Well, dear readers, when I was a wee sprig of a twig of a tad of a lad of a youth, I was glued to the TV set, but only for specific shows. My local kiddie show host shows were always a must – Sheriff John and Engineer Bill, never missed ‘em. But as for TV series, I would never miss an episode of Superman or Roy Rogers or Wild Bill Hickock, The Cisco Kid, but most especially a little show called The Lone Ranger. Oh, how I loved The Lone Ranger. Back then, we didn’t know from the William Tell Overture, we didn’t know from Rossini, that music WAS The Lone Ranger, period, the end. I loved everything about the show – his outfit, his mask, his voice, his disguises, the dignity of Tonto and what a trusted friend he was, Kemosabe, Silver and Scout, the bad guys always getting theirs. The minute that music began and that wonderful opening narration: “A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty ‘Hi-Yo Silver’… The Lone Ranger! With his faithful Indian companion, Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early West. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. The Lone Ranger rides again!” And thrilling days of yesteryear they were. You’ll know why I bring this up a little later in the notes. But through the years, even as I got older and older, I still watched The Lone Ranger whenever I could, and Superman, too. The others all went by the wayside, but those two I never tired of. In any case, return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear – well, yesterday.
Yesterday wasn’t especially thrilling but it wasn’t bad. I had to deal with a tiny bit of unpleasantness, but it was quick and relatively painless, at least for now. Then I got news that it looks like we’ll have the three errant and truant titles in by Monday so they’ll ship in two batches next week, as we can’t overload the helper’s mom, who actually does the shipping. I did get a little over eight hours of sleep, answered e-mails, did some work on the computer, then decided on food and ordered it. I did the Cheesecake Factory again, but not the same items. Before I discovered the farfalle with chicken and roasted garlic, my favorite dish there was the spicy chicken over rice thing. I haven’t had that particular dish in over a decade, so that’s what I ordered, along with an appetizer-size Caesar salad.
The food arrived about forty minutes later. That size Caesar certainly looked smaller than it does in the restaurant, but it was just right for me. I ate a few bites, then moved onto the chicken and oh my goodness was it fantastic. It’s very garlicky and has scallions and cashews in it – the flavor is one I wouldn’t know how to describe. My plan was to eat half the salad and half the chicken and save the rest for later, essentially two meals from one. But sometimes plans go awry when you’re addicted to something you’re eating, and damn if I didn’t finish the whole thing. I never went back to the salad, so that I put in the refrigerator and I also hadn’t eaten any of the bread, because I literally thought I was going to explode.
Then I started up the motor car (no mail to go pick up) and let it run for fifteen minutes, whilst I opened up the garage, brought my last pack of waters in, and also pulled out some more Blu-rays and DVDs to watch. I closed the door and shut off the car.
Then it was time to do this little test I was talking about. I can’t really say too much about it until I know we’re actually going to do it. Once we got used to how it worked, it was okay, but a little confusing to li’l ol’ me. So, we’re exploring a few other avenues and we’ll see what comes of it. But it was fun to do. After that, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled 5ive. Don’t look at me, that’s how it’s spelled on the cover. I’d only seen this film once, when I’d TIVOd it. I’d bought the DVD but never watched it. This was a VERY low-budget motion picture ($75,000), made by Mr. Arch Oboler, who had a very popular radio show called Lights Out, a precursor to The Twilight Zone type of shows. 5ive was the first American film to deal with a post-atom bomb world where there are only five known survivors. It’s not very good, but it does have interesting things in it. It was all shot in the guest house of Oboler’s Malibu ranch – the house designed by the one and only Frank Lloyd Wright and which burned down just a year or so ago in one of the many fires we had. The script is a real talkfest, and the direction is perfunctory, but it’s enjoyable in its way. The cast went on to do other films, but none of the actors ever achieved much stardom. Well, one of them did go on to play one of the vilest characters in all of cinema, Mayella Ewell’s pappy Bob Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird. He’s pretty vile in this, but with some accent of unknown origin. The transfer is basic and fine.
Then I watched the key motion picture of the evening on DVD – The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold, the sequel to the first big-screen Lone Ranger adventure, which was cleverly called The Lone Ranger. It’s not enhanced for widescreen TVs, just letterboxed in the 4×3 frame and at 1.66 rather than the 1.85 it should be, but the color is quite vivid and lovely, and it looks okay. It’s not a great film (nor is the first one) but what fun I had returning to those thrilling days of yesteryear. Clayton Moore IS The Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels IS Tonto. And the Indians in this particular film are treated with such dignity in the face of the racism that’s thrown at them during the movie – it’s surprising how beautifully they’re shown, a real tribute to the makers of the show and to Mr. Silverheels. Anyway, I loved every minute of it.
After that, I ate the rest of the salad and some of the bread and that was great. Then I took a twenty-minute drive. I’m always surprised that there are any cars on the road but there are. I drove to Encino then took the freeway back home and that had cars, too. Are they all taking drives? I would doubt it, which means they’ve been off somewhere visiting or are coming home from some essential job, although what that would be at eleven-twenty at night is not known to me. Once home, it was time to start writing these here notes, which, in case you haven’t noticed, is what I’ve been doing.
We just had a nice little scare that no one needs right now: The internet went down. I couldn’t believe it and I was about to make a truly nasty call, but within two minutes it had come back. That kind of thing really would drive people right over the edge into an abyss.
Today, for a change I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll decide on food and then eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages and mail, and then I have some organizing to do as regards the test thing we did, and then I’m sure I’ll watch and listen and take a drive. And so it goes.
The rest of the week is more of that and let me tell you that returning to those thrilling days of yesteryear cannot happen quickly enough.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, eat, hopefully pick up packages and mail, organize, watch, listen, and take a drive. Today’s topic of discussion: We’ve done it before, but I always enjoy the responses – what were your favorite never-miss TV shows of your childhood? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as we bide our time until we return to those thrilling days of yesteryear.