Cilantro-Mustard Dressing from Iron Chef Cat Cora

Jar of Cilantro-Mustard Dressing from Iron Chef Cat Cora pictured with cilantro

Perfect for the foodies on your shopping list or for serving up at holiday gatherings, this easy, palate-pleasing recipe for Cilantro-Mustard Dressing from Iron Chef Cat Cora adds a tasty kick to salads, sandwiches, and roasted meats. For more recipes, check out Cat Cora’s Kitchen app on iTunes.


Cilantro-Mustard Dressing

Iron Chef Cat Cora
In 2005, Cat Cora became the first and only female Iron Chef on Food Network’s Iron Chef America.

(Makes about 2 ½ cups or fills five 4-ounce jars)

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Whisk all ingredients in medium bowl.
  2. Bottle and refrigerate to extend shelf life.



Holiday Health & Fitness Tune-Up: “My-Big-Fat-Greek-Wedding” Style

Nia and family at the beach
Nia and family hit the beach for fun and fitness. Land-locked? Scope out local activities. Photo courtesy Gene Reed.

The best way to counter holiday “calorie creep” and kick-start New Year’s resolutions to get fit, stress less, and be organized is to do some advance planning. Start now with tips from busy MBFGW actress, mom, and screenwriter Nia Vardalos:

Get Fit: Don’t go into hibernation just because it’s the holiday season. Carve out three hours every week (in one chunk or shorter bits) for family walks, gym workouts, or video fitness challenges. “Our favorite family outing is taking our dogs to the beach,” says Nia, who lives in the Los Angeles area with her husband and young daughter. “We have two dogs—a giant lab and a medium round-bodied mix-mutt. California has a few beaches where dogs are allowed to be off-leash and it’s hilarious to see our normally sleepy dogs chasing each other across the sand and trying to bite waves. Walking, running, and playing in the sand is fun for us, too. Whatever picnic food our daughter and I prepare—from turkey and mashed avocado on whole-wheat toast to cold rigatoni and peas in an olive oil and balsamic dressing—it all always tastes delectably delicious for the simple reason that we’re consuming it outdoors. Sand included!”

Nia with daughter
Nia’s script for healthy living balances work, exercise, and family time. Photo courtesy Jackie Tucker.

Stress Less: Take an inventory of time spent working, playing, and relaxing. Come up with the unique balance that’s best for you and your family and ways to achieve it. Nia says, “My day may consist of getting my daughter to school, then getting to an exercise class, then writing or filming all day. But I’m fine with that as long as I prepare by packing a healthy lunch like sliced chicken on arugula, plus snacks like an apple or celery and peanut butter.”

Be Organized: Nia recently teamed up with the “Life Supplemented” campaign to encourage healthy habits. “Sticking with a health and wellness routine can be a challenge for busy moms like me, so I recently downloaded the WannaBeWell app from Life Supplemented to help keep me organized. It’s free, easy, fun, and makes sense. My favorite feature is the personalized Wellness Coach that delivers daily motivational and education tips—without the yelling from a personal trainer! You can also set up reminders to take vitamins and supplements, just like getting texts from a friend. And for each download of the WannaBeWell app, $1 is provided to Vitamin Angels (up to $13,500) to help get nutrients to children in need.”


More about Nia Vardalos: Academy Award, Golden Globe, Writers Guild nominated actress and writer of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, winner of Independent Spirit Award, Peoples’ Choice Award, Nia Vardalos most recently played in the American Girl movie: McKenna Shoots For The Stars. Her new book Instant Mom (Harper Collins) on adopting her daughter is available in April 2013 wherever books are sold. Vardalos lives in Los Angeles with her husband Ian Gomez of TBS’ Cougar Town, their daughter, and several pets.

Cartoons: Hubby High Jinks

Cartoonists have long enjoyed showing the wacky side of the male animal.

 "He promised me faithfully that this time he wouldn’t get a tiny little sports car."

"He promised me faithfully that this time he wouldn’t get a tiny little sports car."
July/August 1996

Canoe Ride Cartoon

 
March 1961

"No, you're not interrupting anything. I was just doing some…ah…iron man training." Jul/Aug 1999

"No, you're not interrupting anything. I was just doing some ... ah ... iron man training."
July/August 1999

"There are times when I wish I didn’t have such a beautiful figure." Nov/Dec 97

"There are times when I wish I didn’t have such a beautiful figure."
November/December 1997

"Look, why don’t you find a good book?" December 57

"Look, why don’t you find a good book?"
December 1957

"You’ve filled in this application all right except for one thing, Mr. Perkins—where it asks the relationship of Mrs. Perkins to yourself, you should have put down 'wife,' not 'strained.'"  Dec 51

"You’ve filled in this application all right except for one thing, Mr. Perkins—where it asks the relationship of Mrs. Perkins to yourself, you should have put down 'wife,' not 'strained.'"
December 1951

"My wife would like to borrow a cup of ... a cup of ... a cup of ..." November 1951

"My wife would like to borrow a cup of ... a cup of ... a cup of ..."
November 1951

"Flour!" November 1951

"Flour!"
 
November 1951


American Angel

Karen Grimord with Sargeant Daniel Roman
Karen Grimord with Sargeant Daniel Roman, a patient at Landstuhl hospital in Germany. Photo courtesy Philip Jones.

To understand why Karen Grimord is so passionate about helping wounded soldiers overseas, just shake her family tree. Karen is a proud military brat who was born in a military hospital and grew up within the tight-knit, supportive community of military families. Both Karen’s father and husband retired from the U.S. Air Force after 22 years. At one point, five family members were serving in the Middle East at the same time, including her son and son-in-law. Karen herself worked as a military contractor for years, first for Lockheed Martin and later, for Raytheon.

