Thomas Edison, one of the American joy-givers whose birthdays we are celebrating this week, was called “The Wizard of Menlo Park, New Jersey.” That is where Edison created his invention, testing and demonstration facility, but our party venue is at his birthplace, now a house museum, in Milan, Ohio.
Edison, through his many iterations and advances of the electric light bulb, quite literally took America from the darkness into the light. Born at home on the evening of Feb. 11, 1847, Edison came into a world that was still lighted by oil lamps and candles. Years after becoming an incredibly wealthy and world-renowned inventor, Edison arranged to purchase his birthplace. His last visit to this site was in 1923, and he was shocked to find the house, ironically, had not yet been wired for electric light.
So, we start “THE BRIGHT LIGHTS BIRTHDAY PARTY” with a nighttime, torch-lit parade to Edison’s Ohio home. We warm ourselves in the candlelit parlor, progress to gently flickering, early electric light for dinner, and with our dessert we enjoy a dazzling, 21st century, LED light and music show.
You sense the joy the minute our party begins. HOORAY FOR THE JOY-GIVERS! (Note: The comments attributed to these famous joy-givers come from words they have written or said.)
Please give A ROUND OF APPLAUSE for these American joy-givers born in early February:
Feb. 6 – George Herman “BABE” RUTH, Jr., aka “The Bambino” and “The Sultan of Swat,” who played 22 seasons of professional baseball and won fame as a hard-slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees, one of America’s greatest sports heroes (Note: Ruth never played a professional baseball game at night)
Feb. 7 – CHRIS ROCK- raspy-voiced stand-up comedian who won early acclaim as a regular on “Saturday Night Live,” then produced his own sitcom, and is a film actor/producer
Feb. 8 – JOHN GRISHAM- best-selling author of legal thrillers; his novels have sold more than 300 million copies, enjoyed 28 consecutive no. 1 top-sellers and been translated into 42 different languages
Feb. 9 – Carole King- singer/songwriter of hits like “The Loco-Motion” for Little Evie and “A Natural Woman” for Aretha Franklin while working as part of a songwriting team. Her breakthrough solo album, “Tapestry,” in 1971 sold 75 million copies, the most for any woman for 20 years, and the four-time Grammy Award winner was saluted by the Broadway, Tony-winner, “BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL” in 2014.
Feb. 10 – JIMMY DURANTE- nightclub singer/pianist/comic, television host of “The Hollywood Palace,” who with a gravelly voice and a Lower East Side accent plus a comic butchery of the language, combined with his endless, self-deprecating jokes about his out-sized nose (“The Schnozzola”) made him one of the most popular public personalities of the 1920s-1970s. Durante left a “nose print” in the wet cement outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
Feb. 11 – THOMAS EDISON- considered America’s greatest inventor; his genius inventions of the phonograph, motion picture camera and early versions of the electric light bulb had a widespread impact on our modern, industrialized world.
Feb. 12 – SID CAESAR- early television writer/actor/comedian/producer and saxophonist best known for pioneering the 90-minute, LIVE, weekly TV hit, “Your Show of Shows” and its successor, “Caesar’s Hour;” he played Coach Calhoun in the movie “Grease.”
COMMENTS OVERHEARD at “The Bright Lights Birthday Party” for American joy-givers:
“My nose isn’t big. I just happen to have a very small head.”—Jimmy Durante
“I still believe that everyone is beautiful in some way and by seeing the beauty in others we make ourselves more beautiful.”—Carole King
“You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is white, the best golfer is Black, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the ‘America’s Cup,’ France is accusing the U.S. of being arrogant and Germany doesn’t want to go to war.”—Chris Rock
“Politics is developing more comedians than radio ever did.”—Jimmy Durante
(Describing one of his fictional characters) “He’s a two-faced, cutthroat, dirt-dumb, chickensh*t, slimy, little bastard with a bright future in politics.”—John Grisham
“The best thing about humor is that it shows people they are not alone.”—Sid Caesar
“Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink, I feel ashamed. Then, I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn’t drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. I think, it’s better to drink this beer and let their dream come true than be selfish and worry about my liver.”—Babe Ruth
“Five percent of people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent of people would rather die than think.”—Thomas Edison
“The guy who invented the wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the other three was a genius.”—Sid Caesar
“I don’t get high, but sometimes I wish I did. That way, when I messed up my life, I would have an excuse. But, right now, there’s no rehab for stupidity.”—Chris Rock
“Some people have more guts than brains…If you’re gonna be stupid, you’ve gotta be tough.”—John Grisham
“In my songwriting career I’ve never felt that my being a woman was an obstacle or an advantage. I guess I’ve been oblivious. Sensitive? Humbug. Everybody thinks I’m sensitive…There is a downside to having one of the biggest-selling albums ever.”—Carole King
“There are three things women need in life: food, water and compliments.”—Chris Rock
“Everybody wants to get inta da act…My wife has a slight impediment in her speech. Every now and then she stops to breathe.”—Jimmy Durante
“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.”—Babe Ruth
“I haven’t failed. I’ve just found out 10,000 ways that won’t work…Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”—Thomas Edison
“You can’t go wrong if you start each day with a song.”—Jimmy Durante
“You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face and show the world the love in your heart.”—Carole King
“You should never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.”—Babe Ruth
“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”—Thomas Edison
“Once the inspiration comes, that directs where the perspiration goes.”—Carole King
“To invent you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”—Thomas Edison
“In between goals is a thing called “life” that has to be lived and enjoyed.”—Sid Caesar
“If you want help, help yourself; people like to see that.”—Chris Rock
“I never did a day’s work in my life; it was all fun.”—Thomas Edison
“I’m like a plant, I reach for the sun.”—Carole King
“Make someone happy, make just one someone happy, and you will be happy, too.”—Jimmy Durante
PARTY MENU for “The Bright Lights Birthday Party:”
APPETIZER—Jimmy Durante’s Meatball Buns (tasteofhome.com)
SALAD—Sid Caesar Salad (The Last Caesar Salad Recipe You’ll Ever Need at allrecipes.com)
SOUP—Carole King’s Chicken with Rice Soup which she wrote a song about with these lyrics: “In February, it will be my snowman’s anniversary…happy once, happy twice, happy chicken soup with rice.”
