Lewis Carroll’s Birthday

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Born: January 27, 1832 Died: January 14, 1989) was an English author better known under his pen name, Lewis Carroll.  His most famous book was “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and the sequel “Through the Looking Glass”.

In 1856, Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) became friends the Liddell family.  This friendship became an important part of his life and he enjoyed taking the children (Harry, Lorina, Edith and Alice) on trips into the English countryside and he would tell stories to entertain the children.   It was on one of these trips in 1862, that Dodgson came up with a story about a little girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a wonderful fantasy world.  Later, little Alice Liddell begged Dodgson to write the story and so he presented her with a handwritten, illustrated book called “Alice Adventures Under Ground” in 1864.

Dodgson eventually took the book to Macmillan Publishers, who promptly rejected the original name of the book.  Under the pen name of Lewis Carroll, the book was finally published in 1865 as “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and the sequel, “Through the Looking Glass” was published in 1871.  It is believed that Dodgson used Alice Liddell as the inspiration for the books, even though Dodgson denied that he based the character on a real person there are in fact many references to her hidden in the pages of both books.  With the commercial success of the first Alice book Dodgson’s fame overwhelming grew as Lewis Carroll.  Queen Victoria enjoyed the first book so much that she wanted him to dedicate the next book he wrote to her, this never happened.  The Alice sequel sets a darker mood then the previous book and these changes reflect Dodgson’s life and the deep depression that he felt at the death of his father.

Dating back to 1923, the Walt Disney Company has had a long association with Carroll’s Alice books.  When the 21 year old Walt was working in Kansas City for the Laugh-O-Grams he produced a short film combining live action and animation called “Alice’s Wonderland”.  Eventually Walt moved to Hollywood and partnered with his brother to create the Disney Brothers Studio.  From 1924 to 1926 their new studio began producing a series of “Alice” short films.

These short films proved to be very successful and established Walt as a major film producer and the newly named Walt Disney Company began making feature length animation films.  In 1951, Disney released a new fully animated version of “Alice in Wonderland” that was based on both of Lewis Carroll’s Alice books. Focusing on the whimsy and fantasy of the story, the film cleverly sets Carroll’s prose into wonderful songs and is artistically designed with Mary Blair’s wonderful and very colorful backgrounds.  Originally the film was a financial disappointment and received criticism from the British fans of Lewis Carroll but Walt’s version was intended for a large family audience and not literary critics.  Several years later, in 1974, “Alice” became Disney’s first re-released animation film into movie theatres and it proved to be very successful the second time around.  With the introduction of the home video market, in 1981 Disney once again chose “Alice” as their first animated film release.  (This wonderful Disney animated film is probably the version of the Lewis Carroll story that we remember from our childhood!)

In 2010, the Walt Disney Studio released another version of “Alice in Wonderland”.  Directed by Tim Burton, this computer-animated and live action film stars Johnny Depp as the infamous Mad Hatter.  Using Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” poem as the main focus and inspiration, Burton hoped to create a cohesive story instead of a series of disjointed events of Alice wandering from one strange fantasy character to another.  The live action exterior Victorian scenes were filmed in England and the “green screen” special effects scenes, which are 90% of the film, were filmed at the Culver Studio in California.  This new Disney version proved to be very successful becoming the twelfth highest-grossing film of all time as of 2012.

Travel – Dearborn, MI

2009 Ford Rouge Factory Tour
As detailed in last month’s Travel post about Bronner’s Christmas Store, we took a fun weekend trip to Michigan in October 2008.  It was our first visit to Michigan and we decided to drive through Detroit because my husband and son wanted to see the Ford Assembly Plant in Dearborn.  When we arrived, we found out that we needed to purchase our tickets at the Henry Ford Museum.  We love to go to museums when we are on a road trips and after the factory tour we planned to spend some time there.  Below is a brief description of our visits to both the Ford Rouge Factory Tour and the Henry Ford Museum.

THE FORD ROUGE FACTORY TOUR

After purchasing our tickets for the tour we waited a short time for the bus to take us to the Assembly Plant.  No private vehicles are allowed to drive directly there and tours are only accessible from scheduled buses which depart from the Henry Ford Museum parking lot. The Ford Rouge Factory Tour is a self-guided tour that covers five different areas at the Assembly Plant.

