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Turning Back Time: Favorite Cartoons

Friday afternoon, Ed took Emmy to the library, and she made an adorable rabbit hat during a children’s craft time. When I saw her in this cute hat, I said, “Eh, what’s up, doc?” and realized Emmy had no idea what I was talking about!

As I’ve mentioned before, my parents were really strict in regards to what we could and could not watch on television. It was the 70’s, and I was banned from watching all the cool shows. The Dukes of Hazzard had Daisy Dukes: too sexy! Charlie’s Angels had the 3 angels: way too sexy! And CHiPs? I don’t know — maybe that show aired past my early bedtime. Whenever I visited my aunt and uncle in Des Moines, however, I was glad that at least my parents let me watch some TV. My aunt refused to even own a TV.

Saturday morning guidelines were just as strict, and we were only allowed to watch The Bugs Bunny Show. We watched it every Saturday morning, and saw the same episodes over and over. Daffy Duck was hysterical, and Road Runner not so much. After a while, I had seen the show too often and wished there was something else I could watch. But there was nothing; our antennae didn’t pick up that many TV stations, and there was no such thing as a VCR.

Since Emmy had no idea who said, “What’s up, doc?” Ed started showing Emmy and Lily Bugs Bunny cartoons on YouTube. I kept calling out to him: “Look for the Barber of Seville! What about the hasenpfeffer one?” Lily and Emmy loved watching Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and Yosemite Sam. Those cartoons I had gotten sick of watching when I was a kid were fun to watch again. They brought back a sense of nostalgia for me.

As coincidence would have it, yesterday I was looking in my 1978 Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book for a chicken cacciatore recipe and I stumbled upon the recipe for “Hasenpfeffer.” Sure enough, it reads, “Cut one 1 to 2 pound ready-to-cook rabbit into serving pieces.”  Now I need to introduce the girls to “I tawt I taw a puddy tat!”

What cartoons did you used to watch on Saturday morning?

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Night at the Opera

Loretta: [after seeing La Boheme] That was so awful.
Ronny: Awful?
Loretta: Beautiful… sad. She died!
Ronny: Yes.
Loretta: I was surprised…
You know, I didn’t really think she was gonna die. I knew she was sick.
Ronny: She had TB.
Loretta: I know! I mean, she was coughing her brains out, and still she had to keep singing! 

~from the movie Moonstruck

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I’ve always wanted to have an opera moment. The soaring arias, the tragic romances, the swell of the orchestra…what would more romantic than going to the opera with the man that you love?

Unfortunately, getting a man to go to the opera is difficult. Even a man like Ed, who plays the trombone in Sousa concerts and sings baritone in the church choir, did not want to take the love of his life (that would be me) to the opera. Ed won’t even take me to the movies. The opera? Forgitaboutit.

In December, I read a fabulous review of the Lyric Opera’s newest production: Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado, never dreaming that I would actually go see it.

It just so happened that shortly after I was lamenting that Ed would never take me to the opera, he happened to hear a radio ad about The Mikado. A couple of years ago, Ed had the opportunity to play the trombone in the pit orchestra for a community Gilbert and Sullivan production. While much of the stories in Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas are told in the singing, there is also dialogue. Plus, Gilbert and Sullivan were English, and so their operettas are also in English. Ed discovered that he liked Gilbert and Sullivan.

Gilbert and Sullivan! At the Lyric Opera! Ed definitely won the prize for the perfect and most surprising Christmas gift for his wife — tickets to the Lyric Opera!

I wanted to be prepared to enjoy my gift to the fullest. When I was younger, my sister and I listened and sang a few of the songs from The Mikado, such as Three little maids from school and Tit-Willow, but I wanted to know more. I bought a digital download of the album and put the soundtrack on my pink Sony Walkman. The Mikado started playing in my kitchen all day long.

It wouldn’t have be right to go to the Lyric Opera without a new outfit. On the morning of the opera, I went to Carson’s and found an adorable purple cardigan with ruffles to wear with my gray tweed skirt.

Ed and I drove downtown and had a nice dinner (without children!) before the opera. I wanted to take pictures of the sign and the opera house, but it was a typical winter evening in Chicago: bitterly cold and windy to boot. Ed and I rushed from the restaurant to the Lyric Opera as quickly as we could.

Getting binoculars along with my tickets should have been a hint about the location of our seats, which were in the second balcony. As I eagerly inquired about our spots, the usher told us we needed to go to the sixth floor.

Up the steps we started to walk. We walked up the elaborate staircase to the second floor and looked over the railing at the chandeliers. Below us was the main lobby, where opera goers were enjoying wine before the performance. We continued up the stairs. The soft, cushy red carpeting ended and we continued up the hard, marble steps. All the way up, as far as we could go. To the second balcony we went.

As we entered the balcony, I had a moment of vertigo. The steps going down to our seats were very steep and narrow. It was a looooong way down to the stage!

The Lyric Opera building, however, is fabulous. Although we couldn’t see the faces of the performers very well, the acoustics are incredible. The music was beautiful, the set was amazing, and the performance was simply outstanding. I am not an opera expert, so a review from me would not have much worth. Simply put, Ed and I were awed by the performances of the entire cast.

I simply smiled when Ed declared, “I would definitely do this again!” and my heart said, “Yay!”