Harve Presnell, up close and personal.

It’s Friday night at Howdygram headquarters and there’s not much going on around here. Sam is taking a nice after-dinner nap even though I don’t think he’s eaten, and my digestive system is too fucked-up to think about food. At the present time I’m living on: 1) applesauce; 2) Glucerna meal replacement shakes for old diabetics; and 3) soup that contains nothing solid, i.e., noodles.

I’m not having a very good time.

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Now I’d like to review a movie musical I saw this afternoon on TCM, and this was definitely a first for me. It’s WHEN THE BOYS MEET THE GIRLS* (1965) with Connie Francis, Harve Presnell, Herman’s Hermits, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, Louie Armstrong and — wait for it! — LIBERACE! Trust me, there’s no way I’d joke about this.

When the Boys Meet the Girls is actually a remake of the Gershwin brothers’ 1930 Broadway hit “Girl Crazy,” which first appeared on screen in 1943 with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.

I can’t imagine why anybody on God’s green earth would think it’s a good idea to combine the unforgettable Gershwin classics “Embraceable You,” “I Got Rhythym” and “But Not for Me” with idiotic numbers like “Monkey See, Monkey Do” by Sam the Sham and Pharaohs, Herman’s Hermits’ “Listen People,” and Liberace’s over-the-top face-paralyzing smile while he performs “Aruba Liberace.”

Connie Francis and Harve Presnell, however, were actually good in their parts. And both have beautiful voices. It’s just too bad the rest of the movie was so insanely weird.

When the Boys Meet the Girls takes place at fictitious Cody Mining and Engineering College for Men in the Nevada desert, way out in the middle of nowhere. Harve Presnell is Danny Churchill, registering as a new student, the playboy son of a multimillionaire who needs to finish his degree. He meets Connie Francis, the local postmaster with huge pointy boobs, and it’s WHAMMO …  love at first sight (for him, not her). Connie eventually gives in, and Danny masterminds a plan to help her father extricate himself from the clutches of mobsters in Reno, to whom he owes a great deal of dough for gambling losses. It’s an idiotic story. The only real plus was hearing Connie Francis and Harve Presnell sing those fabulous Gershwin classics.

Incidentally, if you’d like a brief backstory on Harve Presnell (see right), he spent most of his career on Broadway except for co-starring with Debbie Reynolds in 1965’s The Unsinkable Molly Brown and a few TV credits. One film appearance you might recall was his role as William H. Macy’s sour father-in-law (remember Wade Gustafson?) in the movie Fargo (1996) co-starring Frances McDormand.

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It’s 7:15 Saturday morning and I’m waiting for Sam to get home from his walk. He promised to stop at Wal-Mart to pick up a second flavor of those Glucerna meal replacement shakes because I’m getting a little bored with chocolate. Either vanilla or strawberry would be a nice switch. And I also want him to make the pouch of Bear Creek Split Pea Soup that arrived a few days ago from SoupsOnline. It should be easy to eat and a nice break from the other soups I’ve been horsing around with, such as Campbell’s Tomato Soup and Sam’s Choice Chicken Bone Broth. I don’t want to starve to death.

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Yes indeed, boys and girls … more free fonts! These aren’t terribly exciting, to tell you the truth, but I love the two dingbats fonts — “Gebell Mutts,” “Alin Square Emoji” — and that elegant classic italic font, “Charpentier.” The rest are pleasant display fonts that would probably be just fine for The Howdygram Store’s greeting card designs. (Yes, I’m still designing greeting cards.) You’ll find the requisite download links after the graphic.

Mafieso • Gebell Mutts • Alin Square Emoji • Charpentier

Funky Spunky • Asparagus • Oh Snappy

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I want to spend the rest of the day watching reruns of “The People’s Court” and working on creative projects. I’ve got some new Christmas card designs up my sleeve!

Thank you for reading this. Tell your friends.