Mabel Albertson

            On Friday morning I memorized the fourth verse of "Arthur, où t'as mis le corps" (Arthur, Where'd You Put The Corpse?) by Boris Vian. Just another chorus and six verses to go. 

            I finished memorizing “Belinda” by Serge Gainsbourg and worked out the chords to the first verse. 

            I weighed 88.2 kilos before breakfast. 

            Since I would soon be out of underwear, in the late morning I had no choice but to do my laundry again. Except for the middle-aged attendant watching Korean TV on her phone, the laundromat was empty when I got there. I had my stuff back home about half an hour before lunch. I weighed 87.7 kilos. 

            I read the short story “The Blues I'm Playing” by Langston Hughes. It's about a rich widow who supports a number of pet artists and then for the first time takes on a young black pianist named Oceola. Although she is already an accomplished classical pianist the woman refines her skills through hiring the best instructors, paying for the best surroundings, and arranging for her to give concerts to the best audiences. But Oceola never lets go of the blues, which is a point of tension. The main problem however seems to be that she is in love with a medical student and planning to marry him and that's what causes the rich woman to withdraw her support. There seems to be a lesbian undercurrent in her feelings for Oceola. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Yonge and Bloor. I only noticed today the absence of the little detours, but I think the covid patios along the Bloor bike lane have been gone since the passes came into effect a couple of weeks ago. I weighed 87.5 kilos when I got home. 

            I worked for about an hour on my Autolycus essay that's due in three days, but my brain got tired again. I've got it down to a theme of the breaching of borders but there's is not yet an argument that would make it an essay. 

            I started reading “The Ballad of the Sad Cafe'. It's a very quirky southern Gothic story about a big woman and a hunchback in a small town and how the town reacts to their relationship. I got to about halfway through and it kept getting weirder as it went along. 

            It occurred to me that all of the literature we've taken in this US literature is from the part of the United States that wanted to separate from the union. So spiritually it could be argued that it's not part of the United States at all. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a chicken leg while watching an episode of Gomer Pyle. In this story, Sergeant Carter's platoon is on manoeuvres and the enemy is another platoon made up of the base office staff, led by Sergeant Hacker. Carter and Hacker wager $50 on which of their teams is going to win. But for some reason, Gomer doesn't know Hacker is the enemy leader and so before they leave Hacker tells Gomer he's doing the cooking for all the manoeuvres and needs to know their camp location. Carter doesn't learn this until Gomer asks Duke when Hacker will be delivering the food. So Carter has to move the camp. Later when they are scouting Gomer and Duke see a camp of tents. Gomer is certain it's Hacker's camp because he can smell lamb stew, which is what Hacker said he'd be cooking the first day. So Carter and his men raid the camp with the intention of capturing Hacker and his men but find out that they've raided a girl scout camp. So Carter dismisses Gomer from the manoeuvres and sends him hiking back to the base. But on the way, Gomer gets captured by Hacker. Gomer however will not disclose any information to Hacker so Hacker arranges for Gomer to escape so they can follow him because he believes he will lead them back to Carter. But Gomer comes across the now relocated Girl Scout camp and goes in for a visit with the leader Mrs Beasterfeldt. While Gomer is having coffee in the leader's tent, Hacker raids the camp. While Hacker is standing there confused by his mistake, Carter's platoon moves in and captures Hacker and his men. Carter wins the $50 but Gomer arranges for all of it it to be used to buy Girl Scout cookies. 

            Mrs. Beasterfeldt was played by Mabel Albertson, who started out in Vaudeville and became a radio star. She was not successful in films until she turned fifty and became typecast as overbearing mothers. She played Jerry Lewis’s mother in “Don't Give Up The Ship”, George Hamilton's mother in “All the Fine Young Cannibals”, and on television, she was the mother of Darren on “Bewitched”, Howard Sprague on “The Andy Griffith Show”, and Dick Preston on “The New Dick Van Dyke Show.”