Our Fastest Growing Religion

So, are you saying that I don't really have a special bond with the Progressive Insurance girl?

Jen is boring to anyone more highly evolved than a Komodo dragon. That's the problem....she is dysthymic, humorless, not a good conversationalist and not particularly attractive.

And no sense of irony, either...
Bummer.

Oh But that Agelina (for the record I still feel MissIve is correct & that she's gonna Eat him one day like a Black Widow Spider) ~ that girl she took my BRad AWAY form me ~ At lesast Jen shared.. I even had to pack away my  Framed Brad Pitt Sexiest Man Alive People Magazine from about 13 years ago because of That Angelina gal... Jen she never minded that I had it hanging up... 
 
In all seriousness though I do believe my friend has stage 3 CSW when it comes to Patrick Swayze.  She texted me that he passed away, So I called her ASAP to offer her my condolences over her loss (alright alright maybe we BOTH suffer from it a teeny tiny bit..) But you know sometimes maybe you jsut need to have a little Crazy going on to keep you sanity & getting involved in the lives of the rich & (in)famous through the 1,000 of publications that are printed on paper & online weekly seems to work for a lot people.
 
Mr. Peterman Can I get Medical Assistance if I can prove I suffer from stage 3 of CSW?    

inquiring minds want to know,but why?

OH, I get it,  .  .it's so you have something to look at next to the cash register in line at the supermarket while you wait for the person in front of you to fumble cupons and writing a check from scratch(rather than just filling in the amount and signing it).  .  .

Why don't we have a national holiday for celebrity worship?

Ironically the ones we would actually enjoy knowing more about share nothing because they are too busy having a private life. I don't facebook, twitter, myspace- I can't even text- why do some people want to track their lives in such intimate detail? Creepy & sad.
 
I look like a Komodo dragon because on our free 3 months of Showtime they were showing "A Woman Under the Influence" w/ the GREAT Gena Rowlands & I stayed up way past the old bedtime. Now there's a woman who would have interesting stories to tell, who looks like she could cook up a big meal for family & friends, laugh, drink, & look beautiful all the while. What a classy, private woman. Long live Gena Rowlands!!!!!!!!!
 
 

Now I'm beginning to wonder if my disinterest in celebrities and my disinterest in religion (meaning worshipping) are linked....  I always found it curious that folks were shocked when they'd ask 'Who are your heroes in life that you would like to be like?' and -- afer a pause -- I'd answer, 'Uh, I don't have any heroes.  I don't want to be like anybody in particular.'  It seems to me (and has always seemed) that everybody has both good qualities and bad ones, interesting parts and boring parts.  Worshippers seem (in my opinion) to want to make other people into statues.  Real people are interesting; statues are a bore.

Gwenth Paltrow is the golden goddess!  She really did a lot last summer to help the children's charity I work with in Brooklyn.  Her presense at our gala drew the paparazzi and got us all over the blogs.  

Narcissists seem to have the right idea: if you're going to lie to yourself about someone and make them into 'a really cool person', why not start at home.  ('I'm the most fantastic person I know, and only idiots like everyone I know don't recognize that.  To heck with them!')  Of course that is total horse puckey, but if you need horse puckey to be happy, go for it!

Road Yacht- That's half the fun of being in a long line-looking at the Nat'l Enquirer, Star People, etc. I know you secretly want to know who the "beach disaster bodies" belong to. Who has all that cellulite, those blown up fish lips, the plastic surgery from h*ll, no panties on? WHO????

Last week I heard about some celebrity I'd never heard of, a black lady named Rihanna.  She apparently used to get knocked around by some guy (I forget his name) she was either shacked up with or married to.... She was going to go back to living with him, and then decided not to do that.  And she went on TV to tell folks all about it.  (I'm bored already!)

fungible...politicians and celebrities..
 
wait...and used car salesmen and religious leaders..
 
...i like horses better even arses..

which reminds me, I haven't heard a word from Mr Ed in quite some time. After all those evenings climbing fences, stepping in horse poop (slippery when wet) and avoiding security just to leave a bunch of carrots for him at his Hollywood stable........ why I may even remove his framed autographed photo from my alter. 
I gotta go....... feelin' a bit verklempt right now....

p.s., Tiberius - her REAL friends call her Flo, the Progressive Babe! I've got boat insurance and I don't have one.

Tiberius:   I  don't  think  that  Flo  from  Progressive  is  quite  cerebral  enough  for  you.   On  the  other  hand,  you  could  always  tolerate  a  ride  on  her  900 CC  V-twin.

Celebrity worship?  Nah.  I think this may be why we interact on a websites such as this, Facebook, Women on Web, etc.  Just a need to know that people, other than your family, know you.....or at least think they do.

Elvis lives......?

I would like to see what his fans evolve in to, let's say, in another 500 years.

I would say something totally heretical and crass about Christianity (in its current form), but, since my husband and many close friends are devout Christians, I won't.

Hope I haven't stuck my foot too far in it this morning.

Andy:   Perhaps  the  virtual  friends  that  we  meet  here  are  more  genuine  that  individuals  that  we  encounter  in  the  real  world.   Nobody  is  bucking  for  a  promotion,  trying  to  sell  you  something,  or  trying  to  snatch  your  g/f  away  from  you.    We  learn  how  we  come  across  to  others  with  our  ideas  and  our  writing  style,  and  that  means  a  bumpier  ride,  assuming  your  self-esteem  is  fragile.   But  I  think  it's  therapeutic  to  get  honest  feedback,
which  you  still  may  disagree  with  but  which  is  a  measure  of  real  world  chemistry.  jmo.

