Humbug!
Ah, in my heck of the woods, it just would not be the holidays without this sign.
And therein lies the tale!
In the mid 1960’s my family moved into a new home in Mountain View, California. On San Rafael Avenue, just off the US-101 Freeway. A nice four bedroom, two bath tract house with a two-car garage, a living room, family room with a master bedroom suite. And it included a space that could be developed as an extra room or covered patio.
My mother is fond of recalling the five years we lived there as being in a Charlie Brown cartoon. Plenty of families with young children. Many servicemen making use of their GI benefits to afford the homes in this tract. And plenty of employment opportunities as Silicon Valley was in it’s early days, with NASA’s Ames Research Center and the Moffet Naval Air Station just across the freeway.
I don’t recall the exact year, but the Christmas season came and some of the neighbors organized a home decorating contest. Just like the one shown in A Charlie Brown Christmas. And the goal was to have every home decorated. To make the neighborhood a holiday destination; a must-see.
Now my dad didn’t exactly have a lot of free time to spend on a project like this. During the week, he was working for ACME Steel producing steel strapping and other packing materials. His commute was a tough one, making the trip from Mountain View to South San Francisco five days a week. With four children at the time, weekends tended to be hectic with occasional visits to grandparents in San Francisco’s Seacliff. There was not a lot of extra time to spend on an effort, not to mention paying for the electricity it would entail.
I don’t know what pushed him in this direction, but he got out a piece of plywood, and painted it plain white. In an olde English script, laid out by hand, the word “Humbug” came to life. When finished, this sign adorned that two-car garage, in defiance to the rest of the neighborhood.
It was an instant hit with some of the neighbors. The organizers of the contest, they were less than amused. One neighbor I never recall seeing or hearing from any time. This may have contributed to that.
In 1970, we moved to a new home in Walnut Creek, where my parents still live today. And just as it did all those years ago, the “Humbug” sign still takes it’s place of honor every Christmas season, above the two-car garage. It’s become a tradition. So much so that when a few years ago, he was late in putting it up, folks in the neighborhood were concerned he was okay. He’s even known by some as the “Humbug” Man.
One of my brothers has taken over the duty of putting the sign in place now, My dad is over 80 and while doing okay, he has been through enough misadventures that involve ladders. So this is a good thing that someone else takes over the responsibility.
It’s been almost 50 Christmases since the sign came to be. The lettering has changed a bit over the years and the lights are still single good sized bulbs. No LED’s or icicle lights added. Traditions, after all.
So, there you have it. The tale of the “Humbug” sign.
Let me leave you with the words of Ebeneezer Scrooge, from the pen of Charles Dickens, that inspired it:
“A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!” cried a cheerful voice. It was the voice of Scrooge’s nephew, who came upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.
“Bah!” said Scrooge, “Humbug!”
He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge’s, that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.
“Christmas a humbug, uncle!” said Scrooge’s nephew. “You don’t mean that, I am sure.”
“I do,” said Scrooge. “Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.”
“Come, then,” returned the nephew gaily. “What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You’re rich enough.”
Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment, said “Bah!” again; and followed it up with “Humbug.”
Back to the printed page.
In many ways, I am right back where I started. Writing, that is…
Over the years, I have been lucky enough to have written for school newspapers, newsletters, press releases, online columns and of course, right here on this very blog.
It’s been a bit of a throw back moment for me in the last few weeks as I have taken time to compose a few items for the Bulletin, published at the Dickens Fair. Published in a style that definitely steps back in time. Printed on a pair of vintage printing presses, using movable type. All laid by hand and lovingly crafted for passers by at the Fair.
A hobby of mine – okay one of many – is to look for information on my ancestors, using various newspaper databases found online. In particular, I find myself searching through newspapers from the Silver State, dating back as far as my family or people sharing the same surnames found themselves in Nevada. I tend to be amazed at these people coming west to find a life there. The years since have taken me out to visit some of the places these folks lived in. And to be honest, there was not a lot then and there is even less now in some of those places. If you had nothing else but friends and family, I guess you did what you could to survive. No organized support beyond those people. You either made good or you moved on in search of something better.
