Museum Quality

by Jimmy Johnson

1998-03-08-museum-nude.jpg
Remember that great episode of “The Dick Van Dyke Show?” I know: I have to be more specific than that. Laura Petrie (Mary Tyler Moore) has her portrait painted as a special gift for husband Rob (Dick Van Dyke). She is wearing a smart black blouse and slacks that he particularly favors, but the quirky artist paints her as nude. Of course, we never see the painting, but the fact was made very obvious. Incensed when she finally sees the finished painting, Laura destroys it by smearing it with paint and runs out of the studio in a huff. Except it isn’t destroyed. It’s hard to relate today how avant-garde this script was on network television in the 1960’s. It is what made “The Dick Van Dyke Show” ground-breaking and popular. So what happened next? Well, it’s a long story, but I’ve always thought Rob would have been quite pleased to have the artist’s version. I guess 60’s television wasn’t quite ready for that.

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73 responses to “Museum Quality”

  1. SteveInTN Avatar
    SteveInTN

    I must add that I appreciate the carefully crafted “comic” strip.

    Regards

  2. Sideburns Avatar

    To a friend of mine who was in a live-fire exercise on Saipan training for the invasion of Japan when the news came of the Japanese surrender. There were fighter planes overhead giving them “cover,” so they were told to stay down and continue the exercise because the pilots hadn’t heard yet.

  3. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Weather Underground got it right today. They said snow showers and it has been snowing since I got up this morning. Not sticking on the drive but covering ground, shrubs and parked cars. Hope Jackie doesn’t have any appointments in Tulsa as this is not a good day to be on the road here.

  4. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Appointment, yes. Tulsa, no. Dental appointment in Eufaula. The 1-3 inches of snowfall forecasted for Eufaula has not materialized.

  5. Sideburns Avatar

    It started snow here sometime last night. By the time we went to bed, the ground and street were covered. It’s bad enough that Marcia had to put down a pee pad for her dog because the dog wasn’t willing to go outside, and the street hasn’t been plowed yet. Right now, it’s about 22 degrees, but feels like 8. I don’t know if the cat would go out if he had the chance, and I’m not planning on finding out, because that would mean that I had to go out after him. It wouldn’t be the first time, but I want to give myself some time to get used to weather like this before I have to do it again.

  6. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    It still isn’t sticking to the streets. Yesterday’s temps were in the upper 40’s and it’s over 40 today too. So I hope we won’t get a freeze and this will all melt away.

  7. emb Avatar
    emb

    Not sticking here, but the 2+” on the ground ain’t melting either. No thaw predicted until Th. Peace,

  8. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    Cats in & out snow or cold – most times not too long
    Arnold looks out and turns around – he knows better.

  9. Sideburns Avatar

    We didn’t get plowed until mid-afternoon, and there was still a strip of ice down the middle. Marcia’s dog wasn’t willing to go out until almost 4 PM but she only made a turn around Marcia’s car and came back in. We’re not surprised, as the snow was up to her chest where we’d messed it up earlier. She’s not done anything yet, that we know of, but if she does, we’ll understand. Leo has looked out an open door but not tried to get outside. However, when I came in and stomped some snow off of my shoes on the tile just inside the front door, he came over, gave it a few dubious sniffs, batted at it once or twice and left. I do hope that means that he’s not that thrilled by going out to explore until it’s melted.

  10. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Re 11-12-18 cartoon: Pokies time!

  11. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Sideburns, as a California cat Leo probably asks himself, what is this stuff? On the other hand, it rarely snows much in Alabama but one of our cats loved it when it did. The first time he went out in it, he didn’t want to come back in. He was solid white with medium long hair, named Snowball. Once out in it he was hard to find when he sat still, since he blended in.

  12. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
    Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

    Sideburns:

    Myself, I usually wait until Saturday evening to get plowed.

    If work has been especially demanding, I might get plowed on Friday evening, but that rarely happens.

  13. TruckerRon Avatar

    Rick, Sideburns:

    Are you two talking about the same thing?

  14. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    I guess if there is too much snow on the ground to get out, you might as well get plowed.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96GCrZec5u8

  15. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Actually, as I recall, the 50-foot woman used bed sheets to fashion a halter-top-mini-skirt outfit before she escaped. Like anyone was going to shame her for running around naked.

    ::Squish:: Well, not more than once, anyway.

    Arlo and his buddy would have loved the 2016 film “Alice Through the Looking Glass”. Every time Alice (played by Mia Wasikowska) changed size due to eating and drinking various strange things, her clothes got either really really too big, or really really too small. Rather interesting to observe, either way.

  16. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Oops!

    https://images8.alphacoders.com/403/403455.jpg

    Some of the size differentials were more extreme than this.

  17. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Oops!

    https://images8.alphacoders.com/403/403455.jpg

    Some of the size differentials were greater than this.

  18. Sideburns Avatar

    Yesterday, sometime after 8 PM, Sadie finally left a deposit on the pee pad. In less than five minutes, Leo was over there pulling at the edges of the pad until he’d folded it over and “buried” the poop.

    This afternoon, when we got back from some errands, he slipped out the front door onto the porch. (We’d cleared that off yesterday after it stopped snowing for safety reasons.) When he reached the bottom step, he learned the hard way that the snow hadn’t crusted yet and that if he continued, he’d sink in at least to his belly. He stopped, turned right and tried going off the side only to find out that this would be just as bad. He came back to the top of the porch crouched and waited for me to pick him up and bring him back in. I doubt that he’s learned his lesson from this but I don’t expect him to try again for a few days.

  19. Sideburns Avatar

    It’s just the same when The Doctor regenerates; his clothes don’t fit any more (Just imagine the difference between Troughton and Pertwee.) which is one of the reasons for a new look. It’s a good thing that the new doctor isn’t that much shorter than the previous one because she didn’t have time to go shopping until the end of her first adventure.

  20. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
    Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

    TruckerRon:

    Good question.

    If we aren’t, I think he should consider switching to my point of view.

  21. Sideburns Avatar

    Well, I was wrong about Leo. He tried again and this time he didn’t let sinking into the snow stop him. I don’t think that he went very far because every time I went out and called, he came over to see what was going on, but never close enough for me to grab him. Late afternoon, I saw him in our back yard, and opened up the back door. He looked at me for a moment when I called, then carefully came over and on in without my help. He hasn’t been a completely good boy, today, but I’m very pleased that he was willing to come in on his own. Now, if he’d only start doing that when it’s not freezing outside, I’d be a lot less worried when he gets out.

  22. Llee Avatar

    “no good deed” 🙂

    but we keep doing them! ! !