Headed out after that to run errands. It was hot and sweaty, even as I made my way the two blocks to the post office. I dropped off a sympathy card for my friends Linda and James Young, who lost their beloved budgie Oliver earlier in the month, then strolled down to Dollar General. They didn't have what I wanted, so I made my way another block down the White Horse Pike to CVS. I was able to find the toothbrush heads I wanted for my electric toothbrush there. Grabbed Propel, too.
Went for a long walk across Oaklyn next, from the White Horse Pike down to the neighborhood behind the school and the water tower. In addition to being hot, it was also very quiet. Everyone must have been at work or on vacation. I saw maybe one or two people out for walks or jogs, too. All that rain we've had this month has been a boon to everyone's gardens. The flowers were big and brilliant, and the vegetable gardens flourished behind wooden and wrought iron fences.
Stopped at Common Grounds Coffee Shop for a brief lunch. I was really more up to a spinach-bacon-gouda breakfast pastry and a chai tea latte. The breakfast pastry was nice and flaky. The chai tea latte was too sweet, but it was also wet, so I had it anyway.
Soon as I got home, I pulled out the dolls' things and got them ready for next month and back to school. Or back to lessons, in the case of Felicity and Josefiina. I finally found Felicity's yellow Tea Lesson Dress on eBay earlier this year. Josefina wears her orange and yellow Summer Dress and the boots (which need to be replaced - they're falling apart). Jessa goes simple with her tie-dye t-shirt, capris, and Springfield Collection denim sneakers. Samantha wears her current meet outfit, the pink Swiss-dotted dress with the big lace collar and black strap shoes. Ariel sports the periwinkle blue lace minidress and crocheted vest I found her in.
Whitney will be the hippest kid in Wildwood in the "Sweet Memories" lavender and purple-checked dress, turquoise scarf, and shiny purple shoes. Molly looks great in Kit's School Suit Outfit with the pink and brown floral blouse, probably better than Kit herself would have. Kit's much happier in her original blue and white School Outfit with the jumper and Oxfords. Barbara Jean will start her first year at Cherry Hill High East in a pink and white minidress woven with gold threads and the heels and headband from her prom gown.
Listened to Broadway cast albums set during the summer while I worked. The 1971 revival of No, No Nanette was the surprise hit of the season, thanks to a nostalgia-drenched production and a great cast that included Jack Gilford as the kindly bible salesman supporting three ladies, Ruby Keeler as his wife, Bobby Van as his lawyer, and Helen Gallagher as his wife who thinks he's the one supporting them. Susan Watson is the peppy title character Gilford gives money to.
Though the score includes the standards "Tea For Two," "I've Confessed to the Breeze," and "I Want to Be Happy," my favorite song on the CD was either written for the production and dropped, or pulled out of the trunk and likewise dropped before opening. I'm glad they had Keeler and Gilford record "Only a Moment Ago" anyway. The sweet number as they recall a bygone New York says more about what nostalgia means to so many people than all the fancy productions in the world.
Steel Pier debuted in 1997 and was a big deal on Broadway at the time, getting extensive coverage in The Press of Atlantic City and elsewhere. Alas, the story of a dancer and a pilot who take part in a big dance marathon in 1933 before his time on this earth expires was just way too complicated for a light comic fantasy. Too bad, as Kander and Ebb did have a few gems in the score, notably "Willing to Ride" for the dancer and "First You Dream" for the pilot. Kristen Chenoweth made one of her first big splashes on Broadway with "Two Little Words."
By the Beautiful Sea debuted in 1954 as a vehicle for comedienne Shirley Booth. She's a vaudevillian in 1904 trying to help her roguish father earn enough to keep their boarding house. She's thrilled when a handsome singer (Wilbur Evans) falls for her, but he's dealing with his ex-wife and their daughter, Baby Betsy. Betsy's no baby, but her mother dresses her as a child to keep her in vaudeville, and she's upset that the waiter she has her eye on thinks she really is a kid.
According to the extensive liner notes that came with my CD, the book for the show kept getting re-written pretty much up until it arrived on Broadway. I don't think they ever figured out what to do with Betsy. She doesn't even get a song. My favorite numbers here are Booth's comic lament "I'd Rather Wake Up By Myself" and her maid's (Mae Barns) ribauld cheer-up ditty "Happy Habit." Evans got the hit ballad "Alone Too Long." Not the most necessary show in the world, but a pleasant listen if you ever run into it. (I believe both the CD, which I bought back in 1996, and the original album are fairly rare now.)
