Boo As In Boo

 

Clever until you have to explain it to the kids.

I hope her name is Virginia.

 When your local bar has a Halloween party.

When your local Planned Parenthood chapter has a Halloween party.

 Oddly enough, these are not costumes.

 Speak to his wife.

 I see a theme emerging.

 Making maximum use of those baby spills.

 When you are invited to a Halloween party at the White House.

 Also perfect for the Halloween party at your Planned Parenthood chapter.

 Meanwhile, these two idiots weren't even born when...

How old is this costume??!!!

Dinner last night:   Baby back ribs.

This Date in History - October 30

 

Happy birthday, Henry Winkler.   Ay!!!!!!

758:  GUANGZHOU IS SACKED BY ARAB AND PERSIAN PIRATES.

I wonder if the Persian Pirates had as many losing seasons as the ones in Pittsburgh.

1226:  TRAN THU DO, HEAD OF THE TRAN CLAN OF VIETNAM, FORCES LY HUE TONG, THE LAST EMPEROR OF THE LY DYNASTY, TO COMMIT SUICIDE.

The Tran Clan?  I see Florence Henderson, Robert Reed, and six Chinese kids.

1485:  KING HENRY VII OF ENGLAND IS CROWNED.

One more Henry till the really interesting one.

1501:  A BANQUET HELD BY CESARE BORGIA IN THE PAPAL PALACE IS ATTENDED BY FIFTY PROSTITUTES, THERE TO ENTERTAIN THE GUESTS.

Bring Your Own Boobs.

1735:  2ND PRESIDENT OF THE US JOHN ADAMS IS BORN.

Or so the HBO mini-series said.

1831:  IN VIRGINIA, ESCAPED SLAVE NAT TURNER IS CAPTURED AND ARRESTED FOR LEADING A BLOODY SLAVE REBELLION.

Years later, cops will capture and arrest Ike Turner as well.

1864:  HELENA, MONTANA IS FOUNDED AFTER FOUR PROSPECTORS DISCOVER GOLD AT LAST CHANCE GULCH.

Where's my cut?

1896:  ACTRESS RUTH GORDON IS BORN.

Wouldn't it be funny if her mother's name was Rosemary?

1905:  CZAR NICHOLAS II OF RUSSIA GRANTS THE COUNTRY'S FIRST CONSTITUTION.

"All men's bank accounts are created equal..."

1918:  THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE SIGNS AN ARMISTICE WITH THE ALLIES, ENDING THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST.

At this point in my world history class, I was totally asleep.

1920:  THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF AUSTRALIA IS FOUNDED.

"All men's kangaroo pens are created equal..."

1922:  BENITO MUSSOLINI IS MADE PRIME MINISTER OF ITALY.

They gave him the job because he always seemed to be hanging around.

1932:  DIRECTOR LOUIS MALLE IS BORN.

My Birthday with Andre.

1938:  ORSON WELLES BROADCASTS HIS RADIO PLAY OF HG WELLS' "WAR OF THE WORLDS," CAUSING ANXIETY ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.

That was the time when we were really worried about alien invasions.  In 2013, not so much.

1941:  US PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT APPROVES US $1 BILLION IN LEND-LEASE AID TO THE ALLIED NATIONS.

Hey, Gimpy, what took you so long???

1944:  ANNE FRANK AND HER SISTER ARE DEPORTED FROM AUSCHWITZ TO A CONCENTRATION CAMP.

Anne was the smart one of the two sisters.  She wrote everything down.

1945:  JACKIE ROBINSON OF THE KANSAS CITY MONARCHS SIGNS A CONTRACT FOR THE BROOKLYN DODGERS TO BREAK THE BASEBALL COLOR BARRIER.

If he got nasty treatment in Brooklyn, how bad must it have been in Kansas City??

1945:  ACTOR HENRY WINKLER IS BORN.

If you do the math, he was already 30 when he first started to play Fonzie.  

1950:  POPE PIUS XII WITNESSES THE MIRACLE OF THE SUN WHILE AT THE VATICAN.

Yeah, Pope, he rises every morning.

1961:  IT IS DECREED THAT JOSEPH STALIN'S BODY BE REMOVED FROM ITS PLACE OF HONOR IN LENIN'S TOMB AND BURIED NEAR THE KREMLIN WALL.

It is totally creepy that you can still see their bodies out on display.

1970:  IN VIETNAM, THE WORST MONSOON TO HIT THE AREA IN SIX YEARS KILLS 293.

