Take That, Benjamin Franklin & Henry Fielding!

Tomorrow (February 12) is National Lost Penny Day.  Since we don't typically celebrate Lincoln's Birthday (born February 12, 1809) anymore, I guess this will have to do.  (Well, we DO celebrate it on "Presidents' Day" on February 18, which is a combination of Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays this month, plus all the other people who have been U.S. President.)

Honest Abe with the "new look" on the back

If you find pennies, pick them up.  They add up eventually.  If you're not grabbing them off the ground, you're just being lazy.  Or it hurts to bend over.

Dave Berg (1920-2002) drew a cartoon about hurting your back picking up pennies.  It was in his regular feature, "The Lighter Side of . . .," that ran forever in MAD Magazine (well, starting in 1961 and going for as long as we read MAD).  I bet my minions could find it if they searched the CD-ROM that includes all of MAD's issues.  I don't think we have it in our library collection, though.  So I'll take a wild guess and say it was from Berg's installment, "The Lighter Side of Money," in MAD issue #134 (April, 1970).

Really just an educated guess on my part

Dave Berg (1920-2002)

Berg wrote hilarious comic strips.  It was worth the quarter (or quarter and dime, or whatever it cost back in Scowl-Face's day) to buy a copy of the magazine.

Benjamin Franklin wrote, "A penny saved is twopence dear" [Hints to Those That Would Be Rich (1736)].  Henry Fielding wrote, "[A] penny saved is a penny got" [The Miser, act iii, scene 12 (1732)].  Franklin must have read Fielding and rephrased the quote to avoid accusations of plagiarism.

Bet NEITHER of these dudes ever bent down to pick one up!

Henry Fielding "Penny" T-Shirt

(Click Image to Bigify)

(What, No Franklin T-Shirt?  Just Asking)

I Stand Corrected

(Click Image to Bigify)

Hey, T-shirt company!  That's not what Franklin said.  He said what I said he said.  Guess they weren't paying close enough attention to my blog!

Some people think pennies are worthless.  It depends upon the penny, surely.

Worth more than one cent, I'll wager

I say you should keep track of your pennies.  If you've lost any, better find them tomorrow.  Put 'em in a glass jar, minions.  Works for moi.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

P.S.  Billie Holiday recorded "Pennies From Heaven" in 1936.  Catchy tune, that.  Great voice.  Wonderful orchestra, Teddy Wilson.