Erin Murphy

           On Thursday morning I worked out the chords for the second verse of “On fait des rêves” (We Keep Dreaming) by Boris Vian. I’m pretty sure that the third verse repeats the chords for the first and the fourth for the second. After that it’s more of a chant of parts of some lines. 

            I started working out the chords for “Aberdeen et Kowloon” by Serge Gainsbourg. As usual for most of the songs from the Made in China album by his wife Bambou, there is no full audio of this song online. So I have to listen to the extract on Apple Music over and over and determine the chords in bits and pieces for a few days until it all comes together. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the first of two sessions. The action is easier to play now but it goes out of tune a lot, maybe because the strings are new. 

            I weighed 86.9 kilos at 11:20, which is the lightest I’ve been in the morning since May 12. 

            I got my place ready for pest control but Orkin didn’t come in the morning. I heard footsteps on the third floor above me and thought it was Steve from Orkin so I went up there. The door was open and I found the landlord removing more stuff. A lot of Caesar’s things, including his bed are still in his apartment a month after he died. Steve from Orkin didn’t come until 13:30. He said they have a new treatment for bedbugs and it’s no longer the spores. It’s a type of poison again and so I couldn’t stay in my place even in the kitchen like I could last time. 

            I strapped my laundry basket to my bike trailer. I’ve always used it just to hold dirty laundry rather than carry it but it worked great and strapped nicely onto the trailer. I put a large load of clothing in the big bag that came with the trailer inside the basket. I then strapped the plastic milk crate on top of the laundry basket and shoved another smaller bag of laundry in there. I carried another bag of laundry on my right handlebar. Normally I can fit all my washing into one machine but I’d bought a new fitted sheet and a big towel on my birthday, plus I’d gotten a lot of extra clothes dirty while sanding my bathroom ceiling earlier this month. At the laundromat I ran into Betina, one of my former yoga students at PARC. We chatted and I gave her a hug before I left. By the time I was done with my laundry it was 16:00 and too late for a bike ride downtown. So I just had lunch and took a siesta. 

            I weighed 88.3 kilos at 18:00. It’s been well over a year since I’ve been that heavy in the evening. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:09. 

            I started a Movie Maker project for my August 20, 2023 song practice. Then I copied it and renamed it “Kenya (electric)”. I deleted everything leading up to the beginning of that song and left off with the audio a split second behind. I should have them lined up tomorrow and may even have the video published. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song “Angeline” I imported the Greta Garbo silent film Wild Orchids. I copied it to the end of the timeline and then started watching it while eliminating the parts I don’t need: 

            Wealthy businessman John Sterling and his wife Lillie leave San Francisco on a luxury boat to Java because John wants to invest in tea plantations. Lillie is excited by the romance of the trip but John is not romantic. In the corridor Lillie sees a man named Prince de Gace severely beating his servant and she is appalled. When he sees her he is smitten. He watches her continue on and notes which cabin she enters. Seconds later John passes and he notices that he enters the same cabin. The prince strikes up a friendship with John so he can get to Lillie. The three go to dinner and Lillie is cold to the prince. John doesn’t dance but insists that Lillie dance with de Gace. Then John is called away by a telegram. Out on the deck the prince tries to kiss Lillie and she slaps him. They turn and see John standing there. He approaches and says he is furious, but then we see his anger is because they did not ship his hunting suit, and so he did not see the kiss. Later Lillie and John are in their separate twin beds. This is the scene that I want. I started saving it and cut out everything before it. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a chicken leg while watching season 3, episodes 15 and 16 of Bewitched. 

            In the first story Aunt Clara goes to the park with Samantha and Tabatha. They sit down on a bench next to another bench where a mother is sitting with her baby. The baby has a stuffed pink elephant with polka dots and Tabatha tries to use magic to get it when the mother’s back is turned. Samantha takes it away each time and scolds Tabatha. But each time when the mother returns she sees Samantha holding her child’s toy. She accuses Samantha of being a thief. 

            Later at home Samantha has Clara babysit while she goes to the bank to negotiate a loan so they can tear down their gazebo and build a rumpus room. Leon Scranton the bank manager is gruff at first until he learns that Samantha’s husband works for McMann and Tate. His brother’s paint company’s advertizing is handled by Darrin’s company and Scranton is friends with Larry Tate and so he says he’ll approve the loan but first he has to send Hawkins, his appraiser, to inspect the property. Hawkins is very concerned with character more than finances and has rejected other potential loanees when they came up short in his sense of propriety. 

            Meanwhile Clara is trying to conjure an elephant toy for Tabatha but as usual her magic malfunctions and she conjures a live pink and polka dotted baby elephant. She can’t reverse the spell without the original toy elephant. Then Hawkins arrives to investigate the Stevens house and the elephant sticks its head out the window. Hawkins runs away but returns with Scranton and Larry. The elephant loves Tabatha and follows her wherever she goes so Samantha keeps leading the elephant into other rooms. Hawkins finds it each time but by the time he gets Scranton and Larry to come it is gone. Hawkins thinks he is losing his mind. 

            Clara buys the toy elephant from the mother and now is able to change the real elephant back to a toy. 

            The second story is similar to one that was presented in the first season except that the sport is changed. Samantha has befriended a boy named Johnny Mills and is helping him transport his soapbox car to the try outs. He is racing against Gladys Kravitz’s nephew Flash. Samantha does help Johnny with a touch of magic when she fixes his wheel that is about to come off during the race. Johnny wins. Johnny now qualifies for the Soapbox Derby but needs his father’s signature and doesn’t think he’ll get it. Mr. Mills is a hard working mechanic who wants his son to become a doctor. Samantha talks him into signing the paper but he says he won’t have time for the race. Johnny wins the race all by himself but Gladys Kravitz files a complaint that Samantha assisted Johnny against regulations. Samantha tries to get Mr. Mills to come to the hearing. He lists all the things he needs to do instead but Samantha gets them done with witchcraft and Mr. Mills comes to defend his son. Johnny explains to the judges exactly how he built his soapbox car. Gladys’s complaint is dismissed. Johnny moves on to win the nationals and the prize is a college scholarship. 

            Tabatha was played by Erin Murphy, who originally shared the role with her fraternal twin sister Diane but as they got older they looked less alike and so Erin was given the role. She was still a child actor when Bewitched ended and had guest roles on several TV series while also appearing in many commercials. She worked as a swimwear model in her teens. As an adult she has worked as a casting director, a makeup artist, a stylist, an acting teacher, a motivational speaker, a TV host, a correspondent, and as a fashion, beauty and lifestyle writer. She was a stunt double for Virginia Madsen. She raised alpacas and started the company Erin Murphy Knits. She is co-owner of Slim Chillers, a maker of low calory frozen martini pops. She owns the company Bewitched Memorabilia. She was the host of Disney’s Parentpedia.

May 31, 1994: I met Michelle, who'd responded to my ad, for the first time

Thirty years ago today

            On Tuesday I got word that my modelling gig at Cuppa Coffee animation studios was canceled. I was late getting to my Orgasmic Alphabet Orgy open stage in the Art Bar of the Gladstone Hotel. The diary doesn’t explain why I was tardy though. I had invited Michelle, who had responded on Thursday to my personals ad in Now Magazine to come to the Orgy so we could meet for the first time, and she came.

Fredd Wayne

            On Wednesday morning I finished memorizing “Aberdeen Kowloon” by Serge Gainsbourg. I doubt if anyone has posted the chords online so tomorrow I’ll start working them out. 

            I played my Kramer electric guitar during song practice for the second of two sessions. It’s still going out of tune a lot since Gian at Li’l Demon raised the action. 

