David Hurst

            On Monday morning I worked on memorizing the rest of the first chorus of “Ballade de la chnoufe” (Ballad of the Snuff) by Boris Vian. 

            I worked on memorizing the first verse of “Les Millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg. I should have it nailed down tomorrow. 

            I weighed 87.9 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since last Monday. 

            I played my Kramer electric during song practice for the last of two sessions and it stayed in tune the whole time. It went out briefly after I used the tremolo bar but then snapped back in tune by itself. Tomorrow I’ll begin a four session stretch of playing my Martin acoustic. 

            I weighed 88.75 kilos before lunch. That’s the most I’ve pushed the scale in the early afternoon since December 14. 

            I took a siesta and slept from 14:30 until 16:36, more than half an hour longer than usual. It was too late to take a bike ride downtown so I just rode to Ossington and Bloor. On the way back I stopped at Freshco to buy a can of cranberry sauce. I can make it better myself but it takes too long, is messy, and I end up with too much for just me. I gave Priscilla my favourite cashier $10 and thanked her for all her help with price matches. I’ve seen people tip supermarket cashiers at Christmastime but it’s the first time I’ve ever done it. 

            I weighed 88.15 kilos at 18:00. December 14 was the last evening I was that hard on the scale. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 19:07. 

            I reviewed tape 2, side 2 and part of side 1 of the recording of my third or fourth annual 20,000 Poets Under the League poetry slam that featured Sahara Spracklin as host. She went into a bit of a boring rant against the government for a few minutes but overall she was entertaining. After someone read a poem that mentions his girlfriend having 4 or 5 orgasms while having sex with him she said, “I think that girl has a yeast infection. I had a yeast infection once and I came 14 times”. 

            I reviewed the videos of my song practice performances of “Ne me quitte pas” and “Please Don’t Quit Me Now” from October 3 to 14. I played “Ne me quitte pas” on my electric guitars on October 3, 5, and 9 but the camera battery charge ran out before one song and during the other two. I played it on my Martin acoustic on October 7, 11, and 13. On October 7 the camera battery charge ran out before this song. On October 11 the video was corrupted. On October 13 the take at 14:30 in part B was okay. On October 4, 6, and 10 I played “Please Don’t Quit Me Now” on my electric guitars. On October 4 the camera shut off before this song. On October 6 the take at 1:14:45 was okay. On October 10 the take at 4:30 in part B didn’t sound bad. I played it on the Martin on October 8, 12, and 14. On October 8 the take at 14:15 in part B wasn’t bad and looked good. On October 12 the video was corrupted. On October 14 the camera battery charge ran out before this song. 

            I had a potato with margarine and skyr, and my last slice of roast pork with peach chutney while watching season 2, episode 8 of Car 54 Where Are You? 

            Muldoon’s sister Peggy has a chance to appear in a Broadway play but when Muldoon hears she has to audition in the producer’s Park Avenue apartment he is afraid of the casting couch. She assures him that it’d a legitimate backers’ audition in which the play will be presented to several businessmen. To be safe, Muldoon and Toody show up in tuxedoes. The producer Fenwick says the minimum investment in the play is $2000 but the backers are sure they will make a profit of 12 times that much when it’s a hit, plus a million from the movie sales. Toody decides to fill out a pledge though he doesn’t have $2000. The next day he tries to get the guys at the precinct to invest $100 each. Captain Block is against it until railroad president Van Wyck tries to buy Toody’s pledge for $6000. Block now realizes what a solid investment the play is and won’t allow Toody to sell. With Block’s encouragement all the twenty officers put in $100 each. Later however they learn that the play is actually about police brutality and the NYPD will be scandalized if it becomes public that the 53rd Precinct has invested in a play about police brutality. When it hits the papers what the play is about the producers encourage Robin Stuart the author to visit a precinct and see that there is no brutality there. Muldoon and Toody are going to bring him to the 53rd. When Block hears this he sees there are several happy people visiting the precinct: a woman whose dog was saved, an old cleaning lady to whom they gave a job, a mother whose missing boy was found, a sobered up drunk who is grateful that they let him sleep it off, and a couple they stopped from fighting who feel they saved their marriage. He tells the officers to keep all those people there so Stuart can see them. But time goes on and Muldoon and Toody are delayed by a flat tire and by running out of gas. The previously happy people are getting more and more annoyed that they are being kept from leaving until by the time Stuart arrives the whole precinct has erupted in violence. Later Stuart understands it was all a misunderstanding and he’s decided to turn his play into a musical comedy. 

            Stuart was played by David Hurst, who came to England from Germany as a rescued orphan Jewish child. He studied art in Ireland and first acted with the Belfast Repertory Company. He joined the British army during WWII but was put into entertainment services rather than being allowed to fight because he was German. His West End debut was in The Perfect Woman in 1948 (he also appeared in the film version). He made his TV debut in the British sitcom The Adventures of Aggie in 1956. After several plays and films in England he moved to the States in 1957. He won the 1959 Clarence Derwent Award and the 1964 Obi Award (for A Month in the Country). In 1960 he created the role of Merlyn in the original Broadway production of Camelot. He played Rudolph the headwaiter in the film version of Hello Dolly. He played Hodin in the Star Trek episode The Mark of Gideon. He was a visiting professor of Drama at Yale and other universities. In the 1980s he returned to live and act in Germany.