[Next Bar Chat…Thursday, Dec. 28]
NBA Quiz: Name the ten who averaged 25.0 points per game or
more for their career. [Min. 10,000 points…two are active.]
Answer below.
Stuff
–Joseph Barbera, RIP
The other half of Hanna-Barbera, Joseph just joined his partner
Bill Hanna in cartoon heaven. Born in New York City, 1911, Joe
Barbera became interested in animation upon seeing Walt
Disney’s 1929 “The Skeleton Dance.” After working for Van
Buren and Terrytoons studios, he joined MGM’s cartoon unit in
1937, which is where Barbera met Bill Hanna.
By 1940, Bill and Joe had earned an Oscar nomination in the
cartoon short category for “Puss Gets the Boot,” the forerunner
to “Tom and Jerry.” The cat and mouse then co-starred
alongside Gene Kelly in “Anchors Aweigh” and Esther Williams
in “Dangerous When Wet.”
In a 1988 interview, Bill Hanna recalled, “Joe would draw the
storyboard and plot the actions. I would do the timing and go
over the scenes with the animators. We used to make a ‘Tom
and Jerry’ short every six weeks and they were about six minutes
long, so we were producing about a minute of animation a
week.’”
But in 1957, MGM shut the animation studio and Hanna and
Barbera formed their own production company, looking for work
in television. They were able to attract Screen Gems and in Dec.
1957 premiered “Ruff and Reddy,” the story of a bulldog and a
cat, on NBC.
Whereas “Tom and Jerry” cost more than $40,000 apiece in the
mid-50s, the first episodes of “Ruff and Reddy” were budgeted at
$2,700. Hanna and Barbera had to cut costs which means cutting
animation.
“The Huckleberry Hound Show” was the duo’s first half-hour
program, premiering in syndication in 1958, but in 1961, Hanna
and Barbera scored with “Yogi Bear.” At the same time they
were launching another hit, “The Flintstones” (1960 to 1966),
which was the longest-running animated prime-time series until
“The Simpsons.”
Finding sponsors for “The Flintstones” wasn’t easy. Joe Barbera
had to pitch the idea in dozens of corporate boardrooms, but the
hard work obviously paid off and other works, such as “The
Jetsons,” followed.
Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times wrote of Hanna and
Barbera receiving the Governors’ Award from the Academy of
Television Arts & Sciences in 1988; an event at which Barbera
explained how the two survived all those years working together.
“We never mix socially. It isn’t deliberate; it just happened that
way,” he said. “Bill likes the great outdoors – he goes fishing,
boating and on camping trips with sleeping bags. I hate boating,
I hate fishing, I hate camping. While Bill is up north at his
ranch, I go to Palm Springs.”
The two agreed on a division of labor, which helped in their
amicable partnership. “I work on creating the ideas for projects
and trying to sell those ideas in the various markets,” he said.
“Bill oversees the actual production in studios all over the world,
which I would hate doing.”
“When Bill’s out of town,” he said, joking, “I turn the light out
behind his name on the studio sign, but he does the same thing to
me when I’m gone, so we stay even.”
Personally, I was a big Flintstones fan, but my favorite cartoon
growing up was “Deputy Dawg” and here I was thinking that
was a Hanna-Barbera production. Turns out it was Terrytoons
and created by Ralph Bakshi, who later did “Fritz the Cat.”
–By now you know about the suspensions handed down as a
result of the basketbrawl at Madison Square Garden on Saturday
night between the Knicks and the Denver Nuggets; Carmelo
Anthony leading the way with a 15-gamer.
Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News had this take.
“What happened between the Pacers and Pistons (in 2004) was
nothing short of a riot, with paying customers at the epicenter.
Saturday night, the Knicks and Nuggets had a good old-
fashioned fight, limited to idiot players. Nothing more. But it
doesn’t matter. Every brawl in the NBA gets treated like a
multiple homicide.
“ ‘We’re not getting through to the players,’ (Commissioner
David) Stern said yesterday after announcing his suspensions and
fines. ‘Our players, in certain circumstances, don’t want to be
restrained. I will suggest to those players that they will not have
long careers in the NBA if they continue.’
