Lee Majors

            On Wednesday morning I revised my translation of “L’Amour à deux” (Passion for Two) by Serge Gainsbourg and ran through singing and playing it. Tomorrow I’ll upload it to my Christian’s Translations blog and prepare it for publication. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the third of four sessions. I audio and video recorded the session as I will every day until October 15. I made it through a few songs without any obvious mistakes. 

            I weighed 85.7 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I’ve been in the morning in a long time. I made french toast with a slice of cinnamon-raisin bread but found it a bit heavy. 

            I weighed 87.65 kilos before lunch. I had an untoasted slice of multigrain bread with margarine and five-year-old cheddar and a glass of raspberry iced tea.

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

            I weighed 87.65 kilos at 17:45. That’s the most I’ve tipped the scale in the evening since September 3. 

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

            I searched for video clips of collapsing structures, falling things, and falling people. I finally bookmarked a video of Buster Keaton stunts, including his attempt to jump between two buildings but missing and falling down the side. I think that’s what I’ll use for the opening of my “Me and Gravity” video. I downloaded it and converted it to WMV. 

            I uploaded today’s video of song practice and reviewed most of the rest of the September 5 video.

            I sautéed the ground beef, added a jar of Basilica sauce, a jar of salsa, the flavour packs from two Szechuan noodle cakes and then the noodles. I had a bowl with a beer while watching episode 3 of The Big Valley. 

            A statue has been built in honour of the late Thomas Barkley and a commemoration ceremony will be held for the unveiling. His widow Victoria Barkley wants one of her son’s to wear Thomas’s boots at the event but the boots won’t fit any of them. Eugene suggests Heath try them on and they fit perfectly. But Heath never knew his father and has mixed feelings about him because he abandoned his mother when she was pregnant. He’s not sure if he wants to wear the boots. Later Eugene the youngest brother attacks Heath because he doesn’t understand why he wouldn’t be proud of being Thomas Barkley’s son. The family, including Heath, goes to town before the ceremony and checks into the hotel. Victoria finds Heath drinking at the bar and has a drink with him. She asks him to tell her about his mother. Victoria says she and Thomas had only been married a few years when he went to Strawberry where he’d invested in some mines. Strawberry was the beginning of him becoming wealthy. She’s got to know if Heath’s mother loved Thomas. He says she spoke very highly of him. Victoria is worried she’s been lying to herself about how Thomas felt about her. She asks if any of Heath’s people still live in Strawberry. He says just his Aunt Rachel who isn’t really his aunt but was his mother’s best friend. Rachel and Hannah helped raise him. There was also his uncle Matt and his wife but they weren’t close and the few times he saw them were too often. Victoria is upset over her doubts and leaves. Nobody sees her drive the carriage out of town and to Strawberry. In the general store she asks for Rachel Caulfield and learns that she died. She asks for Hannah and the store owner directs her to a green cabin on the edge of town. Heath’s Uncle Matt is in the store and sees the Barkley name on the side of Victoria’s wagon. Across the street at the empty hotel Matt owns is his wife Martha half heartedly fighting off the advances of an out of work miner named Phelps. Matt tells Martha that Victoria is in town. Victoria finds Hannah, who is a senile old black woman. At first Hannah thinks Victoria is Heath’s mother Leiah. Victoria asks Hannah if Thomas loved Leiah. She only knows that Leiah loved Thomas. Victoria asks where to find Matt. Hannah says at the hotel but warns her to stay away from them. At the hotel Victoria meets Matt and Martha. Martha claims she and Matt helped raise Heath and she thinks that something is owed to them for their sacrifice. Victoria asks if $5000 would be enough (that would be about $154,000 today). Martha is pleasantly surprised by the offer. Martha says Thomas loved Leiah, especially when she was carrying his child, but he loved money more than her and left to get rich. Victoria says her lawyer son Jarrad would advise her to think before she signs a cheque. Victoria leaves and is getting into her wagon when Hannah tells her to come back to the house. When she goes there Matt puts her wagon in the stable. Hannah says Leiah found Thomas beaten half to death and robbed in an alley and nursed him back to health. Hannah also says Martha and Matt never did anything for Heath. Rachel was found dad in the bottom of a mineshaft and Hannah thinks Martha and Matt killed her. Hannah gives Victoria a letter from Thomas to Leiah. Meanwhile Victoria’s children are wondering where she is. Heath figures it out and leaves. Victoria goes to Matt to ask for her wagon. Martha bars her way and asks for half the money she promised. She says Rachel had an accident and fell down a mineshaft. They’ll have to take Victoria there to show her. Victoria runs for the door just as Heath walks in. He takes her to get the carriage. Martha calls for Phelps and offers herself to him if he kills Victoria and Heath. He heads them off and waits at a mine they’ll be passing. He fires his rifle but misses and is killed by Heath’s return fire. Victoria reads Heath the letter and it shows that Thomas Barkley did not know Leiah was pregnant when he left. Heath puts on the boots.

            Heath was played by Lee Majors, who was on his way to becoming a football star when a spinal condition ended those dreams. He earned a degree in History and Phys Ed. His first film role was an uncredited part in Straightjacket. He was cast as Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy but had to turn it down because The Big Valley took off. He co-starred later in Owen Marshall Counselor at Law. He starred in The Six Million Dollar Man. After that he starred in The Fall Guy. He starred in the films The Norseman, Steel, The Last Chase, Starflight, and Keaton’s Cop. He co-starred in Out Cold. He was married to Farrah Fawcett and apparently the song “Midnight Train to Georgia” was inspired by their relationship. He looked a lot like Elvis Presley when he acted on The Big Valley and his nickname was “Blonde Elvis”.