            I weighed 87.5 kilos before breakfast. 

            In the late morning I headed out for an early bike ride and stopped at Long and McQuade to look at electric guitars. The better looking ones are all out of my price range. I asked about foot switches and was offered a second hand Apex switch for $10 but that would still require a stereo cable and Paul’s Boutique had Apex switches with built in cables for $20. He had a second hand Boss FS6L but didn’t tell me a price. I finished my bike ride and stopped at Paul’s Boutique in Kensington Market. Paul wasn’t there but the person minding the store found the two Apex switches that Paul had set aside for me. I asked about the warranty and was shocked when she told me it was three days for anything in the store. I think it’s thirty days at Long and McQuade and it’s definitely thirty days on Amazon. I told her I would pass because I didn’t like the warranty. She seemed indifferent and when I left said “Come again” in a tone that seemed to me to mean, “I don’t give a fuck if you ever come back”, which I won’t. I think I’m just going to buy the Boss FS6L on Amazon. The switch handles two cables and it looks easier on bare feet than the metal button on the Apex anyway. I think it might be cheaper on Amazon also. 

            I weighed 87 kilos at 13:45. I had a toasted bagel with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of iced tea. 

            I weighed 87.5 kilos at 16:00. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:53. 

            I opened in Audacity the audio file of my August 20 song practice and increased the volume of the guitar and then the vocal. Tomorrow I’ll start an August 20 project in Movie Maker. 

            I made pizza on naan with Basilica sauce, two sliced souvlaki, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 3, episodes 13 and 14 of Bewitched. 

            This is a two part story. Samantha is trying to fix a lamp when Aunt Clara drops in. She tries to conjure an electrician to help Samantha but winds up bringing back Benjamin Franklin. Samantha explains that Franklin experimented with electricity but wouldn’t know how to fix a lamp. While they are waiting for Clara to remember the spell to send Franklin back, Samantha tries to entertain him. He greets the ladies in French and Samantha responds in French. She explains to Clara that in Ben Franklin’s time people often exchanged polite greetings in French. He now realizes that he is in the future. He wants to know if modern science has time travel and rather than tell him it was done by witchcraft she says yes. She shows him the everyday things that resulted from his electrical experiments. Darrin comes home and after his initial shock they all have dinner. Franklin asks about his other inventions and is told that his public library is now extremely common. Samantha tells him that there is also the fire department, the rocking chair, and bifocals. Then Larry comes to visit and when he sees Franklin he thinks it’s Darrin’s clever idea of an advertizing campaign for the Franklin Electronics Company. Samantha and Clara plan on taking Ben on a tour of the city. He spends the night but the next morning he leaves a note saying that he has set out on his own. They find him in front of the public library and he has drawn a crowd. They take him to the fire department and show him a vintage fire engine. He climbs onto it but accidentally starts it and it drives across the street. He’s arrested, charged with theft and bail is set for $1000 ($10,000 today), which Darrin puts up. The trial will be in four weeks. They bring Ben to their house but on their way in Clara remembers her spell and sends Franklin back. But if Ben doesn’t show up in court Darrin will lose $1000. 

            In part 2 when Mr. Hawkins the DA learns that the company that Darrin works for plan on using Ben Franklin for their ad campaign he now sees Ben’s stealing of the fire engine as a publicity stunt and plans to fully prosecute. He advances the court date to the day after tomorrow. Clara is still trying to bring back Ben Franklin but briefly brings US President Franklin Pearce. Samantha’s house is surrounded by reporters and onlookers. The nosy neighbour Gladys Kravitz is trying to tell a TV reporter what she saw and heard Clara do: “Hark ye witches who live in lamps…” That jars Clara’s memory and she can now repeat the spell. Benjamin Franklin is brought back and for him it’s at the exact time that he left. Franklin says, “It’s the innocent who need an attorney, the guilty can lie for themselves.” In order to sway public opinion Samantha takes the time they have left to go on a campaign promoting Ben Franklin. She arranges for him to speak at a school in place of the scheduled astronaut. Clara puts a spell on a TV announcer and he asks viewers to call in with their opinions about Benjamin Franklin. Samantha causes the signs at a protest march to be changed to display slogans supporting Ben Franklin. Samantha and Darrin are worried about the trial but Franklin says he always prepares for the worst so that when it doesn’t happen he’s delightfully surprised. In court a librarian is on the stand and says Ben came into the library to pay a fine on a book that was 200 years overdue. Franklin says this proves he is honest. The school principal is put on the stand and says that Franklin gave the finest speech he’d ever heard and the students cheered him for five minutes. The court takes a fifteen minute recess during which time Samantha goes back to the fire engine to retrieve the plaque and then bring it back to court. Franklin presents the plaque as exhibit A. The plaque says it’s the Benjamin Franklin fire truck. Samantha asks how he could have stolen his own property. Hawkins says he hasn’t proven he is Ben Franklin but Franklin responds that he has yet to prove he is not. Samantha tells the court that whoever he is all he has done is remind people of the wonderful accomplishments of Benjamin Franklin. The jury votes in favour of Franklin. The judge asks if he’ll continue to be Benjamin Franklin. Ben says that a man’s wisdom should be left to future generations to measure against their own circumstances. If a man attempts to impose old notions on new generations he is in danger of losing his claim to wisdom. Ben decides to take Clara out on the town before he goes back to his own time. Darrin says, “Didn’t you say ‘Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise?” Ben answers, “Yes I did. But that was before the electric light. 

            Benjamin Franklin was played by Fredd Wayne, who was renowned for his many portrayals of that historical figure. During WWII he was put in charge of providing entertainment for the troops as a writer, producer and actor. He created and starred in drag in G.I. Carmen, which was the second most popular GI show of WWII. In 1949 he had his breakthrough role on Broadway as Brewster Ames II in Texas Li’l Darlin. He wrote, produced and directed his one man show Benjamin Franklin, Citizen. He did a popular voice recording of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

May 30, 1994: I posed at the Heliconian Club in Yorkville

Thirty years ago today

            On Monday I posed at the Heliconian Club in Yorkville from 10:00 to 12:00 and then from 13:00 to 15:00. I got paid in cash so I probably picked up some groceries on the way home.

Norma Varden

            On Tuesday morning I memorized the second and third verses of “Aberdeen Kowloon” by Serge Gainsbourg. There are only two verses left to learn. 

            I played my Kramer electric guitar during song practice for the first of two sessions. It was the first time I’d played it since Gian at Li’l Demon raised the action and fixed the fret that was snagging the high strings. It took a long time to get it in tune but that’s usual for that guitar after a neck adjustment. It sounded a lot better and the tinkling sound of the strings hitting the fret are gone. 

            I weighed 87.2 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I’ve been in the morning since May 12. 

            In the late morning I headed out on my long bike ride to the Twelfth Fret at Danforth and Woodbine. As usual about halfway there I stopped at the Second Cup to pee. It didn’t feel like as long a trip as it did the times I went last year to look at guitars, then to buy the Martin, then to get the Martin set up, then to get the action lowered, then to check on a problem I thought I was having with the pick-up. Plus last year I was riding through a cloud of smoke from the wild fires. When I got there I approached Brian, who helped me several times last year. He right away set to work on my guitar and confirmed that the action was indeed incredibly high. So knowing I wasn’t crazy to think it was high was very satisfying. He said he didn’t know how I’d been able to play it. I said I just figured it sounded like more bad guitar playing on my part. He lowered it as much as he could by adjusting the neck but it was still high so he shaved off some of the saddle, which he said had plenty left. He also changed the strings while he was at it. When he was done it was nice to be able to press the strings and touch the wood underneath again. He only charged me for the strings, which were only $11 and change. 