Frequent moves and fast-forming friendships are hallmarks of the military lifestyle. So is a deeply rooted sense of mission and loyalty to country and the men and women who serve. That mission may be what drives Karen, 51, to commit extraordinary acts of charity through her nonprofit organization, Landstuhl Hospital Care Project.

Since 2004, the organization has shipped more than 200,000 pounds of donated clothing and supplies, often at Karen’s own expense, to wounded and ailing soldiers in the Middle East. The bulk of donated items are mailed to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, the largest American military hospital outside of the U.S. Karen also sends supplies to medics, nurses, and chaplains at more than 150 military units throughout Afghanistan, Iraq, and other Middle East countries with U.S. military operations. “If we can help just one military member with a gift, then I hope they feel the respect, gratitude, and the love we have for them. That’s what keeps pushing me on—knowing that it makes their future a little bit easier,” Karen says.

Her labor of love can be back-breaking at times. Working out of her home in Stafford, Virginia, she fills boxes with an assortment of requested items. A typical shipment might include sweatpants, Crocs, socks, towels, pillows, or blankets. Four or five days a week, she drives to the post office in her white Chevy Suburban, which she reluctantly purchased a few years back when the charity grew too large for her beloved Jeep to handle.

Sometimes, Karen is lucky enough to find volunteers to help. But often, it’s just Karen and her packing tape filling up boxes and taping them shut for their distant journey. Halfway through 2012, Karen had already shipped 946 boxes, a number on pace to beat last year’s tally of 1,713 boxes. In fact, supply and demand have grown rapidly since the charity’s first year when it sent its first 33 boxes of supplies. Karen expects demand will increase as other nonprofits close their doors or shift their focus to helping returning soldiers.

The organization grew out of a simple request from Karen’s daughter who was living in Germany, where her husband was stationed. Would she collect DVD and videotape movies and send them to wounded soldiers at nearby Landstuhl hospital?

Karen appealed to her circle of family and friends, collecting 485 movies. Grateful for her enthusiasm, the chaplain at Landstuhl asked Karen to collect sweatpants. Again, she turned to family and friends who donated 108 pairs. To her dismay, she learned the number was a “drop in the bucket” to meet the hospital’s needs. At the time, as many as 1,000 soldiers were arriving at the hospital every month, and their first stop was the Chaplain’s Closet, a place where soldiers received donated clothing and supplies to replace their tattered and bloody clothing.

Karen reached out to veterans groups such as the American Legion and soon, donations came pouring in. But the more supplies she mailed to Landstuhl, the greater the requests for donations. In just a year, word-of-mouth spread among military medics and medical staff in the Middle East about the woman in Stafford, Virginia, who almost never said “no” to a request for supplies.

“There was never a plan for me to start a nonprofit,” Karen says. “What started as one or two boxes turned into thousands.”

Karen knew she needed help with the legal and financial realities of running a charitable organization. Today, a small but loyal group of volunteers—many with strong military ties—handle accounting, communications, and other vital support services.

In addition to running her nonprofit, Karen also spends a month at Landstuhl hospital every year as a volunteer, handing out clothing and supplies from the Chaplain’s Closet.

It was at the hospital that she met Marine Lance Corporal Justin Reynolds. In 2006, the young Marine was recovering from shrapnel wounds and other injuries suffered when his Humvee hit an Improvised Explosive Device in Iraq.

From the start, the wounded soldier from Ohio clicked with Karen and gave her the nickname “Mom Two.” One day, Karen got a call from Ann Reynolds, Justin’s mother. The soldier had returned home to recuperate but suffered a stroke resulting in partial paralysis. Karen hopped in her car and drove to the hospital in North Carolina where Justin was fighting for his life. There, the two “moms” met face-to-face for the first time.

Nearly two years later, a second setback robbed Justin of his speech and motor coordination. Again Karen dropped everything to visit the Marine and his family, now in nearby Richmond, Virginia. “Karen has been such a great friend,” says Ann Reynolds. “If I need something, I call Karen. She knows how to get it.”

Karen’s devotion to Justin and his family is a clear example of why she works so tirelessly for wounded military members. Karen, her friends and family members say, is the kind of person who simply refuses to back down. Karen believes Justin one day will regain his speech and motor skills. Until that day, she will support him, just as she supports her charity—until every military member comes home.

 

Classic Covers: The Family Rockwell

My Three Sons is not only the title of a 1960s sitcom starring pipe-toting Fred MacMurray; it’s also a fitting title for the story of one pipe-toting artist, Norman Rockwell. His three boys—Jerry, Tom, and Peter—showed up on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post more than half a dozen times.

Devil May Care

Devil May Care Norman Rockwell March 21, 1942

Devil May Care
Norman Rockwell
March 21, 1942

 

Half of the 52 Post covers in 1942 were war-related: soldiers in action, girlfriends waiting at home, and so on. So this cover (left) was a special treat for two reasons. First, it was humorous and fun, and second, it was by America’s favorite artist. When Rockwell did a cover, thousands of additional issues were printed to meet the demand.

Rockwell sometimes used neighbors’ homes for the settings of his paintings. In a 1976 Post article, former Rockwell model Ann Morgan Baker (see The Missing Tooth in “Rockwell in the 1950s—Part I”) recalled that the artist “used to call my mother at 7 a.m. and say, ‘Don’t make the beds. I want to come and look at some messy rooms.’ Then he would come and wander through our morning rubble.”

