Monday Morning Video Laugh - October 31, 2022

Happy Halloween...and this kid gets what he deserves from his barber. 

Dinner last night:  Beef short rib stew.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - And I Still Hate Halloween

 

Yep, nothing changes.   I'm not one for the costume holiday.

And no, that’s not me.   

This dude is way too skinny to be me at that age.  When I was around seven years old, my body was so bizarrely contoured that this Superman cape would have looked like an ascot on yours truly.  But, there was one Halloween where I did go trick or treating as the Man of Steel.  Wearing a cape/handkerchief.

Welcome to Halloween, my least favorite holiday of the whole year.  Believe me, I would have more likely been willing to plant a tree on Arbor Day than I was to go begging for candy around my neighborhood.  Besides I wasn’t allowed to eat most of it anyway.  My folks were very mindful of razor blades being placed in your Halloween treats.

“Don’t eat that.  There’s probably something in it.”

So most of my candy would be verboten to me.   But, my father would pretty much wolf it down himself over the next week or so.  Apparently, he was totally immune to injury when it came to ingesting razor blades.

It really wasn’t more than three or four years that I was prime Halloween material.  You had to dress for the requisite class party that more than likely featured chocolate cupcakes with orange-colored icing.  Then you recycled the same get-up on the night of the main festivity.  But, first, the major task at hand would be the actual selection of the costume itself.

I would get dragged down to H.L. Green’s department store on Fourth Avenue in Mount Vernon by my mother.  The official costumer to the non-stars.

“Don’t make this a big project.”

Yeah, but this is a very important decision.  How I would be seen on Halloween by my neighborhood friends and my school chums.  It just couldn’t be any old costume.

“Hurry up.  I have stores to go to.”

Like Bromley’s Dress Shop, where my mother had a revolving charge card and a search party was ordered if she didn’t walk through their front door at least twice a week.

I’d sift through all the costumes on display, all of them in boxes from some company called Ben Cooper, whoever the hell he was.  Hmmm.

Popeye the Sailor?

Bugs Bunny?

Batman?

Invariably, I would pick one out and then try it on, only to discover it didn’t fit.  Unfortunately, the folks at Ben Cooper thought every child in America had the same skinny body frame as Jay North of “Dennis the Menace” fame.

I know I dressed up once as each of the aforementioned characters.  And, of course, there was my Superman year as well, where my cape got stuck in my grandfather’s car door when he came to pick me up at school.   And, on the actual night of Halloween, you would wait anxiously for 6PM which was the optimal time to start trolling the neighborhood.

With my mother walking behind me, I would start to scamper up Fifteenth Avenue in Mount Vernon, New York.  A short block of residential homes as well as two six-story apartment buildings for those feeling really ambitious.  I’d meet with my childhood best buddy Leo and some of the other gremlins on the block and we would start attacking the neighbors.

“Trick or treat!”

The older ladies liked to linger when you rang the door bell.  They spent all their time going over each of the costumes that had just shown up on their front doorstep.

“And who are you dressed as tonight, young man?"

I’m Bugs Bunny.  What are you freakin’ blind???  Just cough up the candy that I won’t be allowed to eat anyway.

My mother was the final word on what houses to visit.

“Don’t go there.  He drinks.”

“It's dark on that porch and they have a big dog."

“Stay away from that house.  We don’t like them.”

Okay.

Indeed, the whole ritual took less than an hour to complete.  We stayed totally on our block.  Venture out-of-the-box to Fourteenth Avenue?  That was not allowed.  Even in that much simpler era, you stayed close to home.  Usually, by 7PM, my mother was dragging me home.  Meanwhile, my friends got to stay out longer.  In my entirely Catholic universe, all my friends had off the following day for the All Saints celebration.  Me?  I was headed for bed and a new school day.  As we approached our home, it was completely dark.   The venetian blinds on all of our windows downstairs were drawn.  The illusion of nobody being home.  But there was. 

Grandma.

"I'm not opening the door for any of those ragamuffins."

Yep, she was no fan of Halloween.  And, shortly thereafter, neither was I.

As I wrote, I pretty much tired of this whole trick-or-treating ritual after a few years.  And the costuming started to be a drag as well.  There would be one more year for me.  But I was completely done trying to fit into some outfit that was one size too small.  Here comes Frankenstein with that spare tire around his waist.  I didn't need to endure that one more year.  I would simply wear a mask.  And a current one to-boot.

I went as President John F. Kennedy.

This is a replica of what I wore.  On October 31, 1963.

I tried to wear the same mask the following year.  Although I had updated it by cutting out the top corner of the head.  Mom was not amused.

'YOU'RE NOT GOING OUT WITH A HOLE IN YOUR HEAD!!"

And, with that, trick or treating officially ended for Len.

Costuming, however, would make an ignoble return right after college.  In my twenties, I was a little more daring to make an asshole out of myself.  

There were several Halloweens where good friends decided to throw Halloween parties.   I was encouraged to dress up as well.   I searched around for my JFK mask.  This time I could wear it complete with a blood-spattered suit.  Maybe I could get one of my female friends to don a pink pillbox hat.  Ultimately, I opted to go as a television character.

