I memorized the second verse of “Dessous mon pull” (Under My Sweater) by Serge Gainsbourg. There are four more verses to learn and the last three lines of every verse are the same and so I just have to learn four new lines of each verse.
I weighed 87.45 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I’ve been in the morning since April 2.
I played my Kramer electric during song practice and it stayed in tune the whole time. Tomorrow I begin a four session stretch of playing my Martin acoustic.
In the early afternoon I did my laundry. I wanted to paint in the bathroom but I was almost out of underwear so it had to be laundry day.
I weighed 88 kilos at 16:10. That’s the easiest I’ve been on the scale in the early afternoon since March 28. I had saltines with peanut butter, five-year-old cheddar, baba ghanoush and a glass of iced tea.
I took a siesta until 18:10.
I went out and bought a six-pack of Creemore but they didn’t have any cases in the cold room so I got a warm one and put a can in the freezer.
I weighed 88.25 kilos at 18:35. It’s been a week since it’s been that low.
I worked on getting caught up on my journal but I was still behind at the end of the day.
I made pizza on a slice of seven grain bread with marinara, tomato pesto, a chopped slice of ham, five-year-old cheddar, and a sunny side up egg. I had it with a glass of Creemore while watching season 3, episode 8 of The Carol Burnett Show.
During the audience warmup someone asks Carol if it’s true she used to swoon over Merv Griffin. She confirms that she loves Merv, and then Merv comes out. Carol seems surprised but the audience member must have been a plant. It seems he’d just started a new show in LA and Carol was on the first episode. She asks if his crazy wife had come out. He admits his wife is a bit odd. That would be Julanne Wright who was an actor and comedian. They were married from 1958 until 1976. Although he created the show Jeopardy the premise was her idea.
Carol brings out Andy Griffith and he announces that he’s starting a new show but doesn’t know what kind of show it will be. Since this was 1969 the show would have to be his short lived sitcom Headmaster.
Griffith tells his version of the Aesop’s fable “The Mouse and the Lion”. A lion let’s a mouse live when he promises to help him out some day. He does help him when he chews him free of a lion net. The moral is that no act of kindness is ever wasted.
The VIP interview is with the King Family. The King Family TV show had just been revived. The previous show had been on from 1965 to 1966 and it starred The King Sisters and their family. The King Sisters had been a big band singing group that was popular from the mid 1930s to the mid 1940s. This was a parody of the King Sisters. They were all blonde but one of them was black and another, Becky was played by Harvey Korman in drag. Bonnie says Beckie was adopted after being left on their doorstep in a fruit basket. The black on is Beulah who was forced into the group by the Supreme Court. Bonnie says they treat her just like a sister. Beulah asks why she has to sing in the back row.
Carol reads a poem sent to her by an 8 year old named Kelly Wright:
Pink
Pink is a pony that runs very fast
Pink is a colour that always will last
Pink is a castle upon a bright hill
Pink is a little spot on a bird’s bill
Pink is a panther I see on TV
Pink could even be letter C
Pink is the blanket on my own bed
Pink is always alive not dead
Pink was my sweater a long time ago
Pink is a famous colour you know
Pink is bologna you wrap in cellophane
Pink is my very own window pane
Pink should even take place in the sky
That’s my story of pink
Goodbye
Carol sings “I Believed it All” by Al Ham, Alan Bergman, and Marilyn Bergman.
In the next skit Maggie (Carol) is complaining to Joyce (Vicki) about her husband bringing his work home with him. Joyce leaves and says she and Harry will be over for bridge later. Maggie’s husband Joe (Andy) comes home and opens the door by shooting the lock off the door. He’s a riot cop with a visor helmet. She asks for a kiss but he has to frisk her first and doesn’t lift his visor when he kisses her. He brags about being shown on TV today beating up a long haired and bearded protestor. He clubbed him because he got between him and the television camera. Maggie complains that he never notices her anymore. He argues that he does. She asks how she looks and he says, “Female, Caucasian, 5’7”, 115 lbs, late 30s”. At the mention of her age she punches him in the gut. She says last night he arrested her for going topless in their own bedroom. She starts shouting at him and he asks if she has a permit to make a speech. She starts throwing things at him and he threatens her with mace. She says, “Oink oink!” and locks herself in the bedroom. He tosses a tear gas grenade into the bedroom but she comes out wearing a gas mask. Joyce arrives for bridge but Harry is a fireman and he breaks through the door with an axe.
