lost to a younger woman who got a beautiful brown fur coat.
Peter Tomarken and Rod Roddy also dressed up for New Year's Eve 1984 on Press Your Luck. Whammies performing New Year's concerts flew fast and furious, particularly in the second round. In the end, the champ not only picked up a car and cash, he became one of the show's top winners at that point.
Monty Hall's New Year's Eve on Beat the Clock is even more frantic. Character actors Louis Nye and Ellen Travolta played comedian Jack Carter and soap star Eileen Barnett. In the end, after the entire group has used noisemakers to blow balloons into a crib and poured enough champagne to cascade over a stack of glasses, Barnett and Carter came out victorious, making twice as much money as the other two.
Children and families get on the games in the Bob Eubanks Card Sharks and Ray Combs Family Feud. The 1986 Card Sharks had their Young People's Week during the days between Christmas and New Year's. In 1990, Ray and the families celebrated the new decade with silvery poinsettias, balloons dropping in the end, and questions about what people do every New Year's Day.
Drew Carey and his Price Is Right models ended the 2000's by giving away some of the most popular prizes ever, according to people who sent reminiscences on their website. Prizes ranged from a vintage yellow luxury sport car to a man's watch to the Grand Game. One of the Showcases showed off trips to cities with big New Year's celebrations. The other revolved around how and where people watch the Bowl games at home.
Ring in 2024 with these hilarious New Year's parties! (Warning that the copy of Card Sharks is in bad shape and has barely-audible audio.)
Finished the night with a marathon of the first episode to air every year during the Match Game 70's and 80's run. The first episode of 1974 introduced Dorothy, a wild contestant who got so excited answering questions, she accidentally hit the laid-back guy next to her. A funny older man proved to have answers that were even odder on the first day of 1975. Fannie Flagg took over in Brett's seat while she did a play for the first week of 1977. Gene stumbled into New Year's Day 1979 draped with streamers from the previous episode and looking more than a little bleary-eyed. Bowser brought rubber chains for the first syndicated episode of 1980, while McLean Stevenson had taken over Richard's seat by the time of the first 1981 show.
Dick Martin stuck around for the first Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour show of 1984. He's joined by Nathan Cook, Arsenio Hall, Alison Arngrin, and a young David Ruprecht when he was a host for Real People. Vicki Lawrence does very well at the Match Up mini game during the first episode of 1991.
No one celebrates the New Year like Match Game! Party on with these hilarious episodes.
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