Dodie Heath

            On Tuesday I began posting the lyrics, chords and my translation of “Di doo dah” by Serge Gainsbourg on my blog.

            My hip was bothering me all day. I have an exercise in my afternoon routine in which I start on my hands and knees. I then lift one knee to bring it forward as much as possible, followed by stretching the leg back and up as far as I can. I recently added ankle weights to this exercise but I suspect that it’s been making my hip sore and so today I left out the weights.

            I took a bike ride to Ossington and Dundas, south to Queen and then home.

            I got caught up on my journal.

            I had a potato, steamed broccoli, two drumsticks and some gravy for dinner while watching The Untouchables.

            This story was about a suave bank robber named Ace Banner. It begins with him entering the office of the bank manager and casually telling him that he is going to rob his bank. He then presents the manager with knowledge that he has about the manager himself having been robbing the bank bit by bit for years. Ace tells him that he will steal $250,000 but he can report $450,000 thereby covering what he had previously skimmed. The manager gives Ace the layout of the bank. Ace’s men are always the best in the business and the robbery goes like clockwork. Another characteristic of the heist is that it is done silently. Ace directs every manoeuvre with finger snaps and hand gestures. But when one of the men gets distracted by the bank secretary another man shouts “Matty!" to get his mind back on the job. The secretary is able to later recognize a mugshot of Matty and he is picked up. The feds begin to suspect that the manager is the inside man but Ace’s most trusted man, Jamie the knife takes care of him. Ace decides to go out of the business. He keeps $60,000 and leaves the rest with Jamie to hold until he needs more. Ace is living a life of leisure and at a casino he meets an aggressive woman named Chicky Purcell. She asks him to marry her within minutes of meeting and he says, “Why not?” Because of Chicky, Ace soon runs out of money and sends for more from Jamie. But the feds have been watching him. They follow him, confiscate the money and arrest him. When Ace runs out of money Chicky leaves him. He is forced to plan another job and picks the biggest bank in Petroleum City on its biggest payday. The feds second guess him and move in during the robbery.

            Chicky was played by Dodie Heath, who made appearances in films and TV shows from the 50s to the 70s. She was engaged to John Ringling North of Ringling Brothers Circus in 1955 and there are photos of them together in 1958 but it doesn’t look like they ever got married.