“He issued similar threats after Auburn Hills, and, to the surprise
of very few, a contingent of knuckleheads weren’t paying
attention.
“You know who should be laughing about all of this? (NFL
Commissioner) Roger Goodell. His Cincinnati Bengals are
making the great Paul Brown spin. They’ve had so many arrests
this season, their 2006 highlight tape is rumored to be entitled
‘Stripes Behind Bars.’ Then last week, the Chicago Bears’ Tank
Johnson was found by police to be living in what could have
passed for an arsenal. Two days later, Tank’s ‘bodyguard’ –
think about it, a guy named Tank needs a bodyguard – got blown
away at a nightclub. But does anybody ask about the NFL’s
image problem? [Ed. actually, some of us have.]
“ ‘I don’t want to bad-mouth football players, but there’s
something hypocritical about the system,’ said Billy Hunter,
himself a former defensive back for the Washington Redskins
and now head of the NBA players union. ‘The difference is that
the stars who are showcased in the NFL are the white
quarterbacks. You see the Mannings; Tom Brady; Drew Brees.
And my guy in Green Bay, Brett Favre.
“ ‘But every time you see a survey,’ Hunter said, ‘the NBA
players always score low, in terms of public image.’”
Lawrence’s piece isn’t totally fair. For the most part, NBA
players deserve their low rankings.
And what’s this? The two leading scorers in the league on the
same team? With the trade of Allen Iverson to Denver, for only
the third time in NBA history this is the case; the others being
Neil Johnston and Paul Arizin for the 1954-55 Philadelphia
Warriors and Alex English and Kiki Vandeweghe of the
Nuggets, 1982-83.
So will Iverson and Carmelo Anthony (once he returns from his
suspension) be able to share the ball without throwing a tantrum?
Stay tuned. In the meantime, Philly picked up Andre Miller, Joe
Smith, and, most importantly, two No.1 picks in the next draft.
And this draft is all about 7-footer Greg Oden, who the Sixers
will have a chance to pick up off of their own lottery pick. For
both sides in this deal, it’s one of the more intriguing trades in
professional sports history. Hell, I might even watch a Nuggets
game! [Just one….I’m not going overboard.]
–Color Donald Trump a wimp. Miss USA Tara Conner should
have been sent packing, as I thought was already the case last
chat. Instead Trump said she could keep her crown as long as
she went to rehab.
“I don’t think she’s denying she’s an alcoholic,” said Trump.
“She can be a great example for troubled people – and she’s
troubled – that have problems with alcohol.”
But it’s certainly more than alcohol at issue when it comes to
Tara. She’s already failed a drug test for cocaine. But according
to the Daily News, “she bawled like a baby when she stepped
into (Trump’s) Trump Tower office yesterday, and that was
enough to charm the softer side of the fearsome TV boss.”
–Did you know that some pythons in Florida, having been
discarded as pets by their owners, are now growing to as much as
26 feet in length?! Holy Toledo.
–Chris Kraul of the Los Angeles Times had a story on the late
cocaine king Pablo Escobar’s 5,500-acre estate about 100 miles
east of Medellin, Colombia, called Hacienda Napoles.
Escobar, who was killed in Medellin in December 1993, raised
exotic animals, including elephants, camels, giraffes, and zebras.
But when the government took over the place, the animals
disappeared; given away to Colombian zoos or left to die.
All, that is, except the hippos. The original four have multiplied
to 16 and are now foraging like cows. Eventually, you can count
on them working their way up through Mexico and across our
still porous border; at which point they’ll hitch a ride to
Baltimore and star in “The Wire.”
–NFL wildcard picture
NFC
Philadelphia…8-6…at Dallas (9-5), Atlanta
Giants…7-7…New Orleans, at Washington
Atlanta…7-7…Carolina, at Philly
*Philly can still win East by winning last two
AFC
Jets…8-6…at Miami, Oakland
Jacksonville…8-6…New England, at Kansas City
Cincinnati…8-6…at Denver, Pittsburgh
Denver…8-6…Cincinnati, San Francisco
As of today Denver and Cincinnati have the two wildcard slots,
but since they play each other that means Jacksonville moves
up…but Jacksonville plays New England. So, if the Jets beat
Miami on Christmas Day, already knowing the result of the
Jacksonville / New England contest, and if the Jets win…then
entering the final weekend the Jets and the Denver/Cincy winner
will be on top with 9-6 records, assuming Jacksonville gets beat.
