Sunday, March 31st, 1974

Tomorrow is April Fool's day.

I finished my book and watched some more of the telethon.

Mom bought me the new McCartney record and ordered my baseball tickets.

This evening I watched part 1 of THE MOVIES and OSCARS, ACTORS AND THE EXORCIST.

IT twice.

NOTES: I can't recall either of those two TV specials.


IT twice? That was nothing. My record for one day was 5 times. Ahem...


The McCartney record was most likely the single of JET that had come out the month before. Mine was in a simple, plain sleeve. Doubt my mother would have purchased it if it looked like this image!

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Saturday, March 30th, 1974

There was a real bad storm last night.

I got a paperback book all about Bruce Lee along with a lot of good comics. Also got THE MONSTER TIMES with an article on Bruce.

We did NOT get to the movies. Either of them.

I watched a little of the Easter Seals Telethon which started at 11.

NOTES: The Bruce Lee book, the first of many, may to come, was THE LEGEND OF BRUCE LEE by Alex Ben Block. I bought them all for the next few years and I still think this one was the best.

Friday, March 29th, 1974

I got free baseball tickets from school today for my grades.

This morning I found a pen-pal letter in the mailbox. It must have been overlooked yesterday.

Terry and I may go see  a couple of movies tomorrow in Newport.

Mister Deters is coming again tomorrow about the job.

Mom says the girl might come next week about the Hot Wheels cars.

NOTES: Hot Wheels were cool. Sizzlers were even cooler!

Thursday, March 28th, 1974

I thought I did pretty well in Volleyball today but some guy almost started something with me because he didn't think so!

There's not much school left this year. I fear those big exams.I've never had one before.

I've got to do an essay and composition this weekend.

Hopefully my pen-pal letter will be showing up soon.

NOTES: I never really knew what I was doing when it came to Volleyball but as I think I mentioned before, I was surprisingly good at serving. It may have had something to do with my peculiarly acute sense of balance but I had a talent for hitting the ball across the net and making points! It never came up outside of Gym class as I never knew anyone who actually played Volleyball in real life. 

Wednesday, March 27th, 1974

Again I have high hopes of seeing THE EXORCIST. This weekend I also may see CONRACK at the Place.

I probably can't take that big test in English so I'll just have to do a lot of extra credit work.

I'm writing a composition soon about my favorite (and least favorite) movies of recent years.

NOTES: So weird. My son came home today in 2012 upset with a B+ he had gotten in English, Says he'll just have to do a lot of extra credit work. 


CONRACK was one of Jon Voight's biggest films since MIDNIGHT COWBOY made him a star five years earlier. I wouldn't end up seeing it until it hit TV a few years later, though. It was based on the autobiography of teacher Pat Conroy who would go one to become a best-selling author whose works I would be selling throughout my long bookstore career. 

Tuesday, March 26th, 1974

We got report cards today. I got 4 A's--including one in my worst subject, IBS--and 3 B's. I hope I'll still get the free baseball tickets although I probably won't end up using them all.

Tomorrow, I'm supposed to make up a test in English but I don't know how I'll be able to with no study halls.

IT again tonight.

NOTES: Straight A students were rewarded with tickets to see multiple Cincinnati Reds games. I had a history of getting them. Doesn't seem like I'd get one for a mix of A's and B's. We'll see. Below, though, is a card they gave out 2 years earlier, when I was in 7th Grade, to show off to relatives that you had won the tickets for your grades and attended the games. I was never big on baseball but my Dad sure was so it was always a nice treat for him. We always took Mom, too, which means I guess we had to buy an extra ticket. 

Monday, March 25th, 1974

IT.

Yesterday, Dad told me he saw a whole magazine about THE EXORCIST. I went everywhere today looking for it while I was off school but nothing! Finally, I bought a great mag on THE TELEVISION YEARS and a teen mag with articles and photos about Linda and Bruce Lee. When I got home, my Dad said that this was the one he had seen all along!

I also picked up a few more old comics at the Ohio Book Store.

NOTES: THE TELEVISION YEARS was an incredible find for a lifelong TV fan like myself. It was more or less a linear history but all told in heavily annotated photographs of the shows and personalities including many long unseen by that point! I definitely learned more about TV history here than I had ever learned prior to that! All these years later, of course, this has borne fruit in my latest blog,
http://bookstevechannel.blogspot.com/


And yes, I still have it.