Paula Stewart

            On Friday morning I continued memorizing the ninth verse of “Ballade de la chnoufe” (Ballad of the Snuff) by Boris Vian. 

            I established the last five lines of the first monologue in Zizi Jeanmaire’s performance of “Les millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg and started memorizing them. 

            I weighed 87.9 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I’ve been in the morning since December 24. 

            I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio during song practice for the first of two sessions and it went out of tune a lot. It also sounded tinny, I think because of low action. 

            Around midday I finished touching up the edges of the bathroom walls where they meet the trim above the wall tiles and the door frame. On Tuesday I’ll buy the “Blue Bliss” colour paint for the shelves and the door and maybe start painting on Wednesday.

            I weighed 88.9 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I tried to take a bike ride but only made it a few meters on O’Hara before slipping and sliding and so I just went home. Most of my exercise this evening was putting on and taking off my layers. 

            I weighed 88.65 kilos at 17:15. The same as on the evening of December 10. 

            I recorded from cassette through audio interface to Audacity and then saved to my hard drive side one of the beginning of my 20,000 Poets Under the League slam that was hosted by Sahara Spracklin. 

            I compared the video of my song practice performance of “When They Put Me in That Hole” on October 10, 2024 to that of September 18 of the same year. I screwed up the lyrics on September 18 and so October 10 is the winner. I won’t be uploading a recording of this song or “Le moribond” from this project to YouTube because I do it much better now than then. I won’t even bother to archive any of the videos. 

            I reviewed the videos of my song practice performances of “In the Port of Amsterdam” and “Amsterdam” from September 4, 2024 to October 12 of the same year. I played “In the Port of Amsterdam” on my Martin Road Series on September 4, 6, 28, and October 12. On September 4 it was sounding pretty good before the camera battery charge ran out. On September 6, 28, and October 12 the final takes weren’t bad. All the rest of the takes were either incomplete or not video recorded because of the camera battery charge running out. 

            I roasted a pork loin half and had a slice with a potato and gravy while watching season 2, episode 21 of Car 54 Where Are You? 

            Toody comes home from work to find that Lucille has impulsively spent $400 ($4,000 in today’s money) of their savings on a piano. There isn’t a dime left in their account. He’s surprisingly understanding and they agree to take in a boarder to get their money back. The next day Lucille is about to close the deal with the perfect tenant when Toody walks in and recognizes the woman as Rhoda Nelson, an old girlfriend. She remembers him as “Lover lips Toody”. She comments to Lucille that he must keep her up all night with his dancing and her ear must be black and blue from him nibbling on it. Lucille suddenly tells her that the room has been spoken for and puts her out the door. Then a handsome young man arrives to look at the room and Toody closes the door on him. 

            The third potential boarder is wearing a priest’s collar and they both welcome Reverand Peterson immediately. But when he calls his “sister” in Chicago it’s really his girlfriend Bubbles and we learn that Archie the Actor is a notorious counterfeiter with a suitcase full of phony bills. He pays $100 in counterfeit for the month then Toody pays his butcher bill and gives Muldoon the $10 he owes him with which he buys some bowling shoes. At work an FBI agent talks with the men about tracking down Archie the Artist of whom there is no picture. The money that Toody and Muldoon spent has turned up as counterfeit but nobody suspects that they passed it because they’re cops. They keep looking for other people that were in the store like old ladies with feathers in their hats, Boy Scouts, and men with beards. Toody gives Captain Block the $15 he owes him and Block gets change from the FBI agent. 

           Toody and friends have their regular poker game and “the reverend” joins in, so more of the money is distributed. Meanwhile Archie doesn’t realize he’s been playing cards with cops. When Archie hears from the radio that the police are closing in he packs and tries to leave by way of the fire escape but there is no fire escape and so he falls and breaks his leg. Now he can’t leave for a month. He’s looked in Toody’s closet and now knows he’s a cop. But Bubbes says Toody and his friends might be a gang that uses police uniforms. Then Toody’s colleagues arrive in plain clothes to plan the captain’s birthday party that involves sneaking into a building and wearing uniforms. Archie now thinks Bubbles is right and he tells Toody he wants in. They sneak into the police station and when Block arrives they shout “Surprise!” By this time a picture of Archie has already been given to block and he arrests Archie, saying it’s the best birthday present he’s ever had. 

            Rhoda was played by Paula Stewart, who after university joined the national touring company of Brigadoon. She debuted on Broadway as an understudy in Seventeen. In 1953 she married Burt Bacharach, who was her accompanist and arranger for her nightclub act. They divorced five years later. She performed in over 35 Broadway musicals and plays. She married Jack Carter in 1961 and they performed together in nightclubs as well as for the USO. They divorced in 1970. She made her film debut in Diary of a Bachelor in 1964 and only made two other films. She produced the movie Dinah East in 1970. She had a pilot’s license from the age of 17. She was a real estate investor and a renowned interior decorator. She bred Yorkies and had her own radio show in which she would feature celebrities.