Alphabet Matches

Got a quick start this morning with breakfast and the original cast album for Hello Dolly! Yes, that's Charles Nelson Reilly as Cornelius Hackle, introducing "It Only Takes a Moment." He was Tony-nominated for the role, in fact. Carol Channing is Dolly here, and was such a hit in the role, she would appear in all Broadway revivals of the show for over 20 years. Eileen Brennan gets a nice "Ribbons Down My Back," and Channing really goes to town with the famous title song and the hilarious march "Motherhood." 

It was so late by the time I finally finished breakfast and got dressed, there wasn't really time to take the bike to work. Thank heavens the Uber driver only took 4 minutes to arrive in the morning. They took 11 going home at 4. No trouble either way, no traffic anywhere. I got to work on time.

I spent most of the day pushing carts. At least it was a gorgeous day for it. Sunny, breezy, still dry, warm but not overly so, probably in the lower 80's. We were surprisingly quiet for a Sunday. Most people are either out of town for the holiday weekend, waiting for the beginning of the month, or enjoying the nice day. I did get stuck gathering an overflowing outside trash bag that broke and sent debris everywhere. One of the managers ended up coming outside to help me clean up that mess.

Soon as I got home, I changed and went straight into tonight's Match Game marathon. (I'd have dinner a bit later.) In honor of back to school, MGP chose episodes that represented letters of the alphabet again...but this time, he did it in reverse order. They started with Z, for Zoe the camerawoman whom Gene pointed out in an episode. X was for Xmas, which Gene mentioned on a syndicated show. W was for William Shatner, Captain Kirk himself, who appeared on two memorable weeks in 1975. V was for Valerie Bertanelli, who finally let her episodes from 1978 be seen two years ago...and I'm glad she did. For all her discomfort, it was a pretty fun week. T was for comedian Tom Deeson, who did a week in 1978. S was for Sharon Farrell, who appeared during a memorable week in 1978 and during the syndicated run.

There were memorable episodes further up the alphabet, too. R was for a pair of Richards, Paul and Dawson, who appeared together during one of Richard Dawson's last weeks in 1978. P was for soap star Pat Crawley, who did a week in 1976. O was for raconteur and long-time stage star Orson Bean. M was for Marcia Wallace, who was represented by an episode of Match Game '90 where she got to answer the Head-to-Head. 

Some of the best episodes of the night came from the beginning of the alphabet. H was for Henry Morgan, best known as a panelist on I've Got a Secret, who did a week in early in 1978. G was for cowboy Guich Kotch from Hee Haw. F was for two Fannies, Fannie Flagg and Mark Goodson's mother Fannie who was seen in the audience during an episode. E was for glamorous Eva Gabor. D was for Dick Smothers, who did two weeks in 1977. C was for "Mama" Cass Elliott, who appeared on one of the funniest weeks of 1973 before her untimely death. B was for giggly comedienne Betty Kennedy, who was a semi-regular during the syndicated era. A was for Audrey Landers, who appeared on a PM episode featuring a pregnant contestant who closely resembled Patty Duke.

Let's do the alphabet in reverse with these hilarious episodes!

Match Game Sunday Classics - The Reverse Countdown of Alphabet Game (Z-A)

I also worked on Hilary and the Beasts. Maple and Victor are more than happy to turn over Victor's volumes and volumes of paperwork and the records to the FBI and Agent Dawson from Scotland Yard. They've been after Pavla for years, but the moment they would close in on her, either the information on her or the informants would vanish. Pavla tries to seduce the cops, but they're immune to her charms and haul her off screaming.