Sunday, December 31, 2023
Sunday, December 24, 2023
Sunday, December 17, 2023
The Legend of St. Nicholas
Who is that man in red? The man who, every Christmas Eve, brazenly breaks into people's homes, helps himself to cookies and milk, and leaves things behind resulting in a mess of wrapping paper and ribbon for others to clean up the next morning. Reindeer and a heavily laden sleigh can't be good for the roof. Soot from a chimney tracked all over the floor…something else left behind for others to clean.
Yet every year we anxiously anticipate his arrival, track his progress through the skies, and welcome him into our homes.
Santa Claus can be traced back many centuries to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey. Much admired for his piety and kindness, St. Nicholas became the subject of many legends. It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick. One of the best known of the St. Nicholas stories is that he saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their father when he provided them with a dowry so they could be married. Over the course of many years, Nicholas' popularity spread and he became known as the protector of children and sailors. His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6. This was traditionally considered a lucky day to make large purchases or to get married. By the Renaissance, St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe. Even after the Protestant Reformation, when the veneration of saints began to be discouraged, St. Nicholas maintained a positive reputation, especially in Holland.
Sinter Klaas Comes to New York
St. Nicholas made his first inroads into American popular
culture towards the end of the 18th century. In December 1773, and again in
1774, a New York newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families had gathered
to honor the anniversary of his death.
The name Santa Claus evolved from his Dutch nickname, Sinter Klaas, a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas (Dutch for Saint Nicholas). In 1804, John Pintard, a member of the New York Historical Society, distributed woodcuts of St. Nicholas at the society's annual meeting. The background of the engraving contains now-familiar Santa images including stockings filled with toys and fruit hung over a fireplace. In 1809, Washington Irving helped to popularize the Sinter Klaas stories when he referred to St. Nicholas as the patron saint of New York in his book, The History of New York. As his prominence grew, Sinter Klaas was described as everything from a rascal with a blue three-cornered hat, red waistcoat, and yellow stockings to a man wearing a broad-brimmed hat and a "huge pair of Flemish trunk hose."
Shopping Mall Santas
Gift-giving, mainly centered around children, has been an
important part of the Christmas celebration since the holiday's rejuvenation in
the early 19th century. Stores began to advertise Christmas shopping in 1820,
and by the 1840s, newspapers were creating separate sections for holiday
advertisements, which often featured images of the newly-popular Santa Claus.
In 1841, thousands of children visited a Philadelphia shop to see a life-size
Santa Claus model. It was only a matter of time before stores began to attract
children, and their parents, with the lure of a peek at a live Santa Claus. In the early 1890s, the Salvation Army needed
money to pay for the free Christmas meals they provided to needy families. They
began dressing up unemployed men in Santa Claus suits and sending them into the
streets of New York to solicit donations. Those familiar Salvation Army Santas
have been ringing bells on the street corners of American cities ever since.
A Santa by Any Other
Name
18th-century America's Santa Claus was not the only St.
Nicholas-inspired gift-giver to make an appearance at Christmastime. Similar
figures were popular all over the world. Christkind or Kris Kringle was
believed to deliver presents to well-behaved Swiss and German children. Meaning
Christ child, Christkind is an
angel-like figure often accompanied by St. Nicholas on his holiday missions. In
Scandinavia, a jolly elf named Jultomten was thought to deliver gifts in a
sleigh drawn by goats. British legend explains that Father Christmas visits
each home on Christmas Eve to fill children's stockings with holiday treats.
Pere Noel is responsible for filling the shoes of French children. In Russia,
it is believed that an elderly woman named Babouschka purposely gave the wise
men wrong directions to Bethlehem so that they couldn't find Jesus. Later, she
felt remorseful, but could not find the men to undo the damage. To this day, on
January 5, Babouschka visits Russian children leaving gifts at their bedsides
in the hope that one of them is the baby Jesus and she will be forgiven. In
Italy, a similar story exists about a woman called La Befana, a kindly witch
who rides a broomstick down the chimneys of Italian homes to deliver toys into
the stockings of lucky children.
The Ninth Reindeer
Rudolph, "the most famous reindeer of all," was
born over a hundred years after his eight flying counterparts. The red-nosed
wonder was the creation of Robert L. May, a copywriter at the Montgomery Ward
department store.
In 1939, May wrote a Christmas-themed story-poem to help bring holiday traffic into his store. Using a similar rhyme pattern to Moore's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, May told the story of Rudolph, a young reindeer who was teased by the other deer because of his large, glowing red nose. But, when Christmas Eve turned foggy and Santa worried that he wouldn't be able to deliver gifts that night, the former outcast saved Christmas by leading the sleigh with the light of his red nose. Rudolph's message—that given the opportunity, a liability can be turned into an asset—proved popular. Montgomery Ward sold almost two and a half million copies of the story in 1939. When it was reissued in 1946, the book sold over three and half million copies. Several years later, one of May's friends, Johnny Marks, wrote a short song based on Rudolph's story (1949). It was recorded by Gene Autry and sold over two million copies. Since then, the story has been translated into 25 languages and been made into a television movie, narrated by Burl Ives, which has charmed audiences since 1964.
Sunday, December 10, 2023
Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL
We all know Charles Dickens' story of Ebenezer Scrooge and his visits from the ghosts on Christmas Eve. A story of redemption—a miserly man whose concept of the Christmas spirit is "Bah, Humbug!" Then his life is turned around after Marley tells him about his upcoming visits from the Christmas ghosts. The first one from his past to remind him of what was and the promise of what could have been, the second from his present to open his eyes to what he had become and how others felt about him, and the final visit from the ghost of the future to show him where he was headed if he didn't change his ways.
From a writer's perspective, it was the first time a story had been told from the point-of-view of a character within that story rather than an omniscient point-of-view of an unidentified narrator. Point-of-view—something vital for today's writer of fiction.
The novella, first published in London on December 9, 1843, has been a staple of the Christmas season as a movie, television show, or play for well over a century. I wondered how many different versions of Dickens' story there were. So, I did what I usually do when I want a quick answer to something…I Googled it.
And the results came as quite a surprise. Things I knew, things I had known but forgotten, and things I never knew. The Internet Movie Database lists more than one hundred versions of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, including a videogame, four operas, and two ballets. More than twenty television series have episodes inspired by the novella. There was even a television movie set in the United States during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and a couple where the character of Scrooge was portrayed as being a woman.