ENTRÉE—John Grisham’s Catfish Lafitte, the novelist’s favorite catfish recipe at myrecipes.com. About another favorite fish, Grisham wrote, “Anyone can cook a trout. The real art is in hooking the damned thing.”
BEVERAGE—Chris on the Rocks Cocktail/Mocktail (Chris Rock is a dedicated fan of cannabis, and he and other celebs have invested in Lowell Herb Company, a California cannabis brand), so maybe instead we’ll honor Thomas Edison with Lightbulb Extra Pale Ale from the Verdant Brewing Company.
DESSERT—Baby Ruth Cookies at cantstayoutofthekitchen.com
PARTY MUSIC:
Edison invented the phonograph, so the night’s music goes back to his earliest recordings on tinfoil in 1877; he later developed a solid wax cylinder record. You can hear early Edison recordings of brass bands, folk songs, jazz, blues, opera and Tin Pan Alley pop at the National Park Service website nps.gov. As the “Bright Lights” show entertainment glows, music recordings bring us up through King’s latest creations and loops our joy-giver birthday celebration to the finale with her lyric, “Tonight, the light of love is in your eyes, but will you love me tomorrow?”
ONE TO GROW ON: There are many biographies of Edison, but the most-respected is Matthew Josephson’s 1959 publication, “Edison: A biography.” The author makes Edison’s life readable, but it is not simply a glowing chronology of the “wizard’s” many wondrous inventions. Josephson explores creative hurdles Edison had with the inventor’s need for constant praise and the distractions of what today we might label as attention deficit disorder, which led to many unfinished projects.
At the end of “The Bright Lights Birthday Party,” the other American joy-givers ask Durante about the signature, goodnight sign-off he gave to his radio and television audiences. The comedy singer/pianist says he toured a lot in his early career and one night he called his cherished wife, Jean, from Calabash, North Carolina. And he ended this call to his valentine by saying, “GOODNIGHT MRS. CALABASH, WHEREVER YOU ARE.”
Catfish Lafitte
Southern Living, December 1997
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt, divided
- 1 ½ to 2 ½ tsp. ground red pepper, divided
- 4 catfish fillets (about 1 ½ lbs.)
- Vegetable oil
- 12 unpeeled, large fresh shrimp
- 1 tbsp. butter or margarine
- 2 tsp. minced garlic
- ¼ cup vermouth
- 2 cups whipping cream
- ¼ cup chopped green onions, divided
- 2 tsp. lemon juice
- 3 very thin, cooked ham slices, cut into strips
- Garnish: lemon wedges
Directions
- Whisk together eggs and milk.
- Combine flour, 1 tsp. salt, and ½ tsp. ground red pepper in a shallow dish. Dredge fillets in flour mixture; dip in milk mixture, and dredge again in flour mixture.
- Pour oil to a depth of 3 inches into a Dutch oven; heat to 360°. Fry fillets 6 minutes or until golden; drain on paper towels. Keep warm.
- Peel shrimp, and remove veins, if desired.
- Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat; add shrimp and minced garlic, and cook, stirring often, until shrimp turn pink. Remove shrimp, reserving drippings in skillet.
- Stir vermouth into reserved pan drippings; bring mixture to a boil and cook 1 minute. Add whipping cream, 2 tbsp. green onions, lemon juice, remaining ¼ tsp. salt and remaining 1 to 2 tsp. ground red pepper; cook, stirring often, 12 to 15 minutes or until mixture is thickened.
- Place catfish on a serving plate; drizzle with sauce. Top with shrimp and ham; sprinkle with remaining 2 tbsp. green onions, and garnish, if desired.
Serves 4.
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