Harts In the Western Heat

Began the morning with breakfast and All-Star Laff-a-Lympics. The first half in Athens is a showcase for basic track and field. The Really Rottens' cheating manages to trip the Scooby Doobies up twice in pole vaulting and discus throw. Yogi jumps over it in the vaulting, while Grape Ape helps Yakky Doodle deal with the discus. Bit surprised Daisy Mayhem was nowhere to be seen during the second half in the Ozarks. This seems like her turf. Maybe she was visiting relatives. The Scoobys came back from the trouble in the first half with Abu using a little magic to avoid the Rottens in the keel boat race and Dynomutt and Blue Falcon making a strong showing in the rail cart race.

Headed off to work after that. It wasn't that bad in the morning. A strong breeze kept it from feeling too hot. We were a lot busier than usual for a middle-of-the-month Wednesday, too. I wondered why...until I remembered that today is Juneteenth. Many people, especially in Camden, probably had today off. I think most of the kids are out of school by now too, and would have been even if the weather behaved better. Thankfully, other than having to put away a few cold items, there were no major problems.

By the time I got off, the heat had risen into the mid-90's. Even the warm breeze couldn't help now. I stopped at Common Grounds Coffee House for a cold, very sweet iced chai latte and macarons, and then went to the pretzel shop and got regular Philly pretzels for later and a can of Diet Coke. Common Grounds was busy; the pretzel shop was not.

Watched The Price Is Right on Buzzr when I got home. I think these episodes are from the mid-80's, probably right before Johnny Olson died. Bob has dark hair, the models wear suits and have big hair, and the ladies are in ruffly blouses, long skirts, and pantsuits. A lady only got one punch on Punch-a-Bunch, but it was enough for the top prize. An Air Force officer didn't do quite as well on Now and Then. After having waited the entire show, another lady in a striped pantsuit not only finally made it onstage at the last moment, she wound up with her Showcase, too.

Put on Dodge City while relaxing over popcorn and Propel. Errol Flynn stars as Wade Hatton, a cattle driver who helps bring the train to the title town. It also brings a wave of lawlessness that results in a series of sheriffs being killed or driven away and a little boy (Bobs Watson) dying in a gunfight. Abbie Irving (Olivia De Havilland), who saw her brother (William Lundigan) die in a stampede and Hatton shoot him while leading their wagon train out west, is less impressed. 

Her uncle (Henry Travers) tries to get Hutton to become sheriff and confront saloon owner Jeff Surrett (Bruce Cabot) and his gang, but he refuses...until he sees that little boy die. He then proceeds to clean up the town, arresting anyone who so much as starts a minor altercation on a Sunday. Abbie and reporter Joe Clements (Frank McHugh) have enough dirt on Surrett to get it into court. When he kills Joe, Hatton tries to get Abbie out of town and bring Surrett's man Yancy (Victor Jory) to trial, but Surrett is on their trail, and he'll literally burn the train they're on down to keep his criminal empire going.

Enjoyable Technicolor action was Flynn's first western and one of his best. De Haviland more than matches him as the strong-willed frontierswoman who won't back down to Surrett or anyone, McHugh is a lot less whiny than usual as the crusading journalist, and Alan Hale and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams are having a lot of fun as Hatton's freewheeling but loyal deputies. If you ever wanted to see Flynn clean up the west - or are fans of good-old fashioned, good guys-vs-bad guys western tales - this is one trip to Kansas that's worth taking that burning train for.

I enjoyed the western so much, I thought I might try taking a crack at the Match Game western again. I mostly just cleaned up a lot of spelling and editing mistakes. I applied for a receptionist job at a realty office in Stratford, too.

Broke for dinner and Match Game Syndicated at 7 PM. Holly Hallstrom of The Price Is Right made her first appearance in these episodes, joining big Jim Staal, an unshaven Bart Braverman, and her fellow redhead Debralee Scott. Gene got a little too into his kissing Holly in the first episode, to the point where Bill Daily had to get between them. We're also introduced to a private detective in LA to consult on a TV show. Gene is given a stick with mink on it - the panel calls it a "minksicle" - for kissing his aunt. 

Finished the night with classic TV action shows featuring male-female duos. Jennifer and Johnathan are enjoying a quiet night out for Chinese in the first season of Hart to Hart when an Asian man literally falls dead on their table, begging them to protect the man with the jade eyes and return him to their temple. Turns out that the man is a solid gold Buddha statue that belongs to a non-violent Asian religious group. Two shady characters have less-spiritual designs on the golden man as well.

Amanda King of The Scarecrow and Mrs. King is set for a quiet "Weekend" doing work at home when federal agent Lee "Scarecrow" Stetson convinces her to pose as his wife at a luxury resort to prevent a kidnapping. Not only do they not prevent it, but Amanda is taken too when she witnesses the incident.