Because Rockwell did not have a daughter, he probably used such a neighbor’s home to find this vanity with all the frills. Reportedly, middle son Tommy had to be bribed to pose for this 1942 cover, although it was noted that the mischief-maker was just the kind who would have read his sister’s diary—if he had a sister, that is.

War Stories

War Stories Norman Rockwell October 13, 1945

War Stories
Norman Rockwell
October 13, 1945

 

Norman Rockwell’s World War II covers were usually light and humorous, like the ones in his Willie Gillis series. A very fine exception to this was the serious depiction of a returning marine sharing his experiences at left. There is no bravado; no showing off. The grim reality of war permeates the gathering at the local garage.

As Rockwell’s life is well documented, we know most of the models in the garage are the artist’s Arlington, Vermont, neighbors and friends, including the actual shop owner, Bob Benedict (standing behind the marine). Sitting beside the marine is Rockwell’s youngest son, Peter. The blond boy standing up is Jerry, his oldest. The decorated soldier was real-life marine Duane Parks, whom Rockwell met in a nearby town. At times, uniform medals and ribbons were borrowed to dress up a scene, but the military decorations shown here belonged to Parks.

Rockwell enthusiasts will appreciate the artist’s attention to detail in this 1945 cover. In addition to the usual machine-shop equipment: gaskets, the large hook, etc., he included the Japanese flag; the newspaper clipping on the shop wall, which declares the marine a war hero; and the small flag with the blue star representing a family member serving in the armed forces. We see these starred flags not only in Post covers of the period, but also, for example, in movies. In Saving Private Ryan, Ryan’s mother has such a flag. A star was added for each family member in service; the blue signaled hope, and a gold star meant a loved one had died in service.

Readying for First Date

Readying for First Date George Hughes October 16, 1948

Readying for First Date
George Hughes
October 16, 1948

 

The young man at left getting ready for his big date is Tommy Rockwell, who is looking quite grown up compared to the little sneak he portrayed for a cover six years earlier (see Devil May Care, above). Tommy’s actual room in Arlington, Vermont, is the setting, and the woman giving him a hand is his real-life mother (Rockwell’s wife Mary). However, the artist of this domestic scene is not whom you’d expect. It’s Rockwell’s good friend George Hughes, who had moved to Arlington to join the small community of Post artists there. The artists often used the same neighbors, their families, and each other as models.

Hughes, though less well known than Rockwell, was the most prolific Post cover artist of this era—he produced 80 covers in the 1950s to Rockwell’s 45—and he had an unintended influence on one of Rockwell’s classic covers, Saying Grace (below).

Saying Grace

Saying Grace Norman Rockwell November 24, 1951

Saying Grace
Norman Rockwell
November 24, 1951

 

Intrigued by a fan’s description of an Amish woman and her grandson praying together in a cafeteria, Rockwell painted what is now one of his best-known works, Saying Grace (left). But this painting came very close to being abandoned before it was completed.

Rockwell told fellow Post artist George Hughes that he got so frustrated with the painting he threw it out his studio window, according to a 1992 article in the Post. When Hughes asked the theme, Rockwell described it as centering on several rough-looking fellows watching a woman saying grace in a diner. Hughes agreed it would never work. That comment was all it took to get Rockwell started again. He retrieved the painting from the snow and completed it. This became a long-running joke between the two artists: Rockwell would solicit Hughes’ opinion and then do the opposite.

The blond diner with his back against the window is Rockwell’s son, Jerry, looking much older than he did on the 1945 cover War Stories (above). On a sad note, the woman bowing her head, May Walker, did not live to see the cover; she passed away five days before it was published. Although she didn’t have the pleasure of enjoying the stir among her Arlington, Vermont, neighbors over her newfound fame, Rockwell assured Post editors that she derived a great deal of pleasure from the experience. When the painting was done, Walker was brought to Rockwell’s studio to view it. People who knew her well told the Post “her enjoyment of that day was one of the high moments of her life.”

The Soda Jerk

The Soda Jerk Norman Rockwell August 22, 1953

The Soda Jerk
Norman Rockwell
August 22, 1953

 

In his first attempt at this 1953 cover (left), the artist had painted a man in the immediate foreground and a woman with her son at the other end of the counter. He decided these people cluttered and confused the scene. Painting it again, Rockwell focused the attention on a teenaged soda jerk and his female admirers.

The idea came after Rockwell listened to his youngest son Peter’s tales of his summer soda-fountain job. Peter posed as the soda jerk, but he didn’t care for the finished painting. “I’m not that goofy-looking,” he said. Peter Rockwell appeared on the War Stories cover (above) and in Second Thoughts.

Today Peter Rockwell is a sculptor living in Italy and discusses his art in this video, courtesy of the Norman Rockwell Museum.

The Homecoming

The Homecoming Norman Rockwell December 25, 1948

The Homecoming
Norman Rockwell
December 25, 1948

 

The Homecoming at left is one of the great Rockwell covers featured in our special holiday issue, Norman Rockwell A Very Magical Christmas!. And it is magical indeed when an absent family member comes home for the holidays. All three of Rockwell’s sons are there—although we only see the back of his oldest son, Jerry, who is receiving a joyful hug from his mother Mary. To the left of Mary is son Tommy in the plaid shirt and to the far left is youngest son Peter wearing glasses. To Mary’s right, with that ubiquitous pipe, is America’s favorite artist, who enjoyed the occasional cameo in is own paintings (See “Rockwell Paints Rockwell”).