There are a slew of AFC teams at 7-7 that, technically, still have
a shot…Buffalo, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, and K.C., but you can
forget them. Denver and the Jets will finish at 10-6. It’s the Bar
Chat Guarantee!!!!!
–With the plight of the hikers on Mt. Hood still fresh in
everyone’s mind, Craid Medred of the Anchorage Daily News
speculated on the demise of James Kim, the Californian who
died while wandering off to save his wife and two kids who were
stranded in Oregon. Medred doesn’t have too much sympathy
for Kim, in the end.
“(In Alaska) when this happens we all know the reason:
Someone made a mistake or, more often, many mistakes. No
one proclaims, as one sheriff involved with the search for Kim
reportedly did, that the poor, innocent victim ‘did nothing
wrong.’….
“Everyone should feel sympathy for the Kim family but should
not allow sympathy to obscure what happened.”
Those who get stranded, as Kim and his family were, yet are then
rescued, don’t wait before making their move.
“Kim waited days – subsisting on baby food, berries and crackers
– with angst ever growing.
“Until you have been lost, you’ll never know about this angst.
The first time you get lost, it is scary almost beyond belief. If
you become one who wanders regularly in places where getting
lost is to be expected, the fear eventually subsides, but even then,
getting lost can prove unsettling….
“I have no doubt that James Kim would be alive today if he’d
stayed on the trail or, as it was in this case, the road. This is
something all of those wilderness-ignorant journalists seem to
have missed in their reporting about his heroic struggle to save
his wife and two children, who rescuers later found safe at the
family car.
“Let there be no doubt, either, that Kim’s decision to go for help
was in its way heroic. And that makes what happened thereafter
sadder.
“If Kim had steeled himself to stay on the road, if he had burned
this thought into his brain before he left his family, he would
probably be alive today. Rescuers say now that he wandered 16
miles. He was 15 miles up the back roads from a main road.
You do the math.
“But Kim abandoned the road to drop down into an untracked
creek bottom. Some reporters who know nothing of this sort of
thing have actually professed to know what he was thinking
when he did that.
“ ‘On Saturday morning,’ one wrote, ‘Kim dressed in layers,
filled a backpack to walk what would be five miles up the road,
then another five miles into a steep canyon, following a creek he
thought would take him to Galice – a town he saw on the map.’
“If this was, indeed, Kim’s thought, it was a bad one. Kim might
already have been befuddled by hypothermia.
“Not far from where he left the road, searchers found a pair of
pants he had abandoned. Disrobing is common behavior for
victims of severe hypothermia.
“Some newspaper reporters have interpreted the trail of clothes
and other gear Kim subsequently scattered around the
countryside as meaning as he was trying to leave rescuers a trail,
something like in the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel.
“The idea makes so little sense that it would be laughable if it
wasn’t so dangerous. Somewhere out there, given how these
things go, is someone who will read that and conclude that what
he or she should do if lost in the woods is scatter gear for
rescuers to follow when what one should really do is stay on the
road or the trail.
“That will be the first place rescuers check. You don’t want to
go wandering off into thick brush and cliffs scattering your
clothes, maps and whatnot.
“Unfortunately, Kim’s judgment was no doubt lost in a fog of
cold and fear.
“ ‘If things get progressively more unfamiliar and mixed up, (lost
people) may then develop a feeling of vertigo, the trees and
slopes seem to be closing in and a feeling of claustrophobia
compels them to break out. This is the point at which running or
frantic scrambling may occur and indeed outright panic has
occurred – running in panic,’ writes William G. Syrotuck in the
search and rescue handbook ‘Analysis of Lost Person Behavior.’
