The Liberation of Animal Crackers

Hello, Kids and All Readers,

I hope each of you is enjoying a fun, festive holiday season in whatever manner makes you happy!

Do you have any favorite December holiday traditions? I do! Have any inspired you to discover their history? Yes!

When my daughter was a little girl in the 1980s, I always tucked a small wrapped box of Barnum’s Animals Crackers in among her gifts. She was so happy seeing those circus animals decorating the small red, yellow, and white box and came to expect–and receive!–the treat each Christmas. (“Barnum” refers to the nineteenth-century showman and circus entrepreneur, Phineas Taylor “P.T.” Barnum. See image.)

I have continued sending those treats to my grownup girl each December. For many years, I have included four boxes: one apiece for her, my son-in-law, and my two grandchildren.

But have you noticed? The boxes have changed over the past few years! How and why? Please read on to discover the answers.

Becoming the researcher that writing necessitates, I decided to investigate the history of animal crackers and found thirteen interesting facts to share with you:

  • Animal crackers were first imported from England by the United States in the late 1800s.
  • Due to the crackers’ popularity, Stauffer’s Biscuit Company in York, Pennsylvania, started making them domestically in 1871.
  • The National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) began producing them in New Jersey in 1902, and named them “Barnum’s Animals” in honor of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. The small, circus-themed boxes sold for five cents and showed animals looking through the bars of their circus-wagon cages.
  • That same year, a string was attached to each box’s top so they could be hung on Christmas trees. Those strings are still on today’s boxes with 8,000 miles of it used annually!
  • There have consistently been about twenty-two crackers per small box.
  • In 1948, Nabisco officially changed the treat’s name to “Barnum’s Animals Crackers.”
  • Fifty-three animals have been represented since 1902. The current crackers are the bear, bison, camel, cougar, elephant, giraffe, hippo, hyena, kangaroo, koala, lion, monkey, rhino, seal, sheep, tiger, and zebra.
  • To celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2002, Nabisco held a public contest and added the winning animal–the koala–to the menagerie.
  • Depending on the manufacturer, the crackers come in various flavors including plain vanilla, chocolate graham, cinnamon graham, pink and white-frosted with rainbow sprinkles, chocolate covered, and cotton candy.
  • Nabisco produces more than 40 million boxes of its animal crackers a year for sale in the United States and exports them to seventeen countries worldwide.
  • In addition to US companies and the UK’s Cadbury’s confectionary, animal crackers are produced in Germany and New Zealand.
  • In 2017, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus ceased operation. So, in 2018, Nabisco responded to requests from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), and released new package art displaying the animals liberated from their circus boxcar cages. The beasts now roam freely in natural habitats! (See image.)
  • Animal crackers appear in popular culture, including the 1930 Marx Brothers’ movie, Animal Crackers; and the 2017 film Animal Crackers, where magical animal crackers turn people into the beasts in the boxes.

So, get a clue, my friends. I am pleased that those animals no longer gaze out from behind circus-wagon bars but are free to roam at will! What holiday traditions have captured your interest lately?

Photo Credits: public domain images from wikimedia commons

Heart Unbroken

Dear Kids and All Readers,

As I write this on a sunny, warm Monday afternoon, I think back thirty years ago to Friday, November 11, 1994, one of my darkest, scariest days. Fortunately, I am here to share about it. But I almost wasn’t!

Right about now–3:30 p.m.–back in 1994, I was halfway through a six-hour surgery in my hometown of San Diego, California, where I still live.

A bit of backstory: That summer, I began experiencing shortness of breath and chest pains. My new doctor ordered some tests–bless her heart. Finally! Someone in the medical profession was taking my longtime complaints seriously.

In 1960, when I was seven years old, the pediatrician told my mother that I had a heart murmur. I was the last kid to finish races, and I never had the energy to learn to swim. No one wanted me on their kickball team at school because I was forever exhausted and an easy “tag-out.” I found excuses at recess to stay indoors to read, thus avoiding the playground. I became a great reader (Thank you, Nancy Drew!) but missed a lot of fun, sun, exercising, and socializing.

The 1994 test results came back. The original diagnosis had been wrong! When I heard the news, I was elated that there was a correct diagnosis. Simultaneously, my skin crawled as I learned the truth.

The doctor explained that I had an atrial-septal birth defect, commonly known as a congenital hole in the heart. It was in the wall (septum) between my heart’s two upper chambers (atria). That caused my heart to pump blood erratically. As a result, I had been deprived of sufficient oxygen for decades. No wonder I was always tired and pale! To make matters worse, over time, my heart and lungs had enlarged to dangerous proportions. It was a miracle that I was still alive.