I got rid of my television about twelve years ago and before that there were lots of times that I never had one (when I was stationed in Europe and the Mideast, for example) so I suppose that's why I have no clue (or interest in) the celebrities and scandal mags that scream their headlines at the check out register.
Are there rules about who can be considered a celebrity in this religion? Must they have a certain size of fan base or a minimum amount of scandal attached to their name? Must they be known to a certain number of people by the mere mention of their first names? Or do the people who are contestants on "reality shows" count? Must they be the initial subjet of a coffee pot/water cooler conversation?
One thing I don't understand is how someone can be a celebrity just for being a celebrity.
I think I prefer the "Which came first: the chicken or the egg?" conundrum.
That said there are some people I'd like to meet: one of the production designers for the RSC productions at the Swan theatre, the lady who made the painting my Dad gave me three Christmases ago, any of a number of ballroom dance professionals and judges that no one has ever heard of outside the dance community (and not one of them is attached to 'Dancing With the Stars'), the head of the costume department at the Met, a few really good underwater photographers, and the curator of medieval manuscripts at the British Library and Vatican Museums.
Meeting the Pope in person would be pretty cool as well (as well as being a reason to brush up on my polite German).
Or maybe it is that my personal selection of celebrities is rather off the mainstream and definitely geek-ish. They certainly all have some connection with things I do.
Perhaps celebrity worship as defined by the articles and websites our esteemed host has provided is mostly a sad statement as to how mass media and a failing educational system has turned the majority of the U.S. population into drones that can only vicariously experience life through others insead of living it for themselves.
Andy: Maybe you are right. But I have certainly found it difficult to locate other people with the same number and type of interests as myself within my local community. There aren't many other ballroom dancer/equestrienne/scuba divers/photographer/medieval manuscript scholar/historian/eclectic travelers in Dayton, Ohio. Being able to find people who share at least some of my varied interests online at least lets me know that I'm not the only "odd" person on the planet.
 
karma swim swami: Thinking about the way some of the people in my office are about "celebrities" I think you are insulting Komodo dragons. Sad, isn't it, given that the only thing on a lomodo dragon's mind is finding something dead (or about to be dead) to chew on...
 
 

speaking of Komoto dragons......

Our 14 yr old daughter is a volunteer at the Virginia Aquarium...

The Flores Island exhibit is about to open.

One of the reptiles snatched the hand of its handler last January. How celebrity-like.

Miss Blue I know Elvis doesn't live or for sure he'd call.

The biggest mystery to me is those Paris Hilton-esque self-celebrities. Just why is anybody interested? Who decided that we should be interested? I mean, someone has to decide what photos and stories to run in the gossip rags...

More interesting to me, from a historical perspective, is the manufactured lives of the stars in the early days (and later) of the movie industry. The studios would create whole non-existent lives for their stars and fans would eat it up. Of course this was the era when the media could be managed with enough money.

Wait, isn't it the same thing? It's just being managed in a different direction... "total access" of a phony life is not much different than "exclusive access" to the same. Hm...

Now, should I delete this post because it forms some convoluted logic circle/spiral? Or go ahead and post it in the hopes of gaining FANS?!!! (I'm typing this in my fabulous seaside villa in the south of France... HA!)

 
 
 
Andy
the next time we speak, I'll have him give you a buzz.....
 
 
 
 
fog delay for school....gotta run, it's time to go. see ya'll later.

Here's my definition of an interesting person...

ballroom dancer/equestrienne/scuba divers/photographer/medieval manuscript scholar/historian/eclectic travelers

Gee, dancingkatz, can I stalk you?

There's no celebrity worth worshipping.  They are all human beings, most of them with even more human weaknesses than the rest of us!  As for Jen, she strikes me as an ordinary girl who lucked out in her choice of sitcoms.  She needs to find romance with a non-celebrity outside of show business.  And I agree with Kristina, the media makes too much of people like Paris Hilton.  I guess that is what big bunches of money will buy you!

In  America,  we  don't  have  royalty.   Therefore  we  manufacture  people  to  fulfill  the  same  role  for  our  emotional  needs.   Criteria  seem  to  be  a  convergence  of  money  &  celebrity,  the  latter  being  a  subset  of  the  former.   

Kristina: I actually laughed out loud and got a peculiar look from my fellow administrative assistant when I read your comment.  But please no, I don't want to be stalked.  They won't let me into the reading room at the NYPL's research library if someone is following me.  And the dive operator will charge me extra if you come onto the boat.  Not to mention my dance partner will get annoyed if someone cuts in on him. <grin>
 
 
 

Even though I tried beat her with my bets, I was rooting for Zenyatta.  Let's hope my real idol, Rachel Alexandra, can race against her before they both retire to have babies.  Are you listening Churchill Downs?  There's a little (ha, ha) race called the CLARK HANDICAP coming up soon, maybe you can pump up the purse?

Sometimes  I  wish  that  our  fictional  characters  were  real,  so  they  could  be  true  candidates  of  celebrity  "worship."    Think  about  Kermit  T.  Frog,   the  creation  of  the   late  Jim  Henson.   He  is  kind,  generous,  non-pretentious,  friendly,  inclusive,  funny.   One  of  the  local  radio  stations  had  a  gag  campaign  at  election  time  many  years  ago.  "Elect  Frog  for  Office."   Nearly  6,000  people  voted  for  him,  as  a  write-in  candidate. 

TimTam1958: Oh, that would be a race to watch, wouldn't it? Keeping fingers crossed that it happens. I was reading an interesting article this weekend on how the size of a thoroughbred's heart affects his or her racing performance and that the gene for a large heart (and therefore better performance) passes through the dam, instead of the sire. It made me wonder what the "heart score" of these two phenomenal fillies were and how it compared to that of their famous brethren (Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Man O' War, etc.).
 
 
I wonder if some computer simulation genius could figure a way to take the data from the races, stride length, physical condition, etc. and create an accurate virtual race between Man O' War, Secretariat, Eclipse, and Zenyatta and Rchel Alexandra... The problem is that if one could put all that together in a way that current racers could be pre-raced, it would decimate the bookies and immediately be made illegal.
 
