Ask Cool Daddy...
Why doesn't Olive Oyl have breasts?
Well, sometimes she does. For example, in "Parlez Vous Woo," released in 1956, she's wearing a sleeveless gown and definitely has, um, definition. This cartoon is also interesting for having Bluto WITHOUT his beard (it's part of the plot.) But yes, typically Olive is extremely thin, so it looks like she doesn't. But she's a woman, she has breasts. After all, in the minimalist style of cartoon drawing, not everything is --- why am I explaining this to you? GROW UP! She has 'em. Blow me down.
On the Dick Van Dyke Show, what is Laura's Petrie's maiden name?
Mary Tyler Moore's character actually has 2 different maiden names: At first is was Meeker, her husband;'s last name at the time. After they divorced in 1961, it was changed to Meehan.This was standard operating procedure: consistency in details wasn't a high priority. Popular culture was throwaway culture, not intended to be around 40, 50 , 60 years later. Today you can get a college degree in it. Who knew?
Cool daddy, are you really part Polish?
Sort of. I'm half Pomeranian and half Dalmatian. As Stolf says, "You dog you!" Besides being canine breeds, both are old European states. Pomerania is now half in Germany, had in Poland. Dalmatia was a country on the Adriatic coast, pretty much where southern Croatia is now .Speaking of dogs, what were traditionally known as German Shepherds became very poplar after WW1 when American soldiers brought them home, especially with Strongheart and Rin Tin Tin in the movies. But for a time they were called Alsatians, and in the UK they still are, after Alsace, the French province bordering on Germany. For some, "German" was not politically correct; yeah, they had it back then, just didn't call it that.
I can't for the life of me remember where the phrase "And thats' the truth, pffffft!" comes from. Can you help?
But of course. Funny thing, though, it first flashed through my mind that it was Gilda Radner on "Saturday Night Live," but that's wrong. It was Lilly Tomlin's catch phrase, as Edith Ann on "Laugh-In." Gilda's character was Judy Miller, as in "The Judy Miller Show," and her Brownie uniform, remember? And before you ask, Emily Litella called Chevy Chase "Cheddar Cheese." That character was based on Gilda's childhood manny Elizabeth "Dibby" Gullies, who was a little deaf, big surprise.
I heard that on Hallowe'en you give out those dumb Dum Dum pops. So what's the story on the Mystery Flavor, just a random flavor?
Dum Dum pops were invented in 1924 in Akron, Ohio, and have made since 1953 by the Spangler Candy Co. They're great, are you insinuating otherwise? No treats for you, dummy. But as to your question, there are 2 stories floating around out there, both of which make sense. Story 1: When it's time to switch flavors, they don't shut a machine down just for that, so for a while the pops are made with a mix of the 2 flavors, until the old one is depleted. Those hybrids are set aside for Mystery Flavor wrappers.
Story 2: On the final assembly line, pops that come along unwrapped or partially wrapped are pulled out, and instead of matching them with their correct wrappers, they become Mystery Flavors. Now on their website, Spangler is pretty cagey, saying only that the Mystery Flavor "continuously changes and is not limited to current Dum Dum flavors." Sounds like both stories could in fact be true. Or perhaps they use it to test new flavors. This year I think I'll investigate.
Did the caps we used with cap pistols really contain a tiny amount of gunpowder?
Hate to have to harpoon a cherished childhood memory, but the answer is no. Whether of the red roll or Greenie Stik-M variety, caps had no gunpowder, or "black powder" as we say today, which is a blend of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur. This is not to say caps weren't potentially dangerous, however, but it would take an awful lot of work to scrape together (literately) enough "stuff" to do any real damage, and you'd probably lose interest.
And that "stuff" was a tiny bit of a compound called Armstrong's mixture, primarily potassium chlorate and red phosphorus, sometimes with some some sulphur. But it is a high explosive, used in quantity for pyrotechnics. So yeah, while caps weren't the real deal, they were close. Loved that smell...I packed a Mattel Fanner 50 with that trick swivel holster, plus a Hubley Buntline Special with the black & red swirly grips. Sweeeeet.
For once and for all, are tomatoes fruits or vegetables?
Well, listen, I'm Old School, so for me, tomatoes always were and always will be planets. Sure, they're small, but....wait, that's not...what was the....
Try to focus: tomatoes, fruits or vegetables?
Right, focusing. Depends on how you use the words. After all, underwear could be a fruit, as in "--- of the loom." Botanically, yes, of course, the tomato is a fruit, just as a walnut is technically a seed and not a true nut, and the beautiful red parts of the poinsettia plant at Christmas are not petals, but bracts. But the botany classroom is a far cry from the kitchen, and as far as foodstuffs go, the tomato is a vegetable. Anyone who says otherwise is just trying to start an argument. Try changing the subject with: "Which is the better Ocean, the Atlantic or the Pacific?" or "How 'bout them Bills?"
Generally, fruits have more sugar. A rough but serviceable rule could be: Veggies: salads and side dishes; Fruits: deserts and mixed in breakfast cereal and yogurt. Sure, there's cucumber ice cream, but they're just trying to be smart alecs. Other crossovers include Hawaiian pizza with tomato & pineapple, Waldorf salad which includes apples along with the greenery, and V-8's line of mixed-up Fusion drinks. I saw a cocktail meatball recipe in the paper recently that included grape jelly and chili sauce.
One interesting sort-of overlap was back when gelatin-encased "salads" were popular; I can still see an ad showing one containing only olives, with their pimentos, looking like decranialized eyeballs. So in 1964, Jell-O came out with a line of vegetable flavors for just that purpose. That's right, tomato, celery, Italian salad, and mixed vegetable favored Jell-O. They were only available for a few years. I wonder is anyone liked eating them "plain."
You know, despite all the tomato sauce you associate with Italian cooking, tomatoes came from the New World, and were brought to Europe by the Spanish. At first people thought they were poisonous and refused to eat them. Not as crazy as it sounds, since the tomato plant is of the family Solanaceae, which includes deadly nightshade/belladonna, jimson weed, and tobacco, as well as potatoes, eggplants, chili peppers, and oddly enough the petunia. Till next time, never be afraid to ask...and rock on!
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