A family gathering needs a grandmother, and happy to pose for the role was none other than Grandma Moses. Rockwell wrote of Moses in his 1979 book, My Life as an Illustrator:

“After the war I became acquainted with Grandma Moses, the famous painter of American primitives. She had started painting seriously at the age of 67 after the death of her husband. Using dime-store brushes and house paint, she did scenes of country life which she remembered from her childhood.” Noting that she would do paintings of someone’s house for $10 or $15, Rockwell continued, “When I knew her, she was over 85 years old, a spry, white-haired little woman. Like a lively sparrow. She still painted in her bedroom on the third story of her farmhouse, using the same cheap brushes and house paint, though the paintings were selling rapidly for very good prices.”

The rest of the homecoming crowd consisted of Rockwell friends and neighbors, including the “twins” in the red jumpers—both were actually one little girl named Sharon O’Neill, whom Rockwell painted twice.

Peter Rockwell: A Sculptor’s Retrospective

Norman Rockwell’s three boys—Jerry, Tom, and Peter—showed up on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post more than half a dozen times.

His youngest son Peter had no interest in pursuing a career as an artist. But after taking a sculpture class in college, he was hooked. In this video, Peter tells us about his inspirations, influences, and memories of growing up with the Rockwells.

Courtesy of the Norman Rockwell Museum.

The True Spirit of Thanksgiving

Freedom from Want by Norman Rockwell
Freedom from Want by Norman Rockwell was published in the March 6, 1943 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.

There is no holiday, except Christmas, that has more tradition surrounding it. What does July 4th or Labor Day have that compares with the wealth of traditions surrounding Thanksgiving? The big turkey dinner, the football games on TV, Macy’s parade, the start of Christmas season—all in honor of a three-day feast in Plymouth Colony that occurred 391 years ago.

While we know the traditions, we’re still fuzzy on the meaning and origins of the day. For instance, we’re not quite certain that the 1621 Massachusetts feast was, in fact, America’s first Thanksgiving. An earlier thanksgiving-like feast had been held in the Colony of Virginia in 1610. And residents of St. Augustine, Florida, talk of a thanksgiving celebration held by Spanish colonists in their city back in 1565.

Furthermore, as Roger Butterfield’s 1948 article “What You Don’t Know About Thanksgiving” points out, the Pilgrim feast of 1621 did not launch a yearly tradition. There is no record of a similar event the following year. In fact, the 1621 festival was not a “thanksgiving feast” but a simple harvest celebration. The first event dedicated to giving thanks to God was held in 1623 after a heavy rainfall resulted in a larger harvest than expected.

Pilgrim by J.C. Leyendecker
Pilgrim by J.C. Leyendecker appeared on The Saturday Evening Post cover November 29, 1924.

It really wasn’t until 1777 that the Continental Congress spread the idea of a thanksgiving day beyond New England, when it asked colonists to set aside December 18 as a day of prayer to God for an independent and strong nation. That same year, George Washington proclaimed a Thanksgiving day to celebrate the victory at Saratoga.

Not everyone welcomed this idea of a government holy day. When a congressional bill proposed the first national Thanksgiving Day in 1789, two Southern congressmen shot to their feet to protest, as Butterfield writes. “They did not think, they said, that the people had anything to be thankful for in their new government, and even if they did, the president and Congress had no right to tell them how and when to express their thankfulness.” Ultimately, President Washington overrode their objections and proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving for that year.

But it was very different from what we know today. For most Americans the holiday was honored by fasting and prayer.

Thanksgiving would not become a national holiday until 1863, and its designation was more political than religious. Though President Lincoln called it “a day of thanksgiving and praise for our beneficent father who dwelleth in the heavens,” his principle goal was to reinforce the sense of union in loyal states through a commonly celebrated holiday.

Currier and Ives Print
This Currier and Ives print, Home to Thanksgiving, helped popularize the holiday.

Americans have honored Thanksgiving every year since then. And while we agree on the importance of the holiday, there is less agreement on what giving thanks should involve. The more traditional, religious idea emphasizes mortification and repentance. As the Post editors noted in 1877, government and commerce stops so we can have a day to express gratitude for everything, including hardships. After all, “our trials are invariably for our benefit, and that we are made to suffer apparent evil that good may result. The ways of God are inscrutable, and it’s a blessing to morals that they are so.”

Yet these same editors, just three years earlier, had seemed to recognize that some measure of joyous celebration was to be expected, even encouraged. As they wrote in 1874:

There’s a deep fund of vitality in the human breast, and the most solemn or most sorrowful observance cannot induce a major of the people to wear long face and penitential hearts. And who can blame them? We have all legitimate causes enough for depression without suffering ourselves to be legislated into the blues, while our hears are merry and our horizons clear

The right to laugh or cry is one of the reserved rights of the people, not delegated to Congress, but retained as a constituent of individual freedom.

So if we find indecorously joyful faces shaming the solemn occasion, we can console ourselves with the reflection that laughter is better than tears, and that the making of happy people is the crowning glory of a good government.

But now joy is our business. We celebrate the good that has come unto us. And God is best thanked for His gifts by clear brows and smiling faces. The let us shout and be merry, eat our fill, and laugh to our heart’s content while east and west, north and sought, the wail of the turkey is heard in the land.

Cartoons: Newspapers

Sure, you like your e-reader or tablet now. But can you use it to line a birdcage? Can you rustle it irritatingly when your spouse annoys you? We think not.