To start the tour, we viewed two different films.  The first theatre is the Legacy Theatre which shows a 13 minute film that includes rarely shown footage from the Ford archives and is a great way to learn about Henry Ford and the history of the Ford Motor Company.  Next was another film in the Art of Manufacturing Theatre which has seats that swivel 360 degrees to view a presentation on seven huge screens positioned around the theatre.  The 14 minute film shown is an amazing multisensory experience that gives a virtual tour of the assembly process.  SPECIAL NOTE: The sights and sounds of this film can be rather intense and loud, so please be advised if you have small children that could get easily scared!

2009 Ford Rouge Factory Tour - Living roofAfter viewing both films, we were directed to take an elevator up to the Observation Deck where we got a panoramic view the Ford Rouge complex.  From here you can also see the “Living Roof” atop the Final Assembly building of the Dearborn Truck Plant.  In 1999, the 1.1 million square foot facility was given an environmental redesign and is covered by more than 10 acres of a low growing ground cover called sedum.  The sedum retains rainwater and the organic treatment system will clean and use over 20 billion gallons of the recycled rainwater annually for the facility.  The sedum also moderates the internal temperatures of the building.

When we were done on the Observation Deck, we took the elevator down for the Assembly Plant Walking Tour. (This is the part of the tour that my husband and son were excited to see!)  The self-guided 1/3 mile walking tour took us through the Ford Motor Company’s Dearborn Truck Plant where we were able to view the final F-150 Truck assembly line from an elevated walkway.  Along the tour there are interactive kiosks that explain the various stations of the assembly line and were a great way to learn more about the manufacturing process.

The final area of the tour is the Legacy gallery, where several different vehicles that defined the Ford Motor Company are on display.  At the time we visited the cars on display were the 1929 Model A, the 1949 Coupe, the 1955 Thunderbird, the 1965 Mustang and of course the F-150 Truck which we saw being put together on the assembly floor.  The Ford Rouge Tour was very interesting and we all enjoyed it, especially my husband and son!

SPECIAL NOTE:  It might be possible that the Dearborn Truck Plant assembly line would NOT be in full operation at the time you are planning to visit.  The assembly line suspends operation for daily breaks, shift changes, Saturdays and Sundays, holidays and normally during the first two weeks of July.  Please check the website for current information and production schedules at www.henryford.org

THE HENRY FORD MUSEUM

When we arrived to take the Ford Factory Tour, we thought that the Henry Ford Museum was going to be only about the Ford Motor Company.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that not only did the museum have a large collection of cars, trains and aircraft but they also had a wonderful collection of historical items.  A couple of the items that really stood out for us where three Presidential items: the 1961 Lincoln Continental Presidential car that John F. Kennedy was riding in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963 when he was assassinated, the chair that Abraham Lincoln was sitting in at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. when he was shot, and George Washington’s camp bed that he used during the Revolutionary War.

2009 Henry Ford - Kennedy car  2009 Henry Ford - Lincoln Chair

One very interesting exhibit was the Buckminster Fuller’s Dymacion house of the future prototype.  The architect wanted this house to be mass-produced, easy to ship and assemble.  At a cost $6500 in 1946, this aluminum house had two bedrooms built entirely in the round and was designed to be the strongest, lightest and most cost effective and space efficient home ever built.

2009 Henry Ford - House of the Future

Another historical item was the Montgomery, Alabama bus that Rosa Parks was riding on December 1, 1955 when she decided not to give up her seat to a white man and move to the back of the bus.  This brave African American woman challenged the segregation laws and her arrest lead to the Montgomery Bus Boycott that sparked the beginnings of the civil rights movement.  As we were listening to the museum docent tell us the story about Rosa Parks, he invited our daughter to sit in the seat that Mrs. Parks refused to give up – it was a very powerful moment and a great history lesson!

2009 Henry Ford - Rosa Parks bus    2009 Henry Ford - Cassie on Rosa Parks bus

When planning a trip to the Henry Ford Museum and a visit to the Ford Rouge Factory Tour, please check for current information regarding hours, admission fees and production dates at www.thehenryford.org

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FORD ROUGE

Construction on the Ford Rouge Complex began in 1917 along the Rouge River in Dearborn, Michigan.  It was completed in 1928 and included 93 buildings in an area 1.5 miles wide and 1 mile long.  This huge complex has over 100 miles of railroad tracks, an electricity plant and an ore processing facility.  The Rouge boasts that it was able to turn raw materials into completed vehicles all within one complex.

