A Lovely Way to Spend an Afternoon

I slept in so late and got so caught up finishing Rhythm and Clues, it was past noon when I got going. I ate a quick breakfast while watching Press Your Luck. Came in during the second half, just in time to see one guy Whammy out. The lady did too, leaving one guy to play against the house. He eventually won over $2,600, not bad after he hit two Whammies himself. His luck ran out in the next show when a Nebraska law school student managed to be the only one to pick up any cash.

Headed out as the second episode was ending. I had to run a few errands in Collingswood, and it had been a while since I had a nice walk there. Since I've visited Innergroove Records several times over the past few months, I decided to give equal time to the other record store about two blocks away. Collingswood Music is mainly a musical instrument and music lessons store, but it also has a darn good selection of records. I ended up with:

They had a lot of vintage James Bond soundtracks. It was a hard choice, but I finally went with Moonraker (still sealed!), The Spy Who Loved Me, and Octopussy. 

Bernadette Peters - Bernadette Peters (The kid at the desk said he was waiting to see who finally bought this one, considering they had three copies of it in the dollar racks.) 

The Age of Television 

Hooray for Hollywood (Collection of songs and some dialogue from Busby Berkeley Warners movies of the 30's.) 

Ralph Marterie and His Marlboro Men - Music for a Private Eye (themes from 60's detective shows)

Four episodes from The Adventures of Superman old-time radio show

Made my way down Haddon Avenue after I finally made my selection. It was such a lovely day, bright blue, sunny, and still really warm, it made up for a lot of stores in Collingswood being closed on Tuesdays. Thankfully, their library was open. I checked out their shelves and bins of books and DVDs for sale and  ended up with two recent hardback mysteries, Steeped In Malice by Vicky Delany and A Streetcar Named Murder by T.G Herren. 

Backtracked a block to Sabrina's Cafe for lunch. I'm glad I went when I did. I got there around quarter after 2, and they close at 3. They were still surprisingly busy for so late in the afternoon, with several of the long, blocky wooden and metal tables remaining full. I went with one of their seasonal specials, Wheels French Toast, a coconut French toast with blueberry-lemon compote. I was expecting two slices of French toast and some blueberries. What I got was four perfectly-cooked slices of thick coconut French toast swimming in sweet blueberry-lemon compote and topped with whipped cream, toasted coconut, and crunchy coconut streusel. Oh, yum! Sweet, fruity, and just heavenly. 

Had one last stop to make at PNC Bank on the way out. By the time I doubled back two blocks to the banks, there was a line for the outside ATM machines. There was a shorter one inside, too, but I opted to wait there instead. Went in, got my money, and went out.

Headed home after that. I noticed when I locked my bike at the rack behind the Senior Center that it was starting to look grimy. It was time to give it a good scrub. I can't remember the last time I washed my bike. I took it around the back with one of my new washcloths bought from Marshalls and Pine-Sol and gave it as good of a cleaning as I could. It looks a little less dusty, at any rate.

Went upstairs to rest and watch It Ain't Hay. I go further into this Abbott and Costello race track vehicle based on a Damon Runyon story at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

It Ain't Hay

Had no luck with job searching, so I worked on writing instead after the movie ended. Kathleen is surprised when the snow starts. It had been relatively warm just moments before! She hurries off to find shelter as the snow gets worse.

(Oh, and at this point, I saw glimpses of two new Julie outfits at Instagram and on an American Girl blog. One has her in blue shorts and a rainbow pastel heart-print t-shirt that honestly looks more appropriate for 80's girl Courtney. The other, a lavender and teal granny-square crocheted vest and purple skirt, screams 70's as loudly as possible. I might have to get both for Ariel, or at least the granny square one.) 

Broke for dinner and Match Game '77 at 7 PM. The first episode began with Charles joking about Brett's white jacket making her look like a nurse. The others are more interested in commenting on the lady wearing a shirt that said "Baby" with an arrow pointing at her stomach. The second show has everyone singing "On Top of Old Smokey" as an answer to a question about where Ranger Smith ends up when he falls out of his tower.

Finished the night listening to some of my recent record finds as I worked on my It Ain't Hay review. The Johnny Mathis album I Just Found Out About Love would seem to be a special collection of songs with music by Jimmy McHugh intended for the Columbia Music Club. I do have "Sunny Side of the Street" elsewhere, but the other songs are new to me. My favorites were the opening "A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening" and "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street." 

Hooray for Hollywood brings together many songs and some bits of dialogue from Busby Berkeley/Warner Bros musicals of the 1930's. I was pleased to see that they didn't always go with the obvious choices, here. Among the rarer songs are "Spin a Little Web of Dreams" from the semi-musical Fashions of 1934, "The Lady In Red" from In Caliente, and "I'm Going Shopping With You" and "The Words are the Music In My Heart" from Gold Diggers of 1935. Surprisingly, two major Berkeley films of the period - Gold Diggers of 1933 and my favorite, Footlight Parade - are not represented. Still, it's nice to have songs from movies that don't turn up as often nowadays.