Stayed at Tubi for The Busy World of Richard Scarry. "Lowly Breaks His Leg" when he falls out of a tree. As he only has one leg, he keeps demanding Huckle get him everything, including a just-so strawberry milkshake. He finally learns his lesson when the tables get turned and it's Huckle who is hurt. "Cucumber in Machu Picchu" takes the intrepid photographer and her assistant to the Andes mountains. They must find out who is stealing the gold rings from a sacred temple, before they're locked in the temple forever. Huckle and Lowly worry about "The Plight of Penelope Parrot" when Helga's beloved pet flies out a window and they have to chase her all over Busytown.
Headed out to the movies after that. I'm tired and my back aches, so I thought I'd take Uber there. The driver arrived in 8 minutes. There was no traffic whatsoever...but when we pulled into what will be the new Amy's Omelet House in Somerdale, it was empty, and the windows were covered in paper. They announced the remodeling back in December! I assumed they'd be long done by now.
It was such a nice day, I decided I would walk the remaining four blocks to the movie theater and see what I could find for lunch. Two blocks down on the White Horse Pike, Mia Tierra Columbia was supposedly opening in "early 2024," but it's now mid-2024, and their windows and doors were boarded. I ended up at Soprano Pizza by default. I think I made the right choice. Their pizza was amazing. The girl behind the counter kept recommending the vegetable, and no wonder. It was covered in huge pieces of vegetables. I tried that and cheese steak, cheese steak meat covered in American Cheese. The slices were enormous, bigger than the plate. I had them with a Coke Zero as I admired the Sopranos TV show and Frank Sinatra photos and posters on the wall.
As I crossed over the White Horse Pike, I heard the sound of children's laughter. I noticed kids happily running around a playground. Walking down a quiet residential street brought me to the Somerdale Park School. I'm glad the kids seemed to be on their recess. This was no day to be inside, even for schoolchildren.
Cutting through the road going past the school grounds took me to a back service road that was mainly industrial parks and a baseball field for the kids. I'm so glad I had off today. The weather couldn't have been more perfect, especially after yesterday. It was sunny and warm but not overly so, with a wonderfully fresh wind. It did remain a bit humid, but not nearly to the degree of yesterday!
The road conveniently took me past the nursery (with its sharp-smelling hills of manure) to the huge WalMart in front of the movie theater shopping center. I skipped them for the time being and headed down to the shopping center to pick up a soda from Dollar General for the movie. Since I had time, I peered around in Snipes, a hip urban sneaker store. I did see a pair of New Balances I liked, but they were way beyond my budget.
I still got into the theater more than 20 minutes early. Showed them my ticket, then used the bathroom and peeked at other theaters before walking into the one for The Garfield Movie. I settled down to enjoy the show...for less than 10 minutes. They had almost finished a commercial for Inside Out 2 when suddenly, the screen went blank and lights began to flash. No one knew what was going on.
Turns out the fire alarm had gone off. I was eventually evacuated outside with not only everyone from Garfield, but dozens of children on field trips. I have no idea what happened. I couldn't see any smoke rising from the theater, or much of anything at all. After one of the employees gave me a free pass to make up for the incident, I decided it was too nice to hang around and listen to the kids scream at each other and just walked up the hill to WalMart early.
WalMart was even busier. Good thing I didn't need a whole lot. I once again had luck with finding a complete series set for a good price here. McHale's Navy was $30, not as cheap as The Wild Wild West, but not bad for four seasons and two TV movies. My stepfather used to love that show. I watched it with him all the time as a kid. And unlike Wild Wild West, it's not easy to find on streaming. I also picked up Orange Raspberry Propel mix and those cinnamon Junkless bars, neither of which I can find anywhere else.
Since I had time, I doubled back down the Pike to WaWa. They were also busy, but I wanted something to drink besides a soda and to make change. Picked up a watermelon Propel and a pretzel...then got a second pretzel for tomorrow when I still didn't have enough change.
The bus arrived right on time around 3 PM. There was a little early rush hour traffic on the White Horse Pike in Haddon Heights and Audubon, but it wasn't enough to be a major delay. The bus wasn't full, and I had no trouble getting home.
Put on There's No Business Like Show Business after I got in and took out the trash and recycling. I go further into this massive vehicle for Ethel Merman, Dan Dailey, and Marilyn Monroe at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
Worked on writing for a while after the movie ended. Sir Michael is a handsome, gentle man who loves his magical mother. He was also considered a threat to Lady Jacqueline when he refused to help her overthrow his mother, so she cursed him into being a rabbit everywhere but his mother's domain.
Broke for dinner at 7 PM. Watched Match Game Syndicated while I worked. Patty Duke and comedian Alfie Wise joined in this week. I wish Alfie had come more often. He obviously enjoyed himself and didn't play too badly. He did get to see Charles go down to soak up the audience's adulation when he was certain his answer to "__ Shoulder" would be on top...and his reaction when it wasn't.
Finished the night with soundtracks featuring music by the Sherman Brothers in honor of Richard Sherman, who passed away on Sunday. If you grew up between the early 60's and the early 2000's, you're probably familiar with at least one song of theirs. They mainly worked for Disney, but they also did music for other studios, usually specializing in family shows.
Probably their best-known score is Mary Poppins. No matter what P.L Travers thought of their music, they actually helped shape the screenplay, making sure song and story matched unusually well. The catchy "Chim-Chim-Cheree" won the Oscar, but I'm going to agree with Walt Disney himself and say my favorite song from Poppins is the gorgeous ballad "Feed the Birds." It ably demonstrated the Shermans' ability to write slow numbers for musicals without traditional girl-meets-boy plots. Other songs I love here include the chorus number for Bert and his chimney sweep buddies "Step In Time" and Mary's "Spoonful of Sugar."
Disney tried for something similar with Bedknobs and Broomsticks. In some ways, I enjoy this more than Poppins. The story is less meandering, Angela Lansbury is delightful as apprentice witch Eglantine Price, and the backdrop of London and the English countryside during World War II gives it an air of danger and grit that Poppins lacks. Lansbury gets the non-romantic ballad here, the touching Oscar nominated "Age of Not Believing." I also enjoy "The Beautiful Briny Sea" and "With a Flair" for an unusually roguish David Tomlinson.
The charming Summer Magic is one of Disney's more underrated live-action musicals. Haley Mills and Burl Ives head a cast of bucolic character actors making the most of a slight but sweet story about a now-broke Boston family who move to a big yellow house in Maine, where they befriend the locals and deal with the arrival of a snooty cousin. "Femininity" revels in the Sherman Brothers' fondness for long words as it spoofs the courtship rituals of the early 20th century, while Ives scores with "On the Front Porch" and "The Ugly Bug Ball."
The Shermans moved to United Artists for another underrated family musical, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The lengthy story of an eccentric inventor who spins stories about a fantastic car for his children and lady friend tends to annoy critics, but I've always had a soft spot for it. "Truly Scrumptious," the children singing to the title heroine about how much they appreciate her, is my favorite song here. I also like "Posh" and "The Roses of Success" for Grandpa and the big chorus routine "Toot Sweets" that anticipates another candy factory-set family musical, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
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