January 29, 1996: I probably posed for OCA

Thirty years ago today

            On Monday I probably worked but I don’t know where. Most probably the Ontario College of Art.

Vic Morrow

            On Tuesday morning I finally memorized “Les Millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg and the monologue in the performance of the song by Zizi Jeanmaire. That took several weeks. I started working out the chords for the instrumental intro. 

            I weighed 89.25 kilos before breakfast. 

            During song practice I played my Martin acoustic for the last of four sessions. It stayed in tune less than half the time. 

            Around midday I applied Frog tape to the frame and front of my bathroom exhaust fan to isolate the vent area so the lines will be straight when I paint it pink tomorrow. 

            I weighed 89.7 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I tried to take a bike ride but only pedaled about three times before slipping and going home. Tomorrow I have to at least go along Queen as far as Freshco and back. 

            I weighed 89.45 kilos at 17:05. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 17:54. 

            I recorded from cassette tape through audio interface to Audacity and then extracted to my hard drive, side 1 of a tape marked “part 2”. It’s one of my 20,000 Poets Under the League slams and it’s hosted by Sahara Spracklin. I was sure I had all the tapes from the fourth year of the slam and I don’t remember if Sahara hosted more than once. Maybe on side 2 someone will mention what year it is. 

            I finished editing my Photos folder and deleted a lot but kept several images. Next I’ll move most of the saved pictures to my solid state drive. 

            I grilled four chicken legs and had one with two small potatoes and margarine while watching season 1, episode 2 of Combat.

            Sgt. Saunders’ squadron gets three new recruits but finds them very disappointing. Gainsborough was a used car salesman, Crown was a radio DJ, and Temple was a ballet dancer. Neither of them have combat experience. Gainsborough has been serving as a cook since he joined the army and has gained considerable weight. Crown has an attitude problem and he’s a coward. Temple is very uncomfortable with the idea of killing people. Saunders tries to teach them how to thrown hand grenades but when Crown tries he accidentally drops his after pulling the pin and then runs away, leaving Saunders to grab and throw it. 

            The squad is sent to investigate an apparently abandoned village. They split into groups of three to explore sections of the village and Crown is with Saunders. Crown is frightened and just says he checked out the streets he was supposed to. We see that the street he ignored has a house with German soldiers and a big, mounted machine gun. 

            Saunders’ squad sets up headquarters in an abandoned dress shop and venture from there to go house to house. When Saunders tells Crown to explore a house he catches him just standing in the doorway afraid to go any further. He gets him to confess that he didn’t reconnoitre the streets he was supposed to. Saunders takes him back to the dress shop. 

            All of the new recruits are left in the dress shop while Saunders, Caje, and Kirby explore the town. Crown is eating some rations and finds them disgusting cold and so he decides to build a fire in the fireplace to heat them up. The men see the smoke from the chimney and go running back to put out the fire. The Germans see the smoke too and aim the machine gun at the dress shop then open fire. Kirby is hit. Saunders crawls out and drags him inside the shop. 

            The Germans reposition the machine gun to the upper floor. Saunders takes Crown with him on a mission to get close enough to toss a grenade into the window. But Saunders gets shot in the leg and so he and Crown are stuck taking cover behind the wall of a front stairway. Gainsborough runs out to try to help and is killed. Temple comes with a plan to use his dancing skills to climb to the rooftops and make his way along the rooftops to the point above the window where the machine gun is to lob in a grenade. Considering his inexperience the next part is pretty unrealistic. He dives into the canal and draws machine gun fire. He gets a rope from a boat, climbs up a building and makes his way across. The Germans know Temple is on the roof . One of them goes out on the street with a rifle to get a better shot at Temple but Crown kills him. Temple jumps rooftops and hangs from a broken drainpipe before getting back on the roof and finally tossing in a grenade to take out the Germans. 