Oh, yeah, and the war, too.

1972:  A COLLISION BETWEEN TWO COMMUTER TRAINS IN CHICAGO KILLS 45.  

And, as a result, they're all late for work.

1975:  PRINCE JUAN CARLOS BECOMES SPAIN'S ACTING HEAD OF STATE, TAKING OVER FOR THE AILING DICTATOR GENERAL FRANCISCO FRANCO.

And he's still dead.

1979:  BENITO'S WIFE, RACHELE MUSSOLINI, DIES.

She stopped hanging around, too.

1983:  THE FIRST DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS IN ARGENTINA ARE HELD.

Bullets on sale at your local polling place.

1985:  SPACE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER LIFTS OFF FOR ITS FINAL SUCCESSFUL MISSION.

Key word: successful.

1985:  ACTOR KIRBY GRANT DIES.

Sky King!!!

1988:  ANIMATOR T. HEE DIES.

I have no clue who this guy is, but the name is...ahem...a laugh riot.

2000:  TV HOST STEVE ALLEN DIES.

The Start of Something Not So Great.

2005:  BASEBALL MANAGER AL LOPEZ DIES.

Adios.

2007:  SINGER ROBERT GOULET DIES.

And now Carol Lawrence's right jaw can finally take a rest.

2015:  ACTOR AL MOLINARO DIES.

I wonder if they had to make an adjustment in that casket to fit his nose.

2018:  CRIME BOSS WHITEY BULGER DIES.

A real death sentence.

Dinner last night:  Chicken tenders.

Enough Said

Next to Game 6 of the 1986 World Series with the Mets, this is the greatest baseball moment I have ever attended.  For it to happen to Freddie Freeman who almost lost his three-year-old son two months ago was even more special.   And the echoes back to Kirk Gibson in 1988 were loud and clear.   I mean, both of these events happened at the same time...8:37PM.

Baseball is the universal language as this video attests.   And you can actually hear Yankee broadcaster Suzyn Waldman audibly wince at the crack of the bat.

Dinner last night:  Chicken tenders.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - October 28, 2024

 Marx Month concludes with the most classic scene of them all.

Dinner last night:  Teriyaki Chicken.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - Still Haunting Me

 

Now I have World Series tickets here in LA in 2024.  In my life, I have been lucky to go to a number of Fall Classic games.  That is now.  This was then.   And I still have zero answers.  

The year?  1969.  

For a young baseball fan, this was complete heaven.  The Mets were going to the World Series.

And was I as well?

Well, that's an interesting story that still has no ending.

How did this young, fledgling baseball nut miss out on seeing his idolized group of nine play in their very first World Series?

It's still a mystery.   And the one person who might have had the answer is gone.

My father.

Let me start at the beginning.

The New York Mets came out of nowhere to suddenly become a baseball powerhouse.  Thanks to the efforts of manager Gil Hodges, Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Jerry Grote, Nolan Ryan, Cleon Jones, and Tommie Agee, they were going places in that very magical and memorable summer.

Me?  I was an integral piece of the puzzle.  At least I thought I was.  After all, the Mets got really good exactly one year after my dad had purchased for me my very own ticket plan.  A Saturday plan with two phenomenal loge seats just to the right of home plate.  I felt like my money (okay, well, Dad's) had pushed the team over the top.  It was as if I was one of the principal owners of the franchise.

One year after we wisely bought into the Flushing Meadow dream, the Mets skyrocketed to the top.  And were suddenly bound to the first round of the baseball playoffs.  Their first task was to win three out of five games against the Atlanta Braves.   A victory in that series would punch the Mets' ticket into the World Series.

For several weeks in September, I could barely speak.  I was then overcome with emotion and exhilaration.

The first two games were to be played in Atlanta with the final three slated for my home, Shea Stadium.  Here's where I thought my great insider status would cash in for me.  Prime tickets to it all.

As a partial ticket plan holder, we received the much-hallowed application in the mail.  It was for the first round.  Our response...and my father's money order...went back the same day.

When that first set of tickets arrived, I literally stared at it for fifteen minutes.  I was staring at a pot of gold.  I was going to see my team in the first playoff game ever to be played at then-new Shea Stadium.  

My father's glimpse of the tickets was a little less enthusiastic.

"These aren't your regular seats."

I knew that.  When you're only a partial plan holder, you can't possibly get your regular seats.  They will put you elsewhere.

