Friday 24 May 2024

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.












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