            Saunders is played by Vic Morrow who started studying law but participated in a school play and got the acting bug. He went to New York and studied at the Actors Workshop. He made his film debut in Blackboard Jungle. I watched it last year and his was a great performance. It typecast him however as a bad guy and so he left MGM. He studied directing at USC. Then he became the star of Combat and directed some episodes. The series lasted 5 years. He co-starred in The Bad News Bears, King Creole, Hell’s Five Hours, Message from Space, Humanoids from the Deep, The Last Shark, The Bronx Warriors, Wanted: Babysitter, and Wild and Wooly. He starred in Portrait of a Mobster, Target: Harry, and The Evictors. He wrote and directed the spaghetti western A Man Called Sledge in 1970. He directed the movie Deathwatch and several episodes of Quincy. He co-starred in Twilight Zone: The Movie but died when a helicopter being used for a scene lost control and crashed on top of him and two child actors. He was the father of Jennifer Jason Leigh.

January 28, 1996: The cold kept my daughter and I indoors

Thirty years ago today 

            On Sunday it was colder so my daughter and I might have played indoors.

Albert Paulsen

            On Monday morning I finally memorized the tenth verse of “Ballade de la chnoufe” (Ballad of the Snuff) by Boris Vian. 

            I continued trying to memorize Zizi Jeanmaire’s performance of “Les millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg. I’ve memorized the song part, the first monologue, and the last monologue but pulling them all together is just out of my mind’s reach. There’s a good chance I’ll have the whole thing squeezed into my head tomorrow. 

            I weighed 89.25 kilos before breakfast. 

            I played my Martin acoustic during song practice and it went out of tune about half the time.

            Around midday I called 311 to inform the city that I have the bike post ring that got knocked off the post by a snow plow in front of my place. Yvonne was very nice and relaxed so I assume she works from home. She said someone will probably come to repair the ring in five days but I think the post will still be buried in five days. The temperature is going to stay low, there is no rain scheduled and there’s even more snow coming. 

            In the afternoon I sort of took a bike ride just get a feel for the conditions and to get outdoors. I only rode a few meters up O’Hara before slipping so I just turned and went home. I was out of and back in my door in about five minutes. 

            I weighed 89.8 kilos at 17:30. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 18:14. 

            I recorded from cassette tape through audio interface to Audacity and then extracted to my hard drive tape 2, side 2 (the finale) of my third 20,000 Poets Under the League slam, which was hosted by Mark Critoph. Now I have digitized slams 1, 3 and 4. I have another cassette that is marked “Part 2” and I assume that ‘s my second 20,000 Poets Under the League slam. I can’t find any tape that says part 1. 

            I edited my Photos folder and deleted several images while putting many more in sub-folders. I’m up to the middle of the pictures with titles that start with the letter “M”.

            I had the good parts of two small potatoes with gravy and a slice of roast pork with the last of my peach chutney while watching the series premier of Combat. I remember watching this show when I was a kid but don’t remember any of the stories. 

            The first episode begins in France on the Vire River in 1944. A US squadron approaches what looks like a mill. They are looking for a big gun that the German’s are using. They enter and while exploring, a boobie trap explodes severely wounding Sgt. McGraw and killing all his men. He is able to radio for help and so Sgt. Saunders and his men come. Sgt McGraw dies just after they reach him. A few minutes later a German soldier is found hiding down a trap door. He claims to be a deserter. The asshole Kirby wants to kill him because he thinks he set the booby trap and Caje agrees. 

           The young medic Doc is given the task of guarding Carl, who tells him he used to be an entertainer. He was a magician and a singer in a carnival. He starts singing “Show Me the Way to Go Home”. 

            Kirby finds some apples and asks Carl if he wants one. He throws him a rotten one and tries to force him to eat it. 

            From the upper floor of the mill they have a view of the surrounding area and when the big gun begins to fire they can see it and send its coordinates back to their unit which is able to take it out with mortar fire. 

            Doc tumbles down the stairs and his gun goes flying. As he is lying there Carl picks it up, walks toward him and gives it back to him. 

            A German patrol comes through the woods towards the mill. Saunders makes Carl go out and tell them that he is setting the mines in the mill and that everything is alright there. Of course he says it in German and so the US soldiers don’t know what he’s saying. The German soldiers leave. Later a German tank approaches the mill. Saunders has the men escape one by one through the trap door which leads to the river. The tank fires at the men as they jump in the river. The bullets seem to be the same proximity for each man. It is nighttime but one would think the gunman would be able to zero in and hit one of them. Caje is the last one and he looks like he is going to shoot Carl. Carl thinks he is too and covers his face in fear. We see Saunders waiting outside the tunnel and hear a gunshot before Caje emerges alone. He says he thinks the Germans got Carl. 

