1) According to the internet, today is Gloria Swanson’s birthday. Instead of returning to my beloved Sunset Boulevard, let’s enjoy her vocal hit of 1929, “Love, Your Magic Spell Is Everywhere,” as seen in her film The Trespasser. Skip past the musical introduction to 00:25 for Gloria, honking away at the piano. I love this.
1a) Ben Selvin did a dance band version, which I also love.
2) A quick roam through the Athenaeum this morning yielded some treasures: The Correct Thing in Good Society (which I have borrowed before), Lars Porcena, or The Future of Swearing and Improper Language, by Robert Graves; Don’t: A Manual of Mistakes and Improprieties more or less prevalent in Conduct and Speech (1883), of which I have a newer edition; and, in preparation for my coronation trip a month (!) from now, George V: Never a Dull Moment, by Jane Ridley; and at long last, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
2a) I have always avoided Pride and Prejudice, mostly because everyone else just flocks to it. Emma and Persuasion have had my allegiance all this time. But since I will be spending a couple days in Bath, I feel like I must read it before I go.
2b) Also, the 1940 movie version with Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Mary Boland, Marsha Hunt, Ann Rutherford, Karen Morley, Melville Cooper, and my beloved Edna May Oliver, has softened me toward it. Yes, I know, I know — it is inaccurate to the wildest possible degree! not least in its use of hoopskirts. But we must remember that they’d just made Gone With the Wind the previous year and had all those hoopskirts lying around in the wardrobe . . .
3) My Little Green Card was not in my wallet when I opened it at ye Ryche Brys supermarket. Instantly I knew I would have to return to the Scene of my Lunch, the Back Deck, to retrieve it. All I had to do was walk in the door — resplendent in white spring overcoat, pale green bow tie, and burgundy fedora — for the Nice Young Barman to turn toward the register. I didn’t even have to say “I believe you have something for me!” It seems my card was the talk of the bar, as two young men there joined in the general rejoicing, as well as complimented me on my turnout.