Ruta Lee

            On Monday after midnight before going to bed I did a thorough check of the baseboards and walls around my mattress and was happy to not find any bedbugs. I hadn't seen any since early Saturday morning but the pattern since early July has been that I see them, the exterminator comes, treats the place and then two weeks later I see some again. I hope that cycle will end after pest control comes on Tuesday. 

            I ran through "La java des chaussettes à clous" (The Two Step of the Hobnail Boots) by Boris Vian in French and then started reworking my translation. 

            I memorized the second verse of "Bébé Polaroid" by Serge Gainsbourg and reworked my translation. 

            I weighed 89.2 kilos before breakfast. 

            In the late morning I called Orkin to get a confirmation that a pest control technician would be coming for a follow up on Tuesday. I was on hold for at least five minutes. The perky operator said they'll be coming between 9:00 and 13:00. I decided that I'd better start preparing today so it would be less of a panic tomorrow morning. I moved all my guitars out of the bedroom as well as the two beside the couch and put them in the kitchen. I emptied the drawers of my desk and put the contents on the kitchen table. I took all the books and disks from the shelf in the northwest corner of the living room and lined them up in order in the kitchen. I put the contents of the two drawers under the couch in two garbage bags and put those in the bathtub. I won't bother washing all that stuff tomorrow since I haven't seen any bedbugs within a meter of the living room since July 27. I moved my cam and microphone and the cords from the desk to the kitchen table. So now all I have to do on Tuesday is put my bedding in a garbage bag, take down the bedroom curtains and move the mattress, my desk, the shelf and the couch out from the walls. If I have time I'll also sweep the floors, vacuum the futon and maybe mop the floors. 

            I weighed 89.4 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride. On the Bloor bike lane I called out to a woman that I was passing her but I guess her music was up too loud because she didn't seem to notice. Finally I just passed her on Bloor Street. At Brunswick a roller blader who was heading east started singing opera while gesturing dramatically with his arms and hands. He was pretty good. I rode to Yonge and Bloor. I weighed 89.1 kilos when I got home.

            I worked on my poem series "My Blood In A Bug." 

            In the video that I'm making for my song "Instructions For Electroshock Therapy" I synchronized the concert video of the third time I sing "shock therapy" with the studio audio recording. In the next line when I sing, "and if you think someone's insane" it stays in synch pretty much up until "insane" so now I need another video clip to insert at that point. After searching for a while for "insanity in old movies" I finally came across the Japanese silent masterpiece "A Page of Madness" from 1926. I could pretty much use any few seconds from the whole two hours of that movie and it would fit into my video. I found the film on Pirate Bay and started downloading it. I should be able to cut a clip from it tomorrow.

            I finished making the graffiti clear on one of the bricks in my "Anti Gravity's Rainbow" photo and then I started doing the same for the next brick over where the graffiti continues. 

            I had a potato with gravy and two chicken drumsticks while watching the last two episodes of season one of "Gomer Pyle USMC." 

            In the first story the colonel asks Gomer to once again take his daughter Jane to the Enlisted Men's Dance and he's happy to do it. But at the same time Gomer's favourite movie star Gloria Morgan is visiting the base. When she comes to Carter's platoon's bunkhouse and sees all the pictures of her on the inside of Gomer's locker she is flattered. Gomer also impresses her with how much he knows about her life. Gloria is to be the guest of honour at the dance and she decides that she wants Gomer to be her escort. He is so excited that he forgets about Jane and says he'd be honoured to take her. So Gomer tries to get away with taking both women to the dance. He picks up Gloria at 20:00 and once she's at the dance he leaves her to pick up Jane. He tries to spend time with each of them without the other knowing but he ends up making both of them uncomfortable by keeping on dashing away. Finally when he sees Jane leaving he goes after her and asks her to wait, then he brings Gloria out and explains the whole story to both of them. The result is that they both give him a kiss on the cheek and then return to the dance with him. They have a great time dancing with Gomer and Jane says that he should always take two girls to dances so that one of them can rest while the other tries to keep up with him on the dance floor. 

            Gloria Morgan was played by Ruta Lee, who was born in Montreal but moved to the US with her parents when she was almost 13. Her first screen appearances were two guest spots on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. She co-starred in "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers." She was a frequent guest on several game shows such as Hollywood Squares and Match Game and a co-host of High Rollers.  She is also remembered for the Twilight Zone episode, “A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain”. She appeared on Roseanne as the girlfriend of Bev Harris. She co-starred with Jerry Lewis in "Funny Bones". She is the chairman of the Thalians, a celebrity run organization for the treatment of mental health. 

            I notice in the credits that there is a script coordinator for the show named Gloria Morgan. I wonder if the writers used her name as a tip of the hat. 

            Jane was again played by Suzanne Benoit. 

            In the second story Carter's platoon are given military police duty. Carter gives Gomer the quietest and most boring street to patrol so he won't screw things up. But he runs into two soldiers who take advantage of his naivity by telling him he's got his armband on upside down, should wear his gun belt down over his thighs and should strap his hat under his chin. Carter takes him off that street and puts him guarding the gate of the base. No one is to get by without a pass and if they refuse he should arrest them. An important official from Washington tries to get in without a card but Gomer refuses him entry. When he tries to sneak through Gomer arrests him and puts him in a cell. Later whwen Gomer is called to the colonel's office Carter thinks he's done for but the colonel tells him he followed regulations, carried out orders and conducted himself in a military manner. The official is pissed off but the colonel tells him to report to Washington how tight the security at Camp Henderson is.