“ ‘If they do not totally exhaust or injure themselves during
outright panic, they may eventually get a grip on themselves and
decide on some plan of action. What they decide to do may
appear irrational to a calm observer, but does not seem
unreasonable to the lost person, who is now totally disoriented.
“ ‘Generally, they would be wiser and safer to stay put and get as
comfortable and warm as possible, but many feel compelled to
push on urged by subconscious feeling: ‘This must go down to
the road’ or ‘All streams lead to civilization’ – totally ignoring
the distance or problems in between.’”
One thing Kim did early on that was smart was he burned the car
tires to try to make smoke to attract rescuers. But as Craig
Medred writes, he should have set the fire at the base of a large
tree, added as much brush as possible, and set the whole forest
ablaze. He’d be alive today had he done so.
As Medred concludes, “by all indications, James Kim was
kinder, gentler and more loving than many of us. But the natural
world – the world outside the comforts of our civilization –
doesn’t care about such things. It remains as cold, harsh and
primordial as it was when 46 members of the Donner Party died
stuck in the snow of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the winter
of 1846-47.”
–Chris Hayward died. Hayward was a writer on “Rocky and His
Friends,” later renamed “The Bullwinkle Show.” Hayward was
most closely associated with the segments “The Adventures of
Dudley Do-Right,” which for a while the Canadian government
was none too pleased with, even banning it, since Dudley wasn’t
exactly the model Canadian Mountie.
Hayward, together with partner Allan Burns, also conceived of
“The Munsters,” which ran on CBS from 1964 to 1966.
–Larry Sherry, hero of the 1959 World Series, passed away at
the age of 71. Sherry starred in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 4-2
triumph over the Chicago White Sox by appearing in all four
victories and allowing just one run in 12 2/3 innings. Sherry was
just 24 at the time, having been called up in July 1959 to be used
as a starter. But Dodgers bench coach Charlie Dressen thought
Sherry could be an effective reliever and convinced Manager
Walter Alston to move him there, even after Sherry had pitched a
shutout over Pittsburgh on Aug. 31.
In L.A.’s Series-clinching Game 6, Sherry relieved starter
Johnny Podres and threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings for the victory
that gave the Dodgers their first championship on the West Coast
after moving from Brooklyn the prior year.
–Terrell Owens was fined $35,000 for spitting in the face of
Atlanta cornerback DeAngelo Hall last Sunday. Owens’ coach,
Bill Parcells, is none too pleased. “We don’t condone that kind
of activity.” Owens is trying to convince everyone it was an
accident.
–The World Wildlife Fund has discovered over 50 new species
on the island of Borneo since 2005, including Siamese fighting
fish and a catfish with protruding teeth and suction cups on its
belly. But no raptors, which kind of bums me out. I would
submit, however, that Godzilla is hiding out in waters offshore.
–As I go to post, fire appears to be sweeping the home of
Michael and Deanna in “For Better or For Worse.” Did they forget
to water the Christmas tree? Did their neighbors forget to water
theirs? Or is it a wildfire that is enveloping the whole town and
all of Ontario? At least there is some freakin’ action.
–Yet another passing to record…that of Denis Payton of The
Dave Clark Five, DC Five being the most underrated rock act in
the history of mankind. Payton was best known as the sax player
in the band and was just 63.
[I’ll have far more on the group depending on whether or not
they are finally selected for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the
announcement for which is just weeks away.]
Top 3 songs for the week of 12/19/81: #1 “Physical” (Olivia
Newton-John) #2 “Waiting For A Girl Like You” (Foreigner)
#3 “Let’s Groove” (Earth, Wind & Fire)…and…#6 “I Can’t Go
For That (No Can Do)” (Daryl Hall & John Oates) #9 “Don’t
Stop Believin’” (Journey)
Rolling Stone magazine’s Top Ten Songs for 2006
1. “Crazy” (Gnarls Barkley)
2. “Steady As She Goes” (The Raconteurs)
3. “Ridin” (Chamillionaire)
4. “What You Know” (T.I.)
