Pranks for the Memories

Harpo Marx Illustration
This classic 1938 illustration features Harpo Marx’s backfired prank.

Practical jokes have a bad reputation. We tend to think of them as unimaginative annoyances, like putting salt in the sugar bowl, making prank phone calls, or taping a “kick me” sign on someone’s back. But, as the Post reported, a good prank is of a different class altogether.

We’ll start with the case of Humorist Oliver Herford whose exceedingly clever gags arguably approached the level of high art, as Post Contributor Julian Street describes them in “More or Less Practical Jokes.”

In the 1890s, Herford announced to his friends that he had just been invited into a highly exclusive club. From his rapturous descriptions of the Farragut Club, many of his friends hoped they would also be chosen for membership. What they didn’t know was that Herford was the only member of the Farragut Club, which he’d dreamed up just to torment his good friend Richard Harding Davis, who was a bit of a social climber. For years, Davis repeatedly begged Herford to nominate him for membership. Again and again, though, Herford had to tell his friend, with sighs of deep regret, that one member had anonymously voted down his nomination. It’s possible Davis never learned who that one person was.

An Audience Of One

Professor Clyde Miller of Columbia University was another prankster who appreciated subtlety, as Author Fred C. Kelly described him in the Post article “He Sets Them Wondering.”

Whenever a publisher sent Miller a book to review that he found impossibly dull, he’d mail it to a friend along with a note, signed with the author’s name, saying, “I hope you will like the references in this little volume to yourself and that you will not mind the free use that I have made of your name.” Miller enjoyed imagining his friend wearily reading the entire book just to find where his name was mentioned.

Once, as part of a printer’s advertisement, he was sent a stack of sample Christmas cards left over from various jobs. On the inside were the names of complete strangers—a Dr. Montgomery, and a George and Helen McFarland. He mailed these cards to his friends with a brief personal note from Montgomery or the McFarlands, telling the recipient “Cousin Frank finally got the job. He would love to hear from you,” or “Ben and Sarah have a new baby. They are naming it after you.”

The Educational Joke

The Post stories of practical jokes also include a few that served an educational purpose, teaching a lesson to people who might not learn any other way.

Actor Rowland Buckstone, for example, taught fellow Actor E.H. Sothern, how it felt to have a practical joke sprung on him. For years, Sothern had played pranks on Buckstone, who had always accepted the joke with a good-natured laugh. Then, one night, Buckstone saw an educational opportunity for his friend.

It happened the night that Sothern announced to his fellow actors that he’d just become engaged to Virginia Harned, the leading lady in his current play.

Buckstone met Harned backstage while the play was in progress and congratulated her on the engagement. He added that Sothern was a brave man for telling her about the … um, sensitive issue. He knew it must have deeply pained Sothern to share with her the secret he kept from so many people.

“What are you talking about?” Harned asked.

Buckstone pretended to be shocked that Sothern hadn’t told her his great secret. The woman pleaded to know what her fiancé was hiding. At last, with a great show of reluctance, Buckstone said, “His glass eye.”

Harned couldn’t believe him. Buckstone offered to prove it. He told her that Sothern had plenty of spare eyeballs and kept them in several hiding places. He quickly led her to the dressing room of Sothern, who was then onstage. He opened the door and pointed to the dressing table, where a glass eye lay in a saucer, just where Buckstone had placed it minutes before.

Harned was aghast. Buckstone began digging through the pockets of Sothern’s clothes where he ‘chanced’ to find another glass eye. Just then, they heard Harned’s cue. She rushed through the wings and onto the stage with Buckstone strolling after her in a contented mood. Standing behind the curtain, he watched her play the love scene with her husband-to-be. He noticed that Harned seemed distracted that night, and spoke her lines haltingly. And, from where he stood, Buckstone could see that her gaze kept shifting back and forth between Sothern’s eyes, trying to figure out which was the glass one.

As soon as they got offstage, Sothern learned of the hoax and cleared up any doubt Harned had. They then began hunting through the theater for Buckstone, but never found him that night.

A Joke For Marital Equality

Julian Street also offered an example that shows a woman as capable as a man in the field of educational pranks.

When his friend, Art Editor Ray Brown, married, he and his wife agreed they would remain independent, and never demand to know where the other had been, or what he or she had been doing.

So on the first night they visited Paris, Mrs. Brown attended a concert and Mr. Brown went strolling alone through the artist’s district. Hours after she arrived back at the hotel, he came staggering in and collapsed on the bed. True to their code, she didn’t ask where he’d been.

The same thing happened for the next two nights. Mrs. Brown sat alone in their room under he would come stumbling to the door in the small hours.

On the fourth night, Mrs. Brown came to a decision. She put on her best evening gown and waited by the window overlooking the street. In the middle of the night, she saw a cab pull up to the hotel door and her husband step out. She immediately left the room and hurried upstairs to the floor above. There, she silently paced the corridor for a half hour before returning downstairs and knocking at the door of their room.