            I asked about foot switches and they had some by Boss that would work but they were $60 while the Apex ones at Paul’s Boutique are $20 so I’ll go with those for now and maybe buy them tomorrow. 

            While I was there I tried out some electric guitars. None of the ones between my $1000 and $2000 price range impressed me much. They had an attractive electric “sitar” that simulates a sitar sound. They had a beat up red Gibson that used to belong to Domenic Troiano and was played during his time with the Guess Who. I tried it out and it’s the best sounding electric I’ve ever played but out of my price range at almost $7000. 

            I weighed 86.2 kilos at 15:45. 

            I took a late siesta at 16:30 and didn’t wake up for almost three hours. I guess my ride to Woodbine and back must have really pooped me out! 

            I weighed 86.6 kilos at 19:30. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a chicken leg while watching season 3, episodes 11 and 12 of Bewitched. 

            In the first story Samantha tells her mother that she wishes Darrin could forget his work once in a while. Endora warns that human men are all the same and that if he did forget his work he would become a childish nuisance around the house. Then Darrin comes to quickly kiss Samantha goodbye as he heads off to work. Samantha urges him to at least take a few minutes for breakfast but he says he’s too tense. He leaves the kitchen but before he turns the corner for the front door Endora conjures a bowl of popcorn on the console stand in the foyer. He passes it, but then stops at the door, turns around and grabs a handful. He eats it on the way out and goes down the walkway but next we see him walking back into the kitchen. He sits down and says he’ll have breakfast after all. He’s decided to take the day off and Samantha thinks that’s wonderful since he’s been working so hard that Larry couldn’t begrudge him a one day vacation. Darrin is relaxing in the kitchen when the milkman comes in through the back door. He complains about his job and Darrin offers him some popcorn. Suddenly the milkman also forgets about work and joins Darrin for coffee and the sports page. Meanwhile Darrin is absent at an important meeting at work and so Larry calls him. But Darrin is happily dismissive of Larry’s concerns and he lets the milkman tell Larry to leave Darrin alone and hangs up. Larry decides to head over there. Next the grouchy tv repairman has some popcorn and joins Darrin and the milkman on the couch. Larry storms in and demands that Darrin come to work to save the Parkinson account. Darrin asks how important Parkinson really is. Larry has some popcorn and asks, “Who’s he?” They’re all playing poker in the living room when Samantha comes home from the grocery store. She thinks this gathering is odd but she has a committee meeting to prepare for and Darrin says they’ll move the game out to the patio. Sarah Albright and Mary Wheeler arrive for the meeting to plan a fundraising drive for new playground equipment. The women struggle with their meeting in the living room while distracted by the loud men on the patio. Larry and Darrin’s client Parkinson calls Darrin to demand to know where they are as he’s waiting for their meeting. Darrin tells him to relax and hangs up. Parkinson storms over there, begins to chew Larry and Darrin out but has some popcorn and ends up happily joining them. The same thing happens to the cop who comes in to give Parkinson a ticket for having parked half on the curb. Mrs. Dumont, the head of the committee arrives. The men are making a lot of noise in the kitchen. Darrin says they can’t just eat popcorn and since Samantha didn’t make any popcorn she starts to realize what’s going on. Samantha tells Darrin they are ruining her meeting and they all go to apologize to the women. Then Parkinson sees how they are planning to raise money with $1 tickets and he says he can do it faster. The women are about to leave when Samantha gives them some popcorn too and they calmly sit down. The men get on the phone and call people for pledges. In a matter of minutes they’ve raised $1,500. Keep in mind that in modern money that’s about $15,000. But Samantha is disappointed because they have rendered the committee useless and she was looking forward to the community work. Endora removes the spell and everyone rushes off to work, leaving Samantha feeling exhausted.

            Mrs. Dumont was played by Norma Varden, who was a piano prodigy who studied in Paris and did concerts in her teens. She then studied acting and began working in theatre. Her first stage role was as Mrs. Darling in Peter Pan. Her West End debut was in The Wandering Jew in 1920. She found her niche in comedy and joined the Aldwych Theatre Farce-ers from 1929 to 1933. She reprised her roles in A Night Like This and Turkey Time into film versions. In the 1940s she moved to Hollywood and began to work steadily but in less prominent roles. Over the next three decades she worked on radio and television. She was Sherlock Holmes’s housekeeper on the popular radio show. She played Harriet Johnson on the sitcom Hazel, Mrs. Benson on I Love Lucy, and Mrs. Hermione Monteagle on Batman.

            

           

            In the second story Samantha walks into an antique shop and suddenly an ornate old chair begins to secretly follow her, walking with its wooden legs. The proprietor sees the chair and says he thought’ he’d thrown it away. Samantha likes it and so he sells it to her for $25. That night Darrin and Samantha are hosting Larry and Louise Tate and Max and Adelaide Cosgrove for the annual dinner to court Cosgrove into renewing his account with McMann and Tate. When Darrin comes home he doesn’t think the chair fits in the living room and tries to take it into the den. The chair makes itself heavy and so it’s a struggle. When he gets it in the den he tries to sit in it and it temporarily collapses. At dinner Larry is anxious to get Max to renew the contract but even though he runs his company, Adelaide runs him and he doesn’t do anything until she says it’s okay. Later when Adelaide sees the chair she falls in love with it and wants to buy it. For the sake of the contract Larry and Darrin coax Samantha to sell her the chair. Darrin tries to put the chair in the Cosgrove’s car but the chair puts a leg up to stop going through the door. Adelaide and Max carry it away. That night Samantha hears a noise downstairs and goes to investigate. She finds the chair has returned. Samantha calls for her mother and Endora says there have been cases where witches or warlocks have turned themselves into objects. Darrin calls to tell Samantha that the chair has been stolen from the Cosgrove home and now Adelaide is so upset she won’t let Max sign the contract. Samantha tells Darrin to come home. She tells him the chair is enchanted. He tries to hide it but it fights with him because it particularly doesn’t seem to like him. Then Max arrives and sees the chair. They tell him it’s a copy but he wants it to appease his wife and takes it. Samantha sends Darrin to the antique shop to learn exactly where the chair came from. She tells Endora to consult Samantha’s father and aunts to see if they know anything. Meanwhile Samantha goes to the Cosgroves to keep the chair from causing trouble. Adelaide sits in the chair but it tosses her off. She thinks Max pushed her and now believes he’s dangerous. Then it happens again after Samantha arrives and Adelaide decides to leave Max. Darrin, Larry and Louise come. Darrin tells Samantha that the chair was bought in Boston at the turn of the century. When Samantha is alone with the chair she takes charge of it and has it follow her to the patio. Endora appears and informs her that the chair is Clyde Farnsworth, a young warlock who is enamoured with Samantha. He had Enchantra turn him into a chair after Samantha rejected him. Samantha reminds Clyde that on their first and only date she told him they could only be friends. She makes him understand that she’s married now. She turns Clyde back into a human. He says there’s a lamp that loves him at the antique store so he’s going back there. Samantha asks for a copy of the chair that Clyde was and he makes one. When Adelaide sees the chair she’s happy again and allows Max to sign the contract. But the chair copy seems to still be alive because it kicks Darrin when he kisses Samantha.

May 29, 1994: I didn't have my daughter so I wrote poetry

Thirty years ago today

            On Sunday I didn’t have my daughter either and so I probably spent spent the day writing poetry and watched TV in the evening.

Bridget Hanley

            On Monday morning woke up at 2:00 because I’d gone to bed so early. I did the dishes and brushed my teeth, then I went back to bed. But I was wide awake and so I got up to work on my journal until 4:00, then I returned to bed. I think I did almost doze off before the alarm sounded at 5:00. 

