Philliteracy!

[shimp scrampi]

OK, what's your favorite Illiterate Phil moment - either from the Jack Benny Program or the Phil Harris - Alice Faye show?

Here's mine:

(Jack and Phil are at a department store)

Phil: Gee Jack, I want to get the girls pennants for the Syracuse-California game but they're all out of California ones. And they have a huge box of Syracuse ones.

Jack: Where?

Phil: See, up there - that box, it says, "Syracuse Pennants".

Jack: That's CIRCUS PEANUTS!

[LLeff]

OK, what's your favorite Illiterate Phil moment - either from the Jack Benny Program or the Phil Harris - Alice Faye show?

I don't know if this counts, but I like the 30s shows where Phil is learning French in night school. For a few weeks, he comes on and says something in French and then translates it. For example (quote is approximate and spelling is phonetic since Phil doesn't say it with real French proununciation):

Phil: Listen to this...jay mahnjay la fenetre.
Jack: What does that mean?
Phil: I ate the window.

It's always some bizarre non-sequitur the sounds like something out of Zippy the Pinhead.

[shimp scrampi]

jay mahnjay la fenetre

Sacre Bleu!

<Professor LeBlanc keels over at the final insult to his dignity>

[shimp scrampi]

Seriously, folks, I've made and eaten this. Not for diabetics. Paraphrased from the Spangler candy circus peanut website (original 'gelatin dessert' now brand-specific for obvious reasons)

7 ounces (about 30) of Spangler's Orange Syracuse Pennants
1 - 6 oz package of orange flavored JELL-O
1 - 16 oz can of Mandarin Oranges, drained*
2 cups of boiling water
1 3/4 cups of Mandarin Orange syrup and cold water
2 cups of whipped topping

*You may substitute 16 oz of canned crushed pineapple, drained

Directions:
Cut the Spangler Syracuse Pennants into small pieces
Dissolve the orange JELL-O in the boiling water
Add the pieces of Spangler Syracuse Pennants, stirring until dissolved
Drain the syrup from the Mandarin Oranges, adding enough cold water to equal 1 3/4 cups
Add to gelatin; chill until partially set
Stir together the Mandarin Oranges and whipped topping: fold into the gelatin mixture
Pour mixture into a 13x9 inch pan
Chill until firm
Peel anyone who has eaten this off the ceiling

Yields: 18 - 3 oz. servings

NB: Syracuse Pennants are sugar-based orange, peanut-shaped, playdoh-like objects that taste like neither orange nor peanut. They are vaguely banana-flavored. Many folks DO NOT like them. I do.

[Alan]

I had no clue what the "pennants" were until your last paragraph NB....

(hilarious;...neither orange nor peanut).

I thought i was the only person over 12 to eat those "things" (i get an irrational craving about twice a year, and just like my semi-annual KFC binge, i always regret it) ...but are you suggesting adding MORE sugar to them??!....Good thing you included a warning! 8-)

I grew up with jello as a very popular dessert/snack (70's etc)....and tho i sometimes notice it (and no-name brands) at the supermkt-- i almost never see it prepared.(maybe hospitals and "chinese" buffets..?)

Hmmm....but thx for a tangental reminder that i should at least try some jello while listening to JB--tho for me, definitely classic red!

[shimp scrampi]

I don't think there is a class of American food that was once so prevalent and has so totally (deservedly) vanished than the savory Jell-O salad! Those crazy recipes occasionally spouted by Don on the Jack Benny show and that appear in every cookbook thru the 1970s are almost universally reviled. I still remember the cafeteria-style places would have carrots and cabbage in lemon Jell-O in the 70s and 80s, but they're gone.

I'll take mine fruity and sugary, thanks.

Carolyn Wyman wrote a great book called "Jell-O: A Biography" that has lots of fun Jell-O trivia, and of course a section on Jack Benny and the program.

By the by, there are now 24 delicious flavors of Jell-O now available, so they're doing something right! Good thing Don Wilson didn't have to list all of those.

[LLeff]

I don't think there is a class of American food that was once so prevalent and has so totally (deservedly) vanished than the savory Jell-O salad! Those crazy recipes occasionally spouted by Don on the Jack Benny show and that appear in every cookbook thru the 1970s are almost universally reviled. I still remember the cafeteria-style places would have carrots and cabbage in lemon Jell-O in the 70s and 80s, but they're gone.

Not quite gone...http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/jello/index.html

[shimp scrampi]

I was looking through the Carolyn Wyman Jell-O book today and thinking about how Jack and the writers must have wracked their brains in the '30s- coming up with all of the ads - all that creative energy.

Then I saw Jell-O's honest-to-goodness, real advertising slogan from 1970:

"If it was there, you'd eat it"

How's that for the least ringing endorsement, EVER!? How the mighty had fallen!

