Saturday, April 27, 2024

It's Fun to Be a Human

Started off the morning with breakfast and The Busy World of Richard Scarry. Aviator Rudolph Von Flugle takes Huckle and Lowly up in his plane. The boys learn to become "High Flyers" in a hurry when he forgets his seatbelt and falls out. Dudley and Sam solve "The Steamboat Mystery" when a wealthy lady pig's pearl necklace is stolen during a masquerade party. Louie the French restaurant owner hopes the Hoboes are "The Best Waiters Ever" when he invites Mayor Fox and another mayor to his establishment.

Messed around online a bit before heading out. There was a lot going on today, starting with Audubon Day at the Audubon Recreational Center. Not hard to tell there was something going on over there! The traffic got bad as I rounded the school. People dodged the cars as they pushed strollers down to the park.

I had no idea Audubon Day was this huge. I expected a few craft tables and games for the kids. It was noisy and sprawling, almost on a par with some of the bigger events in Collingswood. There were thousands of kids running around in the playgrounds alone. I did manage to make my way through the throngs long enough to pick up free copies of Strangers On a Train and The Color Purple on DVD from the Audubon Library's booth and a rock painted like a cute ladybug from their environmental center. (And I think I inadvertently gave them my $20 for their donation can. I meant to give them $1. At least it went to a good cause. The young woman in charge said they were raising money to plant trees.)

Frankly, that mess got to be too much for me. I was there for less than 20 minutes before I hurried off again. This time, I made my way across King's Highway and through Haddon Lake Park to Haddon Heights. I read last night that they were having their Town-Wide Yard Sale today. 

Alas, they proved to be disappointing. There weren't that many yard sales out there, and the few I did run into mostly sold junk. I wonder if the weather scared some folks off. It was gloomy, cloudy, windy, and much cooler, barely in the 60's. It didn't make it less busy. Even as I kept going in circles and getting turned around, I had to dodge people in cars looking for good bargains. All I found was The Best of the Flamingos on CD and Rose's Christmas Cookies, a collection of holiday cookie recipes. Tried to hit the Haddon Heights Library, but they were closing as I arrived.

Had lunch when I got tired of going in circles. I've wanted to try the Market Links Cafe for years. They were a small storefront on the first block of Station Avenue that sold smoothies, salads, tacos, burritos, and basic sandwiches. I had a huge burrito at a blocky wooden table, along with a big bottle of water. The burrito was very filling, with lots of cheese, black beans, chicken, and vegetables. The chipotle mayo also made it a bit spicy. I downed quite a bit of that water.

Since I had no luck at the yard sales, I thought I'd check out Station Avenue Antiques. I did slightly better here. Found a Raggedy Andy hanging on the wall who would go perfectly with the Raggedy Ann I picked up from a yard sale five or so years ago. I also grabbed three records: 

The original Broadway cast of The Robber Bridegroom (Would you believe this one was only a dollar? And the show was a flop on Broadway. This album is pretty rare.)

Two episodes of the radio show The Shadow with Orson Welles (This was the five dollar splurge, but my Orson Welles Shadow episodes are in storage.) 

The George Shearing Orchestra - When the Lights are Low (Also a dollar.) 

Headed back towards Oaklyn after I got out, and made two quick stops on the way home. I was hoping to hit the bathroom at the Pine Street WaWa in Audubon, but they're not big enough to have a public bathroom. I did get two bottles of Dr. Pepper Zero and Coke Spiced Zero. Treated myself to a Neapolitan Cookie (banana, vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry) from Las Amigos Bakery.

After I got in, I had my giant cookie while watching The Lorax and The Hoober-Bloob Highway. I go further into these Seuss specials from the 70's at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.


Spent the next few hours working on the reviews and writing. Took a shower, then had dinner and finished the night with today's Match Game marathon. I suspect we got an encore of the Happy Days marathon from a while back in honor of its 50th anniversary this year. 

Anson Williams would be the first cast member to turn up on the show. He appeared in 1974, in 1977, and during a week of The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour in 1983. Brett heavily drooled over him both weeks he was on in the 70's. Tom Bosley celebrated Easter on the show early in 1975 by wearing Brett's pink flowered bonnet. Pat Moriata endured a lot of Japanese jokes during his only week later in '75. Williams' then-wife Laurie McCafferty appeared in 1979 and during syndication, while Erin Moran and Lori Goodhead turned up on a later Match Game-Hollywood Squares episode. 

Actually, the Happy Days cast member who got the most out of Match Game was the one who appeared the least on Happy Days. Roz Kelly only did a few episodes as Fonzie's girlfriend Pinky Tuskedero, but that didn't stop Goodson-Todman from announcing her as being from the show. She got really into Gene's "New Kid on the Block" kiss, and would grab him for another one later that week when an overly excited contestant smooched Richard. When she came back in 1977, Gene brought a guy out of the audience to kiss her. She declared him to be even better than Henry Winkler, and Gene called him "the new Fonz."

Rock around the clock with all your favorite Happy Days cast members in this hilarious marathon!


(Oh, and after it being dark and cloudy all day, it did finally rain...and hard...around 1 AM. Doesn't sound like it's doing anything now.)

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