1. I'm not sure why I was confused about the day of the week today. I thought today was Thursday. Debbie had planned to leave Eugene on Thursday and drive to Portland. I'd been waiting throughout the day for a text message from Debbie, hoping to find out she arrived at Patrick and Meagan's apartment. Then she called me about a matter unrelated to her trip to Portland and I realized it was Wednesday.
Well, I realized it for a short while because later I texted Carol to say I wouldn't be at the park to hear her, Paul, Molly, and friends perform until around 6:15 or 6:30 because of the heat. Then, I drove over to the park at around 6:15 and I was puzzled that no one was there. I wondered if the Music in the Park had been canceled because of heat, but that didn't seem right, and then suddenly I remembered that when I talked with Debbie earlier, we'd agreed that it was Wednesday, not Thursday. Not only that, but I had put the empty garbage can away when I took the Sube out of the garage and I do that on Wednesday.
2. Now, I do think I got this right: Debbie had planned to leave Eugene on Thursday, spend time with Patrick and Meagan, and then drive to Kellogg on a later day. Now she's contemplating staying in Eugene a bit longer. When Debbie texted me that she might delay her return, I responded, "Sounds good. You have my full support." It's really a good thing that we are used to making decisions and then changing them on the spur of the moment, used to letting the spirit rather than a strict adherence to the calendar guide us when we travel, make "plans", and so on.
3. I returned home after my comical drive to the park.
Earlier in the day, over at Vizio University, I had watched YouTube videos on the Be Kind Rewind channel. The videos on this channel are superb as the creator of these presentations, Izzy, explores different women in the movies and looks at different controversies that have arisen in movie history. Today I watched her splendid exploration of Anne Bancroft's career up to the moment she won the Best Actress Oscar for Miracle Worker. When the ceremony took place, Bancroft was unable to attend. She was acting in Mother Courage and her Children and so, controversially, Joan Crawford accepted the award on her behalf. Crawford had NOT been nominated that year for her performance in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, but her co-star, Bette Davis, had. It meant Crawford got to go to the podium and receive a statue and Davis, who felt robbed, didn't.
So, it makes sense that the Anne Bancroft video was Part I of a two part series exploring in depth to what degree a feud actually existed between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Part II is a superb survey of both women's careers, the different approaches they took in advancing their careers, and is as much an examination of newspaper stories, some kind of true, many exaggerated, about their relationship. Izzy made this video after the mini-series Feud came out and makes it a point to help her viewers see where Feud didn't always portray things as they actually happened.
I also watched Izzy's superb examination of the career of Ruth Gordon, with special emphasis on her performance in Rosemary's Baby. Ruth Gordon won her first Oscar as the Best Supporting Actress and Izzy's treatment of her decades of acting and screenwriting that preceded her winning this award was fascinating. In addition (thank you Izzy), the video also included Ruth Gordon's performance after Rosemary's Baby as Maude in Harold and Maude, a heartwarming coda to the rest of the video.
I got home from my mistaken drive to the park and decided I was in the mood for another black and white courtroom drama, having watched Anatomy of a Murder, on Sunday.
To my delight, Witness for the Prosecution (1957) is an offering on Amazon Prime and I called it up and enjoyed it thoroughly.
Two performances especially entertained me. Charles Laughton is superb as the arrogant bannister recovering from a heart attack. He's the defense attorney in the trial. I don't remember ever seeing Marlene Dietrich in a movie until today and I found the range of her performance as the wife of the defendant staggeringly brilliant.
Is this movie famous for its many surprises and twists and turns in the plot?
I don't know.
If it's not, I think it should be!
Whoa!
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