Sunday, July 13, 2025

Matches In the Nighttime

Started off the morning with breakfast and the 1990 studio cast album for Babes In Arms. This is apparently as close to a reconstruction of the original 1937 show as they could come up with in 1990. The 1937 Babes In Arms did involve kids putting on a show in Long Island...but some of those "kids" included a communist, a female drifter, and several who were hit with racism. It was re-written to eliminate all of this in the 1950's. Both versions tend to show up fairly often today, but this one is based on the original. Some of Rodgers and Hart's best music came from this simple premise, including the gorgeous ballads "Where Or When" and "My Funny Valentine," the charming "Imagine," the drifter's declaration "The Lady Is a Tramp," and the dynamic "Johnny One-Note." It even includes the music for the two ballets, one based around "Johnny One-Note," the other around "Imagine." Not the greatest cast for this, but they do no harm singing this wonderful score.

Headed out to work shortly after Babes In Arms ended. I spent almost the entire afternoon pushing carts. It honestly could have been worse, especially for a Sunday. We weren't even remotely busy until the last hour, and even that wasn't bad. It was hot, sunny, and murderously humid. Most people were probably either at the Shore or hiding in the air conditioner. I did have to sweep during the last hour when the morning bagger went home, but other than that, there were no problems.

Went straight home after that and into a badly-needed shower. After I got out, I worked on Hilary and the Beasts. It takes almost a month, but Hilary is able to get through to C.J again. He first of all assures her that, though Pavla isn't a bad actress, she's too cold for Hilary's role in The Rivals. Second, the producer hasn't been acting like himself, and neither have several others. There's also government men there, sniffing around. C.J doesn't like any of this. He tells his sister to leave and take the others if things get too scary, but Hilary assures him that they'll be fine.

Listened to my recently-acquired children's albums while I worked. The series Tale Spinners for Children not only adapted fairy tales, but also adventure tales like Robin Hood. Not bad condensed adaptation. I especially liked the action-packed ending, where they rescue Maid Marion from being hanged.

I believe I have the very first book-and-record version of Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. Sterling Holloway does play Pooh and narrates the story, but that's definitely not Paul Winchell as Tigger, and I think the Piglet is female. At any rate, they do retell the entire short, up to and including the songs "A Rather Blustery Day," "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers," and "The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down." Only "Heffalumps and Woozels" is missing (though the sequence is mentioned without music). The artwork is pretty odd, too - Piglet has a much longer snout, and Tigger looks more like a striped lion with a scary grin than a tiger.

Finished the night with tonight's Match Game marathon. Today is the 50th anniversary of the debut of Match Game PM, the syndicated nighttime version of Match Game. Unlike the daytime version, this one was a hit straight away. Some of the best episodes of the nighttime version were seen during the first year. There was the episode where Charles and Richard wore wide-brimmed hats that Richard eventually used to hide him while he kissed the contestant in the end. One of the first episodes had Gene using some racially-charged gags that, though Clifton took it well, now has this show banned from the airwaves. 

On the other hand, Buzzr aired at least two episodes GSN didn't or hadn't been able to restore. Episode 11 ended with the contestant totally striking out at the Audience Match. He took off, leaving Richard to do a comic reading of a letter from a bricklayer having difficulty with his product in his Newkirk accent. The first time Richard made a bet with Gene involving the Audience Match was when he came up with the answer "Burns and Cuts" to "Burns and __" It wasn't the top answer...but Richard being Richard, it was up there.

My favorite PM episode came from the show's first year...and it once again involved Gene not believing Richard's answer on the Audience Match. That whole episode had been hilarious, with Brett and Betty White sniping at each other the entire time. When they got to the first Audience Match, Richard's answer to "Admiral __" was "Admiral Color Television." Gene didn't think it would be up there and made a bet with Richard...but you should never, ever bet with Richard when it comes to matching. Richard was, as usual, right...and Earl the guy behind the Audience Match board got to share in his largess.

Celebrate 50 years of Match Game in the nighttime with this blanking hilarious marathon!

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