"If newspapers disappear, how will I ignore you in the morning?" Mar/Apr 2010

"If newspapers disappear, how will I ignore you in the morning?"
March/April 2010

 “Sorry, dear, I thought you’d finished reading the paper.” from Mar/Apr 95

"Sorry, dear, I thought you’d finished reading the paper."
March/April 1995

"…and you needn’t be giving your paper those sarcastic twitches!" Nov 25, 1950

"... and you needn’t be giving your paper those sarcastic twitches!"
November 1950

"Gerald, how would I describe you if I ever had to report you to the missing persons bureau?" Mar/Apr 95

"Gerald, how would I describe you if I ever had to report you to the missing persons bureau?"
March/April 1995

Apr 91

 
April 1991

"That's not what Dr. Jefferies meant by'30 minutes on the treadmill’!” Jan/Feb 1996

"That's not what Dr. Jefferies meant by 30 minutes on the treadmill’!"
January/February 1996

How Rudolph Valentino Invented Sex Appeal

Rudolph Valentino in The Son of the Sheik
Adoration increased with each Rudolph Valentino film. With the appearance of The Son of the Sheik in the summer of 1926, Valentino worship became feverish.

It was a quiet funeral home in a respectable part of Manhattan, but on August 24, 1926, it was the improbable scene of a near riot. The turmoil broke out among thousands of women, mourning the death of actor Rudolph Valentino, as they attempted to rush the doors at Campbell’s Funeral Church. After several women broke through a large plate-glass window, police were called to the scene.

For the next few days, as contributor Beverly Smith Jr. noted in his Post article “Farewell, Great Lover” (January 20, 1962), the police had their hands full controlling the line of women—estimates vary between 30,000 and 100,000—who waited to file past Valentino’s mortal remains. In a time of mass excitements, he wrote, the Valentino craze lasted longer than most among “the nation’s more susceptible womenfolk, from flappers to grandmothers.”

The surging crowds at Campbell’s gave America its first glimpse at the modern celebrity cult. Until then, America had known actors and musicians who could draw large crowds, but no one had been able to draw so many fans for so many days.

The crowd outside Valentino’s funeral—with more men in line than one would expect. From “Farewell, Great Lover!” January 20, 1962.

The Valentino craze began 91 years ago this month, with the premier of The Sheik. Today, it seems like a prehistoric, overacted piece of melodrama. Yet it still offers a vivid reflection of American society as it entered the modern age.

It was remarkably successful, earning $1 million in its first year—five times more than what it cost to produce.

Just as reflective of the year 1921, though, is how the movie became so profitable. The Sheik didn’t work the same old melodramatic formula, offering women another charming hero in another predictable romance. Instead it gave them Hollywood’s first male sex symbol.

The paradigm-shifting flick, as advertised in the pages of The Saturday Evening Post, November 26, 1921.

Rudolph Valentino (i.e., Rodolfo Alfonzo Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi Di Valentina d’Antonguolla) was an Italian immigrant who’d worked his way across the country with odd jobs, eventually winding up as a ballroom dancer in California. His tango skills helped him land a role in The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse in 1920. The film was a hit, principally due to Valentino’s success in portraying an impulsive, fiery, headstrong “Latin lover.” Later that year, he was chosen to play another exotic lover: Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan.

Three minutes into the movie, as Valentino appeared before his tent, happily supervising the sale of wives to his tribesmen, many American women began to reconsider their choice of daydreams. Suddenly the old romantic heroes—the rugged lawman, sensitive poet, laughing cavalier, or wealthy sophisticate—were demoted by Valentino’s ability to smolder, pose, look imperious, and break into a boyish grin.

As the Sheik, Valentino’s lustful stare drove women wild in 1921.

Years later, actress Bette Davis recalled, “A whole generation of females wanted to ride off into a sandy paradise with him.” But the Sheik’s paradise wasn’t about sharing poetry and soulful looks while holding hands. It was about sex.

The novel, on which the movie was based, concerned a willful aristocrat, Lady Diana Mayo, who sets out to explore the Algerian desert with no company but an Arab guide. Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan spies her and, within a chapter, abducts her and rapes her. But apparently it’s all right because Lady Mayo falls in love with him by the end of the book.

The novel is not explicit about the rape, but it leaves the reader in little doubt. (“Her whole body was one agonized ache from the brutal hands that forced her to compliance,” chapter three, The Sheik, Edith Hull, 1919.) The movie is even more careful to avoid direct reference to sexual assault, but the implications are as subtle as a billboard:

“Why have you brought me here?” Lady Mayo demands of the Sheik in his tent.

Lady Mayo, played by Agnes Ayres, in the clutches of Valentino’s Sheik.

He replies. “Are you not woman enough to know?” (See accompanying leer at right.)

The movie played to the liberated spirit of the 1920s. It was the perfect entertainment for a carefree, reckless age. It appealed to women who were celebrating the modern freedoms, the new fashions of the Flapper, bootleg liquor, hot jazz, and the permissiveness to “pet” in the boyfriend’s roadster far in a dark lane, far from parents’ supervision.

The movie also reflected a changing attitude among American men. For the most part, they hated the new male sex symbol, having already committed themselves to the styles of Douglas Fairbanks or Tom Mix. But other men saw the future of American romance in Valentino’s polished, sensual manner and hurried to climb onto the bandwagon. They copied Valentino’s world-weary languor, his smooth manners, his passionate lovemaking, and his thoroughly oiled hair.

Lastly, but unfortunately, the Sheik represents the ambient racism that Americans had come to expect from popular entertainment of the 1920s.

In the book and movie, much is made about the forbidden love between an Arab and a “white woman.” Even love could not be allowed to overcome the social divide of Arab and European. But any plot that worked so hard to unite the lovers could find a convenient solution. The Sheik, it was revealed at last, was not “Arab” but as “white” as Lady Mayo. He had been adopted by the Ben Hassan tribe as a youngster, but was nonetheless the child of an English father and Spanish mother. The happy ending could now proceed. While some women could forgive abduction and assault in 1921, no one felt comfortable with interracial romance.