The oldest surviving filming of A CHRISTMAS CAROL was a short British film from 1901. There was a fifteen minute silent movie made in 1908 followed by two other silent versions made in 1910 and 1913. There have been the dramatic theatrical films, television movies, musical versions, and animated versions with very familiar cartoon characters taking on the roles of Dickens' famous characters. There was even one, considered by many to be the fan popular favorite, starring The Muppets.
I have noticed over the last few years that several game shows, especially this time of year, have used this trivia question—How many ghosts visited Scrooge in Dickens' A Christmas Carol? And most of the time the contestant got it wrong. They usually answer with the number three when in reality it's four. They seem to forget about the first ghost being that of Marley, Scrooge's former business partner, who sets the scene for the appearance of the next three ghosts.
Even though all the various productions of A CHRISTMAS CAROL tell Dickens' story of Scrooge and the visits from the Christmas ghosts, many had their own unique twist and flavor on the original. I think my favorite is a 1970 theatrical musical version titled SCROOGE which stars Albert Finney as the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge who learns the lessons of the spirit of the Christmas season.
Sunday, December 3, 2023
SECRETS FROM THE PAST—character interview
This week, I'm welcoming to my blog Shelby Haywood and Cameron Pierce, the main characters in SECRETS FROM THE PAST, a sensual mystery/romantic suspense—my new release from The Wild Rose Press.
Welcome Shelby and Cameron. Thank you for taking time from your busy schedules to be here with us today.
Shelby: It's our pleasure.
Cam: Thanks for inviting us. So…what's on your mind?
Well, I'm curious about several things. Why would Shelby suddenly pack up and leave her lifetime home city of San Francisco and move to Seattle, a city where she didn't know anyone, for a job contract that was just a one year special project? And Cameron, why all the rumors about the mysterious past of someone wealthy and powerful who's known worldwide as a patron of the arts and for his support of many charitable causes?
Let's start with you, Shelby. You were born in San Francisco and had lived there your whole life when you suddenly picked up and moved to Seattle to take a job as a consultant with Pierce Industries on a one year project. That seems like an abrupt change to your life and for something that was temporary.
Shelby: It wasn't as abrupt as it sounds. [Cam takes her hand in a show of support] My husband of ten years had died in a fall down the stairs in our house. Even though I had proof that I wasn't home at the time, the police had investigated, and the medical examiner ruled it an accidental death, my former in-laws harassed me non-top for the next four years, blaming me for his death. And the Haywoods usually got what they wanted. They believe the rules and the law doesn't apply to them.
Cam: The Haywoods have been prominent in San Francisco for several generations, powerful and wealthy. I had never met Shelby before she started the consultant's job with my company. My executive vice-president negotiated her contract. I wasn't aware that she was associated with those Haywoods. I was naturally curious about why she would move from San Francisco to Seattle to accept a temporary job that only lasted one year. And then two weeks after she began work, I started receiving threatening anonymous letters. Coincidence? I wasn't sure.
Shelby: It seemed that Cam had become the focus of some sort of a dangerous situation that included attempts on his life.
Cam: And when one of those attempts injured Shelby, I knew I had to do everything I could to protect her from being caught up in the danger that seemed to suddenly be surrounding me for reasons unknown.
What steps did you take to protect her? And what about you? As you were the target of the threats, you were still in danger. Did you consider leaving town, maybe leaving the state?
Cam: You mean go into hiding? No. I have a large international corporation to run and thousands of people depending on me for their income. I can't simply pick up and go into hiding. I did insist that Shelby move into my house. I have an excellent security system. She would be able to work from my home office.
And did that resolve the problem of her safety?
Cam: No. She thanked me but turned down my offer.
Shelby: Like Cam, I can't allow my life to be controlled by fear. I did offer him another avenue, one that hadn't occurred to me earlier. My best friend in San Francisco has a older brother. The three of us grew up together. He lives in Seattle now and is a professor of criminology at the university. One of the classes he teaches is about profiling. Cam agreed to meet with him to see if he could provide some information about who would be doing this and why. It proved to be a very informative meeting that gave us a whole new avenue to pursue.
That sounds interesting. What did he come up with?
Shelby: [laughs] It's all in the book.
[joins Shelby's laugh] Are you pulling that 'you have to read the book' answer on me?
Shelby: [smiles] So it would seem.
Cam: It turns out that there was a whole lot more going on than anyone ever suspected.
Could you elaborate on that?
Cam: As Shelby said, it's all in the book.
[laughs] I have the feeling that's all I'm going to get out of you.
Shelby: [extends a teasing grin] Maybe you'd like to hear about my first day at kindergarten?
Cam: [laughs] I'm sure you'll enjoy that story.
Well, I see you aren't going to tell me anything more about the secrets from your past, the life-threatening danger that surrounded you, and how it was resolved. How about some information on how you handled a budding romance in the middle of all the turmoil and chaos?
Shelby: It's all—
Cam: —in the book.
[laughs] Thank you Shelby and Cam for being here today.
SECRETS FROM THE PAST, a sensual mystery/romantic
suspense published by The Wild Rose Press, www.thewildrosepress.com Veiled threats endanger secrets from Cameron's
past and soon escalate to attempts on his life. Shelby has her own secrets that
could destroy her future with Cameron…or get them both killed.
BLURB:
After the death of her husband, Shelby Haywood needs to
escape the constant harassment from her former in-laws who blame her for his
death. When offered a job with Pierce Industries in Seattle, she eagerly
accepts but is unprepared for her instant attraction to the company's very
desirable owner.
The moment billionaire Cameron Pierce meets Shelby, he knows she's what's been missing from his life. Veiled threats endanger secrets from his past and soon escalate to attempts on his life. When one attempt injures Shelby, he vows to protect her.
Shelby has her own secrets that could destroy her future with Cameron…or get them both killed.
EXCERPT:
Cam placed his
hand at the small of her back as he guided her out of the building and toward
the parking lot. Tremors of excitement assaulted her senses the moment he made
physical contact, then the excitement stalled as it mingled with her feelings
of guilt.
“I’ll follow you to your house so you can drop off your car,” his voice broke into her thoughts, “then we’ll go to dinner from there.”
Cam’s gaze quickly but expertly swept the surrounding area. He wrinkled his brow into a slight frown as he pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial for the maintenance department.
