When my oldest boys were younger, they used to have to do fundraising for their school. If they raised enough money or got a certain number of orders, they won a prize. One time the prize was a Webkinz stuffed animal.
Each animal came with a code. You would go to the website and “adopt” that animal, name them, and care for it. You’d feed it, bathe it, and take care of their room/house. There were games that you could play to win “money” to spend on food, furniture, clothes, and more.
I don’t recall how many of these my boys had, but it was quite a few. I know I would often play the games they had a hard time with to help them “win” money. You couldn’t play without a Webkinz, and I know that everyone in our family had an animal. One of the games was called Tile Towers.
What I didn’t know was that this was a kid version of mahjong. I had heard of mahjong, but never played it. I probably never would have played it if it hadn’t been for this Webkinz game. I found it fun to play and kind of addicting. I remember the music being very catchy, and I started to search online for the music and couldn’t seem to find it.
From what I can see, there is a Webkinz app now, but I didn’t download it. Just seeing the pictures of the game makes me want to play it. On my Kindle Fire, I have a mahjong game I downloaded a long time ago, but I rarely play it. I don’t know, it was hard enough to find matching animals, let alone trying to find a match for these crazy symbols!
I miss the days of sitting on our old laptop with the boys looking over my shoulder pointing out matches “There is a cat there and over there, daddy!” “If you get rid of that pig, you can match the ducks, dad!”
It is such a silly memory, but it’s a fond memory of time with the boys.
One of the things I love about Facebook is the ability to meet others who share the same interests as me. I belong to many different “fan” groups and have connected with some very cool people through those groups.
Some time ago, I saw a painting of Moe Howard that I thought was very well done. I’m not sure exactly where I had seen it, though it may have been in Moe’s book. At any rate, through one of the Three Stooges groups, I found that the artist was a member. Her name is Belita William and she painted the amazing portrait when she was in her teens!
Moe, Belita, and her painting.
She and Moe became friends and they were in contact with each other until he passed away. Moe liked her work so much, he had her paint him a portrait of President Kennedy.
Moe, JFK, and Belita
I was surprised to find out that she had also painted a portrait for Larry Fine, as well. This is another picture I had seen somewhere prior to learning she painted it.
Larry and his painting
Belita is very talented and I am in awe of her talent. She has painted portraits of her children, church members, and many others. Here are just a few examples of her fantastic work.
To make a long story short, Belita and I became Facebook friends shortly after connecting through the Stooges group. She has often commented on photos of Ella, Andrew, and my kids. I was truly surprised when she reached out to me privately recently.
“Hi Keith. Your kids are gorgeous. Maybe you might consider portraits.”
I won’t lie, it is certainly something I would love to do. She talked about pricing and such and it is something that I definitely want to save up to do. It may take a while (thank you highest inflation rate since 1981!), but I really think this would be an amazing and one of a kind way to capture the kids. I am sure that she would do a wonderful job.
When Ella was first born, one of my co-workers said we should enter her in a “Cutest Baby Contest.” Others have said the same about Andrew. As a parent, you are biased. I mean, you KNOW how cute your kids are, right!? Sure they are “model” material! Sure they would be perfect for a portrait! Absolutely they could be in a magazine ad! You always think that, but when someone reaches out to you and actually asks to paint them (as Belita has done) or asks to use them in promotional material (like Andrew was by the place where he got his helmet), it makes you feel pretty darn good!
Thank heavens they got their good looks from their mommy! LOL
Pardon me while I become “toddler dad” for a minute…
When you become a parent, you lose the option to watch TV … at least when your kids are awake. Most days I watch all the PBS shows (Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Wild Kratts, Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum) or the various stuff from Nick Jr. or Disney Jr. (Paw Patrol, Bubble Guppies, Peppa Pig). My favorite is Bluey.
I blogged about the show (and primarily the dad – Bandit) here:
One of my favorite episodes is entitled Bad Mood. In the show, Bluey’s sister (Bingo) is in a “bad mood.” Bandit, Bluey and Bingo’s dad, IS the bad mood. It is signified by him wearing a Viking Helmet and walking with Bingo standing on his feet. He grunts and stomps through the house destroying block towers, ruining drawings, and throwing things.