It might have been the modern age, but American society hadn’t come that far.

50 Years Ago: ‘Don’t Blame Your Parents’

Post Cover

 

These days, it seems, a growing number of people are encouraged to attribute their parents as the source of their problems.

However, the blame game was well under way 50 years ago when Dr. Vincent Lathbury wrote “Don’t Blame Your Parents” (November 17, 1962) for the Post. His concerns sound surprisingly modern.

Read an excerpt below, or get the full story here.

Excerpted from “Don’t Blame Your Parents” by Dr. Vincent Lathbury:

It is a popular delusion that whatever disasters we make of our lives, our parents are ultimately to blame.

We live today in a restless period where there is little time to establish responsibility, especially our own responsibility. Our political and sociological structures have been established to “do things” for us, to relieve us of responsibility. We want to be cared for, and we want to be secure in the knowledge that our emotional malfunctioning is not of our own making.

While no sinister motivation lies in the modern concept of socialistic paternalism, with all its split-level generosity and wall-to-wall emotional harmony, the fact is that we are being offered a mirage, because responsibility cannot be abdicated. Yet the temptation to blame our parents or society or the Government for our own failures is almost irresistible.

A popular comedian, talking about marriage, exhorts the men in his audience to get married. “Every man needs a wife,” he thunders, “because a lot of things go wrong that can’t be blamed on the Government.” It doesn’t really matter where the blame falls, as long as it falls on someone else.

If an adult does not like the way he feels his parents have made him, then he should make himself over in a more acceptable image; and if he isn’t willing to make the necessary effort, then he should cease blaming his parents.

Regardless of how well or badly our parents prepared us for life, the chances are that they did the best they knew how. Although a reversal of the roles is difficult to imagine, remember that parents were once children too. And they weren’t perfect ones either.

Which calls to mind that quote from Mark Twain: “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished by how much he’d learned in seven years.”

Classic Covers: Childhood in the 1950s

If you were born around 1950, you probably remember watching TV in black and white, swinging on a jungle gym, and playing house. Below, some of our finest cover artists illustrated what being a youngster was like in postwar America.


More Clothes to Clean

More Clothes to Clean by George Hughes from April 17, 1948

More Clothes to Clean
George Hughes
April 17, 1948

 

Although he was already a prominent illustrator by the late 1940s, George Hughes took his first crack at The Saturday Evening Post’s cover in 1948 (left)—and it was a smash hit right out of the ballpark! Reader response secured his position as one of the Post’s main illustrators alongside the likes of Norman Rockwell, John Falter, Stevan Dohanos, and Richard Sargent. “That copy arrived just as I have completed a washing much the same as pictured,” wrote one woman. “Only a blue-jeaned tomboy sister alongside junior is needed to get a complete story from my angle.”

Determined to be accurate, Hughes spent an entire day studying clothespins for the illustration. He knew if he didn’t get every detail right, there would be a barrage of letters to the editor telling him so. Employing a neighbor boy as the model, Hughes completed the painting. It was returned for a correction: “The editors asked me to ‘clean up the boy a bit, since he isn’t old enough to get that dirty.’ Actually, he was fully that dirty. But I pleased both the editors and his real mother by cleaning him up a little.” It was a fine line artists walked between pleasing, or at least not displeasing, Post readers and editors.


Good Guys Wear White Hats

Good Guys Wear White Hats by John Falter November 9, 1957

Good Guys Wear White Hats
John Falter
November 9, 1957

 

“Young Sammy Sixgun, using the classic hat-over-the-rock routine, will now restore law and order to the old TV-West,” wrote Post editors of this 1957 cover (left). Blissfully unaware of the drama unfolding around him is artist John Falter’s own dog, Ralph, snoozing on the couch.

John Falter (1910-1982) was born in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, and began sketching at the ripe old age of two—on a chalkboard his mother gave him. “His first commission came from a local soda shop that paid the budding artist in chocolate milk shakes for a well executed mural,” according to a 1991 article in the Post. He continued “to draw, sketch, and paint at an inspired pace for the rest of his life, completing, by his own estimate, more than 5,000 paintings.”


Playing House

Playing House by Stevan Dohanos January 31, 1953

Playing House
Stevan Dohanos
January 31, 1953

 

This January 1953 cover (left) shows that Santa’s recent visit left some perfect items for playing house. Though contemporary Post editors saw them as lessons in “learning how to boil water without forgetting it and melting the pot down into the stove, and other complex principles of homemaking.” The editors noted, “The only uneducational toys in sight are the dolls, for they are not sniveling or hollering.”

Stevan Dohanos (1907-1994) was born in Lorain, Ohio, the son of Hungarian immigrants. His artistic career began, uniquely enough, in a steel mill. Employed as an office boy, Dohanos would copy the artwork he found on calendars and sell them to co-workers for 50 cents. Encouraged by family and friends, he took a two-year home study course and then went on to Cleveland Art School. His style is classified as American Realist, depicting the design and form of everyday objects like fire hydrants and milk bottles. He illustrated 123 Post covers between 1942 and 1958.