As an example, let me share the tale of Jonathan Sandon Walker. Born in Bootle, in Cumbria in the northwest of England in 1842, he was one of nine, possibly ten children. He went on to be apprenticed to two trades. That of the stone mason and the brewer. I do not know what led him from England to the Americas, but he came to New York in 1869. From there he made his way to Grass Valley, here in California. A short time later, he was in Eureka, Nevada were silver-lead ore had been discovered as early as 1864. Using his brewing experience, Jonathan ran a series of saloons around the district including at Eureka and Mineral Hill. He was not particularly successful. I believe these “businesses” were little more than tents, as he was burned out and flooded out several times.
But reading the various local newspapers of the day, I get an idea of life in that part of Nevada. Indeed, rugged, but full of amusing incidents as well as tragedies and moments of joy.
Taking more than a bit of inspiration from those early editions, it has been a pleasure writing a column and occasional stories for the Bulletin.
And who knows? Maybe 2016 will find me filling these pages more often. One can only hope…
It’s not the years…
So, it is coming down the home stretch in 2015. Last page on calendars and all that. Time for a bit of reflection between those holidays and more shopping opportunities, right?
For my part, it is the time when the Dickens Fair comes to San Francisco, bringing the Victorian spirits of Christmas to life. Doing my bit behind the scenes at Cuthbert’s Tea Shoppe gets me into the seasonal frame of mind. And the walk about with everyone in a similar mood and a proper pint or three of a favored beverage does not hurt either…
As another year of circling our sun comes to pass for me, I tend to look back and think on some of the best moments I have enjoyed. Some are with family and friends, personal and private. Others are those kind of stop and just watch things unfold. But all are the kind of events that I would not have missed for anything.
Take for example the scene above. It is a mid-winter afternoon as the sun is setting. Out in the prairie, north of the Sacramento River Delta. A somewhat rare undeveloped bit of the San Francisco Bay Area, if you like. If not for the railroad tracks and fences, a plot of land that is much as it has been for centuries. Undisturbed by plows, or human passing in many ways. Plants and a few animals living as they have for a long time.
And along comes this machine, from a time past. An obsolete technology. At the control of the men who operate it. As it comes to a stop, it lives and breathes. For a few minutes, it sits in this scene, as it once had during its working life. Now retired to a museum, it has resumed duties after sitting in storage for some 30 years.
In this moment, this image captured, it steps back in time. Back now a century to when it was new, bringing people and materials west, to their own adventures. With the tales of families, careers, loves and lives all influenced by that moment.
I only have this single image from that afternoon. The rest of it committed to memory. The sound of steam, exhausting as the air pump worked and the dynamo turned to create electricity for the headlight. Mixing with the sound of the grasses in the breeze, zephyrs at play.
That moment was something special. And I am glad I was there as it happened, as it will never come again. Just one of those times to watch and experience.
Thankful indeed.
To Boldly Go, Again…
No bloody A, B, C or D…
So, word from CBS, parent company of Paramount that a new Star Trek series will be coming in early 2017. No details on what the focus will be of the story to be told.
As a fan of Star Trek, I guess I am intrigued as to this announcement. In the last few years there have been various fan efforts as well as the crowd sourced ones. And on the whole, the crop has not been as bad as you might think. Some of these have great production values; just as good as what came to television over the years. Some, maybe even better than a few of the Star Trek motion pictures that came out from Paramount Studios.
Yes, it has been a long time (okay, almost 50 years) since we first saw the voyages of the starship Enterprise come into our homes via the NBC network. In color, no less; selling plenty of new color television sets. And even though the show only ran 3 years in production, it spoke to people of all races and generations of a peaceful future, where mankind had outgrown the hate and war of the late 1960’s. As syndicated television grew, that message of peace and hope spread among the viewers.
So when “Star Wars” hit movie screens in 1977, Paramount gambled that it could go to the future in space with “Star Trek”. That first big screen epic may have blundered onto the screen, but it opened the door for more tales to be told from that universe.
And when Paramount looked to expand into television, a revived Star Trek television series was the anchor of that effort. Holding down the United Paramount Network or UPN, Star Trek: The Next Generation was hoped to be the successor to the throne. Instead, it got lost along the way. Occasionally, there were some good stories, but the show was more like the rest of the crowd in its day. Even with a full seven years, and then seven more for Deep Space Nine, and seven more for Voyager, let’s face it boys and girls, it was a well worn suit of bad fitting clothes by that time. Retreading stories was common place as episodes in new locations retread old material. When Enterprise came along, it truly failed to do much original story telling. And thankfully, we only had 4 seasons of it.
