You Had Better Hide Them Away

Tomorrow (Friday, April 22) is National Jelly Bean Day.  Why should I care?  They aren't kitty treats.  But people seem to like them.

Grab a Handful or One-at-a-Time

You may or may not fancy jelly beans; they are, however, quite popular around Easter time, because of their egg-like shape, so the experts say.  Personally, I think people just like to chomp the little goobers.  Most felines turn-up their noses at J. Beans, because they're a tad too sweet for our palates, and they stick to the roofs of our mouths (which, technically, is called the palate, but I try not to be overly redundant in the same sentence).  Scowl-Face, on the other paw, is quite another beastie altogether.

Which brings us to my warning in this posting's title.  (Yes, I know it's a sentence fragment, but creative writers like moi can break grammatical rules with impunity.  Literary license, it's called by the literati.  Like James Bond, only not so rough a license.)  Sorry, lost my train of thought for a moment.  Oh, yes, the warning!  Hide your J. Beans away so that Scowl-Face cannot find them!  I kid you not, he WILL be rooting around your homes searching for the errant bean (any flavor will do).  He eats them by the fistful, and he gobbles them down like so many truffle-rooting hoggerpigs.  Well, here are some pictures to explain.

Black Truffles

Hoggerpig (Rooting Around for Something)

Cute Wild Baby Hoggerpig

I would include a photo of Scowl-Face, but why frighten my younger, more sensitive readers?  Here's a close-up of his belly, which is horrifying enough.

Close-up of Scowl-Face's Belly



Some people kiddies whose families celebrate Easter will be squealing for joy when they receive baskets full of faux Easter eggs (the kind that twist open and have candy inside), painted, hard-boiled Easter eggs (real thing, only more colorful), chocolate bunnies (okay to eat; not to worry, Morgan the Library Bunny).  Unless you want those happy faces to turn to floods of tears, you'd best hide away the jelly beans, at least until after the holidays.  We could try locking Scowl-Face in the Library staff room from now through next Monday, but there's food in there now, and there wouldn't be if he were left alone for an entire weekend.

Enjoy Your J. Beans, All You Squealing Kiddies,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Confectionery News Beat

P.S.  All this talk about J. Beans has gotten me thinking about musical candy.  Let's reach back to your (great?)-grandparents' (could be parents for some of you) generation with "Candy," written in 1944 by Alex Cramer (music), Mack David and Joan Whitney (lyrics) and popularized by Johnny Mercer, Jo Stafford, and the Pied Pipers (1945).

For the fifties American pop aficionado, there is "Lollipop" by the Chordettes (1958).

 

Of course, there's "Candy Man," written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley for the 1971 movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  The song was most famously covered by Sammy Davis, Jr. (1972).  Here is one of Sammy's live television performances.



Although it pains me dearly to include this "bubblegum" tune, here's "Sugar, Sugar" (1969), written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim and performed by "the Archies," a "band" comprised of comic book characters.  The recording was made by studio musicians assembled by Don Kirshner.  Ron Dante sang the lead.