Tamara de Lempicka has been dead for 45 years. Unlike Jim Morrison of the Doors, she is still dead. She was a painter in the art deco style, born in Poland, but worked in the U.S. and France. Her parents were both Jewish, but they converted, and Tamara was raised as a Protestant. She was a baroness by marriage and lived a high society life. She was mostly an absent mom to her daughter Kizette, but immortalized her in her paintings. It was fairly daring for constructor Eric Rollfing to include such a non-famous figure in a Monday puzzle, clued via “de Lempicka, Art Deco painter.”
The puzzle’s theme was revealed at 59A where the clue was “I’ve known them forever!” and the answer was WE GO WAY BACK. And the three long theme answers were things that “go back,” viz., DENTIST’S CHAIR, TIME MACHINE, and CREDIT HISTORY. But this oddly compelling song by Marlon Williams is called “Don’t Go Back.”
At 8D the clue was “Feeling while walking in a desert,” and the answer was THIRST.
Old New Yorker cartoon:
A pair of men are crawling through the desert desperate for water. In the distance they see another man crawling directly towards them, similarly desperate for water. One of them says to the other: “That’s a bad sign.”
Great clue/answer at 58A: “Who am ______ judge? Answer: ITO. (For the young among you, Judge Ito was the judge in the OJ Simpson trial.)
At 3D, for the clue “numbskull” the answer was NIMROD. If you look nimrod up in the dictionary it has two definitions. One is mighty hunter, based on a figure in the Bible, and one is dimwit. How could two so different images emerge? Many blame Bugs Bunny, but it was actually Daffy Duck. In any event, the nimrod was unquestionably Elmer Fudd. Fudd as a hunter was sarcastically referred to as nimrod, the great biblical hunter. And the term stuck with its secondary meaning of dimwit. Bugs is so closely related to Fudd that he gets the credit/blame, but it was actually Daffy who hit Fudd with the term. Bugs later called Yosemite Sam a “little nimrod.” Credit where due: In both cases (Bugs and Daffy) it was voiced by the great Mel Blanc.
Four cousins and a niece, yesterday: Dayle, Linda, YT, Niece Tamar, and Mike. Delaware, Jersey, Jersey, California, Delaware.
Follow-ups:
1. Kavan Markwood is the fan who fell out of the stands at a ballgame in Pittsburgh recently. We shared the horrific video of the fall on OC, you may recall. We still don’t know what caused the fall, but we’ve received word he is awake, alert, and able to speak. He has a long journey ahead of him for a physical recovery.
2. You may also recall we posed the question: In the classic song “Darling Be Home Soon,” what word is used to rhyme with “dawdled?” The answer is “toddled” and I have no idea what it means in the context of the song. Here’s the chorus:
But darling, be home soon
I couldn’t bear to wait an extra minute if you dawdled
My darling, be home soon
It’s not just these few hours but I’ve been waiting since I toddled
For the great relief of having you to talk to.
So, toddled? It can’t mean “since he was a toddler.” The definition of toddle is to walk like a young child.
Whatever. Let’s remember that time again.
John Sebastian is 81 years old now. He was born in NYC and grew up in Little Italy and Greenwich Village. His dad was a “noted classical harmonica player,” according to Wikipedia. Get this! — his neighbor across the hall was Eleanor Roosevelt, and his godmother was Vivian Vance (“Ethel Mertz” from I Love Lucy).
Sebastian made an unscheduled appearance at Woodstock [see above]. He traveled to the festival as a spectator, but was asked to appear when the organizers suddenly needed an acoustic performer after a rain break because they couldn’t set up amps on stage for Santana until the water was swept off.
The following paragraph is for those of you who may not believe how high people were back then:
Sources that have tried to reconstruct the Woodstock running order differ on the exact time and position of Sebastian’s unplanned set, with some stating that he played on Saturday, August 16, immediately after Country Joe McDonald; others saying that on that Saturday, Santana followed McDonald and Sebastian appeared after Santana; and still others, including McDonald, recalling that Sebastian actually played on Friday, August 15, at some point after Richie Havens opened the festival.
I think that’s Grace Slick in the center, below. Phil — amirite? She’s 85 now.
Seems like yesterday. (Not kidding.)
It’s been a little bleak at OC headquarters since Georgie was carted off to the hoosegow. Really miss the big fella. Maybe a trip down to the Nats game tomorrow with a stayover near Baltimore will perk things up. Philly — you with us??
See you next time!
The Wellington Files 