Vicki Lawrence and Don Crichton are dressed as Ruth Buzzi and Arte Johnson’s Laugh-In characters Gladys and Tyrone. Gladys is on a park bench and Tyrone is a dirty old man who Gladys always hits with her purse. In this case they are doing it to the tune of the 1968 hit song “Mah Na Mah Na” by Piero Umiliani. The Muppets and Benny Hill made it an international hit.
At the end the real Ruth Buzzi and Arte Johnson come out dressed as Gladys and Tyrone. The two Gladyses escape from the two Tyrones who walk off arm in arm.
In the Carol and Sis sketch, Carol’s husband Roger is obsessed with watching football on TV on Sundays. Carol complains that she doesn’t see him all week except for Sundays and then he’s glued to the game. Roger argues that he’s out in the jungle all week trying to make a buck so Carol’s sister can eat her nine meals a day. Carol gives up because she’ll never be able to separate Roger from his game. Then the doorbell rings and it’s their attractive neighbour Cindy. Suddenly Roger turns off the TV and welcomes her. After Cindy leaves, Carol and Chrissie start acting like Cindy as they unplug the TV.
Andy narrates a fairy tale set in the US south called Cinderellie. It’s basically a hillbilly version of Cinderella except that instead of a prince, the ball is thrown by Mr. Prince, the richest sharecropper in the land. Cinderellie has to stay home and do chores but wishes on a wishbone that she could go to the ball. Her very effeminate fairy godfather Rocky appears (played by Harvie). Rocky is short for Raquel. He sings a song about how much he loves his wand. He tries to make her beautiful but nothing happens. He looks at his wand and blames the Japanese batteries. He turns it up to full power and successfully transforms her. He gives her transportation to the ball in the form of a pair of roller skates. She says she’s gonna have a gay old time. Rocky says if he thought that he’s come along. At the ball the dancers do a kind of comical square-dance called by Andy. Cinderellie arrives and catches his eye. She’s pretty good on roller skates. She sort of dances with Andy but has to leave at midnight, leaving one roller skate behind. Like in the fairy tale Prince goes looking for the foot that fits the footwear and goes to Cinderellie’s stepmother’s house but it doesn’t fit her or her two daughters. Rocky asks if he can try it on but Prince says if it would fit he still couldn’t marry him. Rocky says, “You’re such a square!” As in the story the shoe fits the heroine. Prince tells her she doesn’t look that good in the light of day but he’ll marry her anyway.
Merv Griffin started playing piano at age 4. He was a singer on the radio and also wrote songs. His album Songs By Merv Griffin was the first in the US to be recorded on magnetic tapeBy the age of 20 he hosted and sang on his own 15 minute radio show five days a week. He became a big band singer for the Freddy Martin Orchestra. He became famous in 1950 when he had a number 1 hit with “I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts”. He subsequently had hits with “Wilhelmina” and “Never Been Kissed”. Doris Day liked his nightclub act and got him signed with Warner Brothers. He co-starred in So This is Love, He hosted the game show Play Your Hunch from 1958 to 1962. He was a regular performer on The Arthur Murray Party and The Tonight Show with Jack Paar. When he guest hosted for Paar the show got very high ratings and so NBC decided to give him his own talk show in 1962. Based in New York, Griffin tended to embrace more controversial subjects than the Tonight Show. In 1965 he was called a traitor after his guest was Bertrand Russell who denounced the Vietnam War. Griffin tried late night but couldn’t compete with Johnny Carson and so he went back to daytime and lasted for 13 years. Arnold Scharzeneggar made his talk show debut on Merv’s show. He created Jeopardy (originally called What’s the Question?) in 1964 and wrote the music for Final Jeopardy. His show Dance Fever lasted from 1979 to 1987. He created Wheel of Fortune in 1983 based on the game hangman. He wrote the theme song. He sold his production company for $250 million in 1986 but still shared in the profits. He was at that time one of the wealthiest entertainers in the world. He still created puzzles and questions for Jeopardy up until he died in 2006. He won 15 Emmys during his career. He bought the Beverly Hilton where the Golden Globe Awards are held. He bought the Hilton Scottsdale Resort in Arizona and St. Clerans Manor in Ireland. he controlled closed circuit coverage of horse racing across the US. His tombstone engraving reads, “I will not be right back after this message”.
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