December 25, 1995: I spent Christmas day with my daughter

Thirty years ago today 

            On Monday I spent Christmas day with my daughter. I don’t remember exactly what I got her for Christmas. Maybe the little xylophone and of course lots of other toys and candy.

Barnard Hughes

            On Tuesday morning I pretty much finished merging the two texts I had for “Les Millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg. Now I can work on memorizing them with less confusion. 

            The Duralex Picardie glasses I ordered arrived. I had thought for sure that 500 ml would be bigger than the ones Nick Cushing bought me but they are the same size. AI says that Duralex doesn’t make anything bigger than half a liter so that must mean the glass that Nick accidentally broke a few years ago couldn’t have been made by Duralex. I did some research and found that what I need is an iced tea glass and the only company that seems to make glasses that big that look something like Duralex Picardie is Libbey’s Gibraltar. I tried to buy some directly from Libbey but they don’t ship to Canada. That’s rude! But I found a Canadian restaurant supply company that had one case left and so I bought it.

            I weighed 87.65 kilos before breakfast. 

            I played my Martin acoustic during song practice for the first of four sessions and it stayed mostly in tune.

            Around midday I touched up the paint at the top of the rest of the west, all of the north, and about a third of the east bathroom walls. I’ll probably have the top edges of the walls finished tomorrow and then I can start touching up the walls where they meet the shelves. 

            I weighed 88.35 kilos at 18:15, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the evening since December 14. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. I was caught up in my journal at 19:00. I reviewed the rest of cassette 2 of the recording of my third or fourth 20,000 Poets Under the League slam and digitized it. 

            I compared the video of my song practice performance of “Ne me quitte pas” on September 5, 2024 to that of September 9 of the same year and they sound about the same but September 5, looks a bit better. I compared the video from September 11, 2024 to September 5 and found September 11 is better. I compared September 15 to September 11 and found September 11 looks better. I compared September 21 to September 11 and the winner is still September 11. I compared September 25 to September 11 and the latter is still ahead. I compared September 27 to September 11 and the winner is September 11. I may not upload it to YouTube but I’ll probable make a video for study. 

            I cut up a whole chicken and grilled the parts. I had a leg with a potato, margarine and skyr while watching season 2, episode 9 of Car 54 Where Are You? 

            A gang from Kansas City is trying to move in on the Bronx. The cops have them under observation but they can’t pick them up until they commit a crime. Captain Block gives every officer special assignments but not Toody. He feels depressed because he never gets picked. He decides to walk home rather than getting a ride with Muldoon as usual. Gangsters Patsy Peru and Teddy Moran are hanging around on the street when Toody is walking by and Patsy thinks he’s Moose Mankowitz. Toody happens to know Moose is in prison and when Patsy mentions other gangsters, Toody knows where they are as well. Patsy thinks Toody is a gangster and Toody thinks Patsy and Teddy are undercover cops. Patsy thinks Toody is very smart and invites him to break with his own gang and join theirs. Surveillance photos show Toody talking with Patsy and so Inspector Henderson wants Toody to join the gang. He is welcomed in and Toody learns about the job they’re planning. They are scheming to steal furs from Schumaker’s Warehouse but Toody informs them the furs aren’t there anymore. They’re now at Sweeney’s Warehouse. So the plan for tonight is to knock over Sweeney’s. Toody says he’s got to call his mother to tell her he won’t be home for dinner and Patsy is impressed that Toody not only has brains but also heart. Toody calls the captain about the caper and so the entire precinct stakes out Sweeney’s. Patsy puts Toody in charge of the operation but he lets it go to his head. When he sees his fellow officers he shouts out, “Cops!” and leads the gang out of the building. Henderson lets it slide because Toody says Patsy’s going to call the big boss tonight. That night Toody learns from Patsy that the boss’s name is Biggy Bigalow. Biggy has the blueprints for the Metropolitan Savings Bank. But Toody tells Biggy his plans are no good because the safe and the tellers have been moved and the burglar alarm is now state of the art. He also tells him exactly when each patrol car will be going by. Biggy thinks he’s in the presence of a genius and so he tells Toody to pick a bank. Toody calls Block who tells him to pick the Third National Bank but on the way back to Biggy he hears a catchy jingle for the Federal City Savings Bank. Toody helps the gang easily break into the Federal City and wonders where his colleagues are while the cops are all waiting at the Third National and wondering where Toody is. The gang has the money but Toody wants to delay so there’s time for his friends to get there so he tells them to take the adding machines, then the filing cabinets. When Biggy asks why, Toody answers “fingerprints”. Biggy thinks that’s genius and so he has the gang carry away everything they touched. When Block sees the emptied Federal City Bank he asks, “How can such a dumb cop be such a smart crook?” Biggy wants to blow town but Toody tells him he’s got an even bigger job to do first. He whispers it to Biggy who says he’ll need help for that. He calls in all the big bosses from across the country: Duke Ducette from Chicago, Freddy the Fox from Miami, Big Ed Hawkins from New Orleans, Hollywood Harry from California, and Fats Futterman from Minneapolis. Toody tells them the job he has planned is robbing Fort Knox and they are shocked. He says they have no worries about being picked up before the job because they will all be in Leavenworth Prison. The bosses wonder how they would get out but Biggy says that will be child’s play for Toody’s brain. They all have things they can be arrested federally for except for Fats who has only committed state offences until finally he says he’s a draft dodger and so Toody says he’s in. As they all climb into the paddy wagon Toody says to wait till they hear from him before trying to break out. Biggy kisses Toody before he is taken away. Captain Block kisses Toody too. 