In the case of my father and me, they put us in a Laguardia Airport flight path.  We were behind home plate alright.  But way above home plate.  Not only could you watch a baseball game, but you could also simultaneously watch the movie being shown that month on the Eastern Airlines Shuttle to Boston.

I was just happy to be going.  My dad?  Not so much.

His mood became a lot worse once the day of the game arrived.  Luckily, the Mets had taken care of the Braves in Georgia and now were just one win away from going to the World Series.  The first jolt of our reality happened when we realized we were entering in a gate different from our usual.  

"This is bad."

I didn't care.

We boarded one of the escalators and then realized we needed to take two more to get up to our seating level.  My dad looked out as the ground below kept getting smaller and smaller and smaller.

"They better win today because we're up too high."

Now, mind you, in the very second Met game I ever went to with my father, we sat on the very same upper deck.  But, in a few short years, he suddenly had become much less amenable to heights.  Maybe it was the price of the tickets.  Maybe he felt that, as partial plan holders, we deserved better treatment.  Whatever the case, my father was not a happy guy on this warm October Monday afternoon.

It was all so glorious for me.  The Mets won that day.  And I was as high as a kite.  Literally and figuratively.

I went home and waited for the next ticket application that would be my transportation to the next level of heaven.

And waited and waited and waited.  It sounds like a long time but it was probably just two days.  And I asked my father if we had gotten anything from the Mets yet.

"They're probably still working on it."

Oh.

But, my father's added comment should have been a clue to me.

"But if they're gonna put us up so high, I don't want them"

OH.

Two more days.  And I'm not hearing anything about a ticket application arriving in the mail.  Nor does my dad seem concerned.

Meanwhile, the Mets will be hosting their first ever World Series game in just five days.  It was hard for me to believe they were that behind in fulfilling ticket orders.  But, according to my father, they obviously were incompetent.

Two more days and I pressed my dad.   We should have received something by now.

"I'll check with the post office."

Oh.

I assume he did, although I never did actually see him go there.  But the answer he got from them was a little suspect.

"They think somebody saw what the application was and stole it."

Really???

Another day clicked off the calendar and my father finally did what he should have done a week earlier.  He called the Mets.  And, leaving nothing to chance, I stood next to him as he dialed the phone.

Well, according to the Mets, they send the application and, when no money was returned by the due date, the ticket offer expired.  My father asked if there were any tickets available.  The answer was obviously no.  I swallowed hard and teared up a little.  I have learned since that you never ever accept this answer from a baseball team.  There are ALWAYS tickets.

I was crestfallen and I think my dad was sad watching my world collapse.  He tried to console me.

"Well, the seats would have been lousy anyway."

Hmmmm.  Still focusing on seat location, eh?  My mother tried to help the situation. 

"Well, you have school anyway."

Seriously????

I watched the Mets win the World Series without me.   I listened to the first game on a transistor radio in English class with a really cute girl.  Okay, that helped a little.  She hugged me when Tommie Agee made his second great catch of the day.  Okay, that helped a lot.

On the day of the second game, we were off for teachers' conferences so Mom's great excuse blew out the window on that day.  And, for the Series winning game three?  I went home at lunchtime and never went back to school.  I watched it with Curt Gowdy, Lindsey Nelson, and nobody else.  After they won, I ran out onto the street to accept congratulations.  In this Yankee-centric neighborhood, everybody else was at school.  And didn't care.

Since then, I have heard many great stories from pals in college and beyond who actually were taken to that World Series.  I relive the joy vicariously through them.  And still wonder what happened in my house.

Was the ticket application really stolen?  Did we really wait too long to call the Mets?

And was my own father capable of pulling a fast one because he didn't want to sit in crappy seats?

I hate to think the latter.  But still do.

Meanwhile, I made sure to attend every Met World Series game at Shea in subsequent years.  I did miss 2015, but I was much less a Met fan by then.  But, most years at Shea, there would be no more ticket snafus.  And wherever they chose to seat me, I would caress that location.  

Here in LA, I pay for my postseason tickets as soon as I can.   I got to the Fall Classic in 2017 and 2018 and 2024.   I made sure to be there.

You don't mess around when it comes to World Series tickets.

Or do you?  Dad?

Dinner last night:  Fried chicken sandwich at the World Series.

Classic Movie Trailer of the Month - October 2024

Sixty years old this month... 

Dinner last night:  Short ribs at the Dodger game.