“This is Cameron. We have a couple of security lights burned out in the executive parking lot. Could someone please get them replaced as soon as possible?” He listened for a moment before speaking again. “Thanks, that will be fine.” He returned his cell phone to his pocket. “Strange that the two burned out lights would be next to each other. That makes a very large, dark area.”
They stepped off the curb into the darkness, crossing the driveway toward the parking lot and Shelby’s car. The roar of an engine and screeching tires came at them from out of the dark. A hard adrenaline surge shot through Cam. Grabbing Shelby’s arm, he yanked her aside so hard they both fell to the pavement. He held her tightly as he rolled out of the way, taking her with him. The car sped off, barely missing them. It scraped against a signpost on the way out of the parking lot before it disappeared down the street into the night.
Cam cradled Shelby’s trembling body in his arms. His heart pounded as he tried to force his breathing under control. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“I…I’m fine.” The quaver in her voice matched the fear on her face. “What about you? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, nothing’s broken.” The image from twenty-five years ago suddenly flooded his mind as vividly as when it had happened, the sight of his innocent little six-year-old cousin being cut down by bullets meant for someone else.
SECRETS FROM THE PAST buy links:
https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Past-Samantha-Gentry-ebook/dp/B0CJG4CMYX
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1144089246?ean=2940186044321
and other online vendors
Excerpts and other information available on my website www.samanthagentry.com
Visit my blog, a new post on Sundays: https://samanthagentry.blogspot.com
Sunday, November 26, 2023
SECRETS FROM THE PAST—Release Day Monday, November 27, 2023
SECRETS FROM THE PAST, a sensual mystery/romantic suspense, is scheduled for release by The Wild Rose Press on Monday, November 27, 2023.
Veiled threats endanger secrets from Cameron Pierce's past and soon escalate to attempts on his life. Shelby Haywood has her own secrets that could destroy her future with Cameron…or get them both killed. Is their shared heated desire increasing the danger surrounding them?
Cameron Pierce is a self-made billionaire, a man known world-wide for his business acumen, power, and extreme wealth. A man also known for his patronage of the arts and many charitable deeds. And a man with a past clouded in mystery and dark rumors.
Four years ago, Shelby Haywood's husband of ten years died in a fall down a flight of stairs. Even though his death was officially ruled an accident, she's been subjected to the harassment and accusations of her former in-laws who continually accuse her of being somehow responsible for their son's death. The Haywoods are a powerful and very wealthy family whose roots go back several generations in San Francisco. They've never made a secret of the fact that they believe their son married far below his status.
Shelby finally makes the decision to leave her lifetime home town of San Francisco. She signs a contract for a one year project with Pierce Industries in Seattle where she'll be working directly with the dynamic Cameron Pierce.
G-Excerpt #2)
Cameron Pierce
read the anonymous letter again, being very careful to handle only the corners
of the paper so he wouldn’t disturb any existing fingerprint evidence. I
know everything, and I’m going to make you pay.
The fourth threat he had received in as many weeks, this one just as ambiguous as the previous three letters had been. The anonymous threat didn’t contain anything specific. Did it refer to something he, personally, had been accused of doing? Or a problem in one of his companies? And the reference to making him pay…an attempt to extort money or a threat on his life?
He dropped the letter and its envelope into a plastic sleeve, sealed it, and handed it to Tom Jenkins, head of security for Pierce Industries. “Put this one with the others.”
“The last three letters arrived on consecutive Mondays. This is the Friday after the fourth consecutive Monday. When did you receive it?”
Cam glanced around his office, not happy with the sensation of being grilled by his own employee but knowing he had purposely withheld the information. “It came last Monday.”
He directed a stern look at his security chief, putting a stop to what he knew Tom wanted to say. Tom’s expression said he got Cam’s unspoken message.
“Okay, Cam. Where was this one mailed?”
“It has an Edmonds postmark. That makes four letters postmarked from four different locations in the greater Seattle metropolitan area in the last four weeks.”
“I still think they should be turned over to the police. I can call Lt. Crandall and put it on an unofficial personal basis.”
“No…there’s no reason to bother George with this. Men in my position are always receiving meaningless threats. The police have enough real crime to worry about without concerning themselves with crank notes. Besides, the letters are so vague that it’s impossible to determine what they mean, and the writer has never made any specific demands.”
“The threats are coming through the mail. That makes it a federal offense, which would put it in the lap of the FBI. They’re also being mailed from four different law enforcement jurisdictions, possibly an attempt to confuse an investigation.”
“Local or federal, there still isn’t anything specific in the letters that says what the person wants or what I’m supposed to have done. Or, for that matter, if they’re unhappy with me personally or if the vague threat is aimed at one of my companies.”
Cam maintained a casual attitude until Tom left the office. One thing about this mess bothered him more than anything else—the possibility that someone had been able to unravel his past and discover his true identity. For over twenty years there had been unsubstantiated rumors about where he came from before he started his meteoric rise to the top, but no one had ever been able to track down anything before he legally changed his name to Cameron Pierce—not even the fact that it had been the second time he legally changed his name. It was the main reason he refused to involve the police.
Then there was the other thing he didn’t want to acknowledge—the threatening letters started two weeks after Shelby Haywood came to work for him. Could there be a connection? She had worked for Jerry Decker, a point not in her favor. Thirty-four made her too young to have any connection to his deep past. But what about her family? Had either his father or uncle crossed paths with some member of her family, resulting in disaster for her hapless relative? Could that have caused her to seek revenge?
Blurb:
After the death of her husband, Shelby Haywood needs to
escape the constant harassment from her former in-laws who blame her for his
death. When offered a job with Pierce Industries in Seattle, she eagerly
accepts but is unprepared for her instant attraction to the company's very
desirable owner.
The moment billionaire Cameron Pierce meets Shelby, he knows she's what's been missing from his life. Veiled threats endanger secrets from his past and soon escalate to attempts on his life. When one attempt injures Shelby, he vows to protect her.
Shelby has her own secrets that could destroy her future with Cameron…or get them both killed.
