I get my family—I get a rest

[sovay]

Today's primary events: doctor's appointment in the early afternoon and on either side taking Autolycus to and from the vet with the invaluable assistance of rushthatspeaks (and later Fox). This process began at five-thirty in the morning and concluded at five in the evening. At one point a taxi was involved. I have slept half an hour since yesterday. I immensely appreciate spatch ordering dinner.

(Autolycus is home safe, fed and washed, and now being hissed at by his sister who if she follows the usual pattern will tell him he smells funny for about the next four days, then groom his ears violently and forget all about it.)

It appears to be an unforeseen side effect of Cleopatra (1963) that I have had the entire score of Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum rotating through my head for the last forty-eight hours; Carry On Cleo (1964) is probably the missing link. As a person who grew up on the original 1963 London cast of Forum with Frankie Howerd rather than the original 1962 Broadway cast with Zero Mostel, I will never cease to be delighted by the existence of Up Pompeii! (1969–70), but I am disappointed that all the episodes currently available on YouTube are the cropped-and-zoomed kind in hopes of evading official notice. So much for staring at that any time soon.

On a different note entirely, it was only last night that I realized Hope Mirrlees' Lud-in-the-Mist (1926) contains the earliest instance I have personally seen in fiction of that seasonally appropriate horror trope, the carnival of the dead. That novel is seriously underrated as a work of the uncanny.

That's it for mental capacity around here. I am going to lie on a couch until the pizza arrives.

Comments

[heliopausa]

I think you have amazing mental capacity for a person running on so little sleep. I'm glad Autolycus is safely back and all is well.

Thank you for the mention of Lud-in-the-Mist, which is new to me and sounds fascinating.

[cmcmck]

Frankie Howerd was a genius.

'The prologue'...............

[poliphilo]

I was only twelve at the time but I saw Frankie Howerd onstage in Funny Thing. Can't remember much about it, but...

Frankie was a very funny man.

[elaiel]

I really need to read Lud-In-The-Mist again. An ex-boyfriend made me read it (as well as a whole bunch of other really unusual books) and I loved it, but it must be 25 years since I last read it.

[gwynnega]

I hope you get better sleep soon!

[thisbluespirit]

I have had the entire score of Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum rotating through my head for the last forty-eight hours; Carry On Cleo (1964) is probably the missing link. As a person who grew up on the original 1963 London cast of Forum with Frankie Howerd rather than the original 1962 Broadway cast with Zero Mostel, I will never cease to be delighted by the existence of Up Pompeii!

LOL, whoops? (My few memories of Up Pompeii suggest that probably not watching it is best: "And now... the Prologue!" is all that matters. Although I think it or the film did have Barbara Murray in it.)

I do hope you get more sleep soon. :-/

[ashlyme]

*That novel is seriously underrated as a work of the uncanny.*

So much this. I've owned two copies and read it at least thrice and I've not seen that as a carnival before. Though I've often thought that the dead and the fey could be the same thing. And wondered whether it might have been an influence on The Shire. The first reading I almost saw it as a fey-tinged detective novel. I love Nathaniel.It's a bittersweet book, the other side of the coin of "Goblin Market", and I wish Mirrlees had written just a little more fantasy. And wonder if just one bite of the fruit would hurt...