Now there have been “a few” times when I have been at work and I’ve been in a “not so good mood.” I have joked with my co-workers that I need to get myself a Viking hat. No one really knew what I was talking about, so I showed them clips from this episode. Whenever a computer would crash or something didn’t work, I’d say something like, “This is when I need my ‘bad mood’ hat!”
One of our crew is transferring to another department and tomorrow is her last night here. Tonight, she said she was going to run out to her car for something. She came back in and was holding this Viking hat, which had two blonde braids hanging down from it. She told me that she wanted to get something to thank me for all the laughs we’ve shared working together.
It made me laugh out loud when I saw it. It also made me sad. I really have come to enjoy the nights that we work together. She loves music and we’ve shared a great many stories about songs and artists. She is also very funny and there are times I am laughing so hard my sides hurt. I am certainly going to miss having her in the building.
I told her when she gave me the helmet that it really won’t be a “bad mood” hat. Mainly because when I go to put it on, I will think about her – I’ll laugh – and that will put me in a good mood.
Thanks for your friendship, your conversation, and the many laughs, Laura! You will be missed, especially by me!!
This blog post is part of the Hanspostcard TV Show Draft.
My choice for the third round draft pick is Hollywood’s first weekly one-hour series that was filmed for television – Perry Mason. The show ran for 9 seasons (September 1957 – May 1966) and starred Raymond Burr in the title role.
Raymond Burr
The character of Perry Mason was well known before he was ever on TV. The attorney was the star of novels and stories written by a lawyer-turned-author Erle Stanley Gardner. There were some movies made by Warner Brothers and also a radio series based starring the character, by Gardner hated them! As a matter of fact, he refused to license the character of Perry mason for any more adaptations. (Interestingly, the radio series continues and evolved into the famous soap opera The Edge of Night.)
Gardner’s agent married actress Gail Patrick and she was the one who talked him into adapting the novels into a TV series. He made it clear that he wanted a lot of control over the show and how it was presented. He also had a hand in helping pick the cast. Many of the stories he wrote were turned into episodes for the series.
The Cast
It is hard to imagine anyone other than Raymond Burr as Perry Mason. However, among the actors in the running were Mike Conners, Richard Egan, William Holden, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., William Hopper, and Fred MacMurray. Raymond Burr actually auditioned for the role of Hamilton Burger, the DA. Gail Patrick remembered his performance from the 1951 film “A Place in the Sun” and told him he was perfect for the role.
At the time, Burr was about 60 pounds overweight, so he went on a crash diet and tested for the role again with about 50 other actors. Erle Stanley Gardner saw him and reportedly said, “THAT is Perry Mason!” Burr continued to lose weight as the series continued. He stated, “I just don’t have time to eat.”
Syndicated columnist Erskine Johnson wrote, “Every six days Burr stars in what almost amounts to a full-length feature movie. He’s in 98% of all the scenes.” Burr stated, “I had no life outside of Perry Mason. And that went on 24 hours a day, sox days a week. I never went home at night. I lived on the lot. I got up at 3 o’clock every single morning to learn my lines for that day, and sometimes I hadn’t finished until 9 o’clock. I had a kitchen, bedroom, office space, sitting room – al of that – on every lot I ever worked on.“
Burr won three Primetime Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Perry Mason (1959, 1960, and 1961).
Raymond Burr IS Perry Mason
Other major players in the cast included Barbara Hale as Perry’s secretary, Della Street. Hale had done some feature films, but wanted to avoid going away for long periods of time to shoot them because she had a rather young family. According to Gail Patrick, it was Hale who called her to inquire about the role of Della.
Perry and Della (Barbara Hale)
William Hopper, as I mentioned before, auditioned for the role of Perry Mason (I believe you can find some of the audition tapes on YouTube). After not getting the role of Mason and auditioning for Private Detective Paul Drake, he walked in the room and said, “You hate my mother!” His mother was Hedda Hopper, the famous gossip columnist. Patrick said he was the perfect Paul Drake, so he got the role.