5. “Vans” (The Pack)
6. “Thunder On The Mountain” (Bob Dylan)
7. “Smile” (Lily Allen)
8. “Wamp Wamp (What It Do)” (Slipze with Slim Thug)
9. “Dimension” (Wolfmother)
10. “Ooh La La” (Goldfrapp)
Only song I know is the #1 tune. I’m getting old. What can I tell
you?
NBA Quiz Answer: Career averages over 25.0
1. Michael Jordan…30.1 ppg
1. Wilt Chamberlain…30.1
3. Allen Iverson…28.1
4. Elgin Baylor…27.4
5. Jerry West…27.0
6. Bob Pettit…26.4
7. Shaq………26.3
8. George Gervin…26.2
9. Oscar Robertson…25.7
10. Karl Malone…25.0
11. Dominique Wilkins…24.8
12. Lew Alcindor, err, Kareem…24.
13. Larry Bird…..24.3
13. Adrian Dantley…24.3
15. Pete Maravich…24.2
16. Vince Carter…24.0
16. Kobe Bryant…24.0
*Reminder…for those of you in the New York area, WPIX /
Ch. 11 will be presenting “The WPIX Yule Log: A Log’s Life,”
Dec. 23 at 7 p.m. Yes, the history of the log from its inaugural
Christmas season in the fireplace at Gracie Mansion in 1966.
“The Yule Log” airs on Ch. 11 on Christmas Day from 9 a.m. to
noon.
—
And now…our traditional Christmas fare, suitable for the
kiddies.
Apollo 8
Growing up, one of the more dramatic memories as a kid was
staying up Christmas Eve 1968 to follow the remarkable voyage
of Apollo 8.
If ever a nation needed a pick me up, it was America in ’68, after
the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert
Kennedy, with the ongoing war in Vietnam and the dramatic Tet
Offensive, and after LBJ’s sudden withdrawal from the
presidential race, the turbulent Democratic Convention, and the
invasion of Czechoslovakia. Yes, we were ready for a little
space adventure.
Apollo 8 would be the first manned mission to orbit the moon.
Commanded by Frank Borman, with James Lovell, Jr. and
William Anders, it was launched on December 21 and on
Christmas Eve the three began their orbit. What made it all even
more dramatic was the first go round to the dark side of the
moon, when all communication was lost until they reemerged at
the other side. It was the middle of night for us viewers, at least
in the Eastern time zone, and I also remember that Apollo was
sending back spectacular photos of earth.
Borman described the moon as “a vast, lonely and forbidding
sight,” and Lovell called Earth, “a grand oasis in the big vastness
of space.” The crew members then took turns reading from the
Book of Genesis / Creation:
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the
earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the
deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
Then God said, “Let there be light;” and there was light. And
God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light
from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he
called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the
first day…
James Lovell would later say, “Please be informed, that there is a
Santa Claus.” And Borman concluded with, “Merry Christmas.
God bless all of you, all of you on the Good Earth.”
—–
The Gospel According to Luke
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all
the world should be registered. This was the first registration
and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went
to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the
town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called
Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family
of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was
engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there,
the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to
her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him
in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping
watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood
before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and
they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be
afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all
the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you
will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a
manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of
the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the
shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and
see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made
known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and
Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this,
they made known what had been told them about this child; and
all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.
But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her
heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for
all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
—–
Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
A famous letter from Virginia O’Hanlon to the editorial board of
the New York Sun, first printed in 1897:
We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the
communication below, expressing at the same time our great
gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the
friends of The Sun:
Dear Editor –
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa
Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell
me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O”Hanlon
—
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected
by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except
they see. They think that nothing can be which is not
comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia,
whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great
universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as
compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by
the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and
knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as
love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they
abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas!
How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It
would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be
no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable
this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense
and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the
world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in
fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the
chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you
did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove?
Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no
Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that
neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies
dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they
are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders
there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise
inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not
the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the
strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry,
love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture
the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah,
Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A
thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years
from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
—–
A Visit from St. Nicholas
By Clement C. Moore [Well, he really stole it, but that’s a story
for another day. This is the original version.]