Switched to job searching next. Put in applications for a secretarial assistant job in Philadelphia and a digital content manager and writer for an ad agency in Mount Laurel. I'm honestly beginning to think it's impossible for me to really find anything. I've been trying and trying, and no one seems to want me. I really need to improve my skills, or at least take those classes and figure out Microsoft Word and its components.
Moved on to the inventory after about an hour. Added the original casts of Fiddler On the Roof, Finian's Rainbow, 42nd Street, Flower Drum Song, and Funny Girl, the odd E.Y Harburg fantasy flop Flahooley, and the political biography Fiorello! The majority of these were thrift shop or record store finds, except for Fiddler and Fiorello!, which I dug out of yard sales in 2010 and 2011. No idea where I got 42nd Street from. It might have been a thrift shop find, but I'm not sure anymore.
I listened to more recent record acquisitions while working on the inventory. Sammy Davis Jr.'s Greatest Hits has an almost entirely different playlist than the greatest hits CD I picked up last year. I bought this mainly for his fast-paced "Talk to the Animals" that's how that song really should be sung and his lovely covers of the Broadway songs "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever," "Once In a Lifetime," and "What Kind of Fool Am I?"
Springtime In the Rockies and Sweet Rosie O'Grady are two typical Betty Grable musicals from the mid-40's, and that's pretty much all they have in common other than Betty herself and interpolated ballads. "I Had the Craziest Dream" is the big hit from Rockies, though Grable and Payne's "Run Little Raindrop Run" is also fun. Most of the songs from Sweet Rosie were written during the movie's 1890's setting, except for the ballad "My Heart Tells Me."
Broke at 7 PM for dinner and to take my laundry downstairs Watched Match Game Syndicated after I got back upstairs. This episode opened with Gene grabbing Stephanie Powers for a dance, and Bill Daily ending up with Fannie Flagg after Gene tries to fix Stephanie's chair. The others try to figure out "Cap'n __" in the Audience Match.
Finished the night after I put the laundry in the dryer and brought it upstairs with game shows featuring college and high school contestants. The grandfather of the many local high school quiz "bowls" is GE College Bowl. Allen Ludden originally hosted this quiz show competition between colleges. By the time of this 1966 color episode, Ludden had moved to Password and was replaced by Robert Earle. All-girls private college Agnes Scott shows the guys from Princeton what four very smart women can do in this rare color episode.
Most of the high school and college quiz shows were more like High School Bowl, made locally for area schools to compete against each others, usually for the closest PBS station. Scholastic Scrimmage from Lehigh Valley started in 1975 and is still going strong on PBS 39 to this day. High School Bowl looks like it was intended for North Jersey Cablevision subscribers, as it was filmed at William Paterson. They're both pretty simple - local high schoolers go up against each other in a minimal set - but it's interesting to hear how these brilliant kids can come up with those answers.
College Mad House from 1990 was a lot more fun. This spin off of Fun House had two teams from rival colleges - University of Maryland and University of Virginia in the episode I have here - playing far messier and more suggestive stunts for a chance to go up in the "college mad house," a revamped Fun House with college-themed obstacles. Greg Kinnear had one of his earliest TV appearances hosting this bit of lunacy.
WinTuition, a 2002 Game Show Network show, is more original. Three older contestants who want to return to school answer questions that run from 1st to 12th grade knowledge. The winner after the third round would go on to the "Final Exam" and answer 10 questions on one subject for $50,000. Interesting concept, nicely handled by host Marc Summers.
Boardwalk and Baseball's Super Bowl of Sports Trivia is another variation on the college quiz show. Here, obviously, the emphasis is on sports knowledge. This was one of the earliest game shows on ESPN, filmed at the long-defunct Boardwalk and Baseball amusement park in Orlando around 1989.
As those who saw Buzzr's Back to School marathon last week knows, regular game shows also occasionally had college or high school contestants or used classroom themes, especially in the mid-late August right before school began. I went with two episodes from the Family Feud college tournament week. Major rivals USC and UCLA play each other in the first episode. USC made it to the finals with Stamford. Ray Combs is the rather bemused host here.
Go back to school, out-run the Mad House, and test your knowledge with some real quiz kids! (Oh, and warning that the High School Bowl episode is in bad shape and has barely-heard audio, but it was one of only two episodes I could find, and that wasn't in much better shape.)
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