William Hopper as Paul Drake with Burr’s Mason
For the role of District Attorney Hamilton Burger, Patrick knew exactly who she wanted. She had seen William Tallman in The Hitch-Hiker and knew he was perfect for the role. She said, “He never disappointed.” In an interview he was asked how he felt about his character losing to Perry Mason every week. His response is perfect. He stated, “Burger doesn’t lose. How can a district attorney lose when he fails to convict an innocent person?” When Burr was asked by a fan why he won every case, he told her, “But madam, you only see the cases I try on Saturday!”
William Tallman – Hamilton Burger
Another one of Perry’s foils was Police Lt. Arthur Tragg. Ray Collins’ voice was known to so many listeners of the Mercury Theater on radio. He had also been in movies and other TV shows. Patrick joked saying, “We overlooked the fact that on an actual police force, he would probably be long retired.” He was 68 years old when the show debuted on CBS. The playful interaction between Tragg and Mason are priceless.
The great Ray Collins as Lt. Tragg
The Plot
The basic formula for each episode was the same. The first part of the show introduced the viewer to a client who is hiring Perry Mason for some legal work or is introduced to him in some way. We then see the murder victim and other “suspects” introduced. The victim is murdered and Perry’s client is wrongfully accused of the crime. The remainder of the episode focuses on Burger and Tragg gathering evidence to convict the said “murderer”, Perry, Drake and Della take up their own investigation to prove their client is innocent.
The second half of the show would shift to the courtroom where Perry and Hamilton would duke it out in the preliminary hearing. In the novels, Perry likes to clear the client before they are bound over for trial, so this was worked into the show. They happen, but jury trials are rarely seen on the show.
The show would often culminate with Mason recalling a witness and questioning them until they cracked and admitted committing the murder OR causing someone else in the courtroom to admit that THEY committed the murder. The show would then wrap with a scene in Perry’s office or the courtroom where details would be presented on what led Perry to discover the real killer.
The formula worked for 9 seasons and eventually 30 TV made for TV movies.
Episodes of Interest
Throughout the run of the series, there were some very unique episodes. In the entire run of the series, Perry tackles an astounding 271 cases, and wins almost all of them! He actually lost thre cases (that we know of). In The Case of the Witless Witness, he loses a non-murder case. In The Case of the Terrified Typist, his client is found guilty of murder, but he is eventually able to clear her name. Finally, in The Case of the Deadly Verdict his client is found guilty of murder and is actually sentenced to death in the gas chamber! Perry, of course, is able to save the day before the execution is scheduled to take place.
A fun episode to watch is The Case of the Dead Ringer. Raymond Burr plays a dual role in this episode playing a man named “Grimes.” It’s fun to watch Burr question Burr as two different characters!
In season 6, Burr had some episodes where is appeared briefly, but guest actors filled in for Perry. Among those actors were Bette Davis, Michael Rennie, Hugh O’Brian, and Walter Pidgeon. Two years later, Burr was hospitalized for jaw surgery and Mike Conners and Barry Sullivan filled in for him.
How about the three that never set foot in a courtroom? Those were The Case of the Baited Hook, The Case of the Velvet Claws, and The Case of the Careless Kitten.
One of the most interesting shows was the one – and only – show that was shot in color. In the 9th season, CBS was hoping that the show would shoot a 10th season. Many shows were being shot in color by this time and they wanted to see what the show would look like. The Case of the Twice-Told Twist aired – in color – on February 27, 1966.
A must see episode is the series finale, The Case of the Final Fade-Out. First of all, it features cameos by all of the Perry Mason Crew in various roles. Second, it features the creator of the character, Erle Stanley Gardner, as the judge, and the murderer is … spoiler alert … a young Dick Clark!
Before They Were Famous
Many soon-to-be stars appeared on Perry Mason. I guess that is another reason why I love watching it. You never know who will pop up. Some examples: Barbara Eden, Cloris Leachman, Lee Meriwether, Pat Priest, Yvonne Craig, James Coburn, Angie Dickenson, George Kennedy, Diane Ladd, Frankie Laine, Ryan O’Neal, Robert Redford, Burt Reynolds, Claude Akins, Richard Anderson, Barbara Bain, James Best, Whit Bissell, Frank Cady, Bert Convey, Richard Deacon, Norman Fell, Alan Hale Jr., Harvey Korman, Gavin MacLeod, Allan Melvin, Leonard Nimoy, Denver Pyle, Marion Ross, Adam West, and MORE!
