Three Magic Words

Hi everyone! Today is my birthday and what better way to celebrate than pork! Hmmm...I should probably explain that...

One of my favorite vintage things are menus. Home entertaining dinner menus to be exact. Drinks, two or three appetizers, main course, salads, breads, desserts, it's all there and in high numbers. For whatever reason, I just find it fascinating. Maybe because I make a meat, a vegetable and one other thing, bada bing bada boom and I'm out of the kitchen. lol Or could just be because it all looks so fancy.

At any rate, I was watching a collection of Christmas shorts by the guys at RiffTrax and one of the shorts was "Three Magic Words" from 1939, created to promote pork. In it, "Mrs. Newlywed" has to make a dinner for her husband and guests and for some reason has no clue what animal pork comes from. (?!) But get past her crazy high pitched wailing and you've got a cutesy short with a ridiculously long menu for a woman who thinks pork comes from sheep. I immediately grabbed a screen print of it:

Now is that a menu or is that a MENU??? I just love it although I admit I had no clue what the heck half of it was. I figured out that the "paprika lettuce" was just lettuce with the ends dipped in paprika. But celery stuffed with Braunschweiger and Cervelat Cornucopias filled with cream cheese mixed with butter? I had no clue. I couldn't find the specific recipes for these but I did find out that Braunschweiger is liverwurst and Cervelat is sausage and my chest immediately started to hurt. Although, I might have to try that sausage stuffed with cream cheese and butter. Sure, I'll probably die but I bet it tastes good. :P

If you're interested, I found the entire short, unriffed, on You Tube, enjoy...and eat more pork! ;)

If Youre In Doubt About Angels Being Real...

I can remember being a kid and getting stuck at my mom's answering service when I was sick or school was on vacation or whatever. There was never anything to do...except between the hours of 8:00 and 9:00 in the morning. That glorious hour will forever be burned into my brain as giving me the gift of reruns with two shows: Inspector Gadget and Gidget.



Now some people will argue that the only "Gidget" is Sandra Dee (I'm pretty sure no one will argue a case for Deborah Walley or Cindy Carol) and alright, I'll buy that BUT for me it will always be Sally Field. I think maybe it was that she had brown hair like me, was short like me and was always getting into fun crazy shenanigans at school (which by the way NEVER happened to me in school, all I got was teased and bullied, thanks a lot unrealistic school expectations given to me by television for jerks).

(Gidget game from eCrater.com)

Anyhoo, I loved this show and through the power of Netflix decided to give them another viewing and this is still the cutest little 'ole show you ever did see. Not even 1986's "The New Gidget" can dampen my enthusiasm for this character. (And yes, I watched that show...What was I thinking? *face palm*)



Of course, now I'm not so starry eyed and dreaming of a magical high school experience but instead through rewatching this show I have discovered what a tool Moondoggie was (in the show and in the movies, have you noticed? Whatta jerk!) and wondered how I can recreate Sally Field's hairstyles and outfits for myself. I also still kind of wish people would call me Gidget. :P

From Gidget Minisodes on You Tube, here's "Gidget's Career":



So here's to harmless bright sunny fun on television!

Do you have any television favorites?

What Is My Line Anyway?

I love old game shows, everyone dressed up and freaked out over the possibility of winning a large prize worth $250. One of my favorites is "What's My Line?" more specifically when the panel has to guess which celebrity has come by for a visit. What's My Line? had EVERYONE on its show at one point or another. Here are a few of my faves:

Lauren Bacall



Fred Astaire



Ava Gardner



Bob Hope



Do you have any favorite game shows, past or present?