            They make it back to their unit. Later Saunders confronts Caje who tells him he didn’t kill Carl. He fired his gun but couldn’t kill him. He didn’t think he had the right to play god with someone else’s life. 

            Carl was played by Albert Paulsen, who was from Ecuador but served in the US army during WWII. He graduated from the Neighbourhood Playhouse. He made his TV debut in The Lux Video Theatre in 1951. He won an Emmy award in 1964 for his performance in A Day in the Life of Ivan Desinovich. He co-starred in the film The Next Man. He played Anthony Korf in the drama series Stop Susan Williams in 1979. He played General Yodel on Galactica 1980.

January 27, 1996: My daughter and me made a snowman

Thirty years ago today

            On Saturday I spent the day with my daughter and it was a fairly warm day at 8 degrees and so we probably played outside. Maybe we built a snowman.

Jack Gilford

            I continued working on memorizing the tenth verse of “Ballade de la chnoufe” (Ballad of the Snuff) by Boris Vian. 

            I continued trying to memorize the final monologue in Zizi Jeanmaire’s performance of “Les millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg. There’s a good chance I’ll be able to pull it all together on Monday.

            I weighed 89.45 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since January 2. 

            I played my Martin acoustic during song practice for the second of four sessions. It went out of tune quite a bit and it was frustrating during the first half. Later it wasn’t so bad. 

            Around midday I cleaned the warm mist humidifier that’s been running all week and set the other one going. The heating knob was all caked over and I thought it was permanently shot but then I was finally able to peel the crust off with my fingernail and it looked smoother than it has for a long time. The other one is humidifying a lot better and maybe the one I cleaned will as well now that it’s cleaner. 

            I applied Proofide to my Raleigh’s Brooks leather seat for the first time since I bought it six months ago. I also used Bally ideal spray on my motorcycle jacket. 

            I weighed 89.6 kilos at 16:55. 

            It’s been storming all day so I didn’t take a bike ride and probably won’t be able to tomorrow either. 

            I saw someone cross country skiing down Queen Street and he was making good time. Too fast for me to grab my camera to make a video. 

            I buffed my Brooks seat and my leather jacket. 

            I spent about an hour trying track down some poems. I’ve been going through a folder that has my Commentaries on the Gumby Bible, which are for the most part unfinished poems. Two poems were incomplete and so I looked through two big folders until I found writing that looks like it’s part of those poems. One is a study of the nature of the animal in me. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 18:44. 

            I recorded from cassette tape through audio interface to Audacity and then extracted to my hard drive tape 2, side 1, of my third 20,000 Poets Under the League slam, hosted by Mark Critoph. My digitized recording of the tape sounds great. 

            I edited my Photos folder, deleting 44 images and putting several in sub-folders. I’m up to Hedy Lamarr. 

            I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sandwich bread with marinara, tomato pesto, wedge oven fries, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a glass of Creemore while watching the series finale of Car 54 Where Are You? 

            Two cops have retired from the 53rd Precinct and the rest of the men have to take up the slack. They need new recruits. 

            Toody and Muldoon are in a diner taking a break from the night shift when a lone cop comes in and sits at the far end of the counter. They ask the waiter who he is and she says she only knows he’s with the 12th Precinct. Toody and Muldoon find this curious since the guys from the 12th Precinct usually frequent the Tip Top Diner down the street. The lone cop wants coffee and a donut but Muldoon got the last donut. Toody gives Muldoon’s donut to the cop. They sit down with him and say they’ve been partners for ten years. He says he’s never had a partner for more than a week. His name is Luther Snitkin. He says if everyone is that friendly at the 53rd he’d love to be transferred there. 

            Toody and Muldoon tell Captain Block who calls the 12th. The captain at the 12th says he’s got four men in the hospital and six in arm casts and he can’t spare any. But then Block mentions it’s Snitkin and the captain can’t believe his luck. A cop in a cast says it must be a joke since everybody in the NYPD knows Snitkin is a Jonah who brings disaster wherever he goes. 

