Mary Frann

            On Wednesday morning I memorized the third verse of “L'amour en cage” (Love in a Cage) by Boris Vian. That’s half the song. 

           I finished working out the chords for “Rêves et caravelles” (Dreams and Caravelles) by Serge Gainsbourg. Tomorrow I’ll run through singing and playing it in French, then I need to make some slight adjustments to my translation. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the first of two sessions. It went out of tune a couple of times and even though it’s been fixed, when it does go out it is often still the B string, which still registers sometimes as in tune when it’s out. The guitar still sounds good though and I had a good time. 

            I weighed 86.85 kilos before breakfast. 

            At 11:15 I rode up the street to Family Dentistry for my appointment. Dr. Singh did a few fillings in the upper left corner and now I’m done. I have a check-up on January 6. 

            I weighed 87.25 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of iced tea. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. I met my upstairs neighbour David as I pulled up in front of my building. We chatted and he asked for a beer and so I gave him one of my cans of Creemore. 

            I weighed 86.4 kilos at 17:30. 

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

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the Christian and the Lions studio recording of Brian Haddon’s “The Ballad of My Chest Cavity” I shaved the video clip of the floating bubbles down to a tenth of a second. That brought the concert video in sync with the studio audio for the line “and I would know that you truly care”. But then in the next line, “And just one drop to wet my lips” the video edged ahead again and so I needed to find another outside clip to push it back. I searched for “water on lips”, “water in mouth”, and “drinking water” but didn’t find anything that fit. Next time I’ll try “water dripping”. 

            I started an October 2, 2024 Movie Maker project. I imported the song practice video and the audio from that date and placed them on their respective timelines. I synchronized the video with the audio just before supper. Tomorrow I’ll work on cutting out all the songs leading up to the final take of “Leave the Naïve Alone”. 

            I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sandwich bread with marinara sauce, basil pesto, two chopped up slices of back bacon and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 2, episode 17 of The Bill Cosby Show. A magician named Miraculous Martin has been hired to perform at the birthday party of Chet’s nephew. Martin is in the bedroom getting ready for the show but he’s been in there a long time. When Chet checks on him he finds him drunk. When he finally gets him to come out and start the show he immediately collapses. Chet escorts him home and stays for coffee. Martin says he’s not a drinker but he is scheduled to be married tomorrow to his long suffering fiancé Louise and invites Chet to the wedding. Once he sobers up he tells Chet that he has an audition for a good gig that afternoon but needs an assistant. He convinces Chet to play that role. As they begin rehearsing Chet sees that Martin is a very good magician after all. But at the audition the person in charge of the variety show says they already hired a magician and so Martin feels like a loser again with nothing to offer Louise. The next day Chet comes to pick Martin up for the wedding but finds him drunk again. He says he doesn’t want to get married and Chet says that’s fine but he’s going to have to say that to Louise. Chet gives him lots of coffee and sobers him up but he still doesn’t want to go. Chet grabs a pair of Martin’s handcuffs and links his and Martin’s wrists then forces him to go. Martin tries to convince Louise he’s a loser but she won’t accept it. Since Chet is tied to Martin he plays the role of best man and Martin and Louise are wed. 

            Martin was played by Dick Van Dyke. 

            Louise was played by Mary Frann, who became a child model and acted in TV commercials. She was Junior Miss of 1961. She dropped out of college in 1964 and moved from St. Louis to Chicago where she hosted a morning show and acted in local theatre. Her film debut was a co-starring role in Nashville Rebel in 1966. She had a recurring role on Days of Our Lives from 1974 to 1979. She was obsessed with her weight and began taking diet pills. In 1982 she beat out 200 other actresses to win the role of Bob Newhart’s wife on the series Newhart, which became a big hit and made her a star. The show ended in 1990. In 1993 she was diagnosed with heart arrhythmia. She volunteered in a mission for homeless women. In 1998 she went on a strict diet to prepare for her second wedding but it put a strain on her heart and she died of cardiac arrest in her sleep.