Switched to Pointed Heels after the show ended. I go further into this early talkie backstage drama featuring William Powell as a producer and Fay Wray as the chorus girl he pursues at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
(Oh, and while Musical Dreams Reviews is going on hiatus while I'm on vacation, I'll be bringing my laptop with me and will continue to update this blog daily.)
Pulled out the luggage while the movie was on, then took my laundry downstairs so I could wash anything I'd need for the trip today. I'm trying not to bring too much along with me. I will be wearing capris there instead of shorts. It's supposed to cool off considerably everywhere next week after the rain passes, especially in Pittsfield. Lauren has already said I can do laundry there. I just packed as much as I could get away with in the main bag today. I won't be packing my backpack until after I use it to go grocery shopping tomorrow.
The Game Show Vault premiered an episode of Match Game '90 on YouTube in a clear studio master copy this afternoon. It was a good episode, too, the one where Ross falls down the steps he's supposed to descend, and the panelists tease him about it for the rest of the episode. Here it is, so you can see Ross take that crazy tumble, too.
Switched to records while I worked on the review for Pointed Heels. Went with two of the Ben Bagley Rediscovered LPs I picked up last year. Jerome Kern Rediscovered goes a bit further back. Cy Young is better-known for his writing today than his singing, but he and Barbara Cook are totally charming on "You Never Knew About Me" from the 1917 hit Oh Boy! They also joined Bobby Short for a delightful "Make Way for Tomorrow" from the 1944 Rita Hayworth-Gene Kelly movie Cover Girl. Short gets three more Kern gems from films, "Never Gonna Dance" and "Bojangles of Harlem" from Swing Time and another Cover Girl number, "Put Me to the Test."
The majority of the songs on Cole Porter Revisited came from lost Ethel Merman vehicles with Porter songs of the 1930's and 40's. Ronny Graham has way too much fun with the opening number "Come On In" and "A Little Skipper From Heaven Above" from Red, Hot, and Blue. Kaye Ballard gets to belt "I've Still Got My Health" from Panama Hattie and tell the racy "Tale of the Oyster" from Fifty Million Frenchmen. She joins Graham for a hilarious "But In the Morning, No!" from DuBarry Was a Lady.
Had a quick lunch, then called Uber. The rain had stopped by 2:25, but I wasn't taking chances. Though the driver took 11 minutes to arrive, she was a pleasant, sweet young woman who chatted with me about my vacation and got me to the Thomas Sharp School in less than 5 minutes.
Despite the sun having come out and the rain retreated by quarter of 3, we never went outside today. I guess they figured the playground was still too wet. We had another dance party...but this time, the kids were even rowdier! They were pretty noisy in the bathrooms, too. One of the teachers gave out prizes - little toys and slap bracelets - from a cardboard treasure chest, which may have added to the mayhem. Those dance parties wore them out so much, most of them ended up looking at books they couldn't really read instead before listening to their teacher read Pete the Cat and Little Critter.
Put on Match Game Syndicated while I had dinner. I came in at the start of the week with Bill Anderson, Jonelle Allen, and Joyce Bulifant. Bill originally gave Gene a baseball cap with the name of his restaurant on it. Gene gave it to Charles, who just sat it slightly on his head in order to not muss his toupee.
Took a shower, then worked on Maplepunzel. Maple takes advantage of Pavla's absence the next day to pick up Victor's breakfast dishes and try to see him. Victor is not only still blindfolded, he's also still passed out. Nothing Maple does can awaken him. She's about to kiss him when Pavla storms in. Not only is she furious that Maple's kissing the prince, she's not happy to see her at all. She threatens to have Maple fired and literally throws her out.
Mackie sees Maple bang against the wall and goes to help her. He tells her how much she reminds him of his beautiful wife Penelope, who died after a witch took their little daughter Anna in exchange for Rapunzel greens to feed Penny during her pregnancy. Maple gives him a hug...but privately, she's starting to wonder if Pavla lied to her about being abandoned as a child...
Finished the night switching from vintage musical comedy to vintage operetta. Though Roberta, a light-as-air confection about a football star who inherits a Paris dress salon, is really more of a musical comedy, this Jerome Kern show from the 30's does have some very operetta-like songs. It introduced the ballads "Yesterdays" and "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," but my favorite song from this score is the charming "Let's Begin."
The Vagabond King gets more into traditional operetta territory. Alfred Drake is the poet Francois Villon, Mimi Bentzell his Princess Marguerite. He gets an excellent "Song of the Vagabonds" that opens the second half of the CD. She joins him for a lovely "Only a Rose" and "Tomorrow." Her big solo is the soaring "Some Day."
Rose Marie is an earlier show from the same songwriter, Rudof Frimil. "Indian Love Call" is probably the score's best-known number today. The Media Theater recording I have actually includes almost the entire score, including the rarely-heard comedy numbers "Hard Boiled Herman," "Why Shouldn't We?" and "One Man Woman."
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