Hans Conried

            On Monday morning I finished looking for the chords to "De velours et de soie" (The Silk and the Velvet) by Boris Vian. There were no more than the two sets I found. I worked out the first chord which is different from either of them to my ear. 

            I finished memorizing "Harley David son of a bitch" by Serge Gainsbourg. I looked for the chords but no one had posted them so I worked them out for the intro and for the first verse. It's pretty simple so I might have the whole song chorded tomorrow. 

            I weighed 85.7 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I've been in the morning since January 2. 

            I worked over an hour on my essay. 

            I weighed 85.7 kilos before lunch. That's the heaviest I've been at that time this year and it's a half a kilo heavier than on this date a year ago. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Bloor and Bathurst. 

            I weighed 84.8 kilos at 17:00. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 17:51. 

            I worked for at least two hours on my essay: 

            Victor the doll or automaton decides to improve upon his own design and build an improved, invulnerable and beautiful Frankenstein doll (42). Victor says, "I had selected his features as beautiful" (58). He has described the three women who are considered part of the Frankenstein family, Caroline Beaufort, Elizabeth Lavenza, and Justine Moritz as beautiful (37, 79, 83). The only male that Victor calls beautiful is his friend Henry Clerval, whose form was "divinely wrought and beaming with beauty" (162). But although Elizabeth and Justine are no more genetically connected to Victor than Henry, they are both referred to as "cousins" in relation to the Frankenstein family, while Henry is never called a brother (65, 85). Victor's creation however, being of Victor's design, is Victor's child and is therefore a Frankenstein and a legitimate member of that society. In his attempt to make a creature that is beautiful he is trying to bring into the family its first beautiful male Frankenstein. But Victor not only fails to make his creation aesthetically beautiful, but he renders him ugly. Not being beautiful is normal for a male Frankenstein, but ugliness is unacceptable. So the creature is effectively thrown away, thereby making it a monster and criminal (39, 42). In discarding his toy Victor frees it from the Frankenstein legacy and any loyalty it might have had towards it. 

            Tomorrow is my last day of writing this paper since it has to be handed in at midnight. Hopefully I'll have it done before evening so I can relax before suppertime. 

            I cut up a whole chicken and roasted the parts in the oven. I had a leg with a potato and the rest of the sauce I made on Saturday. I ate while watching season 6, episode 25 of The Beverly Hillbillies.

            Jethro's latest ambition is to play the violin ever since Jane took him to a Sebastian Stromboli concert. Jed agrees to pay for Jethro's lessons but wants Stromboli to be the teacher. Jane says he gets $10,000 for a concert. Jed tells her to offer him $10,000 and if he refuses keep upping the price until he breaks down. Jane and Drysdale go to ask Stromboli and Jane is shocked that he breaks down at $20,000. He explains that he has to pay alimony for six ex-wives. Jane later sees that she made a mistake in encouraging Jed to pay for Jethro's lessons, when she learns that Jethro was asleep for the entire concert she had taken him to. He only woke up at the end when he saw all the girls bringing Stromboli flowers and kissing him. Jethro then only wants to be a violinist so he can meet girls. When Stromboli comes to give lessons Jethro falls asleep. When Jed and Granny hear him play they think he's a horrible fiddler player because one can't dance to anything he plays. Jed feels sorry for the man and so he hires a fiddle player to teach Stromboli how to play. When the Clampetts' old friend Fiddlin Sam Dingle arrives, Sromboli is at first insulted. Sam plays Turkey in the Straw and tells Stromboli that he makes $2 million a year playing fiddle. Suddenly Stromboli puts on a southern accent and asks, "How's that go agin?" 

            Stromboli was played by Hans Conried, who studied acting at Columbia University. His first work was on the radio as a member of Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre Company. He then played Professor Kropotkin on My Friend Irma and various roles on the Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy Show. He was in the original cast of Cole Porter's 1953 hit Broadway musical "Can Can" and stayed with the show for a year. He was a popular guest on talk shows and game shows throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He was the voice of both Captain Hook and Mr. Darling in Disney's 1953 Peter Pan. He was also the voice of Snidely Whiplash in the Dudley Doright cartoons, and he played Uncle Tonoose on The Danny Thomas Show. He played Thimblerig on Davy Crocket King of the Wild Frontier. He played George's psychiatrist on the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. 

            

            It's now been thirty-eight days since I've seen a bedbug.