Jay Robinson

            On Tuesday morning I finished translating “D’où reviens-tu Billy Boy?” (a translation by Boris Vian of “Where Have You Been Billy Boy?). 

            I ran through singing and playing “Un amour peut en cacher un autre” (One Love Can Serve to Cover Another) by Serge Gainsbourg in French and English. I uploaded it to my Christian’s Translations blog and began the editing process to prepare it for publication. I should have it posted tomorrow and then I’ll move on to learning the next of his songs. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice. Tomorrow I’ll begin a four session stretch of playing my electric guitars. 

            I weighed 88.1 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since last Tuesday. 

            Around midday sanded the tops of the upper shelves I built in the north east corner of my bathroom. Next I’ll start sanding the upper part of the north wall. 

            I weighed 88.1 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I weighed 87.75 kilos at 17:45. That’s the most I’ve tipped the scales in the evening since July 22. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:30. 

            I listened again to the videos of my song practice performances of “Baby Pop” on August 27 and September 6 of last year and I think August 27 is better. So that’s the take I’ll upload to YouTube. I compared my performances of “Dance and Sing to Baby Pop” on August 10 and 16 of last year. I think August 16 looks better. I compared August 22 to August 16 and perceived there’s a richer colour to August 16. I compared August 26 to August 16 and concluded that August 16 is more dynamic. There are two more to compare.

            I took my camera and tripod out to look for people to record for my video project. I walked to Sorauren and then east to Elm Grove, then home. 

            When I started making dinner the water was turned off, I guess because someone was finally down in the basement fixing the water heater after three days of the tenants living with only cold water. I needed to cook a potato and so fortunately I’d had a couple of bottles of spring water in the fridge for at least a year. That wasn’t enough and so I used half the water from a salad bowl that I’d had cherries in. I used the rest of the cherry water to wash the potato. There was enough water in the kettle to make a cup of tea too. I looked outside and saw the landlord and the handyman Yogi unloading a new water heater from a pickup truck. My next door neighbour Benji follows the landlord around like a dog. 

            I had a potato with gravy and two chicken drumsticks while watching season 6, episodes 3 and 4 of Bewitched. 

            In the first story Samantha needs to make lunch but then Tabitha spills milk on her dress. Samantha summons her part time maid, the failing witch Esmerelda. She asks her to make a Caesar salad but of course she accidentally conjures Julias Caesar. Darrin’s boss Larry is having a last minute party at his house for the prospective client Evelyn Charday to promote her men’s cologne Top Tiger. He gives Darrin a bottle of Charday Lizard Oil and says for him to make sure that Samantha pretends to be crazy about it. While Samantha is waiting for Esmerelda to remember her spell to send Caesar back she shows Caesar what the history books say about him. But he takes offense when the book describes him as the “dictator” of Rome. He asks where he can get this falsehood eradicated from the history books. Samantha tells him, “You can’t fight city hall” and so he thinks that’s the place he needs to go. Esmerelda tells him he can take a taxi and so he leaves. She somehow thinks she’s done the right thing since Samantha and Darrin wanted her to get rid of Caesar. Meanwhile Larry announces that Charday has to come for dinner tonight at Darrin’s place because Larry’s wife Louise didn’t expect him back from Chicago today. Samantha goes looking for Caesar who has just arrived at city hall where a protest march is going on, mostly against war. He pays the cabby in Roman coins. The cabby protests until he learns they are solid gold. The hippies see Caesar as a hippy with authority and follow him but the cops won’t let Caesar in. He’s about to be arrested when Samantha arrives and indirectly gives the impression that Caesar is someone who thinks he’s Caesar and that she is an official from a mental hospital. Esmerelda has a spell that can send Caesar back but it doesn’t work because he doesn’t want to go until he has corrected how he is maligned in the history books. Meanwhile Larry and Charday arrive. Samantha figures they have to make Caesar want to go back. She conjures Cleopatra and she and Caesar are very glad to see each other. Now the spell will work but before Esmerelda can cast it Larry and Charday walk in. Charday thinks this is a surprise for her and Darrin ad libs that this is the first of a series of ads depicting the great romances of history and promoting Top Tiger cologne. Darrin says the slogan is that Top Tiger cologne is the reason Cleopatra let Julias cease her. Charday loves it. When everyone leaves, Esmerelda sends Caesar and Cleopatra back. 

            

            Caesar was played by Jay Robinson, who trained in summer stock and in repertory theatres and eventually made it to Broadway. He made his film debut as Caligula in The Robe. He played Caligula again in Demetrius and the Gladiators. He became a diva and a drug addict. After being arrested for possession of methadone and being sentenced to a year in prison, his acting career was damaged. When he started getting work again his career was again interrupted by another stint in jail. He starting making guest appearances on television in the late 60s. Bette Davis helped to save him by insisting that he co-star in Bunny O’Hare. She wrote the intro to his autobiography The Comeback. He played Dr. Shrinker in 16 episodes of The Krofft Super Show. He was the host of Beyond Bizarre. He played Elaan of Troyius in an episode of Star Trek. He played Monty Dolan on Days of Our Lives. 

            The water was running after dinner but it was still cold. An hour or so later we had hot water again. 

            In the second story Samantha starts having food cravings and the food appears as soon as she thinks of it without her casting a spell. Endora says what she craved when she was pregnant were hummingbird wings. Dr. Bombay is summoned and he protests because he was interrupted from climbing the Matterhorn and was about to plunge his pennant in the peak. He makes some dramatic gestures while shaking a tambourine then admits it doesn’t do anything but he loves the sound. He blows some powder in Samantha’s face and it seems to cure her. But later when she is craving a corned beef sandwich she disappears and ends up at a deli. The spell has only been reversed and now the food doesn’t come to Samantha but she goes to the food. When she gets back she feels like she is going into labour and so they head for the hospital. It’s not really likely since she only looks about six months pregnant. On the way to the hospital Darrin is speeding and is stopped by a cop. Darrin explains that his wife is having a baby but Samantha has already disappeared and gone to Shea Stadium to get a hot dog. At the hospital Bombay comes again dressed as a surgeon. He blows some other powder and this cures her. It also turns out that Samantha only went into false labour.