Albert Paulsen

            On Monday morning I finally memorized the tenth verse of “Ballade de la chnoufe” (Ballad of the Snuff) by Boris Vian. 

            I continued trying to memorize Zizi Jeanmaire’s performance of “Les millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg. I’ve memorized the song part, the first monologue, and the last monologue but pulling them all together is just out of my mind’s reach. There’s a good chance I’ll have the whole thing squeezed into my head tomorrow. 

            I weighed 89.25 kilos before breakfast. 

            I played my Martin acoustic during song practice and it went out of tune about half the time.

            Around midday I called 311 to inform the city that I have the bike post ring that got knocked off the post by a snow plow in front of my place. Yvonne was very nice and relaxed so I assume she works from home. She said someone will probably come to repair the ring in five days but I think the post will still be buried in five days. The temperature is going to stay low, there is no rain scheduled and there’s even more snow coming. 

            In the afternoon I sort of took a bike ride just get a feel for the conditions and to get outdoors. I only rode a few meters up O’Hara before slipping so I just turned and went home. I was out of and back in my door in about five minutes. 

            I weighed 89.8 kilos at 17:30. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 18:14. 

            I recorded from cassette tape through audio interface to Audacity and then extracted to my hard drive tape 2, side 2 (the finale) of my third 20,000 Poets Under the League slam, which was hosted by Mark Critoph. Now I have digitized slams 1, 3 and 4. I have another cassette that is marked “Part 2” and I assume that ‘s my second 20,000 Poets Under the League slam. I can’t find any tape that says part 1. 

            I edited my Photos folder and deleted several images while putting many more in sub-folders. I’m up to the middle of the pictures with titles that start with the letter “M”.

            I had the good parts of two small potatoes with gravy and a slice of roast pork with the last of my peach chutney while watching the series premier of Combat. I remember watching this show when I was a kid but don’t remember any of the stories. 

            The first episode begins in France on the Vire River in 1944. A US squadron approaches what looks like a mill. They are looking for a big gun that the German’s are using. They enter and while exploring, a boobie trap explodes severely wounding Sgt. McGraw and killing all his men. He is able to radio for help and so Sgt. Saunders and his men come. Sgt McGraw dies just after they reach him. A few minutes later a German soldier is found hiding down a trap door. He claims to be a deserter. The asshole Kirby wants to kill him because he thinks he set the booby trap and Caje agrees. 

           The young medic Doc is given the task of guarding Carl, who tells him he used to be an entertainer. He was a magician and a singer in a carnival. He starts singing “Show Me the Way to Go Home”. 

            Kirby finds some apples and asks Carl if he wants one. He throws him a rotten one and tries to force him to eat it. 

            From the upper floor of the mill they have a view of the surrounding area and when the big gun begins to fire they can see it and send its coordinates back to their unit which is able to take it out with mortar fire. 

            Doc tumbles down the stairs and his gun goes flying. As he is lying there Carl picks it up, walks toward him and gives it back to him. 

            A German patrol comes through the woods towards the mill. Saunders makes Carl go out and tell them that he is setting the mines in the mill and that everything is alright there. Of course he says it in German and so the US soldiers don’t know what he’s saying. The German soldiers leave. Later a German tank approaches the mill. Saunders has the men escape one by one through the trap door which leads to the river. The tank fires at the men as they jump in the river. The bullets seem to be the same proximity for each man. It is nighttime but one would think the gunman would be able to zero in and hit one of them. Caje is the last one and he looks like he is going to shoot Carl. Carl thinks he is too and covers his face in fear. We see Saunders waiting outside the tunnel and hear a gunshot before Caje emerges alone. He says he thinks the Germans got Carl. 

            They make it back to their unit. Later Saunders confronts Caje who tells him he didn’t kill Carl. He fired his gun but couldn’t kill him. He didn’t think he had the right to play god with someone else’s life. 

            Carl was played by Albert Paulsen, who was from Ecuador but served in the US army during WWII. He graduated from the Neighbourhood Playhouse. He made his TV debut in The Lux Video Theatre in 1951. He won an Emmy award in 1964 for his performance in A Day in the Life of Ivan Desinovich. He co-starred in the film The Next Man. He played Anthony Korf in the drama series Stop Susan Williams in 1979. He played General Yodel on Galactica 1980.