HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1950-07-27, Page 3PIP
Editor's Note: Horace Reynolds
is a writer, lecturer, professor, and
author of many articles that have
Appeared in various leading periodi-
cals. This paean in praise of darker,
coarser breadvtuffs appeared in
The Christian Science Monitor; and
we pass it along to our readers
i6thout further. comment,
When things were going well
with folks, John Mahoney, all old
Irish schoolmaster of mine, used
to say, "They're eating their white
bread now," Then he would explain
that the saying was an oblique re-
ference to the fact that the common
people of Europe had white bread
only oil special occasions.
I remember I used to feel sorry
for the poor moujik eating away at
his black bread. The other day a
friend gave ire a large loaf of dark
Russian rye, told me how to toast
it. Now I don't feel sorry for the
Russians any more.
Modern industrialism has ruined
American bread, Pick up a loaf in
its waxed paper. It's so soft and
spongy you call contract it with
your hands, mold it any shape
you've a mind to, Take off the
wrapper and cat a slice. The soft,
fluffy center is like a moathfui of
powder puff. The more you eat the
hungrier you get. This.is what Am-
erica's staff of life has come to.
It's a pretty soft staff. The Rus-
sians are leaning on something more
st,bstantial.
It wasn't always_ so. In 1900, 95
per cent of America's bread was
baked at home, and that bread was
good, honest bread, not the aerated
boudoir bread of today. Now 85
ler cent of America's bread is baked
in bakeries.
The bread of our ancestors was
good bread, too. The corn bread the
Indians taught the early Atneri-
cans to make was tasty, nutritious,
and filling. Our forenzothers
pounded corn in a mortar or ground
it in an improvised home mill. Then
they mixed the resultant meal with
stater to make corn bread, corn-
dodgerg, corn poste, hoecake, and
johnnycake.
They made this bread in two
forms: the raised variety baked in
a pan, like. the corn bread of today;
the unleavened variety baked in
hot ashes or on a griddle or in a
skillet, called ash cake and cora
lone. Many a plainsman has made
many a dinner on coriidodger baked
in the ashes and salt pork broiled
on the end of a stick,
That is the stalwart traditional
bread of America, -of which this
puffed-up varety of today is a soft
and decadent descendant.
In the large cities, where Ameri-
ca's foreign -born congregate, one
can get the good bread of Europe
which our immigrants brought over
with their folklore. From West-
l.halia the Germans of 1848 brought
their pleasant pumpernickel.
The Jews brought us the de-
licious Jewish rye and the popular
baigel. The French, the long ball -
bat loaves; the Italians, their round,
solid loaves with a respectable deeis
crust. From Vienna came the light,
well - seasoned Hungarian loaf,
Canadian Movie Makes Headlines
Class Room Scene from the prize winning Canadian filen
".Family Scene" soon to be shown in theatres across Canada.
The first Canadian film to deal
with the personality of the child as
.affected by Hoene and School en-
ciroument will be released very
soon. The picture was made its
ramous Players across Canada. The
film is called 'Family Circles." It
is outstanding and 'won the award
as the best rion-theatrical filet in
Canada at the Canadian Film
Awards Competition last April. It
was highly praised at the Inter-
national Filni Festival in Edin.
burgh, where it was played for
discriminating audiences.
When the picture opens it shotes
a scene from a family of a genera-
tion or two ago; the father is Head-
cf-the-House;• he made recisions,
and was generous when they were
accepted—which they always were!
I •ut, says the filar, tunes have
--hanged. Children'do not go to bed
at nine o'clock and the tempo of
life has changed. The modern
Father asks--Alidnight? Where's
George? Time I showed that boy
I'm still head of the house, he'll
have to knuckle under. To all of
which his wife sleepily replies, Dar-
ling, this is the twentieth century.
The issues raised merit the at-
tention of all parents and thought-
ful people, because they deal with
very important facets of family
life—the development and growth
of a child. The scenes slow the
effect of four different types of
homes on a child's mind and de-
velopment, and is a forthiight and
lielpful expose which does not mince
utatters, but presents clearly how
the child is helped or hindered in
his growth toward good citizenship
by the sort of help he gets at home.
The way of the parent is not easy
in this modern age, and the filen
presents clearly where the modern
parent often falls doirn in the job
oz helping a child to find himself,
It; meet nceGs trhicli are not always
obvious—confidence, security, and
guidance.
Wchael Denny, Foresthill, who played Freddie, in the prize
wi,111ing Cauddian filth etttttled "Family Circle
known as Vienna bread, From Via -
land, Limppu, baked in the shape
Of an oversize doughnut made of
mixed wheat and rye flour. From
Sweden, the flat, crisp unleavened
Lread, which goes so well with
cheese.
Take -a loaf of the dark pumper-
nickel. its rye hasn't been bleached
or "enriched," Its rye hasn't even
been bolted.
