George Tobias

            On Monday morning I memorized the first verse of “Hey Mister Zippo” by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I played my Kramer electric guitar during song practice for the first of four sessions. 

            I weighed 87.7 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since April 18. 

            Around midday I brought the stepladder down from the landing between the second and third floors and started sanding my bathroom ceiling. It’s lucky I acquired all those masks from the food bank and from clinics during the pandemic. I wore sunglasses to keep the dust out of my eyes. I only got a quarter of the ceiling done. This project is probably going to take all summer. Once I’ve sanded the whole bathroom I’ll have to plaster and then sand again, then prime and then paint with the two or three colours that I have in mind. 

            I weighed 87.3 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and stopped at Staples to look at cameras. But I found out they stopped selling cameras in 2018. I bought my Kodak Easy Share C-180 there in 2009 and it’s still working pretty good but one has always had to hold the button down while shooting video and so it’s hard to shoot videos of oneself and impossible to shoot them while playing guitar. I went to Worst Buy where they do have cameras but of course no ready staff to guide one through them. They had three Nikons that I found interesting ranging from $900 to $1400 with 4Kvideo. I think the Nikon Z50s also have microphones comparable with the Coolpix that I have. When I got home I found that Aden Cameras is still on Yonge at Gerrard, so I’ll check it out another day. There is also Henrys, another place near there, and Vistek further east where I bought my last Nikon thirty years ago.

            I weighed 86.8 kilos at 18:30. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:45. 

            In the Movie Maker project for the song “Joanna Dancing (Electric) I synchronized the Audacity audio with the video but I still need to isolate that song from the rest of the songs. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a pork chop while watching season 1, episodes 27 and 28 of Bewitched. 

            In the first story all of the witches are flying to Florida for a conclave but Clara has to be left behind as her magic isn’t what it used to be. Bertha suggests that Samantha have Clara stay with her and show her how to manage without witchcraft. Clara insists that Samantha and Darrin don’t treat her like a guest and so they leave her alone while they go to the theatre. But Clara tries to do the dishes and her suds-making spell floods the house. The next night they invite Clara to go out with them and the Caldwells. But when they get to the Caldwells they learn that Beatrice Caldwell can’t get a babysitter for her son Jimmy. Clara volunteers and she and Jimmy hit it off famously, especially after Clara shows Jimmy some simple magic. The result is that Clara becomes an extremely popular baby sitter. But she is very open with the children about the fact that she is a witch and she performs magic for them. But Agnes Bain is one mother who doesn’t think it’s appropriate for Clara to tell children she is a witch and she complains to the authorities. Clara is called before a judge who asks her to demonstrate her magic. When she tries to pull a rabbit out of her handbag she first pulls out a caged bird, then a toy poodle, and then one can hear a lion’s roar inside her bag. The judge is delighted and asks her to babysit his seven year old. 

            In the second story Gladys Kravitz sees the garage door open automatically for Samantha, and so to keep her from suspecting that Samantha is a witch Darrin is forced to buy an automatic garage door opener. But once it is installed the door begins to open and close by itself and it is driving Samantha to distraction. The fact is that the door signal has gotten accidentally tuned to the frequency of the radios from overhead planes but neither Samantha nor Darrin know that. Darrin thinks that Samantha is using witchcraft on the door and she is offended that he thinks she is lying. She promises that under no circumstances will she use witchcraft. They are on their way out on a date and about to back the car out of the garage when a plane flies overhead and the door closes. Now even the button on the car won’t open it. Darrin asks Samantha to use magic so they can get out but she refuses. Another plane flies over and it opens so Darrin thinks that Samantha has done what he has told her to do. She is offended again and so she uses magic to close the door again. He finally believes her and they make up.

            Abner Kravitz was played by George Tobias, whose parents were actors in the Yiddish theatre but discouraged him from acting. He started acting at the age of 15 and kept his jobs a secret from his parents. He made his Broadway debut in What Price Glory? He performed in local New York theatre and on Broadway until he was in his 30s and then moved to Hollywood. He frequently appeared as a foil for Jimmy Cagney in his movies. He co-starred in the film noir Southside 1-1000. He co-starred in the Canadian TV series Hudson’s Bay. He played Penrose on Adventures in Paradise and Vernon Rutley on The Waltons.