As Street describes it, Mr. Brown opened the door and Mrs. Brown sauntered in, cheerfully saying, “Oh, you got home first.” She yawned, slipped off her wrap and began to make ready for bed, aware, as she did so, of his anxious, questioning gaze.

“During the remainder of his stay in Paris, Ray Brown was given to fits of abstraction in which he would stare at his wife with brooding, speculative eyes. And she was always there to stare at, for he did not leave her any more.”

Years later, as Street was writing this article for the Post, he sent Mrs. Brown a letter asking permission to use the story. She wrote back with the permission and the news that, until her husband had read Street’s letter, he’d never known where she was that night.

Blowing Up in the Joker’s Face

Finally, we consider a category of practical jokes that are rarely reported: the ones that backfire.

According to Alva Johnston’s 1938 article, “What Larks!” Harpo Marx once entered the Tiffany & Co. jewelry store to shop for some expensive jewelry. He was dressed in street clothes. Without his trademark wig and top hat, few would have recognized him. A salesman showed him several trays, but Marx said he saw nothing he wanted. He turned and was heading to the door when he ‘accidentally’ pulled an open bag from his pocket that spilled diamonds, rubies, and pearls across the showroom floor. Several salesmen started toward Marx, then stopped. Even from 60 feet away, they recognized the look and sound of costume jewelry hitting the tiles. They remained where they stood, fixing Marx with an icy stare. No one even helped him pick up the fake jewels.

Humiliated, Marx quickly rounded up the fake gems, handed them to the doorman, and darted outside.

He didn’t dare to show his face inside Tiffany’s again until he returned, ten years later, as a legitimate customer looking for a silverware pattern. Even though a decade had passed since his joke backfire, he had taken only a few steps into the store when a salesman stepped up and said, “No jokes, Mr. Marx.”

Rockwell’s Favorite Model, Part III

Saturday evening post cover from March 6, 1954
Girl at the Mirror
March 6, 1954

“He is a genius with a childlike heart, a man who leaves a lasting imprint on people as well as on canvas,” Mary Whalen Leonard told the Post in 1976. We spoke with her again recently to ask about one of Norman Rockwell’s most respected paintings—and about the artist himself.

Mary’s pose seems “apprehensive, as if she understands that womanhood is upon her and fears that she is not quite ready,” writes art expert Karal Ann Marling in her 1997 book, Norman Rockwell. However, young Mary didn’t have a clue.

“I was only in fifth or in sixth grade, and I wasn’t a kid who was at all interested in growing up. I was just having a good time,” Mary says.

Discarded doll

He tried to explain the concept behind the forgotten doll: “You’ve tossed away your doll—you no longer play with dolls.” But Mary, who describes her younger self as a tomboy, says, chuckling, “I was saying to myself, ‘Yeah, I never did that anyway.’”

Rockwell knew that Mary wasn’t grasping the idea, so he tried again, “Now, Mary, don’t you ever stand in front of a mirror and wonder what a beautiful woman you’re going to be? I can remember standing in front of a mirror, combing my hair, wondering how handsome I was going to be.”

BRUSH AND LIPSTICK
Brush and lipstick

“And quite honestly,” she laughs, “that didn’t make any sense to me because Norman wasn’t handsome! So I didn’t relate to that. I mean I couldn’t get into it. So I think he just told me to think about being a beautiful woman and what I might do with my life. But it did not connect with me.”

Mary tells us Rockwell felt he had made a mistake including the magazine featuring sexy movie star Jane Russell. “He regretted it deeply. Norman got a lot of criticism—remember this was in the ’50s—that said, ‘Is that all a little girl can dream about is becoming a movie star?’”

“I should not have added the photograph of the movie star,” Rockwell later said in Marling’s book, “the little girl is not wondering if she looks like the star but just trying to estimate her own charms.”

Magazine
Magazine

In what would become one of his most respected paintings, Rockwell captured the poignancy and uncertainty of growing up despite the fact that Mary “had no idea what he was talking about.” For decades critics had dismissed Rockwell as simply a popular commercial illustrator. Today, many have concluded that some of his works, however, transcend freckle-faced boys at the ole swimmin’ hole and secure his standing today as a true artist. Girl at the Mirror is such a painting.

Mary, who describes this painting as “very different than most of Rockwell’s covers,” compares the subtle use of color and lighting with another of Rockwell’s finest works. “In The Marriage License,” she explains, “you think you’re going to concentrate on the couple getting their license, but really what you find yourself looking at and being drawn into is the sweet, dear man [the elderly clerk]. Because that’s where the light is, on his face.”

Saturday evening post cover from March 6, 1954
Girl at the Mirror
March 6, 1954

By the time Girl at the Mirror was published, Rockwell had moved from Vermont to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. “He wrote me a little note and told me it was going to come out. He sent me a photograph I posed for.”