Excerpts and other information available on my website www.samanthagentry.com
Buy links:
https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Past-Samantha-Gentry-ebook/dp/B0CJG4CMYX
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1144089246?ean=2940186044321
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Those Naughty Pilgrims
With Thanksgiving comes stories of the Pilgrims taking up residence in the new world, landing at Plymouth Rock in what is now the state of Massachusetts. The pious Pilgrims certainly have a reputation for being a rigid, hard-working, and humorless group. But there are a few surprises to be found. Even though drunkenness was discouraged, beer was accepted as a drink for men, women, and even children. The daily ration on the Mayflower was a gallon a day for each individual. It took 66 days for them to sail from England to their landing place of Plymouth Rock. Hmmm…66 days times 1 gallon per person times the number of people on the ship. It seems that a lot of room on board the ship was devoted to storing the beer ration.
Even sex was not taboo under the right circumstances. They had a matter-of-fact attitude about sex as long as it was between a married couple. It's when sex strayed from being the exclusive right between a married couple that the stories get interesting.
Studies by a group of anthropologists at the University of Virginia found that the Pilgrims spent a great deal of time thinking about how to punish those with impure thoughts and actions. Studies also discovered that in 11% of the marriages at Plymouth Colony the bride was already pregnant. The same study estimates that as many as 50% of the Pilgrims engaged in premarital sex. Definitely not an image that fits the stereotype of the staid Pilgrims.
But what about the actions and activities of those naughty Pilgrims? As with so much in life, there's the façade then there's the underlying reality.
Although not liberal in their thinking or lifestyle, the Pilgrims were not as uptight as history would have us believe and apparently not as uptight as their cousins, the Puritans. Both the Pilgrims and the Puritans were English Protestants who believed that the Church of England was in need of reform. Although both groups were strict Calvinists, they differed in their approach to how the Church of England should be reformed. The Pilgrims were more inclined to separate from the church (therefore known as separatists), while the Puritans wanted to reform the church from within. The Pilgrims were the first group to seek religious freedom in the New World (thus separating from the church). As strict Calvinists, members of both groups believed in original sin, predestination, and the literal interpretation of the Bible as God's word.
The Pilgrims tried to create a strict religious society, but had an understanding and mercy unusual for their time in history. As time passed, however, intolerance grew and was reflected in their laws and clearly demonstrated by the notorious Salem witch trials. Innocent people were convicted and put to death on evidence that later even the Pilgrims declared to be inadmissible—I saw it in a dream, the spirit of my dead grandmother came to me and said…
According to the Mayflower Compact, the colony was to establish laws based on Biblical teachings "for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith." The Old Testament book of Leviticus was the basis for most of their laws, a biblical source that definitely predated the New Testament and Christianity's teachings of love and forgiveness rather than reflecting those Old Testament teachings. Adultery? Death. A man has sex with his daughter-in-law? Death. Sodomy? Death. Bestiality? Death. Are you beginning to see a pattern?
But interestingly, the Pilgrims did not typically enforce the death penalty for sex offenses. There is only one known case in which the convicted offender was actually put to death for sex crimes. It was the case of Thomas Graunger, a teenage boy apparently at the peak of his raging hormones who sought satisfaction from any and all sources available to him…those sources being the farm animals.
According to Plymouth Governor William Bradford, "He was this year detected of buggery, and indicted for the same, with a mare, a cow, two goats, five sheep, two calves and a turkey."
Even though Thomas was the only one executed for a sex crime, punishments were routinely severe even with far lesser sex crimes and usually meant whippings, being put into the stocks, and fines.
Men were not the only offenders in Plymouth colony. The prim women weren't always so pious either. Women were often caught since the evidence of their dalliances were babies. The records of the times are filled with one out-of-wedlock child after another. Babies showing up just a few months after marriage were also evidence of wrong doing. Pre-marital sex was severely punished. Fines were levied even for making passes, for appearing to have a lascivious carriage in public, or partying in mixed company at an unseemly time of night.
Sex outside marriage, even between two unmarried consenting adults, usually meant a whipping and fines. If the woman became pregnant, the man had to either marry her or pay for the child's upbringing. The man was usually placed in the stocks and whipped while the woman was made to watch. Sometimes mercy was granted as in the case of a servant, Jane Powell. Following years of hard servitude, she was destitute and had agreed to having sex in the hopes of marrying the man. Apparently the court found her plea convincing and she went unpunished.
Even though the Pilgrims imposed strict punishment for crimes, they also understood human temptations. In 1656, Katheren Aines and William Paule were sentenced for committing adultery. William was whipped and forced to pay the costs of his imprisonment. Katheren was whipped, imprisoned and forced to wear a letter on her shoulder designating her as an adulteress. (Calling Nathaniel Hawthorne!) However, Katheren's husband, Alexander, was also punished. Alexander had left his family for some time and treated her badly during their marriage. The Pilgrims viewed him as guilty of "exposing his wife to such temptations." Alexander was required to pay for his wife's imprisonment, and sit in the stocks while William and Katheren were whipped.
This Thanksgiving as you sit down to your turkey dinner, it might be a good idea to take a moment to be thankful that you aren't a Pilgrim. :)
Sunday, November 12, 2023
Eagle Vs. Turkey: America's National Symbol
We all know that the bald eagle is America's National Symbol—a proud and majestic bird. And turkey is what we serve every year at Thanksgiving dinner—a tasty bird made all the more appetizing when accompanied by dressing, cranberries, mashed potatoes and gravy.
But did you know that if Benjamin Franklin had gotten his way, the turkey would have been our national symbol?
In 1776, right after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress appointed a special committee to select a design for an official national seal. This committee consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. They each had their own ideas, none of which included the bald eagle. They finally came to agreement on a drawing of a woman holding a shield to represent the states. However, the design did nothing to inspire the members of Congress.
So Congress consulted a Philadelphia artist named William Barton who created a new design that included a golden eagle. At the time we were still at war with England and the fierce looking bird was deemed an appropriate symbol…with one small change. The golden eagle also flew over Europe so the federal lawmakers declared that the bird in the seal had to be an American bald eagle.
On June 20, 1782, they approved the design that we recognize today.
From the start, the eagle had been a controversial choice. Benjamin Franklin was quite vocal in his objection to the selection of the eagle. He considered it a bird of "bad moral character." A year after the Treaty of Paris officially ended the war with Great Britain, Franklin argued that the turkey would have been a more appropriate symbol. "A much more respected bird and a true native of America."
Unfortunately for Franklin, Congress was not convinced and the bald eagle remained our national symbol.
Whereas both the bald eagle and the turkey are native to America, we can't lay exclusive claim to either species since both traditionally ranged in Canada and Mexico as well as the U.S.