Let The Games Begin

 

Dinner last night:  Meat loaf.

Len's Recipe of the Month - October 2024

 

Stumbling onto this recipe was pure serendipity...and then pure heaven.

It started very simply.   I had a cup of chocolate chips and a container of sour cream left over from another dinner.   I hit the internet to find a recipe that would contain both of them.   

Hence, this chocolate chip bundt cake.   I brought it to an office I work out of and was asked if I could bring this again.   Like the next week.

Want to enjoy it?  Here's how.

Take a bundt pan and grease it or spray Pam thoroughly into it.   

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the following:

1 package of yellow cake mix.

1 small box of instant chocolate pudding mix.

1/2 cup vegetable oil.

1/2 cup water.

4 large eggs that have been at room temperature.

With the mixer's paddle attachment, beat at low speed for 30 seconds.   Then ramp it up to medium speed for about three minutes.

Fold in a cup of semisweet chocolate chips.  Pour into the bundt pan.   Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.   

Now here's a trick with any bundt cake.   You must get it out of the pan fairly quickly or it will stick to the bottom of the pan.   So let it cool for just ten minutes and then slip it out of the bundt form.  Let it cool on a wire rack for about an hour.

What's even more enjoyable?   Serving this wonderful concoction with a dollop of mascarpone whipped cream.

What a hit you will be!!

Dinner last night:  Leftover Chinese food.

This Date in History - October 23

 

I don't usually post birthday greetings of folks who have passed on, but today is Johnny Carson's birth date from 1925.  And, well, it is Johnny Carson....

42 BC:  DURING THE ROMAN REPUBLICAN CIVIL WARS, MARC ANTONY AND OCTAVIAN DECISIVELY DEFEAT BRUTUS' ARMY.  BRUTUS COMMITS SUICIDE.

Et tu, coward?

425:  VALENTINIAN III IS ELEVATED AS ROMAN EMPEROR AT THE AGE OF 6.

Ready to declare war?  Nah, the emperor is playing with his toy soldiers.

1157:  THE BATTLE OF GRATHE HEATH ENDS THE CIVIL WAR IN DENMARK.  KING SWEYN III IS KILLED AND VALDEMAR I RESTORES THE COUNTRY.

Valdemar?  Not that Harry Potter character, right?

1641:  OUTBREAK OF THE IRISH REBELLION.

It started during a happy hour at O'Reilly's Pub.

1694:  BRITISH/AMERICAN COLONIAL FORCES, LED BY SIR WILLIAM PHIPPS, FAIL TO SEIZE QUEBEC FROM THE FRENCH.

How inept are you if you lose to the freakin' French?

1707:  THE FIRST PARLIAMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN MEETS.

All of them there were smoking Marlboros.

1850:  THE FIRST NATIONAL WOMEN'S RIGHTS CONVENTION BEGINS IN WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

Alice Kramden presiding.

1861:  US PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN SUSPENDS THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS IN WASHINGTON DC FOR ALL MILITARY-RELATED CASES.

Habeas Corpus later pitched out of the bullpen for the Baltimore Orioles.

1893:  ACTOR GUMMO MARX IS BORN.

The one you know nothing about.

1905:  SWIMMER GERTRUDE EDERLE IS BORN.  

If the baby was born breach, would that have been her first official flip turn?

1906:  ALBERTO SANTOS-DUMONT FILES AN AIRPLANE IN THE FIRST HEAVIER-THAN-AIR FLIGHT IN EUROPE AT PARIS, FRANCE.

Well, after all, France is full of hot air.

1915:  IN NEW YORK CITY, 33,000 WOMEN MARCH ON FIFTH AVENUE TO ADVOCATE THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE.

Conveniently close to Bergdorf Goodman.

1917:  LENIN CALLS FOR THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION.

So do we.  Every year when we have to listen to Joe Buck do the World Series on FOX.

1923:  ACTOR FRANK SUTTON IS BORN.

Pyle!!!!

1925:  TV HOST JOHNNY CARSON IS BORN.

And, boy, were we ever lucky that he was.

1929:  AFTER A STEADY DECLINE IN STOCK MARKET PRICES SINCE A PEAK IN SEPTEMBER, THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE BEGINS TO SHOW SIGNS OF PANIC.

Wait a few days.  It gets a lot worse.

1929:  THE FIRST NORTH AMERICAN TRANSCONTINENTAL AIR SERVICE BEGINS BETWEEN NEW YORK AND LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

A trip I've probably made over 150 times.

