August just so happens to be National Sandwich Month. Now, as I'm sure you know there are many different kinds of sandwiches, but I'm going to pare it down to just two kinds: a sandwich you make yourself, and a sandwich that's already made for you, like what you would get in, say, a delicatessen. Already made saves you work, but in these inflationary times it may be cheaper to roll up your sleeves and construct one yourself. However, DIY involves not just physical labor but also mental labor, as when it comes to deciding what goes in-between those two pieces of bread, the possibilities are endless. If it's all too much for you to decide, these classic Blondie strips offer some suggestions:
On second thought, it might be safer to order one from the delicatessen, seeing as inflation has let up some.
Art by Chic Young
I saw the picture and thought, "Hey look, a Dagwood".
ReplyDeleteI had two sandwiches for supper last night. I'm going to have to do some catching up.
I was hoping someone would make that connection, Mike.
DeleteIs that Dagwood Bumstead? I remember the cartoon in a daily newspaper, and there was a large sandwich called a Dagwood. Which is kind of appropriate today as I lunched with a neighbour at a nearby cafe. We usually share something and a Rueben was on offer. It was large and I didn't really know what was in it, so we chose something else. S'pose I should Google a Rueben.
ReplyDeleteYes, Andrew, that is indeed Dagwood Bumstead. The comic strip is still around, but its creator, Chic Young, died in 1973. The strips I show here are from the 1930s and '40s.
DeleteAndrew, it just occurred to me than an award given to comic strip artists is called a Reuben, after Rube Goldberg. Whether that has anything to do with the sandwich, I don't know.
DeleteI used to love making myself Dagwoods. Not anymore.
ReplyDeleteIt's one way to empty the fridge, Mitchell.
DeleteI remember reading some of those strips as a kid and always craving a sandwich right after...
ReplyDeleteNot a good strip to read if you're on a diet, JM. What amazes me is how despite those giant sandwiches, Dagwood manages to stay thin. Must be his metabolism.
DeleteI read that Arthur Lake, who played Dagwood, mingled and married into the wealthy set of that time. As they say, you can't be too rich or too thin.
Delete--Jim
I did not know that, Jim. After reading your comment I looked at his bio and saw that Lake--for those who don't know there was a series of B movies based on the comic strip that ran from 1938 to 1950--married Patricia Van Cleve, the "niece" of Marion Davies, William Randolph Hearst's mistress. I put that in quotation marks, because she was long thought to be Hearst's and Davies'--excuse the archaic term--illegitimate child. Arthur and Patricia both are interred in the same crypt as Marion (as for Hearst, he's someplace else.)
DeleteInteresting to compare the real-life Arthur Lake to the comic strip character he portrayed. Though I don't think it ever came up in the movies (or for that matter, not in the comic strip itself since the mid-1930s), Dagwood's father was a millionaire! The son was disinherited when he married Blondie (at the time a fun-loving flapper whose maiden name was Boopadoop) and thus was forced to go to work for tyrannical Mr. Dithers. By comparison, Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson got off relatively easy.
It was England that got off easy when those two horrible people got married and vacated the throne. --Jim
DeleteMaybe that's why they didn't get their own comic strip, Jim.
DeleteOh, one other thing. I don't know of this had any bearing on Arthur Lake getting hired to play Dagwood, but William Randolph Hearst owned King Features, which syndicated Blondie.
DeleteI'm suddenly feeling very hungry!
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised, Ivana.
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