[David47Jens]

I was looking through the Carolyn Wyman Jell-O book today and thinking about how Jack and the writers must have wracked their brains in the '30s- coming up with all of the ads - all that creative energy.

Then I saw Jell-O's honest-to-goodness, real advertising slogan from 1970:

"If it was there, you'd eat it"

How's that for the least ringing endorsement, EVER!? How the mighty had fallen!

It's a shame, but in many cases nowadays, slogans and ad copy have suffered -- morseo on television than in print ads, of course -- at the expense of flashy visuals. I mean... looking at recent slogans like "Just do it" (Do what, exactly?) and the older "Pepsi: Gotta have it!" bores me to tears.

Once in a while, you'll get something relatively clever, like "Sooner or later you'll break down and get AAA," and the Geico commercials are appealingly twisted... But half the time it seems like no one even reads the scripts for this stuff before it's filmed.

There's a recent TV ad for Barbasol shaving cream which mentions its seven new flavors... yes, flavors! Who's eating this stuff?!?

And I cringe at the Vonage ad where a young woman says something to the effect of "Your phone company doesn't want you to switch. Seems to me, that's a pretty good reason to switch!" Umm.... excuse me? What the heck does that mean? That anyone who wants your business is automatically not entitled to it?!? That's sort of like Groucho Marx, not wanting to belong to any organization that would have him as a member!

I remember the creativity that was responsible for two consecutive ads for Winston cigarettes. For a while, their slogan was "Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should." When some sticklers pointed out that the grammatically-correct version of the phrase should actually be "as a cigarette should," Winston's admen countered with a new slogan, "What do you want. good grammar, or good taste?" Nice turnabout, long before the term "spin control" had entered our collective vocabulary...

And yes... this was a thread about Phil, wasn't it?

[Jack Benny]

My favorite add from OTR it for Herbert Tisan (sp?) cigarettes. Apparently these were used by the military, then when the war was over some of the vetrans still wanted them. They had a cork filter, and I always thought a cork was a plug. Anyway...their slogan was,"There's something about them you like," then the add would repeat the statement again - kinda like brainwashing. It's like the company was saying that we have absolutley no idea what it could possibly be that you like about this product, but if you will buy them we'll make 'em!

[Maxwell]

I don't think there is a class of American food that was once so prevalent and has so totally (deservedly) vanished than the savory Jell-O salad! Those crazy recipes occasionally spouted by Don on the Jack Benny show and that appear in every cookbook thru the 1970s are almost universally reviled. I still remember the cafeteria-style places would have carrots and cabbage in lemon Jell-O in the 70s and 80s, but they're gone.

Jell-o again! My mom still occasionally makes a Jell-o salad (well she did until she gave up cooking large meals a year or so ago at age 85) made with green jello (whatever flavor it is) with celery, nuts, and ginger ale. It's really very good. Green Jell-o with mandarin oranges is also quite good, a recipe I think she got from my dad's aunt. She also used to make one with black cherries (the Jell-o was red) and nuts and another very good one with cranberries. I love Jell-o salads!

[Maxwell]

My favorite add from OTR it for Herbert Tisan (sp?) cigarettes. Apparently these were used by the military, then when the war was over some of the vetrans still wanted them. They had a cork filter, and I always thought a cork was a plug. Anyway...their slogan was,"There's something about them you like," then the add would repeat the statement again - kinda like brainwashing. It's like the company was saying that we have absolutley no idea what it could possibly be that you like about this product, but if you will buy them we'll make 'em!

I think that was Herbert Tarryton <sp?> cigarettes, as opposed to the more popular brand that came with a "duel filter" that was just called Tarryton.

[LLeff]

Anyway...their slogan was,"There's something about them you like," then the add would repeat the statement again - kinda like brainwashing. It's like the company was saying that we have absolutley no idea what it could possibly be that you like about this product, but if you will buy them we'll make 'em!

If it was there, you'd smoke it.

Hmmm...that sounds like something else...

[shimp scrampi]

My mom still occasionally makes a Jell-o salad (well she did until she gave up cooking large meals a year or so ago at age 85) made with green jello (whatever flavor it is) with celery, nuts, and ginger ale.

Canada Dry Ginger Ale? Find a way to get a Lucky in there and you've got the ultimate Jack Benny dessert!

Recipe contest anyone?

[Maxwell]

My mom still occasionally makes a Jell-o salad (well she did until she gave up cooking large meals a year or so ago at age 85) made with green jello (whatever flavor it is) with celery, nuts, and ginger ale.

Canada Dry Ginger Ale? Find a way to get a Lucky in there and you've got the ultimate Jack Benny dessert!

Recipe contest anyone?

Naturally Canada Dry. After you're done eating your meal with the Jell-o Salad (maybe we could have a chocolate sundae sprinkled with Post Grape-Nuts for dessert), you can light up a Lucky.