1931:  BASEBALL STAR/POLITICIAN JIM BUNNING IS BORN.

The very first baseball perfect game I ever knew about.

1935:  DUTCH SCHULTZ AND SEVERAL OTHER GANGSTERS ARE FATALLY SHOT IN A NEWARK, NEW JERSEY SALOON.  

Where was Junior Soprano that night?

1942:  AUTHOR MICHAEL CRICHTON IS BORN.

And so, too, is Jurassic Park.

1942:  ALL 12 PASSENGERS AND CREW ABOARD AN AMERICAN AIRLINER ARE KILLED WHEN STRUCK BY A US BOMBER NEAR PALM SPRINGS.

One of the casualties is Ralph Rainger who wrote "Thanks for the Memory" and "Love in Bloom."  The theme songs for Bob Hope and Jack Benny.

1946:  THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONVENES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FLUSHING, NEW YORK.

Where?  In what would be the Shea Stadium parking lot??

1950:  ENTERTAINER AL JOLSON DIES.

Toot toot Tootsie, good bye.

1957:  DESIGNER CHRISTIAN DIOR DIES.

Finally out of style.

1958:  THE SMURFS APPEAR FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A FRENCH MAGAZINES.

Les Smurfs to you.

1959:  WRITER/COMEDIAN AL YANKOVIC IS BORN.

Weird to you.  And me.

1965:  THE UNITED STATES, IN CONJUNCTION WITH SOUTH VIETNAMESE FORCES, LAUNCHES A NEW MILITARY OPERATION AGAINST THE NORTH IN PLEIKU.

Pleiku?  Gesundheit.

1973:  US PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON AGREES TO TURN OVER AUDIO TAPES OF HIS OVAL OFFICE CONVERSATIONS RELATED TO WATERGATE.

Hey, part of this is missing!

1983:  JOURNALIST JESSICA SAVITCH DIES.

Now that's a lead story.

1993:  A PROVISIONAL IRA BOMB PREMATURELY DETONATES IN BELFAST, KILLING THE BOMBER AND NINE CIVILIANS.  

Serves him right.

1998:  ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU AND PALESTINIAN CHAIRMAN YASSER ARAFAT REACH A LAND FOR PEACE AGREEMENT.

Every time I hear about one of these Mideast peace agreements, I laugh.

2002:  SONGWRITER ADOLPH GREEN DIES.

Mr. Phyllis Newman.

2004:  OPERA SINGER ROBERT MERRILL DIES.

O, say, he finally stopped.

Dinner last night:   General Tso's Chicken.

Once...or Twice...In A Lifetime

 

You remember it.  You cherish it.  You channel the emotions.  Because this doesn't happen a lot in your lifetime.

I mean being there in a stadium when your favorite sports team does something phenomenal.   Such was the case Sunday night at Dodger Stadium when the Boys in Blue advanced to the 2024 World Series.  A special bucket list moment in your life that is shared with 52,000 other friends.

To say these strangers are friends is not an overstatement.  Over the three hours when the Mets seemingly always had somebody on base, the tension in the stands was so palpable that it was almost physical.  In my Loge section (and I am guessing throughout the stadium), emotions were shared with each other.  High fives and hugs with people you didn't know.  This was not a night for those who practice social distancing.  We were all as one.

Introductions were made.  First names were share.  Phone details were exchanged.  All in the name of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

I thought back to another similar night some years ago.  The 1986 World Series, Games 6 and 7 at Shea Stadium.   I remembered the same emotions.  And felt them all again.

It's why baseball is such a great game.  Forging connections that never would have happened before.

Dinner last night:  Leftover chicken parm.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - October 21, 2024

 More Marx this month.   Beds on the move.

Dinner last night:  Japanese hot dog at the Dodger game.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - Sick Days

 

It was a scene that was repeated countless times on multiple mornings. I'd wake up feeling shitty. And I would subject myself to my mother's careful examination.

Hand on the forehead. Hot or cold?

A peer down the throat. Red or scratchy?

Two hands feeling both sides of my neck. Glands swollen?

If I scored two of the three, I was home free. Literally. I could stay home from school. And, as an added bonus, I was ordered to get out of bed and move to the living room couch.

In front of the television.

Sweet!

First, I'd have to choke down a bowl of some H-O oatmeal, the "official breakfast of being home sick from school." Then, I'd flip on the TV and settle back for a day of some really tough recuperation.