 
Bert: I agree with you, especially about Kermit the Frog. Here's a link to a lovely (but sad) song written by songwriter Tom Smith called "A Boy and his Frog." He wrote it at a science fiction convention shortly after hearing about Jim Henson's passing and I still need kleenex when I listen to it. I recommend that you have box handy when you listen, too.
 
 
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77f8wDf_Sdg
 
 
lyrics: http://www.tomsmithonline.com/lyrics/boy_frog.htm
 
 
THe Museum of hte Moving Image in London had a wonderful exhibition of Henson's work on display at the time of his death. When the curator heard the news, he set up a final display where you could write your condolences to Mr. Henson's family next to an empty director's chair with Kermit sitting forlornly on the arm. It was incredibly touching.
 

DancingKatz,   it  was  worth  checking  in  today  just  to  get  some  support  for  my  "Kermit"  theory.   Somewhere  I  have  the  Jim  Henson  postage   stamp,  which  came  on  a  sheet,  with  some  background  of  the  man  and  his  philosophy.   He  seemed  just  as  advertised,  a  simple  man  who  merely  wanted  to  use  his  work  to  make   the  world  a  better  place.  We  teach  our  children  in  part  by  the  nature  of  the  media  that  we  promote  for  their  consumption.   The  Muppet  Show  was  fantastic.   Remember  Statler  and  Waldorf?   The  skits  involving  the  grumpy  old  men  were  always  worth  a  grin.

As someone who has spent a large portion of life in the company of horses, I'd take a horse "celebrity" over a human one any day...
 
Unfortunately for Zenyatta, she's a racehorse; while I love to watch running horses, and the thrill of racing horses, the business of horse racing is generally brutal and destructive.  I would never advocate banning the sport--it's too fundamental to the nature of both horses and humans. I do wish, however, that there were some way to clean up its horrific "underside". Those who survive and become the breeding stock of the next generation are as statistically rare and "fortunate" as the Paris Hiltons and other media/sports/society celebrities.
 
 
For every spectacular breakdown (Ruffian or Barbaro) there are literally thousands of beautiful, fast (though perhaps not fast enough), and talented horses who are discarded or destroyed in the process of pursuing trophies and big purses. It's a sad use for an animal who will do it level best to achieve anything a human asks of it. (and very, very rarely ever looks in a mirror!)
 
another $0.02, fwiw 

Bert: One of these days I'm going to get all The Muppet Show episodes on DVD. I loved Statler and Waldorf, though I felt sorry for Fozzie. Fozzie was sort of an Everyman--er, Everybear--with big dreams and enthusiasm but not necessarily the abilities to make it work. But you couldn't help cheering him on and being proud of him because he never stopped trying.

 Vbaker220
 

We own one of those racetrack discards.

His karma was good enough and he was lucky enough to become the apple of my 14 year old daughter's eye. His name is "Nudanseur".

His sire, "Joyeux Danseur" met a rather unfortunate end while standing in Australia a few years back.

http://www.ctba.com/03directory/peds/JoyDncuxII.pdf

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/31102/grade-i-winner-joyeux-danseur-dead-in-australia

Ms Blue--
 
Nudanseur is indeed fortunate! Blessings to you, to him, and your daughter!
 
 

PETER LAKE:  I like to start my day off with a good laugh, and you have provided me that this morning !!!  Thanks !!! 
 
BERT:  You've really got something there ... How we manufacture Royalty ... Unfortunately, it is not so much the Glamour and the Glitz that causes us to do such things, rather it is a screaming example of how badly a lot of us want to shuck Responsibility, and not have to make decisions ... People who NEED someone else to tell them how and what to think, how and what to say, how and what to do ....... People who enjoy being Subjects, because if something goes wrong when they do exactly as they are told, the blame goes to the one telling them what to do ... Complete lack of Responsibility, Indecision, Gutlessness, lack of Character, and I'll bet you a dollar to a Doughnut, a complete lack of Faith ... History has shown us this again and again ... Consider Goebbles, Heidrich, and Halderman ... 'Vee vas chust followink orders'  , as tho' that would mitigate their misdeeds ...  That kind of Mind-Set accounts for the outrageous success Madison Avenue has had in molding our minds and attitudes over the last sixty years ... Makes one wonder, if everything is so, "New and Improved" ... what was all that crap they trying to sell me last year .......  I read that in the National Enquirer, so I KNOW it must be true ... (BTW; Leona Helmsley isn't really dead ... She is just avoiding the IRS, living with Sasquatsch up on the North Dakota/Canadian Border) ...Undesoweiter .......

Is it the same syndrome if celebrity you happne to worship has been dead for the last 40+ years? Just wondering.
 
I'm all for the Muppets to run the country. Maybe we can get Piggy to Karate Chop a few of those rulers over in the middle east..... 

Well here's the way I see it looking out from within my little pea brain........... it seems to me that anyone truly deserving of being worshipped would be such a person who is free of the desire of being worshipped which means they are probably transparent and unknown to us.  

Ivan - Happy to be of service.

PL :  You're Dead On again ....... Up Two from here .......  I have decided that you should have the Title, The Sage of Peterman Place ....... Taking nothing from anyone else, however ...

If religion is the opiate of the masses, then celebrity worship must be the crank of religion. I really have to beleive that CARING about Paris Hilton is the spiritual equivalent of huffing glue out of a paper bag.

 CWS has a way to go before displacing the worship of the Almighty Dollar.

I think that Jolie woman is going to be yesterday's news pretty soon, because anytime now those lips of hers are going to explode all over gods little acre, and who wants to worship someone with exploded lips?
 
Not me.

