This Day In History: March 18, 1951

Today is Ben Cohen's (of Ben and Jerry's fame) birthday!

Did you know the reason so many of Ben and Jerry's flavors are full of chunks of stuff is because Ben has no sense of taste?

Because Ben could not taste the ice cream they were making, he had to really almost entirely on what is called “mouth feel” and to attain optimum mouth enjoyment he decided that his ice cream should be absolutely filled with chunks. So the entire reason Ben and Jerry’s tastes so good is because a guy who couldn't actually taste anything thought making ice cream "chunky" was a good idea. 

SOURCE

This Day In History Thursday: July 5, 2012

I figured when I sat down to write today's post, the chances of finding another presidential marriage on this date was slim.  Looks like I was right.  Sorry, Tony!

But how about this:

On this date in 1841, Mary Arthur McElroy was born.  She served as First Lady for her brother, Vermont's own President Chester A. Arthur when he assumed the presidency!  Arthur's wife, Ellen Arthur, had died 21 months prior to Arthur's ascension.

You can read more about her well-respected time as First Lady HERE.

 

Blogging from A to Z: R is for...

Rutland, Vermont

Where?

In addition to being my hometown, Rutland, Vermont is the site of a large Halloween Parade.  While the parade is still impressive today, it pales in comparison to the production "back in the day."

"Okay, MOCK", you might say, "Get with the comic books...."

Well, what you might not know is that starting with Avengers #83 (Cover date December 1970, on the stands the month I was born in October 1970!), Rutland was the site of about 25 comic book appearances!

In the 1970s, organizer Tom Fagan began giving the parade a super-hero theme, and several comics creators would attend the parade and subsequent parties. This became something of a comics legend after it was written into comic books from a number of companies, notably Marvel and DC but also Whitman, Charlton, and Warp.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Fagan a few times and actually worked one parade with him.

You can read about him HERE.  You can read a synopsis of each of the following issues HERE.

Here are the comics I own which feature Rutland...

Avengers 83

Batman 237

Marvel Feature 2

Thor 206

Amazing Adventures 16

Thor 207

Justice League of America 103

Avengers #119


Thor #232


The Occult Files of Doctor Spektor #18


Freedom Fighters #6


Justice League of America #145


DC Super Stars #18


Freedom Fighters #13


Ghosts #95


Defenders #100


Thunderbunny #5


Animal Man #50


Generation X #22


Superboy and the Ravers #16

The following REALLY isn't a "Rutland Issue"...I actually bought it by chance, but in the letters page is a letter that asked  "Does Rutland, Vermont annually become a nexus of realities similar to that existing in the swamp near Citrusville, Florida?" The Watcher's answer was "While the nexus in Citrusville is a natural aperture, the nexus near Rutland is an artificial one that fluctuates in size and accessibility. For reasons that I have not investigated, it has not been opened in recent years."

What If #22

SOUL KEEPER - Teaser - a Joseph Citro story

SOUL KEEPER - Teaser - a Joseph Citro story from Tim Joy on Vimeo.

Vermont icon, Joe Citro, is an author, lecturer and expert on New England Oddities. His blog is HERE.

"I make the weather!"

So we had a special guest at lunch today. Local celebrity and WPTZ NewsChannel 5 Weather Plus Meteorologist Tom Messner (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) was at school to speak to a few classrooms. He stopped in early for some pizza and some conversation.

Anyone locally knows that Mr. Messner has a very sunny disposition on television. It is even more evident in person. He put up with a few lame jokes about being responsible for the weather but then jumped right into a rather raucous lunch time conversation.

As we all departed to gather our students from the lunch room, I asked if Mr. Messner would mind posing for a quick picture with me. I also asked if he minded if I posted it here. This led to Mr. Messner asking about our use of Twitter and Facebook. Being a Twitter fan, I jumped on the conversation and had a good 10 to 15 minute chat.

So, go ahead and follow him on Twitter here and maybe check out his wife's body of work here.

What I Was Reading....Until Last Night

The Catch: A Joe Gunther Novel by Archer Mayor

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
After the last few Gunther novels, my expectations were low. (While on my latest reading jag, I read one of the books without even realizing I had already read it before!)



This one was a bit better. Once again, most of the action takes place outside of Vermont, but this time it did not seem as forced as the last few novels. Most of the references to Joe's age have been muted (I think, if the timeline for his life established way back in Open Season was still being followed, Gunther would be over 70 years old) and the background stuff for new readers did not seem so ham-fisted.



While with a lot of Mayor's books, the ending seems slightly rushed and dependent on far too many coincidences, overall it was worth reading, especially if you are a fan of the genre, had given up on Mayor or have a couple of days to kill.


View all my reviews.

Tom Fagan 1931-2008

Been meaning to post this for a few days now.

Anyone who was really into Marvel and DC Comics in the '70's might recognize Tom's name. Tom was the organizer and co-ordinator of the Rutland (Vermont) Halloween Parade. For several years, he hosted a Halloween party that got several comics creators to attend, including Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, Bernie Wrightson, Dennis O'Neil, Roy Thomas, Alan Weiss, Wendy and Richard Pini, Dave Cockrum and Len Wein.

These creators worked Tom and Rutland, VT into a bunch of comics, which led to what some consider the first inter-company crossover(Amazing Adventures #16 from Marvel led into a story in DC's Justice League of America #103 and concluded back at Marvel in Thor #207).

Tom passed away last week at the age of 77.

A couple of links you can check out (including the title of this entry):

The Wikipedia article on the Rutland Halloween Parade.

This site, all about the Marvel Universe, has an article on the Parade and Tom.