To steal LMS’s phrase, “I was today old” when I learned that Beethoven originally named his Third Symphony to honor Napoleon Bonaparte, who was a hero of his as a “man of the people.” But that image was exploded when Bonaparte declared himself Emperor. When Beethoven found out, he broke into a rage and exclaimed, “So he is no more than a common mortal! Now, too, he will tread under foot all the rights of Man, indulge only his ambition; now he will think himself superior to all men, become a tyrant!” Beethoven seized the top of the title-page, tore it in half and threw it on the floor. The page had to be recopied, and the symphony was renamed The Eroica (heroic) Symphony.
But he must later have had mixed feelings. A copy of the score that still exists has two handwritten subtitles that included “Bonaparte” scratched out. But three months later he told his publisher the title was really Bonaparte, and it was eventually published with the title “Heroic Symphony — composed to celebrate the memory of a great man.”
There were eight 15-letter answers in today’s puzzle — 2 each next to each other, and symmetrically placed, in each direction. Quite a feat of construction. And one was BEETHOVEN’S THIRD, thus the above chatter. Another one was ELECTRICAL POWER that was clued “It’s measured in watts,” and may have been a subtle link to another answer: TYRESE Gibson, the singer and actor, who was born and raised with his three older siblings by his single mom in Watts (LA) after his dad left them. Quite a success story. He has sold over 4 million records in the U.S. and is an actor in the “Fast and Furious” films. He got his start when his HS music teacher suggested he audition for a Coke commercial. I guess it went well.
My favorite of the long answers was ALABAMA SLAMMERS “Southern Comfort cocktails.” I don’t drink them, I just like how they sound. It led LMS to comment:
“I was at my sister’s last night for a Christmas party, and her husband had an array of bottles in his makeshift bar. Southern Comfort was among them. We were thinking of different cocktails, but ALABAMA SLAMMER didn’t come up. Well, actually, we were trying to invent Christmas-themed cocktails like a ‘Mistletoe Margarita’ and a ‘Santa Sidecar.’ I said, Hey! How ‘bout a Tom Coins?! Crickets. Blank stares. I explained, You know, the noel version!. They still didn’t get it. Sigh. Rodney Dangerfield and all that.”
It took me longer to figure out Tom Coins than to do the puzzle, but I got it. The “Noel” version of a “Tom Collins” would be a Tom Coins, — after you remove the “Ls.” Get it? Noel!
Before I saw that I thought it might have come from a Rodney Dangerfield line so I googled “Dangerfield Tom Coins,” but got nothing. She only mentioned Rodney because she “got no respect.” I did get to listen to some of his lines though. Here’s one:
Boy, my neighborhood is tough – I asked a cop, “How long does it take to get to the subway from here?” He said, “I don’t know — no one’s ever made it.”
Today’s “Writer’s Almanac” recounted a well-known WWI Christmas Eve story I had heard, but it added (for me) a crucial fact. As you may know, the fighting in the trenches was brutal, but on Christmas Eve 1914 British soldiers heard the Germans singing Silent Night at one point and joined in. Then both sides raised candles and lanterns and a German said, “Tomorrow is Christmas, if you don’t fight, we won’t fight,” and a truce settled in for the one day.
The Germans sent over beer and the British sent over plum pudding, and they met in between the lines and exchanged handshakes and small gifts. Someone produced a soccer ball and a game ensued. Fighting resumed on the 26th.
The “new fact” I learned was that the Germans won the soccer match, 3-2. (Britain won the war.)
In general, during the war, soccer often helped reduce tension among the troops. Here’s a shot of an impromptu game that was played in Greece on Christmas Day, 1915.
The clue at 3 down was a trick! “Bush growth” didn’t mean “shrub,” it meant something native to the “Bush region” of Australia, i.e., the undeveloped and unsettled region (not as remote as the Outback which is more rugged and arid). And the answer was EUCALYPTUS TREES, most species of which are native to Australia, with only a few present outside the continent.
Eucalypt wood is commonly used to make didgeridoos, the traditional Aboriginal wind instrument. The trunk of the tree is hollowed out by termites, and then cut down if the bore is of the correct size and shape. This one may be getting a thumbs up? Hard to tell.
George SEGAL, alav hashalom, was at 22 down, clued as “Actor George of ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’” He was so young in that movie. He played Nick to Sandy Dennis’s Honey, and, of course, Richard Burton and Liz Taylor were George and Martha. All four received Oscar nominations and both women won. Burton lost out for Best Actor to Paul Schofield in “A Man For All Seasons.” Segal lost out for Best Supporting Actor to Walter Matthau in “The Fortune Cookie.” Mike Nichols directed Woolf and was also nominated, but lost out to Fred Zinnemann for “A Man For All Seasons.”
One of my favorite Segal movies was “The Hot Rock” with Robert Redford. Wonderfully funny. Ron Liebman as the car-obsessed getaway driver was especially good. Sadly, Liebman died in 2019.
Here’s an exchange Segal had with Jacqueline Bisset, who was playing Natasha (“Nat”) in “Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?:”
Segal: Come on, Nat, you don’t consider a roll in the hay with your secretary adultery?
Bisset: What do you call it, shorthand?
Here’s George, and then Jackie.
Happy Happy Merry Merry, everyone! Thanks for stopping by.
The Wellington Files 