Began the morning with breakfast and The Busy World of Richard Scarry. It's "Daylight Savings," but the clock tower is stuck, and no one knows what time it is! Huckle and Lowly go to the tower to see if they can help Mr. Tick-Tock fix the clock. "Eager Beaver" is a solider in Switzerland who just wants to have fun. His grouchy commander wishes he'd focus on his work...until Eager invents ice hockey, and even he has a good time. Mr. Frumble takes his car through the brand new "Pickle Car Wash," but ultimately decides he'd rather clean it himself.
Headed off to work after the cartoon ended. No real trouble for most of the day. In fact, we were dead up until the last hour. It was a gorgeous, sunny day in the middle of the week and between holidays. Most people are probably waiting for Veteran's Day Weekend or closer to Thanksgiving to go shopping. No major problems other than I got annoyed when I couldn't plug an electric cart that died in at the floral department - the manager was worried she'd be blocked - but no one would help me drag it to the other side of the store. I had to do it myself.
I was so frustrated about the electric carts, I took the long way home. It was still really busy around the entrance to Audubon Crossings and the Hispanic church. Once I got past them, the ride was smooth sailing the rest of the way. Neither Nicholson Road nor the White Horse Pike were busy. I mostly just wanted to cheer myself up and enjoy that beautiful, warm weather. It was in the upper 70's by 2 PM. I didn't even need a coat.
When I got home, I changed, then put on The Monkees. It becomes "The Case of the Missing Monkee" when a renown scientist vanishes after a talk, then Peter disappears after getting a message about his kidnapping. The other three search a hospital for their vanished hippie friend, then try to figure out how to rescue the scientist from the agents who want to smuggle him out of the country.
"The Prince and the Pauper" crosses "Royal Flush" with the Mark Twain novella of that title. In this case, Davy's double Ludlow has to get married before his 18th birthday in order to ascend the throne, but he's deathly afraid of girls. Davy flirts with a pretty girl Ludlow's interested in the hopes of getting them married, while Micky and Peter help Ludlow with his shyness and Mike tries to figure out what Ludlow's scheming uncle is up to.
Switched to the classic comedy Ball of Fire while resting. Professor Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper) is the head of eight professors writing an encyclopedia. He's supposed to be the one in charge of grammar, but realizes he knows nothing about modern slang when a garbage man (Allen Jenkins) comes around asking questions to help him win a quiz. He does his own research in a local nightclub, where he becomes fascinated with the slangy speech of singer Sugarpuss O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck). She agrees to join him when she needs a place to hide from her gangster boyfriend Joe Lilac (Dana Andrews), who wants to marry her to keep her from testifying against him.
The last thing Sugarpuss expected was to end up liking these goofy little old men or to fall for Bertram. She uses them to get to New Jersey to marry Joe, to Bertram's horror. Truth be told, Sugarpuss really has no desire to marry Joe anymore, but she has to go through with it to save the Professors...until Bertram, the professors, and their garbage man friend find a way to turn the tables.
No wonder this is so highly regarded. It's a hilarious modern take on Snow White. While Stanwyck does do well as the gangster's girl who thinks she's just laying low, but ends up really liking these cute academic guys, who knew Gary Cooper would make a great love struck linguistics professor? Andrews and Jenkins also stand out as the menacing gangster and garbage worker who just wants a few answers to his questions. Highly recommended for fans of screwball comedy, director Howard Hawks' other comedies, or the fast-paced comedies of the 30's and 40's.
Worked on inventory for a little bit after that. Just had time to add the London stage version of Mary Poppins and the Sondheim revue Marry Me a Little to the list before dinner. Poppins came from a church yard sale in Oaklyn over a decade ago. I think Marry Me might have been an Abbie Road find.
Broke at 6:30 for dinner and Match Game Syndicated. Buzzr is really skipping around now, all the way back to the syndicated show. Bill Daily is thrilled when a crowd of likely drunk UCLA students really take a shine to him, but Gene Rayburn is right that these unruly kids seem to have more in common with the cast of Animal House than anyone who would admire Bill. Meanwhile, Betty White is upset when she has to give an animal answer as to which animated character the Galloping Gourmet would cook.
Finished the night at Kanopy while job searching with another vintage comedy. Clumsy bellboy Stanley Belt (Jerry Lewis) is roped into being The Patsy when he's recruited by a group of comedy writers and managers as the next big thing after the comedian they work for dies in a plane crash. They try to give him singing and dancing lessons and teach him how to deliver a joke, but he's hopeless. Only Ellen (Ina Balin), the youngest member of the group, believes in him. He keeps rising in the ranks, from a hit recording to nightclubs to The Ed Sullivan Show, thanks to what show business insiders see as a refreshingly direct personality - he's just being himself. The others are willing to bail out when they fear he might bomb on Ed Sullivan. but Ellen is still willing to back him.
On one hand, Balin is charmingly sweet and exotic as the secretary who is the only one that really believes in Stanley, and among the writers trying to turn Stanley into a star are Phil Harris, John Carradine, and in his last role, Peter Lorre. We also get a wide variety of Hollywood insiders in cameos, including Hedda Hopper when the writers try to get her to report on Stanley for her gossip column, Hans Conried as the singing teacher whose antiques are destroyed by Stanley's clumsiness, and the real Ed Sullivan announcing his own show. The story's pretty smarmy, though, and Lewis' pantomime doesn't nearly reach the heights of his previous dialogue-free vehicle The Bellboy. While not the worst thing Lewis ever did, I'm still going to say this is mainly for fans of his or those who are into Hollywood in this era and will recognize the cameos.
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