Hat Bridge

Hat Bridge by Thornton Utz January 25, 1958

Hat Bridge
Thornton Utz
January 25, 1958

 

It’s difficult to say whether this young man at left will grow up to be a fireman or an engineer, for the precocious one structured what Post editors termed “an overpass” through which “he is lickety-tooting down a through way to a conflagration,” adding, “Heaven help that poor fedora in his path.” While giving the lad points for ingenuity, they couldn’t help but speculate what would come to pass when the guests come to sort out their property. “Those without a rollicking sense of humor,” they concluded, “may become a bit indignant—mad hatters, let’s call ’em.”

Like many artists, Thronton Utz (1914-2000) began his Post career illustrating short stories. His first cover came seven years later in 1949, and soon his art was known for its humorous twist on everyday life.


A Day in the Life of a Boy

A Day in the Life of a Boy by Norman Rockwell May 24, 1952

A Day in the Life of a Boy
Norman Rockwell
May 24, 1952

 

It’s a busy day for Charles Marsh Jr., the model for this cover: Get up; brush teeth; then, of course, there’s that bothersome school to deal with. Baseball and a charming lass provide diversions until it’s time to go home, do homework, and turn in.

Marsh modeled for Rockwell from the time he was a baby until he was 12 when Rockwell moved from Arlington, Vermont, to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. (Hear what it was like to work with America’s best-loved artist in “A Day in the Life of Norman Rockwell Model Chuck Marsh.”)

A good friend to him, Marsh considered the artist outgoing and community-minded. But no one knew just how community-minded until Rockwell donated the original painting A Day in the Life of a Boy to the Community Club for their annual raffle. Today, Rockwell’s Willie Gillis’ Package from Home, up for auction in Chicago, may fetch $3 to 5 million. But in the early 1950s, this particular painting went for a grand total of 50 cents.

A few months after the cover was published, there was a follow-up called A Day in the Life of a Girl, which featured Marsh in what he called “the toughest time I had posing”—because he was supposed to kiss the girl. For that story and other Rockwell kids of the ’50s, see “Rockwell in the 1950s–Part I of III.”


Jungle Gym

Jungle Gym by George Hughes November 7, 1959

Jungle Gym
George Hughes
November 7, 1959

 

At left, the upside-down boy on top may look foolish to adult eyes, but he is King of the Jungle (gym) to the little blonde he is trying to impress. Once George Hughes became an established artist, he was able to move to Arlington, Vermont, and away from his native city, New York. He liked the idea of raising his children in a small community; he and his wife had five girls. There was the added bonus of being in an artists’ community, where he befriended Norman Rockwell and other Post artists.

A Day in the Life of Norman Rockwell Model Chuck Marsh

At the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, visitors can chat with former Rockwell models the first Friday of each month. Chuck Marsh Jr., who was the model for A Day in the Life of a Boy from 1952, recently discussed what it was like working with Rockwell.


Courtesy of the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Easy-Sew Turkey

Easy-Sew Turkeys

These fabric turkeys will add festive charm to your table, mantel, or bookshelves. You will need basic sewing skills to make these cuties, but don’t worry—it’s not too tough for a novice. They are made from simple patterns—only two—and it’s easy to adjust the size (bigger, smaller, fatter!). So get your sewing machine out, gather up some fall fabric, and let’s make a turkey!

How to Make the Easy-Sew Turkey

Materials

Tools

Directions

  1. Fold muslin in half crosswise, then press. Place turkey body pattern on top of folded muslin, trace pattern on fabric with fold along bottom of body, then cut fabric along trace lines (do not cut fabric along fold).
  2. Sew around edge of muslin with ⅜-inch seam allowance. (You’ll want to use a light color thread—I sewed these seams with a darker thread to make it easier to see in the tutorial.)
  3. Pull about ½-inch bottom of body up and push fold against body so fabric lies flat, making a hexagon. Sew two seams about ¼-inch from each point of hexagon as shown below.
  4. With scissors, cut 1-inch slit in the middle of the body—be sure not to cut too close to the bottom or the rice may spill out when you are filling the turkey. Turn right side out.
  5. Fill bottom half with rice and top with stuffing, then stitch closed. (No need to have a perfect seam; this is where you will attach the tail.)
  6. Trace tail pattern on each felt and fall fabric square and cut. Then layer fall fabric and felt as shown below: fall fabric wrong side up, felt, and fall fabric right side up on top. Pin layers together. Use a running stitch (or another embroidery stitch you like) to join layers. I used DMC floss, but thread can also be used.
  7. Glue tail with craft or hot glue to back of body, covering seam from previous step. Dip toothpick in black paint to create eyes and eyebrows. If you’re nervous about your design, practice on scrap fabric or paper first. Add a dab of red paint for the wattle. I glued small triangles of yellow felt for beaks but paint will also work. Create rosy cheeks with a Q-tip and some makeup blush. Then personalize your turkey with buttons or fabric circles, which can be glued or sewn on.



Suspect Sepsis. Save Lives.

Hand-washing
In hospitals, careful hand-washing and handling of urinary catheters and IV lines help fend off infections that can lead to sepsis. Photo courtesy Shutterstock.

Most Americans don’t know that a hard-hitting threat called sepsis is the third leading cause of death in our country’s medical intensive care units. But medical and advocacy groups are working hard to raise awareness and develop strategies to better detect and treat the condition. Reason: it claims nearly 700 lives every day.

“My daughter Erin had elective surgery and then died from a lack of sepsis awareness and urgency on the part of her healthcare providers, myself, and the hospital. To stop these needless and preventable deaths, we must inform the public about the signs of sepsis before they contract it,” says Dr. Carl Flatley, founder and chairman of Sepsis Alliance.

Sepsis symptoms (see chart) occur when the body’s immune system overreacts to bacteria or other germs and releases chemicals that drop blood pressure and slow circulation to the kidneys, liver, lungs, and nervous system.

