Lucette Aldous

            On Friday morning I continued to work on memorizing the eighth verse of L'anguille (The Eel) by Boris Vian. 

            I also struggled with learning the third verse of “Il est Rigolo mon gigolo” (He’s a Giggle Oh My Gigolo) by Serge Gainsbourg. It’s a simple song but it’s very hard to memorize because every verse is similar but slightly different so it’s easier to get the lines mixed up than it would be if they were completely different. 

            I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio during song practice and it stayed in tune for about five songs. 

            Around midday I touched up the underside of the metal bathroom rack with Blue Bliss paint. On Sunday since I don’t think I’ll need to clean my humidifier I’ll touch up the top and then it will be ready to mount on the wall, perhaps on Wednesday. 

            I weighed 89.95 kilos before lunch. I think my scale has recovered from when I dropped it a few days ago. It was registering about 2 kilos too few for a while but now it’s closer to what I weighed when I was at my doctor’s office. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I weighed 89.45 kilos at 18:00. I was caught up in my journal at 20:40. 

            I grilled eight chicken drumsticks and had two with a potato and gravy. 

            I went onto Discord because my daughter Astrid and I had a date to watch Wednesday but she didn’t show. I know she didn’t forget because she messaged me at 12:30 and said she was going to bed but would set an alarm for 20:30. Probably she’d been up all night and slept through the alarm. 

            I waited an hour until 22:00 and then kept my mic open while watching season 7, episode 12 of The Carol Burnett Show. 

            This episode was her special live show from the Sidney Opera House in Australia. The show opens on the plane as the cast discuss how when one goes to Australia one loses a day. Harvey says it’s better than the other way. When you go to New York you lose your wallet, your watch and some teeth. Tim Conway says you lose in one direction and gain in the other, “Sounds like one of my wife’s diets”.

            Carol opens the show at the Opera House by singing “Today” by Jerry Herman from the 1966 musical Mame. 

            Carol talks with the audience about making “Waltzing Matilda” the Australian nation anthem. There’s a contest to rewrite the lyrics to make it anthem worthy rather than being about a poacher who commits suicide. A vote was taken but “Waltzing Matilda” didn’t win. It’s considered to be Australia’s national song but not its anthem. Carol says, “You had a contest for this building so it will only take 47 years. 

            In the first skit Tim Conway, in his old man character, plays Arthur Arthurstein, the oldest conductor in the world. He stumbles around as usual, then he swats a fly. In trying to shake the fly off the swatter he conducts the 1812 Overture by Rossini. He then somersaults off the stage. 

            Lucette Aldous and Edward Villella dance "Le Corsaire Pas de Deux". 

            In the next skit the husband and with acting team Funt and Mundane played by Harvey and Carol are to play a theatre in Australia. But the producer has locked Mundane in her dressing room because she’s drunk and Vicki the understudy will be playing her part. But after the play has started Mundane breaks out and staggers loudly onto the stage in character. On top of that, Funt’s toupee keeps flipping forward half off whenever he bends over. Vicki’s opening line was “I have left my husband Horace for you” but Mundane says, “I have left my husband’s horse for you”. Funt tries to ad lib that she is just a neighbour that’s wandered in by mistake. She looks at Vicki and thinks Funt’s character Reginald has gotten a new mirror. Funt and Vicki are doing a scene on the couch. Mundane sits on top of him without knowing his there. She feels his legs coming out from under her dress and thinks she’s gone numb in her own legs. Horace played by Lyle comes in with a gun. Funt punches Mundane and she falls behind the couch. She comes out with a hammer and taps the floor a few times, then she announces that the Sidney Opera House is finished. Horace has come to shoot Mundane’s and Vicki’s character Helen. He shoots Mundane but Vicki who is standing behind her falls down playing dead. Reginald mourns over her even as Mundane pulls her up standing alive. Then she pulls off both Funt’s toupee and Vicki’s wig and they run from the stage. 

            In the final skit Carol’s character the Charwoman comes out onto the stage alone and it’s set up as the set of the Swan Lake ballet. This is a re-enactment of the skit from season 4, episode 19 in which the Charwoman joins the other ballerina’s as a swan but still wearing her boots. Edward Villella’s character shoots the swan played by Lucette Aldous with a crossbow and the Charwoman punches him out. But then she does a comical pas de deux with him. He can’t lift her and so she lifts him. 

            Then the Charwoman sits on her bucket and sings “I Could Have Danced All Night” by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner from the 1956 musical My Fair Lady. 

            Lucette Aldous started training at the age of 3. At 17 she received a scholarship to study at the Royal Ballet School in London. She made her professional debut at 19 with the Ballet Rambert in Variations on a Theme. She joined the London Festival Ballet in 1963. She became the resident principle dancer of The Australian Ballet in 1971. She co-starred in the film adaptation of the ballet Don Quixote. In the mid 70s she retired from full time performing and taught at the Australian Ballet School. She was recognized as an Australian Living Treasure in 2004. She was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2018.