Saturday 11 March 2023

Leon Belasco


            On Friday morning I finished searching for more chords for "Sorry Angel" by Serge Gainsbourg, but no one had posted more than the one set. I worked them out for the chorus and half of the first verse. I agreed with most of the chords that were posted but didn't hear an F# at the end of the chorus. It seems to me it goes back to C#. 
            When my landlord installed the new faucet in the kitchen he switched the hot and cold water and so now sometimes I get hot when I want cold or cold when I want hot because it contradicts the lever direction that's become automatic for me. I drink three glasses of water during song practice and before each glass I run the water for the length of one song so it will be cold. This morning my second glass ended up hot, so I had to dump it and run the cold water. 
            I weighed 84.6 kilos before breakfast. I got up to page 240 of Never Let Me Go. Kathy and her friends Ruth and Tommy left the cottage and the next stage was to be Carers for Donors. Ruth and Tommy become Donors while Kathy is still a Carer. Kathy becomes Ruth's Carer and is with her when she dies after her second organ donation. Before Ruth dies she gives Kathy the address of Madame, because it is rumoured that Madame has the power to grant reprieves to potential Donors if they are couples who can show they are really in love. Ruth thinks that she stood in the way of Kathy and Tommy becoming a couple and now encourages her to becomes Tommy's Carer. Kathy becomes Tommy's Carer after his third organ donation and they also become lovers. This is an interesting but very depressing book. 
            I weighed 84.5 kilos before lunch. I had two avocadoes and cherry tomatoes with lemon juice and a glass of Garden Cocktail. 
            When I got up from my afternoon siesta it had been snowing considerably and it looked too messy and perhaps slippery for a bike ride and so I didn't go out. 
            I weighed 84.6 kilos at 16:00. 
            I was caught up on my journal at 16:45. 
            I finished reading Never Let Me Go and bawled my head off a few times in parts near the end. Kathy and Tommy find Madame's house and she invites them in. Madame's real name is Marie-Claude and she lives with Miss Emily, who had been the headmistress of Hailsham. Emily explains that there is no truth to the rumour that being a couple or showing one's soul in artwork would grant a reprieve from clones becoming organ donors. She says the reason that they collected the artwork of the students was to prove that the clones had souls at all. She and Marie-Claude fought for years with the authorities to show that the clones were human but by then people were living an average of a hundred years because of the organs they got from them and there was no turning back. Hailsham had been one of the best schools for the future Donors but it was shut down. Now it is not considered important that the clones have such idyllic conditions for growing up. Tommy died or "Completed" after his fourth donation. Kathy is preparing for her first Donation at the end of this very depressing novel. 
            I emailed my professor to ask if I can write my essay on my presentation topic. 
            I did a web search with the words "Most depressing novel" and Never Let Me Go was in the first four lists. 
            Even though I haven't heard back from Professor Jaffe, I started turning my original presentation into an essay, since it was already in the format of a paper. Our essay has to be at least ten pages long, which I think is the longest I've had to write. Fortunately I already wrote four pages for that version of my presentation. If she approves my topic I have a month to write it and nothing else to do since I've finished all the required reading. 
            I had the good parts of five avocadoes and some cherry tomatoes with lemon juice and a glass of Garden Cocktail. I ate while watching season 5, episode 24 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 
            A Romany mother and son, Narda and Yerko, drive their wagon up to the Clampett mansion. Granny has shown herself to be extremely racist in this season. Just a few episodes ago she was raving about the Indians coming to scalp her. This time she thinks the Gypsies are going to steal Jethro. Narda offers to read Granny's palm but when she looks at it she appears upset and leaves. Later we see Narda receiving payment from Margaret Drysdale for having made Granny think there is a curse on the mansion. She thinks that they are all going to leave now. But Margaret mentions that the Clampetts have $68 million and so now Narda has a plan for Yakov to marry Granny. Granny calls Milburn Drysdale and tells him she wants to take her $15 million out in sacks so she can go back home. Drysdale disguises himself and Jane as stereotypes of Romany people as well and goes to convince the Clampetts that there is no curse so they will stay. Narda reads Granny's palm and tells her she is going to meet a dark, handsome stranger. Then Yakov walks in but it doesn't register for Granny that he's who Nardo means. Then Drysdale shows up claiming to be Zarco, king of the Gypsies and Granny thinks he's the dark handsome stranger. Then Narda tells both Elly May and Jethro that they will both meet dark, handsome strangers. Elly hooks up with Yakov, Jethro with the disguised Jane. Yakov plays the fiddle and they all dance. There's an ugly moment when Drysdale holds up his fist to Margaret and tells her she's going to get it when he gets home. 
            Yerko was played by Leon Belasco, who was born in the Russian Empire and educated in Japan. He was briefly the concertmaster of the Japanese-Russian Symphony. He moved to California in 1921. His first movie was the silent film, The Best People. He went to New York City and formed a band that played in New York hotels. It was his band that introduced The Andrews Sisters. He appeared in Love Happy, the last Marx Brothers film. He co-starred in Philo Vance Returns. He served as a dialogue director for The Russians Are Coming. He co-starred in the radio series The Man Called X and My Sister Eileen. 


            It's been a week now since I've found a bedbug.

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