Dolls On a Sunny Fall Day

Began the morning with breakfast and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Adora is concerned about "The Price of Power" as the third season begins. Against everyone else's protests, she uses her powers to heal Shadow Weaver. She reveals that Hordak not only intends to open an inter-dimensional portal and bring the rest of the Horde, Adora isn't from Etheria originally, either. Horrified, Adora runs to Light Hope to learn the truth. Meanwhile, Entraptra convinces Hordak to give Catra one last chance. He sends her to the Wastes to gather more First Ones technology.

Switched to New Faces next. I go further into this filming of the popular 1952 review that introduced Eartha Kitt, Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley, and Carol Lawrence to audiences at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

New Faces

Spent the next hour and a half dressing the dolls for October. Ariel wears the Our Generation Retro white satin shirt and pink ascot, knitted coral vest, and brown plaid skirt. Barbara Jean also wears an Our Generation 60's outfit, in this case a knitted chevron-print skirt in red, brown, black, orange, and white, with a white blouse and orange cuffs and collar. Whitney is in the black and purple floral dress with the black lace trim I got from the Barrington Antique Center a while back. Josefina wears her pretty BeForever "meet" outfit with the red and blue flowered skirt. Felicity is in her original "meet" outfit; the orange and red rose print is perfect for fall. Samantha's ready to climb trees in her blue windowpane check play dress with the ruffly pinafore. Molly's also ready to play in khakis, her red hula sweater, and the dickey from her meet outfit. Kit's in her original "meet" outfit with the floral skirt and lavender twin set as well.

Switched to The Backyardigans while eating a really quick lunch. Mad Scientist Tasha wants her assistant Austin to retrieve Wolf-girl Uniqua, Vampire Pablo, and Mummy King Tyrone, but they're all "Scared of You" and keep running away. Not to mention, it's Austin's birthday, and he's upset that no one seems to have noticed...but there's a reason Tasha wanted to get him away from the lab...

Headed out to the Thomas Sharp School after that. The kids are still pretty wound up from Book Fair Week. We read them Pete the Cat and played animal charades with them inside, then spent the rest of the afternoon outside. In fact, we were outside for so long, the older kids eventually joined us near the end of the session.

No wonder. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was sunny, breezy, and bright blue, probably in the mid-60's. Couldn't have been a nicer fall day. This was no day for anyone to be inside. We danced to "The Train Song," "The Robot Song," "Sharks In the Water," "Let It Go," and several songs from The Lion King and KPop Demon Hunters while I pushed kids on the swings and tried to keep them from being on for too long. (There's only two swings!)

I stopped at the White Horse Grill for dinner. Had a yummy (if messy) grilled chicken sandwich and tasty sweet potato fries while watching the Phillies-Dodgers game. (Neither they nor the Eagles did well. The Phillies lost to the Dodgers 2-1. I don't know how the Eagles lost to the Giants later on 34-17, since the Giants aren't very good.)

Watched Match Game '76 when I got home. George Kennedy made his debut on the show this week and proved to be one of the best men to play the game, and likely the best player to frequently sit in the male ingenue (first) seat along with Nipsey Russell. Lee Merriweather had more fun taking a leaf from Betty White and rolling up Gene Rayburn's trousers. 

Finished the night with Bewitched. Darren doesn't think a female client is "The Cat's Meow" when she's more interested in seducing him on her yacht than talking advertising. When Samantha refuses to snoop, Endora takes matters into her own hands...er, paws.

Library Dance Party

Got a quick start this morning with breakfast and two classic Disney shorts. Chip and Dale are "Chips Ahoy" when they steal a boat in a glass from Donald and use it to cross a lake and get to a tree full of nuts. Mickey's looking for "The Simple Things" during a fishing trip. What he gets is a curious Pluto chasing the seagulls who want the fresh fish he's using for bait.

