Dead in Pa: Don Brockett

I love Mr. Rogers, as I've previously waxed on about. Let's discuss one of the lesser characters... Anyone remember this fellow?
Chef Brockett was a little before my time, but I recall him from reruns (because nothing REALLY changes in the neighborhood). He was one of those characters who bridged the Land of Makebelieve and the real world, running a bakery in the real neighborhood to sell to the makebelieve puppets.

Well, apparently once the IRS got tired of his profits-from-pretend-world money laundering scheme, and considering that Edgar Cooke runs a Hell's Kitchen, the actor Don Brockett did have to find other work. Let's see if we can place him in the next clip.



Yup, the friendly chef with a limp went on to become a Romero zombie.... uncredited, of course. Let's see where else he turns up.



Did you catch him? Right at 5 seconds in. Awesome right? He also had a credit in "Bloodsucking Pharohs in Pittsburgh", which I MUST track down for my own amusement.

So, now I want to construct a scenario where those three items all intertwine into one dialogue. Like-- Psychopathic killer has long term hallucinations of being a baker and serving cookies to puppets. After zombie apocalypse, he is one of the head zombies thanks to his pre-death violence.... I don't know.

Anyway, poor Don passed away in 95, and is buried in Pittsburgh.

Oh, and he was in Flashdance too, but... Pfft

Dead in Pa: Heinz

This is a post on condiments.

Searching for "recipes ketchup" brings back 1,110,000 results on google. That's just the things that people put ketchup IN, not counting what we slather ketchup on (and let's face it, mayo on French Fries is considered positively unAmerican). The man who brought ketchup to the masses was born 165 years ago today. Named Henry James Heinz, he started out peddling vegetables off of a cart in Sharpsburg. Soon, he had formed a horseradish company. It went bankrupt. I'm not surprised. Horseradish isn't exactly a crowd pleaser.

He tried again, forming F & J Heinz company. The F and the J were the initials of his brother and cousin. This time, they made and sold all sorts of condiments, with ketchup becoming a best seller. The 57 varieties thing is pretty much nonsense, for the record. Heinz just liked the sound of the phrase.
Today, the Heinz bottle is instantly recognizable, with an almost Warhol-like pop culture appeal with the arched logo in the keystone shaped label. Their headquarters are still in Pittsburgh, and they are the third major employer there.
Henry James's grave is in Pittsburgh, a marble masoleum with iron work that has the sort of turn of the century elite overcompensation you'd expect.
Although I'd love to say there is a hidden tomato or relish bottle in the architecture, it's pretty standard, sadly.

Dead in Pa: Atherton

As an ex Penn Stater, I focus a lot on the history of the school. Take for instance, the eighth president of the University, George Atherton.

Granted, Mr. Atherton didn't have as horrible as a job as some of his successors. His first year in office, the graduating class was only seven people. But he had a lot to do with changing and improving the curriculum from a strictly agricultural college to add more studies, and building a lot of the structures still used at University Park today (like Old Engineering and Old Botany) and fixing up Old Main. But still, I think he got a bum wrap. Check out where he's buried.
You see that great Brutalist monument with the grave-like feature? The one that if you went to University Park, you passed by daily, and possibly found yourself passed out on the opposing bench when the trip back to the dorm was too far? The one with Atherton's name and face on it?

That is NOT where Atherton is buried. Actually, we've sort of misplaced one of Penn State's greatest presidents over time. The best guess is that he's buried somewhere near the intersection, which gets phrased nicely to "under the stop sign" to stop any sort of untoward associations with the location.

Still, is he really? One of the best things about attending Penn State was the steam pipes that ran underground, slightly heating the pavement and sidewalk and making it snow free. Plus, the normal underground wires, infostructure to the asphalt... Personally I think regardless of where Atherton was buried, he's long since been dug out of his six feet under and used as clean fill.