            Henderson was played by Barnard Hughes, who honed his craft in Shakespeare repertory. He made his Broadway debut in 1939 in Please Mrs. Garabaldi. He was nominated for a Tony in 1973 for his performance in Much Ado About Nothing. He won the 1988 Tony award for his performance in Da. He was a regular on The Guiding Light from 1961 to 1966. He co-starred in The Hospital, Rage, Where Are the Children?, and Maxie. He played the gay john that Joe Buck murdered in Midnight Cowboy. He played two roles in Tron. He won an Emmy for his guest appearance on Lou Grant. He co-starred in the series Doc, Mr. Merlin and The Cavenaughs.

December 24, 1995: My daughter spent Christmas Eve with the Hammermeisters

Thirty years ago today

            On Sunday my daughter’s grandparents dropped her off on their way to church. Nancy probably picked her up on her way back from shopping downtown. The Hammermeisters did their present opening on Christmas Eve and so Christmas day would be my time with my daughter.

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.

December 23, 1995: Nancy picked our daughter up after shopping

Thirty years ago today

            On Saturday I probably spent the day with my daughter and maybe we played in the snow. Nancy likely picked her up in the evening when she was done shopping.

Mara Lynn

            On Sunday morning I memorized the first half of the chorus of “Ballade de la chnoufe” (Ballad of the Snuff) by Boris Vian. 

            I memorized the opening monologue and the chorus of “Les Millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg. I continued to work on merging the original text that I’d copied with the transcribed text that Sonix made from the audio. 

            I weighed 87.35 kilos before breakfast. 

            During song practice I played my Kramer electric for the first of two sessions. It stayed in tune most of the time. 

            Around midday I cleaned with high acid vinegar the warm mist humidifier that’s been running over the last week. 

            I weighed 88.2 kilos before lunch, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the early afternoon since last Sunday. I had a toasted rosemary bagel with peanut butter, five-year-old cheddar and a glass of iced tea. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. At Yonge and Dundas I was stopped at the red light and carefully trying to make my way to the curb by walking my bike through the holes in the pedestrian stream that was crossing. A woman with a stroller stopped at my front wheel and told me I was kind of in her way. I could see she could easily veer around the front of my wheel and calmly asked, “I’m in your way?” When she started screaming at me I said I was just walking like everybody else. 

            I weighed 87.9 kilos at 18:10. That’s the farthest I’ve pushed the scale in the evening since last Sunday. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 19:13. 