Early detection and treatment saves lives. However, there’s no test yet to confirm the condition, and no FDA-approved drug therapy for life-threatening cases. (A string of promising compounds have failed clinical testing during the past two years.)

Of course, prevention is best. In hospitals, careful hand-washing and handling of urinary catheters and IV lines help fend off infections that can lead to sepsis. Educating the public about sepsis adds another layer of protection against the potential threat.

“It’s important for people in the general community to learn about sepsis, identify and report symptoms early, and support ongoing research because patients and doctors may be slow to recognize sepsis,” says Dr. Paul Walker, president of Spectral Diagnostics, a company developing a new approach to individualize sepsis therapy for better outcomes.

Additionally, consumers should make informed decisions when selecting a doctor or hospital by accessing websites that offer hospital and doctor performance information based on objective measures such as complications (including sepsis), mortality, and patient satisfaction. Healthgrades provides quality reports on all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Americans spend more time researching a refrigerator than they do choosing a healthcare provider, according to consumer research conducted for Healthgrades by Harris Interactive.

Sepsis Symptoms

Note: Many of these symptoms mimic other conditions, making sepsis hard to diagnose in its early stages.

Sepsis Fact Sheet, National Institutes of Health

Squash Cheesecake

Lack of communication before a family gathering can lead to too many pumpkin pies at the dessert table. Surprise your loved ones with this sweet twist on traditional fall flavor: butternut squash cheesecake from Cake Basics: 70 Recipes Illustrated Step by Step courtesy of Firefly Books.

Squash Cheesecake

(Makes 10-12 servings)
Squash Cheesecake Recipe from Cake Basics: 70 Recipes Illustrated Step. © 2011 Firefly Books.

Ingredients

Squash Puree

 

Crust

 

Cheesecake

 

Garnish

Directions

  1. Grease an 8-inch springform pan.
  2. Preheat oven to 325°F.
  3. Bake squash until soft. Cool, then puree flesh in food processor.
  4. Whiz ginger cookies to fine crumbs and add melted butter.
  5. Press mixture into base of prepared pan. Cover and chill.
  6. Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and cream cheese together in bowl until smooth.
  7. Add eggs, vanilla, squash puree, and buttermilk and mix well. Pour filling over crust.
  8. Bake 40 to 50 minutes. Cool in oven for 5 minutes with door ajar; cool and chill. Scatter seeds over.



cover of Cake Basics: 70 Recipes Illustrated Step by Step. © 2011 Firefly Books.

For more adventures in sweets, check out Cake Basics: 70 Recipes Illustrated Step by Step (My Cooking Class) by Abi Fawcett, photographs by Deirdre Rooney, Firefly Books 2011, $24.95 paperback.

A Different Hawaii

Kona
Show Stopper: View from the Kona side of the Big Island. Photo credit Kuma/Shutterstock.

I didn’t want to go to Hawaii the first time; I got coerced. Why go where everybody else goes? Why go to a cliché of ukuleles and leis? And then, of course, I found out the truth, so the 20 or 30 times I’ve returned have been entirely my idea. I start to feel it, a craving, like that hour before Thanksgiving dinner, and know it’s time to buy a plane ticket. Time to smell ti leaves and watch the skies for pueo, the local owl species.

But even after so many visits, what I mostly do is hang out on Oahu—eating kalua pig at the restaurant I love on the North Shore and letting my friends take me to overlooks that most tourists never see, the vast ocean spread out like a jigsaw, the waves the lines between puzzle pieces. Or the Big Island—losing myself in the volcanoes, looking for where the earth bleeds fire between patches of pahoehoe and a’a lava formations.

And so I make a simple resolve: to mix a trip of places I know and love with places I’ve never been. Ten days, four islands.

Which turns out to be like going to four entirely different worlds.

Moving from island to island in Hawaii is both surprisingly easy—inter-island flights leave about every 10 minutes—and a major pain in the butt if you don’t like to fly.

I don’t like to fly.

The original Polynesians moved around by boat, and for reasons of my own, I’ve spent the past five years looking at traditional canoes all around the Pacific. So I want water. The problem is, thanks to local politics and a relatively obscure law known as the Jones Act, Hawaii is without an inter-island ferry system. So that means a very, very small cruise ship run by InnerSea Discoveries: 100 feet, 25 other passengers, somebody else to do the cooking. I’m OK with that. And I’m really OK with an itinerary that puts me back on two islands I know well—the Big Island and Maui—and two I’ve never seen before, Lanai and Molokai.

Coffee Bean
Berry Best: Kona is renowned for its spectacular coffee.

Traveling to the Big Island is always like going back to an old friend. Or maybe two friends, since the opposite halves of the island are so different: the wet, jungly Hilo side and the dry, almost stark Kona side, where about all that grows is coffee on very tiny plantations (two acres is a pretty big outfit) and flowers roughly the size of serving platters that seem to be there just for the fun of it.

My traveling companion, Daz, sees the convertible at the rental place, and I know we’ll be doing the Big Island topless. I was here last year; she hasn’t been since she was a teenager, but it takes no time at all to agree on what to do: Head south, towards the last thing Captain Cook saw. Stories vary, but we can be sure of this: There was a scuffle, and Cook came out on the wrong side of it. The man who had sailed more of the globe than anyone else had his final view of the world at the Big Island’s Kealakekua Bay. And when we get there, I think that’s not a bad last thing to see: an arc of cliffs protecting the land while spinner dolphins live up to their name, catching sunlight and turning their reflections into corkscrews, wild as Daz’s hair as we drive the highway with the top down.