She wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam

[austin_dern]

I suppose that everybody has weeks that challenge not just their understanding of how the world is set up, but also challenge their idea that the world can be basically understood and that mental models of it will make sense. The first really big challenge this week came while my father was watching Antiques Roadshow. That's not particularly challenging to me except that I keep thinking how, if I were on the show as an Expert, I'd be tempted to make stuff up at a frantic pace. Anyway, one of the items on display was a flügelhorn. It had never occurred to me that a flügelhorn was something that actually existed. I mean, listen to the sound of the word: if it's not something that Doctor Seuss made up, then it should have been. You can't even say the word, or think about saying it, without breaking into a bit of a smile. I'm glad that the world is constructed such that a flügelhorn might actually exist, but it's kind of like running into a unicorn in Central Park.

And then there's the comic strip Henry. That comic strip's glory days went out around the time of the Dust Bowl and a halfhearted Betty Boop cartoon, but I remembered running into it just barely enough in the late 70s to understand allusions to it, and it lasted long enough to be part of an SCTV sketch. (Siskel and Ebert review Robert Altman's Henry.) I had trusted it went to that never-land of soap opera comics and Tiger. In fact, Henry is still being syndicated, and -- those friends on my list who were frustrated in their syndicated cartoonist careers may want to skip the rest of this paragraph -- appears in 75 newspapers. Yeah. That's my reaction too. Wikipedia claims that it's all reruns now, although is there any way to tell? Even Dick Tracy, with which I have an inexplicable fascination, is down to under fifty papers. And I had been feeling so good about the flügelhorn thing.

Trivia: One rumor, passed by British spies, was that during Benjamin Franklin's 1776-78 mission to France he was preparing a ``great number of reflecting mirrors'' with which to fire the Royal Navy. Source: Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, Walter Isaacson.

Currently Reading: Forgotten News: the Crime of the Century And Other Lost Stories, Jack Finney. It's a good idea for a book, and probably more along the lines would be worthwhile. And great illustrations, too.

Comments

[xolo.livejournal.com]

I've played in an orchestra with a flügelhornist, so... yeah :)

At roughly the same time (late 70s), our local paper carried 'Henry'. The attraction is kind of similar to 'Boston and Shaun'. There has to be more there than initially meets the eye. You end up reading your own narrative onto the blank slate, and it becomes fascinating. No two people ever see the same thing, though.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Hm. You may have something with the Boston And Shaun vibe. Yes.

It'd be interesting to get a collection of walking-dead comic strips showing what they were like when they were good. Most of them were, at some time or other, really great.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

hahahahahah! now *there's* an old song.. :D

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Sure, but suppose I need to talk about another Henry sometime in the future? I'm almost stuck.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

You'll just have to go with songs involving, or sung by, a 'Hank'- the nickname for Henry.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but author-names are a weaker connection. I admit I do that sometimes when I can't find any suitable subject tie-in and maybe even can't do anything with just whatever's playing on the Technicolor Web Of Sound. I think I did use any old thing by the Peanut Butter Conspiracy for a peanut butter-based essay, though.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

Wow!

There are still 75 newspapers?

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Not only are there 75 newspapers, but Alley Oop runs in 600 newspapers even though people are only vaguely aware that that comic exists anymore.

[spaceroo.livejournal.com]

It had never occurred to me that a flügelhorn was something that actually existed.

I took the mob to the grocery store yesterday, and upon entering the produce department we were greeted by a large display of Casaba melons. Prior to that point I've always assumed that "casaba melons" were some sort of urban myth perpetuated by cartoon characters in need of both a nebulous-but-large-sounding benchmark for size and colorful way to describe their antagonists' skull structure.

For the record they were only a buck each so I bought one, despite not having the slightest clue what's inside. (Mostly because the joey was really enamored with them. I showed her one and she grabbed and hugged it and didn't want to give it back.) Wikipedia says they're close cousins to the Honeydew... which I guess if you think about it is also a rather unlikely name for a real thing.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Oh, nice discovery that. I don't think I've ever noticed a Casaba melon, but I don't spend a lot of time looking at fresh fruits or vegetables. They're just too complicated when there's stuff like cheese available.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Ooo! I like the icon. Is there a large version?

[spaceroo.livejournal.com]

Googling I think this is probably where I got that particular scan of the cover:

http://www.innovative-educators.com/largeimage.asp?itemno=HB940 (http://www.innovative-educators.com/largeimage.asp?itemno=HB940)

(My wife discovered the book while browsing Amazon for books with "Kangaroo" in the title.) ;^)

[orv.livejournal.com]

I've never played flügelhorn, but I've played F horn, which is similarly shaped but pitched in F instead of B-flat. This let me play french horn parts on an instrument that was more conveniently shaped for marching band.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's ... wait, you were marching in a band? ... I thought trumpets were more traditional for avian folks.