Frank Sinatra and The Beatles and Nov 1968

(Obviously photo courtesy of Alamy)

This is just another one of those nights where I don't have a clue what to write about.

I've tried a few hours ago.

I stopped for dinner.

I sat down and started watching the latest season of Doctor Who to clear my brain. Funny thing, this Doctor is. I absolutely adore Jodie Whittaker and her performance of the 13th Doctor. I like her companions.

But the stories have largely been meh and my trusty Whovian -- my son -- has almost no interest in watching, so I'm watching it alone.

Anyway, while thinking about a topic and pondering a post about nothing (it worked for Jerry Seinfeld), Susan texted me with an idea. She always has ideas. I'd love to be more like her when I grow up.

How about the movie that was number one on the day you were born?

Curiously, I've never looked. I know a few things about the day I was born.

- There was an ice storm and my parents slid to the hospital. That should have been their first clue.
- The number one song was "Hey Jude." In case you don't know, that was a song by The Beatles.
- Speaking of the lads, they released their eponymous album -- The Beatles -- in the UK on my birthday. It was released in the US three days later. Literally everyone calls it "The White Album."
- Johnson was president. No further political statement to be made.
- The Detroit Tigers had just won the World Series over the Cardinals.
- The Colts were rolling through the NFL and they had no chance of losing to whatever the AFL sent to the third Super Bowl, right? Although those Jets were a feisty bunch. Still. No chance.
- On TV that night, NBC aired an. Episode. Of. "Star. Trek." (It has to be said like Captain Kirk). Later on, the Peacock had a nighttime version of "Hollywood Squares." Frankly, TV wasn't very impressive that night otherwise, save perhaps for "Gomer Pyle, USMC" over on CBS.

And the answer to the number one movie? Seems it was a groovy, doobie-doobie-doo detective movie called Lady in Cement. The movie starred Frank Sinatra (baby) as a private investigator named Tony Rome (the movie is a sequel to Tony Rome in 1967).  Raquel Welch co-starred.

Overall, the movie received mixed reviews and was a loss to studio 20th Century Fox.

According to Wikipedia, Roger Ebert said, "In the movie's few good scenes, Sinatra once again painfully reminds us what a controlled, effective actor he is."

Doesn't sound like it was a ring-a-ding classic in the Sinatra canon like Ocean's 11 or any of his other movies.

Still, it's Sinatra, so that's something.

These are the things that are amusing us during this pandemic, but it beats going out when we should be sheltering in place.