Surgery was necessary if I were to survive to see my thirteen-year-old daughter graduate from high school. What??? But, boy! My doctor, also a mother, knew those were the right words to convince me to check into the hospital ASAP. So, I had my Will and Trust drawn up and tackled some difficult conversations with my young daughter to try to assuage her fears. Then, calming my own tremors, I walked, head held high to feign confidence, into that huge antiseptic-smelling building on what was a cold, drizzly November 11, 1994. I dared the place to take me out!

The lengthy surgery was extended when doctors discovered that the hole in my septum was so large, I had no wall. They made one out of a piece of my pericardium, the fluid-filled sac that surrounds and cushions the heart. After the patch job was completed, I was wheeled off to the ICU, and my family was given a good report. But an hour later, I had a seizure that the medical staff could not explain. Then, a short time later, I had another.

The weekend slipped away as I failed to wake up. On Saturday evening, the doctors told my daughter and other family and friends to prepare for my not making it. And if I did, I would not be the same person they had known. My poor, brave daughter plunked herself down next to my bed in the ICU and refused to leave. All the tubes emanating from my body didn’t scare her away. My mom and aunt went to the hospital chapel to pray. My daughter’s dad, other family, and friends hunkered down for hours in the waiting room.

Then, would you believe it? On Sunday evening, when doctors were looking to my family to make a decision about whether or not to sustain my life, I miraculously woke up! I lifted my head and noticed that over a dozen loved ones surrounded my bed. I frowned and said, “What’s everyone doing here?” The cheers were deafening. I shrugged and went back to sleep, waking up on Monday morning my same self in a regular hospital room, not the ICU. I had lost a weekend, but I had not lost my life.

A team of doctors came in that morning and told me an air bubble or two must have gotten left in one of the heart-lung machine tubes despite their extra efforts to prevent it. That likely caused the seizures. They also said something chilling. Given the extent and duration of my heart problem, I should not have lived past the age of twenty-six or survived childbirth! So why had I accomplished both feats? They said it was because I had done the right things all my life: I exercised as best I could, never smoked, didn’t take recreational drugs, or eat unhealthily. If I had done any one of those things differently, I would not have survived. Yikes.

Months later, I returned to work and told my students my big story. I said that my heart stopped beating for over six hours, but I lived to tell about it! To address their puzzled looks, I explained that the surgeons had to stop my heart and put me on a heart-lung machine to breathe for me since they couldn’t operate on a beating heart. After answering their many questions, my story ended with an important lesson: You never know when you’ll need every ounce of strength and good health you have to keep yourself alive. So always make wise choices! Don’t smoke, take drugs not prescribed by a doctor, or eat too much junk food. And love your family and friends. Good health starts in childhood.

Today, I celebrate my thirty-year-old, normal-sized, unbroken heart and healthy lungs, my resilient daughter, whom I have gotten to see grow up, finish college, marry, and give me two adorable grandkids, the joy of many loved ones and good times, the talented doctors who saved my life, and my ability to swim.

I had my old age in youth. Now, I get to enjoy my childhood.

 

Third’s the Charm

Dear Kids and All Readers,

Victoria Price Sharing About her Father, Horror Actor Vincent Price

I grew up enjoying the inimitable actor Vincent Price being sinister in such horror film classics as House of Wax (1953), House on Haunted Hill (1959), The Tingler (1959), House of Usher (1960), and The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) to name a few. Price fans might also remember his dramatic performances in the movies Laura (1944), Dragonwyck (1946), The Whales of August (1987), and Edward Scissorhands (1990). And I can’t omit his rap in Michael Jackson’s song and video Thriller (1983). Mr. Price’s velvety voice and spooky laugh are indelible. You can watch it HERE on YouTube. It’s approximately 14 minutes long.

What a thrill for me when In the late 1980s, I had the pleasure of attending a special event in my hometown called, “An Evening with Vincent Price.” The audience was invited to ask questions at the end of his presentation. I had a question burning inside me for decades. Now’s my chance! . . . But alas, I was not called on. Strike one.

Fast forward to 2021. I took a Zoom writing class sponsored by Poe Baltimore and taught by Vincent Price’s daughter, Victoria. At the end of class, I told her I had a burning question about her father, but I preferred to ask it privately. She suggested I contact her via Facebook, which I did. I waited . . . and waited . . . but no reply! Strike two.

Then, a few weeks ago on October 5, my Book 5, Jacaranda Street: Gravestone Image, won an Edgar Allan Poe Saturday “Visiter” Award in the “Works Inspired by Poe” category. I was thrilled to be present with my daughter at PoeFest International in Baltimore, Maryland, to accept a medal and beautifully framed certificate!

That evening after the awards ceremony, my daughter, a fellow award nominee and author Steve Boilard (A Dying Wish), and I were exploring the “Poe Death Exhibit” in the Carroll Mansion when who should come into the parlor but Victoria Price! Many of her father’s horror movies were adapted from Poe poems or stories, so Ms.Price is frequently a guest of honor at PoeFest. (In the photo, Victoria Price is flanked by Steve Boilard and me.) I thanked her because . . .