So, along with the erstwhile blogger Djinn from the Bronx, I forgot to shave, threw on a medical labcoat, and entered into the world of MASH 4077.

Hawkeye and Hot Lips at the ready.

I got a little lazy the next year.  I had no desire to dress up for another TV character costume party.  But, I ultimately did.  Simply by donning a suit.

And renting a wheelchair so I could be Detective Robert Ironside.

 As I wheeled myself around that night, I was chastised by many.  

"That's a sin.  God's really gonna put you in a wheelchair now."

Yeah, but, for the very last costume party I ever went to, I had a seat all night.

Dinner last night: Grilled chicken sausage.

Classic Musical Comedy Production Number of the Month - October 2022

Woo hoo.  A five Saturday month means we get to sample a classical musical comedy production from the past.   I could watch...and do watch..."The Band Wagon" once a year.   And this dance number with Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire remains wonderful every time.   You can even see how haunting the number if you watch with the volume off.

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

Trick Or Trick

 

Dinner last night:  Leftover pizza.

Hollywood Then And Now - October 2022

T'is the season.   Trick or treat.

There have been seemingly 150 films in the "Halloween" franchise.   I think Jamie Lee Curtis has been in most of them.  Apparently there's one out right now.  

Well, you might recall that the original house from the very first film 100 years ago was supposed to be in a quiet Illinois neighborhood.   Here it is as it appeared back when.

Truth be told, the real location was South Pasadena.  And, to this day, the above dwelling is easy to find.  It appears to have had a bit of an upgrade, but it's still there.

So there you are.   Another example of Hollywood's biggest movie lot.

Dinner last night:  Pepperoni pizza at Fabiolus Cafe.

This Date in History - October 26

 

Take a vowel, Pat Sajak.  It's your special day.

306:  MARTYRDOM OF SAINT DEMETRIUS OF THESSALONIKI.

He's a martyr for one day.  I know some people who have been pulling that shit for years.

1597:  DURING THE IMJIN WAR, ADMIRAL YI SUN-SIN ROUTS THE JAPANESE NAVY OF 300 SHIPS WITH ONLY 13 SHIPS.

300 vs. 13?  Talk about your Vegas odds.  Meanwhile, Sun-Sin sounds like a cheap casino on the Strip.

1689:  GENERAL PICCOLOMINI OF AUSTRIA BURNED DOWN SKOPJE TO PREVENT THE SPREAD OF CHOLERA.  HE DIED OF CHOLERA HIMSELF SOON AFTER.

A tragic waste of lighter fluid.

1774:  THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS ADJOINS IN PHILADELPHIA.

They sure must have talked a lot because they didn't come up with anything concrete until two years later.

1775:  KING GEORGE III GOES BEFORE PARLIAMENT TO DECLARE THE AMERICAN COLONIES IN REBELLION, AND AUTHORIZED A MILITARY RESPONSE TO QUELL THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

Too late, because they're already talking this up in Philly.

1776:  BENJAMIN FRANKLIN DEPARTS FROM AMERICA FOR FRANCE ON A MISSION TO SEEK FRENCH SUPPORT FOR THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

Don't count on those scumbags for anything.

1811:  THE ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT DECLARES THE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FOR THE PRESS BY DECREE.

So does that mean no more firing squads???

1825:  THE ERIE CANAL OPENS FOR PASSAGE FROM ALBANY, NEW YORK TO LAKE ERIE.

Neither one is a preferred destination for me.

1861:  THE PONY EXPRESS OFFICIALLY CEASES OPERATIONS.

And, in 2022, there may go the Post Office as well.

1881:  THE GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL TAKES PLACE AT TOMBSTONE, ARIZONA.

Oh?  So this was more than just a movie?

1914:  ACTOR JACKIE COOGAN IS BORN.

Uncle Fester!!!

1936:  THE FIRST ELECTRIC GENERATOR AT HOOVER DAM GOES INTO FULL OPERATION.

That has to be one long extension cord.

1943:  DURING WW II. THERE IS THE FIRST FLIGHT OF "PFEIL."

I have no idea what this is.  Except Bobby Pfeil was a utility infielder for the 1969 New York Mets and the guy who didn't make their post season roster.

1946:  GAME SHOW HOST PAT SAJAK IS BORN.

H_pp_  B_rt__y.

1947:  ACTRESS JACLYN SMITH IS BORN.

The birth of an angel...

1947:  HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON IS BORN.

...and a devil.   Again, I have no horse in this race, folks.

1948:  KILLER SMOG SETTLES INTO DONORA, PENNSYLVANIA.

Who knew there was that much traffic in Donora, Pennsylvania?

1952:  ACTRESS HATTIE MCDANIEL DIES.

Really, really gone with the wind.

1955:  NGO DINH DIEM DECLARES HIMSELF PREMIER OF SOUTH VIETNAM.

He is paid on a "per diem" basis.

