037: The Girl From Italy

The brief synopsis of this one as featured in Wikipedia's episode guide is "Bilko attempts to make a newly arrived immigrant girl look presentable". Just imagine pitching that as a script idea to the BBC in the present day.

Bilko finagles tickets to My Fair Lady - featuring Julie Andrews, I didn't know she was a thing in the '50s - for himself, Rocco and Henshaw while they're visiting New York. Meanwhile, Rocco learns that his brother has called off his wedding with an Italian girl who's just arrived off a boat, after meeting her for the first time. Apparently arranged marriages were a thing in the Italian immigrant community back then.

The Italian national stereotype is really laid on thick here - Rocco's big momma pleading "she's-a nice-a girl" to his brother, for example and bursting into overwrought tears with all the Italian hand-wringing going on. And there's an elderly Italian gentleman who only ever says "hello Joe!".

But I think the actors used probably are at least Italian American, and (hey) it's a sitcom after all.

Of course they did their best to make the lowly immigrant girl look unsophisticated and peasant-like to start off with, but actually from the moment we see her it's obvious she's a babe - albeit swathed in black peasant dress with pigtails. Then again I suppose I'm a connoisseur.

The whole story is, of course, a sort of affectionate pastiche of My Fair Lady.

Sinatra gets a mention. There's something slightly melancholy, I find, about hearing these references to people who would continue to be household names in the '60s and '70s, from way back when.

Not a bad one.

Quote from: David L on February 07, 2023, 10:43:53 PM"circumstances are different now" ?

It's surely obvious that we're no longer in the crisis phase of the pandemic, isn't it?

Another dry and sunny day so off out on the bike after work I went, once again. A very simple plan with a slight innovation - I wanted to do about 20 miles of the southbound route and come back, but approach Stoney Stanton via a different way. Last night while poring over a route planner I'd spotted a different route that would take a bypass round Earl Shilton then enter Stoney from the west.

Obviously the bypass is intended for heavy traffic and not really very rural, but it made a change from the uphill slog into and through Shilton. Nicely surfaced as well. And fortunately despite the time of day, the traffic was fairly light.

I stopped after about 20.5 miles, ate a Cornish pasty while propped against a farm gate, then came back the traditional way.

Listened to another few hours of the Reacher novel - it really is very good, I can see why they used it as the basis for the film. It's quite different from the film in some important respects though, and of course a lot more involved and detailed. Reacher doesn't even get mentioned in the first hour of the book. And there's a surprising twist after the first few chapters that the film doesn't have.

My rear light froze again - stopped flashing and wouldn't respond to the on/off button. At least it was stuck in "on" mode. I suppose I should chuck it.

Back on 40.32 miles, and that's 144 done this month - not bad for the first week of a February. Some questionable weather on the horizon, though. But the coming weekend looks good.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8523102864

Quote from: David L on February 07, 2023, 05:41:58 PM

Sorry?

Quote from: David L on February 07, 2023, 07:11:54 AMBP's profits for 2022 more than double that of the previous year. Tells you all you need to know about how the world works 

Thing is, it's feast or famine for the big oil companies. It's not long ago that BP turned in an enormous loss ($20bn in May).

Quote from: Nickslikk2112 on February 04, 2023, 08:46:18 PMUFO - No Heavy Petting (Clear vinyl)

That was one of those records that I listened to a lot, but only for about a year. Shame as there are some banging tunes on there, Natural Thing and Reasons Love especially.

Anyway Faust - Faust

Wordle 598 3/6

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Another very quick one, one minute.

037: Bilko Goes To College

Bilko and his men are the guests of Schmill University, where they have been asked to provide training on Army vehicle maintenance to students. One of the Deans asks Bilko to provide some army discipline to a young student who has gone astray; a young man who happens to be the son of a millionaire.

Bilko naturally sees an opportunity to make some money at cards, but it's a short-lived hope. The lad has no money of his own and he's already in debt to a gambling syndicate.

It's another Bilko-vs-the-bad guys-while-trying-to-feather-his-own-nest sort of episode.

There's a moment in this one when the audience breaks into spontaneous applause - actually nowhere near the episode's funniest moment. Seems a bit odd but then, this did happen 60-odd years ago. Different world.

Quite a clever one, this one.

None of it takes place on Fort Baxter and there's still no sign of Colonel Hall or the other sergeants.

Quote from: David L on February 06, 2023, 08:30:28 PMBooked your booster yet, Slim?

This is about the fourth time you've asked me that. Why do you feel it's important? Do you imagine that something in your stance will have been vindicated if I haven't?

My views on the vaccines are pretty clear in my mind. I don't enjoy them, I'm very confident that they lessen the risk of health complications, but the risk - to me - is very small either way. I do recognise that there was a civic and moral duty to be vaccinated during the crisis period of the pandemic rather than be carried by those who were, but the circumstances are different now.

One of Campbell's misinformation videos analysed here:

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/studies-covid-19-vaccination-doesnt-increase-risk-death-misleading-video-europe-excess-death-john-campbell/

Won't stop Campbell making a fortune out of the frightened and gullible, of course.

The sun set just after 5pm today, in NW Leics.

Jesse Marsch has been fired .. no surprises I guess but a shame, he did very well there for a time.

This topic has been merged into Beer.

Wordle 597 4/6

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Pretty quick - a minute.

036: It's For The Birds

Bilko and his men are watching The $64,000 Question. A sailor wins the big prize, which leads Bilko to the thought that an Army man should have a go. So he looks for someone with expert knowledge on something to represent the platoon, so they can all share the winnings.

It turns out that there's an ornithology expert in the platoon, and it's Corporal Honnegan (aka 'The Stomach' from the eating contest story in the first series, played by Fred 'Herman Munster' Gwynne).

Having said that - although the corporal in question is played by Fred Gwynne, I was doubtful that it's the same character. For one thing he refers to having a large family, and Honnegan only got engaged in the first series. But I checked, and yep it's the same character name.

There's a new mess sergeant - the actor who played Sowici died before the second series was filmed. Ultimately though Sowici will be replaced by Ritzik (Joe Ross), but none of the other regular master sergeants have featured in these first two episodes of the second series. I think the mess sergeant in this one is just a one-off. Colonel Hall isn't in this one again, either. I wonder if Paul Ford had other commitments around this time?

Anyway - a good one.