Hurried off to work after "Simple Things" ended and just made it on time. That was the worst thing that happened all day. The Acme was dead the entire morning. I honestly didn't have a lot to do. There weren't even a ton of carts to push. No wonder I got the weekend and all of next week off. Maybe the weather scared everyone off. It was cloudy, warm (though not to the degree of yesterday), and murderously humid. I was in and out with no trouble whatsoever. 

Made a quick stop at the pretzel shop on my way home for pepperoni-stuffed pretzels and two regular ones. Had those and grapes while watching cartoon episodes with characters playing superheroes. In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Spike feels unwanted and unneeded when Twilight and the other ponies are repairing an old castle. They get sucked into the world of his comic and become "Power Ponies" who must defeat the evil Mane-iac in order to get home. Spike (and Fluttershy) prove that being quiet or small doesn't mean you're not a great superhero or a better friend.

The Backyardigans spoofed superhero tropes several times on their show, notably in the first season episode "Race to the Tower of Power." Austin is Captain Hammer, who can build anything with a magic hammer, while Uniqua is Weather Woman, the weather-controlling wonder. They have to stop Yucky Man (Pablo) and Dr. Shrinky (Tyrone) from reaching the Tower of Power and claiming the Key to the World.

I was going to take my bike to Thomas Sharp, too, but by the time I was ready to leave, it had finally started showering. Called Uber instead. The driver was a bit late. I got to the school just in time. The rain was still coming down when I finished, so I took Uber home, too. 

I think you can guess that the kids never went outside today. We were in the library almost the entire afternoon, but we still had a marvelous time. In fact, I think we had more fun in that library than we ever did outside. One of the teachers brought a speaker, playing "The Flamingo Dance," "Sharks In the Water," "Let It Go" from Frozen, and several songs from K-Pop Demon Hunters. One of the other teachers moved the tables out of the way so we could all dance. Oh boy, did we have fun! The kids were hilarious, swirling around, scooting on the floor, or wiggling their arms and legs. After our dance, we all settled down to hear Pete the Cat and Hop on Pop. Several kids claimed teacher laps, including mine. I hadn't had so much fun on a rainy afternoon in a long time.

When I got in, I worked on Maplepunzel. Queen Gertrude (Gertie) is tired of this so-called "Maple" (Pavla) not letting her see Victor and treating the servants badly behind her back. She recruits the real Maple to keep an eye on her, write down what she sees, and report back to her. Maple also enjoys hearing the stories told by their butler Mackie, who speaks fondly of his late wife Penelope, her strong healing power, and the little daughter they lost.

Watched Match Game Syndicated while working and as I had dinner. They started off finishing the week with McLean Stevenson, Eva Gabor, and Elaine Joyce. The next week introduced Edie McClurg as a semi-regular. She annoys some people, but I think her energy and her Valley Girl imitations are cute and funny. That week cut off early...because part of it is on the tape with the Jimmie Walker week that he still hasn't cleared for being shown. They skipped to the week with Robert Donner and giggly Betty Kennedy. Delightfully sarcastic Patty Duke sat in Brett's character actress seat that week.

Finished the night with The Love Boat at Paramount Plus. "Country Cousin Blues" has a country singer (Florence Henderson) falling for an old friend (James Noble) who is now a politician, which his actual girlfriend (Carol Lawrence) doesn't like one bit. Gopher thinks he's hit the "Jackpot" when he finds a purse full of money and fantasizes about how he'll spend it. A young woman (Randi Oakes) is on the boat with her father (Mason Adams), but rethinks being "Daddy's Little Girl" when he almost drives away a veterinarian (Frank Bonner) who seems interested in her. 

The Eyes Don't Have It

Began the morning with breakfast and The Backyardigans. There were a lot of truly unique episodes in this series, but one of the most unusual is definitely "Samurai Pie." Austin learns to make pie the samurai way from Master baker Tyrone. They attempt to make The Great Pie for Empress Tasha while avoiding pie-snitching ninjas Pablo and Uniqua.

Headed out around quarter after 11. I had a few stops to make before my eye exam. Dropped a bag of clothes I no longer wanted in the bins behind Dollar General, then walked into Collingswood. Picked up four bagels at Kismet Bagels to have for lunch or dinner the rest of the week, as they wouldn't be open on my way back from Kresloff Eye Associates.

