Headed out shortly after the cartoon ended. I wanted to go for a walk in Collingswood before the rain we're supposed to get all weekend arrived. Started at Occasionette. This is a lovely little gift shop filled with fancy stationary, cookbooks, ornaments, and kitchen items. Nice store, but even the sale items tend to be expensive.
Peeked at Innergroove Records next. They were too busy with record lovers and college students looking for new music for me to prowl the dollar bins, but I found some great stuff in the 2 dollar stacks and elsewhere anyway. One was a spurge, but I've never seen it anywhere else:
The soundtracks from Diamonds are Forever, Bugsy Malone, and the 1972 animated Charlotte's Web. (The last-named has a really cute pop-up cover depicting Zuckerman's farm. It was the splurge at $17, but this is the first I've seen of it, and I do love that film.)
Something Festive, a unique Christmas collection from A&M Records that includes everyone from Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass to Liza Minnelli. Honestly, some of the titles aren't all that Christmas-y, and the cover isn't, either. You'd never know it was a holiday album unless you looked at some of the instrumental numbers. Supposedly, this is pretty rare, and it was one of the two that came out of the 2 dollar bins. (The other was Bugsy Malone.)
Went across the street to the Collingswood Library next. Dug a book set among both wealthy blacks and poor ones migrating from the South in early 20's Chicago off the for sale shelves:
The Mayor of Maxwell Street - Avery Cunningham
Since it's only on the next block over from the Library, I had lunch at the Pop Shop. They were very busy with hungry families and kids off for Christmas break, but I still had no trouble getting a booth. Tried their Banana Foster Bettys pancakes. Caramelized bananas and toasted walnuts with powdered sugar. I'm not the biggest walnut fan, but these weren't bad. They were also too big for me to finish in their entirety.
I was originally going to hit the pop culture thrift shop Time Lapse next, but they were closed for their own Christmas break. I peered briefly around another thrift shop, the more elegant Clutter, before moving on. Hurried down Haddon Avenue to Samaritan Thrift in Westmont. I made it in just ten minutes before closing. I didn't really see a whole lot I wanted there, anyway. Ended up with a bright blue L.L Bean turtleneck in perfect shape.
Westmont Party is next-door to Samaritan Thrift. Though they had birthday party napkins and plates on a table outside, I was really interested in their New Year's decorations and noisemakers. I've had my New Year's accessories for at least a decade now. I found metal and paper horns, two metal twirlers (one of mine broke ages ago), a glittering gold banner, and two tiaras, one trimmed with feathers, one with garland.
Dodged traffic on Cuthbert all the way down to Cuthbert. Wanted to hit up Sprouts to do my grocery shopping there. I didn't need a whole lot. Got two Nixie sodas, two more probiotic sodas, a box of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies on clearance, and a bag of loose dried cranberries. They were busy, too, but I managed to catch one of the self-checkouts when it didn't have a line.
It was almost 4 by the time I finished there. Not only was traffic on Cuthbert getting worse, so were the kids at the Westmont Plaza. Local pre-teens hang out there, probably due to the Target and Dollar Tree, but they also tend to use the parking lot as a skate park and playground...and get into the way of pedestrians, shoppers, and cars. I rushed out in a hurry.
Put on The Wild Wild West while I got organized. James and Artemis realize they've been rooked when the Albanian princess they're supposed to be protecting turns out to be an impostor. Her brother claims he wants to find her. but he really has something more sinister in mind. They must rescue her when she's hidden during a ball that turns into "The Night of the Dancing Death" and keep her brother from letting the criminal organization he belongs to take over.
Worked on the inventory next. Added the four records I found today, plus two CDs Lauren made me for our first Christmas as best friends in 2004. I made her a cassette of my favorite Christmas music, so she sent me two CDs of hers. It's mostly country and rock holiday songs, with a smattering of songs taken directly from cartoons and Christmas TV episodes.
Checked my schedule after that. In good news, I am indeed off until New Year's Day. Two of those are just plain old days off because I ran out of vacation time, but I still wanted to enjoy my holiday week. At least I work four hours each day for the remainder of the week, and only Thursday is early.
Switched to Match Game Syndicated while I worked. They first finished up the week with Fred Grandy, Marjorie Wallace, and Gary Crosby. After that, Betty Kennedy took over Brett's seat while she was out doing a play, and we get big George Kennedy and Phyllis Diller as a very unlikely ingenue.
Finished the night at YouTube with more Christmas game show episodes. Christmas 1988 on Card Sharks brought in a very funny older lady and a brand-new bonus round. Here, they hear a question and slide a marker to the right answer. If they're right, they win the car. Awkward and not as much fun as turning over cards, but the lady did win.
Gene Rayburn had his own trouble on Match Game '76. Near the end of the episode, he literally ran over and beat up on a cameraman when he forgot his cue! The panelists for next week are also missing (and apparently are on GSN's airings as well - CBS must have forgotten to edit them in).
The ladies finished dominating the week on Password Plus with Gina Hecht getting to Alphabetics with Dick Gautier. They missed the big money by literally less than a second! Debralee ended up being the big winner that week, followed by Gina, Dick, and David Doyle.
Family Feud was the biggest game show on TV when the 1981 Christmas episodes debuted. All the families brought Richard Dawson something here, including a T-shirt and a stuffed mouse. The 1982 holiday episodes were lost for 40 years before Buzzr unearthed them last year. At least one family was brought back over the judges mistaking "driftwood" for "shipwreck."
We're ending our Christmas game show week with grand championships, angry hosts, and a double dose of the Feud!
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