1958:  PAN AM MAKES THE FIRST COMMERCIAL FLIGHT OF THE BOEING 707 FROM NEW YORK TO PARIS.

A now defunct airline and a soon-to-be-defunct television show.

1967:  MOHAMMED REZA PAHLAVI CROWNS HIMSELF EMPEROR OF IRAN.

Sort of like when you're playing checkers and somebody says "king me."

1984:  BABY FAE RECEIVES A HEART TRANSPLANT FROM A BABOON.

And they wonder why the kid is now climbing trees.

1986:  GAME SEVEN OF THE 1986 WORLD SERIES IS RAINED OUT.  I GO WITH THE BIBSTERS TO PIPER'S KILT FOR A BURGER.

If you don't get that reference, no worries.  It's written for an audience of one.

1994:  JORDAN AND ISRAEL SIGN A PEACE TREATY.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Peace in the Mideast.  Ha!

2001:  THE UNITED STATES PASSES THE USA PATRIOT ACT INTO LAW.

It's still not a fence.

Dinner last night:  Broccoli salad.

Len's Recipe of the Month - October 2022

So, as most friends know, when I cook up something at home, I am prone to posting the photos on social media.   Well, this dish above got me so many inquiries for the recipe that I decided to repost my recipe for...

Sausage, peppers, and onions.

If you know me well, you realize that SPO is my most favorite entree to eat.   And, along with lasagna, it is my very favorite thing to make.   Now I've done this here before.   But, if you hang on to the end, there's a little new twist I have invented that really elevates this dish to a higher plain.

Now true foodies know there are two ways to do SPO.  Dry or wet.  I have no preference but the new twist requires this to be of the wet variety pictured above.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.   Then place two pounds of sweet (or mixed with hot) sausage on a wire rack and bake for thirty minutes.

In your favorite skillet or....my beloved La Creuset dutch oven...heat up two to three tablespoons of EVO.  

For the pepper part, I use only red or yellow or orange.   Green is too bitter.  Slice them lengthwise and add to the pot.   Slice up two medium onions and add them.  Mince four to five cloves of garlic and lay on top of the veggies.

Now, here's some of the wet.   Create an empty space on the bottom of the pot for a tablespoon of tomato paste.   Let it get toasted and then stir it into the peppers and onions.  

Add two 8 oz cans of diced tomatoes...drained.

By now, you can pull the sausage out of the oven.  Let them cool for ten minutes and then slice them up.   Add to the pot.

Now the secret.  You know that hot cherry pepper relish you can get on subs at Jersey Mike's?  Well, you can get that in a jar and you want to blend in two tablespoons of this into your dish.   Stir it all up and reduce the heat to low.  Cover it but leave a little of the lid askew so steam can escape.   Let this simmer for an hour or longer.

An old favorite with a fiery twist.

Dinner last night:   French toast and grilled Taylor Ham.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - October 24, 2022

 For those of you who love high school football halftimes...

Dinner last night:  Short ribs at Yamashiro.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - The Depths of Disappointment

 

I am still processing the World Series I thought I would be attending next week.  Defeat never gets easier to endure.  And this process brought me back to another coast and another World Series that I did attend.   Actually the very last WS game I was in person for in New York.   

Thursday, October 26, 2000. Unbeknownst to us at the time, this would be the last World Series ever to played at now-halfway-dismantled Shea Stadium. For the first time ever, it's the Yankees versus the Mets in the Fall Classic---a Subway Series in its truest sense.

We're at Game 5 and the Mets need to win to prevent the Yankees from clinching it all. In a very tight game, the Yankees manage to pull it together in the top of the ninth. As future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera attempts to close it out for the Bronx contingent, the final hopes rest on the shoulders of Mike Piazza. He offers one mighty swing and sends one soaring to the centerfield wall. On most nights, this is a home run. But, in the late October misty air of Flushing Bay, the moisture holds the ball in the air long enough for it to be pocketed by centerfielder Bernie Williams. 

The Yankees celebrate at Shea Stadium, of all places. Manager Joe Torre is hoisted aloft, sobbing all the while. Another great Fall for the Yankees. Another mighty fall for the Mets.

Watching from the third base of the mezzanine level are yours truly and my best friend from high school, Danny. Being true baseball fans and sportsmen, we did not skulk into the night with disgust. We stayed and watched the festivities. Next to us were two Yankee fans. A dad and his eight-year-old son. 

The youngster is decked out in the warmest of Yankee apparel. He is grinning from ear to ear. Danny and I remember the feeling of being there in 1986 when our own team was doing all the whoop-de-doing. We leaned over and shook the boy's hand in congratulations. He thanked us and continued to bask in his life's most significant moment to date.

It was the dad's response that has always stuck with me.

"This is great and all, but, for his sake, I hope they lose one of these years."

Huh?

He continued in the role of Hugh Beaumont as Beaver's wise old dad.

"Ever since he got interested in baseball, the Yankees win every year. They need to lose so he can finally understand what it is to be a true fan."

