Sunday, December 5th, 1976

Felt lost all day.

Big FRITZ article in the ENQUIRER today.

I worked some on my EC paper.

IT for the third day in a row...badly.

I wrote an unconventional letter to Yoshiko and voted in the Comic Art Fan Awards.

My depression wasn't helped by an empty-handed return from uptown when I had expected to get records.

I cowardly avoided DUCK SOUP so I could wallow in my bad day. Felt better by night anyway, though. New McMILLAN tonight. Also saw Farrah commercial and watched CATCH 22. VERY confusing!

NOTES: No idea why the local CINCINNATI ENQUIRER would have been writing about FRITZ THE CAT at this point, many years since the 2nd and last film had been released. Can't think of any other "Fritz" I could have been referring to, though, other than perhaps artist Frank Frazetta whose nickname was "Fritz." Not sure I knew that then, though.


CATCH 22 is a movie that just totally doesn't work for me. Some good performances are mostly wasted in an effort to translate Joseph Heller's now-classic novel into some semblance of linear order...which seems to miss the point. I gave it another go a few years back on cable but it still lost me...except for Bob Newhart!


McMILLAN AND WIFE was a long-running segment of NBC's Sunday Mystery Movie series. alternating with McCLOUD, COLUMBO and a 4th series that changed fairly often. Starring the seemingly mismatched team of tall, rugged, laconic, middle-aged Rock Hudson and young, ditzy, flighty and short Susan St. James as, essentially, a Nick and Nora Charles variant, with Rock as the Police Commissioner of San Francisco, it was a fun mystery series in a wonderful setting. Nancy Walker appeared memorably as their housekeeper. 


By 1976, Susan St. James, very much a free spirit in real life, had had several babies and left the series. Nancy Walker's star was rising, too, so she moved on. Rock had shaved his porn star mustache of the early seasons and allowed himself to go a tad grey and supposedly his wife had died. His new housekeeper was aging loud-mouthed comedienne Martha Raye. As simply McMILLAN, this night was its first episode. It would only run one season thusly but the episodes were still choice and in the end this is my favorite Rock Hudson performance.