As I flipped over to the NY Times obituaries today, I remembered Prof. Aronstein who taught Estate Planning at Penn, although it was (optimistically) called “Transmission of Wealth.” He told us how you can tell who the Estate lawyers are in Philadelphia. “They wear pinstriped suits, ride in on the local train from Paoli, and smile as they read the obituaries.”
NBA guard and coach Chris Ford died on Tuesday at 74. He played for Detroit and Boston. He won the NBA championship in 1981 with the Celtics. He later coached for them too. Before becoming their head coach, he was an assistant under Hall of Famer K.C. Jones. (KC died on Christmas day, 2020, at age 88, alav hashalom.) KC was the coach at Brandeis when I was a freshman there. He came to our dorm once for a brunch, and seemed like a genuinely nice guy. He said he considered football too, early in his career, but gave it up when he felt the ground shaking as a 300-pound lineman was coming at him full speed for a tackle.
Back to Chris Ford. He was playing for the Celts on October 12, 1979. He caught a pass from Nate “Tiny” Archibald behind the three-point arc, took a shot, and it went in. Kevin Grevey of the Washington Bullets also sank a 3-point shot that night. The reason I mention it is it was the first day of the three-point shot’s existence in the NBA. After the Bullets’ game, a reporter told Grevey that his “three” made basketball history as the first one ever made. But three days later, the NBA issued a news release stating that Ford’s was first. According to the NYT, it was unclear at exactly what time in the evening each shot was made, but Ford has received credit for it. Grevey said he didn’t think about it until more than ten years later when he ran into that reporter again. He said he would look into it further, but told The Times in 2021: “I swear I don’t care.” Alright, everybody — you heard him — the man doesn’t care.
In addition to his historic three-pointer, Ford had one dunk of note. He dunked (at least once) on Hall of Famer Julius Erving, one of the greatest dunkers the game has ever seen. Erving’s nickname, of course, was Dr. J., and Ford’s dunk over him earned Ford the nickname “Doc.”
Rest in Peace, Doc.
You all know Ken and Barbie, right? Well, in today’s puzzle, at 12 down, the clue was unusual: “Earring Magic _____ (1990s doll that developed a cult following).” Three letters, and the answer was KEN — yes, the Ken of Ken and Barbie. But you may not recognize him. Here he is:
Here’s how it came about. Mattel conducted a survey of girls asking if Ken should be kept on as Barbie’s boyfriend, or if he should be tossed in favor of a new one. The survey revealed that they wanted Ken kept on, but with a “cooler” look. Hence, in 1993, Magic Earring Ken was introduced (as part of the 6-doll Magic Earring series).
He had blonde highlights in his hair, and his outfit included a lavender mesh shirt, purple fake-leather vest, earring (of course), and a necklace of some kind. Well, unless you live under a rock, you will note that it screams “Gay.” In fact, the necklace was viewed by some as a sex toy popular in that community. It made quite a splash. It was featured on the front page of the NYT’s Arts and Leisure section and it became the highest-selling Ken doll in history. When the “sex toy” issue was “outed,” however, Mattel discontinued production and pulled it from the shelves. They are available on eBay for around $100, and, apparently, make occasional appearances in crossword puzzles.
What day is it today? — Saturday. How appropriate and sweet, then, for the 13-letter answer at 29A to be SHABBAT SHALOM! Thank you, David Distenfeld, same to you!
And here are his notes on the puzzle. Any words seem foreign to you?
“I’m a bit verklempt to be debuting SHABBAT SHALOM on, appropriately enough, a Saturday. Not to get all schmaltzy, but it’s so exciting I could plotz or kvell, maybe both, who knows. Mazel tov to me!
“With this, my fifth puzzle (but who’s counting), I truly feel like part of the New York Times crossword mishpocheh.
“Now I hate to be a kvetch, but oy vey did it feel like forever to get a response on this puzzle and I had major shpilkies while waiting; my pulkes were pulsating, my tuchus was twitching. I know — it wasn’t pleasant for me either.
“But then those mensches on the editing team had the chutzpah to email a big ‘Yes’ and all that other mishegas just disappeared.
“If you could have seen me in that moment: my schmatte completely shvitzed through, my punim covered in schmutz, tchotchkes strewn across my bathroom floor. This schlub couldn’t have been happier if he was noshing on some blintzes and rugelah, Bubelah.
“Anyway, enough of my shtick — enjoy this meshuggeneh crossword and, as my Zayde used to say, ‘”‘Gesundheit.’”
There are some heavy hitters from show biz in the grid today. Hello Tina FEY! Tina was born in Upper Darby, PA, not far from Philly, and she attended U. Virginia. Did you know she saved a man’s life once? She heard a man calling for help and called the police. It turned out his kayak flipped and he was drifting in the Hudson River without an oar. The police were able to get to him about a mile north.
And did you notice a scar a few inches long on the left side of her chin and cheek? It’s a creepy story — when she was around 5 she was slashed in the face by a stranger in the alley behind her house. Yikes!
She is married to a pianist, composer, and music director (one person) and they have two daughters: Alice and Penelope. Here’s a pic — yes, I see the scar now, barely. Not so bad.
Five down: “Brother from another mother, maybe” was HALF SIBLING, and it brought out this comment from egsforbreakfast: “If your step mother acts as surrogate to carry one of your biological mother’s eggs which has been fertilized by your biological father, is the newborn your one-and-a-half sibling? Maybe I’m overthinking this stuff right now because just yesterday a friend told me that his daughter and her wife each had babies from one wife’s eggs and sperm from a male friend of theirs, making the babies full biological siblings. Cool, but kinda mind warping for a few nanoseconds.”
SETH ROGEN, in the grid at 29D, was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. His parents met in a kibbutz in Israel. He has described them as “radical Jewish socialists.” The only business he ever wanted to be in is comedy. He started working as a teen at Bar Mitzvahs, private parties, and, later, bars. At 13, he was writing comedy. He wrote jokes for a mohel (cutting remarks, no doubt). He dropped out of high school to work at his craft, and his mom supported the decision. He was doing well, and hooked up with Judd Apatow at age 16.
In June 2018, Rogen was invited by Mitt Romney to speak at a seminar on Alzheimer’s disease in Park City, Utah. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan was in attendance, and asked Rogen for a photo after Ryan’s children engaged Rogen in conversation. Rogen refused. He told Stephen Colbert,: “I look over and his kids are standing right there expectantly, clearly fans of mine, and I said, ‘No way, man! Furthermore, I hate what you’re doing to the country at this moment, and I’m counting the days until you no longer have one iota of the power that you currently have.’”
Rogen married actress Lauren Miller in 2011. They have said they do not plan to have children.
Designer Christian Dior was born on this day, back in 1905, and died in 1957 when he was only 52. In 1946, his “New Look” brought a voluptuousness back to women’s fashion after the boxy style that predominated during World War 2.
He reestablished Paris as the center of the fashion world, with him as the arbiter of fashion. Here’s an example of a House of Dior design of a more recent (2010) vintage.
That’s a pretty note to end on. See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 