Had lunch at Cafe Antonio's about two blocks down from Kismet Bagels. They were relatively busy, but I ate up front, near the drink coolers. I had a slice of broccoli and tomato and a slice of chicken tomato basil. The latter was so thick, I couldn't finish it. Washed it down with a Diet Coke.

Kreslof Eye Associates is another two blocks down Haddon Avenue from Cafe Antonio's. For once, I was actually there over 15 minutes early. I had plenty of time to check my e-mail...and got a major disappointment when I did. The after-school program hadn't approved of my request for time off from September 22nd through the 26th for vacation! I figured they'd be ok with it because the school was closed one of those days for Rosh Hashanah, but they apparently want everyone there all month to settle the kids in. I was horrified. Lauren and I planned this for months. I had no idea how to tell her.

My eye exam itself went fairly well after all that. My left eye is slightly worse, but not bad enough to really worry about. My glasses themselves, however, needed to be replaced. The lenses are pretty scratched by now. They didn't have thinner wire frames I liked, so I ended up with thicker frames in a nifty blue-red swirl. With the extra-thick lenses, however, they cost $429...and that was with a heavy discount from my insurance! I paid it, but I wasn't happy.

There's a reason I walked there instead of taking the bike. My eyes were blurry and sensitive to light after being given eye drops to help them with my exam. I did manage to stop at The Candy Shop in Collingswood to try their gelato. Had the coffee chocolate chip. Yum. Crumbly, but cold and sweet, and more coffee than chip. 

The other reason I walked was the weather remains too gorgeous for rushing. It was sunny, bright, and blue, in the mid-80's without a hint of humidity. The shady green leaves in the park were especially nice and cool as I headed for the stone steps that led up to Clinton Avenue.

Put on Summer Holiday as soon as I got home. I go further into this charming 1963 British musical with then-popular rock star Cliff Richard at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Summer Holiday (1963)

Worked on Hilary and the Beasts while the movie was on. Hilary, Mackie, and her siblings gather two hours before midnight on New Year's Eve to make plans. C.J got another record from KDKA to record Pavla, while Maple intends to grab that last record from Eagle's office they hadn't heard yet. Betty comes downstairs, reading the book Bear gave her for Christmas. She knows who Bear is now, and that the stories they wrote were his way of telling her he was still in there. Maple realizes who Eagle is now, too...and Hilary's had a good idea all along who Troll was. She just never wanted to admit it to herself. Mackie insists on going along, even though he's terrified and is still recovering from the flu.

Watched Match Game Syndicated while eating dinner. Fred Travalena and his many (occasionally annoying) voices were spotlighted this week. Also joining in were gruff and deadpan Robert Donner, goofy and slightly ditzy Betty Kennedy (I have no problems believing she did Cheech and Chong movies), and Fannie Flagg.

Finished the night with the cast albums for two musicals that were either set in or played in jolly old England. I have no idea where The Prince and the Pauper came from or where it played, but it does have some nice music. This charming 1963 adaptation of the Mark Twain novel apparently gave John Davidson one of his earliest roles as the roguish Miles Hendon. It's the Prince (Carol Blodgett) and Pauper (Joan Shepherd) who get the most memorable songs, including "Garbage Court Round" in the opening, "Why Don't We Switch?", and "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" with Davidson.

Pickwick, based on The Pickwick Papers, was a far bigger and better-known hit in London that same year. Comedian Harry Secombe became best-known for playing the wealthy businessman Samuel Pickwick who gets into major trouble around Christmas when he inadvertently makes his landlady believe she's married to him. Pickwick's declaration of what he'd do "If I Ruled the World" was the major hit here. Other good songs include the charming ensemble number "That's What I'd Like for Christmas" and lovely "Look Into Your Heart." Too bad this doesn't seem to have done nearly as well on this side of the pond, despite the tour introducing Davy Jones to American audiences.