In those days, daytime television was more fun. You had a bunch of game shows and sitcom reruns that I had never seen first run. All stuff I never got to watch at any other time.

And the fun started early. Er, cough, cough.

There were odd cartoons on in the pre-breakfast hours. It was almost like the minor leagues of animation. They weren't good enough to make my prime cartoon time, which was after school. I remember Channel 7 in NY ran silent cartoons with this farmer and all these crudely drawn animals early in the day. Goofy stuff. Purchased off the back of the movie truck at a discount no doubt.

After that, a-choo, a-choo, there was the Little Rascals AKA Our Gang. They were my absolute favorite comedy shorts. I disconnected a bit on Spanky and Alfalfa, but the earlier ones with the likes of Farina, Jackie Cooper, and Wheezer were brilliant. I still watch them via DVD to this day. Forget all the allegations over how racist they were. This was a group of kids playing together, regardless of skin color or nationality. Just like my neighborhood. And I always enjoyed the great product placement for such wonderful household staples as castor oil, limburger cheese, and tabasco sauce. At the time, I had no idea what any of them were.

Around 9AM, my mother would pop in for another follow-up examination. Hand on the forehead. A peer down the throat. Two hands feeling both sides of my neck. This was a key moment in my day. If two of the three were still persisting after the amazingly curative powers of H-O Oatmeal had been administered, I was sunk. And probably really sick. This could mean only one thing. My mother would head to the telephone. And I would hear three very scary words.

"Hello, Dr. Fiegoli?"

Yep, these were the days when a kid's doctor made house calls. The key to getting him was to call before 10AM before he started off on his rounds. My mother never seemed to miss the deadline. Dr. Fiegoli was a frequent visitor to our house. At the very least, I'd have a few more hours of TV nirvana until he showed.

In the mornings of my stay-at-home maladies, I still exercised the same brain power I would have used at school. By watching game shows.

There was "Concentration."

"Number four. And number nineteen." Sorry, not a match.

"Say When." And I remember little of that game except that it was hosted by Art James.

"Eye Guess." Hosted by Bill Cullen, who I never could understand why you didn't see him walking around on the stage. Years later, I discovered the reason. He had polio.

"The Hollywood Squares" with my favorite comedian Paul Lynde. "Abby Dalton, you're today's Secret Square."

Mixed in with all the game shows were the wonderful sitcoms from the 50s. Of course, "I Love Lucy." But, there were other programs that I had only heard tales about from my grandmother and grandfather.

"December Bride." With one of my grandmother's favorites, Spring Byington. And this had a spin-off show that was also repeated during the day. "Pete And Gladys."

"My Little Margie." With Gale Storm and some old hag named Mrs. Odetts living next door and a Black elevator operator played by Willie Best.

"The Burns and Allen Show." George, Gracie, Harry Von Zell, and that magic TV mirror which allowed George to control the action. Perhaps the most ingenious gimmick ever featured on a television situation comedy.

Depending upon my illness, lunch would be usually a can of Campbell's Condensed Chicken Noodle Soup. Just add water. No fuss, no muss. If my throat wasn't a problem, a sandwich was in order. Usually bologna or my beloved Taylor Olive. On the side, six green olives stuffed with pimentoes. Not five, not seven, not four. Six exactly. This was my usual midday repast in both sickness and in health. Having consumed the meal, I'd lay back down and settle in for some more great television. Except...

DING DONG!!!!!!!!

Our front door bell was always more ominous if I was home sick.

The dog barked wildly. My mother would bound down the stairs to open the door.

"Hello, Dr. Fiegoli!"

Crap.

Now, my pediatrician was a really nice man. But he couldn't help but be scary to a seven-year-old. He'd charge up the stairs like a bull out of a chute. Plus he looked just like that actor who was showing up on all those sitcoms I had just been enjoying. Frank Nelson. Very unsettling as my two worlds were suddenly mixing in a bizarre way. And his booming voice could be heard from Mount Vernon to New Rochelle.

"OOOOOOH AND HOW'S THE PATIENT?"

Gee, Doc, isn't that what you're supposed to figure out? Well, that's probably what Mrs. Odetts might have said.

Dr. Fiegoli then administered the same exam that my mother had already done twice. Hand on the forehead. A peer down the throat. Two hands on both sides of the neck. Hello, do you get paid to do this?