Mary never knew why Rockwell called her his favorite model, but he had quickly become one of her favorite people. “I kept in touch with him until he died. He always sent me a little note at Christmas time and told me he missed me.”

See Mary today as she talks about the artist in this video, courtesy of the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Interview with Rockwell Model Mary Whalen Leonard

Meet Rockwell model Mary Whalen Leonard. Here, Mary shares memories of what it was like to grow up in the same community as Norman Rockwell.


A special thank you to the Norman Rockwell Museum for sharing the video of Mary Whalen Leonard.

Read our three-part web exclusive with model Mary Whalen Leonard:


The Shiner by Norman Rockwell

Rockwell’s Favorite Model

Meet the small-town girl Rockwell called “the best model I ever had.” Read more »

Yawn

Rockwell’s Favorite Model, Part II

Ever wonder how Norman Rockwell achieved some of the poses we see? With close-ups and insight from model Mary Whalen Leonard, we’ll show how a cover was done. Read more »

Saturday evening post cover from March 6, 1954

Rockwell’s Favorite Model, Part III

In one of his most respected paintings, Rockwell captures the poignancy of growing up. However, the model “had no idea what he was talking about.” Read more »

Flaxseed Slashes Blood Pressure

Flaxseed

Tiny seeds of the flax plant, high in fiber and omega-3s, produce big drops in blood pressure and may prevent heart attacks and stroke, according to new research.

In the study, people with clogged leg arteries taking flaxseed supplements reduced their top blood pressure (systolic) reading by 10 points and the bottom (diastolic) by seven after six months. This change is the largest decrease in blood pressure ever shown by a dietary intervention, says Dr. Delfin Rodriquez of Cuba who presented the results at the American Heart Association 2012 Scientific Sessions.

The promising findings suggest that people with hypertension turn to the safe and inexpensive dietary supplement before starting drug therapy.

Cartoons: Gone Shopping

made in china cartoon from September/October 2012

“It says, ‘Made in China.'”
September/October 2012

Shopping cartoon from April 1991

“I’ll take it.”
April 1991

Buying a ring cartoon from December 9, 1950

“It’s just the thing I’d need to go with that dress I priced that would go so well with that hat I’m dying to get.”
December 1950

buying donuts in bulk cartoon from March/April 1994

“You know, it should be illegal to sell certain things at the bulk food stores.”
March/April 1994

complaining cartoon from November/December 2001

“Would you rather complain about trying on shoes or clothes?”
November/December 2001

Try these on cartoon from March/April 2001

“I take it you won’t be needing to try these on, sir?”
March/April 2001

where to borrow money

“The money we just saved, Ella—do you have any idea where we can borrow it?”
October 1959

Craft Magic: Garden Tiles

Welcome spring by creating distinctly beautiful garden tiles that feature leafy designs.

Garden Tiles

Garden Tile
Photo by Dwight Lamb/SEPS

Materials

Tools

Directions

  1. Spray tub and underside of leaves with cooking oil.
  2. Mix concrete, according to package instructions, and pour 2-inch layer into tub.
  3. Gently shake tub to release air bubbles and ensure level surface.
  4. Place leaf (sprayed-side down) firmly into concrete. Cover with pebbles to make clear impression. Wait 48 hours.
  5. Remove stones, leaf, and tile from tub. Smooth sharp edges with stone or file.



Meet Mad Men Creator Matt Weiner

Matt Weiner
Photo credit Michael Yarish/AMC

Matt Weiner, the creator of Mad Men, has a shelf full of Emmys and Golden Globes not to mention critical raves for the hit series now in its sixth season. The retro drama about a 1960s ad agency has left its mark on everything from fashion to the way we look at gender roles. So why is Weiner the first to admit he can be a little anxious about being at the top?

Maybe because he’s hardly an overnight success. He can laugh now about all the time he spent after grad school writing scripts, while his architect wife supported the family. Along the way, he wrote the pilot for Mad Men, but received nothing but rejections.

Weiner’s break came when he started writing for The Sopranos. That show was so hot it made his reputation, but even that wasn’t enough to sell HBO on Mad Men. Eventually it was AMC that took the gamble.

Weiner is charming—a great talker—but notoriously close-mouthed about where the series is going and whether the end is in sight. He’s already made his first bid to move to the big screen writing and directing with last fall’s You Are Here starring Zach Galifianakis and Jenna Fischer.

Question: How has success changed you?
Matt Weiner: I’m less combative. Finding an audience of even a few people after being rejected for a long time kind of recalibrates your perception of humanity, believe it or not. But I’m superstitious about the word success. It took awhile to realize that this really happened after years of privation and rejection. Ironically I’m the person who wrote, ‘Happiness is the moment before you need more happiness.’ So even the premise of the question, ‘How do you feel about success?’ is terrifying.

Q: What would you rewrite about yourself?
MW: I’ve got plenty of bad qualities that have not disappeared. I’m working on being more patient. That can be difficult to be around. I am very exacting. I think I can come off seeming unappreciative of the people closest to me sometimes because I have the complete expectation that I’m entitled to their affection. That’s probably my biggest fault—impatience.

Q: Are you different at home?
MW: I’m like every dad, I’m a joke. [He has four sons.] My anger’s a joke. My dissatisfaction’s a joke. My rules are a joke. I’m always fighting to enforce my authority. I work so much that when I come home and say, ‘Hey everybody, don’t do it this way,’ they’re like, ‘If you were here you’d know this is the way we do it.’ It’s like I’m powerless. You know what, once you take physical violence out of the equation, you really have no control over another person. [Laughs]

Q: Have you tried being a diplomat around the house?
MW: I lose my temper. I’ve got a bad temper. I’ll get mad and be swearing and using the ‘F’ word in the kitchen. Afterwards I’m so embarrassed and I look over at my kids in the next room and I’m like, ‘God, I hope they didn’t hear that.’ And I see they are laughing but trying to cover it up so they won’t embarrass me.

Q: What inspired you to be a writer and to stick with that unrealistic ambition?
MW: I had a lot of support from my parents. They loved and admired writers. We have a big poster of Ernest Hemingway in our hallway. I think that that mattered to me that they thought writing could be a heroic profession and a writer could make like a valuable contribution.

Q: What made you aim so high?
MW: I was a terrible student. I had a lot of mentors, teachers who encouraged me, kind of told me whether I believed it or not that I was a late bloomer. I gave a speech at my high school graduation and a dad in my class told me that I could be a TV writer. It wasn’t just any dad, it was Allan Burns who created The Mary Tyler Moore Show. And so I had that in my hip pocket. And then I went to college and did some acting and wrote poetry. Then I went to film school and was out of work for 5 years even though I was writing all the time. I tell people the hardest part about it was not knowing that it was going to be 5 years—it wasn’t that I was going do it, it was those years of not knowing when I was going to be a success.

Q: Don Draper the main character on the show says, ‘Everyone thinks this is temporary.’ Do you think that?
MW: I am extremely aware that the end is coming but not when. I’ve always had to sweat. I never have been sure Mad Men was going to go on again. I live and die by this thing. I want people to say, ‘That was the best season of the show ever.’ I want them to progressively say during the season, ‘That was the best episode of the show ever!’ I am always aspiring to keep it new and fresh. But you’re going to lose if you’re always trying to top yourself. You end up doing something crazy.

Q: You are pretty secretive about the plots of the episodes.
MW: I’m not trying to tease people. I just don’t want to give away to viewers what’s coming because not knowing what is going to happen is part of what keeps people interested. I think fans of the show, the ones who really love it, don’t want to know. But it is hard to talk about a new season without getting specific. At the beginning of a season I’m always like, ‘I’m starting a whole new story. If you don’t like it, then it’s not for you. But it’s not because it’s not as good as last year. It’s just different.’ No matter what happens you’ll be able to understand it. It’s a TV show, it’s not War and Peace.

Q: Are there lessons that having a huge hit have taught you?
MW: At a certain point you realize that being mature in this job is not thinking that you can do it all by yourself. You can’t forget that other people have the best stuff to offer and you need to be excited when you hear something you didn’t think about. I try to remember that I don’t always give enough praise. I get so much attention for my contribution to the series, and I wish I could share the glory a little bit more. I always mention the work of my producers and co-writers but it seldom gets printed. And I want people to know that that’s not my fault. That I try to share the wealth.

Q: What’s the right way to handle fame?
MW: I remember watching Jennifer Lawrence fall on the stairs as she went up to accept her Oscar. And I just thought, ‘If I were to write an acceptance speech, it would start like that.’ That moment to me was kind of like instant humility. She recovered with such grace and good humor. That’s a hard thing for people to understand. You just don’t want to attract the evil eye, become arrogant, rest on your laurels, and take it for granted.

Q: Does the great acceptance of the show give you more creative confidence?
MW: Trying to put a dream into words is a lot of what it is at the beginning of the season. And the ship leaves the port but you still don’t know if it’s any good. That’s the thing that never goes away. You don’t even know, even when the season’s over, even when you win an award, if you like pulled it off. And you know anyone who says they’re only interested in satisfying themselves is a fool.

Why Did the Post Lose its $10 Million Libel Case?

It’s a story that refuses to lie down and be quiet, even half a century later.

In 1963, James Wallace “Wally” Butts Jr., former coach of the University of Georgia’s football team, sued Curtis Publishing, the Post’s parent company, for libel. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled a 5–4 decision against Curtis Publishing. Fifty years later, there is growing doubt that it was the right decision.

To understand the doubt, you need to know the background of what the Post claimed was the most shocking sports story since the Chicago Black Sox scandal — a story that began with an overheard phone call, and ended by damaging the credibility of America’s most popular magazine.

On September 13, 1962, George Burnett, an insurance salesman in Atlanta, called a friend at a local public relations firm. As sometimes happened in those days, the phone lines “cross-connected.” Instead of his friend’s voice, Burnett heard a telephone operator identify two famous college football coaches: One was Butts, the athletic director and former coach at the University of Georgia; the other was Paul “Bear” Bryant, coach at the University of Alabama.

Instead of hanging up or announcing his presence, Burnett remained on the line and listened. Over the next 15 minutes, according to what Burnett told the Post, he heard Butts give Bryant details about Georgia’s plays, strategies, and particular formations the team would use against Alabama in the opening game, just nine days away.

Burnett feverishly took notes. When the conversation was over, he had about six pages in all.
After the coaches hung up, Burnett redialed the number. This time the call didn’t get crossed over; he reached his friend at the public relations firm. His friend told him that Butts was, in fact, at the firm and using a phone in a back office.

The next week, Alabama defeated Georgia, to no one’s surprise. Bryant’s team had been widely expected to win. What was unusual was the score: 35-0. Few gamblers would have bet on the winning team; most of the betting action would concern the difference between the teams’ scores. Prior to the game, the point spread had been a mere 17-14 in favor of Alabama. A gambler who knew Alabama secretly had an edge over Georgia could have made a fortune.

The lopsided win bothered Burnett. And he mentioned the matter to a friend, who passed it on to the new Georgia coach, who informed the University of Georgia’s administrators. They asked Butts about the incident. Butts didn’t deny the charge. He admitted to discussing Georgia’s plays with Bryant but said the incident had been misinterpreted. The next day, Butts resigned.

The university’s regents then called in Burnett and grilled him on what he’d heard. They brought up the fact that Burnett might not be a credible witness because he was on probation for writing bad checks. Perhaps he was hoping to gain by making these charges.

Burnett left the meeting convinced the university was going to dispose of the problem by discrediting him. Expecting to face an accusation of slander from Butts, Burnett spoke with his attorney, who suggested he take his story to The Saturday Evening Post.

“The Story of a College Football Fix” appeared in the March 23, 1963, issue. Three days later, Butts sued Curtis Publishing for $10 million.

The case was heard in the Atlanta federal court, where a jury awarded Butts $60,000 in general damages and $3 million in punitive damages. Stunned, Curtis Publishing appealed the verdict, but the Fifth Circuit Court upheld the decision.

Curtis appealed again, believing it could get a favorable hearing in the U.S. Supreme Court, which had recently handed down an important decision concerning the rules of libel. In that case, L.B. Sullivan, the public affairs commissioner of Montgomery, Alabama, had sued The New York Times Company for libel after the paper ran an advertisement for Martin Luther King Jr.’s legal defense fund. He believed its criticism of the city’s police had defamed him personally. But the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the Times. In the ruling, Justice Hugo Black explained that malice “even as defined by the court, is an elusive, abstract concept, hard to prove and hard to disprove.” In this instance, the Supreme Court declared that a public official could not be libeled unless a publication showed “actual malice” — a statement with reckless disregard for the truth.

Unfortunately for Curtis Publishing, the Supreme Court decided the Post had indeed acted with reckless disregard and upheld the lower court’s decision for Butts. But the award of $3 million was reduced, and eventually Butts accepted $460,000.

Over the past 50 years, journalists who have revisited the case wonder how the Post managed to lose. The reason might be one or several of the following:

Yet none of these points changed the facts: The phone call took place, there was backup to support Burnett’s allegations, and, most damningly, during the game, Alabama players had taunted the Georgia team by calling out the code names of Georgia’s plays before they were run. So why did the Post lose all three trials?

To further understand why doubt lingers, we recommend Fumble: Bear Bryant, Wally Butts and the Great College Football Scandal (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1986). The author, James Kirby, taught law at the University of Tennessee and had been dean of Ohio State University’s law school. In 1963, he investigated the Post’s allegations on behalf of the Southeastern Athletic Conference.

Rockwell’s Favorite Model, Part II

Day in the Life of a Girl Norman Rockwell August 30, 1952

Day in the Life of a Girl
Norman Rockwell
August 30, 1952

 

Rockwell said he enjoyed working with 9-year-old Mary Whalen, who “could look sad one minute, jolly the next, and raise her eyebrows until they almost jumped over her head.”

“He was very inclusive; he wasn’t authoritarian, telling me what to do,” Mary says. “It was, ‘OK, this is what we’re going to do today.’ He would act it out for me.

“I was reserved and he would just sort of pull [the expressions] out of me by laughing or clapping or stomping his feet or jumping up and down and making me laugh, that kind of thing. And I just felt such a part of what was happening. As a kid, I liked to be a part of something. He knew what he wanted and he knew how to get that out of you. And then when he got [the right expression], he would just shout, ‘Oh, that’s wonderful! That’s wonderful!’”

For the 1952 cover, A Day in the Life of a Girl, Mary gave Rockwell over 20 wonderful expressions.

Yawn

“It took a week,” Mary tells us, to shoot all the scenes for the 1952 cover. Beginning with getting out of bed, A Day in the Life of a Girl is done sequentially, like a movie reel. Photographer Gene Pelham took dozens of shots, as the artist posed his models.

“When I posed for A Day in the Life of a Girl,” Mary tells us, “I got up early, my mother combed my hair, did my braids, and off we went [to Rockwell’s studio].” The first thing Rockwell said to them was, “We’re going to mess up Mary’s hair,” and with that he tousled her tidy braids.


running

The first six scenes were completed that first day. For this flying out the door on her way to go swimming look, her mother had to hold her pigtails back, while someone else pulled back her swimming cap. When the angles were just right, “Rockwell would yell, ‘Get it!’” Mary says, and Pelham would snap away.

The scene below depicts the old story: Boy meets girl, boy tries to drown girl, spunky girl bawls him out, and then gives him a taste of his own medicine. Ah, young love!

The boy in the love story is Chuck Marsh, another model with a wonderfully expressive face. He was in the earlier Rockwell cover, A Day in the Life of a Boy.

dunking

In real life, Mary tells us, she and Chuck never posed in a pool—it was all done in the studio. And when we asked about the dripping wet hair, Mary gave us a glimpse into the glamorous world of modeling: “They poured a bowl of water on me.”

The kids never pushed each other’s heads down either. “We used a bronze bust to lean on … to get the elbow right,” Mary reveals, then adds, “I went to the Rockwell Museum three or four years ago, and they still had that bust in his studio!”

[You can tour the artist’s studio at The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, or take the online tour here.]

party

Gradually, boy and girl become friends, go for a bike ride and a movie, and then we find them at a birthday party. In this scene, Mary is wearing a party dress Rockwell bought for her. But what sounds like an act of kindness was most likely the artist’s insistence on just the right details. As an example, he shopped several furniture stores for the exact chair he wanted for his delightful Easter Morning cover from 1959.

The party scene involved more models, including Mary’s twin brother, Peter; and Chuck Marsh’s little brother, Donnie, whose mission was simply to devour the cake and ice cream. Donnie’s single-mindedness about the treats made for a difficult day’s shoot, Mary recalls.

kissing

Ten-year-old Chuck Marsh noted that this scene was the “toughest time” he ever had posing. He liked Mary very much, but no how, no way was he going to kiss a girl. “Mr. Rockwell finally gave up trying to get me to kiss her,” he said, and the artist posed the two separately. Getting the smooch just right involved Chuck leaning toward—you guessed it—that bronze bust. Who knew the head of a Classical figure could be so utilitarian?

praying

At the end of this long day, Mary is dressed for bed and writing in her diary, no doubt about that moonlit kiss. And the painting is almost complete.

But there was a problem when Rockwell reached his final scene. With the deadline almost upon him, he remembered the many complaints he had received about one aspect of A Day in the Life of a Boy—before retiring for the night, the boy did not say his prayers. So Rockwell called the Whalens and said, “You’ve got to get Mary down here!”

Because the prayer scene was added, another scene was taken out, Mary tells us. Deleted was a charming scene of Mary and Chuck smiling and thanking their hostess (the birthday girl in the pink hat in the party scene above). But the day is done, bedtime prayers said, and Mary drifts off to sleep with a smile on her face and a party favor beside her.

Previous: Rockwell’s Favorite Model
Next: The third and final installment of Rockwell’s Favorite Model, featuring a coming-of-age cover many feel is one of the artist’s finest works.

Spiced Grilled Ham with Citrus Glaze

“Turning to the grill offers home cooks an easy and perhaps unexpected way to treat guests this year,” says Pamela Johnson, Director of Consumer Communications for the National Pork Board, which offers this alternative to the traditional baked ham. “Grilled ham is a twist on the classic preparation that complements a variety of dishes, like roasted potatoes and asparagus spears, at any celebration or future feast.”

To make the recipe your own, try using a different combination of juice and jam, jelly, or marmalade for the glaze—apple juice and grape jelly, orange juice and strawberry jam, or apricot nectar and orange marmalade.


Spiced Grilled Ham with Citrus Glaze
grilled ham with oranges
Makes 12 to 14 (4-ounce) servings

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 1 ½ to 2 hours

Ingredients

* If you can’t find lemon marmalade, substitute another citrus marmalade.

Grilling Directions

  1. Preheat gas or charcoal grill to medium-hot (375 to 425°F). Prepare grill for indirect cooking: For gas grill, turn off center burner; for charcoal grill, bank coals on either side; place drip pan under grate between heat sources.
  2. Score diamond pattern into ham, about ⅛-inch deep into any fat. In small bowl, combine coriander, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and cloves. Rub spice mixture over all sides of ham. Place ham, flat side down, in center of grill over drip pan. Cover and cook, adding briquettes to charcoal grill as necessary to maintain heat, until internal temperature of ham reaches 140°F, 1 ½ to 2 hours or 15 to 18 minutes per pound.
  3. Meanwhile, in small bowl, combine marmalade, orange juice, and sugar.
  4. Brush marmalade mixture over ham. Cover and grill 5 minutes, until glaze is lightly caramelized. Remove ham from grill, transfer to cutting board, and let rest 15 to 30 minutes before cutting.

Roasting Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Position rack in lower third of oven.
  2. Score diamond pattern into ham, about ⅛-inch deep into any fat. In small bowl, combine coriander, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and cloves. Rub spice mixture over all sides of ham. Place ham, flat side down, in large shallow roasting pan and cook until internal temperature of ham reaches 140°F, 1 ½ to 2 hours or 15 to 18 minutes per pound.
  3. Meanwhile, in small bowl, combine marmalade, orange juice, and sugar.
  4. Brush marmalade mixture over ham. Return to oven and roast 5 minutes, until glaze is lightly caramelized. Remove ham from oven, transfer to a cutting board, and let rest 15 to 30 minutes before cutting.

Nutrition Facts

Per Serving


Calories: 270
Total fat: 11 g
Saturated fat: 4 g
Carbohydrate: 7 g
Fiber: 0 g
Protein: 34 g
Sodium: 80 mg



Recipe and photo courtesy of the National Pork Board.

Distorted Body Image: Objects in Mirror May Appear Larger Than Actual Size

Body Image

Studies show that starving oneself causes changes in the brain that can lead to the inability to see oneself objectively. It’s “distorted body image,” according to Cleveland Clinic eating disorders specialist Ellen Rome, M.D., M.P.H.

Women suffering from anorexia, for example, tend to draw their silhouettes or estimate their hip width disproportionately larger than they actually are. This is not a coy way of denying their condition; when confronted with the truth, they will firmly deny their true size. Altered perceptions of body image are predictable and painful—but they are often reversible, says Rome.

For help, turn first to a medical doctor who is well-versed in eating disorders. Contact the National Eating Disorders Association (nationaleatingdisorders.org, 800-931-2237) for local specialists.

Versatile Crochet Scarf Pattern

I have a problem. I hoard yarn. Seriously.

Ask anyone who knows me. I am a notorious neat freak and can’t stand piles of stuff and clutter—except when it comes to yarn. I won’t toss out the little leftover scraps after a project is finished. So I end up with bags of scraps of yarn like this:

hand holding small ball of yarn in

So I decided that I needed to find a way to use up my teensy little scraps. Enter the Stash-buster Scarf.

This simple scarf pattern can be used with any kind of yarn and any size hook. It’s super fast and easy … and the scarves you make are great for gifts. As you can see, the type of yarn you use changes the look of the scarf … but they all look fantastic!

multi-colored crochet scarves


Stash-buster Scarf Crochet Pattern
multi-colored crochet scarf

Materials

Tools

Abbreviations

Special Stitches

Directions

You can leave the scarf long, or sew the two ends together to make a circle scarf or cowl. You can add buttons and other embellishments if desired. Have fun with it!

Pattern copyright 2012 by Sarah Anderson. This pattern is free for personal use. Please do not sell this pattern, or claim it to be of your own making. You are free to sell items made using this pattern, as long as credit is given to Sarah Anderson of Sarahndipities for the pattern used.

Cartoons: Stating the Obvious

Cartoon about carrots Saturday Evening Post Octover 12, 1957

“Well now we know—she hates carrots.”
October 1957

Drinking cartoon from Saturday Evening Post October 12, 1957.

“George, you’ve had enough.”
October 1957

Sleeping cartoon from Saturday Evening Post Nov/Dec 1992

“We really should be running along so you people can get some sleep.”
November/December 1992

Cartoon from Saturday Evening Post Nov 1988

“Well, well, Mr. Conner, are we ready to go home?”
November 1988

Right address cartoon from Saturday Evening Post December 15, 1951

“Remember, the important thing on this job is always to get the right address.”
December 1951

Welcome cartoon from Saturday Evening Post October 12, 1957

“I don’t think he represents the Welcome Wagon at all.”
October 1957

Spring Recipes from The Green Smoothie Bible

“What you find in season at the spring market will vary based on where you live,”says Kristine Miles, author of The Green Smoothie Bible. “In more moderate climates, such as where I live in Southern Australia, many of these fruits will be readily available, while others may be very hard to find. Use this opportunity to experiment with what is fresh to create your own green smoothies.”

Oranges and Cranberries

Recipe 1

Watermelon Slices

Recipe 2


Fresh spinach in a bowlTip: If you’re new to green smoothies, Miles recommends that only 10 percent of your smoothie be greens (spinach is a good beginner’s green because of its mild flavor) and gradually increase them to 40 percent as you grow accustomed to the taste.