Cut off a couple of thin slices
and put theta in your toaster. Press
clown the rod which sends the bread
to the bottom of the toaster. When
the pieces of pumpernickel pop up,
press them down again for a second
toasting. This is he-man bread: it
can take it a second, yea, even a
third toasting. Butter the toasted
bread; place it in the oven. As yotl
eat it, yrou will amend John Ma -
honey's proverb to read, "They're
eating their black. bread now."
When you next go out in the
woods for a steak roast, take a
loaf of French bread, cut it ver-
tically into slices about six incites
long, then cut these slices again
horizontally in half, and butter them.
Cut the broiled stealts into slices .
to fit the bread; put the steak be-
tween the slices and press the re-
sultant sandwich firmly. The juice
rf the steak will soak into the
bread.. That's bread and that's meat,
and the combination is good.
Or if you haven't got a steak,
just a loaf of French bread, take the
loaf and cut it in half vertically.
l': ow you have two pieces, each
abotit a foot in length. Cut these
two pieces into slices about two
inches or so thick, but be careful
not to cut the bread all the way
through. Now you have about a
dozen small slices, six ir, each
half.
Take a third of a pound of but-
ter'and melt it in a measuring cup
cr small saucepan. Cut up a slice
of garlic and put it into the melted
butter. Allow the mixture to sim-
itter a wlile. Then pour the butter
ever the bread lengthwise, Some
of the butter will run into the in-
cisions; some will retrain on the
top of the bread.
Now put the two halves into a
hot oven. After they have become
hot, take them out and eat. -There
is still another proverb which runs
like this: "Whose bread I eat, his
song I sing." After you have eaten
this hot buttered French bread,
don't be surprised if you find gyour-
self humming.
Another favorite bread is made
of water -ground flour and it is even
more solid than most homemade
bread. The water -ground flour is
important.' lister power grinds
slowly enough to allow the flour
to retain much of the soil of the
grain. In the large mills, too, the
flour is bleached. It's a wonder they
don't powder and rouge it.
Mass production can't leave good
food alone. It must try to improve
on nature. It homogenizes it, vita--
winizes it, victimizes it. It adds
potatoes, honey, bananas, currants,
dates—even sunshine. It slices it,
wraps it. Then it embarks on a
$1,000,000 advertising campaign, as-
saulting both eye and ear.
Industrial America has glorified
i;read the way Hollywood has glori-
fied the American girl. Man does
not live by bread alone, but it is
the foundation of our diet, and our
sliced loaves of cotton batting are
a weals foundation for anything.
What America needs is bread with
crust to exercise the teeth and stick
to the ribs, bread to strengthen- the
heart for the tasks which lie ahead.
Sehoelbey "Howlers"
ll'licn a group of high school
pupils sat for a general knowledge
examination recently, some of them
produced the following written re-
plies to questions:
A skeleton is a person with his
insides out and his outsides off,
A sensation is that state of pub-
lic mind that exists in a given
community when one man's wife
runs off with another mate,
Salt Lake City is a place where
the Morons settled.
She was a sweet ,girl dressed in
a simple Dutch costume consisting
of a white cap and apron.
Typhoid fewer can be prevented
by fascination.
A referendum is having to look at
notes to see what you are going to
talk about.
The gelatine was used to cut off
the heads of many thousands of
people.
Woman witness: I have no quar-
rels with my neighbours. I just
won't speak to thein.
'WITH THOSE 041sELERS
ALL t oOHW' OVkR *THE
FrNC£ WE AREN'T SELLING
MANY TiCKETS!
What The Well -Dressed Juvenile Will Be Wearing Next
Winter — N.ylon News! Pint-sized weather protection is
offered by these wonderful lightweight ail -nylon snow -suits.
His Stuff May Be Corny
But It's Money -Making Corm
The year 1932 may be retneni-
bered for several reasons, scot least
for the debut of a comedian on an
American radio programme. He
walked nervously up to the micro-
phone and said: "Hallo, folks! This
is Jack Benny. There' will now be
a slight pause for everyone to say,
'Who cares?'"
As a result of this broadcast,
letters poured into the studio prais-
ing his unusual and nonchalant
style, which hitherto had not been
exploited by any other comedian.
Today, Jack Benny is acknowledged
to be one of America's leading
radio funsters and every Sunday
Maine thirty million citizens tune in
:kb listen to his show.
The "Average Man"
For Benny has perfected a char-
acterization, fraught with human
frailties. He is a typical "Average
than," a lovable boob, mean, cow-
ardly,-middle-aged—but with young
ideas] All of which has endeared
hitt to the man in" the street with
similar faults and weaknesses writes
David B. Williams in Tit -Bits.
That some members of the pub-
lic really believe in this comedian's
failings is exemplified by an ad-
vertisnient that appeared in the clas-
sified section of the "Sacremento
Union": "Two women about Jack
Benny's age would like a small,
unfurnished h-ouse. Would like to
pay what Jack Benny would like
to pay."
