QUARANTINE BLOG # 592

November 12, 2021

Burma-Shave was an American brand of brushless shaving cream, famous for its advertising gimmick of posting humorous rhyming poems on small sequential highway roadside signs.  Burma-Shave was introduced in 1925 by the Burma-Vita company in Minneapolis owned by Clinton Odell.  The company’s original product was a liniment made of ingredients described as having come “from the Malay Peninsula and Burma” (hence its name).  Sales were sparse, and the company sought to expand sales by introducing a product with wider appeal.  The result was the Burma-Shave brand of brushless shaving cream and its supporting advertising program.  Sales increased.  At its peak, Burma-Shave was the second-highest-selling brushless shaving cream in the US.

I bring this up in case you missed KW & CJ's Most Excellent Adventure for November 9.  The small, furry traveling duo, along with Tour Guide and Mrs. Tour Guide, are completing a section Route 66, the Main Street of America, also known as the Mother Road.  In the 11/9 blog there are pictures of some of that iconic Burma-Shave advertising, borrowed here for QB.

👉   A trio of family oriented “Ooh You’re Gold”

👉   “You Can Call Me Al” is one of Paul Simon’s most famous songs, but it also contains some of his most obscure, nonsensical lyrics: “If you’ll be my bodyguard, I can be your long lost pal/I can call you Betty/And Betty, when you call me, you can call me Al.”

Why does the man in the song want to be called Al?  And why is he calling us Betty? According to the book Paul Simon: A Life, by Robert Hilburn, the names stem from a party Simon and his then-wife Peggy held one night at their New York home.  One of the guests, New York Philharmonic Director Pierre Boulez, met the couple for the first time that evening.  At the end of the party, the book explains, “Paul said goodbye to Boulez at the door, and he responded ‘Thank you, Al, and please give my best to Betty.’  The couple went around for months calling each other Betty and Al.”  

The music video adds to the fun, featuring the pairing of Paul Simon with comedian Chevy Chase, who lip syncs the song as the actual singer pretends to play various instruments next to him.

👉   Is it lunch time?  How about a slice?  Way back in the before time, when I was a student (using that word loosely) at FSU – Frostburg State University, not some other place with the same initials – someone would go through the dorm collecting money to go get pizza orders, always by the slice.  Another pizza memory is from the time Bonnie, Jennifer, and I lived in Erie, PA.  The first time I ordered a pickup, I was disappointed when I opened the box and discovered crust, tomato sauce and pepperoni, but no cheese.  I don’t care what anyone says, a pizza with no cheese is not pizza.  My first pizza memory, however, goes back to 117 Shenandoah Avenue when we would make Chef Boyardee – and always add slices of hot dog as the meat topping.  Well, enough meandering.  I’ve eaten pizza in a variety of places, including Naples, the place of pizza’s origin, and I know that cities and regions offer different menus.  Here are some starters.  More later.

In 1905, Gennaro Lombardi opened the first pizzeria in the United States.  Using the pizza skills he had learned in Naples, he created what we now know as New York pizza.  New York pizza is a variation of the traditional Neapolitan style, with a thin, hand-tossed crust, a light amount of sauce, and a generous portion of cheese. New York-style pizza is often sold by the large triangular slice. If you want to enjoy your slice like a true New Yorker, fold it in half before digging in.

A Chicago pizza is baked in a round skillet more similar to a cake pan and filled with thick layers of meat, sauce, and cheese.  It is thought to date to 1943, at Pizzeria Uno.  Not content with redefining pizza through deep dish, Chicago also claims credit for inventing stuffed pizza in 1974. 

Detroit pizza is cooked in a steel pan, which, according to local legend, was originally an auto parts pan.  As the story goes, troops were returning home from Europe after World War II  and craving the pizza they had eaten in Italy.  Pizzeria owner Gus Guerra borrowed some pans from a friend who had been working in an auto plant, and Detroit-style pizza was born. The pizza is baked twice with the sauce added last to prevent sogginess. 

👉   Two panels to smile about:

👉   A trio of groaners:

👉  Today’s close is from crosswalk.com

“The day of the Lord will come like a thief.  The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.  Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?  You ought to live holy and godly lives” (2 Peter 3:10-11).

Holiness is that forgotten character virtue that is the Christian’s reflection of God, his or her holy and righteous Father.  In a day of cheap grace, when anything goes just as long as we want to be buddies with Jesus, Peter’s words should shock us into reverence – the commitment in life to set our lives apart from the evil and sludge that defiles our hearts and to offer our bodies, hearts, and minds to do his will and reflect his character.

My Prayer: Holy and Righteous Father, teach me to do your will and reflect your character while offering your grace.  May the movements of my heart, the thoughts of my mind, and the actions of my life be pleasing to you and reflect your holiness and grace.  In Jesus name I pray.  Amen.

-30-