Carol Marsh

            On Friday morning I adjusted my translation of “Ah! Si javais un franc cinquante” (Oh! If I Had A Dollar Fifty) by Boris Vian. I had misunderstood the monetary value difference between a franc and a sous, but once I figured out that a franc was like a dollar and a sous like a penny I understood the punch line. The money keeps increasing by dollars but he ends up with a few cents.

            I finished working out the chords for “La ballade de Johnny Jane" by Serge Gainsbourg and ran through the song in French and English.

            Around midday I moved the filing cabinet away from the east end of the radiator in the kitchen and washed and scrubbed a little more than half the area it occupies. I wanted to finish the whole space but I didn’t have time and I also wanted to move the cabinet to another area but to do that I’d have to shift the credenza to the right and to do that I’d have to remove at least half the comic books that I store there.

            For lunch I had a lettuce and sausage salad with mayonnaise and ketchup dressing.

            In the afternoon I did my exercises while listening to Amos and Andy. This was another rehashed story that has popped up with slight variations for years. Andy gets engaged to a woman whose father is going to pay $6000 for their honeymoon cottage. But another couple has rented the cottage before they have a chance. Andy and Kingfish pose as railroad officials and go to inform the husband that a train line is being built right through the cottage. The other couple decide to not take the place. Meanwhile however Amos discovers Andy’s old marriage licence from twenty five years ago and tells him that he can't get married unless the other marriage is annulled. Andy's lawyer tells him that if he posts notices in the New York and Georgia  papers to ask his wife to get in touch with him. If she doesn't respond in twenty days he can declare her legally dead. Andy says that if that doesn’t work he'll declare himself legally dead. Andy’s ex-wife does not respond and so the wedding begins. But when the minister asks if anyone objects to the union a woman speaks up and says she is Andy’s wife. The bride breaks off the wedding and leaves. Later Andy finds out that the woman that spoke up was not his ex-wife but the wife of the man he’d tricked out of the honeymoon cottage.

            I took a bike ride. It’s gotten so I can tell if someone ahead of me is riding a rented bike before I see the bike. They tend to ride in a very green manner.

            I had been worried that the guy who lives in the tent on the sidewalk at Queen and Bay had been forced out. But when I passed this time, although all of his stuff was still strewn around the tent, he was sleeping inside. He sure has accumulated a lot of junk and he has four potted plants now.

            I had a squash, two chicken drumsticks and some gravy for dinner while watching the last two of the episodes of The Adventures of Sir Lancelot. I had already seen the last two episodes of the series a few days ago because whomever uploaded the torrent had gotten them mixed up. But except for the first few episodes there was nothing important in terms of order for most of the stories and the series end wasn’t anything special.

            In the first story Lancelot, Merlin and King Arthur go to Castle Lamorack. Sir Egbert presents his daughter Amora to Lancelot but ignores his younger less confident daughter Sibyl, who is constantly sniffling. Suddenly a rock is thrown through the family’s prize stained glass window and tied to it is a note that reads, "Pay 1000 gold nobles ransom or your daughter Sibyl will not live out this day." Lancelot volunteers to guard Sibyl but later as he sits outside her room there is the sound of breaking glass and Sibyl’s scream. Sibyl’s Uncle Merlin comes and says that he usually finds women's screams and shattering glass quite restful but today it takes him adversely. Sibyl shows them another rock with a note attached saying that the person has changed his mind and wants Sibyl instead of the money.  Merlin asks Sibyl to write something and observes that he handwriting is the same as that of the threatening not. Lancelot observes that the glass from the broken window is not inside Sibyl’s room where it would be if the rock had been thrown from outside. Sibyl is confronted about it and admits her deception. When Lancelot tells her father that Sibyl engineered the whole thing because she is unhappy, Sir Egbert goes to her room to confront his daughter. Her room is empty and there is another note in a different handwriting saying that 1000 gold nobles must be delivered to a certain cave in exchange for Sibyl’s life. Lancelot finds signs of a struggle outside Sibyl's window that could not have been faked by her. Lancelot and King Arthur go to the cave to deliver the money and capture Egbert’s nephew Gault, who is armed with a crossbow. They find Sibyl tied up and gagged. She is sniffling as usual and Lancelot offers her his handkerchief. She says she never blows her nose because Amora told her when she was a child that if one does that one’s soul will leave one’s body. Later there is a party where as usual Amora is surrounded by all the young men but then Sibyl enters the room and she is now wearing a beautiful dress with her hair coiffed and all the men turn from Amora and go to her.

            Sibyl was played by Carol Marsh, who won a scholarship to the Academy of Music’s drama section. She was later selected from 3,000 applicants to star in “Brighton Rock”. She later starred in the 1949 French “Alice in Wonderland”, 1949’s “Helter Skelter”, the 1951 adaptation of “Scrooge” and the first Hammer “Dracula”.  She was also in over a hundred BBC radio plays.

            In the second story one of the Knights of the Round Table has died and so he must be replaced. A competition is announced throughout the kingdom and many young men of noble birth come to vie for the privilege. A young pauper named Balin also comes to the gate but the guard tries to keep him out because he does not think he is knight material. The guard tries several times to physically remove Balin but is easily thrown every time. Lancelot intervenes and Balin is allowed to enter the tournament. Also entering the competition is Rupert, the son of Arthur’s sister Morgana le Fey. She has been banished from the kingdom for trying to kill Arthur but the king has no quarrel with Rupert. He says that if Rupert becomes a knight of Camelot he may allow her to return to court. At the beginning of the final phase of the competition there are six contestants remaining, including Balin and Rupert. When Arthur asks if anyone objects to any of the young men, Morgana speaks up and says that Balin has not proven his noble credentials. He says that he is the son of the squire of Sir Pelle but he has no evidence. Merlin sends a note by carrier pigeon to Sir Pelle asking for Balin’s credentials but meanwhile he is disqualified. However when the pigeon returns with confirmation of Balin’s pedigree and Lancelot says he will sponsor the young man, the king allows him back in the tournament. In the end it is a tie between Balin and Rupert. Morgana suggests a fight with real swords until one man yields and Arthur agrees. From a secret room adjacent to Morgana’s Merlin hears her plotting with her man Sir Julian for him to blind Balin with a mirror during their battle. Merlin asks Arthur to delay the competition by fifteen minutes. In the beginning Balin is indeed blinded by the mirror but manages to remain in the battle. Suddenly, as Merlin knew, there is a solar eclipse and in the darkness Balin defeats Rupert. Lancelot fights and wins against Sir Julian and Morgana is again banished.

            Morgana was played by Alison Leggatt who starred in “This Happy Breed”, “The Seven Percent Solution” and “Goodbye Mister Chips”. She was best known for her work in the plays of John Osborne and Harold Pinter.

            This series had its moments but it had a much lower budget than The Adventures of Robin Hood and so the sets and the scripts weren’t as good. The beginning hinted that the writers were going to deal with the romance between Lancelot and Guenevere but they seemed to move away from that later and make it more of a kid’s show.