Susan Stephen

            On Tuesday morning I searched for more versions of the chords to “Bourrée de complexes" (Buried in Complexes) by Boris Vian. Although a few people had posted chords, they were all the same as the set I’d found on Monday.

            I continued to place the chords to “Variations sur Marilou” by Serge Gainsbourg. I completed the first verse and began the second.

            Around midday I started cleaning some items on one of the shelves at the south west corner of my bedroom. I cleaned some paint brushes and markers but I didn’t get around to washing the actual shelf.

            For lunch I made chili with kidney beans, tomato sauce and chili paste and had it with potato chips.

            In the afternoon I did my exercises while listening to Amos and Andy. They seem to rehash old stories more and more often in the 1950s. In this episode Theodore Thomas, an old boyfriend of Sapphire looks her up. Since he has money and might send some their way the Kingfish doesn’t mind that Sapphire used to be involved with him. Theodore gives both Kingfish and Andy jobs as travelling salesmen in his company. But while Kingfish is on the road he picks up a Harlem paper and sees a picture of Theodore with Sapphire and her mother in the society column with a blurb about an engagement. Kingfish thinks that Theodore has used this travelling job he’s given him to take Sapphire away from him. He gets Theodore thrown in jail for wife stealing but Sapphire tells him that it was her mother that Theodore wanted to marry and they would have been all set for life but now Kingfish has ruined it.

            I took a bike ride to Bloor and Yonge, south to Queen and then home.

            I had a potato, sautéed yellow pepper and onions and a pork chop for dinner while watching The Adventures of Robin Hood.

            In the first story a barmaid named Alma is obsessed with Robin Hood while Tom the thatcher is in love with her. As Alma has never met Robin, Tom tells her that he is secretly the outlaw hero. To prove it he goes to Sherwood Forest, robs Lady Marian of her necklace and gives it to Alma. As Tom had identified himself to Marian as Robin Hood she immediately goes to tell Robin. Robin suspects that it is Tom who pretended to be him and so he goes to the tavern as a minstrel. He reveals his true identity to Tom but tells him to continue to pretend to be Robin Hood. They take Alma to Sherwood but before she arrives the men remove all of the comforts and make their headquarters look rough and uncomfortable. Little John behaves as if he’s been driven insane by his life as an outlaw and Derwent is "killed" during target practice. Alma is put to work doing the same kinds of chores she had to do at the tavern. That night there is a thunder storm and Alma runs out into it. Tom goes after her, finds her and builds a shelter from the storm. She says she wishes he were not Robin Hood but just Tom the Thatcher and she is cured of her romantic notions.

            Alma was played by Susan Stephen, who worked in B-films in the 1950s until she married Nicolas Roeg, who directed Performance and The Man Who Fell to Earth. 

            In the second story Robin’s friend Sir Alan Beaumont returns from the Holy Land. He, Robin, Sir Hugh, Sir Charles and Sir Paul had fought in the siege of Acre together and because these five knights were the ones that broke through to allow the capture of the city, King Richard gave the five of them the Seal of Acre, which he split into five pieces. They made a pact that on the fifth anniversary of the siege they would meet at Beaumont’s castle and put the fragments together again. That anniversary is almost upon them. Beaumont leaves for his estate but Robin tells him that he had also hoped to settle on his own property but the current situation in England would not allow that to happen. Sir Alan discovers that his home has been taken over by a Norman lord. He goes to complain to the sheriff of Nottingham but the sheriff points out that he was gone for four years and the law only allows a castle to be without a lord for one year. Desperate to have his property back Beaumont makes a deal with the sheriff. He says that Robin will be coming to his castle on a certain date and so Beaumont will deliver Robin to him if he lets him have his estate back. The sheriff agrees and when Robin arrives he is captured, but just before being taken away he puts his piece of the seal in the goblet of wine that Alan had served him. The sheriff wants to take no chances and so he orders Robin to be taken to the nearest tree and hanged. Meanwhile Sir Hugh, Sir Charles and Sir Paul arrive. They see the hanging about to take place but do not realize that it’s Robin. Alan invites them inside telling them that Robin did not come and they unite their four pieces. But one of them decides to drink from the goblet that Robin left and finds the missing piece. They realize that the man about to be hanged is Robin. Alan tries to stop them but is killed. They rescue Robin and the sheriff is captured. Robin blindfolds the sheriff and goes through the pretence of preparing to hang him but instead send him off on his horse bound and blind. Robin invites them to have their reunion in Sherwood.