Yvette Vickers

            The sky was dark well after sunrise on Wednesday morning. It rained a bit but it was a gentle rain and nothing like the torrents from the night before.

            It rained around the time I would normally go for a bike ride and so I stayed home. I only stepped out to buy a can of Creemore. As I was walking in a guy in his 20s who was engaged in eating some kind of curried dish with rice out of a Styrofoam container, stepped in front of me. When I was standing in line he stepped in front of me again and went to the front of the other line-up to ask the next guy in line if he could go ahead of him. The man at the front said he was in a rush because he had to meet someone and so the guy with the food calmly stepped in behind him, in front of the other people in line, who said nothing. As he was buying his 6-pack he continued to eat his rice as if that was the most important thing at the time and handed the cashier a $10, immediately asking for a bag. The cashier said I can’t get you a bag and make your change at the same time. She removed the beer cans from their connected plastic rings for him and put them one by one in a bag. She gave him a dirty look as he walked away while still hunching over his meal.

            I ate blue corn chips for dinner with salsa and refried beans and a beer. The beans were a bit heavy and I felt bloated afterwards. Meat is so much easier on the body.

            I watched two episodes of Mike Hammer.

            In the first story a washed out and somewhat brain damaged former boxing champion named Kid Dakota visits the restaurant that he used to own with his ex-wife Julie, which is now owned by Julie and her second husband Mitch. The Kid has been hearing rumours that Mitch is abusing Julie. He gets into a fight with Mitch but Hammer breaks it up before the Kid does too much damage. Later Mitch turns up dead and the police are looking for the Kid but Hammer thinks he's innocent. It turns out that Julie has been feeding the rumours to the Kid through a third party named Doc Badger in hopes that the Kid would kill Mitch so she could take over the restaurant alone. When the Kid doesn’t do as she’d planned she arranges for Mitch to be beaten to death and pins it on the Kid.

            Julie was played by Mary LaRoche, who did quite a bit of work in Broadway musicals. She played the mother of Ann Margret’s character in Bye Bye Birdie.
            In the second story a businessman from out of town named Robert is lured by an attractive young woman named Ellen to a bench in Central Park where he is mugged of his money and an important briefcase by her boyfriend Brownie and their partner, Hill. Robert goes to Hammer to ask him to try and get the briefcase back. Hammer takes Robert to the police files and manages to find a one on Ellen with a picture that Robert recognizes. She’s already spent a short time in prison and her sister Myra is trying to help her go straight. Hammer confronts Ellen and she promises to give him the briefcase. But instead she contacts Robert and sells it to him for $1000. She tries to leave town with the money but her partners catch up to her as she’s waiting at the bus station and she’s stabbed to death. The thugs go after Robert and Hammer stops them.

            Ellen was played by Yvette Vickers who was a supporting actor in a lot of horror films like The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. She was the July 1959 Playmate of the Month and her shoot was photographed by Russ Meyer. She didn’t get much work after posing for men’s magazines.

            Myra was played by Irene Vernon who played Louise Tate on Bewitched.