I usually look upon those victims of CWS disdainfully, but in the interest of fairness, I did wait nearly half an hour outside the theater where Hamlet was playing just to get Jude Law to scribble illegibly on my Playbill. But I didn't go to the play because it was him. I went because it was Hamlet. It's a happy coincidence that he happens to be one of the few actors I respect enough to want their autograph. Now if I could just travel back to 1953 and get Brando taken care of... I'm only kidding. It's fun sometimes, but I'm incapable of understanding the people for whom it is the sum and substance of their lives (i.e. paparazzi, fanboys and girls). I think growing up with a moderately successful musician as a father contributed to this, as there was always a certain amount of artistic distaste for those who sold out to the masses, and in turn, the masses that bought what they were sellling.

PARK4: Jolie is certainly not, "All That" ....... but she is the best thing Jon Voight ever did ...

I think all this adulation of Michael Jackson is way over the top.
 
There has to be someone else to regard.
 
We've certainly had some other famous folks who have died in the last 6 months that I'd rather hear about.
 
 

JALOPKIN:

So, when are you going to publish that Yiddish definition dictionary?
 
I for one would buy it.

damselfly - RIGHT ON!!
 
I guess now's as good a time as any to admit that I recently encouraged my 10 year old daughter's celebrity worship.  After she enjoyed the first season's worth of this celebrity's sitcom, I bought her the second season.  She was hooked.  So, she wrote him a letter and is the proud owner of a signed 8x10 glossy which is displayed prominently in her bedroom.
 
He even sent a gracious note along with the photo.  Signed....Bob Newhart.
 
What a guy!

If you go to Spain, expect to find loads of people reading about royalty (and what the British charmingly call 'hangers-on' :-) .  This princess had twins; that countess was need swimming nude; that prince was overheard cussing; that baroness was photographed in a dress she'd worn last month.... it ain't just us Americans, folks!!!!!

KORTHAL: There are at least a dozen great Yiddish Dictionaries in print since WWII .......  Borders has 'em ... Barnes & Noble has gottem too ... and every one of them a Gem ... All one need do is recognize that there are a few dozen idiomatic differences between the Germanic/Ashkenazic Yiddish and the Rumanian/usually Sephardic Yiddish ....... Send me an E-Mail at my regular Address, and I will send you all the pages of a good one that the System will allow .......
 
jalopkin@engineer.com

Jalopkin:   Greetings,  my   virtual  friend.   It  is  unfortunate,  but  the  average  citizen  goes  with  the  flow,  and  only  pays  lip  service  to  concepts  like  independence  &  freedom.  I  call  this  a  "personality  deficit."   think  in  terms  of  a  bakery,  where  all  of  the  creations  were  vanilla  box  cakes.....thank  you  so  much  for  never  being  "vanilla,"   you  are  not  reluctant  to  share  with  us  exactly  what  you  think,  and  this  is  the  way  all  of  the  rest  of  us  grow. 
 
VBaker220:   My  late  father's  major  client  (advertising)  was  a  major  candy  company  in  Chicago,  and  over  the  years  the  owner  adopted  our  family  as  his  own.  His  former  wife  got  involved  with  "investments"  through  her  boyfriend,  who  turned  out  to  be  connected  with  organized  crime.  When  she  finally  figured  out  that  she  had  paid  a  premium  for  horses  that  could  barely  walk  (let  alone  run),  police  theorize  that  she  was  killed  to  insure  her  silence.  They  never  found  the  body,  but  the  boyfriend  was   convicted  of  murder.  There  is  a  book:  "Thin  Air -  The  Life  and  Mysterious  Disappearance  of  Helen  Brach."    This  case  took  many  years  before  arrests  took  place,  and  the  handyman  of  her  estate  never  did  get  indicted.  Police  think  he  may  have  driven  her  to  where  her  killers  were  located.  Yes,  horse  racing  is  a  business  with  a  dark  side....this  matter  in  part  convinced  me  that  there  was  a  career  in  law  waiting  for  someone  willing  to  sort  out  the  sordid  details  of  the  puzzle  pieces.

Bert: reading about your father's client's wife gave me the shivers. The tale would likely make a good film noir but in this day and age who could you find to finance and distribute it?

Jalopkin...I love the cake metaphor but what about the frosting. After all is not celebrity religion all about the frosting? Forget about what's inside. Forget about being genuine, or even being accountable, after all its all vanilla anyway. As a celebrity (at any level) I  can say one thing in private and put on a whole different persona in a group. And if its not working or I get exposed I can just layer in more frosting, twist the flavors and talk it up. And if my frosting is good, I, my cake, might make it on gourmet review.  A success at last.  And if in my success I am still not happy, I can indulge in crystal meth and write a book. I can get another celebrity like Katie Couric a ?News? Anchor to help evangelize my frosting. Churches in Arms, code for marketing is one sure way to preoccupy us from the truth.  

DancingKatz:   www.truetv.com  has  a  television  special  on  the  investigation.  You  can  also  go  to  Winkapedia,  and  enter  Helen  Vorheis  Brach. 

Thanks, Bert.

bert:  you knew Helen Brach's husband?  and Mrs. Brach? 
 
I ask because my family home was just down the road from the Brach home in Glenview.  I took riding lessons at the stable nearby.  It was a horsey place, Glenview, she got involved with a playboy who took a lot of wealthy Chicago women for a "ride" on those investments.  I still think the handyman did it.
 
No body though, no case...he took her to Mayo then to a ship for a vacation, and then she was all gone.  One of the jokes (black humor) that made the rounds back then in town had to do with the Brach Candy Company's advertising slogan, maybe you know it since you were family friends? -- when Mrs. Brach's body was never found, people referred to the slogan that went:  "There's a little piece of Brach in every bite."
 
Did your dad come up with that slogan, LOL?  Oh my!
 
But yes, Helen Brach was one of the not quite gone yet group of wealthy widows who stayed much at home, talked on the phone, drank a bit too much, spent money on their health and face lifts, and were really an awful lonely bunch who had to make do with their handymen as confessors and friends.  The ladies who lunched...sad.
 