Sheer brilliance and wisdom amongst the hot dog wrappers of Section 22. A father who truly knew how to balance life with fandom. I've taught about that exchange many times. Every time my team loses a playoff or a division title or a close game. And I think about that kid who, in the very next year, probably learned and cried a lot when the Yankees blew Game 7 of the 2001 World Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

I wonder if the kid is still a Yankee rooter. I should do hope so. Because that would make him a real fan.

Ah, baseball.   It hugs you.  It kills you.  It makes you the person you are.

I continue to process 2022.

Dinner last night:   Had a big lunch so just some chicken noodle soup.

Classic Movie Trailer of the Month - October 2022

Sixty years old this month.  "You got rats in the basement." 

Dinner last night:  Prime rib sandwich at the Smoke House.

Election Day Is Coming!

 

Dinner last night:  Asian chopped salad.

Don't Let This Happen To You

 

This horror show is John Fetterman and he could be the next senator from the state of Pennsylvania.   The fact that he's already getting votes makes me never want to step into that state ever again.   How the hell could any voter in their right mind elect this creature?  I mean, he looks like somebody you might encounter in a correctional facility.   The guy you don't want to run afoul of.   Or the dude you don't want to be in the shower with.

Only in America could somebody like this be a candidate for election to anything.  Let's look at the credentials, shall we?

He's 53 and has never really established a career, thanks to parents who were rich.

He became mayor of some small town named Braddock which essentially died until his tenure.

He's pro-weed and pro-letting murderers out of prison.

You never see him without a hoodie on, likely covering a lot of tattoos.

Oh, and did we tell you he had a stroke a number of months ago and can't state a thought without reading a teleprompter?

Of course, what party could he possibly be associated with but the Democrats?

He's ahead in some polls and that's largely because the Republican candidate ain't the strongest.   That would be Dr. Mehmet Oz who got his start diagnosing the common cold on Oprah Winfrey's old gabfest.  Now that's hardly a resume but, compared to this lunkhead, Dr. Oz looks like Abe Lincoln.

If this guy were on the Republican ticket, he'd be lambasted from Pittsburgh to Scranton.   But, because he's a radical kook, he's Senate material.

Keep an eye on what happens with this guy on Election Day.   If he wins, I will leave room for you and the rest of America in my personal rabbit hole.

Dinner last night:  Had a big lunch so just a sandwich.

This Date in History - October 19

 

Hey, look, it's Divine.  And it's his/her birthday.

202 BC:  AT THE BATTLE OF ZAMA, ROMAN LEGIONS UNDER SCIPIO AFRICANUS DEFEAT HANNIBAL BARCA, LEADER OF THE INVADING CARTHAGINIAN ARMY.

Looking at this, maybe the reason I wasn't so hot with World History is because I couldn't remember how to spell the names.

439:  THE VANDALS, LED BY KING GAISERIC, TAKE CARTHAGE IN NORTH AFRICA.

Long before the Vandals moved on to the NYC subway system.

1216:  KING JOHN OF ENGLAND DIES AT NEWARK-ON-TRENT.

Regardless of where it is, there's no dignity if you die in Newark.

1453:  THE FRENCH RECAPTURE OF BORDEAUX BRINGS THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR TO A CLOSE.

And, at last, they can start making bordelaise sauce again.

1466:  THE THIRTEEN YEARS WAR ENDS WITH THE SECOND TREATY OF THORN.

I suppose the first treaty of Thorn wasn't worth the paper it was printed on.

1469:  FERDINAND II OF ARAGON MARRIES ISABELLA I OF CASTILE, A MARRIAGE THAT PAVES THE WAY FOR THE CREATION OF SPAIN.

Which would have been fine if they had all stayed there.

1512:  MARTIN LUTHER BECOMES A DOCTOR OF THEOLOGY.

And, years later, he would provide me with a place to go on Sunday mornings.

1789:  CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN JAY IS SWORN IN AS THE FIRST CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES.

Oh.  So there was one born before Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

1810:  ABOLITIONIST CASSIUS CLAY IS BORN.

So you thought that dopey boxer had a trademark on the name?

1812:  NAPOLEON I OF FRANCE RETREATS FROM MOSCOW.

Have you ever eaten borscht?  Can you blame him?

1813:  THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG CONCLUDES, GIVING NAPOLEON ONE OF HIS WORST DEFEATS.

On second thought, maybe Russia wasn't so bad.

1873:  YALE, PRINCETON, COLUMBIA, AND RUTGERS DRAFT THE FIRST CODE OF AMERICAN FOOTBALL RULES.

I'll bet there was even a tailgate for this.

1914:  THE FIRST BATTLE OF YPRES BEGINS.

If you know how to pronounce that, please contact me.

1917:  LOVE FIELD IN DALLAS, TEXAS IS OPENED.

The last airport JFK would ever see.

1932:  ACTOR ROBERT REED IS BORN.

Papa Brady!  Does Barry Williams also claim he slept with him, too?

1933:  GERMANY WITHDRAWS FROM THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

What I like about the League of Nations?  No designated hitter.

1936:  ACTOR TONY LO BIANCO IS BORN.

