Sunday, September 29th, 1974

My sore throat is now a rotten cold! I didn't sleep well at all. Felt terrible. I started taking some prescription medicine i had left over from the last time I felt like this.

I spent several hours this morning returning to the "good old days" by playing my Beatles singles and reading books.

Man, it was a really long day.

Mom and Dad went to see the Reds. I stayed home and watched a Martin & Lewis flick on TV. Later tonight, Joey Heatherton was on with Sonny Bono and I watched Bronson in THE VALACHI PAPERS. It was really good!

NOTES: THE VALACHI PAPERS was based on the true story of the testimony of gangster Joe Valachi. It was one of the last really good roles Bronson had before becoming labeled as an "action star" and then later an exploitation star. What a terrible poster, though!

Saturday, September 28th, 1974

IT. It'll probably happen again, I guess, but not as often I bet.

We had lots of car troubles. Might get it back from the garage by Monday.

I got two more PEANUTS books.

Saw several folks I know from school on TV's IT'S ACADEMIC as my beloved school barely blew it.

I saw THEATRE OF BLOOD again.

Terry said they called to tell him the STAR TREK thing was postponed for another couple of weeks.

Tomorrow, I hope to catch up on a lot of work.

Was up early this morning with a sore throat so bad I couldn't get back to sleep. It didn't get much better the rest of the day.

NOTES: For the umpteenth time, the past imitates the present or the other way around, I suppose.  IT'S ACADEMIC was a long-running TV game show featuring regional series with teams made up of students from local high schools. I had wanted to be on our school's team. That was the one thing I really wanted that year but for reasons lost to time I was passed over. Can't recall who was on it at this point. Now, in 2012, there's no longer a TV show but the competition still exists and my son is, according to the team sponsor who we met this evening at the parent/teacher conferences, one of its shining stars! After NO wins last year, they are two for two so far this year. 

Actually, IT'S ACADEMIC has a more interesting history than I thought. See here: http://www.itsacademicquizshow.com/history/

Friday, September 27th, 1974

I got my first copy of THE HOLMESPUN. It had some rotten things in it but i suppose it better than the stuff in that "underground" paper. The great thing was about free films at the Public Library. I've never been in there before but I can't wait to go, now. 1914 METROPOLIS and the Chaney PHANTOM OF THE OPERA! The first is next week! Told Terry and he said he may come.

I went to Doug's after school and then with him to where he works where I caught an Eastern bus home. Had the same driver of the morning Rosedale I catch. Ha! Thought I would get off a little closer but I didn't. The bus doesn't stop at the closest corner. Every other corner mind you but not mine. That's dumb.

NOTES: Hard to believe I had never been to the Public Library at this point but I had not. To be fair, I had, in fact, been to the Public Library, just not since it had opened its new--oddly much more convenient to me--location about three years earlier. Just never had a reason to go. I bought the books I wanted. In later years, I would spend quite a bit of time at that location when son David was little. Beyond that, when I briefly worked for a different branch of the Public Library, I actually spent one day working at that original location. 

METROPOLIS, of course, was the classic 1927 movie. Don't know if it was my mistake to say 1914 or if that's the way they had it in THE HOLMESPUN.

THE HOLMESPUN was the school's official "newspaper." Near the end of the previous year, I had been contacted by someone about becoming the anonymous editor of an unofficial, underground paper at the school. Sounded risky to me and I turned it down. Not sure I ever actually sa w acopy while I was attending. Maybe they couldn't find anyone to take it over and it folded?

Thursday, September 26th, 1974

I made it through Gym Day I suppose but I do NOT want to talk about it!

We didn't get to work 'til late tonight again. It was only me and Mom. Dad went to pitch horseshoes.

I heard "Paper Moon" on the radio at work.

Saw a great episode of STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO with Bill Bixby but we're already having TV problems again. Oh, well. Tomorrow's the end of another week.

NOTES: The late Bill Bixby was one of those few who could be termed a true television superstar. These folks couldn't get arrested on the big screen but rarely failed to please on the small. This rarified number includes folks such as Michael Landon, David Janssen, David McCallum and Gene Barry. Someday I should write an article about them.

Wednesday, September 25th, 1974

Basically good today. I had some homework problems at school and I missed the first bus but otherwise okay.

Doug told me that blankety blank Coach wants students to really PLAY football and not just walk around like they don't know how to play the game...even if they don't,  like me! If I can just get through and pass this year I won't have to take Gym anymore. Damn fool thinks he's in the Army!

Terry dropped by later and we went over the river. Good thing, too, because I picked up a new Bruce Lee book, FM, etc. I passed up CFR.

NOTES: Again, looking back I seemed in the minority in my dislike of the Coach but I just couldn't figure why or how he expected me to play football when I hadn't the slightest bit of instruction as to how the game was played. It was, to me, discriminatory for him to presume that, as a teenage male, I had any knowledge of the game. The fact that he genuinely seemed to me to be making fun of myself and the few others who weren't athletic, as well as de facto encouraging (by not stopping them) the macho jocks from attacking us in class, made me hate the class all the more. 

CFR was CONTINENTAL FILM REVIEW, a long-running magazine exploring European movies. Since many European films in the seventies had nude scenes, much of the magazine in this period did also. Thus it was one of my favorite magazines. 

Tuesday, September 24th, 1974

Basically a good day but some things were rotten. Like getting plastered with a football in only my second game ever and then waiting to go to work even though nobody worked late. A quick day though and I'm glad of that.

Casey Piotrowski told a Linda Blair joke on the air while I was at work. Because of the broomstick scene in BORN INNOCENT, he says he finally believes the tales of THE EXORCIST affecting her mind and says she's now engaged to an O-Cedar broom. Haw. Haw. NOT funny.

NOTES: Casey was a local DJ known for his edgy sense of humor. He went on to write an episode of WKRP IN CINCINNATI and, according to IMDB, appeared in an episode of FIREFLY!

Monday, September 23rd, 1974

Last night I wished for a good day today. And wishes DO come true. I breezed through the school day with hardly an incident. I caught the early bus home. My locker stuck again but I fixed it in a second. Almost everything that could go right did.

At home, I played Marie's new albums a lot and saw another anti-Linda letter in the paper. Controversy! Hah!

NOTES: Checking in on the pop charts, this week the # 1 record was "Cant' Get Enough of Your Love" by Barry White, arguably the man with the sexiest male singing voice of them all.