Good morning!
Up top is my favorite coffee mug. It is, of course, the great American heroes, Underdog and Polly Purebred. It is the last present my sister gave to me before she died in 1996. It is remarkable it still is around, as I have successfully carried it through multiple moves. That it hasn’t been lost or destroyed is just shy of miraculous. One day, this will inevitably happen but I won’t be sad. It’s been with me for a long time and I’ll have its memory (and its picture) forever!
This month is the 26th anniversary of Gale’s passing. It seems both like a lifetime and last week. Occasionally I will run into someone who remembered her and either didn’t know she was gone or has a kind remark about her. When I say she passed away, some people get uncomfortable. I quickly disabuse them of this feeling. People need not feel bad at the mention of her name, as I consider reminders of her and her irreverent social commentary and sense of humor, especially when accompanied by a story, to be a special gift.
She was a funny lady and often remarked that everything we wanted to know could be found in cartoons. Our Saturday mornings were spent eating unhealthy breakfast foods, reading books, playing in the yard and watching hours…and hours…of Saturday morning cartoons. Underdog and the wry and corny humor of Fractured Fairy Tales, Mr. Peabody, and Rocky & Bullwinkle were among our favorites.
Fractured Fairy Tales were a series of only 15 slightly twisted takes on the Grim Brothers and Aesop’s Fables (and other morals-based stories), ending with true groan-inducing morals of the stories that were terrible puns. Long before Brian on Family Guy, there was the anthropomorphic Mr. Peabody. The cartoon was the adventures of the scientist-dog Mr. Peabody traveling through time (in the “Way Back Machine”) with his boy, Sherman.
CLASSICAL MUSIC FROM OUR YOUTH (AND CARTOONS)
I had written a couple of months ago about how many of our generation received their basic education in classical music from cartoons. Here is a loving remembrance from Mark Ferrell, of discovering and appreciating music from our childhood:
“I learned the classics in a most bombastic way, by watching cartoons. It wasn't until I started collecting music that I discovered that the music of my childhood was classical music. As a DJ and producer, I spent hours combing through record stores (remember those?) looking for all kinds of music. I would often find something I hadn't expected to find and immediately bring it home for a listen.
On one such occasion, I found two albums of Carl Stalling's music from his Warner Brother's days. It was brilliant!…Stalling's interpretations were spectacularly violent and schizophrenic!
If you've never listened to Stalling's "cartoon" music as music, you really must!”
RECIPE TIME
Ken Kahan has asked that I say something about the biscuits that Ted Lasso brought to work every day in the eponymous TV series. After the third request, here’s the official recipe, from the Today Show:
Ted Lasso's Biscuits
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
Preparation
Preheat oven to 300 F.
Sift flour and salt, mix into bowl and set aside.
Mix butter on high speed until fluffy (3 to 5 minutes).
Gradually add sugar slowly, continuing to mix until pale and fluffy.
Add flour all at once and mix until combined.
Butter a square pan.
Pat and roll shortbread into pan no more than 1/2-inch thick.
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Cut into squares.
Bake until golden and make sure the middle is firm, approximate bake time 45 to 60 minutes.
Cool completely. Re-slice them, if necessary, and serve.
Have a great day,
Glenn
From the archives:
Yes, I remember Gale quite well. Her confidence and intelligence made an impression on me. How wonderful to celebrate her life by remembering her wit and humor. Laughter matters and moves us all! On another note from an earlier musing, I was moved by your comments about your son. Mental health touches us all in both visible and invisible ways.