            I published “The Idol of the China Doll”, my translation of “China Doll” by Serge Gainsbourg, on my Christian’s Translations blog. There are twenty six songs left in my Gainsbourg translation project. 

            I memorized the first verse of his song “Aberdeen Kowloon”. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the last of four sessions. Tomorrow, weather permitting, I plan to take the Martin to the Twelfth Fret in the east end to get the action lowered. 

            I weighed 87.9 kilos before breakfast. I’m surprised I didn’t gain much weight on my birthday. Just 0.2 kilos. 

            At 13:00 I rode downtown for my appointment with Dr. Max Xia at the Graduate School of Periodontics. He examined my teeth and gums and measured the periodontal pockets. He said the intense deep cleaning that I had last month is going to have to be done at least a few times. He says my front left tooth has lost most of its bone and so surgery might be the only option. This examination only cost $36 and he decided to do something extra for free. He did another deep cleaning of that front tooth and put antibiotics in between the two front teeth. He also did some grinding in that area to fix my bite. He told me not to floss between those two front teeth for ten days, not to sulka there for five days, and not to brush there today. He booked me for a free consultation on July 8 and then I guess if that front tooth hasn’t shown progress, a surgical cleaning might be the only next option. The free consultation is probably a lead up to an expensive procedure. 

            I weighed 87.2 kilos at 16:15. 

            I took a late siesta. 

            I weighed 87 kilos at 18:00. 

            I’m way behind on my journal. 

            I grilled three chicken legs and had one with a potato and gravy while watching season 3, episodes 9 and 10 of Bewitched.

            In the first story Darrin and Samantha have to go to a business dinner at Larry and Louise Tate’s house. Darrin needs to impress Mr. MacElroy of the MacElroy Shoe Company with his ad ideas so Larry’s company can land the account. Meanwhile they need a babysitter for Tabatha but to Darrin’s annoyance Samantha has permitted her Aunt Clarra to come. Clara needs to get her mind off her broken heart because she has recently been dumped by her equally elderly boyfriend Ocky who has run off with a twenty one year old witch. She tries to sing Tabatha to sleep but her off key singing is making her cry so Clara tries to transport the grand piano upstairs up to the nursery. She successfully transforms it to the size of a toy but when she is halfway up the stairs with it the piano returns to its former size. She tries to cast a spell to solve that problem, “Oh piano black as night how I wish that you were light”. The lights suddenly go out and a lit candelabra appears on top of the piano. Meanwhile the lights go out at Larry Tate’s house as well. Clara manages to get the piano back in the parlour but the lights are still out. Gladys and Abner Kravitz come over to give Clara a flashlight and to inform her that the whole eastern seaboard is blacked out. This episode must be set a year earlier because this is the night of the great Northeast Blackout of November 1965. Clara needs help to solve this problem and so she summons her ex-boyfriend Ocky who is glad she brought him because he wants her back. He says he blew a year’s magic on the young witch because she was a gold digger. Clara says right now she just needs help with the lights. Ocky raises his arms and casts a spell that causes the lights to come back on but only while his arms are above his head. She has him continue to stand with his arms up and meanwhile Samantha calls to check on the baby and to ask how Clara is doing without lights. Clara says she has lights but since the lights are still out everywhere else Samantha asks her how she could have lights. Larry happens to overhear that there are lights at Darrin’s place and since they are not impressing McElroy by candlelight he suggests they all drive over to Darrin’s. Clara has to hide Ocky from everybody and so she puts him in the closet while continuing to stand with raised arms. Darrin, Samantha, Larry, Louise and McElroy arrive but even with lights Darrin and Larry are not impressing McElroy with their campaign ideas. Meanwhile snoopy Gladys Kravitz sneaks into the house to find out why the Stevens house is the only one on the eastern seaboard that has lights. She sees Samantha and runs to hide in the closet, then screams and runs for the front door. When everyone sees her she says there’s someone in the closet. Darrin opens it and Ocky has made himself invisible, except for his shoes, which slowly walk out of the closet. Gladys faints and the shoes step over her and exit through the front door. McElroy thinks Darrin has saved his best idea for last and he loves it and so McMann and Tate wins the contract with the idea of animated shoes. The official cause of the blackout was a power reversal caused by a sudden surge in the Niagara grid compounded by the failure of an automatic cut-off system. Samantha says newspapers are always coming up with logical explanations for things that are really caused by witches. 

            In the second story Darrin is on his way to work but can’t find his black and orange houndstooth sport coat. Samantha confesses that she gave it to a thrift shop among all the other things that he never wears. It had patches on the sleeves and torn pockets. Darrin goes to work angry at Samantha and vents to Larry about it. Larry asks him to lie down on the couch while he gets it off his chest. Larry and Louise have been getting counseling from a psychiatrist named Kramer. Kramer says there are three kinds of fights that couples have: the amphigoric, the semi-amphigoric, and the centripetal. The amphigoric is irrational and should be avoided. The semi-amphigoric is borderline and may be one or the other. If it turns out to be centripetal it should be fought through to a conclusion. Larry says that because Samantha likes him to wear conservative colours that she’s satisfied with settling down with Darrin. If she’d liked the loud sport coat it would have indicated that she still wants to be single and carefree herself. Meanwhile Louise is also playing psychiatrist with Samantha but both she and Larry have opposite interpretations of Kramer’s ideas. She says that because Darrin likes her to wear bright colours he is still romantic towards her. By giving away his loud jacket she is expressing less romance towards Darrin. So Darrin goes to buy Samantha a present to make up for their argument. He is shown some beautiful lingerie but is afraid of what he is communicating to Samantha and so he opts for a drab grey housecoat instead. Meanwhile Samantha goes back to the thrift shop and retrieves Darrin’s jacket. They present each other their gifts and are both disappointed. They begin to argue even more because now they doubt each other’s love. Darrin ends up sleeping on his couch at the office. Larry tells him he and Samantha need professional help and so he arranges for Dr. Kramer to make a house call. Meanwhile Samantha has the same idea and tells her mother that she’s going to call Dr. Kramer. Endora doesn’t like the idea because psychiatrists are anti-witch, but she decides if she’s going to consult a psychiatrists she should deal with the best. So Endora conjures up Sigmond Freud and brings him to Samantha. When Freud sees the jacket he says that anyone who finds it attractive is showing the symptoms of a severely disorganized mind and what it represents is bad taste. He says sensible people don’t fight over their partner’s disagreeable fashion choices. They should fight over important problems. Then Darrin arrives with Dr. Kramer and as soon as Kramer sees the jacket he says he’s been looking for one like it for years. Freud tells him it’s the ugliest sport coat he’s ever seen. Then Freud accuses him of having no professional ethics to barge in on a consultation between doctor and patient. Kramer says he’s been a practicing psychiatrist for years. Freud responds that he was practicing psychiatry before there was psychiatry. Kramer accuses Freud of having a fake accent and tells him his beard is a symptom of a father fixation. They both take off their jackets to prepare for a fist fight. Samantha and Endora make them both disappear before the violence can begin. 

            The salesperson who showed Darrin the lingerie was played by Bridget Hanley, who graduated from college with a BA in drama. She starred in the play The Trials of Arvid “Tickles” Yastrzemski for four years. Her first credited TV role was on the sitcom Hank. She played Candy Pruitt in the sitcom Here Come the Brides and Wanda Taylor on Harper Valley PTA. She starred in the one woman show May Day Sermon.