The Theme Song
Let’s be honest, the Perry Mason Theme Song is one of the most recognizable in all of television. The task of writing the theme went to composer Fred Steiner. He set out to write a song that would convey two of Perry’s prime characteristics – sophistication and toughness. The piece he wrote was called “Park Avenue Beat.”
Here is Fred discussing how he came up with the theme:
Here is the theme from the first season:
As much as I love the original version, I have to admit that when Perry Mason returned to TV in the two hour movies, I loved the version used for these films better. They just sound more full and better produced to me. So here it is:
I may as well touch briefly on the TV movies. In December of 1985, Perry Mason Returns aired on NBC.
In the movie, Perry is now a judge and steps down from the bench to defend Della Street, who is accused of murder.
William Hopper died in 1970, so William Katt (Barbara Hale’s son) was called in to play Paul Drake Jr. The movies followed the same formula as the TV show. Burr and Hale had aged, but their on screen chemistry hadn’t changed at all. Burr was fantastic in this of course, he proves that Della is innocent! The successful reception and ratings of the reunion show led to 29 more Perry Mason Movies (Burr starred in 26 of them before passing away in 1993).
I never tire of watching Perry Mason. Despite being a bit dated, I think it still holds up today. HBO has created a “pre” Perry Mason show supposedly showing how he became the famous lawyer. I have no desire to watch it. To me, there is one and only Perry Mason!
FUN FACT: Raymond Burr started playing the character in 1957 and played him until his death in 1993. He played Perry Mason for a whopping 36 years!
So if you ever find yourself accused of murder … there is only one lawyer to call….
I’ve always been a “This Day in History” kind of guy. Even without looking at a list, two major historical events happened on this day. Both of these events fascinate me to this day. What is interesting about both events is that they both happen on April 14th and end sadly on April 15th.
1865
On the evening of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War. Lincoln died the following morning.
The rocking chair that he was sitting in when he was shot can be seen at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
1912
110 years ago tonight, RMS Titanic struck an iceberg during its maiden voyage. The following morning on April 15, 1912, it sunk bringing death to 1523 of the 2228 passengers and crew members aboard. Only 705 passengers survived. One of the most accurate and detailed books about the tragedy is “A Night to Remember” by Walter Lord. We read this book in a Survey of Non-Fiction class in high school.
I can still remember when Robert Ballard discovered the underwater wreckage in 1985. The photos were chilling.
I have read so many books about Titanic and continue to be fascinated by the story, the conspiracies, and the history of the ship. We had the chance to check out one of the artifact exhibits and I was awestruck. Each artifact reminded you that the tragedy not only involved the ship, but real people.
Wallace Hartley’s violin. The band kept playing as the ship sank. Life vest worn by a passenger and name plates from a Titanic lifeboat.
Many years ago, Art Linkletter hosted a show called “Kids Say The Darndest Things.” The show was later revamped and was hosted by Bill Cosby. Why was the show a hit? Because it is so true – kids say some of the funniest things!!
I remember a few things my older boys used to say that still crack me up. They used to call the vacuum cleaner a “Latchoom” and Ice Cream was “High Creem.” To this day, whenever we get pizza, I will say “Pee-cah.” Whenever the Little Caesar’s commercial would come on and say “Pizza! Pizza!” my sons would say “Pee-Cah! Pee-Cah!”
When Ella got up one day this week, Sam asked her what she wanted for breakfast. “Bah-Mam-Mah!” was her response. She has been calling bananas “Bah-Mam-Mahs” for a few weeks now. We began to chuckle and Sam made the comment, “Baby, I hope you always call them “Bah-Mam-Mahs!”
She then commented to me that she also hopes that she will continue to call shakes “Ice Cream Pop!”
That phrase started when she snagged my Boston Cooler a week ago. She has fallen in love with shakes and “Ice Cream Pop” has become a standard answer to the question, “What would you like to drink your breakfast (or lunch or dinner)?”
