Frank McHugh

            On Thursday morning I searched for the chords to “Au revoir mon enfance” (Goodbye My Childhood) by Boris Vian but no one has posted them. I worked them out for the intro and part of the first line. 

            I published on my Christian’s Translations blog “Naked or in Feathers”, my translation of “À poil ou à plumes” by Serge Gainsbourg and posted the lyrics on Facebook. I tried to find a YouTube video for the next Gainsbourg song that I didn’t complete for my project, which is “Le rent' dedans” (Cash for Rent). I found there is no single video for the song but it’s on Zizi Jeanmaire’s Casino de Paris concert album, which is available on YouTube. I bookmarked it and tomorrow I’ll download the album, then convert it to AVI, import it to Movie Maker and then make a separate video for the song. I can use that to learn the song and later I’ll post it when I publish my translation. 

            I weighed 88.7 kilos before breakfast. 

            I played my Kramer electric during song practice for the first of two sessions. 

            I’ve been editing the comedy documentary It Came from Hollywood and keeping only the clips I like.

            I weighed 89.5 kilos before lunch, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the early afternoon since October 19. 

            In the afternoon I headed out for my bike ride but it was raining hard so I just rode to Brock and Seaforth, then down to Queen and east to Freshco. The grapes were on sale for a very low price and not in horrible condition and so I got seven bags. I also bought a pack of raspberries, bananas, a jug of orange juice, two packs of Full City Dark coffee, and some two in one shampoo-conditioner. 

            I weighed 88.95 kilos at 17:35. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 18:35. 

            I reviewed my digitization of the cassette recording of the early Christian and the Lions rehearsal. As usual there was skipping but I copied it a least three times and skipping tends not to be in the same place each time. 

            I reviewed a cassette I had of someone else’s recorded music. There’s a choral piece on one side and on side B there’s Richard Harris reciting poetry but also some music. There’s an Australian version with didgeridoo of the song “Sun Arise” by Alice Cooper. I looked it up and discovered that Cooper didn’t write it. It’s by Rolf Harris, who wrote “Tie Me Kangaroo Down”. 

            In my “I Love You. Neither Do I (Gibson)” Movie Maker project I isolated the song and then partitioned off the different voices. I distinguished them with characteristic visual effects and published the video. I won’t be uploading it to YouTube because I think I can do better the next time I record. 

            I opened my 2024-10-10 Song Practice Movie Maker project and cut out the song that comes before “I Love You. Neither Do I”. I then copied the project as “I Love You. Neither Do I (Kramer)" and deleted everything but that song. I’ll do the partitioning tomorrow, then add the effects, then publish it. 

            I had a potato with gravy and my last chicken leg while watching episode 15 of Cain’s Hundred.

            Lieutenant Spencer picks up numbers racket boss Jack Garsell for questioning (He claims he’s only in the dry cleaning business) but on the way to the station there is an attempted hit. There’s not a scratch on Garsell but Spenser gets a wounded hand. A younger gang led by Larry Rome is trying to take over. A sweet old man named Wilbur Morton is a dedicated employee of Garsell. He gives him an antique book written by his great grandfather. Garsell misses the point by saying he’ll have it rebound. Garsell meets and confronts Rome but Rome is confident he’ll win because he’s not encumbered by a connection with the Organization. Garsell gives Wilbur the task of picking up the slips from the racing bets from a writer but he is attacked by two of Rome’s men. However Nicholas Cain and Spencer intervene. Cain doesn’t tell Wilbur who he is and lets him go with the slips. When Garsell hears about the attack he gives Wilbur an inside job as an accountant in one of his bet banks. He works with Jenny Harris who is also not a criminal. She’s just a single mother trying to make ends meet. Cain visits Wilbur in his small apartment and Wilbur invites him for dinner even after learning he’s a federal agent investigating Garsell. He refuses to rat on his boss but makes friends with Cain nonetheless. Wilbur says he’s helping Jenny move and Cain offers to help. But one of Garsell’s men walks in and recognizes Cain. Cain continues to try to get Wilbur and Jenny to testify against Garsell but they refuse. Wilbur argues that while gambling is against the law it isn’t really wrong and it’s no different from playing the stock market. Jenny later calls Cain and gives him the address of the next location for the bank, but one of Rome’s men happens to overhear. Wilbur and Jenny and the guard are waiting for the slips but nothing is happening because it seems Garsell has been tipped off. Rome and his men come in, shoot the guard and drop a live hand grenade before running out where they are caught by Cain. Inside the bank the grenade explodes and Jenny is hurt. Wilbur is dazed and staggering with his clothes torn but he’s uninjured. He makes his way to Garsell’s office and confronts him. He tells him he’s going to testify against him and then walks out. Garsell sends a man after him to kill him but Cain picks him up.

            Wilbur was played by Frank McHugh, whose parents had their own stock theatre company and Frank made his stage debut as a child. He performed in an act with his two siblings. He spent nine years performing in other stock companies. He made his Broadway debut in The Fall Guy in 1925. He made his film debut in 1929 in If Men Played Cards as Women Do. During WWII he entertained the troops in Europe with McHugh’s Revue. He made eleven movies with his friend James Cagney. He co-starred in College Lovers, The Widow from Chicago, Going Wild, Up For Murder, Corsair, The Crowd Roars, Parachute Jumper, Mystery of the Wax Museum, Grand Slam, Private Jones, Hold Me Tight, Professional Sweetheart, Son of a Sailor, Merry Wives of Reno, Let’s Be Ritzy, Return of the Terror, Here Comes the Navy, 6 Day Bike Rider, Maybe It’s Love, Gold Diggers of 1935, Stars Over Broadway, Moonlight Murder, Ever Since Eve, Swing Your Lady, Going My Way, One Way Passage, Boy Meets Girl, Valley of the Giants, Indianapolis Speedway, Four Wives, Manpower, The Runaround, Little Miss Big, The Pace That Thrills, It Happens Every Thursday, and Easy Come Easy Go. He starred in He Couldn’t Say No. He starred in the radio show Phone Again Finnegan. He played Willis Walter on The Bing Crosby Show. With James Cagney, Spencer Tracy and several other actors he was part of a group of friends known as “The Irish Mafia”.