another fundraising update and More.......

.So far the fundraiser has raised over a thousand, so thank you very much. Tomorrow I am going to pay off the pre-op stuff, which in retrospect, was quite expensive. Again, for those who would like more information on that, please read the previous blog entitled "More Fundraising".

Anyway, later this month are a couple of important dates for me around my favorite all-time television show, “The Avengers”. I will be in Sebastopol for the Robert Nadeau/Mary Heiny workshop, but this Saturday March 20th will be the 42nd anniversary of Diana Rigg’s last live episode’s airing on network television. I believe that was aired on a Wednesday night, early, at 7:30 am. In the previous 2 seasons the show aired late, at 10pm. I remember after the show ended, I went into my room and cried. I found out later that after that last episode was filmed, Patrick Macnee went into his dressing room and cried.

The show was way ahead of its time. It dealt with things that were just not addressed in that time. How a woman could be strong and at the same time feminine. How a show could be overtly off-beat and at the same time about sexuality without any outward sex. How a show could be about the England of the mid to late ‘60’s and at the same time be placed anywhere in time and space. Very surreal and at the same time quite quirky. Very special.
I addressed some of these in a story I wrote where Mrs Peel and I share an adventure:
Mrs Peel Adventure

The second date is March 28, which will be the 44th anniversary of the show’s initial airing on ABC tv. So both dates are in March, and the end before the beginning. The later episodes are okay, but they do not measure up to the Diana Rigg episodes. I was horrified to
learn that the Avengers dvds are no longer available through A & E. Hopefully that will be remedied in the future.

One of the things about Mrs Peel was her wardrobe. She wore very stylish miniskirts and trouser outfits. For her fight scenes she initially in her first series wore black leather, a look pioneered by her predecessor, Honor Blackman. In the later color episodes she wore stylish jump suits that were named “Emma Peelers”. The black leather seemed to give the character an edge. There was the sense that this was a glamourous, educated woman who in no way could be labeled “nice”. And that was a source of appeal to me.

The following is a youtube video with one of my favorite fight scenes: