Let it steep a while! Edward G. Robinson for Maxwell House coffee

This is one of those great old ads I remember from my childhood. I wasn't old enough to remember Edward G's gangsterish heyday in the '30s and '40s, so by the time this ad came out, he was a retired gentleman with an aristocratic, if Bronx-ish manner of speaking. For some reason the part I remember most is "let it steep a while to develop the full flavor" - not knowing what "steep" meant, of course, and even at that age wondering why he was using INSTANT Maxwell House to "brew" a pot of coffee. Of course, no one makes a pot of coffee out of instant any more, just as no one "percs" their coffee - which is too bad, because the wood-block theme for the Maxwell House coffee percolator was a classic. And it did smell good, though tasting it was another matter. Anyway, I have a poignant memory of Robinson's very last movie role, performed while he was frail and terminally ill with cancer. Soylent Green is one of my favorite dystopian movies, in no small measure because of the rapport between Charlton Heston and Robinson. He was also in a bizarre but moving death scenario where his body was soon to be transformed into FOOD. "Soylent Green is PEOPLE!" Heston cried, almost as memorably as "Get your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!"

More degrees of separation

You shouldn't ought-a start looking at pictures of people like Caruso. . .

(Were we looking at Caruso?)

. . . cuz as soon as we start to look at pictures of people like Caruso, it reminds us of somebody else. . .

. . . who wasn't really a tough guy, but was pretty good at playing one. . .

Like-a-da so.

But then, there was this guy who really WAS a tough guy. . .





(but of course we all know he was framed)

. . . and den dis other guy who looks suspiciously like someone else we know. . .

one Charlie The Gent:

"Wow, Charlie."

. . .and then this really strange one, but the pinstripes match. . . he rode in a cab once. . . and as for social deviation, his penmanship is lousy. . .

. . . but the resemblance to Satan is indisputable. . .

CAPICHE?

http://margaretgunnng.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-glass-character-synopsis.html

http://members.shaw.ca/margaret_gunning/betterthanlife.htm