Those along with “Kee Kat” (for kitty cat), “Bahguppie” (for Bubble Guppies), “Cah-chee” (for Cottage Cheese. This was actually worse at one time.), and “Tab-Oh-Let” (for tablet) are words I hope she always says!! They make me smile!!
What are some mispronounced words you remember your kids saying??
It’s National Scrabble Day. Here are some fun facts:
Scrabble was invented in 1931 by New York architect Alfred Mosher Butts. Butts invented the game in an attempt to create a word game that combined anagrams and crosswords, which involved luck, chance, and a great deal of skill. Butts died at the age of 93 in 1993.
Back in 1931, the original name for Scrabble was ‘Lexico‘, before becoming ‘Criss-Cross Words‘ and eventually ‘Scrabble‘. ‘Lexico‘ is a shortened version of the word ‘Lexicon‘, which is another term for ‘Language‘ or ‘Vocabulary‘.
Alfred Butts decided on the frequency and distribution of the letter tiles through analyzing the front page of the New York Times.
The game is sold in 121 countries and comes in 31 different languages.
Over 150 million copies of Scrabble have been sold worldwide!
Scrabble has quite a celebrity following, those celebs who play include Sting, Keanu Reeves, Moby, John Travolta, Carol Burnett, Jimmy Kimmel, Kylie Minogue, Mel Gibson, Joan Collins, Tom Cruise, Kate Hudson, Richard Nixon, and Queen Elizabeth II.
Each hour, at least 30,000 Scrabble games are started.
If all the Scrabble tiles ever produced were lined up, they would stretch for more than 50,000 miles!
It’s possible to score 1782 points on a single word. That word is Oxyphenbutazone. To get those points, competition player Benjamin Woo played it across the top of the board, hitting three Triple Word Score squares whilst also making seven crosswords downwards.
English Scrabble has 100 tiles. The most tiles are in Italian and Portuguese Scrabble which both have 120 tiles.
In 1985, Lieutenant Commander Waghorn and Lance Corporal Gill played Scrabble for five continuous days. Not by choice, mind, as they were both trapped in a crevasse in Antarctica!
In 1992, Franklin Mint commissioned and produced a version of Scrabble featuring 24k gold-plated tiles.
The original version of Scrabble, Lexico, did not have a board and was played with tiles only.
Scrabble is used all over the world as a means of teaching English.
There are 124 playable two-letter words in the English (language) game, containing every letter in the alphabet except for V.
The name Scrabble comes from the words Scrabbling, Scrabbled and Scrabbles – all of which means to claw or scrape at something frantically. These words all derive from the Dutch word ‘Schrabbelan’, which most likely integrated into American diction from Dutch settlers to North America.
One variation of the Scrabble rules that people play is called ‘Clabbers’. This is an anagram of Scrabble, in which players play their words in any order they want to and play the letters in any order so long as the letters can make an anagram of a word.
In Great Britain, 53% of all homes own a copy of Scrabble, and in the United States, about 33% of all homes own a set.
In the French Scrabble, there are five 10-point tiles, these being; K, W, X, Y and Z.
In London, 1991, the first-ever Scrabble World Championship came to a grinding halt before a single game was played. Why you might ask? Because there were no Scrabble tiles present.
Scrabble is ranked as the second-best board game in U.S. History, second only to Monopoly.
There are 19 As in the Malaysian version of Scrabble. That’s nearly a fifth of the total number of tiles in the game!
In Leicester, England, a five-year-old boy phoned the police to tell them that his sister was cheating at Scrabble.
1993 Scrabble World Champion, Mark Nyman of the U.K., learned 10,000 words from the American Dictionary in order to prepare for the upcoming tournament.
A new resident at an elderly people’s home was rejected from the home on the grounds of being ‘incompatible’ when she confessed that she didn’t play Scrabble.
Scrabble became an American daytime game-show, hosted by Chuck Woolery on NBC, which ran from July 1984 to March 1990. The show got a revival from January to June in 1993.
In 2004, Scrabble was finally inducted into the American National Toy Hall of Fame, joining other great toys and games such as Monopoly, Etch A Sketch, Lego, and The Game Boy.