The original building B, part of the legendary Dearborn Assembly Plant, first started producing Ford Model A vehicles in the 1920’s and continued with cars such as the Mercury, the Thunderbird and the Mustang. After the 1960’s, the Ford Motor Company began to build many factories across the country.   Eventually only the Mustangs were being produced at the Dearborn Plant and on May 10, 2004 the last Mustang rolled off the assembly line.  The historic Dearborn Assembly Plant was demolished in 2008 and was replaced with the current modern Dearborn Truck Assembly Plant which is producing F-150 trucks.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HENRY FORD MUSEUM

Originally called the Edison Institute for Henry Ford’s personal friend, Thomas Edison, the Institute was dedicated on October 21, 1929 a date which was chosen in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first successful incandescent light bulb.  Some of the 260 people in attendance that day were Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, President Herbert Hoover, Marie Curie, George Eastman, John D. Rockefeller, and Orville Wright.   At the time the Institute consisted of two building which Henry Ford had moved from Edison’s Menlo Park, New Jersey and re-constructed in Dearborn, Michigan to look exactly like Edison’s laboratory was in 1879.  Eventually, the Institute was renamed the Henry Ford Museum after Ford’s death in 1947.

The Henry Ford Museum began as Ford’s personal collection of historical items that he began collecting as far back as 1906.  Ford wanted to showcase the American people and their ideas that changed our lives.  The museum is now one of the largest museums in the country.

Celebration – Dessert Party

When we lived in California every year we would have a Dessert Party.  It is a fun party where everyone gets together and eats some great desserts.  The basic idea of the party is that you invite a group of friends who make their favorite or best dessert.  They bring it to the party and when they arrive their dessert is given a number, this way everything should remain anonymous.  Guests are given ballots and vote by the number of the dessert.  Awards and prizes are given at the end of the party.

Be creative and find some cute invitations or create your own using some great scrapbook paper and a computer.  Be sure to include the following Dessert Contest Rules so the guests have some idea of the party theme.

DESSERT CONTEST RULES

  1. One dessert entry per person. (Please only homemade desserts, store bought desserts will be disqualified and eaten immediately!!)
  2. Entries will be given a number as you arrive.  This number will identify your dessert.
  3. All entries will be judged by the guests.
  4. Guests will taste each dessert and then judge on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best!
  5. Guests will judge each dessert in the following categories: taste and presentation.
  6. The following prizes will be awarded:
    • Grand Prize Winner
    • Best Presentation
    • Best Tasting
    • Honorable Mention
  7. Please bring a copy of your recipe if you would like to share with the other guests!

These rules are just a guideline; please feel free to come up with your own dessert party rules.  But, try to keep them as simple as possible because your guests want to enjoy the party and not a complicated ballot!  A simple voting process will also limit the time you spend away from your guests to count the votes and determining the winners will take a shorter time.

Set up a specific area to display the desserts, such as: a large table or kitchen counter.  Keep all the desserts in one area and label each dessert with a number as the guests arrive.  Keep track of the guest’s dessert and corresponding number.  Be sure to provide plates, bowls and utensils on the table for the guests to use.  Set up a separate area to provide drinks, such as: water, soda, punch or alcoholic beverages.  There will be very little preparation time involved in setting up this party and you will be able to enjoy the desserts with your guests.

Have fun and maybe it can become an annual event!

Travel – Graceland – Memphis, TN

Graceland 1

One of our stops on our summer road trip last year was Memphis, Tennessee.  I was a fan of Elvis Presley since I was a child and used to listen to his music and watched his movies.  As a fan, I read some of his biographies and one of the best ones was the 1985 book, “Elvis and Me”, by Priscilla Presley.  I enjoyed reading about their extraordinary life together from the time that they meet in Germany until his untimely death in 1977.  When we decided to go to Memphis on this road trip, I knew we had to go see Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home.  On this trip we were traveling with family member’s that were a wide range of ages from my husband’s mother to our young daughter.  Everyone had such different memories of Elvis and of course my son and daughter were born after he died so they only know him through his music.  We visited at the beginning of June and it was a great time to go because even though it was early summer it was still relatively uncrowded because most of the schools were still in session.  The weather was warm but not too stifling hot!!