At a movie reception the evening before, Ms. Price finally answered my decades-old burning question: “What special tricks or treats did Vincent Price like to pull on Halloween?” Her face lit up as she said her father used to take her Trick-or-Treating in their Beverly Hills neighborhood (the ultimate chaperone!). Instead of accompanying her to the door, he would hide in the bushes at each house, wait for the next group of candy scavengers, jump out, and scare the daylights out of them! The perfect answer I hoped for. Can you imagine? Lucky kids! Isn’t that the pinnacle of surreal Halloween magic? And for me, no Strike Three, but Third’s the Charm!

So, get a clue, Readers. Don’t give up on those burning questions. Look for opportunities to get them answered, even if it takes decades. At long last, it was for me a thriller. Happy Halloween!

Do You Know All Your ABCs?

Dear Readers,

Most people familiar with the Modern English alphabet would likely say that it contains twenty-six letters, beginning with A and ending with Z. And they would be correct.

But did you know that until the early 1800s, there was a twenty-seventh letter in that alphabet?

The “letter” followed Z. Can you guess what it was?

AND.

What? Wait a minute! “And” is a word, not a letter.

Are you sure?

Some Fundamental Alphabet History

According to historian Jane Sancinito and letterform scholar Johanna Drucker, around 3200 BCE, the Egyptians created hieroglyphs, images representing words, for sacred script. Over time, those were simplified to a cursive script and an even simpler hieratic script for faster writing and administrative use. Traders and travelers took that consonant script home to Phoenicia (Syria, Lebanon, and Israel) and surrounding towns and villages.

The Phoenician alphabet was created between 1700 and 1400 BCE when cuneiform writing and hieroglyphic writing were blended. The Phoenicians also established its alphabetic order. From that parent Phoenician alphabet descended all western alphabets including the Aramaic and Greek alphabets in the 10th century BCE, and the Hebrew alphabet in the 9th century BCE.

The Greek alphabet gave rise to the Cyrillic alphabet in the 9th century BCE. By 750 BCE, the Greeks added vowels to their Phoenician-based alphabet, creating what is regarded as the first “true” alphabet from which came the Latin alphabet in the 6th century BCE.

Old English was first written down using the Latin alphabet during the 7th century CE. Some letters came and went. The letter “W” was added to the Latin alphabet during the Middle Ages and the letters “J” and “U” during the Renaissance.

By the 16th century CE, the Modern English alphabet of twenty-seven letters was mostly stabilized with letters having an uppercase and lowercase form.

Back to AND

The Latin word for “and” is spelled et. Over time, ancient Romans blended the two letters to form a ligature, a printed or written character or symbol where two or more letters are joined. Imagine an uppercase “E” smashed alongside a lowercase “t.” Soon, that blended Et became the symbol “&.” Notice the uppercase cursive letter “E” merged with the lowercase cursive letter “t”? According to Keith Houston, author of Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols & Other Typographical Marks, the & symbol was first found in some “anonymous graffiti” in the famous ruins of Pompeii, so it obviously predates the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE.

More Relevant History

Beginning in the late Middle Ages, single English letters that also served as words (like “I” and “A”) were distinguished as letters with the help of the Latin phrase per se: “I” per se, I—meaning “I” by itself, I (the letter, not the word).

As to our extinct twenty-seventh letter within the English alphabet, let’s use the Latin ligature Et’s symbol “&” for “and,” then add the Latin per se phrase: “&” by itself, and. “&” joined the English alphabet as a letter possibly in the 17th century due to its popularity, mostly in business.

Onward to the Classroom

When students were reciting the English alphabet, it was confusing to say “X, Y, Z, and.” So, children would say “and” per se, and. That meant “and” by itself, and—the first “and” being the symbol &. So that’s how and why the English alphabet ended with X, Y, Z, &.

Now, for some fun! Say “and per se, and” quickly. Do you hear it? Somewhere in time, “and per se, and” was corrupted into the name of the symbol &—becoming ampersand.

The song “A Was an Apple Pie” was used to teach children the alphabet in the 1800s and at least as far back as the reign of England’s King Charles II in the 1660s. It ended with the lyrics:

“X, Y, Z and ampersand
All wished for a piece (of pie) in hand.”

But around 1835—dates differ—some thought it strange that & would still be called a letter since it resulted from an ancient ligature and represented a word, not a classic phoneme. So, the twenty-seventh “letter” & was dropped from the English alphabet and relegated to the punctuation pile. But it was not forgotten. It pervades worldwide businesses like Barnes & Noble, Dolce & Gabbana, Tiffany & Co., and Lindt & Sprüngli for concision and brand recall.

