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Ann-Margret had that beat 50 years ago!

I’m originally from the Midwest. My big sister returned there to attend university, and she’s lived there ever since. When her best friend passed away, I was surprised to learn that the woman’s sister lived a thousand miles away from them, but just half a mile from me. After my cancer diagnosis last year, I was further surprised to hear that the nearby sister had exactly the same cancer I did.

We met four times for long talks. First, after my diagnosis; second, after the surgery; third, in the middle of my treatments; finally, while I was recovering. Her cancer was more advanced than mine, and she had been undergoing treatments for eleven years. In between visits we texted words of encouragement.

Her last message was on January 3. She passed away yesterday.

Perhaps my cancer will return and the same fate awaits me. There’s no point in worrying about that now. I’m mourning the death of my new friend.

A while ago, I commented that the personal philosophy expressed by Charles Schulz in an interview reminded me of Fred Rogers. That got me thinking I should watch the Tom Hanks movie, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. I’ll do that soon.

As a kid, despite being older than the target demographic, I watched Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood on New York TV. It had a quiet, reassuring tone, puppets, and a nice woman.

The reassuring tone relieved some of the stressful atmosphere occasionally experienced at home. I was a fan of puppet shows even before learning that Bob Clampett’s Beany & Cecil, a beloved cartoon series, began as a puppet show. The nice woman on MisteRogers was Betty Aberlin or, as she was called, Lady Aberlin.

Poking around the Net for more background on Aberlin, I was surprised to see these images. Whoa, sexy Betty!

Betty in a swimsuit that looks more like a baby-doll nightie? It couldn’t be from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, could it? Actually, yes. Episode 1425, from 1975. Betty was teamed with hunky Bert Lloyd as her brother.

Lady Elaine, a puppet as an evil witch, expresses an interest in the “nice-looking young man,” who is forced to exercise in a cage for her entertainment. It reminded me very much of something else from 1975.

It’s interesting that Fred Rogers, who was careful in developing his program material, would present physically attractive adults in this way. It’s as if he were gently and innocently suggesting the desires that inevitably, and necessarily, come with growing up.

Here’s the episode, with Betty falling in love with a swan and rescuing “Rocky Horror” from the evil witch’s clutches. Spoiler alert: It was all a dream!

Tech note: The video plays automatically. Firefox has a feature to prevent that on a per-site basis. This is how it looks.

“I’ll have a Big Mac, Quarter Pounder with cheese, large fries, a large Diet Coke, and Canada and Greenland.”

Did you see Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer? MGM’s dramatization of the Manhattan Project, with Hume Cronyn as J. Robert, was released only 18 months after the end of WWII. It opens with a whopper of a fib.

Fact check:

• https://thereveal.substack.com/p/the-beginning-or-the-end-oppenheimer
• https://theappendix.net/issues/2012/12/box-office-bomb-the-beginning-or-the-end-1947
• https://www.lanl.gov/media/publications/at-the-bradbury/2023-july/movie-history