May 28, 1994: I wasn't surprised by my surprise birthday party

Thirty years ago today

            On Saturday I didn’t see my daughter because her mother was catching up on spending time with her after her month in Cancun. In the evening I went to Mary Milne’s house for dinner and as I suspected it turned out to be a surprise birthday party for me with Tom Smarda and Steve Lowe showing with their guitars. Mary had presents for me: two second hand Leonard Cohen albums to replace the ones that my ex-girlfriend Yvette smashed three years before; some Pilot pens, a hard cover writing book, and a birthday card she’d drawn herself. We talked and sang and played songs until late. It was a great party.

Adam West

            On Sunday it was my birthday. 

            I listened to Bach during yoga. 

            I finished writing a somewhat pornographic song called “Our Ladies of the Fifties”. Here’s the non-pornographic chorus: 

We won’t settle for a smidgen less 

than the immaculate virgin mother saints 

of nineteen fifties television, let’s 

make tv worth watching again 

            I organized my list of Boris Vian songs from the 1940s in chronological order with a separate document for each year. My plan is to do the same for his songs from the 1950s but that will be a bigger job. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice but I only worked on a few songs that especially needed practice. I found some easier chords for “Les sucettes” by Serge Gainsbourg because I’ve been fumbling the ones I’ve been using. 

            I had potato gnocchi and a toasted bagel for breakfast. The gnocchi really stuck to my stainless steel pan. I was worried I was going to have to scour it but after soaking it in water all day it came off easily. 

            I spent a lot of time getting caught up on Daily Show posts on Twitter. I liked Trevor Noah but I have to say it’s good to have Jon Stewart back. 

            I freed up some more of the old brick wall on the east side of my living room. 

            I hooked the trailer to my bike and rode up top the Dufferin Mall. The trailer with the milk crate strapped to it works quite nicely as a shopping cart. I bought under shirts, underwear, short and socks because I have no time to do my laundry. I went downstairs and got mouthwash, a black fitted cotton sheet, a big black towel, and a skipping rope. I was looking for a humidifier for my guitars but they only had dehumidifiers. Maybe Canadian Tire has them. Maybe it’s a winter thing. 

            When I got home I went downstairs to PopeYes and bought six biscuits. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 17:45. 

            I finished scanning the last box of slides and then I cleaned and scanned the last negative. It seems appropriate that the negative was a mirror selfie from the late 80s when I started photography. 

            I deleted a lot of my old bookmarks of websites. 

            I heated the spinach and potato roti that I bought yesterday and had it with a biscuit and a beer while watching the first three episodes of the Batman TV series. One good thing about the Batman show is that they never bothered with the Batman origin story as they’ve done in every one of the movies. I guess this Batman is not obsessed with vengeance over the murder of his parents. He’s just motivated to fight crime. 

            In the first story, at the Moldavian Exhibit at the Gotham City World’s Fair the Moldavian prime minister is about to unveil his country’s greatest treasure. But first he brings out a Moldovian friendship cake showing the Uncle Sam and the Moldovian equivalent shaking hands. As he cuts the cake there is an explosion as a small rocket shoots up from the cake and comes down by parachute having opened to reveal a riddle, “Why is an orange like a bell?” Police Commissioner Gordon says it’s the calling card of the Riddler. None of his men think they can handle him and so they look to the red phone that is the direct line to Batman. Alfred answers and gets Bruce and Dick. They tell Aunt Harriet that they are going on a fishing trip. The head of the bust of Shakespeare on Bruce’s desk tilts back and inside is the switch that opens the secret door to the Bat Poles. The left pole has a sign saying “Dick” and the right says “Bruce”. The wall behind the poles is spray painted with the sign that reads, “Access to Bat Cave via Bat Poles”. Why do they need a sign/ Is it in case they get amnesia? They go to the poles in their civilian clothes and slide into the Bat Cave in costume. Logically there must be a level between the Bat Pole entrance and the Bat Cave where they stop and change. But then apparently in a later episode there is an “instant costume change switch” that Bruce flips on the way down. That doesn’t really explain how the costumes change though. The Batmobile’s visual design was based on the 1955 Ford Futura. But the Batmobile was also nuclear powered. Ford designed an atomic car called the Nucleon in 1958 but that nuclear battery powered a steam engine whereas the Batmobile has a jet engine. 

            Robin figures out a lot of the riddles before Batman does. An orange is like a bell because they both must be peeled or pealed. Batman deduces that it has something to do with the Peale Art Gallery. When they get to te gallery there is a phone call on the Batmobile’s phone and it’s a recorded message from the Riddler: “There are three men in a boat with four cigarettes but no matches. How do they manage to smoke?” Later Robin figures it out. They throw one cigarette overboard to make the boat a cigarette lighter. 

            They climb up the wall of the gallery and through the window see the Riddler pointing a gun at the owner of the gallery while taking a cross from him. They bust in and cuff him but Peale says that the cross already belonged to the Riddler and the Riddler was using a gun shaped cigarette lighter to light Peale’s cigarette. The Riddler asks, “What is it no man wants to have but no man wants to lose?” Robin says, “A lawsuit”. The Riddler hands Batman a lawsuit document and promises two more riddles. The Riddler is suing Batman for $1 million for assault, slander, and false arrest. Batman will also have to be unmasked in court. Later Robin thinks the riddles might be hidden in the document and so they analyze it in the Batcave. The first riddle is, “When is the time on a clock like the whistle on a train?” Robin says, “When it’s two to two”. The second, “What has no flesh, bone or nail but has four fingers and a thumb?” Robin guesses again that it’s a glove. Robin then says that the two riddles point to 222 Glover Avenue. 

            Meanwhile we meet the Riddler’s Molehill Gang including Molly (played by Jill St. John). 

            222 Glover is a popular discotheque so since Robin is underage he’s not allowed in. He watches inside through the Batscope while Batman goes in. Batman goes to the bar and orders an orange juice. Molly is sitting at the bar and Harry the Molehill leader is the bartender. Batman does his Batusi dance with Molly and then collapses, drugged by the juice. Then the Riddler hits Robin with a tranquilizer dart. They take him to their hideout and strap him down. The dumbest thing is that he doesn’t unmask him. Robin’s identity would lead to Batman’s and his secret is really his greatest weakness. This is continued to the next episode. 

