Switched to The Monkees as I made the bed and my grocery list. The Monkees ran at the height of the spy caper craze, and several episodes did spoof the fad, starting with "The Spy Who Came In From the Cool." Davy buys a pair of red maracas that turn out to have microfilm in them. Two Russian spies want the film and offer to trade for it. An American spy agency recruits the guys to help, but the guys are the ones who eventually take the duo down.
"Monkee Chow Mein" has dated less well today. Asian villain Dragonman wants to unleash the Doomsday Bug, but Peter finds it in a fortune cookie and turns it into the spy agency. The guys think they're done with spying, but Dragonman's goons inadvertently kidnap Micky. When Peter's captured while going after him, Mike and Davy are the ones who end up leaping into action.
Headed out to work after "Spy Who Came In from the Cool" ended. I spent the first hour sweeping and pushing carts. I was going to do that for the second hour, too, but then someone grabbed a bag of rice that knocked over a Goya malt drink. I had to clean up the mess, which meant I had to rush the sweeping and had no time for the carts. And that meant I had to do the carts after break, which meant I was late getting to the floral department.
As it turned out, I mainly helped her clean up around the flowers and water the mums and plants that are mostly what's out now. Dusted the shelves with the stuffed animals and vases, then put out the big arrangements she made earlier. That left me with just enough time to make one small arrangement. All of the arrangements were big bouquets of roses, mums, or small sunflowers. I dropped a single yellow rose in a slim bottle-like vase with a bit of baby's breath. I thought it came out well. It looked simple and elegant.
Did my grocery shopping after work. Restocked granola bars and yogurt. I thought I had a coupon for bakery cookies, but I didn't. Still got sugar cookies. Poppi probiotic soda was 3 for 6 if you bought three. Found little bottles of ethnic spice blends on the clearance shelves. Bought jerk and bruschetta. Picked up coconut milk, and since I won't have the time for the farm market this week, apples.
Stopped at Yummies Palace in Oaklyn for a treat on the way home. Though it was cloudy by 4:30, it otherwise remained hot and very humid. I needed to cool off. While two high schoolers tried to decide what they wanted for their gelatos, I decided to try a milkshake with their home-made ice cream. The girl put too much milk in. I basically had cookies-and-cream flavored milk with lots of big cookie pieces and a slightly sour taste.
Went straight upstairs after I got home. Changed and watched Cmon, Let's Live a Little on YouTube while I took a look at the revised version of the cover letter for Collingswood High Dawn sent me. I go further into this teen musical from 1967 about a campus protest at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
Worked a little bit on the inventory after that. I had just enough time to add Jamaica with Lena Horne, the Mary Martin vehicle Jennie, the original concept album for Jesus Christ Superstar, and the Alfred Drake flop operetta Kean. I think I got Kean from a thrift shop, but I don't remember which one now...which is ironic, since Wikipedia says the album is fairly rare and pricey now. If memory serves me correctly, I got it for a dollar.
Took a shower, then watched Match Game Syndicated while eating a late dinner. Joe Santos, Eva Gabor, and Betty White join in to meet Glenn, the first blind contestant on a game show, and his beautiful seeing-eye dog Princess. Needless to say, Princess was well-taken care of with Betty there, and she frankly seemed smarter than some of the panelists.
Finished the night after dinner with several more recent record finds while working on the review for C'mon, Let's Live a Little. Cut! Outtakes from Hollywood's Greatest Musicals are mostly dropped songs from either Judy Garland movies or 20th Century Fox musicals of the 30's and 40's. While most of the Judy material has turned up on DVD, CD, and in That's Entertainment III, some of the other songs were entirely new to me.
Judy did a charming version of "Easy to Love" that apparently didn't make it into the non-musical family comedy Life Begins for Andy Hardy. Betty Grable claimed "I'll Be Marching to a Love Song" in a number dropped from Footlight Serenade, while Alice Faye's "Think Twice" was intended for Sally Irene, and Mary. Ann Sothern did the comic spoof "Salome" for Panama Hattie in 1940 (which would eventually be trotted out for Virginia O'Brian). Nanette Fabray and Fred Astaire sing "Got a Bran' New Suit" from The Band Wagon, likely either a follow-up to "I Love Louisa" or one of the big numbers from the end of the film. Astaire and Charisse were supposed to have a dance to "You Have Everything" that was dropped.
I wish the Paramount musical The Fleet's In wasn't so hard to find today. This story of a sailor (William Holden) who is dared to kiss untouchable dance hall singer "The Countess" (Dorothy Lamour) may seem fluffy, but it has a terrific score that includes the standards "Tangerine" and "I Remember You." Betty Hutton (as The Countess' roommate) belts "If You Build a Better Mousetrap" and the other major hit "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing In a Hurry."
Streetlife Serenade was one of the few Billy Joel albums I didn't have in any form. I believe I did have it at one point, but got rid of it when I started clearing out my rock albums collection. I've been a fan of Joel for as long as I can remember. Dad was a fellow Long Island native; Mom says she saw him play piano in bars before he became famous. In all honestly, part of the reason I got rid of this is this has never been my favorite of his albums. It does feature a few good numbers, notably "The Entertainer" on celebrity and the life of rock stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment