News of the Week: Daylight Saving Time Is Bad, Meet the Press, and 125 Years of Jell-O

Night and Day

Isn’t it funny how, just when there’s finally something that everyone in Washington can agree with, what they agree on is wrong?

They want to do away with the “spring ahead, fall back” that we do twice a year. I don’t really see a problem with sticking with changing the clocks twice a year, but okay, I’d be on board with the plan. But here’s the thing: They want the permanent time to be saving time, when it should be standard time. Studies have shown that it not only makes more sense, it’s actually better for our health. Besides, we tried year-round DST in the 1970s and it did not go over well.

Here’s CBS Sunday Morning’s David Pogue:

Uploaded to YouTube by CBS Sunday Morning

And the Best Cheese of 2022 Is …

… a Gruyère! That’s according to the judges who had to sample 4,434 cheeses from 42 countries at the World Cheese Awards in Wales (I don’t think it was televised).

I was really hoping it was going to be cheddar or Swiss so I wouldn’t have to figure out how to do that little accent thing in Gruyère.

J-E-L-L-O!

I haven’t had Jell-O in years, but for some reason I’ve had the commercial jingle stuck in my brain all week. Weird how these random things happen. But I’m glad I did, because I looked it up, and the wiggly dessert just happens to be celebrating 125 years this year.

Peter Cooper, who designed and built America’s first steam-powered locomotive, patented powdered gelatin in 1845. But it wasn’t until 1897 that the dessert named “Jell-O” came about, patented by Leroy, New York, cough syrup manufacturer Pearle Bixby Wait (a great name!). Two years later he sold it to the Genesee Pure Food Company, manufacturer of a health drink named Grain-O.

(Let’s all be glad they didn’t change the name to “Grain-O.”)

They advertised in the Post quite a bit. This ad is from the May 17, 1924, issue and was illustrated by Norman Rockwell.

The Best Thing That Happened This Week

There was a certain magic in the air on Wednesday morning. Did you feel it? Something was definitely different, and we were all in a better mood and we had a bounce in our step. The birds were singing and food tasted a little better. Why?

THE POLITICAL ADS ENDED!

It made me feel like this.

RIP Aaron Carter, Andrew Prine, Ray Guy, Dan McCafferty, Douglas McGrath, Mimi Parker, Max Maven, David Davis, and Leslie Phillips

Aaron Carter was a pop star from an early age, with hits such as “Aaron’s Party,” “I Want Candy,” “Crush on You,” and “That’s How I Beat Shaq.” He was also an actor, appearing on such shows as Lizzie McGuire, 7th Heaven, and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. He died last weekend at the age of 34.

Andrew Prine was a veteran actor who appeared in movies like Chisum, Wide Country, The Miracle Worker, and The Town That Dreaded Sundown, as well as a million TV shows, including regular roles on Dr. Kildare, The Road West, Weird Science, and W.E.B. He died last week at the age of 86.

Ray Guy was a punter for the Oakland Raiders who won three Super Bowls with the team and is a member of the Hall of Fame. He died last week at the age of 72.

Dan McCafferty was the lead singer of Nazareth, known for the hit song “Love Hurts.” He died Tuesday at the age of 76.

Douglas McGrath wrote and directed the Truman Capote biopic Infamous as well as many stage plays. He received a Tony nomination for writing the book for Beautiful: The Carole King Story, an Oscar nomination for co-writing Bullets Over Broadway, and two Emmy nominations for HBO documentaries. He was a writer on several episodes of Saturday Night Live and also an actor, appearing in Quiz Show, The Insider, and several Woody Allen films. He died last week at the age of 64.

Mimi Parker was vocalist and drummer for the band Low. She died Saturday at the age of 55.

Here’s Low’s nice cover of Toto’s “Africa.”

Max Maven was a world-renowned magician and mentalist. He died last week at the age of 71.

David Davis co-created the sitcom Taxi and wrote for and produced many other shows, including The Bob Newhart Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, and My Mother the Car. He died last week at the age of 86.

Leslie Phillips had a long acting career, from many uncredited roles the 1930s to being the voice of the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter films. He died Monday at the age of 98.

This Week in History

Meet the Press Premieres (November 6, 1947)

The show was created by journalist Martha Rountree. It started as a radio show titled The American Mercury Presents: Meet the Press. She was the first moderator of the TV version too, hosting from 1947 until 1953.

Billy Graham Born (November 7, 1918)

The evangelist, who died in 2018, appeared on the cover and was interviewed in our April 13, 1963, issue. He also appeared on the cover of our March 1986 issue.

This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: Kay Cheese (November 6, 1948)

Okay, there’s no Gruyère in this ad, but there is cheese.

There’s Always Room for Jell-O

Admit it: You thought I was going to link to some cheese recipes, didn’t you?

Instead, let’s make some Jell-O (I’ll do some research and find out how long cheese has been around and celebrate it another week).

Let’s go old-school first with the classic Strawberry-Pretzel Salad, which people have been making since 1963. AllRecipes has recipes for Heavenly Raspberry Dessert, Mother’s Whipped Lime Dessert, and something called Fish Egg Salad, which hopefully tastes better than the name would suggest.

Also: BellyFull has No-Bake Jell-O Pie, Food.com has 7-Layer Jell-O, and here’s Stella’s Cranberry Salad (scroll down on the page), which uses cherry Jell-O.

And if the only way you know Jell-O is from shots, try these Fireball Apple Jell-O Shots from Delish.

Next Week’s Holidays and Events

Sadie Hawkins Day (November 13)

Did you know this day started in Al Capp’s classic comic strip Li’l Abner?

Clean Your Refrigerator Day (November 15)

You do this so you have room in your fridge for all of your Thanksgiving food. Also because if you don’t once in a while it’s gross.