And all of this leads us to one important question. If the turkey had been chosen as our national symbol, what would we serve as our traditional Thanksgiving dinner? Somehow roast eagle just doesn't have the same appeal as the turkey.
Sunday, November 5, 2023
Halloween Aftermath—Candy and Costumes
I'd like to offer one last Halloween fright before we turn our attention to the next celebration of the holiday season—Thanksgiving. And what is that one last fright? It's all that Halloween candy that you still have on hand.
Halloween aftermath usually means two things—putting the witch and goblin decorations away and fighting the battle of all that candy in the house. First, there's the leftover candy from what you bought to hand out to trick-or-treaters. There's two schools of thought about what type of candy to buy. One theory says buy what you like so you can enjoy the leftovers. The other theory says buy what you don't like so you won't be tempted. And the second thing is all the candy the kids collected on their trick or treat rounds. Sacks full of candy. Enough potential sugar overdose and tooth decay material to last until next Halloween.
And what kind of candy is it that we now have in
abundance? It seems that all the candy
manufacturers, in addition to their regular size candy bars, make the little
fun size candy—the mini candy bars or individual pieces. Those little bite size morsels that give us
just a taste. Unfortunately, it's
usually a taste for more. :)
These little tidbits aren't as harmless as you'd like to believe. Many of the small treats are worse for you than eating a normal size candy bar. But that can't be, you tell yourself, because you're only going to eat one of those little things and that's certainly not the same as a regular size candy bar. What's that you said? Eat just one? Well, you and I both know that's a lie! :) Remember that old Lay's Potato Chip commercial from many years ago? Bet you can't eat just one. That applies to those tasty little bite size morsels of candy as well.
I recently saw a list of the ten worse choices of these mini candy snacks and I'd like to share it with you.
1) Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins (1 piece): You convince yourself that you're getting lots of protein from the peanut butter. Think again. One pumpkin has 180 calories, 11 grams of fat, and 17 grams of sugar.
2) Dove Milk Chocolate Promises (5 pieces): Chocolate is marvelous stuff, full of antioxidants that help decrease the risk of heart disease. Think again. It's DARK chocolate that has the antioxidants, not milk chocolate. You're eating 220 calories, 13 grams of fat, and 22 grams of sugar.
3) Twix Miniatures (3 pieces): Like the Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins, another choice that might not seem so bad for you. This gooey caramel and cookie crunch treat has 150 calories, 8 grams of fat, and 15 grams of sugar.
4) Almond Joy Snack-Size Bars (3 pieces): Coconut milk and coconut water might be popular in healthy eating circles, but that doesn't mean it's ok to cover it with chocolate and still consider it healthy. With these, you're eating 200 calories, 11 grams of fat, and 19 grams of sugar.
5) Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Miniature (5 pieces): Remember the comments about Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins? Well, the same rules apply here only this time it's 220 calories, 13 grams of fat, and 23 grams of sugar.
6) Hershey's Miniatures (5 pieces): These are staples every year at Halloween time. The mixed bag of treats begs you to try at least one of each kind. You'll be consuming 200 calories, 11 grams of fat, and 19 grams of sugar.
7) Hershey's Kisses Caramel-Filled (9 pieces): These seem safe, but don't be fooled. You're looking at 190 calories, 9 grams of fat, and 24 grams of sugar.
8) York Dark Chocolate-Covered Peppermint Patties (3 pieces): The cool minty chocolate that melts in your mouth gives you 150 calories, 3 grams of fat, and 27 grams of sugar.
9) Snickers Fun Size (2 bars): The commercials say, "Hungry? Grab a Snickers." If you do, you'll be grabbing 144 calories, 7.4 grams of fat, and 14 grams of sugar.
10) Kit Kat Snack Size (3 bars, 2 pieces each): These little beauties are worth 210 calories, 11 grams of fat, and 24 grams of sugar.
Perhaps the scariest thing about Halloween is the number of calories, grams of fat, and grams of sugar we consume under the guise of it's little, it won't hurt me.
Let's talk about that other Halloween must—costumes. Per Google Search, here's the top ten Halloween costumes for kids in 2023:
1) Spiderman
2) Princess
3) Ghost
4) Superhero
5) Witch
6) Batman
7) Barbie
8) Zombie
9) Mario
10) Wednesday Addams
And the top 10 Halloween costumes for adults in 2023:
1) Witch
2) Vampire
3) Barbie
4) Batman
5) Cat
6) Zombie
7) Pirate
8) Princess
9) Ghost
10) Spiderman
And now, strictly for adults…having a glass of wine with our
Halloween candy. What type of wine could
possibly go with Candy Corn?
Master Sommelier and Director of Wines at Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants has put together some pairings of Halloween candy and wine for your pleasure.
Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bars go nicely with a fruity, low-alcohol wine like Brachetto d'Aqui from Northern Italy. It's bright pink and tastes like raspberries and roses.
Hot Tamales candy are intensely spicy and sweet. That demands a high acid wine with low alcohol to cut the spice and high sugar content, something like a German Riesling.
Tootsie Rolls go very well with a Tawny Port. A twenty year old Tawny Port will taste like nuts and orange peel.
Reese's Pieces go perfectly with Vin Santo from Italy. This wine has a nutty flavor, a great match with the peanut buttery candy.
And finally…what wine goes with Candy Corn? According to the expert, this super sugary
candy pairs well with a very floral wine like Muscat de Beaumes de Venise which
is a fortified Muscat from the South of France with a rich orange blossom
flavor.
So…sort out your candy and don't over do it.
Sunday, October 29, 2023
The Ouija Board—Strange and Mysterious Brief History
Perhaps you've used a Ouija board, know someone who has, or merely seen them being used in movies and television shows. Also called spirit boards or talking boards, they're a flat board with letters, numbers, the words yes, no, hello, and goodbye. The Ouija board goal is to summon the spirit(s) someone wishes to communicate with. The spirit then communicates by spelling out words using the planchette (the thing you put your fingers on that the spirit moves around the board pointing to the specific letters and numbers).
While the Ouija board's origins only date back to mid 19th century America during the age of spiritualism, the concept of holding a device that points out words from an otherworldly source is ancient. Early accounts of this date back to 1100AD in China. It was considered a valid method of contacting the dead.