Unlike Bob Hope and other con-
temporaries of wit, Benny is no
master of repartee. But ;when he
does conte through with an ad-lib,
his timing and delivery are perfect.
Oil one occasion, Benny was ap-
pearing with Fred Allen, -who was
talking so fast that Jack found
it impossible to get a laugh him-
self. In desperation, and to the
delight of the audience, he ex-
claimed suddenly: "You wouldn't
dare do this if my writers were
here."
If anyone deserves the tag of
"right-hand man" where Benny is
concerned, she is Mary Livingstone
who, besides being the comedienne
on the programme, is in private life
Mrs. Jack Benny. She is noted for
her wonderful sense of humour, and
Jack always relies on her- keen
judgment whenever he's worried
about a joke or routine, Although
Mary has had countless offers to
be a star in her own right, she re-
iuses them all: "I just want to be
Mrs. Jack Benny," she says.
When they were married in 1927,.
Jack recalls that a big stag din-
ner was given in his lionour and
he felt very important. In the midst
of the proceedings, the Master of
Ceremonies called for silence while
he read a telegram. It ran:
"When you come home tonight,
be sure to take out the garbage.—
Iviary."
George and Gracie
While on the subject of marriage
it might be as well to mention
the George Burns -Jack Benny rou-
tine. It all started when Geo#ge
and Gracie Allen iirere betrothed.
Jack was playing in San Fran-
cisco at 'tlie time and thought lie
would rib his newly-wed friends.'
He teleplioned them at 3 a.m. on
their wedding night. Getting`. an
answer from a man, Benny :in-
quired: "Hallo? George?" A gruff
voice replied, "Send up two orders
of hani and eggs -rand the receiver
was slammed down. Since then the
comedians have always tettphoned
each other on important occasions.
When George and Gracie were
about to open at the London Pal-
ladium recently, Val Parnell threw
a party for them. During the eve-
ning George was called to the tele-
phone. Picking up the receiver he
heard a girl with a Southern draw]
say: "Mr. ,Bursts? Long distance
one moment, pleased jack
Benny from Hollywood wishes to
speak to you."
At the end of his chat with his
fellow comic, George told Itis guests
about it: "Fancy jack calling all
the way from Hollywood just to
wish us good luck!"
And There He Was!
He survey the gathering a smile
of self-satisfaction spreading across
his face. But at that moment his
eyes fell upon the doorway .
were Jack b;enny was stati-i*ntr! He
had arrived here unannounced, hav-
ing made the journey especially for
his friends' opening night. i{is prac-
tical joke had been carried out with
the help of film star Jane Wyman
. and extension telephones!
As a youngster, Jack studied the
violin and at eight years old lie was
referred to as the "child prodigy"
of Waukegan, his home town. Later
lie tried to obtain work with a
theatre orchestra but was engaged
as a ticket collector instead! The
violin, much to his regret, soon
1`ecame nothing more than a prop
during his vau6eville apiwarancei.
Yet even today, this "frustrated
Rxeisler" practises in his spare time
and constantly complains about his
lost chance to make a mme for
himself as a musician.
When Benny nioved his family
and radio programme to Califor-
nia its 1937, the very first show
there was all enactment of their
;curtsey west. The script required
someone to play the part of the
Pullman porter encountered con
the train and the role was awarded
tri a coloured actor, Eddie Anr;er-
son. lie made such a good job of
of it that his one night stand be-
came a permanent engagement—and
that's how Rochester was born,
Benny's gravel -voiced valet and
chauffeur.
It is not surprising that Benny,
having made a reputation on the
stage and radio, should turn to
Hollywood to reap further laurels.
;,ince 1932 lie has made over a
score of films. His best known are
"Buck Benny Rides Again" and
'George Washington Slept Here."
Counter Attack
He believes in giving the public
what it wants, even if it does not
always satisfy the radio critics, and
says: "It tools eighteen years to
develop the characters on my shone.
^_•they're as good as my writers and
I can make them. Each week we've
tried to inject a new situa•son, idea
or character into our script and
filling twenty pages a acres: for
thirty-nine weeks isn't ea -y
"So what happens? A • k:vic%cer
comes along, says the show wa-a
great, the audience loved it, the
script was hilarious ... PUT . .
I was the same stingy. toupee -
topped, faulty fiddler; Mary was
still snippy. Phil Harris continued
as a fugitive from Alcoholics An-
onymous; and Rochester was the
same sassy butler.
"Now, I've been reading this re-
viewer's column for many years,
and it's a darned good column.
But every week, every year, this
columnist's style of writing is al-
ways
-ways the same, Ngyer changes, A -1 -
ways verbs, pronouns and adjec-
tives. Why doesn't lie get some
new things:"
Farriers Combine Their Combines—A score of "good neighbors" from nearby farms massed
their combines here recently to harvest a 125 -acre wheat field for a widowed mother of two,
Mrs, Marie I1u11er. Her husband was killed in this very sante field a year ap. while cutting
Clover.
By Arthur Pointer
...
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