Renée Houston

            On Wednesday morning I finished my revised translation of “Variations sur Marilou” by Serge Gainsbourg. I still have to run through the song in English before uploading it to Christian's Translations.

            During song practice I tried to be more conscious of how I play my chords. I noticed that I sometimes don’t press my fingers down hard enough on the fretboard and it results in buzzing on some of the simplest chords.

            Around midday I washed the last of the four shelves in the southwest corner of my living and cups and other containers holding the pencils, the bike flashers and geometry instruments, which I also washed. 

The next bedroom project will be to sand and paint what used to be the exit door.

            I started scanning a set of negatives probably from 1992 when I started modelling for art classes again after five years off. There are also shots of my one year or one and a half year old daughter Astrid. Some of the negs are chemically damaged and missing data.

            For lunch I split and toasted a croissant and made a cheese and lettuce sandwich.

            In the afternoon I did my exercises while listening to another rehashed Amos and Andy story. This one begins the day after Kingfish and Sapphire's 25^th anniversary party. Sapphire is mad because Kingfish had danced all night with a young woman named Dee dee Jackson. He leaves the argument for some peace at the lodge hall and then Sapphire finds in the closet a box containing a gold and pearl bracelet. Kingfish had bought it for Sapphire by charging it at a new department store. But while he is at the lodge he is approached by someone from the store who says they just discovered the state of his credit rating and they want either the $200 or the bracelet back right away. Kingfish takes it back and a little later Dee Dee Jackson buys it from the store. When Kingfish comes home Sapphire is very welcoming and has prepared a special dinner with George. He gives her a handkerchief for her anniversary present when she was expecting to be surprised with the bracelet. She is very upset. The next day she is at the beauty parlour when Dee Dee Jackson sits down next to her wearing the bracelet that she’d thought Kingfish had bought for her. Sapphire files separation papers from Kingfish but he refuses to tell her what happened because he doesn’t want to be with someone that doesn’t trust him. Later when she finds out the truth he still won’t come back. Amos, Andy and the other lodge brothers chip in to buy Kingfish and Sapphire separate tickets for the same room on the Honeymoon Express to Niagara Falls. Their hope is that when Kingfish finds that he is alone with Sapphire on the romantic train ride that it will rekindle his feelings. On the train Sapphire climbs up to Kingfish’s birth to surprise him and crawl into bed with him but discovers that Kingfish sold his birth to someone else for $50.

            Dee Dee was played by Zelda Cleaver, who was the sister of Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, who played Jack Benny's valet for many years on radio and televison.

            I finished watching and listening to the nine video recordings of "Vilaines filles, mauvais garçons" and the eight of my translation, "Bad Girls and Naughty Boys". Two of the French versions were cut off when the camera ran out of juice but I think that there are recordings of each version that are good enough to upload to You Tube.

            The landlord knocked on my door to tell me that the person in the building next door is still complaining about me singing and playing in the morning even though I changed my start time to 7:00. The city bilaw says no noise before 7:00. He says she has tried to call the city but the offices are closed because of the pandemic and so she wants to go straight to court. I’ve already made a major compromise and she’s made none so let her take me to court. It seems to me she has to prove that I'm making too much noise by having inspectors come in and measure it.

            Among the items that I got from the food bank last Saturday was a pastry stuffed with a l;ittle bit of pepperoni. For dinner I sliced it in half, added sauce and cheese and made two mini-pizzas, which I had with a beer while watching two episodes of The Adventures of Robin Hood.

            The first story begins with a woman on horseback being chased through Sherwood Forest by two soldiers. Little John and some other outlaws drive the soldiers off and the woman, Lady Ann de Brissac asks to see Robin. They take her to him and she reveals that she is trying to transport a chest of gold to King Richard but the sheriff is trying to intercept it. Robin offers the help of Little John and Michael to go where she’s hidden the gold and to carry it where she wants. She says as long as it’s out of Sherwood they can take it where they say. Little John gives her a location near an oak tree for noon the next day. After they leave Marian comes to see Robin and he tells her about de Brissac’s visit. Marian says that she is loyal to Prince John and a dispicable person. Since Robin does not know of the location she has arranged with Little John he can’t warn them that it’s probably a trap. When Robin goes to see Ann at the Raven Inn she admits that it's a trap and tells him he can do nothing about it. She refuses to reveal where Little John and Michael will be ambushed and knows that Robin is too much of a gentleman to force the information. Suddenly Lady Marian bursts in the room dressed in peasant’s and talking in a lower class accent. She tells Robin to leave and locks the door. Marian pulls a knife and of threatens to cut Lady Ann if she does not give the information. She gives her twen seconds and at the last two Ann gives in. Robin’s men are are found and when the sheriff comes for chest he finds inside it no gold but a note from Robin Hood telling him the gold is on its way to King Richard.

           In the second story an old woman is being harrassed on the road by the soldiers of the Duke of Bedford and they even deliberately knock her down by charging near her with their horses. Marian and Tuck happen to witness this and when they go to the woman’s aid they discover that she is Little John’s mother. Tuck goes to speak to the duke about this and he thinks his actions are justified because she is the mother of an outlaw. He still holds a grudge against Little John from those three years before when he was simply trying to beat his serf and Little John humiliated him by picking him up and placing him on a high window ledge. Tuck tells him that because Little John’s mother is his serf he has a duty to help her. At first he tells Tuck it's none of his business but then suddenly he seems to have a change of heart and says that he will help her. He goes to her and says he is willing to forgive Little John. He asks for something from her which would signal for him to come home and she gives the duke her broach, which she says Little John gave to her. A servant of Bedford delivers the broach to Little John and he immediately goes to his mother. But one of Bedford’s men is watching the cottage and goes for the duke and his soldiers. When Robin learns that Little John has gone to his mother he is sure it’s a trap and he and his men go there. Meanwhile the duke and his men arrive and Little John is captured and bound. When the mother tells Bedford he broke his promise he says he’s not bound by promises to serfs. The duke says he will flog him twice and then he will be hanged and she will be made to watch. Robin’s men surround the cottage and so when the duke tries to leave with Little John arrows force him back inside. There is a standoff because Robin can’t force his way in for fear of harming Little John and his mother and the duke cannot leave. Little John is bound to the posts that hold up the roof of the cottage. He turns to look at his mother and their eyes communicate that she knows what he wants to do and she nods in approval. Like Samson he pulls the beams together and the roof collapses. The duke and his men are chased away. Marian offers Little John’s mother a cottage on her estate where Little John can visit whenever he wants.

            Little John’s mother was played by Renee Houston, who was the daughter of Vaudeville performers. She and her sister Billie formed a music hall comedy act called The Houston Sisters. Their comedy was based on rivalry between working class Scottish sisters. She appeared in several “Carry On” films and was often typecast as a “battleaxe” but appeared in two of Roman Polanski films, “Repulsion” and “Cul de Sac”. Her autobiography was titled “Don’t Fence Me In”.