The Shirt Tales have even stranger adventures over at their city park. In the first season finale "Dinkel's Ark," the Shirt Tales find a way to build a boat and rescue animals stranded in a flood without Dinkel knowing..and while bringing him along for the ride. Dinkel becomes "The Duke of Dinkel" when he hits his head and thinks he's royalty. He insists on staying at the Ritz and dining in the best restaurants, but thinking he's royalty makes him fussy and rude. Pammy, Rick, and Digger try to figure out how to bring the real Dinkel back, before he really gets into trouble.
Hurried out even before the cartoon ended. On one hand, we spent most of the first hour or so in the library. The cafeteria was being used for the older kids' graduation, or "step up," ceremonies, and they hadn't gotten around to putting the tables down. We had 19 younger kids, 8 in my group, but barely any older kids. Those who "stepped up" had likely gone home with their parents. For all that, the kids could have been worse. They were noisy, but they mostly enjoyed coloring and building with magnetic tiles.
We ended up spending the vast majority of the afternoon on the playground. Last night's huge thunderstorm left bright sunshine, brilliant blue skies, and cool, blustery winds in its wake. It couldn't have been a more perfect day in June. I had a nice chat with one of the younger boys about which pieces of mulch he could break and which were too thick to bend before they were finally allowed on the swings. Even there, they behaved pretty well. They've gotten the idea about waiting in line by now, even if they complain about it. By the time they let me go at quarter of 4, we were down to 3 kids, and one was leaving with his brother when I did.
I made a really quick stop for a bathroom break at CVS on the way home, since the bathrooms in the school were being cleaned when I left. They didn't have what I needed, though. I finally decided I could live without a fancy drink and rode home.
When I got home, I took the recycling out, took my laundry downstairs, and watched more of The Swamp Fox. "Tory Vengeance" wrecks havoc on Francis Marion and his men when Toby, the little boy who worked for the Videauxes and carried messages to the Swamp Fox, is killed while on a delivery run. At the same time, Francis' nephew Gabe Marion (Tim Constadine) returns with a commission in the Rebel Army...but he's captured by Tories who attempt to torture him and find out who the Swamp Fox is. Francis' men do rescue him, but when he's killed by one of the Tories, Francis vows revenge.
Switched to Match Game '74 while eating dinner. The night started with the hilarious week featuring announcer Gene Wood (in his only appearance on the show as a panelist) and Amanda Blake of Gunsmoke. Wry Orson Bean sat in Charles' seat the next week, joined by Betty White, hilarious quipster Jack Carter, and in her first of three weeks on the show, Cuban bombshell Louisa Moritz.
Brought my laundry upstairs, then finished the night with episodes featuring fathers on Match Game, either real-life ones or ones on TV. Richard Dawson, McLean Stevenson, Gary Burghoff, and Michael Lembeck all brought their actual children on the show. McLean's daughter Jennifer wore a Star Wars t-shirt and, as Didi Carr pointed out, was "a chippette off the old block." Gene Rayburn came in carrying Gary's darling daughter Gina and Patti Deusch's son Max in an earlier episode from 1978. Richard Dawson brought his stylish younger teen son Gary on for his birthday in 1975. Michael Lembeck brought on his young son to celebrate Father's Day on The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour in 1984.
Fictional fathers appeared on Match Game, too. Tom Bosley of Happy Days did one memorable week in 1975. Michael Landon of Little House on the Prairie was the first man to sit in the male ingenue seat on the show's very first week in 1973. Robert Pine, who is best known nowadays as the father of actor Chris Pine and for being one of the only actors to last through the entire run of CHIps, was a semi-regular from 1978 through 1981. I have him in one of his three nighttime episodes, and the only one where he sits in Richard's old seat and gets a shot at the head-to-head.
Celebrate Father's Day this Sunday with some of the funniest fathers around in these delightful episodes!
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