Two Women, Chapter 2

Mona lived on the fourteenth floor of Ted's apartment building in Philadelphia.  They met one day waiting for the elevator in the lobby.  She smiled.  A beautiful smile.  He said, "Hi."  They talked on the way up.  

Turns out Mona's a professional musician, a pianist.  Born and raised in Philly.  They had lunch the next day, Ted's treat, at a restaurant near his office.  Great food!  Great conversation!

The following week Ted and Mona went by Uber to the La Rose Jazz Club on Germantown Avenue.  Her invitation!  Great music!  Great drinks!  And great conversation!

When they got back to their apartment building, she invited Ted in for a nightcap.  He left early the following morning.

What did this mean?  Was Ted committed?  Was Mona his girlfriend?  Was he now supposed to be monogamous?

Ted liked Mona a lot.  He definitely wants to see her again and be with her again.  But...

But what about Monica, whom he couldn't keep out of his mind?  But she's not in Philadelphia...and Mona is.  Hmm.  

        

Ketchup

In the 1946 film noir classic, The Killers, Nick Adams (Phil Brown), a customer at Henry's Diner, asks counterman George (Harry Hayden) for, "ketchup."  It's the film's first line of dialogue.  Like Nick, I have asked for ketchup thousands of times in my life. 

Ketchup or Tomato Ketchup dates back to the early 18th Century.  During my lifetime, ketchup has been a mixture of tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, onions and a variety of other spices.  The market leader in the USA (60%) and Brazil (50%) is Heinz Tomato Ketchup.

Growing up in Oswego in my mother's household, we had Heinz.  It's the best ketchup and it saved my life.  

We basically had the same meal every day of the year: meat and potatoes.  And my mother cooked the meat (unseasoned) the same way for every meal:  well-done or black, which meant it lacked flavor and moisture.  

How am I supposed to eat this dry, well-done piece of meat?  Will I starve to death?  

The answer is with plenty of ketchup.  Every morsel of meat was dipped into the puddle of ketchup I put on my plate.  Delicious!

Did I say everyday of the year?  Excuse me.  On Thanksgiving we had turkey, also cooked well-done, lacking in flavor and moisture.  I hated turkey.  But ketchup saved the holiday.  By the way, today I love turkey (served flavorful and moist).  

When I first came to Brazil 25 years ago, Heinz Tomato Ketchup was hard to find and, if you could, it was expensive compared to the inferior domestic brands.

However, in 2013, the H. J. Heinz Company (founded in Pennsylvania in 1869) agreed to be acquired by two investment groups, one of which was Brazilian, 3G Capital, for a total of 23 billion dollars.

A coincidence or not, ever since, Heinz Tomato Ketchup has been easily available in Brazil at a reasonable price.  I know it's in our refrigerator.  But, I don't use it as much as I did when I was growing up.  Don't have to because the food I eat doesn't lack for flavor and moisture.  But, it's nice to know Heinz Tomato Ketchup is in there if I need it.

  

Jimmy Hoffa

 Jimmy Hoffa was born February 14, 1913 (108 years ago) in Brazil.  Brazil?  Yes.  In the town of Brazil...in the State of Indiana, USA.  Population at the time was about 9,000.  

Why is the town's name Brazil?  Well, in the 1840s, at the time of the town's origin, Brazil the country was in the news a lot (perhaps because of the many rebellions going on there), at least so the townspeople of Brazil, Indiana imagined.

As a teenager, Hoffa worked for a grocery chain, receiving low wages and poor working conditions.  Through his demonstrated courage and "approachability," he rose to a leadership position in a newly formed labor union.

When he left his grocery job in 1932, Hoffa was invited to become an organizer for the Teamsters Union.  In 1946, he was elected president of Local 299 of the union in Detroit, Michigan. 

By 1952, Hoffa was selected by Teamsters Union president Dave Beck to be their national vice-president.  Hoffa became president in 1957 when Beck was convicted of fraud and sent to prison.

In 1967, Hoffa himself went to prison after being convicted of bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud.  He stayed there until his sentence was commuted to time served by President Richard Nixon in 1971.

On July 30, 1975, at the age of sixty-two, Jimmy Hoffa disappeared forever.  He was last seen at the Magnus Red Fox restaurant on Telegraph Road in suburban Detroit.  For 46 years, Hoffa's disappearance has remained an unsolved mystery.  

I never ate at the Magnus Red Fox restaurant but I remember it well.  To me, it was quite a noticeable landmark driving past it many a time travelling between my ex-wife Bonita's sister's house in Bloomfield Hills and her father's home in Southfield.

Hud

Hud is a 1963 modern western film drama directed by Martin Ritt and which starred Paul Newman, Brandon deWilde, Melvin Douglas and Patricia Neal.  It is based on a novel, Horseman, Pass By, written by Larry McMurtry in 1961, which I recently read.

Hud was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning three:  Neal for Best Actress, Douglas for Best Supporting Actor and James Wong Howe for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White.  Ritt (Best Director won by Tony Richardson for Tom Jones) and Newman (Best Actor won by Sidney Poitier for Lillies of the Field) were also nominated.

In the film, Homer (Douglas) runs a cattle ranch in Texas in the mid Twentieth Century along with his son Hud (Newman) and grandson Lonnie (deWilde).  Hud is Lonnie's uncle.  Alma (Neal) is the family's cook.

Lonnie, an impressionable teenager, is torn between the ambitious, self-centered and fun-loving Hud and the highly-principled, honest Homer.  One night Hud and Lonnie come home drunk and run into Homer.

Hud: Something seems to be eating away at your liver.  

Homer:  You, Hud...like always.  

Lonnie:  What'd ya climbin' on Hud for?

Homer:  Ya think a lot a Hud, do ya?  Ya think he's a real man.  Well, ya bein' tuck in.  

Hud:  He's my daddy and he knows.  

Homer:  I know, yeah, you're smart.  Ya got your share a guts.  Ya can talk a man into trusting ya and a woman into wanting ya.

Hud:  Then I got it made, ain't I?  

Homer:  To hear you tell.  

Hud:  I want ya to get it off your chest, gripin' all this time what I done to Norman (accidentally killing his brother, Lonnie's father).

Homer:  Ya were drunk and careless.  

Hud:  Ya had 15 years to get over it.  That's half a my life.  

Homer:  That's not our quarrel and never has been.  

Hud:  Well, the hell it ain't.

Homer:  No, boy, I was sick a you long before that.

Hud:  Well, isn't life full of surprises.  Well, alright, what turned you so sour on me, not that I give a damn?

Homer:  Just that, Hud, you don't give a damn.  That's all.  That's the whole of it...You still don't get it, do ya?  Ya don't care about people.  Ya don't give a damn about them.  Oh, ya got all that charm goin' for ya and it makes the youngsters wanna be like ya.  That's the shame of it cuz ya don't value nothin'.  Ya don't respect nothin'.  Ya don't put no check on your appetites at all.  Ya live just for yourself and that makes ya not fit to live with.

I think this scene won Douglas his Oscar.