I spoke to him on the phone once.  That's all I got.

1943:  STREPTOMYCIN, THE FIRST ANTIBIOTIC FOR TUBERCULOSIS, IS ISOLATED BY RESEARCHERS AT RUTGERS.

So not everybody there was tailgating.

1945:  ACTOR DIVINE IS BORN.

It must be tough to maintain two completely different sets of wardrobe.

1956:  THE SOVIET UNION AND JAPAN SIGN A JOINT DECLARATION, OFFICIALLY ENDING THE STATE OF WAR THAT HAD EXISTED SINCE AUGUST 1945.

Japan really knows how to pick the wrong fights, don't they?

1959:  THE FIRST DISCOTHEQUE OPENS.

So was this Studio 1?

1973:  PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON REJECTS AN APPEALS COURT DECISION THAT HE TURN OVER THE WATERGATE TAPES.

Yeah, that worked out well.

1978:  ACTOR GIG YOUNG DIES.

He shot himself.  They shoot horses and apparently actors, don't they?

1987:  ON BLACK MONDAY, THE DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE FALLS BY 22%, 508 POINTS.

This one, I'm told, was Barbara Bush's fault.

1994:  ACTRESS/COMIC MARTHA RAYE DIES.

Buried with or without the dentures?

2003:  MOTHER TERESA IS BEATIFIED BY POPE JOHN PAUL II.

I read that really fast and you don't want to know what I thought it said.

2005:  SADDAM HUSSEIN GOES ON TRIAL IN BAGHDAD FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.

If he had gone on trial in Los Angeles, he might have been acquitted.

2008:  FASHION CRITIC MR. BLACKWELL DIES.

Not the list he wanted to make.

2010:  ACTOR TOM BOSLEY DIES.

And not his happiest day.

2013:  ACTOR NOEL HARRISON DIES.

Son of Rex.

Dinner last night:   Leftover SPO.

Another One Bites the Dust

 

A word in the ear to the Los Angeles Dodgers, please.

I have only a finite number of baseball seasons left.   Well, actually, we all have only a finite number of baseball seasons left.  But time is fleeting and this fan base really wants to celebrate at least one baseball championship with more than a socially-distant 11,000 fans in attendance as happened in 2020.   

This was supposed to be the year.   The team had a record 111 victories in the regular season.   Based on all the baseball seasons I have enjoyed to date, this edition of the Los Angeles Dodgers may have been the best team I have ever rooted for.  It was going to be a long and glorious postseason all the way through November 8.   It was supposed to be one I would celebrate with my friends hopefully in Dodger Stadium.

Nope.

I think back to another team I reveled in.   The 1986 New York Mets.  As I stood in the Shea Stadium upper deck on that damp-ish October 27th night and watched Jesse Orosco motor through the last three outs, my best friend from high school Danny and I had our arms around each other.   He said one of the wisest things ever.

"We need to enjoy this moment.  Because we may not have another one ever again."

No shit.

We can talk about what happened to the Dodgers last week.   They were inept at so many things.   They were the Joe Bidens of the baseball diamond.   And manager Dave Roberts was using the bullpen like Biden manages the economy.  

But it is all moot.   We can also gripe about the idiotic MLB playoff seedings.  Now you have the two lowest seeded teams playing to be the National League representative to the World Series.   And gunshots are going off at Fox Sports executive suites as they contemplate much reduced ratings and much increased makegoods for their advertisers.

Yep, moot.   But I had to say it anyway.

Again, there are only so many baseball seasons left for...all of us.

Dinner last night: Hamburger.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - October 17, 2022

Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp. 

Dinner last night:  SPO (wet).

The Sunday Memory Drawer - Happy Anniversary, Ricardos.

 

Some of these weekly Sunday Memory Drawer entries require some thought.  A few result in words that cascade from my mind.  This is one of the latter.  The photo above of two of my bobbleheads herald the coming story.

Yesterday marked the 71st anniversary of the premiere of "I Love Lucy."  I don't know about you, but this requires a special celebration in my house.

I've written about this landmark show several times on this blog.  I named "I Love Lucy" as my #1 favorite TV program of all time.  And those memories were rerun here when one of the show's creators and writers, Madelyn Pugh Davis, passed away.  Yet, I can never look back on it enough.

Truth be told, I don't remember my life without "I Love Lucy" in it.  Of course, it was long gone from the primetime schedule when I first saw it.  But, CBS ran reruns every weekday mornings at 10AM and you anxiously awaited a sick day from school so you could tune in.  The best part of getting the measles and the chicken pox was being able to watch "I Love Lucy" every day throughout your sickness.

Around the same time, CBS still ran the "Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" in primetime during the summer months.  They were new to us as if they were still producing shows.  Summer nights were planned around whatever night they were airing that year.  There were only thirteen episodes.  I always wondered why they couldn't make any more.  Mom filled me in.

"Because Lucy and Desi got divorced."

Oh.

Not only was "I Love Lucy" my first exposure to comedy, it was also my entry into the world of that gut wrenching phenomenon.

