Gale & Company
Last night Movies!, channel 5–2 on OTA in NYC, ran The Fuller Brush Girl (1950), a madcap romp starring Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert. It is as close as the redhead ever came on the silver screen to the TV persona that brought her fame and fortune. The plot has the couple framed for murder. It was directed by Lloyd Bacon, who has 130 titles under his name at IMDb. John Ford, 146, is believed to have been the most prolific. Screenwriter Frank Taslin was no slouch either, amassing 90 credits as a scenarist and 112 as a director. There are many familiar faces in the farce, including a cameo by Red Skelton, the star of The Fuller Brush Man (1948). The cast member who intrigued me most is Gale Robbins, whom I did not recall. She played the femme fatale, a burlesque singer/dancer. Born in 1921, she had a nice run in the entertainment business, beginning as a model, moving on to music, radio and then into films, TV and theater. She fronted several orchestras and toured with Bob Hope at the tail end of WWII. There are 45 titles under her name. She appeared on The Untouchables, Thriller, Mr. Ed, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke and other popular primetime fare. She capped her career in 1975 with a stage appearance in Stephen Sondheim’s Company. Tragically her husband, a construction engineer, died at 47 in a building accident. She herself succumbed to lung cancer at 57 in 1980. She was a mom of two. Here is the talented beauty:
Want to stay young? Headline from nypost.com: “Ex-Versace model credits youthful looks to drinking his own urine.” Include me out.
Here’s the close to an NYP article that features a great new term: “Faucists talk about COVID-19 as if the pandemic is still some kind of we’re-all-in-this-together civilizational struggle that justifies and necessitates the suspension of civil liberties, whole industries and school time” — “harmful restrictions” that “will apparently last for years, for decades or forever.”
Headline from foxnews.com: “Florida man busted with meth and coke wrapped around his penis, tells cops it’s not his.” Wish I could think of a punchline.
Also from FN: “Oklahoma murder conviction tossed after judge found to be having affair with prosecutor.” I thought that happened only in movies.
First goose egg for the floating book shop since September, ninth of 2021. At least it was a beautiful day to be outside, although the wind got stronger as the afternoon progressed. My thanks to my constant benefactress, who delivered six books, and to Andy F-Bomb, who donated two dandy kids titles; and to the woman who dropped off a paperback mystery in Russian.
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