Began the morning with Colliers Harvest of Holidays. Since April Fool's Day is tomorrow, I started with the really cute April Fool's story about two boys who find a giraffe in their backyard and try to figure out how to keep him there and collect a reward. "Nino's Easter" follows the holiday traditions - and huge feast - of a peasant boy living with his parents in northern Italy. "The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes" wants badly to deliver Easter eggs. After she proves her babies are capable of taking care of themselves, the head Bunny gives her a chance. He's so impressed with her, he gives her special golden shoes to get a beautiful egg to a sick little boy.
"Grandpa Bunny" is a sweet short from the Disney Storybookland anthology. It's supposedly based on the Silly Symphony short "Funny Little Bunnies," but has nothing in common with it besides rabbits. Grandpa Bunny presides over all the rabbits in the woods, making sure they keep nature extra bright and colorful. The adult bunnies miss him when he's gone, but the children know Grandpa left one last spectacular surprise in the morning sunrise.
Put on It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown while I got dressed and organized. The Peanuts are excited for their own holiday festivities. Sally goes shopping for new shoes, while Snoopy buys a birdhouse for Woodstock. Peppermint Patty wants to teach Marcie how to color eggs, but her best friend has a hard time grasping that you have to boil them. Lucy's more interested in pestering Schroder for gifts and coloring and hiding her own eggs. Don't bother with all the fuss, says Linus. The Easter Beagle does that. Sally's skeptical after the incident with the Great Pumpkin at Halloween, but Easter morning brings more than one surprise for the kids.
Called Mom while the Peanuts were on. She, Keefe, and Julia were having an egg hunt for Aurora and her friends. Aurora was also delighted with her many treats this morning. They were briefly having Julia's family over, but it sounded like they'd mainly have a small dinner with them and some friends.
Headed out after that for Easter brunch. It was sunny, windy, and cool but not cold, in the upper 50's. Just about as nice of an Easter as one could wish. If there's one thing I like about an early Easter, it's that all the spring flowers are still out. Usually, by the time we get to Easter, the daffodils are gone and the hyacinths are almost there. Almost every yard in Oaklyn and Haddon Township was a sea of yellow, white, and purple as I rode through the local neighborhoods, and it smelled so good! I even saw early irises.
As I did last year, I had brunch at the Westmont Diner on the hill under the Haddon Township Library. Since they were pretty busy, I sat at the counter to have lemon ricotta pancakes and a cup of fruit. A little boy and his dad sat next to me. The little boy was darling. He brought along a stuffed red bull, a cocker spaniel, and a plastic dinosaur who naturally got their own seat next to me.
Rose finally got around to texting me while I waited for brunch to arrive. She and her family weren't planning on doing anything after the kids opened their Easter basket goodies. I told her I'd come around later with my treats for her family.
Innergroove Records is open every day but Monday and on all major holidays but Christmas Day. I headed there next. They were busy with record lovers on their spring breaks and looking for things to do before Easter dinner. I dodged the browsers long enough to find:
The original Broadway cast of The Magic Show with magician Doug Henning
The soundtrack of the 1965 comedy The Great Race
Johnny Mathis - The First 25 Years
Waldo's Ragtime Orchestra - Spectacular Ragtime
Elvis Presley - Elvis' Golden Records
Michael Nesmith & The First National Band - Nevada Fighter (This one cost $9.99. The others all came out of the 1 and 2 dollar bins.)
Went home, put the records upstairs, got the treats for Rose and her family, and went right back out again. It took me a while to actually get their attention. I didn't want to ring the doorbell and rile up their dogs, but that was the only way anyone heard me. I knocked on the door for almost five minutes with no results.
I can't believe how big Khai is getting! He'll be 14 in three weeks. He definitely looks like a teenager now. Finley was taking a nap when I came in, but her mother got her up. She spent most of the time I was there showing me her new Marine Biologist Barbie doll that the Easter Bunny brought her. Honestly, that doll was pretty darn awesome. She came with a trunk filled with nifty accessories, including an underwater camera, fins, a snorkel, and tiny plastic water animals. Rose mentioned she found her a Paleontologist Barbie, too.
Rose herself just looked tired when she brought me mint tea. She's a lawyer, and her husband Craig works two jobs. I suspect they were just happy to rest today. Apparently, they had their big Easter dinner with Craig's family in Westmont yesterday. Craig was watching the Phillies play the Braves with their dogs Oreo and Cider. Lynx the cat climbed up on the dining room table (where he is not allowed) to mew his two cents, too. (Oh, and the Phillies beat the Braves 5 - 4 for their first win of the season.)
Made a brief stop at WaWa for a treat. I had no idea Mountain Dew made a zero version of their Baja Blast. Since they do the 2 for $4 sale, I got Mountain Dew Zero for later, too. Tried a strawberry birthday cake smoothie. It tasted a lot less like birthday cake than an ordinary strawberry smoothie. Good, but not what I thought it would be.
After I got home, a friend brought me a big ham dinner while I watched Easter Parade. I went further into this classic MGM musical with Fred Astaire and Judy Garland at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog the day before Easter 2019.
Switched to the closest thing Happy Days has to an Easter episode while finishing dinner. Ralph, Potsie, and Richie become "Three On a Porch" during the third season when they rent the front of a cabin during spring break. They lie to the three college girls renting the inside and tell them they're big businessmen from Tunsia, but the arrival of Fonzie knocks big holes in their story.
Did "Funny Little Bunnies" next. This simple Silly Symphonies short depicts the Easter bunnies who dye eggs and make candy and baskets for the holiday. Some of the details are really charming, though, especially how the entire bunny community, from the oldest grandpa to the tiniest bunny, find a way to help out.
Tonight's Match Game marathon was a short one devoted to original Hollywood Squares host Peter Marshall, who turned 98 yesterday. Marshall only did two weeks during the syndicated run in 1980, but they were among the most memorable of the year. A wacky Bill Daily and fairly annoyed Marcia Wallace joined in during the first week. Of the panel on his second week, only Brett Somers had never been a host and would never be one. In addition to Bill Cullen's dense resume, Dick Martin hosted the short-lived Mindbenders and The Cheap Show in the late 70's, Betty White had hosted a week of Password '75 and would go on to host another short-lived show, Just Men, and Elaine Joyce briefly hosted The Dating Game in the 80's.
See the Master of the Squares have fun on his show's rival for hilarity in this nutty marathon!
Finished out the night on YouTube before and after the marathon with vintage Disney World Easter parades. I might have seen the one in 1987 on Easter morning as an 8-year-old. Ben Vereen and Joan Lunden hosted, while Regis Philbin interviewed tourists. The Disney Cruise Line got the biggest push here, with a goofy storyline involving Alan Thicke being chased by pirates, namely Captain Hook and Mr. Smee, before ending up with the Disney characters on a tropical island, listening to a Beach Boys tribute band. We also got a very brief bit of Snow White and a Snow White float for its 50th anniversary.
Philbin moved up to the host's chair by 1998; Lunden was replaced by Ann Jillian. With Disney in the thick of its Renaissance, the emphasis here was almost entirely on its animated features. Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid all had floats, and Hercules was seen at the Disney MGM Studios. Jillian even showed Mulan being made. The other big push in '98 was for the Animal Kingdom, which opened 10 days after this special debuted. Philbin even rode Countdown to Extinction, now known as Dinosaur.
Celebrate Easter with a little vintage Disney springtime magic!
And I hope you had a wonderful Easter and an absolutely wonderful start of spring!
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