Today is the birthday of Joe Heller, author of Catch 22. He was born to poor Jewish Russian-immigrant parents in Coney Island, Brooklyn, in 1923. He met his first wife Shirley Held at a dance contest at Grossinger’s Hotel. They were married for 38 years and had two kids, but it was a stormy marriage that ended in divorce. After the divorce Heller begged his daughter Erica to get his ex-wife’s secret pot roast recipe, even offering Erica $10,000 in cash for it. She refused and Erica said that on her deathbed, her mother extracted a promise from her: “No matter what, don’t ever give him the pot roast recipe.”
Erica recalls that during the era she calls “B.C.” — that is, Before “Catch” — she would receive a kick under the table if she tried to order a shrimp cocktail at the local Italian restaurant. “After the publication and eventual success of ‘Catch-22,’ ” she reports, “the kicks under the table at Tony’s suddenly stopped. It was in this way that it dawned on me that my father’s book must have been successful.”
Osner’s typewriter repair shop at 79th Street and Amsterdam Avenue was very important to Joe and was part of a ritual. “Typewriters there were a religion, and the shop had cared for the machines of Isaac Bashevis Singer, David Mamet, Alfred Kazin, Erich Maria Remarque, Roger Kahn, Philip Roth, Howard Fast, and Murray Schisgal,” Erica recalls. “Dad always went there when a book was finished to announce that he was done.”
In 1981, Heller was stricken with Guillain-Barre Syndrome and was in a very weakened condition for about five years. He was greatly helped through it by close friends Mel Brooks, Mario Puzo, and Dustin Hoffman. After he pulled out of it, Heller married Valerie Humphries, a former nurse of his, and they were together until his death did them part, in 1999.
Heller wrote other books and a play after Catch 22, but none as successful. When asked (as he often was) why he never wrote another book as good as Catch 22, his answer was “Who has?” I was today years old when noodling around for this short piece that I learned that Yossarian’s first name was John. Was that in the book? I don’t remember.
Here he is with daughter Erica and his typewriter.
Happy 100th Birthday Joe!
Since it’s Monday, when Rex and several others do the puzzle “down clues only,” the rest of us cast about for other ways to increase the challenge. Joseph Michael posted: “This puzzle was nearly impossible, especially for a Monday. I was solving blindfolded while doing a bear crawl and I couldn’t get a single answer.” [Bear crawl was an answer in the puzzle.]
I took issue with that, posting the following (under my posting name, Liveprof): “I disagree on the level of difficulty, JM! — I solved it using only every third letter in the clues. (So, e.g., “Rower’s implement” becomes WSPMT.) I was still able to finish in 5/8 of a second — close to my best for a Monday.
JM shot back: “Congratulations on your impressive time, Liveprof. However, it’s not a fair comparison. I do every-third-letter solving now and then and it has never had much impact on my solving time. Try a blindfolded bear crawl next time and perhaps you’ll understand the difficulty I experienced.”
My last word was: “Excellent points, JM. On the BBC (blindfolded bear crawl), I’m a little concerned about things like wrenching my back, tumbling down stairs, or falling off buildings. But I’ll check out some youtube videos on techniques. Thanks!”
Whatsername chimed in with a very nice note saying that JM and I had her “snorting helplessly.”
Here’s a joke from Vermont Lizzie’s daughter Bridgette. (Lizzie tucked it into an email she wrote me responding to my email to her complaining about my bladder. How I have any friends left is a mystery.) Anyway, Lizzie described B’s joke as a “groaner.” I’m afraid that’s way too kind, as you’ll see. It goes without saying that I love it, but I must confess I didn’t “get it” at first, and, too embarrassed to admit that by asking Lizzie, I emailed Boston-friends Don and Jenny to see if they could help me. While in the act of drafting my email, the light dawned. (Don got it too.) Here it is:
What did one egg say to the other egg two hours into the keg party?
Ahm lit!
So, here’s the joke — the two of them are eggs and “Ahm lit” is omelet.
Leonard Cohen used to say if he knew where the great songs came from he’d go there more often. Where do these jokes come from? I wanna move there!
Thanks Lizzie!
Ooooooh! — and this one looks great! Berries!
There were two dances in the puzzle today: RUMBA and FOX TROT. Here’s what LMS had to say:
“I liked seeing RUMBA sharing the grid with FOXTROT. I took ballroom dance lessons for a while and let me tell you – the RUMBA is way harder than the FOXTROT for a buttoned-up non-dancing Capricorn. The RUMBA is slow and sultry, and you have to do dancerish stuff with your arms when they’re not connected to your partner. Like, sexy come-hither stuff. With faster dances like the FOXTROT, it feels like you can disguise your ineptitude more easily in the bouncy happy steps. With a slow dance like the RUMBA, Everything is exposed. Doing a FOXTROT is like wearing an oversize clunky sweater; doing the RUMBA is like wearing a wet TEE shirt.”
We sent our intrepid Owl Chatter photographer Phil down to Miami to sort out the Rumba scene. Wow! — good work Philly — as usual! Hot stuff! Whose shoes are hotter — hers or his? Don’t let go, Miguel!
See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 