So................were you and your family visitors at the Brach home in Glenview?  We might have crossed paths there...

MURPHY:  Pass that Bong around, Dood !!!  Whatever you're toke'n on gotta be some Good Stuff !!!  Gotta be, cuz you got me talkin' bout cakes n stuff an I ain't never sed nuthin 'bout no cakes ... But I woon't mind gittin' a little piece right now, Dood ... Fer shur  fer shur !!!

Whoa!  bert:  Helen Brach wasn't Mr. Brach's "former wife."  She was his last wife.  Brach Candy belonged to her, after he died.
 
???

Park4:   Hello,  my  friend!   Frank  Brach  took  a  liking  to  my  dad,  and   he  was  hands-on  in  his  business,  so  he  micromanaged  every  department.  My  dad  was  willing  to  go  above  and  beyond  the  call  of  duty  to  make  Frank  happy,  so  frank  eventually  told  the  advertising  department  that  "All  of  ______ 's  bids  are  the  winning  bids,  from now  on,  comprende?"      Anyway  Frank  was  a  guy  who  made  his  money  selling  candy  door  to  door  in  the  deptession,  stuff  he  made  at  home.  He  wasn't  much  to  look  at,  and  he  was  clumsy  with  women.  He  met  Helen  in  Florida,  she  was  the  hat  check  girl  in  a  nightclub.  Soon   they  were  married.
Was  Frank's  house  in  Glenview  or  was  it  Northfield?  I  spent  time  there,  the  area  was  right  on  the  border.  Jack  Matlock,  caretaker,  never  got  indicted.  Charles  Vorhees,  Helen's   brother,  never  got  indicted,  although  he  finally  admitted  he  burned  Helen's  diaries  after  the  woman  turned  up  missing.  Richard  Bailey,  predator  of  lonely  rich  women,  is  still  in  prison.  The  mob  still  is  involved  at  Arlington Park  Racetrack,  it's  a  common  scam.  jmo  Richard  used  to  whistle,  I  had  a   perfect  memory,  one  tune  was  something  like  "Lonely  women  make  good  lovers" ...  recently  rereleased  as  a  country  song.
My  theory  is  that  Helen  met  the  same  fate  as  nag  horses.....ground  into  dog  food.  I  may  have  met  you,  girl....we  were  virtually  neighbors.  I  lived  across  from  the  forest  preserve  off  Dundee  Road,  that  extended  all  the  way  to  either  Northfield  or  Glenview,  my  memory  fades  as  to  which  village  was  contiguous  on  the  South  side.  Did  you  find  the  social  stuff  awkward?  I  sure  did,  but  I  was  very  young,  I  didn't  yet  trust  my  nose  to  smell  trouble....I  do   NOW.   Cold  Case  Files  has  the   case  on  a  special.
What  a  small  world.  I  drove  right  past  both  Frank's  and  your  house  going  from  Northbrook  to  Wilmette's  Loyola  Academy,  Laramie  at  Lake.

My  path  to  HS  was  Ridge  right  on  Lee,  Lee  left  on  Grant,  and  grant  intersected  the  street  Frank  Brach's  house  was  on.  Big  house,  set  way  back   from  the  street. 

Glenview, Bert ....... Glenview ...

Thanks,  Jalopkin.....Glenview!    That  was  a  long  time  ago.
 
Park  4,  I  misspoke.   She  was  Frank's  last  wife.  Privately  held  company,  she  had  most  of  the  shares.  Last  I  heard,  it  was  sold  to  a  European  corporation.   Their  factory  was  interesting,  their  offices  shared  the  same  site.    Only  design  flaw  was  the  fact  that  it  was  multiple  floors,  not  contiguous  flat  space.  That  created  a  step,  moving  product  &  components  floor to  floor.

Madonna & I have something in common- I purify my toilet w/ baking soda. I bet if we put her Kabbala water & my baking soda together magical things could happen.

Maybe Meryl Streep, Gena Rowlands, & Charlotte Rampling could band together and open a finishing school for these poor young starlets who dress like hookers, act like hookers, & generally have had no sense of self, manners, or anything remotely positive bred into them. They could give them tips such as: wear underwear in public, don't get plastic surgery, you're young; you don't need 5 pounds of make-up, only your shower & your husband, partner, or signifigant other should see your special places, read some books, don't curse outside of your home, be kind to others, don't chew giant cuds of gum, be nice.
 
My apologies to hookers for comparing them to such lowbrows. Seriously...

I love the new shawl shown above- beautiful & it has a touch of mustard yellow- making me crave.... corndogs, corndogs, corndogs...

Bebe:   Perhaps  you  might  become  a  paid  consultant  for  my  daughter?  lol     I  guess  women  who  use  a  trowel  to  put  on  makeup  ARE  a   little  bit  trashy.....   I'm  not  a  big  fan  of  fishnet  stockings  either.

Brach's estate was near the intersection of Harms and Glenview Road.  It's gone...it was a low house back from the road.  More of a wandering ranch style.   No gates.  Maybe she should have been more cautious.  Lots of corporate wives are corporate casualties, but not like that.  But where there's money, and lonely fading beauties, there's scoundrels.  And killers.
 
When we moved up to Barrington--that's real horse country.  The guy who owns/owned Arlington Park has a farm there.  And they dress to ride to the "hounds' and it's all very very.  Tally ho.  They look quite silly, except to themselves...  Lots of money, lots of horseflesh evil doings, and lots of "I'm not involved in that sort of thing, rillllly."  But many are, no one admits it.  It's don't ask don't tell. 
 