            The story continues with the Riddler and Molly making a plaster mold of Robin’s face. Then Riddler wakes up Robin and tells him to call Batman. Then Riddler takes the phone and asks, “What kind of pins are used in soup?” Robin shouts out “Terrapins”. Then he asks, “What was Joan of Arc made of?” Batman says, “Maid of Orleans”. Batman figures Robin must be at the old Turtle Mill at Orleans Cove. Meanwhile Molly is dressed as Robin and puts on the mask they made of Robin’s face and looks just like him although we could see her bust outline before she put the mask on. Burt Ward is really trying hard to look feminine with his hand on his hip and a different walk. They take Robin’s utility belt and Molly wears it, turning on the transmitter so Batman can track her with the Detect a Scope. The Batmobile comes up behind the Riddler’s car and shoots it with the Batray conking the ignition as the Riddler expects. His car rolls over. Why would Batman cause an accident to the car that is carrying the one he is trying to rescue? They escape the car just before it goes up in flames. The Riddler escapes and Batman finds Robin lying on the road. Molly pretends that she can’t speak because her vocal cords have been affected. Batman carries her to the Batmobile and they drive to the Batcave. When they get there Molly points a gun at Batman. He says he saw through the flaw in the mask immediately because of the holes left by the straws in the plaster cast. He burned off the revolvers firing pin with hidden laser on the way there. She runs and climbs up an enormous structure that Batman warns is the Batmobile’s nuclear power source. He tries to rescue her but she slips and falls into the reactor to her death. Bartman replays the tape of Robin’s phone call and hears subway trains in the background. He crosses that with a complete subway schedule and runs it through the Batcomputer in the Batmobile which connects by radio link to the “US and Canada Crime Computer” in the Batcave. The location is on the Tenth Street Line at Coolidge Square Station. Batman uses a laser gun to blast through the wall of the Riddler’s hideout. But the Riddler traps both Batman and Robin behind bulletproof glass and escapes. Robin says he heard two more riddles: “How many sides does a circle have?” The answer is two, an inside and an outside. “What president of the United States wore the biggest hat?” Robin says it’s the one with the biggest head. He thinks the Riddler means to go inside the biggest building in Gotham, the Gotham City National Bank to take the money outside. Meanwhile the Riddler and his gang are heading for the Moldavian Pavilion where the story began. The exhibit on display id the Mammoth of Moldavia that was found in the ice centuries ago and worshipped by the people. The mammoth is stuffed with a fortune in Moldavian postage stamps. From below the Riddler pumps laughing gas into the pavilion. The Riddler enters and tells bad jokes that everyone laughs at. He says Greta Garbo sprinkled grass seed in her hair and moaned “I vant to be a lawn”. Everyone collapses laughing. He signals his gang to come and steal the mammoth. But then Batman and Robin burst out from inside the mammoth. Batman had solved the clues that Robin got wrong. Then comes the big fight scene with comic book sound effects in letters and to the Batman theme music. Riddler tries to escape and Batman follows below. Riddler fires at Batman but hits one of the gas canisters. Batman escapes before it explodes. Bruce feels bad about Molly’s death because he kind of liked her. Batman was played by Adam West, whose father was a farmer and mother was an opera singer. He started collecting comic books in 1938 and when Batman came out in 1939 he was a big fan. He graduated college with a degree in Literature and Psychology. He got married in his senior year. He became a disc jockey. He was drafted and worked as an announcer on US Forces Network Television. He joined a kids show in Hawaii called the Kini Popo Show and became the host. He got divorced to marry a Hawaiian girl. Three years later he went to Hollywood. He became a regular during the third season of Robert Taylor’s Detectives. He co-starred in Robinson Crusoe on Mars. He starred in Mara of the Wilderness and the spaghetti western The Relentless Four. After playing a secret agent named Captain Q in a Nestles Quik commercial he was cast as Batman and became an international star. After the three year run of the show he was typecast and couldn’t get much new work. But after a decade things picked up again and he appeared on TV, in movies and did voice work, including the voice of the animated Batman on several series. He starred in The Girl Who Knew Too Much. He co-starred in Hooper, The Happy Hooker goes Hollywood, One Dark Night, Young Lady Chatterley II, Nevada Smith. He starred in the TV series The Last Precinct. On Family Guy he played the maniacal Mayor Adam West. His autobiography was entitled “Back to the Batcave”. He said that his voice was so recognizable that telephone operators would know who he was. He was close friends with Van Williams who starred in The Green Hornet. Probably because I didn’t take a siesta in the early afternoon I got very sleepy while watching the third episode. I went to bed at 22:00 without doing the dishes, without brushing my teeth and without making my bed.

May 27, 1994: It was my last day until fall of posing at a high school

Thirty years ago today

            On Friday it was my last day of posing at Northern Secondary School. There would be no more work for the Board of Education until fall and so my finances would be thinning out soon as they tended to do every summer. Mary Milne called to invite me over for dinner on Saturday.

Sandra Gould

            On Saturday morning I worked out the chords for the first verse of “On fait des rêves” (We Keep Dreaming) by Boris Vian. 

            I finished working out the chords for “China Doll” by Serge Gainsbourg. I ran through singing and playing it in French, then I adjusted my translation and sang and played it in English. I uploaded it to my Christian’s Translations blog to prepare it for publication. I don’t know if I’ll post it on Sunday since it’s my birthday. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the second of four sessions.

            I weighed 87.7 kilos before breakfast. 

            I was going to take my bike trailer to No Frills but it was raining hard and if I’d taken it I would have spent twice as much time in the rain. I wore my hood but I also wore shorts because I didn’t expect it to be so cold. I had a flier from Freshco to price match the cherries but No Frills already had a lower price. I got three bags. I also bought three bags of grapes, bananas, two artisan naan, dish detergent, spreadable butter, two containers of skyr, a pack of frozen gnocchi, and two bags of Miss Vickie’s chips. 

            I weighed 88 kilos before lunch, which is the heaviest I‘ve been at midday since May 8. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of iced tea. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and it was just warm enough to go in shorts, but I put on my long sleeved shirt unbuttoned. On the way back I stopped at Bagels on Fire to get a dozen sesame seed bagels. I also stopped at Island Foods on Gladstone to get a spinach and potato roti to eat for lunch tomorrow because they are closed on Sunday. I asked the owner if they used to be on Bathurst because I used to go to a roti place just south of Bloor that I thought I remembered as Island Foods. He said they were at King and Dufferin before and not Bathurst. Now I think I remember that the other place was called Island Roti. 

            I weighed 86.9 kilos at 17:45. That’s the lightest I’ve been in the evening since May 14. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:30. 

            In the Movie Maker project for “Là-bas c'est naturel (electric)” I converted the video to sepia tone and added the effect of spanning the colour spectrum. The result was that the video eased through various shades of the grey scale. When I tried to do the same thing starting from the grey scale in another video nothing seemed to happen. I uploaded it to YouTube. All that’s left relating to that song is to make a video of the electric version of “Kenya”, my translation. I opened up Audacity and adjusted the guitar and voice levels of the song but then realized I’d opened August 19, the same version that I’d just uploaded instead of August 20, which has the “Kenya” version I want. I’ll get the right one on Monday. 

            I continued to search for a Greta Garbo clip to fit my line, “restless days of hopeless sleep” and finally found something in “Wild Orchids”, one of her last silent films. I could only find the whole movie on Facebook but not on YouTube. I found it on Pirate Bay and downloaded the torrent but it didn’t download yet. Finally I copied the URL of the Facebook movie and pasted it into 4K Downloader and it worked. I didn’t know 4K could download Facebook movies. I had only done YouTube videos so far but apparently it also works on Vimeo. I downloaded “Wild Orchids” and maybe on Monday I’ll convert it to WMV. Then I’ll import it to Movie Maker and isolate the scene of Greta in bed. 

            I gilled eight souvlaki, then I made pizza on naan with Basilica sauce, two cut up souvlaki, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 3, episodes 7 and 8 of Bewitched. 

            In the first story it’s Halloween and Endora wants to throw a party for real witches and warlocks. The house that she’d previously conjured in the vacant lot across the street and which Samantha unconjured has reappeared for the occasion. Darren insists the house has got to go and so Endora transforms Samantha and Darren’s living room to have the party there. Endora doesn’t want her brother Arthur there but Samantha insists. The servants are just levitating trays. Darrin sees Willy Mays at the party and Samantha says of course he’s a warlock. How else would you explain all of his home runs? A warlock named Boris arrives with a black cat named Ava. He transforms her into a woman before they go inside. Ava as a human is extremely sensuous and sultry and she can’t keep her paws off of Darrin. She does a slow, gyrating dance for everyone, much of which is done on the floor. She is all over Darrin again just before she turns back into a cat at midnight. The nosy next door neighbour Gladys Kravitz calls her local councilman to report strange goings on in the Stevens house. Councilman Green comes over with Morgan his campaign manager. When they try to get into the Stevens house Arthur casts a spell so that the front door leads directly to the patio and they can’t reach the house in between. Endora tries to recite “The Night Before Halloween” but Arthur keeps throwing in his own comical rhymes. Finally she turns Arthur into a fountain and transports everyone to the Riviera. 

