1. First he picked up Ed and then Stu swung by my place in his 1968 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Holiday 4-door Hardtop, powered by a Rocket 455 V-8 365 horsepower Hydra-matic engine, a true classic.
We cruised the gut in Kellogg and visited Wardner. We toured parts of Sunnyside and headed out to Elizabeth Park and did our best to identify the houses of friends who once lived there. My memory has sure gone foggy and I could never have identified who lived where the way Stu did.
Mostly, I remembered the day I violently sprained my ankle when I stepped in a small hole in the park that sits inside the Elizabeth Park loop. Oh! And birthday parties -- one that was filmed at Kenton's house and another at Don Windisch's house.
2. Our ultimate destination for the day was The Outlaw Bar and Grill in Mullan.
We strolled in, plopped ourselves at the bar, and I ordered a long neck bottle of Budweiser with a frosted glass, knowing that this beer was going to be perfectly cold -- and it was.
I ordered a simple hamburger. The Outlaw serves 1/2 pound burgers and all I wanted on mine when it came out was dill pickles. I added my own mustard and ketchup. I also ordered fries and enjoyed a couple more bottles of beer.
My burger was delicious, a solid sandwich. I enjoyed the well-aged environment at The Outlaw, much like I enjoy the feeling of an old and enduring place when I go to the Prichard Tavern or to Murray's Sprag Pole. Our server was animated, quick with witty wise cracks and laughter, bluntly honest about things, and perfectly attentive. She, along with the delicious food, cold beer, unpretentious setting, and fun company made our visit to The Outlaw for lunch a blast.
3. Back home, I relaxed. Debbie spent some time with Diane and after she returned, she wondered if there were something interesting and enjoyable we might listen to over the wireless speaker. I did a quick look at the front page podcasts Spotify featured today and decided to put on the first episode of This is Jeopardy: The Story of America's Favorite Quiz Show.
Because television quiz shows had been exposed as rigging their contests in the 1950s, question and answer shows had fallen out of favor. In 1964, while Merv Griffin and Julann, his wife, were mulling over game show ideas, Julann came up with a brilliant idea. Since the quiz show scandal had revolved around contestants being provided in advance with answers to questions, Julann suggested creating a game show in which the game gave contestants the answers and they had to say what question it answered.
The idea took hold and Jeopardy became very popular, first as a morning program and then, in 1984, as a syndicated evening show.
Right now, only one episode of this podcast has been released.
I'll keep an eye out for the other episodes.
Having heard Merv Griffin discussed on this podcast, I turned on the SmartyPants television and did a quick search for episodes of The Merv Griffin Show.
We watched a very early episode that featured a hilarious standup bit by Phyllis Diller and she was a thoughtful and funny interviewee when she took the couch next to Griffin. We didn't watch a lot more of this show, but it was sure fun flashing back to how Merv Griffin presented himself and to listen to the great Arthur Treacher do his part as Griffin's introducer and sidekick on the set.
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