When I got to high school, I was not out sick as much.  But, the "I Love Lucy" connection didn't go away because WNEW Metromedia Channel 5 in New York saw fit to pick up the rerun rights and they showed it every night at 630PM.    This is when the program really started to hit home with me.  It began to form my personality and, more importantly, my creative DNA.

Entrenched in my mind were plots and comedic lines that would stay with me forever.

The "LA At Last" episode with Bill Holden that features not one but two of the best written comedy set pieces in television sitcom history.  I will run one of them tomorrow as my Monday Video Laugh.  To this day, when a dessert cart passes me in a restaurant, I will repeat Ethel's throwaway line.

"Oh, I'm gonna have a piece of that."

The hilarious episode where Lucy flies home from Europe disguising a twenty-five pound hunk of cheese as a baby.  Another great line in that one as Lucy tries to get Ricky to sit next to her on the plane.

"I am not the father of that cheese."

As the series aged, it seemed like the writing and acting fused together even more.  Madelyn Pugh Davis told us that the blend of talent behind the camera was "pure serendipity."  Watch in this scene as the cast weaves clever dialogue and slapstick together on their trip to California.

My love for the show was so great that I wrote a twelfth grade English term paper on it.  My parents thought I was nuts.  They thought it a little less so when I scored an A+.

Indeed, those are the only TV shows that I can recall watching with both my mother and my father as a family unit.  Dad particularly loved whenever Fred Mertz was dressed in a bizarre costume or when he took a pot shot at Ethel.  There were delicious belly laughs in our living room and, trust me, those moments were rarities.

To this very day, I frequently quote my favorite lines of "I Love Lucy" during everyday life.  Sometimes, the situation simply calls for it.

When work gets a little too complicated, I will be heard to say "if I can only break these ties that bind me."   That's from the "Ricky's Screen Test" episode.

When life gets messy, I will exclaim "how can you stand there in the middle of all this and utter those four horrible words 'I've got an idea?'"  That's an Ethel quote from "Ricky Needs an Agent."

And, whenever the city of Riverside is mentioned on television in the proximity of either myself or my writing partner, one of us will immediately yell out "Riverside?!!"  Lucy asked the very same question in "The Great Train Robbery" episode.

The list goes on and on and on.

Oddly, I had two direct encounters with Miss Ball herself.  The first was years and years ago.  She and Bob Hope were promoting a movie together and, in those days, stars would come to the New York metropolitan area to promote the film.  They would hop from one local movie house to another and come on stage for about ten minutes.  In between stops at RKO in Yonkers and RKO in New Rochelle, they would be gracing us all at the RKO Proctors Theater in Mount Vernon.

The event had an added bonus.  You could get in free with two box tops from Pepsodent Toothpaste.  My mom countered.

"We use Crest."

Not for the next month or so, Mother.

On this momentous day, the movie house was packed to the rafters.  The film was unspooling and suddenly stopped.  The lights went up and the stars magically appeared before us.  I suddenly, for the very first time in my life, was in touch with Hollywood.

They took questions from the audience and maybe my outstretched arm was higher than anybody else's.  Or maybe I was just an adorable little kid.  Lucy picked me.

"Lucy, how old are you?"

Eh, maybe not so adorable.  Lucy did a take and then answered me.

"Okay, next question."

Big laugh from all around.

Many years later, I made my first trip to the Left Coast.  And, as I was tooling the streets in my rented car, I would frequently find myself motoring up and down Roxbury Drive.  Heck, all the stars lived there.  Jimmy Stewart.  Jack Benny.  Peter Falk.  Rosemary Clooney.

And, of course, Lucy.

One day, after several canvassing of the area, I decided to pass by again.  I'd always slow down to take a longer peak.  Suddenly, I noticed at the end of their driveway.

A woman wearing a purple caftan.  And a pile of red hair that was noticeable from outer space.  She was motioning to somebody in the backyard.

I slammed on my brakes.   Loudly.  Lucy turned to see who the fool was.

I waved sheepishly and continued on.

And that was it.  Me and Lucy.  Intertwined for a short ten seconds.

Oh, over the years, the connections multiplied and got deeper.  In Los Angeles, we worked on for a while a proposed PBS documentary devoted to the series.  Elements of that twelfth-grade English term paper came back in spades.  And, as I have written here before, we became friends with the "I Love Lucy" writers Bob Carroll Jr. and especially Madelyn Pugh Davis.  The creative indoctrination from years of watching the show were punctuated by Madelyn's off-the-cuff remark one day at lunch.

"If we were still working, you would be working for us."

From lying on the living room couch with a faceful of chicken pox to that.  A complete and amazing circle.  All thanks to that fanciful "serendipity" created sixty years ago.

Happy birthday, Lucy and Ricky and Fred and Ethel.  And one more cap tip from me to all those who worked right alongside you, creating moments of sheer wonderment that will be live forever.

Dinner last night:  Taylor Ham with egg and cheese on a pretzel bun.

Classic TV Theme of the Month - October 2022

 This classic premiered...uh oh...fifty years ago.