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap;
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof,
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof –
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes – how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
—
World War I – Christmas Truce
By December 1914, the war had been picking up in intensity for
five months. Ironically, the feeling during the initial phases
was that everyone would be home by Christmas, though little
did they know it would be Christmas 1918.
On Christmas Eve 1914, along the British and German lines,
particularly in the Flanders area, the soldiers got into
conversation with each other and it was clear to the British that
the Germans wanted some sort of Christmas Armistice. Sir
Edward Hulse wrote in his diary, “A scout named F. Murker
went out and met a German Patrol and was given a glass of
whisky and some cigars, and a message was sent back saying
that if we didn’t fire at them they would not fire at us.” That
night, where five days earlier there had been savage fighting, the
guns fell silent.
The following morning German soldiers walked towards the
British wire and the Brits went out to meet them. They
exchanged caps and souvenirs and food. Then arrangements
were made for the British to pick up bodies left on the German
side during a recent failed raid.
Christmas Day, fraternization took place along many of the lines,
including a few of the French and Belgian ones. Some joined in
chasing hares, others, most famously, kicked around a soccer
ball. British soldier Bruce Bairnsfather would write, “It all felt
most curious: here were these sausage-eating wretches, who had
elected to start this infernal European fracas, and in so doing had
brought us all into the same muddy pickle as themselves…(But)
there was not an atom of hate on either side that day; and yet, on
our side, not for a moment was the will to war and the will to
beat them relaxed.”
In the air the war continued and the French Foreign Legionnaires
in Alsace were ordered to fight Christmas Day as well. Plus,
most of the commanders on both sides were none too pleased.
Nothing like the Christmas truce of 1914 would occur in
succeeding years (outside of a pocket or two) and by December
26, 1914, the guns were blazing anew.
[Source: “The First World War,” Martin Gilbert]
Toy Stories
[The following are from Don Wulffson’s book “Toys! Amazing
Stories Behind Some Great Inventions” as the main source.]
Slinky
In 1945 engineer Richard James was working at a Philadelphia
shipyard for the Navy, which had asked him to develop a
stabilizing device to prevent a ship’s instruments from pitching
and rolling with the waves. His first thought was ‘springs,’ so he
tried all manner of them, different shapes and sizes, but none
worked.
Then one day he accidentally knocked one of his experimental
models off a shelf and instead of it plopping down it “walked
down” coil by coil, end over end, onto a stack of books, then a
desktop, then a chair, and finally onto the floor. Each time he
did it the same thing happened.
Excited, James went home and he and his wife, Betty, tried it in
all manner of places. Again, the same result. Betty thought it
was a toy, though Richard didn’t initially see it that way. But she
began looking through a dictionary for a name and settled on
‘slinky.’
The next year they borrowed $500 from 4 friends to have 400
Slinkys made, went from store to store, but found only a handful
that would stock even a few…and none of these sold.
Undaunted, and still convinced they had a supertoy on their
hands, Richard and Betty went to a manager at a large
department store, Gimbel’s. After begging the guy, he let them
demonstrate the toy right there and customers began to gather
around. Within a 90-minute period the entire stock of close to
400 was sold. A few years later Richard and Betty were
millionaires.
Today over 250 million Slinkys have been sold. But did you
know that about 80 feet of wire is in a standard Slinky and that
Slinkys were used in Vietnam? They were tossed over high tree
branches and used as makeshift antennas. Slinkys also make
good scarecrows, hung from a tree, swaying in the breeze.
Trivial Pursuit
Scott Abbott and Chris Haney both worked for a newspaper,
Scott as a sportswriter and Chris as photo editor. They also
loved to play Scrabble so on December 15, 1975 they’re in the
midst of a contest when they start discussing getting into the
game business. The issue was what kind? They decided it
should center around questions – all sorts of them. At first they
called it Trivia Pursuit, but Chris’s wife suggested Trivial Pursuit
and that stuck. [See the power of women in these two stories?!]
Scott and Chris formed a company and persuaded two others to
join them. Then they started borrowing from everyone they
knew and soon there were 34 investors (including a copyboy
who borrowed the money from his mother).
The total pool was $40,000 and with that they rented space for
manufacturing and packaging. But they couldn’t really pay any
wages so Scott and Chris gave out stock instead.