Looking for more? The Post has featured nine of the 300 recipes available in The Green Smoothie Bible (three summer smoothies, two autumn smoothies, and two winter smoothies). Try one or all and share your green smoothie adventures in the comments below.



Kristine Miles is a health professional with more than 15 years experience. She is passionate about lifelong learning, plant-based nutrition, and living a healthy lifestyle. Kristine works full time as a physiotherapist in a private practice, is a part-time cooking demonstrator, and is a blogger at kristinemiles.com and http://greensmoothiecommunity.com/. She is happily married and lives on Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia.

First Crocus

First Crocus

First Flower
Norman Rockwell
March 22, 1947

 

Author Jim Butcher wrote, “Men plan. Fate laughs.” Everyone can pinpoint a time in their lives when fate stepped in and skewered well-laid strategies. That’s particularly true of Gene Pelham, the model in the cover at right celebrating the arrival of spring. The New York native had moved his family to Arlington, Vermont, in 1938 from New Rochelle, New York. In that former life, he was an artist and photographer and knew (and occasionally modeled for) the great Norman Rockwell. But in Arlington, Pelham was happily ensconced in the country and hoped to try his hand at farming, raising livestock, and, in his own words, “building stuff.”

One crisp fall day in 1938, Pelham was working on his car in the front yard of his new Vermont digs when a stranger pulled into his driveway. The driver rolled down his window and said, “Can you tell me where the West Arlington Bridge is?”

As Pelham’s son Tom relates the story, his dad looked up and was amazed to see none other than Rockwell behind the wheel. “Norman? What are you doing here?” Pelham asked. Rockwell explained he was moving to Arlington.

And so, Pelham not only returned to modeling for the First Flower cover but he later became Rockwell’s assistant. He found and photographed models, scouted locations, and more. Fate certainly had other intentions for this would-be farmer.

The World is Getting Better, Not Worse!

Typewriter vs. iPad

I must have been 12 or 13 when my father suggested I go downtown with him to get some money from the bank. It was a Saturday afternoon, and, although he was a senior executive at the “Multibanco” in Chihuahua, I doubted he was going to be admitted on the weekend to help himself to some pesos. So I kept watching soccer on TV. My team, Atlético Español, was finding a new way to lose; that’s what they did.

But no, Dad was clearly up to something. “C’mon, I have a card that will get me cash,” he said, grinning. He did have a sense of humor and an adventurous streak, so I figured I should play along.

“OK,” I said. “Vamos.”

We got into our un-air-conditioned orange VW Caribe and headed downtown. The Multibanco was right across the street from the zócalo, in the shadows of Chihuahua’s 18th-century cathedral, the first and last baroque structure built in our otherwise unpretentious city.

Outside the bank, by the parking lot, was a small kiosk I had never noticed before, like a walk-in phone booth. We walked over to it, and my dad fumbled for a card that he reverentially slid out from a little envelope and into an opening that caused a buzz and click, and in we went to the booth, where he proceeded, before his wide-eyed, jaw-dragging son, to retrieve a few hundred pesos from a machine. I don’t think I could have been more astonished had he beamed us into the 23rd century.

Three decades later, I type down this memory on a plane as I listen to one of a few hundred albums on my iPad before settling in to read one of the dozens of books on the same nimble tablet with the interactive screen.

Have we become so immune to progress, we've lost all sense of wonder?

We live in an age when we can have nearly anything all the time, and my first inkling of that coming age came that languid Saturday afternoon in Chihuahua, when Dad pulled his act of magic at the city’s first ATM.

There were other milestones along the way, of course. The Walkman seemed like a huge leap forward, providing stereophonic mobility. So did having an AT&T long-distance calling card. When I first came to school in the States, I had to drag rolls and rolls of change to the payphone down the hallway to connect for a few minutes with Mexico to speak to my parents or to enjoy some awkward, static-filled small talk with a certain Margarita. Then came these calling cards that let you commandeer any payphone as if it were your own, without the need to have a piggy bank in tow (although those monthly bills were an invariable shocker).

Oddly enough, what should have been more obvious milestones on the road to “everything all the time” didn’t seem like such. My first desktop computer in college felt more like a spiffier typewriter than a potential conduit to all the world’s information, but then it wouldn’t be another decade until I “dialed” online after getting one of those AOL CDs in the mail (it was probably the 10th one I’d gotten). And even that didn’t feel so noteworthy, truth be told; I quickly grew bored of a couple of chat rooms and went back to the TV.

Amazon did feel epochal, this notion that you could be sitting in your PJs at midnight and order a book from your bedroom that would show up a few days later at your doorstep. The memory of those first orders in the late ’90s still gives me chills, even now when I can download two entire books onto my iPad in the time it takes to board a plane, as I just did.

Let’s get back to TV for a second. That’s been an entertainment constant throughout my life, but precisely because it has been a constant—at least the physical act of staring at a screen—it’s the starkest illustration of how we’ve moved from a life of fleeting moments to this everything-all-the-time age.