Mel Keefer

            On Tuesday morning I reworked my translation of the second and most of the third verse of “Le petit Lauriston” by Boris Vian. 

            I continued working out the chords for the last verse of “Sacha Distel et Jean-Pierre Cassel’s Song and Dance” by Serge Gainsbourg but got stuck when I saw that Cy Strom’s transcription of the French for the second line was not entirely accurate. He said it was “Que voulez-vous honte de ne pas être naturel” but I’m pretty sure the word “naturel” is not being sung. It sounds more like “y eut a celles” but I don’t know if that’s grammatically correct. I’ll go with that though and hope that someone corrects me if I’m wrong. But people aren’t like me. If I know something’s wrong online and there’s an opportunity to comment, I’ll offer a correction. I’m sure I’ve gotten lots wrong in my posts but nobody ever corrects me. 

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

            I weighed 86.6 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I cleaned the older warm mist humidifier. It took a little longer than usual because I only had three cups of vinegar, which is not enough to fully soak the heating unit while it’s still in the tank. I had to soak it separately with the same vinegar in a salad bowl later. Maybe I won’t have to clean it again until fall but I probably will. 

            I got caught up on my journal. 

            I weighed 86.75 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride and stopped at Freshco on my way back. I needed shaving gel, toilet paper, 2 in 1 shampoo, and Garden Cocktail, but since I was there I thought I’d buy some grapes since they’re on sale. But the green grapes are even cheaper at Longos and I tried to access the flyer on my phone but couldn’t get there. Longos kept asking for my postal code but the key pad wouldn’t come up. Finally I just got five bags of green grapes at their price and a pack of raspberries, plus the other stuff I’d come for. I asked Priscilla if they price match Longos but she said they don’t so I wasted my time trying to find the flyer. I found it later in case I use it at No Frills some time. 

            I think I’ve got my bike saddle at the right height now or pretty close. 

            I weighed 85.6 kilos at 18:39, which is the lightest I’ve been in the evening since February 9. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 19:42. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song “Seven Shades of Blues” I edited some more of Wings of Desire. I kept the dream sequence with the angel and the trapeze artist. I deleted everything up until the now former angel meets the ex-angel Peter Falk. At this point Movie Maker froze and wouldn’t function no matter how many times it restarted. This happened a few years ago and weeks went by before one particular project unfroze. I made it work just now as a test. There are only 36 minutes left so hopefully tomorrow I can finish Wings of Desire. That’s the only part of the project that’s been freezing. 

            I was making my supper salad and realized that I forgot to buy lemons and so I went over to Queen Fresh where I bought three lemons and three limes for $5. I’d always thought that business was only run by two women but there were two men there helping to close up. One of the women came from the back to handle my transaction. 

            I had a tomato, avocado, cucumber, and scallion salad with lime juice and a glass of Garden Cocktail while watching episodes 13 and 14 of The Adventures of Batman. 

            In the first story, the Joker robs the city treasury and plants some of the money in the mayor’s safe, some in the district attorney’s desk, and the basement of the chief magistrate. Then Joker calls a press conference to accuse those three officials of corruption. The police find the money and confirm that the Joker is right. Joker also announces that he is running for mayor and that Professor Ludendorff is going to help him. Batman explains to Robin that Ludendorff is the most brilliant scientist in the world. Batman and Robin go to Ludendorff’s lab where the Joker has just taken the professor’s invention for rigging voting machines. They try to stop him but two of Joker’s men attack. It only takes two baterang throws to put the thugs out of commission. Then Joker shoots argon electrical gas at the heroes but they manage to get themselves and the professor out of the way before it explodes. Later in the warehouse where the voting machines are stored, Joker’s men are planting hacking devices on every one. Batman and Robin confront them but they are trapped inside a voting booth. The Joker wins the election. Batman and Robin are facing each other while tied to beams in the warehouse. They put their feet together and push, causing the beams to break. They go to the mayor’s office to confront Joker. He orders Batman and Robin arrested and says the new district attorney is Riddler and the new chief magistrate is Penguin. Commissioner Gordon and Chief O’Hara refuse to cooperate and so they are arrested with Batman and Robin and sentenced to thirty days. When Alfred hears of this he flies the Bat Copter above the jail and lowers a hook, which Batman attaches to the bars. The helicopter is somehow able to pull the window out of the wall and Batman and Robin escape up a ladder to the chopper. Since Joker took their utility belts he’s inadvertently bugged himself and now Batman and Robin can listen in on his conversations. They hear that Joker, Penguin and Riddler will be visiting the city treasury that night. When Batman and Robin try to stop them from taking the money they are surrounded by police. They escape with their bat ropes. Then the Penguin goes to the prison with an order to release all the convicts and have them report to his office. He gives each one a jet umbrella and tells them to use them to rob the city and bring the loot to him. When Joker returns to his office he sees Penguin and Riddler gone and when he looks out the window and sees all the flying umbrellas he realizes that his partners have gone into business for themselves. Batman and Robin see the flying umbrella’s too and follow them back to the Penguin’s nest. They nab him but then Joker arrives with the cops to arrest all three of them. Batman and Robin escape. Riddler in his capacity as district attorney acquires secret plans of the defense plant. He is driving away when he sees the Batmobile and it causes him to crash into a tree. Joker captures Professor Ludendorff and ties him to the back of a target at the shooting range. Batman and Robin confront Joker but he knocks them out with gas capsules and they are also tied to the back of targets. Joker calls Gordon and O’Hara to tell them they need shooting practice. They are about to shoot when Batman kicks a lever that turns the targets around. Batman tells them that the professor can prove Joker rigged the voting machines. The Joker is giving his victory speech when Batman and Robin arrive at the theatre. He sees them and tries to run but baterangs knock sandbags on top of him. 

            In the second story a Viking ship encased in ice is seen in Gotham Harbour. There appear to be real Vikings frozen inside. But beneath the ship is a submarine captained by Mr. Freeze. Freeze has his men melt the ice and free the Vikings. They all climb into Freeze’s ice cream truck and are driven to his ice factory hideout. His plan is for them to plunder Gotham and because scholars think they are real Vikings they won’t want them attacked. They rob a bank and a scholar won’t let the cops shoot. Then the Vikings raid a department store. Batman and Robin arrive and beat them. The anthropologist escapes with the Vikings to protect them. Batman and Robin confront them again outside the building. When the professor hears one of the Vikings calls Batman and Robin “caped creeps” he realizes they aren’t Vikings after all. Freeze escapes with his thugs and freezes the Batmobile. Batman and Robin follow in the Bat Copter to the harbour where Freeze is sailing on the Viking ship. Batman and Robin lower themselves onto the ship and fight Freeze’s men. Freeze escapes below to his submarine but Robin follows to be immediately frozen in Freeze’s ultra cold environment. Batman throws a pole into the water that damages the engine of Freeze’s submarine and causes it to heat up. Freeze could die without 50 below temperatures and so Robin uses Freeze’s gun to put him on ice. 

            Some of the layouts for these episodes were done by Mel Keefer, who trained as an illustrator at the San Diego School of Art. His first job was drawing the Perry Mason newspaper strip. In 1955 he co-created the golf themed Mac Divot comic strip and it ran for twenty years. He also drew the strips Thorne McBride, Rick O’Shay, Dragnet and Gene Autry. He did the artwork for the film How To Murder Your Wife. He did layouts for 58 episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. He drew the Zorro comic for Dell and Gold Key after Alex Toth quit.