As for the "social stuff."  I think it was okay, because it taught kids how to behave, so they grew up to be polite and civilized young adults and it usually stuck, so easing into the adulth world was pretty seamless at least in one aspect.  Dancing lessons -- Backporch? That's all harmless and good stuff. And too, it helps one to know (as I think Shadonista said) when someone sends an invitation telling us how to dress, as in: country club casual, you know what they're saying, although they could just come right out and say it, and not fuss around with code words, I think.  Anyhow, the social stuff is good, and my daughter got the same kind of social schooling.  It helps to know what you're supposed to do.
 
OH:  As important or more so than the long gone Brach estate on Harms, in Glenview, is Hackney's on Harms.  Home of the best onion rings in the country.
 
You must know Hackneys, bert?  Every Friday night, we went to Hackney's.  And: it's still there!  I want to go back, just to have dinner at Hackneys... 
 
 
 

PARK4 ... BERT:  If it will help any ....... That European Candy Company was the, BROCK Candy Co. ... So it became, BRACH & BROCK Candy company ... Brock was a German whose name was actually, Brach, but he Anglicanized it when he came here ... BRACH was short for, BRACHMAN ... Emil Brach was actually a German Jew, but changed it in his effort to assimilate as much as possible because being a Jew has never been popular in this country because of stupid people that call us, "Christ-Killers" and don' realize that had been KILLED ... there would have been no sacrifice and therefore no Redemption ... He GAVE UP His life, when he was damned good and ready ... Besides the fact that it was the phreaking ROMANS who hanged Him upon that Gibbet, NOT the Jews, and He was a Jew Himself !!! ... Anyhow, at the time Brock came into the picture, there was a second enclave of Germans flooding into Chicago, and there had been (you will pardon the unintentional pun) trouble brewing between the German catholics and the Portuguese catholics, and a handful of Czech catholics(who were actually Byzantine/Eastern Rite catholics) and it was all over cultural differences ... The most famous of those Czechs, was a Coal Miner who spent most of his days with Portuguese Miners, and would years later become Mayor of Chicago ... that would be, Anton Czermak(Cermak) ... Hope the additional information helps ... pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocksta ...............

IVAN - I just have an occasional moment here, and occasionally there; but thank you kindly sir, it means a lot coming from a straight shooter like you. I think I'm more of a parsley and thyme guy..... don't know about rosemary, except that you can never have too much....  peace out

Oh, Jalopkin:  I thought you were telling me that Daley is Portugese.  Cermak (Blvd?) is Portugese.  Who knew?
 
I know Papa Brach's original candy shop -- was known for their excellent caramels...but maybe we shouldn't talk about caramels because I see bebe is looking at colors that remind her of mustard which reminds her of hot dogs oh my -- and surely some color up there in the Eye photo will remind her of caramel candy....
 
Bebe, I am funnin' at you because you are so funny.  You and your food and your toilet bowl and private places and oh you're something.  I look forward to my daily dose of "bebe" -- a bebeism a day keeps the doctor away.
 
 

Jalopkin - are you saying that Brock and Brach candy companies are one and the same?  I'm confused.....  My dad worked for one of the companies back in the mid 60s in Chattanooga....where I was born.

Park4:   Hackney's  was  one  of  my  parents'  favorite  hangouts.......REAL  food,  my  dad  used  to  say.    I  didn't  do  much  socially  at  Brach's  house,  since  the  tension  was  there  big-time  by  the  time  I  got  old  enough  to  be  social,  Frank  was  our  connection,  not  Helen.   I  seem  to  remember  after  Helen  was  declared  to  be  legally  dead  that  the  estate  was  set  @  $23M.....back  then,  that  was  real  money.
 
Jalopkin:  I  do  remember  that  another  company  had  a  virtually  identical  name,  Frank  was  properly  advised  that  it  was  not  an  infringement,  since  it  was  the  family  name  of  the  founder(s)  of  the  other  company.  Brach's  became  a  subsidiary  of  American  Home  Products  Corporation,  what  you  describe  came  later,  I  was  fully  engaged  in  my  current  jurisdiction,  but  I  read  the  Chicago  Tribune  online  most  days.
 
My  dad  was  instrumental  in  the  point  of  purchase  displays  of  ten  cent  bags  of  Brach  candies,  set  on  drugstore  counters  everywhere.   Then  came pick-a-mix.   I  remember  one  eccentric  detail  about  Helen.....she  had   Cadillac  custom  paint  her  car  that  pink  going  into  purple  color,  but  Cadillac  had  the  car  returned  4   times  to  be  resprayed......finicky.
 
Jalopkin,  Chicago  was  quite  the  "melting  pot"  long  before  the  term   was  popularized.   Cermack  had  a  major  street  named  after  him,  I  remember  that.   You  have  a  wealth  of  information  that  I  either  never  knew  or  forgot.  I  do  remember  that  name  "Emil"  Brach,  who  got  started  largely  on  caramels.   

The infamous may not sell as many tabloids as moviestars but real life murder mysteries will eclipse culture scandals in history.  We're always fascinated by the evil genius.

http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=17609
 
Here's a link to a photo tour of the inside of the abandoned Brach Candy Factory in Chicago, as it appears today.  Great photos!  Haunting...

 
Bert you said you were inside this building -- take a look at it now!

 
And if your Dad liked Hackney's he had great taste!

Julia Masi: Most of us upon introspection will acknowledge an eerie fascination with the macab....perhaps we are all composites of both good and evil, with one trumping the other, but with the subordinate propensity percolating quietly, just below the surface. Abnormal psychology, as it relates to behavioral psychology, is quite interesting. Funny thing, but some of the "experts" appear to be one small step away from being cut from the same mold as that of their studied subjects. Free will -vs- predisposition by genetic means, a debate that will go on forever. There is a virtual cottage industry of "experts" out there, many are hired mainly by the lawyers for one side or the other in court proceedings. Causation as to why we do what we do is complicated.

Park4:  Thanks  so  much  for  the  link.  All  the  Chicago  Public  TV gave  me  was  sound,  and  slides.  The  movie  was  replaced  by  filler,  perhaps  my  media  player  was  inadequate.
 