2011 Memphis, TN -Graceland 8We bought one of the package tours that included the Graceland home tour and several of the various small exhibits located on the property.  We really enjoyed the home tour and it was very cool to see the actual “Jungle Room”.  Let’s just say that Elvis was a great singer and performer but his decorating sense was a very unique nontraditional style.  One of the exhibits that my husband and son enjoyed was Elvis’ car collection and the highlight was seeing Elvis’ pink Cadillac.  There are several gift shops selling all kinds of crazy merchandise but my favorite item was the one we bought for my daughter – it was a teddy bear dressed like Elvis in a black leather jacket!!

HISTORY OF GRACELAND

Graceland is Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis, Tennessee.  Elvis moved into Graceland with his parents, Vernon and Gladys, when their previous home in Memphis proved to offer no privacy from his adoring fans.  He bought the 14 acre estate in 1957 for the amount of $100,000.  The next year, Elvis went into Army and was sent to Germany where he meets Priscilla Beaulieu.  Sadly in 1958 Gladys, Elvis’ beloved mother, died.  Vernon remarried in 1960 continued to live there until purchasing his own property nearby.  After leaving the Army, Elvis returned to Graceland with Priscilla.  They eventually married in 1967 and had a daughter, Lisa Marie, in 1968.  Elvis and Priscilla eventually divorced in 1973.  Priscilla and Lisa Marie moved to California, but Lisa Marie spent a lot of time with her father at Graceland and was at the house in 1977 when Elvis passed away.  After Elvis’ death, Lisa Marie inherited the estate and Vernon served as executor and when he died in 1979 Priscilla took over.

With taxes due on the property and high yearly expenses to maintain Graceland, the bills totaled close to $500,000 and Priscilla was faced with the decision to sell.  Instead she decided to open up Graceland to the public in 1982 and within a month all the debts were paid.  In 2005 Lisa Marie sold 85 percent of Elvis Presley Enterprises including the Elvis trademark, music catalogue and archival documents including photographs and film footage.  Lisa Marie retains 15 percent of the estate, the deed to Graceland and all of Elvis’ personal belongings.  The new management has announced a major renovation which will include a new visitor center, high-tech displays and a 500 room hotel.  This massive project will take over three years to complete.

BRIEF TOUR OF GRACELAND

All tours start across the street from Graceland in the visitor center.  Visitors board a shuttle bus and are given headphones to listen to an audio tour.  As the shuttle crosses Elvis Presley Blvd visitors will notice the fan graffiti on the brick wall at the entrance to the property.  (Strangely, this is very similar to the Beatles fan graffiti on the brick wall outside Abbey Road studios in England)  The shuttle proceeds through the famous Music Gates, up the winding driveway and stops in front of Graceland.

After a brief history of Graceland by a tour guide on the front steps, visitors enter the home of Elvis Presley.  To the right are the living room and the adjoining music room.  The living room contains a 15 foot long white sofa and past the large peacock stained glass visitors get a peek of the music room with a black baby grand piano.  Down the hall is the bedroom of Vernon and Gladys, Elvis’ parents.  Decorated with white furniture and carpet, the bed is covered with a deep purple bedspread and their bathroom is decorated in pink.  Other rooms on the main floor include the dining room and kitchen with the media room and billiard room in the basement.  Probably the most famous room in the house and an Elvis’ fan favorite is the Jungle Room.  This room is decorated in an eccentric Polynesian design with wood carved furniture, shag green carpet and even an indoor waterfall.

2011 Memphis, TN -Graceland 2  2011 Memphis, TN -Graceland 9a

As visitors exit the house into the backyard, past Lisa Marie’s swing set and proceed into a small white building that was Vernon’s office.  The next building is the Trophy Room which contains a hall of gold records and Elvis’ many awards including his three Grammys.  Also in this building are memorabilia and costumes from Elvis’ movies.  Also displayed are Elvis’ famous gold lame suit, Elvis’ wedding tuxedo and Priscilla’s wedding dress, and Lisa Marie’s toy chest and baby clothes.

2011 Memphis, TN -Graceland 6     2011 Memphis, TN -Graceland 5

The next building is the Racquetball Court which has displays of many of Elvis’ sequined stage costumes and more awards.  As visitors exit this building they walk pass the outdoor pool area and into the Meditation Gardens.  Elvis Aaron Presley is buried here with his parents, Vernon and Gladys and his grandmother, Minnie Mae.  There is also a memorial gravestone for Elvis’ twin brother, Jesse Garon, who died at birth.  This concludes the tour of Graceland and a shuttle bus takes visitors back to the visitor center.