The first 1,100 sets cost $75 each to manufacture, which the guys
then tried to sell to retailers for $15. Obviously, this was a major
money-losing operation and by 1982 Scott and Chris were deeply
in debt. [You can see that as opposed to the Slinky tale, Trivial
Pursuit was slower in getting going.]
But Scott and Chris still refused to give up and they began
contacting every game company in America. Only form-letter
rejections came back, with some saying all the games were
produced “in-house, by our own staff.” Finally, on the verge of
packing it in for good, Selchow & Righter expressed interest and
a meeting was arranged.
S&R liked it so much they hired a PR consultant to launch an ad
campaign. Coincidentally, it was now 1983 and 1,800 toy buyers
were in New York for the annual toy fair so S&R sent brochures
and copies of the game to all before the show. Then they mailed
sets to actors, actresses, basically anyone that could create some
buzz. The effort paid off and word of mouth took over. By late
1983, 3.5 million sets of Trivial Pursuit were sold. 20 million in
1984. Today, total sales are approaching $2 billion.
Mr. Potato Head
There once was a chap by the name of George Lerner who had
seen everything when it came to his kids playing with their food
and nothing worked when he asked them to stop. But one
evening, Lerner, a model maker for a toy manufacturing
company, decided that instead of trying to get his kids to behave
he would play with the food himself. So he grabbed a few
potatoes, got some bottle caps and thumbtacks for the eyes and
mouth and added a strawberry for the nose. Well, the kids
thought that their dad was the funniest man around.
George then began to make plastic molds for eyes, ears, and
noses and called them ‘Funny Faces For Food,’ but when he took
his kits to food companies, no one was interested. More than two
years passed before a cereal outfit signed George to a contract for
his idea, paying Lerner $5,000 (it was the early 1950s, thus a fair
sum for the times) and the breakfast food folks used Funny Faces
as a premium in the box.
Several months later George received a call from Henry
Hassenfeld and his son Merrill, the owners of Hasbro Company.
They had seen Funny Faces and wanted to buy the idea from
Lerner and form a partnership, but there was the issue of George
having already sold the rights to the cereal guys.
But Henry and Merrill didn’t give up and they offered the
company $2,000, plus George had to pay back his $5,000. The
cereal guys stupidly accepted. George Lerner then went into
partnership with Hasbro and soon thereafter he was a millionaire
as the product was given a new name…Mr. Potato Head.
Silly Putty
During World War II there was a severe shortage of natural
rubber, so the military asked General Electric if they could come
up with a synthetic substitute. At the lab in New Haven,
Connecticut, James Wright was put to the task. He tried to come
up with something using every possible chemical in the table, but
nothing worked until he mixed boric acid and silicone oil (kids…
don’t try this at home without first asking your parents for
permission). Together, these two formed a rubbery compound.
Wright then started playing with the stuff and realized that when
he tossed it on the floor it bounced higher than normal rubber.
He could also stretch it and it held up in extreme temperatures
without cracking, plus the compound was able to lift words and
pictures off of newsprint.
Wright certainly had something, but just what became a source
of amusement around the halls of G.E. because his invention did
everything but what it was intended to do, that being a substitute
for rubber. The problem was the stuff didn’t get hard enough.
Soon Wright’s compound was given names like Nutty Putty,
Bouncing Putty, and Bouncing Blubber. But bottom line, this
was viewed as the most worthless invention in the history of G.E.
Years after the war, however, James Wright’s boss suggested
that a contest be held to find a use for Bouncing Putty (the formal
name at this time), but no one came up with a good idea. The
boss even had Wright ship the putty to the world’s top scientists
and they didn’t have any success either.
Then one evening in 1948, Wright went directly from the office
to a party and he happened to have some Bouncing Putty with
him. He showed the folks in attendance some of the putty’s
properties and one woman (there we go again), Ruth Fallgatter,
thought the stuff made for a great toy prospect.
Ruth, it turns out, owned a toy store herself, and along with Peter
Hodgson, who helped Ruth with advertising and sales material,
they decided to put a line for Bouncing Putty in their next
catalogue. Ruth and Peter thought the stuff was for adults, as per
the description.