As much as anyone, I would love to have a future as Gene Roddenberry envisioned it. Peace and harmony among the races of this planet and others is a great goal. But as far as it goes, that can be pretty bland story telling. While we may not need to see the Seven Deadly sins on display every day, it is a long jump to imagine everyone trading in personal greed for the greater good.
Star Trek in its original form was indeed just a reimagined Western. Wagon Train To The Stars has been a good description of what it was pitched to the networks as. The idea that every week, your core cast will encounter new people and new situations has become a staple of television story telling, a kind of Love Boat way of drama.
It’s a big universe out there. Plenty of new things just waiting to be found. New friends and new enemies await. As much I have enjoyed seeing Earth and how things have gone for San Francisco, I would really enjoy seeing a new Star Trek show head off in new and bold directions. But I would like it to take up that mantle of hope and peace, for a future that fans of the Star Trek universe hold dear.
And of course, if these television shows used a bit of literary license to tell us the occasional morality play disguised in drama in space, that would be nice as well.
As a Trekker, those are the things that will get me to tune in. And, I suspect I am far from being alone, out here…
Star Wars – The Easy Way Out
I often find it amusing that so many people want to have Star Wars as the mythic tales of their time. Yes, with no heroes of epic proportions in the real world, one can understand how people can yearn for some in their entertainment. And why we are sadly continually disappointed when those we saw with such promise don’t always live up to expectations.
Depending on who you want to believe, the character seen above started off as just a simple farm boy who got swept up in a fight he did not understand. Kind of a stereotype, he was to win the day in his initial story. Learning from the older and wiser character as he went. And audiences get caught up in his tale along the way, right?
Had Star Wars been just a one off adventure, the character of Luke Skywalker would have been just another character in an obscure galactic adventure, as unremarkable as other who came before and after. But that was not to be and now, almost 40 years later, his story continues as part of the Star Wars series of films.
As the character grew through the sequels, I thought that George Lucas chose the easy path for him to follow. Instead of throwing him into the path of darkness and intrigue, we get the usual hero path to tread. We see him go from being just that simple farm boy, to a respected pilot in a plot line that could have come from the Battle of Britain. Where once he had been the plucky rookie pilot who save the day with a really lucky shot, he becomes the older respected veteran squadron leader we saw in The Empire Strikes Back. And just as another legendary hero (Arthur, later King), he goes off on a journey of discovery, learning who his is and what his destiny may be. And in encountering Darth Vader, he must face adversity to prove his worth. (Yeah, I know… use the best parts of mythos when you can.)
And of course, we all remember the moment when Vader tells Luke that he is his father. As if the name didn’t telegraph that moment enough… But that moment should have been an opportunity. An opening that gave a new dimension to the telling of this tale.
What if Vader had been lying? I maintain that it would have been a darker and emotionally twisted plot point if he had lied to Luke. Taking advantage of the younger, inexperienced character. Exploiting his willingness to accept everything presented to him. That would have made Luke far more interesting as he grapples to come to terms with it or learn the truth. (And have set up a better entertaining resolution in Return of the Jedi.)
Had Luke’s father actually been more of what we were told by Obi Wan, it could have made something that was more believable for audiences. Luke had been told that his father had been a navigator on a spice freighter, but Ben told him that he was a Jedi and a pilot, having fought in the Clone Wars.
“A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father.”
Had that been true, we would have likely learned other answers, such as who was Luke’s mother (instead of Padme) and why she was no longer part of his life. And also have been spared the whole Leia as sister plot. As well as sparing audiences from the pap we were given later. “What I told you was correct from a certain point of view.” Talk about easy outs…
Star Trek has from time to time seen alternate realities add a bit of spice with characters in differing situations than the familiar. While I don’t expect that the Star Wars canon will do the same, I can only imagine what might have been had Lucas not chosen to head us down the path he did.
It certainly would have been something beyond the tales we got.
Now, there is something for the fan fiction crowd. Star Wars Meets the Multiverse!