In the late 19th century, the average lifespan was less than fifty years. The desire to communicate with departed loved ones at a séance wasn't that uncommon. However, those events were often frustrating and expensive. Spiritual mediums were unreliable and charged a lot of money to send and receive messages from beyond. That created a market for a cheaper method of contacting the dead from the comfort of one's own home.
And the Ouija board answered that need.
It was introduced to the public in 1890 by a businessman
named Elijah Bond. His original product was called a Talking Board and was
supposed to answer facts about the past and predict the future. It was
introduced as nothing more than a fun throwaway game, completely unrelated to
ghosts or the occult. By World War I, large groups of people were convinced
that the movements of the planchette had an otherworldly origin.
The first person to rename the talking board as the Ouija Board was Elijah Bond's employee, a man named William Fuld. Conflicting reports say the meaning of Ouija came from the ancient Egyptian word for good luck or it was a combination of the French Oiu and German Ja, both words meaning yes.
Some Christian denominations believe Ouija boards lead to demonic possession. The scientific community has criticized the paranormal beliefs associated with Ouija boards. But—however you feel about them, they're thought of as being spooky.
If you believe that Ouija boards really do connect with the dead, you're in good company. Many famous and successful people during the last one hundred years have used Ouija boards—English writer G.K. Chesterton, rock musician Alice Cooper, Pulitzer Prize winning poet James Merrill, Italian president Romano Prodi, and Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson.
Have you ever used an Ouija board, either seriously or as an entertainment source?
Sunday, October 22, 2023
Haunted Houses
Next in my series of Halloween season blogs, I'm delving into the history of haunted houses—sharing some real haunted houses and a few miscellaneous Halloween facts.
I remember when I was a child in West Los Angeles. We had a very large, over-sized garage and one year my mother and father fixed it up like a haunted house for my Halloween party—a winding, twisty route through all kinds of scary things. It was a lot of fun and totally different from anything anyone else in the neighborhood did for Halloween. Of course, back in those days scary things were not at all the same type of bloody gruesome attractions that are the main features of today's professional Halloween attractions. Rather than featuring today's horror images, they dwelled on innocent/fun ghosts and goblins.
Halloween attractions have moved far beyond the neighborhood scare as a fun encounter for the trick-or-treaters. Today they are big business—very big business. Operators of the large attractions spend most of the year coming up with new and better ideas for frightening horror attractions and implementing them. They take pleasure in dreaming up even more diabolical ways of giving us the seasonal nightmares.
Let's talk about the history of haunted houses and some Halloween facts. Just in the United States, there are over 1200 professional haunted houses, 300 theme parks that operate horror-themed annual Halloween events and over 3000 charity-run spooky Halloween attractions. Haunted attractions have a long history dating back to early civilizations.
Ancient Times:
The Egyptians knew that the best way to keep body snatchers
away from a pyramid was to really scare them away. The commonly used mazes,
moving walls, self-opening doors, and traps as well as snakes and insects to protect
their treasure and the bodies of royalty. True, they weren't charging admission
and the public wasn't lined up waiting to get inside, but it is an early
example of creating a setting to produce fear.
The Greeks and Romans have a folklore complete with mazes and labyrinths filled with monsters. With theater being a vital part of their culture, we can assume they created numerous special effects devices to enhance the scare factor that would evolve into today's haunted house elements.
The Dark Ages:
This period in history saw the Christians continue the
evolution toward today's haunted house attraction. During the 1300s through the
1500s, Europe had been converted from Celtic and pagan religions to the
practice of Christianity. Many of today's Halloween activities—carving
pumpkins, bobbing for apples, dressing up in costumes, and even
trick-or-treating—were pagan practices that stayed with us.
The Renaissance:
Theater became increasingly popular and catered to society's
love of horror which resulted in the development of more special effects.
Ghosts, demons, the devil, and other monsters appeared regularly in plays
including those of William Shakespeare.
The 1800s:
This was a time when the general population became
fascinated with ghosts and the possibility of other realms. Self-proclaimed
mediums, fortune tellers, clairvoyants, and spiritualists engaged in conjuring
sessions in an attempt to communicate with the dead which became a form of
entertainment for the elite. The theme of hauntings continued in the theater
and the century provided the first wax museum, the forerunner of future
walk-through attractions that played on people's sense of reality.
The 1900s:
The start of the 20th century saw the increased popularity
of the traveling carnival and the rise of what was referred to as a freak show.
Dark rides also became popular amusements. The patrons sat in a boat or on a
train and were automatically moved through numerous scenes. Amusement parks
came into popularity during this time. Those that could not afford a big roller
coaster offered cheap fun houses and haunted house attractions to pull in
customers.
Also during this time, many of the residential houses built during the early 1800s had become dilapidated and run down. Adults would tell their children that ghosts filled the neglected homes in an attempt to keep them from exploring those structures. This further fueled the mystique of haunted houses.
The 1960s:
In 1969, Disneyland (Anaheim, California) opened its Haunted
Mansion attraction. Rather than putting
a genuine decrepit-looking structure in the middle of Disneyland, they created
a lavish mansion with a pristine exterior based on the appearance of the San
Jose, California, Winchester House. It
was originally a walk-through attraction but was soon changed over to a ride.
The 1970s:
Non-profit organizations began to use abandoned buildings
and fields to put up haunted houses to raise money for charity.
The 1980s:
This was the decade when horror movies grew in popularity
and so did haunted houses. Most amusement parks had a scary attraction of some
sort.
The 1990s to present:
Haunts are everywhere—haunted hayrides, mazes, and scavenger
hunts. They've become so popular that haunts are here to stay with the industry
constantly evolving with new and more terrifying attractions.
Real Haunted Houses (that have not been turned into inns or hotels):
Winchester Mystery House/San Jose, California:
The Winchester Mystery House is a 160-room Victorian mansion
brimming with bizarre architectural features and a very eerie origin. With
features such as secret passageways, labyrinth-like winding hallways and a seance
room, this eccentric house is rumored to have been built for and by spirits
themselves.
The Amityville House/Amityville, New York:
In 1974, six members of the DeFeo family were found slain in
this home; eldest son Ronald DeFeo Jr. was later convicted of murdering his
parents and siblings. A year later, the Lutz family moved in but quickly moved
out after reports of unexplained paranormal activity—strange odors, unexplained
cold drafts and an apparition that took the form of a demonic pig-like creature.