            In the second story Diaper Dan picks up diapers from Samantha and delivers new ones. He says he has made his own rattle and gives the first one to Samantha. But it turns out that the rattle is bugged and Dan is working as a spy for Kimberley, a rival advertizing firm. On the phone Samantha is telling Louise Tate, the wife of Darrin’s boss, about Darrin’s brilliant new idea for the Wright Pen company. But the next day when Darrin and Larry present the idea to Wright he says he already heard the same idea from Kimberley. Darrin comes up with a new idea and tells Samantha about it on the phone. Then Samantha tells her mother and Dan records it. The next day Kimberley tells Wright the idea before Darrin and Larry. They start to think this is more than a coincidence and that their office must be bugged. Darrin looks for bugs at home as well. He and Samantha have a fight over her talking on the phone and the result is that they aren’t speaking. Dan decides to send Samantha flowers in Darrin’s name and sends Darrin a tie in Samantha’s name. When Darrin thanks her for the tie she says she didn’t send one but maybe her mother did. When Endora denies it Samantha calls the florist and learns that Dan sent it. She smashes the rattle and finds the bug. Dan tries to get away but Samantha causes his van to break down, the door to fall off, the tires to blow, and the baby model on top of his van starts talking to him. Endora causes the diapers to shoot at him from the back. The next day Darrin has won back the Wright account and Dan announces he’s going into a rest home. 

            The new Gladys Kravitz was played by Sandra Gould, who as a teenager had roles in the musical review Thumbs Up and the comedy Having Wonderful Time. Her first film role was an uncredited part in T-Men. Her unique voice was very popular on the radio and she co-starred on several popular programs such as Jack Benny, My Friend Irma and Duffy’s Tavern. On TV she played Mildred Webster on the sitcom I Married Joan. She reprised her role of Gladys Kravitz on the sitcom Tabatha. She was the author of Sexpots and Pans and Always Say Maybe. She released a comedy record called “Hello Melvin this is Mama”, which was a response to Alan Sherman’s “Hello Muddah Hello Fadduh”.

May 26, 1994: It was my birthday so I treated myself to a couple of lap dances

May 26, 1994 

            On Thursday morning I posed at Northern Secondary School and then celebrated my birthday. I visited Crystal for a blow job then I had something to eat on Yonge Street. I went to X-Rays on Queen West for a beer. I treated myself to a couple of lap dances at The House of Lancaster, then I bought some porno mags and went home. There was a message in response to the kinky personals ad that I’d posted in Now Magazine. Her name was Michelle.

Kathleen Nolan

            On Friday morning I worked out the chords for the third line of “On fait des rêves” (We Keep Dreaming) by Boris Vian. 

            I continued to work out the chords for “China Doll” by Serge Gainsbourg while repeatedly listening to the extract on Apple Music. I’ve settled on common chords for both the verses in the extract and so tomorrow I’ll add them to the unheard verses. I might have the song finished on Saturday. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the first of four sessions. I think I’ll take the Martin to The 12th Fret in the east end on Tuesday to get the action lowered. 

            I weighed 87.5 kilos before breakfast. 

            I cleaned some of my Kramer electric guitar with Q-Tips and alcohol. There was an area under the Floyd Rose system that was all black and I thought it was dirt. It started partially coming off but I started to suspect that it was meant to be there. It turns out it’s a cushioning foam just in case the whammy bar causes the system to tilt back and click against the body. 

            I took the Kramer to Li’l Demon Guitars and Gian raised the action. He also glued the fret down against the end of which my high strings were getting snagged. He didn’t charge me anything. My amp still hasn’t been repaired after 17 days. There’s another guy who fixes the amps at a different location and he hasn’t brought it back yet. 

            I weighed 87.4 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and on the way back I stopped at Freshco to buy petroleum jelly (although they don’t call it that anymore). I also grabbed a couple of bags of cherries. 

            I weighed 87.4 kilos at 17:30. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:15. 

            In Movie Maker I  saved a copy of my August 19 song practice project as “Là-bas c'est naturel (electric)” and isolated it from the other songs. The audio was far behind and usually I have to very gradually edge the audio and video into synchronization. But after cutting a few big sections from the audio timeline it accidentally fell perfectly in synch with the video. I adjusted the audio balance so it’s mostly from the interface but a little from the camera. I added a fade to black. I’ll add a couple more effects tomorrow and publish it. I’ll see if I have time to upload it to YouTube. 

            I continued to search for Greta Garbo clips to fit my line “restless days of hopeless sleep” for my “Angeline” music video. There is one scene in Ninotchka that might work but she’s not all that restless. I’ll keep looking but if nothing else turns up I’ll settle for that one. 

            I scanned fifteen slides from the second half of the final box. Most of them are from the shoot I did of my daughter’s Aunt Susan climbing at the top of the pipe fittings of a giant tent frame. I vaguely recall that the tent was set up for an event in the park behind my daughter’s mother’s house. I think we just snuck in and did the shoot. I don’t know how I talked Susan into doing it because it looks dangerous. Plus she’s wearing a short dress. It looks like I was shooting while climbing as well. There are ten slides and one negative left and then I’ll have no more use for the scanner. I need to buy an external hard drive for all these photos. 

            I had a potato with gravy and the last T-bone steak while watching season 3, episodes 5 and 6 of Bewitched. 

            In the first story Gerry O’Toole, who says she’s a friend of Darrin’s Irish great aunt comes to visit. Gerry turns out to be a beautiful young woman. She is suddenly terrified when she thinks she hears a cat. After dinner Samantha takes out her knitting to repair one of Darrin’s sweaters but Gerry says she already fixed it before dinner. Samantha finds the knit job unusually expert. Darrin takes Gerry out to the patio and then Samantha’s mother Endora appears to tell her that no human could have done that kind of weaving. Then she reminds her of what kind of non-human hates cats. Samantha realizes that Gerry is a wood nymph. Endora also reminds her that the only thing a wood nymph hates worse than a cat is a witch. When Samantha gets Gerry alone she confronts her and demands to know why she is there. Gerry explains that her family of wood nymphs’ job is to look after Darrin’s descendants. Endora says it’s not true. Samantha and Gerry face off until she makes cats call from outside the house. Gerry is terrified and promises to tell the truth. She says it’s the curse of Kilcarney County that’s brought her. In the 15th Century Darrin’s ancestor Darrin the Bold slew Rufus the Red in a duel. Rufus was kind to the wood nymphs and so they put a curse on Darrin and his descendants. Samantha asks Endora to send her back in time to save Rufus and lift the curse. Endora warns her that her powers won’t work in the past but Samantha says it’s the only way. Samantha arrives in the 15th Century as a servant in Darrin the Bold’s castle. As soon as Darrin sees Samantha he starts grabbing her and chasing her. She has to constantly fight him off. Meanwhile back in the present Darrin is being chased by Gerry. In the past Rufas the Red arrives with his men and asks to set up camp on Darrin’s property. Darrin says he’ll have to pay and so Rufas challenges him to a duel within the hour. Samantha goes to see Rufus and starts measuring him and when he asks why she says it’s for his death shroud. She says all of Darrin’s challengers need them. Then Samantha goes to Darrin, who starts grabbing her again so she has to kick him. She tells him that she overheard Rufus’s men talking. She warns him not to fight Rufus on foot because he’s killed hundreds of men that way and he’s killed even more on horseback. Darrin gets word that the duel is off because Rufus has agreed to pay. Darrin grabs Samantha again and she calls for her mother to bring her back. Samantha tells Gerry the curse is lifted. Gerry wants proof and so Endora makes Rufus appear before her. It turns out that Gerry and Rufus are lovers and so they are overjoyed to see each other. Samantha sends them both happily back to the 15th Century. Nymphs though are Greek and not Irish. The British Isles equivalent for wood nymphs would be faeries. 

