Dear Kid,

After Thanksgiving and Black Friday it feels sort of sad that today doesn’t have a name. I was thinking about Grey Saturday, but it is actually gorgeous this morning so that won’t do. Then I thought maybe Recovery Saturday but that sounded depressing too. I know there is a movement to focus people on shopping local today that wants today to be called Small Business Saturday. Not sure how well that’s going to stick–time will tell. I guess I’ll wait until some savvy marketer decides the day after Black Friday should be a day devoted to purchasing veggies and calls it Succotash Saturday or something.

Whatever name we give today, November 30 is an Important Day in the history of entertainment.

In the year Not-Very-Many, Joe the Klutz fell face first into a pie giving birth to slapstick and pratfalls at the same time. Also giving his mother yet another opportunity to roll her eyes and realize she wasn’t likely to get grandchildren from Joe.

In 1886, the Folies Bergère in Paris (don’t forget to use your French accent) introduced its first revue featuring women in, well, not much. (Over the years, the costume budget kept shrinking as did the costumes.)

In 1963, Martin Walser’s Überlebensgross Herr Krott premieres in Stuttgartn (when I figure out what that means, I’ll probably forget to tell you.)

In 1971, the movie Brian’s Song premiered. Sales of Kleenex shot through the roof (serious tear jerker. I get soggy just thinking about it.).

In a much more recent event, Ken Jennings lost. You might need more context. Ken Jennings was a contestant on Jeopardy! and won 74 straight games (that’s a LOT) for a haul of over $2.5 million. He was finally beaten on November 30, 2004. This is Very Important because your Auntie M appeared on Jeopardy! and had the anti-luck of playing against Ken  (she was part of his winning streak). Auntie M came in second. Yay M!

The Grinch. What are we going to see tonight?

Love, Mom