They were all the rage back in the day. When I first started blogging, I wrote a blog about one in particular 8 Track … for newer followers, here is where you can read it:
Monday is usually my day for getting stuff done. I do laundry. I fold laundry. I load the dishwasher and run it. I pick up the living room and vacuum. I clean up the kitchen and clear the counters. None of that got done today.
My day started with getting Andrew out of bed, fixing him a bottle, and putting his helmet on. Ella was up shortly after and mom brought her home pancakes from McDonald’s for breakfast.
It is Andrew’s 1/2 birthday (he is six months old today). We measured him, weighed him, and put him in his special onesie and took our Milestone pictures. We decided to take his pictures in his helmet so we’d remember it.
Today, my oldest son turns 20. He spent the day with his friends bowling and then playing games at his house. He is usually a late sleeper, so I waited until about 11 to call him. I used video chat and when he answered he had his mask on and was obviously in class at college! I felt bad that I interrupted and told him I would call him later!
The temperature outside was about 60, so I decided to take the kids on our first walk through the neighborhood. It’s a bit different with the double stroller, but it was just perfect. We got to see neighbors outside with their kids, raking up leftover fall leaves, and just relaxing on their porches.
It felt good to walk. I know that walking really helped me drop some weight last year, and I hope it will again this year. I just hope Ella will allow me to push her in the stroller. She loves being able to just walk.
Andrew seemed to really enjoy being outside. I bundled him up in a sweatshirt and covered him in a blanket and he cooed through most of the walk. He started to doze at one point, but he made it through the walk taking in all the sites.
When we were walking up the driveway, my oldest called me back on the video chat. He was excited to be out of class and was going to check out the video game store. He got to see his brother and sister and couldn’t believe when Ella said, “Happy birthday, brother.”
After lunch, the kiddos napped – Ella in her crib and Andrew in my arms. Tonight is the first night he has to sleep with his helmet, so I’m anticipating a rough night. He has been doing well with it, so I hope I am wrong.
My favorite moment of the day was captured by the camera. Ella wanted to get her picture taken, too, when we were getting Andrew’s taken. So we put her in the crib next to him and I caught this magical moment….
I have three sons. I had always hoped that they would be involved with sports in school. I played a lot of baseball with the neighborhood kids, but never did any in school. My two oldest boys played T-ball and baseball for a short time, but they never pursued it further. Neither one was interested in football either, unless it was a family game of touch football.
My youngest boy will be 6 months old in just a few days and he’s already got his helmet – although it isn’t a sports helmet. This helmet will help insure that his head is shaped properly.
I have never been one to doubt my wife’s intuition. I’m not exactly how she saw it or exactly what she saw that made her ask our pediatrician for a referral, but she was right. Andrew’s head is a little off. This could be because of the way he sat in the birth canal, or a variety of other things.
This has been quite a process to get evaluated, fitted, molded and receive the helmet. My wife went to pick it up yesterday. While she was at the appointment, they went over the meticulous instructions of what has to happen over the next week, month, and afterward. To say that it is overwhelming is an understatement.
For example, to start he has to have it on an hour then off an hour and repeat throughout the day. The next day it is 2 hours on and two hours off. Then that increases until he will eventually have it on 23 hours a day!
Then you have to watch his temperature. If he has a fever, the helmet could make the fever higher and may cause seizures. When it is off the inside of the helmet has to be cleaned and his hair has to be cleaned so that nothing “grows” in the helmet.
As my wife told me all of this I felt like I couldn’t process it!
I’m sure that the longer he wears it, the easier it will be.
The good news is that he seems to be totally ok with it. It doesn’t seem to bother him. This may change the longer he wears it, but for now, he is ok.
His is a light blue and it really brings out the color of his eyes. The guy who was fitting him asked if he could have professional pictures of him taken to use in a brochure for some clinics they are running for parents. How cool is that?!
Anyway, we’ll adjust to this new change and embrace this knowing that we are doing the right thing for him. Who knows, maybe in 16 years, he’ll be out there in a football helmet calling plays and winning championships!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 