Dinner last night:  Italian sub from Jersey Mike's.

Your Weekend Movie Guide for October 2022

 

Ah, the days where a movie opened with such hoopla that you waited on line to see it.  Sometimes over and over and over again, as you see above with this vintage movie ad for "Psycho" from 1960.

Sadly, in 2022, nobody is clamoring to go to the movie theater.  Most of them are playing in your living room.   The motion picture experience is gone, although theaters are trying the best they can.   You know the monthly drill, gang.  I'll drift through the movie pages of the newspaper and give you my knee jerk reaction to what's on the big screen.   And, in some cases, the little screen.   If you have to stay home and watch a film on TV, you might as well look for "Psycho."

Lyle, Lyle Crocodile:   A crocodile that sings.   Most of them just bite.

Amsterdam:   Director David O. Russell with a murder mystery and an all star cast...most of them I don't recognize.

Smile:  A horror film.  Invisalign gone bad.

The Woman King:   Viola King leads an army of female warriors.   Yet, another diverse uprising.

Don't Worry Darling:   A spin on the "Stepford Wives."   Harry Styles is in it and I'm one of those rare people who doesn't know who the fuck he is.

Bros:  A gay comedy that got a lot of press when the director says its poor box office was due to homophobia.   Hey, did you ever think that maybe the movie just plain sucked?

Tar:  Cate Blanchette as iconic musician Lydia Tar, whoever the hell she is.

Avatar:   A digital remastering of James Cameron's big hit.   A movie I didn't like the first time.

The Good House:  Sigourney Weaver as a descendent of the Salem Witches.   Co-starring Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi.

Accident Man - Hitman's Holiday:   Way too much for the marquee.

Cat Daddies:   Ach-choo.

Halloween Ends:   Jamie Lee Curtis is back with this franchise that is longer than the Old Testament.

Old Man:  A documentary about Joe Biden from ten years ago?

Emily:   As in Bronte.  As in.zzzzzz.

Dinner last night:  Chicken and apple sausage.

Len Speaks But Maybe A Little Less?

All things come to an end.  Even blogs that started in March 2007.

Okay, folks, this is not a sign off.   I'm not THERE yet.   But something has happened that has given me pause to perhaps pause.

Longtime readers of this blog may know that my inspiration to start this blog 15 years was a blog written by "Cheers" writer Ken Levine.   He would comment initially on "American Idol" but then offered a myriad of daily opinions on a variety of topics.   Oddly enough, I even got to meet Ken twice at the Dodger Stadium Press Box.

So, like Ken, I kept it up.  Daily.   Sure, there are some cheat days where I post a funny picture or comic video.   But I have kept at it in earnest.

About a month ago, with his podcast now taking up a lot of time, Ken ended his blog.   He's run out of things to write.

Hmmmmm.

Strangely, I started this blog to give me an excuse for a daily writing exercise. Except I now pretty much write and schedule out a month of blog entries in a day and a half.   Indeed, the only time I sign on otherwise is to load what I ate for dinner.

The Sunday Memory Drawer is largely recycled.   I call back stories that are ten years old.   This Date in History?   That's all recycled because I have literally covered each day of the year.   The only updating is for recent deaths.  

So you see where I am going?

I largely have tried to avoid political commentary because I realize there are "police" who have tried to silence some voices.   That's a fact.   When I dabbled in Google Ad Sense for a while, I had several entries cited as "inappropriate."

The other major source of blog pieces were movie reviews.   Sadly, that world has all changed.   When was the last time I went to the movies?

So what's next?   Do I write every other day?  Do I rework how I post?  Or do I continue to write a month's worth of blog pieces in a day and a half?

I guess we will all see what happens next.  Come back tomorrow.  Or maybe the day after.

Dinner last night:  Sausage, peppers, and onions at the Dodger game.

 

This Date in History - October 12

 

Today's date is a stretch....wink, wink.

539 BC:  THE ARMY OF CYRUS THE GREAT OF PERSIA TAKES BABYLON.

Later on, he set his sights on Islip and Ronkonkoma.

638:  POPE HONORIUS I DIES.

The first is now last.

642:  POPE JOHN IV DIES.

Four years later and we get to cart another one around Vatican Square.

1216:  KING JOHN OF ENGLAND LOSES HIS CROWN JEWELS IN THE WASH.

Now I realize that The Wash is a body of water, but this is quite amusing as written.  No need for embellishment from yours truly.

1492:  CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS' EXPEDITION MAKES LANDFALL IN THE CARIBBEAN.  THE EXPLORER BELIEVES HE HAS REACHED SOUTH ASIA.

He lands in the Caribbean and that constitutes the discovery of America?  Well, of course, everybody there is now living here.  Meanwhile, if he thought he was in South Asia, how screwed up were his maps???

1582:  BECAUSE OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR, THIS DAY DOES NOT EXIST IN THIS YEAR IN ITALY, POLAND, PORTUGAL, AND SPAIN.

Mention of these entries almost make me smile.  As if the folks in Poland aren't already screwed up with the regular calendar.