Shandonista:  Brach  Candy  was  one  entity,  Brock  Candy  was  another.  Jalopkin  seems  to  think  there  was  some  later  connection,  he  may  be  correct.  Winkipedia  has a  history  of  Emil  Brach's  company  in  Chicago,  which  I  lost  track  of  after  it  became  a  subsidiary of  American  Home  Products  Company.  Could  be  AHP  dumped  it,  and  it  went  through  several  hands.  On  the  web  you  can  find  Brock Candy  Company,  perhaps  the  survivor  of  the  company  that  once  employed  your  dad.  Life  is  complicated.
 
 

No, Bert, I don't disagree -- always a pleasure to read your take on things.   And, Miss Blue -- I do appreciate it -- waiting to hear from The King :)

Park4,  was  that  YOU  at  Hackney's  every  Friday  night?    You  could  have  introduced  yourself,  saying  that  in  another  time  and  another  place  we  would  become  virtual  friends.   I  did  know  Hackney's  was  a  survivor,  Loyola  Academy  now  has  a  Glenview  campus,  essentially  green  space  divided  into  sports  facilities.   I  still  miss  the  Naval  Air  Station,  as  a  nostalga  addict  I  find  the  contemporary  use  of  the  former  spot  quite  boring.  There  is  a  building  or  two  that  survive,  converted  into  commercial  use.   But  no  jets,  no  weekend  warrior  drills,  no  free  tours.  Their  C.O.  was  a  Captain  Elsasser  (sic.)  who  was  our  neighbor.

Shandonista:   I  found  a  computer  lawlink  to  a   corporate  merger  in  1994  of  the  two  candy  companies,  Brock  (since  1904, Southern)  and  Brach (since 1906, Chicago).  So  I  assume  that  American  Home  Products  got  rid  of  its  subsidiary  acquisition  at  some point.   The  survivor  would  share  the  corporate  goodwill  (name   recognition)  of  both. 

I remember watching Dominick Dunne's series Power & Privilage when it covered the Mrs. Brach case. Now there was a guy who took his CWS and used to to his advantage for years.  This Months Vanity Fair has a great overview of his life & career. It's quite an interesting read.  

Rings90,

I agree with you about Dominick Dunne. People in high places shared things with him that they might only have shared with Truman Capote in another age. Dunne watched his life fall apart with loss of children (including Dominique, who starred in Poltergeist) and friends while he sought solace in the drink. He conscripted himself to a cabin in the woods to break his relationship with alcohol, and an eventual kindly note from Truman Capote helped him decide to re-enter life.

There was terrible strain between Dunne and VF editor Graydon Carter throughout the duration of their publishing relationship. Dunne's facts were generally not corroborable, although time has borne out his accuracy. He was ostensibly representing VF in high society, but was known for occasional horribly gauche comments. Even so, I loved reading Dunne's posts and all the insight he passed along about a world inaccessible to most of us.

One can only hope that Joan Didion (Dunne's sister-in-law) might have at writing a memoir of him sometime.

Rings90,  how  long  have  you  been  in  attendance  at  this  dance?  Had  I  known,  we  could  have  done  a  waltz  around  the  floor  some  time  ago.

Oh PARK- your compliment made me swoon, then melt, then laugh!!! Coming from you- I feel honoured.
 
Loved your recollections of Barrington, riiiiilllly...
And it's true, when you feel comfortable in many different social situations it just makes life, which is difficult enough already, easier.

RINGS- I need to buy that copy of VF. I believe that it has the gorgissimo Penelope Cruz on the cover. I always loved Dominick Dunne- his coverage of the O.J. trial was mesmerizing. His face when the "Not guilty" verdict was read ( yes, I took a sick day from school for that) was one of utter disbelief. I always thought thta after his beautiful daughter was murdered he made it his job to expose murderers.

"The highest form of vanity is love of fame" ~George Santayana

Good leadership should not be confused with celebrityhood.

Most celebrities strike me as self-serving people who think they are gods/goddesses; fully expecting to be worshipped and blindly followed by the rest of us adoring "common" folk, who are expected to spend our time applauding their efforts and unquestioningly fawning over their wills, whims, and beliefs.

Truly good leaders, in contrast (no matter what their chosen field), can be extremely successful, but rarely have a rockstar-like, egocentric personality that must be constantly fed by an adoring public. It's not that good leaders don't have ambition, but it's that their egos are fueled by their driving desire to succeed first and foremost for others, not themselves.

I'd be happy to see a stop to worshipping over-sized personalities and egomaniacal celebrities, in favor of exalting those goal-oriented and selfless individuals working tirelessly for the betterment of others in our society; for they are the outstanding men and women, in our world, who should be recognized and encouraged to flourish.

(By the way - Antonin Cermak, former Mayor of Chicago, was Czech, not Portuguese; being born in Kladno, about 25 miles from Prague.)

At the risk of upsetting other veterans, I'm still in awe of North Vietnamese generals who served as busboys and other menials on U.S. bases in the South.... they didn't give a dang about seeming 'important'.  They had a job (intelligence) and they performed -- keeping their mouths shut and their ears open.  Their cause may (or may not) have been admirable (who can read the minds of others) and I've never quite understood anyone's attachment to abstractions like 'nationalism' or 'capitalism' or 'communism', etc -- but self-abnegation in service to a goal is awesome.  Our society laughs at it, but the power of will is at the root of all acheivement, military or civilian.... The ability to work quietly, with determination, and in the shadows is a rare flower!

Bert ~ I've been Checking in & out all day... and I will take that Waltz with you any day any time.

