Hurried off to work even before the episode ended. I needn't have rushed. Work was dead for pretty much the entire morning and early afternoon. I spent the time sweeping and gathering carts. At least I had a nice, cool day to do it it. While it remains dry and sunny, it's also much colder and windier, barely in the 50's. It feels a lot more like fall now. Not to mention, we're between holidays. It probably won't pick up again until people start thinking more about shopping for Thanksgiving dinner next week.
Soon as I got home, I changed and put on The Monkees. The guys do a little bell ringing of their own when "The Monkees On the Line" get a job at an answering service. They're not supposed to get involved with the clients, but Mike tries to stop a girl from what he thinks is killing herself, Davy brings a message to a cop who doesn't appreciate it, and Peter mixes up messages given by gangsters placing bets.
"The Monkees Get Out More Dirt" when they all fall for the same girl who owns a laundromat. Of course, since the girl is played by Julie Newmar, Catwoman herself, one can hardly blame them. They each take up hobbies to impress her, then drop them when she becomes overwhelmed and insists that Peter be the one to date her.
After The Monkees ended, I made this year's Christmas lists. No, it's not what I want. It's what I'm giving. The first list had what I've bought in the past month and a half, the people I still need to get gifts for, and those who are getting gift cards. The second was my Christmas card list. The third is a list of cookies and candies I'll be making. I'll be diving into that Christmas Is Coming craft book I picked up earlier this year that also includes recipes. Since my peanut butter fudge didn't come out very well last year, I'll make simple mints instead. I'd like to try that "chocolate yum yums" recipe that uses a devil's food cake mix and replace the nuts with candy cane bits.
Ran the Peanuts Thanksgiving specials while I worked. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving has Chuck upset because Peppermint Patty invited herself, Marcie, and Franklin over for dinner. Patty doesn't appreciate the meal of toast, popcorn, pretzels, and jelly beans that Chuck, Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock threw together, until Linus reminds her of the real history behind the holiday.
The real history behind the holiday also comes up in "The Mayflower Voyagers," an episode of This Is America, Charlie Brown. The Peanuts, Snoopy, and Woodstock are pilgrim kids and animals on that fateful voyage to the New World. They face nothing but hardship on the voyage and once they arrive at Plymouth, including the deaths of more than half the settlers during an especially harsh winter. After Natives Squanto and Massasoit show them how to farm the land, they have such a bountiful harvest, they invite the other Natives for a feast of Thanksgiving.
Lay down and rested while watching Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Boxer Joe Pendleton (Robert Montgomery) wasn't supposed to die in a plane crash. His spirit was dragged out by an overzealous angel (Edward Everett Horton). The angel's boss Mr. Jordan (Claude Rains) insists that he still has 50 more years to go and can return to Earth. That would be a lot easier if Joe's heartbroken manager Max Corkle (James Gleason) didn't have his body cremated, forcing Joe to search for another body.
Jordan finally talks Joe into entering the body of a murdered millionaire after he sees what the jerk did to sweet and lovely Bette Logan (Evelyn Keyes) and her father. Not only are the millionaire's wife Julia (Rita Johnson) and scheming secretary Tony (John Emery) shocked to see him alive, they're even more upset when he releases Bette's father from jail and repays the man's investors. He even manages to convince Max that he's ready for that final bout he never got to. Even when Tony interferes and forces Joe to find another body, he still manages to win the big fight and get the girl.
This is an oddly charming story (and would be again under the play's original title Heaven Can Wait in 1978 with Warren Beatty). The ghost business and talk of murder is a little on the macabre side, but this mostly plays it for comedy. Claude Rains is a great debonair Jordan, while Montgomery has his own fun as the prize fighter determined to get back in that ring, even if he has to do it in someone else's body. This and Heaven Can Wait are both equally recommended and equally enjoyable.
Worked on the inventory after the movie ended. Added the original cast of Pippin and and the Rogers and Hammerstein flop Pipe Dream. Pippin was a find at the Haddonfield Library's book sale in September 2016. Pipe Dream came from Abbie Road two years later.
Watched Match Game Syndicated during dinner. I don't know what got into everybody, but some of these episodes were pretty wild. We had Charles claiming he was a cowboy, leading sing-a-longs, and arguing with Brett over repeated answers. One of Joyce's stories about her answer get so long, everyone literally just walks off the set! This upset Joyce a great deal, to the point where she looked like she might cry, but Gene and the others got her calmed down. Then there was the audience from outside Atlanta who cheered whenever someone mentioned Georgia.
Finished the night with streaming offers. Kris has a lot more than an "Angel On My Mind" on Charlie's Angels when she witnesses a man kill the owner of a restaurant...and is promptly hit by a car and loses her memory. Bosley and the other two Angels search for her while she wanders on the beach, trying to remember who she is and what she saw.
Arlo Guthrie's appearance on The Muppet Show is the closest that series got to a Thanksgiving episode. They play off his folksy songs and demeanor by setting everything at a farm with backwoods folks. The Swedish Chef keeps trying to make Thanksgiving dinner, but none of the creatures he wants to cook appreciate the idea! There's also the cows tap-dancing to "Elegance" and Fozzie's poem recetation getting interrupted by Gonzo's tango to "Hernando's Hideaway."
No comments:
Post a Comment