Diane Baker

            On Wednesday morning I memorized the eighth verse of “Allons z'enfants” (Join the Ranks Kids) by Boris Vian. There are six verses left to learn. 

           I finished working out the chords for “Dis-lui toi que je t'aime” (That I Love You Now Tell Him) by Serge Gainsbourg. I ran through singing and playing it in French and tomorrow I’ll do the same with my translation. I may have to make some slight adjustments to my translation and then I’ll upload it to my Christian’s Translations blog to prepare it for publication. 

            I noticed part of my journal didn’t get saved last night and so I’ll have to re-write some of it later. Word is getting glitchy because my free student version is about to be deactivated. I’m going to have to buy it by October 3. 

            During song practice I played my Martin acoustic guitar for the first of four sessions. I think I finally got a take of “Vomit of the Star Eater” without any major errors. I did two takes of “Sixteen Tons of Dogma” but again hit a wrong chord near the end. 

            I weighed 87.6 kilos before breakfast. 

            I weighed 88.2 kilos before lunch. I had a toasted corned beef sandwich with mustard and a glass of low sugar iced tea. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I weighed 87.75 kilos at 17:45.

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:45. I paused the conversion of part A of my song practice video for September 22 and converted the 1922 Tom Mix silent film Sky High to H264AVI. I then imported it into Movie Maker and copied it to the end of the timeline for my Me and Gravity project. It’s kind of a racist movie in the way Chinese people are referenced. Mix plays Immigration Agent Grant Newberry. A gang is smuggling “chop suey eating Chinamen” into the US it seems from Mexico by way of the Grand Canyon. On top of that the Chinese are smuggling jewellery and lace. In the first scene he stops a car and finds the driver is smuggling Chinese in drag. The ringleader of the smuggling operation is Jim Frazer, the guardian of a college student named Estelle Halloway. Estelle was scheduled to holiday in Calexico with her guardian but he tells her to meet him at the grand canyon instead. She travels with her roommate Marguerite and Marguerite’s brother William but Estelle receives a telegram that her guardian will be delayed. She goes walking in the canyon with William but he makes a pass at her and so she goes off by herself only to get lost. Meanwhile Grant has gone undercover as a member of the gang camped out in the canyon. He pretends to be turning in for the night and goes into his tent only to sneak out through the back. That’s as far as I got with about 45 minutes left. 

            I uploaded today’s song practice video. I finished converting the September 22 videos. I’ll start converting September 23 overnight. I've reviewed the first hour of the September 20 video. 

            I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sandwich bread with Basilica sauce, five-year-old cheddar, a few french fries and an egg. I made a boundary around the edge of the bread with the cheese and fries so they would hold the egg in. I had it with a beer while watching episode 17 of The Big Valley. 

            Nick comes home from San Francisco with a fiancé he’s only known for five days. She is a beautiful and sophisticated young woman named Hester. She exchanges affectionate greetings with Nick’s brothers but lingers longer with Heath. He goes to kiss her on the cheek but she catches his kiss on her lips. She teaches everybody the latest dances. The family takes an annual camping trip to Indian Springs where they have a lumber camp. Hester is a city girl and has never been camping before. She’s reluctant but gives in. They go to a dance at the lumber camp and all the men want to dance with Hester. By the time Nick gets a chance she’s too tired and asks him to take her back to their campsite. Heath comes back and finds Hester crying. He comforts her and she goes into his arms. Then she runs away and tears her dress on a branch. But when she runs into Nick’s arms he gets the wrong impression and thinks Heath molested her. He attacks Heath and when Heath kicks him away he rolls down the hill, landing on his back and possibly breaking it on a rock. Heath rigs up a restraining device to keep him from moving. They try to transport him that way but they can’t cross the river so Eugene goes for a doctor. Later Nick tricks Hester into loosening his bonds and he tries to leave with her but collapses in convulsions. The doctor comes and says Nick’s back isn’t broken. Hester decides she needs her party life in the city for now and says goodbye to Nick. She leaves with the doctor. 

            Hester was played by Diane Baker, who was born and raised in Hollywood but left for New York at 18 to study acting and ballet. Her film debut was as Margot Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank. She co-starred in Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Mirage, Strait Jacket, The 300 Spartans, and The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit. She starred in Tess of the Storm Country. She co-starred in the Night Gallery episode “They’re Tearing Down Tim Riley’s Bar”. She co-starred in the two part finale of The Fugitive, which was the most watched broadcast in the history of episodic television at the time. She co-starred in the sitcom Here We Go Again. She played Blythe House on the TV series House. She produced the TV film Portrait of Grandpa Doc, the movie Never Never Land, and the mini-series A Woman of Substance. She played Rose Kennedy in Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. She became the executive director of the School of Motion Picture, Television and Acting Academy. Then she headed the acting program at the San Francisco Academy of Art.