So, get a clue, Readers! The evolution of written language can be fascinating. I hope you, too, will discover something remarkable in the history of communication.

(Photo Credits: Photos 1 and 2 from pexels.com; Photo 3 from pixabay.com)

 

School Daze

Hello, Kids, Educators, and Families–

Are you happy that school’s back in session once again?

The answer probably depends on who you are!

Kids might be sad that summer is over but thrilled to be back with their friends, meeting their new teachers for a fresh crack at learning in the next higher grade.

Parents and grandparents are likely breathing a sigh of relief! Though perhaps looming are the challenges that their children’s homework, classrooms, classmates, and stringent routines can bring.

Teachers are  probably putting into play what they’ve thought about all summer; namely, working backwards from next June to now, and creating lessons for a successful journey. And there are those bulletin boards to tackle . . .

As a long-time, now retired teacher, I felt like those kids: reluctant to give up the carefree days of summer, but glad to return to children and adults who made me feel happy, rewarded, and grateful. It was the start of another year practicing and honing my craft for which I spent years in college (plus in all grades!) and on the job preparing.

Every year around this time, I can’t help but reminisce about getting ready for school to begin when I was a child. Here in San Diego, California, back in the 1960s, the public schools opened in mid-September. So, in mid-August, my mother would trot my fraternal twin sister and me uptown to the neighborhood J. C. Penney’s store. It was time to load up on five brand new, starched plaid cotton dresses apiece–one for each day, Monday through Friday. Girls weren’t allowed to wear pants or shorts to school until the rules changed in what was then called Junior High (Grades 7 – 9).

My mother insisted that her twin daughters dress alike. (Ugh!) This was often problematic from a practical standpoint: Not only did my sister and I have to find dress styles we both liked, but we also had to find them in our respective sizes. Occasionally, Mom would fudge on her twin dress code and let us get the same style, but in different colors. (Whoohoo! Individuality.)

After hours selecting and trying on dresses, we headed to the checkout counter, often with smiles on our faces, and arms loaded with our new, albeit lookalike, clothes. My mom would take advantage of the store’s “Layaway Plan,” paying half of the bill that day with the balance due when we picked up the dresses one month later on the Saturday before the big day. Oh, the anticipation!

The night before school started, butterflies flitted in my stomach. Would I get the teacher I wanted? Would she or he be nice? Would I be smart enough to be in a new grade? Would my BFF be in my room? What would we have to do on the first day?

And wouldn’t you know it? Some of those were also the reactions and similar questions I had every year as a teacher! Except as the adult, I was the one calling the shots. My indelible nervousness as a child informed how I approached my new students yearly–with empathy, caring, concern, lots of smiles, and a true story about myself. The kids were always surprised and relieved to learn that we teachers were human and had butterflies on the first day, too!

So, get a clue, all Readers. Do you like returning to school? Do you get nervous in the lead up to the first day? How do you prepare for the big day? And how do you cope as you head to school and enter the new classroom? Whatever you do, kids, educators, and families, have a wonderful new school year. Teachers rock! Please appreciate them. And kids, be sure to read every day. Reading makes you smarter.

(Photos from pexels.com)

(Photos from pexels.com)

“Paws” for Pets

Hello, Kids and All Readers,

I have some family news to share! I became a grandmother for the fourth time on July 12. I have two grandchildren, a granddog, and now the newest addition–a grandcat!

Agnes is an all-black cat with enormous amber-orange eyes. Perfect for Halloween, right? (But will she grow into them???)

My daughter, bless her heart, rescued Agnes from a busy street when the cat was almost hit by a car. The neighbors had captured her kittens but couldn’t find her, and no one could identify her owner. Since my daughter held the erstwhile elusive cat in her arms, she bundled tiny, six-pound, scared Agnes into the car, took her to the vet for a good checkup, then home! But not before stopping at a pet store to load up on all the things (and more) that one could need for the care, love, and feeding of a cat.

Agnes wasted no time settling in to her new home. She is now enjoying lots of square meals a day, fresh water, a soft bed, a self-cleaning litter box (you read that correctly), a bling collar, toys, much love, and safety. Who could ask for more?

And everyone loves Agnes, including Dashiell Hammett (aka “Dash”) the dog. I believe that he thinks she’s a toy, or at least a new playmate. He even rolls over for her and lets her drink out of his personal water bowl. What a gentleman! And all the House Humans are over the moon about her.

So, get a clue, Readers. Do you have pets? Do you like to read books where characters have pets? I know that kids tend to like stories with them, so each of my four Botanic Hill detectives have animals roaming around the house. After all, pets can take the edge off a tough day chasing down the bad guys. Welcome to the family and best wishes, Agnes!

(Photos by the author’s daughter)