Dena Halverson Schulz, 1893-1943

Dena Schulz and her son Charles, 1941

As posted previously, Charles and Joyce Schulz claimed a false date of marriage, in order to maintain the appearance that Meredith is his biological daughter. The document at that link shows 1949 as the wedding date, when in fact it was 1951.

Another date deception had been carried out by Charles Schulz’s mother Dena, except she moved a date forward. Dena always gave her year of birth as 1895, when in fact it was 1893.

As my buddy D.F. Rogers likes to say, “let’s look at the record!” And he has provided that record in the form of the 1930 census from Needles, California. Dena’s age is falsely listed as 32, the same as her husband Carl, when in fact even her claimed birth year of 1895 would have made her 34 years old at the time of the census. Curious.

Other interesting items in the census are that the Schulz family did not live on a farm, they paid $28/month in rent, and Carl came to the United States from Germany in 1897, the year he was born. Click the picture and see for yourself, but beware — it’s a B-I-G image.

1930 Census, Needles, CA

Stella Artois Lager — .8 oz. Less Filling

A while back I recommended a lovely little movie from Norway called Buddy. It was in the modest selection of free, on-demand movies offered with Verizon FiOS TV, on the Film Fest Channel, sponsored by Stella Artois, a lager beer from Belgium. Here’s the commercial that runs before the Film Fest movies.
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When we ate at a TGI Friday’s I noticed Stella Artois on the menu and I ordered one and had my first taste. I’ve had many Belgian ales, but no lagers that I could recall. It’s a nice, light beer, with a lot more flavor than mass-produced American beers, and less bitter than a Heineken, a pilsener that borders on being skunky. (Marston’s Pedigree Bitters is an ale that is my idea of a truly great dry beer.) Later, I spotted a six pack of Stella Artois at a local store, and in further appreciation for the movie, I bought it.

The bottles are only 11.2 ounces! I’m sorry, but I don’t care how good the beer is. If the guy pouring Stella Artois in the commercial is going to be picky, then so am I — twelve ounces, and no less! Until then Stella Artois has lost me as a customer.

MADtv On Japanese Korean Soap Operas

With the Writers Guild of America on strike, TV is full of re-runs, of course. Last night I caught a MADtv show that featured TV parodies, including a hilarious take on what they say are Japanese soap operas. However, Eric informs me the writing is in Korean, and cast member Bobby Lee is Korean-American. Anyway, six months ago I featured the Japanese romantic comedy Train Man, and I can see elements of that in this parody.
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