The bad news is that most of the time Dr. Fiegoli showed up, I really was sick. Chicken Pox. Measles, both German and regular. Ear infection. Gland infection. He'd spend five minutes with me, fifteen minutes with my mother, and two seconds dashing off a prescription, which would get immediately filled at Mr. Post's drugstore.

It seemed like Dr. Fiegoli would never leave, but he always did. I'd turn back to the TV, but...

"No television now. You really are sick."

Damn.

I'd feign a nap for several hours in the afternoon. By then, daytime TV was full of soap operas which were captivating Grandma downstairs but boring the shit out of me upstairs. Eventually, I would inch my way back to the television controls. Because, when it was three o'clock, it was time for...

Popeye the Sailor. My favorite cartoon character of all time.

WPIX Channel 11 ran these in the afternoon, usually hosted by Captain Jack McCarthy, who was not really a captain but definitely Irish. They used to throw in as the host every year when they ran the St. Patrick's Day parade. I much preferred the Popeye cartoons from the 1930s. He was talking under his breath all the time and you had to listen closely to hear the best lines. The later ones from the 1950s were terrible. My rule of thumb: if Olive Oyl's hairdo is more modern, the cartoon sucks.

"IS THAT TELEVISION BACK ON?!!!"

Ooops. Cough, cough. I better go.

Dinner last night:  Chicken parm at Fabiolus Cucina.

Classic TV Theme of the Month - October 2024

 This is how they set up the premiere of this TV series...60 YEARS AGO!

Dinner last night:  Din dan noodles from PF Chang's.

Pretty as a Picture?

 More photos that were better left undeveloped.

Thank God for the orchid. Meanwhile, it looks like she has a little more chest hair than he does.

The perfect Halloween costume for that little piece of shit down the block.

When I look for Halloween costumes, I always check the Old Testament first.

The consequences of sex with Kobe Bryant.

What a novel career. Wedding and funeral planning at the same place. One stop shopping.

What happens when your Easter Bunny visits Three Mile Island...

In about five seconds, Dad's backpack is going to feel a lot lighter.

Dinner last night:  Salisbury steak.

The Price Of Being A Fan

 

Check out this Mets playoff ticket from1969.  Five dollars!

Those were the days, Mary Hopkin.  And don't I know it?  

So there was a pre-sale the other day in both Mets and Dodgers Nations for their season ticket....I mean, membership, fans to buy extra tickets for the World Series.  Keep in mind that the membership price for my very good seats in Chavez Ravine is $345. 

Wow, that's high, Len.

Yep, but you ain't heard nothing yet.   For the pre-sale, I normally let my main seat partner buy the extra tickets.   And he did.

For Dodger Stadium, his seat in the very Top Desk for World Series Game 2 went for 500 bucks.  The very same for a potential World Series Game zooms up to almost 800 bucks!   

At Citi Field, I hear the worst seat in the park for a potential Game 7 there was 1,000 dollars.   Granted there are 12,000 less seats there.   Supply and demand.

This is called dynamic pricing and now MLB has joined the ranks of price gouging...or gauging as Kamala Harris would say.   The bigger the demand, the higher the price.   

I called my Dodger rep and she confirmed this was a MLB initiative.

If you kill the golden goose, you don't get any golden eggs.

Dinner last night: Pork lo mein.

This Date in History - October 16

 

Happy birthday in Heaven, Tim McCarver.  The man who taught my mother baseball.

456:  MAGISTER MILITUM RICIMER DEFEATS EMPEROR AVITUS AT PIACENZA AND BECOMES MASTER OF THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE.

An awful lot to type if you don't really care.

1384:  JADWIGA IS CROWNED KING OF POLAND, ALTHOUGH SHE IS A WOMAN.

If this is a simple mistake, then that Jadwiga must be one ugly lady.

1590:  CARLO GESAULDO, COMPOSER, PRINCE OF VENOSA AND COUNT OFCONZA, MURDERS HIS WIFE, DONNA MARIA D'AVALO AND HER LOVER FABRIZIO CARAFA THE DUKE OF ANDRIA.

Even more to type and I don't really care.

1793:  MARIE ANTOINETTE, WIDOW OF LOUIS XVI, IS GUILLOTINED.  

If you need this basket for the laundry, you better wash it out first.

1834:  MUCH OF THE PALACE OF WESTMINSTER IN LONDON BURNS TO THE GROUNDS.

But what about the London Bridges?  Aren't they falling down?

1846:  WILLIAM TG MORTON IS THE FIRST TO ADMINISTER ETHER ANESTHESIA.