Bebe ~ Yes that's the VF it's in ~ the other day while I was working at the B&N checkout a guy came thru the line to buying it ~ making small talk I stated that the tribute article about Dunne was an amzing read.. I received downcast eyes & a mumble of uh yeah that's not  the reason for  buying it....I laughed & said well the the Cruz article is good also she's beautiful :)   

KINDLEE:  I was about to write P4 and tell her that, but I wanted to go back up and read what I had written to be sure I had not skewed the understanding ... Maybe P4 has some Grandkid Grease on her Glasses .......  Thanks for putting that up there for me ...
 
BERT:  The "CONNECTION" was, just as I explained it ... When Brock got over here, he went to BRACH to discuss Proprietery Infringement Avoidance, and ended up buying BRACH into Partnership, taking BRACH off the Streets as a door to door Peddler and building a Commercial Sales force, while BRACH ran a Storefront at the Factory, somewhere over on the West Side ...  AMERICAN HOME PRODUCTS came years later, and they were, the outfit that actually refined the idea of, Fuller Brush, Jewel Tea and some Extract company(not ADAMS) that I can't think of the name of at the moment, into a viable business ...
 
My knowledge is actually limited, but my Family was living in Skokie before it was called Skokie ... A Great Uncle several times removed, used to set Type for the Breeders' Gazette from 1930 thru 1931 when they closed, and went to work for one of the sixty or seventy local Breweries in Chicago brewing Beer ... Spent a lotta time watching Capone smuggle Rye Whiskey all over the place during Prohibition, out of Iowa ... Thats how I came to like Templeton Rye in the first place ... Always have some around the house ... Had another Uncle that usta wear it for Aftershave ... If you have never liked Rye, or haven't tried it, find yourself some Templeton Rye and sip a lot of it ... it is as Good as Mothers' Milk, just as gently warming, and even the containers feel good in your hand ... Years ago I met Gus Russo and his sons Tommy and Frank ... they owned most of Rush Avenue, and every Topless joint in Chicago, at one time ... They spent a little time on vacation at Club Fed and a few things changed while they were away ....... The really old stuff, I remember hearing my Dad and my Great Uncles talk about at Family gatherings, when I'm a kid ....... Most of my Generation up there worked for an outfit in Skokie called, Topco, which usta put up "Store Brands" for anybody who wanted them ... In Houston it was, Weingartens and the Brand was, Tillie Lewis, and when Huntington Hartfield still had A&P Food Stores open and running, Topco also put up the ANN PAGE Proprietary products for A&P ... To the Best of my knowledge the only A&P open any more is at the River End of Bourbon Street in New Orleans ... Unless they closed that too when I wasn't lookin' .......

I used to be able to get Brach's dark chocolate covered almonds by the pound when the stores had a bulk Brach display.
 
I haven't been able to find them any more.
 
Some stores still have the bulk display but no dark chocolate covered almonds.
 
They were soooo good. 

JALOPKIN- there used to be an A&P in Marietta, OH. Maybe it too has gone the way of all other good things we remember- Woolworth's, department stores, women who wear panties, Campbell's chili w/ beans- it was so good, quiet libraries, the candy dish that our grandmothers would always keep filled, long letters in the mailbox, people we once loved, so many things are gone.
 
It can break your heart if you think too long on it...

...And what 8year old kid didn't snicker when you said you were going to the A&P

BEBE:  Far as I know, they are all closed except that one on Bourbon Street, and it, isn't much bigger than a Walk-In Closet .......  Can't Chili w/ Beans Sweetie ... this is Texas, and people who put Beans in what they call Chili have been known to get shot for doin' it ...
 
I miss Woolworths too, the way the Candy Counter in the Middle of the Ground Floor always hit you square in the nose with Fresh popped Popcorn when you walk in the door ... For .02 cents you could get enough of anything to be mewling puking sick by the end of the day .......  Quiet Libraries, Yes ... miss those too ... Public Libraries anymore have become Social Clubs, and locations where several brands of deviant do their daily business ... And I must say, that I like women whether they wear Panties or not ... Going without them has been a trend four or five different times in my life ... The excuse in Good times has always been that the women don't want Panty Lines showing thru on their dresses ... from 1935 to 1947, all the Silk was being used for Parachutes ... and so many women had come so far in their lives, from having to make Panties out of Flour Sacks, that they didn't want to even bother with the Cotton Step-Ins that were being produced ... One of the advantages, you might not be old enough to remember, but being unfettered by Panties made it easier for women to use the stand-up Urinals that were in fashion in womens' Bathrooms, for a while ... I guess they would have been great for Hoop Skirts too .......

 JALOPKIN- My mother always made great homemade chili (she still does) & so do I, but that Campbell's was so comfort food good. And easy. Chili w/out beans is like a birthday cake w/out candles, love w/out kisses, a day w/out dogs, Christmas stockings w/out a tangerine & nuts, or a rainy day w/out melancholy.
 
On the panty front- know that I am riffing on the whole pantiless celelbrity thing. I say- whatever makes you happy- I am NOT the panty police!!! Girdles or commando- be free, go forth & conquer.
 
I'm really trying to understand how there could have been stand-up urinals FOR WOMEN??????????????????????????
 
JALOPKIN- You make me laugh- your last post last night made me cry- I don't know why- memories of things gone I guess...

JALOPKIN,

Your right dude, it was my mistake. Reading the referenced comment it was Berts to you. It wen as follows:

Jalopkin: Greetings, my virtual friend. It is unfortunate, but the average citizen goes with the flow, and only pays lip service to concepts like independence & freedom. I call this a "personality deficit." think in terms of a bakery, where all of the creations were vanilla box cakes.....thank you so much for never being "vanilla," you are not reluctant to share with us exactly what you think, and this is the way all of the rest of us grow.

What I find interesting is Tabloids find their religious cult by make a mockery of others.  Those who read tabloibds are better at it than others.

let be but a"t"

"buy"    fingers

JALOPKIN: grandkid grease!
 
could be! life's been looking a little foggier than usual lately in a lot of respects...
 
funny!