The Timeless Allure of the Grinch

The classic holiday special "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" will air at 8:00 p.m. on ABC on Christmas night. The program first aired just over 45 years ago on
Dec. 18, 1966, exactly 34 years before the "Seinfeld" episode "The Strike" which introduced the world to Festivus.

The tv version of the Dr. Seuss children's book of the same name was directed by two legendary "Looney Tunes" directors Chuck Jones and Ben Washam_ who was credited with giving Daffy Duck the catch phrase: "Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin."

The cartoon features Boris Karloff, the great horror film actor who would die three years later in 1969 at age 81, as both the narrator and the voice of the Grinch. Thurl Ravenscroft, who would later be known as the voice of Tony the Tiger in cereal commercials, provided the voice for the theme song.

Dr. Seuss actually feared the use of Karloff because he thought the actor who first brought Frankenstein to life on the silver screen might scare away children.

But, the show has endured after all these years, even though it was made into a surprisingly awful feature film version with Jim Carrey in 2000.

SIDEBAR ONE: Anyone interested in helping starving children this Christmas might want to contemplate donating to CARE's Somalia famine relief fund. As of July 20, 2011, two regions of southern Somalia were declared famine zones. CARE estimates that some 3.7 million people are starving and in need of medical assistance in the famine, which has also struck parts of Ethiopia and Kenya. For more information go to www.care.org or google the term 'Somalia famine.'

SIDEBAR TWO: On a lighter note, I was going to make the following joking posting on Facebook, but I thought it could be misunderstood, so I am posting it here on this blog, which we sometimes wonder that no one is reading, except for die-hard followers in El Salvador, of all places:

"Got a Tea Partier a Jesus Christ bobblehead doll and an Occupy Wall Street protester a Che Guevara bobblehead doll for Christmas. I sure hope I don't get the packages mixed up."

As I said earlier, this is a joke, but there are actually bobblehead dolls for both Jesus Christ and Che Guevara!

Quote of the Day-Woody Allen

We are actually quoting famous playwrights this month, but even though Woody Allen might better known for his films and his clarinet, he wrote several acclaimed one-act plays early in his career.



Here is his quote:



"Eternal nothingness is fine if you happen to be dressed for it."



SIDEBAR ONE: Sometimes, when you answer a trivia question, you just don't miss--you miss badly. That was the case when I guessed that former Somalian Prime Minister Mohamed Abduallahi Mohamed (he was only in office for eight months until June 19th of this year) was now working in Dubai.



As it turns out, according to the public radio show "The World," he is now working for the New York Department of Transportation in Buffalo!



SIDEBAR TWO: Though I am a human secularist myself, as the son of a late Turkish Muslim immigrant, I want to wish Muslims a Happy Eid al-Fitr, the conclusion of the month-long Ramadan holiday which falls on August 30th. I personally feel Muslims should be allowed to drink water during the fast to avoid dehydration for health purposes, but I respect the right for one to practice their traditional religious customs as they choose.



Irregardless of one's faith, we gather that a good place to eat Turkish food in the Sacramento, Calif. area is the Anatolian Table in the suburb of Rocklin.