The White House (yes, the residence of the President of the
United States)/Washington D.C.:
For years there have been reports that the White House is a
hotbed of haunted activity. Visitors, staff, and even White House residents
have reported seeing the ghosts of Abraham Lincoln, Abigail Adams, and Andrew
Jackson, to name a few. FDR, Dwight Eisenhower, and Winston Churchill are among
those who claimed to have seen the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. More recently, the
Obamas claim to have repeatedly heard strange sounds and felt a sensation of
someone gnawing at their feet in the middle of the night.
The Joshua Ward House (George Corwin House)/ Salem,
Massachusetts:
Once home to wealthy sea captain Joshua Ward, the Joshua
Ward House was built in 1784. However, its haunted history comes from the fact
that it was built over the original cellar where George Corwin's house once
stood. Corwin was the High Sheriff during the Salem Witch Trials and he took
great delight in torturing confessions from accused witches and warlocks. For
many years, Corwin's remains were housed in the basement, though they
eventually were moved to a nearby cemetery. Rumor has it that Corwin's spirit
still haunts the house along with that of Giles Corey, the only accused he was
unable to force into confessing. He finally crushed Corey to death one large
stone as a time.
The LaLaurie House/New Orleans, Louisiana:
One of the spookiest homes in the French Quarter, the
LaLaurie Mansion was home to Dr. Louis and Delphine LaLaurie, a socially prominent
family in the early 1830s. Rumor has it that Delphine treated her slaves
brutally, chaining the cook to the stove, chasing another slave girl with a
whip and causing her to jump to her death, and torturing and mutilating many
others in a secret attic room. The house, which was owned by actor Nicolas Cage
from 2007 to 2009, has been haunted by screams of agony coming from the
apparitions of Delphine's slaves ever since.
Franklin Castle/Cleveland, Ohio:
Built in 1865 for the Tiedemann family, Franklin Castle
makes a spooky first impression with its sandstone exterior, round corner tower
and gargoyle embellishments. Those who have been inside the mansion, which is
known locally as the most haunted house in Ohio, claim to have witnessed an
eerie woman in black staring out the tower window, small children crying, and
strange happenings like doors flying off hinges and spinning lights. The
possible cause? Four of the Tiedemann children died in the home, and owner
Hannes Tiedemann was rumored to have killed his 13-year-old niece in a hidden
passage and his mistress in the tower.
The Whaley House/San Diego, California:
Now a museum run by the Save Our Heritage Organization, San
Diego's Whaley House was designated an official Haunted House by the U.S.
Department of Commerce in the 1960s due to frequently heard heavy footsteps of
the ghost of "Yankee Jim" Robinson, who was hung on the property in
1852 before the house was built. Other ghostly sightings include owners Thomas
and Anna Whaley (Anna was reportedly seen by Regis Philbin), and even the
family dog.
Halloween Frightening and Fun Facts:
Halloween is the second largest commercial holiday in the
U.S., annual revenue exceeded only by Christmas.
Approximately 100 countries celebrate Halloween.
Over 7 billion dollars are spent annually on candy, costumes and activities in just the U.S.
Approximately 90% of all households with children will participate in some sort of Halloween activity.
Over 80% of all professional haunted attractions in the U.S. are operated by a charity or help to benefit a charity of some sort.
Wishing everyone and safe and fun Halloween.
Sunday, October 15, 2023
Beware Of America's Creepiest Roads
They've been called urban legends, ghost stories, creepy encounters. But they all have one thing in common—unexplained happenings on dark roads in the dead of night. If you'll pardon the use of the word dead.
Or maybe it's more appropriate than you realize. :)
Since October is the month of things that go bump in the night as well as Halloween, it's the perfect time of year to explore these creepy lanes and the unexplained happenings that have been reported to occur there. Here's a sampling of some of these haunted roads.
Shades of Death Road
in Warren Co., NJ: Yes, Shades of Death Road is the real name of
the street, but no one is sure exactly how the name came about. Over the
decades, many murders have happened along this stretch of road, each its own ghastly
tale, which certainly explains why so many different ghosts haunt the area.
The San Antonio Ghost Track: If you put your car in neutral on the railroad tracks, the car will move off the tracks by itself. And if you cover the bumper in baby power, you'll find child-sized palm prints. However, be careful if you decide to try it out. There have been reports of bandits waiting in hiding for people trying to test this phenomenon.
The Georgia Ghost Roads: Travelers late at night along Railroad Bed Road and Old Ghost Road (Robertson Road) see a faint orange light flashing in the distance. As they drive closer to it, a man will appear who is digging a ditch…or perhaps a grave. He turns and walks toward the car, but disappears before he gets there.
Buckhout Road in Harrison, NY: The shocking murders committed by Issac Buckhout are believed responsible for the area's many reports of notorious activities such as farms burning, vandalism in a local historic cemetery, and people who claimed to have been attacked by flesh-eating monsters because they parked in front of a specific red house and honked their car horn three times.
Meshack Road in Tompinsville, KY: This is supposedly the original location of the often repeated story of the young woman in the prom dress who is walking along the road and given a ride by a young man. He gives her his coat to keep warm. The next day he returns to the house where he took her in order to retrieve his coat. The woman living there told him her daughter had died several years ago…on prom night.
Milford Road in Oxford, Ohio: The story of star-crossed lovers. The boy and girl were in love, but the girl's father hated the boy. The boy would flash his motorcycle headlight three times and if he saw her porch light flash three times in return he knew it was safe to go there. One night he's killed on the road, but the flashing lights continue to haunt the area.
Mona Lisa Drive in New Orleans: A philanthropist donated a collection of statuary to the city with one stipulation—the statue commissioned to commemorate the death of his only daughter, Mona, be placed in a special location in the park by itself. One night a car chase ended with a car crashing into the statue and shattering it. After that, rumors began to circulate that Mona lurked in the park where the statue had been, haunting innocent and unsuspecting visitors.
Archer Road in Justice, IL: Resurrection Cemetery is the site of a story similar to the Meshack Road haunting. A young man met a pretty blond at a dance. At the end of the evening, he drove her home. When they reached the cemetery, she asked him to stop. She got out of the car, walked toward the gate, and disappeared. He went to the house where she said she lived, and the woman told him her daughter had died five years ago.