1692:  THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS ARE ENDED BY A LETTER FROM MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR WILLIAM PHIPPS.

And that's a big "whew" from Endora.

1773:  AMERICA'S FIRST INSANE ASYLUM OPENS FOR "PERSONS OF INSANE AND DISORDERED MINDS."

Today, it's simply called Congress.

1810:  DURING THE VERY FIRST OKTOBERFEST, THE BAVARIAN ROYALTY INVITES THE CITIZENS OF MUNICH TO JOIN THE CELEBRATION OF THE MARRIAGE OF CROWN PRINCE LUDWIG OF BAVARIA TO PRINCESS THERESE VON SACHSEN-HILDBURGHAUSEN.

Princess Therese gives good head cheese. 

1823:  CHARLES MACINTOSH OF SCOTLAND SELLS THE FIRST RAINCOAT.

With two pairs of pants.

1870:  GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE DIES.

Couldn't handle the loss, could you?

1892:  THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE IS FIRST RECITED BY STUDENTS IN MANY US PUBLIC SCHOOLS, AS PART OF A CELEBRATION MARKING THE 400TH ANNIVERSARY OF COLUMBUS' VOYAGE.

Was it also recited in Haiti and Southern Asia?

1901:  PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT OFFICIALLY RENAMES THE EXECUTIVE MANSION TO THE WHITE HOUSE.

Trying to increase value when he has to sell.

1904:  CHINESE WRITER DING LING IS BORN.

Mentioned for obvious reasons.  I hope his middle name starts with an "A."

1918:  A MASSIVE FOREST FIRE KILLS 453 PEOPLE IN MINNESOTA.

Not to mention a shitload of animals.

1921:  GUMBY CREATOR ART CLOKEY IS BORN. 

When the rubber met the drawing pad.

1928:  AN IRON LUNG RESPIRATOR IS USED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A BOSTON HOSPITAL.

And Aqualung was played for the first time on a dormitory stereo in 1971.

1935:  BASEBALL PLAYER/BROADCASTER TONY KUBEK IS BORN.

Watch out for that bad hop, Tony.

1953:  "THE CAINE MUTINY COURT MARTIAL" OPENS AT THE PLYMOUTH THEATER IN NEW YORK.

Who ate my strawberries???

1960:  NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV POUNDS HIS SHOE ON A DESK AT A UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING TO PROTEST A PHILIPPINE ASSERTION OF SOVIET UNION COLONIAL POLICY BEING CONDUCTED IN EASTERN EUROPE.

He might not been so quick to do this if he realized he had a hole in his sock.

1962:  ACTOR CARLOS BERNARD IS BORN.

Tony Almeida of "24!!!!!!!!"

1964:  THE SOVIET UNION LAUNCHES THE VOSKHOD I INTO EARTH ORBIT AS THE FIRST SPACECRAFT WITH A MULTI-PERSON CREW WITHOUT SPACE SUITS.

Because it would be no fun sitting naked all by yourself.

1969:  SKATER SONJA HENIE DIES.

She didn't live long enough to see the Mets win the World Series.

1970:  PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON ANNOUNCES THAT THE UNITED STATES WILL WITHDRAW 40,000 MORE TROOPS FROM VIET NAM BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

Better late than never.

1972:  EN ROUTE TO THE GULF OF TONKIN, A RACIAL BRAWL INVOLVING MORE THAN 100 SAILORS BREAKS OUT ABOARD THE NAVY CARRIER USS KITTY HAWK.

Why do I think this started by somebody saying, "Yo Mama?"

1985:  TV ANNOUNCER JOHNNY OLSON DIES.

And God says..."Come on up...."

1986:  ELIZABETH II AND PRINCE PHILIP VISIT THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.

There's no Chinese take-out that delivers near Buckingham Palace?

1989:  ANIMATOR JAY WARD DIES.

"Wanna see me pull a casket out of my hat?"

1997:  SINGER JOHN DENVER DIES IN A PLANE CRASH.

From Rocky Mountain High to Pacific Ocean Low.

1999:  THE FORMER SOVIET REPUBLIC OF ABKHAZIA DECLARES ITS INDEPENDENCE FROM GEORGIA.

First, the burning of Atlanta and now this???

1999:  BASKETBALL STAR WILT CHAMBERLAIN DIES.

How did they fit him into the coffin?

2000:  THE USS COLE IS BADLY DAMAGED BY TWO SUICIDE BOMBERS, KILLING 17.

This is how all this shit got started.

2002:  MUSICIAN RAY CONNIFF DIES.

I think of him every time I get in an elevator.

2003:  JOCKEY WILLIE SHOEMAKER DIES.

Now he was easy to fit into that coffin.

2015:  ACTRESS JOAN LESLIE DIES.

She played Jimmy Cagney's wife in "Yankee Doodle Dandy."

2020:  ACTRESS CONCHATA FARRELL DIES.

Two and a Half Men.  One Dead Woman.

Dinner last night:  Bacon wrapped Dodger Dog at the playoff game.