Update 8-5-03


Hi,

A series of notes about candy:

From Mark Perlman to Barbara Blitfield Pech:  I would appreciate a Skybar.  I haven't had one in at least 38 years, probably more.  The only time that I ate them was at the movies.  A lot of good movies, a lot of candy.  I was just remembering that Rob Kelman and I went to see the first Bond movie at the new Valley Stream Theatre.  I don't remember the name of the theatre, but I am pretty sure that Dr. No was the first movie that was shown there.  I also remember going in style in Rob's new dark green Chevy.  As an aside, I had to go to Valley Stream on business for the company that I was working for and the vendor took me out to lunch.  The movie house that I was talking about was now a restaurant.  That was in the early eighties, so no telling what it is now.  That was the first time I'd been back since '68, and the last time I have been there.

From Barbara to Mark:  how really nice to hear from you...  i knew i would...  sorry about the "butchering" of the spelling of not one, but both your names...  noted and corrected...  some thoughts... i will post ONE sky bar..this month..and follow-up on an "as needed" basis...  i can't begin to tell you how "dangerous" they are, just sitting in the package...  late last night, i heard them calling my name loud and clear through the wrapper...  "come to my hips..barbara"...  we all have our "demons"...  loved the movie candy remembrance...  when ed albrecht and i were kids..6, 7, 8..our moms would "dump us off" at the old valley stream theater on rockaway ave. for the 35 cent [saturday] afternoon double feature plus cartoons, newsreels, etc...  from noon to 5, the moms had "kid freedom" and for an extra 25 cents, ed and i stuffed our [still] skinny bodies with root beer barrels, juji fruits, ice cream bon bons..and ed's all time favorite [and mine, too] good and plenty...'cause you could blow into the box and make annoying whistle sounds...  [i still sometimes do..just because..i'm 55 and what the hell...]  ..are you "sure" about bob kelman's car...  i "dated" him, and i remember a blue ford falcon..[or at least the back seat of one]...  by the way..i was never a sky bar "fan"..but i tried them again..just because i found them...  this is not a good time to mention..they are BETTER than i ever remember them to be...  are you sure one is enough for now...?  it's..in the mail!...

From Barbara to me -- well, to all of us:  sky bar update... have sent out 3...  2 left [okay, okay... i ate the other one]...  mark perlman made an astute if not ponderous observation that i'm passing along with the other trivias that you handle way better than i do...  the current bar is "4 in 1"..carmel, vanilla, peanut, fudge...  he [and i] both recall the original as 5 flavors...  what [was] the 5th flavor?  and sorry, i can't help you with the correct answer...  if it didn't taste like "good and plenty"..my mouth didn't accept it.  by the way..mentioned to mark in correspondence how ed albrecht and i spent countless winter, saturday, and hot summer afternoons at the old "air cooled" valley stream theater on rockaway ave. for the 12- 5 pm double feature kid flix complete with cartoons, newsreel, and travelogues, munching  boxes of "good and plenty"  [ed "taught me" how to blow into the closed box to make it whistle]  'cause it brought the matrons with the flashlight into the aisle...  we never got caught, only because we stuffed the remainder of the box contents into our cheeks..with just enough chew space to swallow in time for the intermission and share a box of..ice cream bon bons...  [if we had 6 cents left between us, we hit the candy machine for root beer barrels or boston baked beans]  how ed and i didn't have acne at age 6 is nothing short of..amazing...  stomach aches were reserved for the green crab apples we picked on pershing ave.

From Barbara's son Evan to Barbara:  according to www.cailforniacandy.com, the sky bar only has those four flavors in each that you stated, and i remember seeing a special on food network saying that the makers of skybar are still using the original machine to make them, so i figure that there were always just four flavors
From Barbara to all of us, part 2:  somehow i must have sent my son the skybar e-mail from mark..and he "researched" it...  have any chunky, bonomo, or jujubee's "issues" that we can banter...  seems that we have a resource for [some] of the answers...

From Barbara to Mark, part 2:  hi there...  thought you might want to see this note from my son..[no longer a teenager] but still "knows...everything"...  actually, he is a master chef and food/hospitality graduate [master degree]..and he "lives" on food trivia...  eek, could he actually be right?

From Mark to Barbara, part 2:  I stand very corrected.  Enclosed find a paragraph dealing with the original Necco Skybar:  1938.  NECCO is the first candy manufacturer to introduce in this country a molded chocolate bar having four distinctly different centers encased in a chocolate covering, "The Candy Box in a Bar."  The Sky Bar was first announced to the public by means of a dramatic skywriting campaign.

From Barbara to Mark, part 3:  wow, you sure did your homework..  of course, had homework assignments been [even] half as interesting as researching the really important things in life..sky bars..and assorted and other etc..i'm CERTAIN that many many more of us would have actually done their homework..and the poor dog would not have a guilt trip

(End of Candy Epic.  Whew.)

Now, an educational note, from Linda Cohen Greenseid:  Never again in your (or my) lifetime will the Red Planet be so spectacular.  This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars, an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history.  The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.  Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years.
      The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky.  It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide.  At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to he naked eye.
      Mars will be easy to spot.  At the beginning of August, Mars will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.  But by the end of August, when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m.  That's pretty convenient when it comes to seeing something that no human has seen in recorded history.
      So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.  Share this!  No one
alive today will ever see this again.

A brain teaser, also from Linda Cohen Greenseid -- who never said she was good at math, so can't figure out why these things work:
      1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have dinner out. (Try for more than once but less than 10.)
      2. Multiply this number by 2.  (Just to be bold.)
      3. Add 5. (For Sunday.)
      4. Multiply it by 50  (I'll wait while you get the calculator.)
      5. If you have already had your birthday this year, add 1753.  If you haven't, add 1752.
      6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.  You should have a three digit number.
      The first digit of this was your original number (i.e., how many times you want to have dinner out each week.)
      The next two numbers are...
      YOUR AGE!
(Note:  This is the only year -- 2003 -- that this trick will work.)

Linda also sent a "dumb blonde" joke, but it seemed too familiar to pass on.  Still, Robert Fiveson sent a joke that Judy Hartstone sent us in February.  When I pointed this out to Robert, he said, "Ooops. I think I was out sick that day."

Jerry Bittman's latest trivia question:  The rock group Queen titled two of their albums after Marx Brothers movies.  Can you name those two movies?

The answer about our nonagenarian presidents:  John Adams, 90; Herbert Hoover, 90; Gerald Ford, 90; Ronald Reagan, 92.  (yeah, yeah, I did the research myself.)

Finally, just when you thought it was safe to start reading the updates again, also from Robert Fiveson:  My two cents to stir things up as regards the Bittman flaming of Calise.  Class response, Tommy.  I was scratching my head as well.  Jerry, we all love you (truly), but go on the Internet and get Paxil (I do, and I am nice and loved by everyone now).  I will kill anyone that writes anything about this last statement.  I have frequent flier miles, and I will seek you and eat your heart.

(Quick!  Everyone duck under your desk!)

The home page:   http://hometown.aol.com/falcons1965a


Rich