Spook Hill in Burkittsville, MD: In addition to its ghostly reputation courtesy of the 1990s horror movie, The Blair Witch Project, an unexplained recurring event here is similar to the Railroad Crossing in San Antonio. When driving up Spook Hill, if you stop and put the car in neutral it won't roll back downhill. It will continue uphill as if being pushed. The local ghostly tale claims it's Civil War soldiers who think they're pushing one of their cannons up the hill.
Clinton Road in New Jersey: If you find yourself on this haunted road, be sure to toss a coin into the river at the Old Boy Bridge. The ghost of a boy who drowned will throw it back. There have also been reported sightings of UFOs, mutated circus animals, and mysterious glowing eyes.
Do you have any ghostly tales or spooky happenings where you live?
Sunday, October 8, 2023
Vampires And Other Immortals Part 2 of 2
Meet Turritopsis nutriculaas (pictured above), a form of jellyfish that is the world's only known immortal creature.
Before we talk about fictional immortals, here's a bit of information about the above photograph. Scientists have recognized Turritopsis nutriculaas as the only known animal that is capable of rejuvenating itself, thus sustaining life over and over again—being immortal.
Jellyfish usually die after propagating, but according to the London Times, Turritopsis reverts to a sexually immature stage after reaching adulthood and is capable of rejuvenating itself. It is the only known animal capable of reverting to its juvenile polyp state. In theory, this cycle can repeat indefinitely, making it potentially immortal.
The creature is only 4-5mm in diameter. It is found in warm tropical waters but is believed to be spreading across the world as ships discharge their ballast water in ports.
And now on to the other type of immortal—the characters in our myths, literature, and movies/television. I recently came across a list of the top ten immortal characters as compiled by LiveScience. This is a cross-section sampling from various forms of storytelling.
10. Peter Pan: The famous boy who never grows up (or grows old) and prefers to live on the magical isle of Never Land.
9. Dracula: If you're desperate to live forever, you could try getting bitten by Dracula or any of the other well-known vampires. Of course, you'd have to give up Italian food which is loaded with garlic and getting a nice suntan would be out of the question.
8. Lazarus Long: A character in many of Robert Heinlein's science fiction novels. Lazarus lives to be over 2,000 years old, travels to distant planets, and travels through time.
7. Nicolas Flamel: J.K. Rowling based Flamel's character (good friend to Hogwart's headmaster) on a real-life French 15th Century alchemist who legend claims successfully created the Philosopher's Stone, a mythical elixir that turns lead into gold and grants eternal life.
6. Tithonus: When Greek goddess Eos asks Zeus to grant her mortal lover, Tithonus, eternal life, she forgets to also ask for eternal youth. Tithonus lives forever, but he grows old and frail, and begs for death.
5. Dorian Gray: Oscar Wilde created this character who remains young and handsome while his portrait ages. He becomes corrupt, but his crimes and true age show only in the face of the painting which grows progressively more monstrous and withered.
4. Highlander: In the 1986 movie, Connor MacLeod is a member of the immortals, a mysterious race who die only when they are beheaded. The immortals must battle each other until only one is left to claim The Prize: the gift of immortality.
3. Grail Knight: A knight of the First Crusade. In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade he is given the task of guarding the Holy Grail, a crucible that grants eternal life to any who drink from it.
2. Methuselah: He's the oldest person whose age is mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible, becoming a father at the age of 187 and living to be 969 years old.
1. Arwen: A half-elven maiden in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings who renounces eternal life to marry her mortal sweetheart. She lives to be 2,901 years old.
Do you have a favorite immortal character among the many?
Sunday, October 1, 2023
Vampires And Other Immortals—Part 1 of 2
Vampires are big business these days, thanks in part to such popular book and movie series as Twilight in addition to various television series. Of course, vampires have never really been out of style. They were popularized in literature by Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula. But stories of vampires go back many centuries before that.
Where did the concept of vampires come from? The answer to
that question exists somewhere in the space separating science and
superstition. Some sources claim the stories of vampires began with the
Romanian prince Vlad Tepes who lived 1431-1476 and fought for independence
against the Ottoman Empire. His methods of dealing with his enemies included
slowly impaling them on stakes, drawing and quartering, and burning them alive.
It all seems very brutal and sadistic by today's standards, but not all that
uncommon for those times. The same methods were used by the Catholic Church
during the Spanish Inquisition and by other rulers and powerful leaders during
the Middle Ages to torture and kill their enemies.
Bram Stoker is said to have patterned some of his Dracula
character after Vlad Tepes as the birth of the modern fictional vampire.
However, the roots of real vampires
have very different origins. Stories of
vampires are a worldwide phenomenon with localized versions of vampires coming
from almost all cultures. Before science progressed to the point where it could
explain such things as weather patterns and germ theory, any bad event that did
not have an obvious cause could be blamed on a vampire. The mythical creature
was an easy answer to the age old question of why bad things happened to good
people.
Superstitious villagers took their belief that something had cursed them and put it together with their fear of the dead and came to the conclusion that recently buried people who had risen from the dead to do evil deeds were responsible. They dug up graves and were surprised by the way the corpses looked. Not understanding the process of decomposition, they assumed bodies immediately turned to skeletons.
Even with the original vampires being long gone, the cultural phenomenon of vampires continues to fascinate the world. And it isn't just the macabre and horror stories that draw on the vampire character. We have several examples of vampires being used as objects of humor such as Al Lewis' Grandpa character on the old Munsters television series. We have comedy vampire movies such as Love At First Bite and Mel Brooks' 1995 film Dracula, Dead and Loving It.
And more recently, we are just as likely to see the vampire
on television and in movies as the drop dead (pun intended) gorgeous sexy hero
as we are in the role of villain.
Even children have been caught up in the commercialism of
the vampire world. There's General Mills' Count Chocula breakfast cereal,
marketed to children. And not even the long running award-winning children's
television series Sesame Street was able to ignore the vampire allure.
One of their popular Muppet characters is Count von Count, complete with black
Dracula style cape and fangs. His function on Sesame Street is to teach
children numbers and how to count.
Vampire movies have been around since the days of silent
films with the 1922 classic, Nosferatu, featuring a grotesque
frightening looking monster type vampire. In 1931, Bela Lugosi showed us a new
and different type of vampire—the charming, suave, and urbane Count Dracula who
dressed in formal attire consisting of tuxedo and cape.
Do you have a favorite vampire movie or television series?
Next week, I'm going to post the second part of my 2-part blog about Vampires And Other Immortals, including a top ten list of immortals from myths, literature, and movies.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
