I had a bunch of people to call and appointments to make today, starting with calling Abilities Solutions. Karen said someone would get back to me after the 4th of July. Well, it's after the 4th of July, and I hadn't heard from anyone. My new counselor Sue claims they're still waiting for a voucher. If I don't hear from them within two weeks, I'll call them again and find out what's going on.
Tried to make a gynecologist appointment, but I didn't see anything open for anytime in the present. I decided I'd go back to that later and made the mammogram appointment. That's just at South Jersey Radiology in Haddonfield, where I had my thyroid checked last year. Honestly, the mammogram sounds like the least scary of the three procedures Dr. Jessica recommended me for. It's not like my considerable chest can't stand a little squeezing. I got a 10 AM appointment on Friday, since I have off that day and had grocery shopping planned anyway.
Messed around online a bit, then broke for lunch. Watched Laff-a-Lympics while I ate. "The Grand Canyon" starts out well for the Rottens, with Mumbly just jumping past Scooby on the burro race. That was pretty much the last time anything worked for them. Orly Octopus' attempt to knock Huckleberry Hound off his rope for the tightrope race bounces the blue dog into first place instead. Blue Falcon and Grape Ape work together to save a leprechaun from losing his gold to the Rottens in "Ireland." Cindy Bear was the only character who actually made her shot in the hole-in-one golf tournament. Captain Caveman overdid it, and Dinky Dalton accidentally shot himself along with the ball.
Spent the next three hours after I took the laundry downstairs adding rock CDs to the inventories. Some of these go back even further than the records. I've had Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and the original Broadway cast album for Can-Can since Mom gave them to me for my 17th birthday in 1996. They were my first CDs that actually belonged to me. Before then, I'd been borrowing CDs from Rose. Along with the Beatles, I added CDs from Aerosmith, Jimmy Buffett, the Beach Boys, the Bangles, Bon Jovi, Cher, Chicago, and Eric Clapton.
Listened to more recently-acquired records while I worked. Starburst and Reflections are K-Tel collections from the late 70's, but that's pretty much all they have in common. Starburst is a 2-disc selection of disco, pop, and emotional ballads. "Smoke From a Distant Fire" by The Sanford/Townsend Band, "Dance With Me," by Peter Brown, "Baby Hold On" by Eddie Money, and "Every Kind of People" by Robert Palmer are my favorites here (and I thought all of them came out a lot later than 1978). Reflections is all heartfelt ballads like "You Needed Me" by Anne Murray, "Where Is the Love" by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway, and two Barry Manilow hits, "Even Now" and "Could It Be Magic."
Melissa Manchester is a long time favorite of mine, with romantic ballads like "Through the Eyes of Love," "Don't Cry Out Loud," and "Come In From the Rain" I've heard on the radio all my life. I was less fond of her bluesy version of "Whenever I Call You Friend." That works far better as a fast-paced duet for Stevie Nicks and Kenny Loggins.
Got off around 6 PM for dinner, Match Game Syndicated, and to finally put the laundry in the dryer. Buzzr picked up with the week featuring Bart Braverman, Dick Martin, and a totally adorable Eva Gabor. Gene was about ready to throttle the contestants during the second half of the first episode and most of the second as they just kept tying and tying. Brett was finally the one who broke it in the second episode.
I was tired of sitting inside all day. I took out the recycling, then went for a walk. It got into the upper 90's here earlier, but by 7 PM. it was a lot more tolerable. Strolled down Johnson Avenue and around the neighborhood to the Hispanic ice cream parlor. Needless to say on a night that was cooler but still pretty hot, they were mobbed. I had to wait in a long line, but I finally got a gelati, a dessert with layers of soft vanilla ice cream and water ice - in this case, strawberry guava. I think I'll get the strawberry guava separately next time. The soft ice cream was the usual fluffy stuff, but the water ice was incredible, made with real strawberries and guava and not too sweet.
Took the long way home down Cuthbert and back around to the park. So did a lot of people, now that the heat wasn't quite so oppressive. I saw quite a few folks out walking their dogs and bike riding with their kids or pushing them in strollers. I went up a longer set of stone stairs and aren't sure where I came out, other than it was several blocks from home.
Went straight in the shower when I got home and took the laundry upstairs, then finished the night with episodes honoring Brett Somers, whose 100th birthday would have been the 11th. Brett started off appearing with her then-husband Jack Klugman on couples shows like He Said, She Said and It's Your Bet. Alas, both of those weeks seem to be missing at the moment. The oldest episode I could find featuring Brett in a game show was her first of two weeks on Password '71 with Jack. As she admitted years later on Match Game, Jack had played several times before and pretty much beat the pants off her.
Password was not Brett's game. She spent New Year's Eve 1979 on Password Plus with Ross Martin and Allen Ludden and didn't do any better. Martin kept beating her all week. It would be her only appearance on Plus, and her last on any game show besides Match Game until 2002.
Brett got started on Match Game because Jack recommended her after he appeared on the show in the first week. He thought it would be a great way for her to get out of the house, but I doubt he knew she'd get a career out of it. She first appeared on the 11th episode and would remain for pretty much the entire rest of the series, straight through to syndication. Though she retired after the syndicated run ended, she did appear on two weeks of Match Game '90 at the request of her best friend Charles Nelson Reilly.
Tried to go with episodes I haven't really watched as much. She and Jack appeared together three times during the first year of the show, including the week with "Mama" Cass Elliot. The PM episode from 1976 features a twinkly-eyed older male contestant who sure had a thing for her. She saw Gene kiss Barbara Shawarma and Tom Poston wondering why Gene won't do the same for him in a daytime episode from earlier that year. The 1990 episode was her first on that run. She and Charles are as funny as ever, tossing jokes to each other and around everyone else.
Charles and Brett appeared together one last time on Hollywood Squares during their Game Show Week in 2002. Other celebrities who turned up during that week included Wink Martindale, Chuck Woolery, Bob Eubanks, Jimmie Walker, Martin Mull, Andrea Martin, and original Squares host Peter Marshall. The only full episode currently available is the one that Marshall hosted - and he did quite well too, picking up the reigns from Tom Bergeron like he never left.
Let's lift a glass to the tipisiest and wittiest character actress on television with these hilarious episodes!
2 comments:
I was in the hospital for abdominal surgery sometime in April 1974, which was one of the weeks Brett and Jack were on He Said, She Said. Brett brought down the house with her comment, "Our son told me last night that when I'm on this show it should be called She Said, She Said."
(Never laugh hard with abdominal stitches. Boy, that hurt!)
I don't blame you. (Falls over laughing, because Brett's son was right. Now I really wish her weeks with Jack on that show would turn up. ;) )
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