            In the second story Samantha’s Uncle Arthur makes a return visit. We learn for the first time that he is Samantha’s uncle by way of being Endora’s younger brother. They do not get along and fight whenever they see each other. Arthur moves in with Samantha and Darrin and begins to spend a lot of time with Tabatha. He uses magic quite publicly while walking Tabatha, shocking Gladys Kravitz. What shocks her even more is the fact that Endora has decided to move into the neighbourhood to protect Tabatha from Arthur’s influence and conjures a big house in the vacant lot across the street. Arthur keeps vanishing the house and Endora keeps making it reappear. Finally Samantha has had enough and lays down the law on both of them. She says they’ll either have fight somewhere else or try to get along if they stay. They do decide to try to get along. We learn that Endora was an only child when Arthur was born ad she resented him for the intrusion. They were on opposite sides during the Civil War. Arthur was with General Grant because he had more booze. They both leave but now Samantha has to deal with getting rid of the house. Gladys calls the cops and they investigate the house. As soon as they leave Samantha makes it disappear. 

            This was the first appearance of Sandra Gould, replacing the late Alice Pearce as Gladys Kravitz. 

            Gerry in the first story was played by Kathleen Nolan, who first appeared on stage at one year of age on the Showboat Goldenrod. She was born into a family of actors and performed on the Goldenrod for twelve years in her family’s troupe, the Circle Stock Company. She sang on a St. Louis radio station. She played Wendy in the original Broadway production of Peter Pan. Her first TV appearance was on the Philco Television Playhouse. She played Liz on the sitcom Jamie. From 1957 to 1962 she played Kate McCoy on The Real McCoys. She then starred in the McHale’s Navy spin-off Broadside. In 1975 she became the first female president of the Screen Actors Guild and served four years.

May 25, 1994: Subuk was the feature at Fat Albert's

Thirty years ago today                                                                                                                                         

            On Wednesday morning I posed at Northern Secondary School then went home. That night I went to perform at Fat Albert’s open stage. The feature was Subuk.

Estelle Winwood

           On Thursday morning I worked out the chords for the second line of “On fait des rêves” (We Keep Dreaming) by Boris Vian. 

            I continued to work out the chords for “China Doll” by Serge Gainsbourg while repeatedly listening to the extract on Apple Music. As usual this way I hear some parts differently each time I listen but I’m gradually settling into the pattern. 

            I played my Kramer electric guitar during song practice for the second of two sessions. Tomorrow I’ll begin a four session stretch of playing my Martin acoustic guitar. 

            I weighed 88.1 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I took an early bike ride downtown and on the way back I stopped at Paul’s Guitar Boutique in Kensington Market. Paul offered me an alternative solution to the Boss FS5L or Boss FS6L switch pedals. He had two Apex foot switches, each of which could be plugged into the back of my amp for each effect I want. If I were using them both I would need to turn both the reverb and the distortion knobs up and then use the foot switch to turn them off. Then I could turn either on or off while playing. He was charging $20 each for them. That seems like the best option so far but I still want to check two more places. 

            I weighed 87 kilos at 14:45. 

            I weighed 87.8 kilos at 17:11. 

            I saw a bedbug for the first time in two months. It was on my desk but it had no blood inside. Now that my upstairs neighbour Cesar is dead it’s a good time for the landlord to have the whole building treated. Cesar always refused to let pest control into his place. With him gone there’s a chance that we can get rid of these monsters for good. I left a message with the landlord to request that he have the building treated. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:30. 

            I uploaded the video of my acoustic performance of “Kenya” to YouTube. Next I’ll work on the video of my electric performance of “La bas c’est naturel” by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I continued to skim through Greta Garbo films to find a clip to match my line, “restless days of hopeless sleep” for the music video I’m making of my song “Angeline”. I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. Next I’ll skim through her film Romance. 

            I finished scanning the first half of my last box of slides. There are baby pictures of my daughter, shots of my friend Tom Smarda busking, and photos of flowers. 

            I grilled two T-bone steaks and had the smaller one with a large potato and gravy while watching season 3, episodes 3 and 4 of Bewitched. 

            In the first story a family coven consisting of Endora, Aunt Clara, Aunt Agatha, and Aunt Enchantra has been organized to test Tabatha’s powers. Samantha’s father Maurice pops in to see his granddaughter before the coven starts and then leaves for the opera in Vienna. He gives Samantha a silent whistle to signal him if she ever needs assistance. The coven determines that Tabatha’s powers are exceptional. Darrin comes home just before Endora, Agatha, and Enchantra decide that Tabatha should immediately be taken away to receive training in Enchantra’s school for witches, which is the school that Samantha also attended. Samantha and Darrin say it’s out of the question and Clara is on their side. Endora, Agatha and Enchantra say it’s not the parents’ decision and cast a spell to stick their feet to the floor so they can’t stop them. They are about to leave with Tabatha when Samantha blows her father’s whistle. Maurice appears and tells the three that Tabatha should stay with her parents. The witches resist and so Maurice sends them to the top of Mount Everest. After a few seconds of freezing cold he brings them back and they agree to leave Tabatha there. Later after Tabatha’s been put to bed Samantha and Darrin see a basket of fruit floating up the stairs. Samantha follows it to find Maurice sitting with Tabatha on his lap. She’s supposed to be asleep but she obviously isn’t. 

            Aunt Enchantra was played by Estelle Winwood who started acting at the age of 5. She studied with the Liverpool Repertory Company and worked for many years in British theatre, including London’s West End. She made her Broadway debut in 1916 shortly after moving to the US. She starred in and directed a 1939 Broadway production of The Importance of Being Ernest. She resisted acting in the cinema until she was middle aged. She had a few small roles in British films but her first credited movie role was in Quality Street. She turned down movies again for the next two decades but then appeared as a fairy godmother in The Glass Slipper. From then on she did work in films and on television. She appeared in The Producers at the age of 84. Of that movie she said that no one ever went broke underestimating the poor taste of the US audience. Her last film at 93 was Murder by Death. Her best friend was Tallulah Bankhead. She smoked three packs of cigarettes a day until she died at 101. 

            In the second story Clara comes to babysit Tabatha while Samantha and Darrin go to the movies. Larry calls to say that he and Louise can’t get a sitter and ask if Clara can also watch their son Jonathan. Samantha agrees and so Larry and Louise bring Jonathan over. That night while Clara is trying conjure toys for the children she accidentally turns Jonathan into two identical boys. Now Clara can’t remember the spell to change them back to one and so when Larry and Louise come that night to pick him up Samantha says that Jonathan is asleep and suggests they pick him up the next day. The next day Larry goes to the airport to catch a flight to Chicago and Louise comes by early to pick up Jonathan. Today is Jonathan’s second birthday and Samantha tells Louise that she’s arranged a party for him on the patio. Just after saying that she conjures a party and they go outside. Then Larry shows up saying his flight was delayed and so he has come to pick up Jonathan. Samantha says they are having a party for him in the kitchen and she conjures one there and so Larry goes there with the other Jonathan. Samantha and Darrin keep moving Louise and Larry around to different rooms so they don’t run into each other. Just before they do see each other Samantha and Darrin take both Jonathans back upstairs. Samantha casts a spell on Clara to make her ten years younger and with a better memory. She remembers the spell and changes the two Jonathans to one.