Anna-Lisa

            For the last few years I’ve been watching every 1950s TV show from the United States. If they don’t fully download I keep the torrent on my computer for a year before watching them and so I still have a handful left to look at. But upon finishing the Zorro series I was pretty much done with the US. I moved on to Canadian 1950s shows but the only downloads I could find were a two and a half gig file of Wayne and Shuster and one episode of a show I’d never heard of called “Hudson’s Bay". Wayne and Shuster has downloaded 50% but the other one is just sitting there. Then on Wednesday morning just after midnight I moved on to 1950s TV shows from Britain and found an enormous torrent containing every episode of The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Richard Greene, which was a show I loved when I was a kid. I didn't have room for all 112 gigs and so I just started a download of the first ten of the 144 episodes. After the first full day it had only downloaded 4% so it will take a long time to be able to watch it.

During yoga that morning the dead skin around my puncture wound was hard as old paper.

            I finished memorizing “Yellow Star” by Serge Gainsbourg and started working out the chords.

            I worked on updating my journal, which was still more than a day behind.

            I had the rest of a bag of tortilla chips with salsa for lunch but in wanting to finish them I overate a bit. My stomach was too full when I laid down for a siesta and on top of that the workers downstairs were directly under my bed again. When a pipe falls it hits the floor three times.

            I continued updating my journal.

            For dinner I had three potatoes with gravy and a piece of strawberry-rhubarb pie while watching an episode of “Sugarfoot” that had only downloaded 91% but there weren’t very many glitches.

            In this story from season one Tom Brewster is working as a ranch hand for his friend Sandy Randall. Sandy is sending for a Swedish mail order bride. When a travelling photographer comes around both Sandy and Tom have their portraits taken. When it comes time to put a copy of his photo in the mail to send to Ellie Peterson, Sandy is unhappy with his own appearance and so he sends Tom’s picture instead. Sandy nervously fires Tom on the day that Ellie is supposed to arrive. Tom is about to get on the train to leave when Ellie gets off and recognizes him from the photo. Thinking Tom is Sandy, Ellie immediately gives him a kiss. Sandy is afraid to tell Ellie about the mix-up and he begs Tom to stay until it can be cleared up. The next day Tom is attacked by a stranger in the barn who shoots Sandy while making his escape. Ellie nurses Sandy back to health, showing great tenderness towards him but he is still afraid to tell her that he is the one that sent for her.  Ellie confesses that the man who shot Sandy is her ex-boyfriend Deuce. She had left him in Colorado when he had shown himself to be a criminal but he is still obsessed with her. He is in town with two other men and planning to rob the local bank but he is distracted by the fact that Ellie is living nearby and about to get married. When Tom finally explains to Ellie that Sandy is her arranged groom she is not disappointed. Tom plots to capture Deuce by using Ellie as bait. They fix up the wagon with a “just married” sign and with tin cans trailing. Ellie is wearing her Swedish wedding dress and she and Sandy start out without letting Tom know. By the time Tom catches up with the wagon Deuce has Sandy tied up in the back and he’s pointing a gun at Tom. Deuce plots to use the “just married" wagon in town to start up a shiveree party among the locals, which would serve as a noisy distraction while they rob the bank. The ploy is successful but after the wagon is out of town and robbers ride up with Deuce’s horse. He is about to take Ellie when Tom shoots him. The posse catches the rest of the gang and Ellie and Sandy kiss.

            There was derogatory reference to Swedes as “Squareheads”. I don’t recall ever having heard that expression. I keep looking in the mirror to see if I can figure out if it’s true.

            Sandy was played by Charles Bronson.

            Deuce was played by Pernell Roberts who played Adam on Bonanza and later starred in Trapper John MD.

            Ellie was played by Norwegian born actor Anna-Lisa. She first came to the US as an au pair for a family in California and took up local theatre before being discovered. She was fairly successful in Hollywood on stage and as a guest star on TV series but at the age of forty-one she moved back to Norway to work as a puppeteer in Oslo.