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.                  

Two Women, Chapter 1

 Her name was Monica.  She was beautiful.  But of course, Monica was Brazilian.

Ted met her when he was in Chapel Hill on business and had a dental emergency (painful toothache).  A local colleague recommended her.  

Monica was his first female dentist, but apparently they're common in Brazil.  On the other hand, she got her training locally at the UNC Adams School of Dentistry.

When Ted sat in the dentist's chair, he couldn't believe his good fortune.  His eyes were glued to the gorgeous face only inches away.  She smelled fantastic and her voice...speaking English with a Brazilian accent.  He stopped thinking about his toothache.  

Monica did a great job filling a nasty cavity.  Ted wished it had taken longer so he could continue being so close to her, but all good things must end.  Or do they?  He noted no ring on her left hand.

Two months later, Ted returned to Chapel Hill.  Business again.  He called her office and asked for Monica.  They put him on hold for five minutes.

When Monica came on, Ted asked her to dinner.  She said she didn't date patients.  He told her she would never again be his dentist.  Never.  No matter what.

So Monica and Ted had dinner that night at the Stoney River Steakhouse and Grill, adjacent to University Mall.  They split a center cut piece of filet mignon, a bottle of merlot and a slice of chocolate cake.  

They talked long after the food and beverages were taken away.  The restaurant staff left them alone.  

Later, Monica left Ted alone in the parking lot, driving away in her Volvo, but they parted company with two kisses (beijos), one on each cheek.  Ted had to see her again.       

VIP

I have been in an airport VIP lounge only once in my life.  That was in the third quarter of 1967 at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.  I was dating my ex-wife Bonnie Sobol at the time and we, along with one or two other couples, were seeing off  newlywed friends going on their honeymoon.

The lounge was large, but not very crowded.  It was loosely divided into many sections with comfortable furniture for VIPs to relax in, far superior to the waiting areas near the gates.

The young groom had access to the VIP lounge through his employer.  The six or eight of us found some chairs and gathered around in a circle to talk and partake of some free refreshments.  

As I didn't know any of this bunch (other than Bonnie) very well, I was pretty quiet.  As such, my eyes began to wander.  Then I noticed straight ahead of me, sitting alone on a couch, intently watching television (exactly what, I couldn't see) was the Academy Award winning actor Ernest Borgnine.

I immediately thought of Fatso Judson (From Here to Eternity), Donnegan (Vera Cruz), Coley Trimble (Bad Day at Black Rock) and especially Marty Piletti (Marty).  But, on that day he was just Ernest Borgnine, watching TV like a regular person.

I just froze, did nothing.  I should have taken advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity to talk to him, even if briefly.  Instead, I was overcome with fear.  He wouldn't want to talk to me.  He was busy.  He would bite my head off for disturbing him.  So, I just stayed where I was.  And eventually we left the VIP lounge.  My opportunity gone.

Years later I read Ernest Borgnine's autobiography.  And I saw him being himself in videos on YouTube.  He was the opposite of what I had imagined back in '67.

Ernest Borgnine was a kind, unassuming man who enjoyed interacting with the public.  In a 1995 video, after entering a restaurant while on a road trip with his son, he freely signed autographs for all the waitresses.  Borgnine then shook hands with multiple patrons before finally siting down at a table to eat.  In his last interview, when asked about life lessons, he said, "Be nice to people."  

Any potential opportunity for me to interact with Ernest Borgnine ended forever when he died at ninety-five years of age on July 8, 2012 (forty-five years after we were "together" at the VIP lounge).  Life Lesson: All opportunities should be taken advantage of.    

Popeye

"Popeye the sailor is a fictional American cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.  The character first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929 (92 years ago)."  

At that time, Segar, thirty-four years old, was an experienced American cartoonist.  Sadly, he died of leukemia nine years later.

Growing up, I adored watching many, many, many Popeye cartoons on television.  They usually followed a similar pattern.

Popeye gets into some difficulty, usually at the hands of his nemesis, Bluto.  Eating a can of spinach restores his power and energy.  Popeye then wins the day, very often in a brutal fist fight with Bluto. 

Popeye's girlfriend, Olive Oyl, a very skinny creature, was another familiar character in Popeye cartoons.  In the dubbed Portuguese language version her name was Olivia Palito (meaning a thin stick).  

Ironically, Olivia Palito was my wife Cristina's nickname as a child (because she was skinny).  Interesting that with such a nickname she grew up to marry a man who admired Popeye.

The reason I admired Popeye was not so much his fighting skills, but his personal philosophy.  He used to say, "I am what I am and that's all what I am."  In the movie Truth, the Mary Mapes character (Cate Blanchett) quoted Popeye (on why she wanted to continue as a journalist after being fired by CBS News).    

It seems a simple statement, but I think it is very deep.  It's like when my mother quoted William Shakespeare (Hamlet): "to thine own self be true, thou canst not then be false to any man."  Popeye and Shakespeare!      

G.I. Bill

On January 10, 1944 (77 years ago), the United States Congress passed the Serviceman's Readjustment Act (know as the G.I. Bill).  President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed it into law on June 22, 1944.   The term G.I. refers to "government issue" which American soldiers began to refer to themselves as.

The new law provided a wide range of benefits to military veterans returning to civilian life.  Included in such benefits were stipends covering tuition and living expenses for veterans attending college or trade schools. 

Charles Bronson (Death Wish) enlisted in the United States Army Air Force in 1943 and served as an aircraft gunner.  After the war, he used the G.I. Bill to take acting classes at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Paul Newman (The Sting) served in the United States Navy during WWII as a turret gunner.  Afterwards, he took advantage of the G.I. Bill and studied acting at Kenyon College, the Yale School of Drama and the Actors Studio.    

George C. Scott (Patton) enlisted in the United States Marines in 1945, serving in the honor guard at Arlington National Cemetery.  He studied journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia under the G.I. Bill.

Lee Marvin (Cat Ballou) enlisted in the Marine Corp. in 1942 and fought in the Pacific theater during the war.  He used the G.I. Bill to study acting at the American Theater Wing in New York City.

Ernest Borgnine (Marty) served in the US Navy during WWII patrolling the Atlantic Ocean looking for enemy submarines.  Under the G.I. Bill, he studied acting at the Randall School of Dramatic Art in Hartford, CT.

Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night) served with the Navy in the South Pacific during WWII.  With the G.I. Bill, he studied acting at the Civil Service Little Theater Group.

Steve McQueen (Bullitt) served in the Marines from 1947 to 1950.  After his discharge, he studied acting under the G.I. Bill at Sanford Meisner's Neighborhood Playhouse. 

A good use of tax dollars!