“Do a thousand nutty things with Bouncing Putty. Comes in a
handy clear plastic case. A guaranteed hoot at parties! Price:
Only $2.00!”
Ruth and Peter ended up selling more Bouncing Putty than
anything else. Peter, in particular, was really high on the product
but he was also up to his eyeballs in debt. Somehow he
scrounged together $147 and bought as much of the putty from
G.E. as he could, then he hired students from nearby Yale
University to package it in plastic eggs. It was Hodgson who
then changed the name to Silly Putty.
Peter headed off to the New York Toy Fair in 1950 and
Doubleday Bookstores decided they would carry it. Then a few
months later a reporter for the New Yorker magazine wrote a
positive column about Silly Putty and the rest is history. Within
3 days of the article orders topped 250,000 and Hodgson became
another great American success story. When he died in 1976 his
estate was worth around $140 million.
But I never did find out if James Wright got anything out of it. I
imagine he was screwed on the whole deal.
“May You Always”
From 1959-2002, Harry Harrison was a fixture on New York
radio, the last 20+ years at the great oldies station WCBS-FM.
Unfortunately, he was forced to retire, which ticked off many of
us to no end, but he will forever be remembered for a brilliant
greeting titled “May You Always.” Enjoy.
As the holiday bells ring out the old year, and sweethearts kiss,
And cold hands touch and warm each other against the year
ahead,
May I wish you not the biggest and best of life,
But the small pleasures that make living worthwhile.
Sometime during the new year, to keep your heart in practice,
May you do someone a secret good deed and not get caught at it.
May you find a little island of time to read that book and write
that letter
And to visit that lonely friend on the other side of town.
May your next do-it-yourself project not look like you did it
yourself.
May the poor relatives you helped support remember you when
they win the lottery.
May your best card tricks win admiring gasps and your worst
puns, admiring groans.
May all those who told you so, refrain from saying “I told you
so.”
May all the predictions you’ve made for your firstborn’s future
come true.
May just half of those optimistic predictions that your high
school annual made for you come true.
In a time of sink or swim, may you find you can walk to shore
before you call the lifeguard.
May you keep at least one ideal you can pass along to your kids.
For a change, some rainy day, when you’re a few minutes late,
May your train or bus be waiting for you.
May you accidentally overhear someone saying something nice
about you.
If you run into an old school chum,
May you both remember each other’s names for introductions.
If you order your steak medium rare, may it be so.
And, if you’re on a diet,
May someone tell you, “You’ve lost a little weight,” without
knowing you’re on a diet.
May that long and lonely night be brightened by the telephone
call that you’ve been waiting for.
When you reach into the coin slot, may you find the coin that
you lost on your last wrong number.
When you trip and fall, may there be no one watching to laugh at
you or feel sorry for you.
And sometime soon, may you be waved to by a celebrity,
Wagged at by a puppy,
Run to by a happy child,
And counted on by someone you love.
More than this, no one can wish you.
—
[The following is from a Times of London editorial, 12/24/02]
“The knowledge that it is through love for others that one lives
most fully is at the heart of the Christian message, the reason for
its initial appeal and the explanation for its endurance through
persecution, schism and indifference. In this age of scientific
skepticism the miracle of Christmas, God becoming Man, the
Word becoming Flesh, is considered a fanciful conceit. But the
essence of the Christian message, the Word at the heart of the
faith, is the transformative power of unconditional love, the real
freedom we achieve when we live for others. When families
gather tomorrow to celebrate Christmas Day they will be re-
enacting a scene of affection and adoration that is a moment of
human and spiritual renewal. And the religious services which
many will attend are a celebration of faith and of the most
profound love.”
Linus [From “A Charlie Brown Christmas”]
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the
field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel
of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown
round about them. And they were so afraid. And the angel said
unto them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy
which will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the
city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall
be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the
angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, goodwill
toward men.”
That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday, Dec. 28. Our coveted yearend
awards!!!!
Merry Christmas…Happy Hanukkah