            I reviewed side 2 of tape 1 of my third or fourth 20,000 Poets Under the League poetry slam hosted by the amazing Sahara Spracklin. I digitized the tape but I know the copy will have glitches and so I’m looking forward to getting my Sony cassette player back and repaired from AMI. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “Ne me quitte pas” and “Please Don’t Quit Me Now” from September 29 to October 2. I played “Ne me quitte pas” on my Gibson Les Paul Studio on September 29 but the camera battery charge ran out while I was struggling to get a good take. I played it on my Martin Road Series on October 1 but the camera shut off before this song. I played “Please Don’t Quit Me Now” on my Gibson on September 30 and my Martin on October 2 and both times the final take didn’t sound bad. 

            I made pizza on two halves of a sesame seed bagel with marinara sauce, tomato pesto, a slice of ham each and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a glass of Creemore while watching season 2, episode 7 of Car 54 Where Are You? 

            A spiritualist con gang fronted by Madame Sonya is operating in the 53rd Precinct and trying to convince customers that dead loved ones want them to let Sonya manage their money. But nobody seems to have any money, causing Sonya to comment that the Bronx is great for pastrami but lousy for spiritualists. But then the gang leader finds a newspaper article about Count Dimitri Schnauser-Dosteyevski who has just married a woman in the Bronx. He thinks they just need to scam his new wife in order to get her to hand over the count’s money. They try to find the count’s phone number and end up with that of Officer Leo Schnauser and his wife Sylvia. Sonya calls Sylvia to tell her that her husband’s first wife Celeste is trying to contact her from the great beyond. Sylvia is very superstitious and agrees to meet Sonya in the morning. But that night Sylvia starts asking Schnauser about another wife when he was never married before and he starts to think that Sylvia is losing her mind. He says he was married to Queen Elizabeth but they split up when he told her he didn’t want his wife to work. Then when Sylvia keeps pushing he tells her he was married to Greta Garbo but when it was over she promised she’d never mention him again and the evidence is in all of her interviews. Not once has she mentioned Leo Schnauser. Schnauser tells Toody and Muldoon about it and even though Toody knows Schnauser was never married before he keeps asking what Celeste was like. The next day Sylvia goes to see Sonya and communicates with the voice of Celeste who tells her she is a countess. That night she greets Leo while wearing a tiara and calls him Count Schnauser. She says she would love to meet the Czar and Schnauser says he’ll arrange it. The next day he goes to see a psychiatrist to tell him about Sylvia’s delusions and invites him to come and meet her. Sylvia contacts Sonya and tells her about Schnauser’s reaction. Sonya tells her never to tell a third person about her contact with the spirit world because it will break the connection. She must pretend she knows nothing. And so when Schnauser brings home the psychiatrist, the doctor finds Sylvia acting normal and thinks Schnauser is the one with the delusions. Meanwhile Captain Block hears about Sonya from one of her customers and arranges for Toody and Muldoon to investigate. The grifters think that now that the count has heard about Sonya he’ll send his brother Sergei to get the goods on them. Toody comes in plain clothes as a customer and of course is immediately sucked in. At the same time they think Toody is the count’s brother and convince Toody that he was smuggled out of Russia and raised by a Romani band while his brother was raised by another. The psychiatrist calls up Block and tells him Schnauser thinks he’s a count. Then Block tells Toody and suddenly Toody thinks that he and Schnauser are brothers. Then when Toody tells Schnauser about it he flips and really believes it. The psychiatrist says that Toody and Schnauser just have to be driven around the familiar surroundings of the Bronx until they snap out of it. 

            The gang member who did the voice of Celeste was played by Mara Lynn, who studied classical dance in New York. She was a featured dancer in the 1948 musical revue Inside USA on Broadway, which ran for 339 performances. She supposedly gave acting lessons to Marilyn Monroe in preparation for Let’s Make Love. She co-starred in the movie Prehistoric Women. She was Ray Bolger’s dance partner on his last tour.

December 22, 1995: I shopped for stocking stuffers

Thirty years ago today

             On Friday I probably continued shopping for things to put in my daughter’s Christmas stocking.