            The day that Snitkin arrives at the 53rd Precinct Captain Block is there to welcome him but he’s standing in front of one of the double doors with frosted glass windows and one of them breaks against Block when Snitkin opens it. It’s kind of dumb of Block to be standing in front of the door like that since he knows how they open. 

            Block hands Schnauser Snitkin’s file. He sees that Snitkin has only been with the NYPD 18 months but he’s been with 32 precincts. Then he remembers that Snitkin is a Jonah and declares they are doomed. All six of Snitkin’s 12th Precinct partners are now in the hospital. 

            Block has just brought Snitkin out of his office and he’s standing in front of it with him. Kissel comes to Block with papers for him to sign and Block says to take them into his office and he’ll be right in. Kissel goes in and for some reason closes the door. Block turns and walks through the glass. Snitkin nods knowingly but sadly. 

            Toody takes Snitkin to introduce him to the men. As Sgt McBride leans from his chair to shake hands, Kissel nudges the chair as he walks by and McBride falls. It seems like Kissel is more of a jinx. Toody introduces Snitkin to the switchboard operator and then the switchboard short circuits. That’s the first incident that is actually jinxlike. Block says Nicholson will be Snitkin’s new partner and then Nicholson falls down the stairs breaking two legs and an arm. Kissel opens the frosted glass windowed locker room door and Block is on the other side. After being told Snitkin is his new partner Webster slips in the shower. Rodrigues is Snitkin’s next partner and soon he’s in traction. 

            When headquarters get the 53rd’s accident reports they send a building inspector. If this was not a government building it would have been condemned. The department starts fixing the stairs, putting in new doors, and installing a new tile floor in the showers. The floor has now been removed in the washroom as they rebuild it. Schnauser is sitting in the locker room and is told to tell people not to go in or they’ll fall to the basement. Why wouldn’t they just put up a sign and some police barricade tape? Kissel’s locker is next to the door and he opens it just as Block comes in, hitting him in the nose. Schnauser keeps saying Snitkin is a jinx but Muldoon convinces him that the problem is the condition of the building. Then Schnauser walks into the washroom and falls to the basement. 

            Snitkins now tells Muldoon and Toody that he’s a Jonah and he’s never had any luck. Toody thinks if Snitkin could win something it would cure him of thinking he’s a jinx. He rigs a turkey raffle so that Snitkin’s number wins. Sgt Feldman hands Snitkin the turkey but Snitkin says he won more than the turkey and so he gives it to Feldman because he has eight children to feed. Then Feldman gets food poisoning. 

            Snitkin decides to resign. Block announces that Snitkin is going to drive the governor to dedicate the birdhouse in Bronx park because he’s the only officer who’s driven a VIP. It was during the election and he drove Nixon, who lost to Kennedy. Snitkin still wants out and says it’s hopeless because it’s voodoo. 

            Muldoon decides they will perform a voodoo ritual to extract the evil spirits that Snitkin believes he has in him. Toody and Muldoon hold hands with Snitkin until the ritual is over then tell him the evil is gone. Snitkin feels that it’s true. But then suddenly accidents start happening wherever Toody and Muldoon go and so they realize they have to perform another ritual. Then Block crashes through the door again. 

             Snitkin was played by Jack Gilford who was discovered and mentored by Milton Berle. He started as a comedian in the 1930s specializing in satire and pantomime. He was host at the Café Society in Greenwich Village. His film debut was in Midnight Melodies in which he did celebrity impressions. It was in his movie satire routines that he invented the expression “The butler did it!” In the 1950s he was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee until the 1960s. He was the face of the Cracker Jack commercials from 1960 to 1972. He was nominated for Tony Awards for his performances in A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum and Cabaret. The song “Meeskite” from Cabaret was written specifically for him to sing. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Save the Tiger. He played Brooks Carmichael on the sitcom The Duck Factory. He co-starred in the film Cocoon. Car 54 Where Are You? was a very funny sitcom with great writing. Repetition of gags was used to good effect without being overdone.

January 26, 1996: It was payday

Thirty years ago today

            Friday was a payday from the Ontario College of Art and the Toronto Board of Education. If I wasn’t working I would have gone downtown to pick up my cheques. If I was I would have grabbed them after work. I probably stayed downtown to perform at the Spit Fridays open stage in the back room of the Cameron House.