Jill Foster

            On Friday morning the heat was on so I turned it off because it was ten degrees and rising outside but the thermostat in the hall wouldn’t get the message for a few more degrees. 

            I finally finished memorizing “Les frères” by Boris Vian. Since there are no samples of the melody online I won’t be working out the chords so tomorrow I’ll upload the lyrics to Christian’s Translations. 

            I published “Unzipped”, my translation of “Hey Mister Zippo” by Serge Gainsbourg on my Christian’s Translations blog and posted the lyrics on Facebook. I started learning his song “Quoi toi moi t’aimer tu rêves” (What You Love of Me Is What You Dream). Again the only audio for this song is an extract from the middle on Apple Music. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar for the final session of four. The next two sessions I would normally play my Kramer electric guitar but my amp is in the shop. I’ll see if I can play the Kramer through my speakers but if not then I’ll just play the Martin until I get my amp back. 

            I weighed 87.6 kilos before breakfast. 

            In the late morning I sanded another section of my bathroom ceiling. I had expected to complete a third quarter of it but only managed more than half of that area. I started with the front legs of the stepladder in the front of the bathtub and the ladder on the other side. Then I gradually moved the ladder as I edged back until I’d done half of a strip of the ceiling. Then I switched it so the ladder was inside the tub and sanded a parallel strip of ceiling. Next time I’ll start from the other end of the tub and complete those two strips. Then all that will be left to do is the area directly over the tub. There’s only so much looking up and sanding I can do with old paint coming down around the sunglasses and the surgical mask. Plus it makes a mess and I had to sweep and shower and change my dusty clothes before lunch. 

            I weighed 86.9 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and on the way back I stopped at the African Drum shop on Dundas. This time Seiku had fixed the little tonga drum that I’d brought in. The original skin was synthetic I think, but he replaced it with cow hide. One can still see a few hairs along the edge where it’s been tightened. He sanded the surface a little more before I paid him and I took a couple of pictures of him sanding and playing the drum. I paid him $50 in cash. His shop is a unique place that is charmingly cluttered with all kinds of African crafts and drums. He says he can’t stop buying things. 

            I stopped at Freshco to buy a pack of sponge towels. 

            I weighed 87 kilos at 17:30. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:00. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “Kenya” and “La bas c’est natural” from August 18 to 24. I played Kenya on my Kramer electric guitar on August 18, 20, and 24. On August 18 the take at 3:30 in part B was okay but the singing was off key at the end. On August 20 the take at 3:15 in part B was one of the best electric versions. On August 24 the take at 3:30 in part B was not bad for the electric. On August 22 I played “Kenya” on my Martin acoustic and the take at 25:45 was not bad. On August 19 I played “La bas c’est natural” on the Kramer and the take at 1:00 in part B was one of the best. This is synchronized in Movie Maker. On August 21 I played it on the Martin and the take at 27:00 was not bad but there was washed out light. On August 23 I didn’t make it through “Joanna” before the camera battery timed out. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song “Angeline” I cut out all but three of the clips of Greta Garbo singing in the silent film Torrent. The three I kept are all of her playing piano while singing. I copied the first two and pasted them into the main video after my line, “my machinery had a surge of power that night I listened to your song”. In the concert video I sing “Ahhh” before the next line but in the studio audio I don’t and so I needed to get rid of the part of the video that shows me with my mouth staying wide open. The Garbo clips fit well but I had to shave a little off the end of the second one and then cut out a few seconds from the concert video until it was synchronized with the studio audio for the line, “my skin felt all electrical”. Once that was lined up the video stayed in sync with the audio right up until the beginning of the second chorus. For the choruses I want video clips of people falling. For the first chorus I inserted clips from a 1950s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland that shows Alice falling down the rabbit hole. For the second chorus I want the segment from the movie Head that shows Mickey Dolenz jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge and falling in slow motion. I had bookmarked a video of that part last year. This time I pasted the link into 4K Downloader but it just kept parsing so nothing happened. I’ll try again tomorrow. 

            I had a potato with gravy and five pork ribs while watching season 2, episodes 13 and 14 of Bewitched. 

            In the first story Samantha’s mother Endora wants Samantha and Darrin to come to a family wedding but Darrin says his boss Larry would not agree to him taking the time off. Endora offers to make Larry into an inanimate object for a few days and promises he won’t know the difference after he’s been changed back. Darrin says no and goes to work. Later Endora appears in a toy store where Larry is shopping for a teddy bear for his son. She asks if Darrin can have a couple of days off and Larry says “of course”. Endora learns that Larry is looking for a special teddy bear that nods its head when one presses its toe. She conjures one up and then takes it to leave with Larry’s receptionist. But when Darrin comes in, sees it and hears that Endora left it he thinks that she has turned Larry into a teddy bear. He spends the day nervously protecting the bear, even during a presentation, much to the annoyance of the client Mr. Harper. Harper insists that Darrin leave the bear with Betty the receptionist. But while it is at her desk Larry’s wife Louise arrives and sees the bear. She has already bought an identical one for their son and so she takes this bear to return it to the store. When Darrin hears about this later he goes to the store to try to get Larry back. But there are 24 identical bears on display and since he can’t tell the difference he buys them all. At home he and Samantha find that one of the bears has no tag and so they assume that it’s Larry. Then Endora appears and Darrin verbally attacks her. She responds by destroying the bear. Darrin thinks Larry is dead now but then he and Louise arrive for dinner as they were invited to do. The next day Darrin gets sore knees from begging Endora’s forgiveness. 

            In the second story Darrin is full of compliments for Samantha’s beauty on his way to work. After he leaves, Endora tells her that he is lying like all mortals do and she decides to prove it. She acquires an ancient statuette that causes anyone within a meter of it to tell the truth and places it on Darrin’s desk. Darrin compliments Betty’s tight dress and she says she wore it for him. He gets a call from a client and Darrin tells him he has no enthusiasm for his product. Larry is mad that Darrin has just thrown the account away until he gets close to the statue and admits that he feels the same way. Darrin takes the statue home and on the way he gets stopped by a motorcycle cop who claims he went through a red light. But when he gets close to the statue he admits the light was yellow but he was in a bad mood. That night Darrin and Samantha are having a dinner party for Larry and Louise Tate and Ed and Frances Hotchkis. Endora subtly hints that she would like to come and so Samantha invites her. That night Endora keeps moving the statue around to cause people to tell the truth. Darrin tells the client Hotchkis that his ideas are ridiculous. Hotchkis is a pompous ass and his wife is a submissive mouse until the statue appears near her and she proceeds to tell her husband off for the first time in their marriage. At one point they are all standing next to the statue and arguing. Suffice it to say dinner is ruined. The next morning Endora reveals that she caused everyone to tell the truth with the statue. Then Larry arrives to complain about Darrin’s behaviour the night before. He suggests that maybe Darrin should no longer be working for him but then Samantha brings the statue close and Larry admits how important Darrin is to his company. Larry also tells them that Ed and Frances Hotchkis argued into the night and it cleared up a lot of misunderstandings. They are now happier with each other than they’ve ever been. Then Darrin demands a raise before he returns to work and Larry gives it to him. 

            Darrin’s secretary Betty was played by Canadian actor Jill Foster, who started in theatre in Toronto. This led to a contract with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for which she acted in many TV series. She played eight different parts on General Motors Presents. She married Canadian TV writer Bernard Slade and they moved to Hollywood. She made a few guest appearances on sitcoms and then returned to Canadian theatre.