Ben Cooper

            On Thursday morning I gathered more images of Zizi Jeanmaire for my photo-video of “Les millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg. I changed the wording of the search and found pictures from some of her movies like Guinguette. 

            I weighed 89.65 kilos before breakfast. 

            I played my Martin acoustic during song practice for the last of four sessions and it went out of tune during every song. Tomorrow I’ll begin a two session stretch of playing my electric guitars.

            I finally put away my laundry. 

            I weighed 90.1 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Shaw and Bloor where the bike lane is still blocked with snow. I went south to Harbord and west to Ossington, then south to Queen. I stopped at Freshco on the way home where I bought five bags of cherries, a pack of raspberries, some bananas, a pack of hot Italian sausages, a loaf of multigrain sandwich bread, two packs of Full City Dark coffee, some pho broth, some chicken broth, two packs of gourmet ramen noodles, and a can of generic tomato soup. I tried to show my Scene card at the cash but couldn’t find it because I typed the search wrong and people were waiting so I gave up. Afterwards I found it right away. 

            I weighed 90.15 kilos at 18:40, which is the most I’ve weighed in the evening since February 2.

            I was caught up in my journal at 19:27. 

            I recorded from cassette tape through audio interface to Audacity and then extracted to my hard drive side 1 of tape 1 of my fourth and final Slamnation poetry slam, hosted again by Cad Lowlife. There was a small turnout that year. 

            I made two sub-folders for photos in my SSD. 

            I boiled a chicken leg with a potato and had them with gravy while watching season 1, episode 18 of Combat. 

            K Company is cornered by a tank that is closing in but suddenly it bursts into flames and from behind it walks a US soldier with an anti-tank gun. He introduces himself as Corporal John Cross and he’s been sent as a new recruit for K Company. As a corporal, Cross would be in command if anything happens to Saunders. 

           They are sent to occupy a farmhouse at the top of a hill and Saunders has Kirby and Cross come with him to check it for Germans. It’s empty above and seems to be unoccupied in the wine cellar but then Cross sees a German bayonet come from the shadows behind Saunders’ back. He aims his rifle but doesn’t fire. Then Kirby arrives and shoots the enemy. There are other Germans that Saunders now kills. Saunders confronts Cross about his failure to fire and he says his gun jammed but Saunders checks and Cross’s weapon is fine. His second explanation is that he froze. Since Cross already showed himself to be brave Saunders doesn’t buy it and there’s a suspicion that Cross wants to be in command. 

            Later they see two German soldiers with a donkey arrive to bring supplies for the soldiers they think still occupy the farmhouse. Saunders sends Cross into the barn after one of them but the German sees him and tries to sneak away in the dark. Cross has a clear shot as the German leaves through the back door but doesn’t fire until after he’s gone so as not to arouse suspicion. 

            Later Saunders finds Cross drunk in the wine cellar. He tells him that he was transferred because he accidentally killed his sergeant. Then he confesses that he let the German soldier go and so more will be coming. The Germans come and are shooting mortar shells at the house, tearing it apart. Cross sneaks out with a rifle and crawls until he flanks the mortar cannon nest. He takes out most of the men but is shot multiple times. Saunders takes out the rest. 

            Kind of boring coward turned hero in the end trope they’ve done before. 

            Cross was played by Ben Cooper, who made his Broadway debut at the age of 9 in Life With Father and was in the play for 4 years. He had his own horse by the age of 12 and practiced stunts. He rehearsed his quick draw for 90 minutes a day for four years. Between 1946 and 1952 he worked on several popular radio soap operas and serials. He made his screen debut in 1950 at the age of 17 in Side Street. He co-starred in The Woman They Almost Lynched, Outlaw’s Son, The Eternal Sea, The Headline Hunters, Duel at Apache Wells, A Strange Adventure, The Fighting Chance, Rebel in Town, and Chartroose Caboose.