2011 Memphis, TN -Graceland 7

If you are visiting the Memphis area I would definitely recommend stopping at Graceland.  Unless you are a dedicated Elvis fan, I would avoid the beginning of January for Elvis weekend in Memphis as the crowds can be rather large.  Check ahead for current hours and prices, tour information and special events at www.elvis.com/graceland.

Charles Addams’ Birthday (Addams Family)

One of my favorite shows growing up in the 1960s was the quirky show, “The Addams Family”.  I loved all the strange characters, such as Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Wednesday and Pugsley but my favorite characters were Thing and Cousin It. Doesn’t everyone remembers that finger snapping theme song!  We now own the complete series on DVD and my daughter enjoys watching the shows.

Charles Addams (Born: January 7, 1912 Died: September 29, 1988) was a freelance artist who created the humorous, dark cartoons called the Addams Family that began appearing in the New Yorker magazine in 1938.  The eccentric, wealthy Addams family delighted in the macabre and they were considered a satirical version of a normal American family.    The members of the Addams family were completely unaware that their behavior, attitude and even their home were both bizarre and frightening to other people. The Addams family has been adapted over the years into a television series, animated cartoon, films and even a Broadway musical.

The Addams Family television show

The television show, “The Addams Family”, is based on the characters from Charles Addams’ New Yorker cartoons.  The original 64 episodes aired for two seasons on ABC from September 1964 to April 1966.  The show was 30 minutes in length and was filmed in black and white.  The Addams home was a gloomy mansion on 0001 Cemetery Lane next to a cemetery and a swamp.

The cast of “The Addams Family” –

Gomez (played by John Astin) is a very wealthy man who never seems to go to work and spends a lot of time with his family.  He is passionately in love with his wife; in fact his passion greatly increases when she speaks French to him.  His hobby in model trains and he enjoys seeing them collide with each other or dynamiting them and watching them explode.

Morticia (played by Carolyn Jones) is often the calm center of the chaotic household.  She is beautiful and loves the arts, raises flesh-eating plants and spends time trimming her roses by cutting off the rose buds and arranging the thorny stems in a vase.

Uncle Fester (played by Jackie Coogan) is Morticia’s uncle.  He frequently places a lightbulb in his mouth and lights it up.

Lurch (played by Ted Cassidy) is the butler.  He is summoned by a hangman’s noose bell pull and when he arrives he always says, “You rang?”

Wednesday (played by Lisa Loring) is the daughter.  She is the youngest member of the family and is a strange but sweet little girl.  She raises spiders and her favorite pet is a black widow spider named Homer.  She also likes to play with her beheaded doll, Marie Antoinette.

Pugsley (played by Ken Weatherwax) is the son and older brother.  He enjoys engineering and playing with his blasting caps.  He has a pet octopus named Aristotle.

Grandma Addams (played by Bloosom Rock) is the mother of Gomez.  She is a witch and likes to tell fortunes.

Thing is a detached hand that appears out of boxes and can go instantly to any box or other container in the house.  Obviously he doesn’t speak but he communicates with his hand.

Cousin It (played by Felix Silla) is Gomez’s cousin who is rather short and covered completely from head to toes by long hair.  He speaks very fast gibberish that the family seems to have no difficulty understanding.

TRIVIA – TELEVISION SERIES

  1. The Addams Family and its rival series, the Munsters, both debuted in September 1964 and both were canceled the following year.
  2. Gomez was originally engaged to Morticia’s older sister, Ophelia, in an arranged marriage.  A few days before the wedding, Gomez meets Morticia and they fall in love and get married instead.  Carolyn Jones played both characters and to differentiate one from the other, Ophelia was blonde with daisies in her hair.
  3. The interior of the Addams Family house was inspired by the real Manhattan apartment of Charles Addams.  Just like the television show, the décor included suits of armor and other oddities.
  4. Ted Cassidy (Lurch) usually was the hand of Thing, unless they were in the same scene together then someone else played the part.  Thing was mostly a right hand and sometimes had an arm when it reached outside the box for something.
  5. Wednesday Addams name is a reference to the nursery rhyme, “Wednesday’s child is full of woe”.