Gee, I hope he was a doctor.

1875:  BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY IS FOUNDED IN PROVO, UTAH.

Introduction to Mormons 101 is open for enrollment.

1916:  IN BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, MARGARET SANGER OPENS THE FIRST FAMILY PLANNING CLINIC IN THE US.

Because not everybody is interested in birthin' babies.

1917:  ACTRESS ALICE PEARCE IS BORN.

Abner!

1923:  COMPOSER BERT KAEMPFERT IS BORN.

His mother has a song request.  Red Roses for a Sore Pelvis.

1923:  THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY IS FOUNDED BY WALT DISNEY.

Gee, I wonder if they ever turned a profit.

1925:  ACTRESS ANGELA LANSBURY IS BORN.

Birthday, She Wrote.

1928:  ACTRESS ANN MORGAN GUILBERT IS BORN.

Millie Halper, next door neighbor to Rob and Laura Petrie.

1939:  THE FIRST ATTACK ON BRITISH TERRITORY BY THE GERMAN LUFTWAFFE.

I guess the Nazis weren't big on scones and clotted cream.

1941:  BASEBALL STARS/SPORTSCASTER TIM MCCARVER IS BORN.

Many people don't like him.  I, however, think he was great.  Terrific career, Timmy.

1944:  WALLY WALRUS, WOODY WOODPECKER'S FOIL, DEBUTS IN A WALTER LANTZ CARTOON.

Chilly Willy can't be far behind.

1946:  ACTRESS SUZANNE SOMERS IS BORN.

If you want to laugh a lot, watch her next show on the Home Shopping Network.

1962:  THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS BEGINS WHEN PRESIDENT JOHN KENNEDY IS SHOWN PHOTOGRAPHS OF MISSILE SITES IN CUBA.

"What?  You only have black and white??"

1964:  CHINA DETONATES ITS FIRST NUCLEAR WEAPON.

And we were worried about Russia?

1964:  SOVIET LEADERS LEONID BREZHNEV AND ALEXEI KOSYGIN ARE INAUGURATED IN RUSSIA.

Bye, bye, Nikita.

1968:  US ATHLETES TOMMIE SMITH AND JOHN CARLOS ARE KICKED THE US OLYMPIC TEAM FOR PARTICIPATING IN THE BLACK POWER SALUTE.

Right on, brother!

1969:  THE NEW YORK METS WIN THE WORLD SERIES.

And a young boy in Mount Vernon, New York has his first moment of glory in life.

1972:  ACTOR LEO G. CARROLL DIES.

"George!  Marian!"

1973:  HENRY KISSINGER AND LE DUC THO ARE AWARDED THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.

Is this before or after Kissinger was shtupping Jill St. John?

1973:   DRUMMER GENE KRUPA DIES.

Bang this.

1978:  KAROL WOJTYLA IS ELECTED POPE PAUL II.

A big day for Poland because...

1978:  WANDA RUTKIEWICZ IS THE FIRST POLE AND EUROPEAN WOMAN TO REACH THE TOP OF MOUNT EVEREST.

Kielbasie for everybody!

1978:  ACTOR DAN DAILEY DIES.

Mother Wore Tights.  Dad Wore Shrouds.

1984:  DESMOND TUTU IS AWARDED THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.

He did not sleep with Jill St. John.  As far as I know.

1989:  ACTOR CORNEL WILDE DIES.

The Greatest Wake on Earth.

1995:  THE MILLION MAN MARCH OCCURS IN WASHINGTON, DC.

Any excuse to take a day off.

1997:  ACTRESS AUDRA LINDLEY DIES.

Mrs. Roper!!

1997:  AUTHOR JAMES MICHENER DIES.

Did he ever write a book shorter than 1000 pages?

1999:  RADIO HOST JEAN SHEPHERD DIES.

This is worse than poking your eye out.

2004:  FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY PIERRE SALINGER DIES.

He had no comment.

2006:  A MAGNITUDE 6.7 EARTHQUAKE ROCKS HAWAII.

Hawaii 6.7.

2007:  ACTRESS DEBORAH KERR DIES.

From Here to Real Eternity.

2010:  ACTRESS BARBARA BILLINGSLEY DIES.

"Gee, Ward, I'm worried about June."

2012:  BASEBALL PLAYER/COACH EDDIE YOST DIES.

On this very date in 1969, he was coaching third base for the World Series winning New York Mets.

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.