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| Photo by "DiscoverWithDima." |
"Didn't you originate that?" my wife asked at breakfast earlier this week. "'Snoopy in a blender'?"
She was reading about Dubuffet's 29-foot-tall, black and white monstrosity, Monument with Standing Beast, being removed from in front of the Thompson Center. I thought hard.
"I might have been the first person to put it into print," I said. "But I think I was quoting someone else."
Generally, claiming to be the first to coin a word or phrase is a fool's game. You're usually wrong, an earlier citation is quickly found and pinned on you like a Christmas ornament. Even if you're correct, it's a prize not worth winning. Nobody cares. I remember the pride Bob Greene took in coining ... what? "Yuppie" I think. A term that hasn't stood the test of time. It's like being proud of coming up with "daddy-O."
The Monument with Standing Beast Wikipedia page claims, "The sculpture is affectionately known to many Chicagoans as 'Snoopy in a blender.'" Though looking at the references cited I had to ask, incredulously, "How would they know? Did they conduct a poll?"
I searched "Snoopy in a blender" on the Sun-Times database and came up with the first reference in "Guide to Chicago Cruises," a fun, June 28, 1998 report written by yours truly about the various boats offering cruises from Navy Pier and the Chicago River — talk about a tough assignment. (It had to be an assignment; even I lack the chutzpah to suggest something like that: "Yeah chief, why don't I take every boat tour offered on Navy Pier? That's the ticket! And when I'm done, I can evaluate every fruity drink sold on the pier...").
The structure of the story was sort of fun. Here's an example:
Seadog I
Owner: Sea Dog Speed Boat Rides, (312) 822-7200.
Other boat: Seadog II
Location: Navy Pier, 3rd berth
What you pay: $13
What you get: 30-minute tour with a powerful, 2,000 horsepower boat zipping around the lake at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.
Where you go: Up to North Avenue Beach.
The good part: Loud music, the feeling of going really fast.
The bad part: Abrasive, Ed-Debevic's-waitresslike shtick on part of crew. Also, morbid thoughts of that poor woman who got her lower leg cut off.
Kids? Tots only if being punished. Great for thrill-seeking teens.
Noteworthy error in tour: Claimed the Lindbergh Beacon "guided Lindbergh into Chicago on his flight around the world."
The line about a "poor woman" referred to Kathleen Rooney, 35, who was swimming off North Avenue Beach in 1997 when the Seadog powered over her, amputating right leg mid-calf. In 2001, a Cook County jury awarded her $10 million for her injuries.
The guide sails aboard 14 boats — geez, I was energetic — and weighs in at nearly two thousand words. I'll spare you the details of long-vanished cruise experiences. The phrase in question is said during a tour, not off Navy Pier, but aboard Dells-like duck boats on the North Branch of the river:
Mallard
Owner: Chicago Trolley Co., (312) 461-1133.
Other boats: Huey, Louie, Howard and Disco.
Location: Clark and Ontario (the parking lot of the Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's).
What you pay: $20 for adults; $10 for kids.
What you get: a 90-minute land; water tour of the city on a World War II-vintage amphibious craft.
Where you go: Down Clark Street, through the Loop, down Michigan to Burnham Harbor, into the water down to McCormick Place, then back up Lake Shore Drive.
The good part: Friendly employees exhibit occasionally flashes of actual humor (guide referred to the Thompson Center's Dubuffet as "Snoopy in a blender.") Novelty of an amphibious vehicle.
The bad part: Faux-Letterman shtick grew weary after a while; supposed 90-minute tour clocked in at about an hour.
Kids? Just make sure they keep their arms inside when the boat passes close to those wooden uprights at the Burnham Harbor ramp.
Noteworthy error in tour: Claimed Christopher Columbus was born in Chicago, though in jest.
It's hard to prove a negative. "Snoopy in a blender" didn't appear in the Tribune until 2014. Maybe the nameless tour guide made it up. Maybe he read it or heard it somewhere else. If the EGD Irregulars want to have at it, to try to dig up an earlier reference, well, go for it. The monstrosity first went up in 1984. It's on its way to the Art Institute of Chicago now, supposedly. But if they choose to stash it in a warehouse, well, they'll get no complaint from me.
Generally, claiming to be the first to coin a word or phrase is a fool's game. You're usually wrong, an earlier citation is quickly found and pinned on you like a Christmas ornament. Even if you're correct, it's a prize not worth winning. Nobody cares. I remember the pride Bob Greene took in coining ... what? "Yuppie" I think. A term that hasn't stood the test of time. It's like being proud of coming up with "daddy-O."
The Monument with Standing Beast Wikipedia page claims, "The sculpture is affectionately known to many Chicagoans as 'Snoopy in a blender.'" Though looking at the references cited I had to ask, incredulously, "How would they know? Did they conduct a poll?"
I searched "Snoopy in a blender" on the Sun-Times database and came up with the first reference in "Guide to Chicago Cruises," a fun, June 28, 1998 report written by yours truly about the various boats offering cruises from Navy Pier and the Chicago River — talk about a tough assignment. (It had to be an assignment; even I lack the chutzpah to suggest something like that: "Yeah chief, why don't I take every boat tour offered on Navy Pier? That's the ticket! And when I'm done, I can evaluate every fruity drink sold on the pier...").
The structure of the story was sort of fun. Here's an example:
Seadog I
Owner: Sea Dog Speed Boat Rides, (312) 822-7200.
Other boat: Seadog II
Location: Navy Pier, 3rd berth
What you pay: $13
What you get: 30-minute tour with a powerful, 2,000 horsepower boat zipping around the lake at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.
Where you go: Up to North Avenue Beach.
The good part: Loud music, the feeling of going really fast.
The bad part: Abrasive, Ed-Debevic's-waitresslike shtick on part of crew. Also, morbid thoughts of that poor woman who got her lower leg cut off.
Kids? Tots only if being punished. Great for thrill-seeking teens.
Noteworthy error in tour: Claimed the Lindbergh Beacon "guided Lindbergh into Chicago on his flight around the world."
The line about a "poor woman" referred to Kathleen Rooney, 35, who was swimming off North Avenue Beach in 1997 when the Seadog powered over her, amputating right leg mid-calf. In 2001, a Cook County jury awarded her $10 million for her injuries.
The guide sails aboard 14 boats — geez, I was energetic — and weighs in at nearly two thousand words. I'll spare you the details of long-vanished cruise experiences. The phrase in question is said during a tour, not off Navy Pier, but aboard Dells-like duck boats on the North Branch of the river:
Mallard
Owner: Chicago Trolley Co., (312) 461-1133.
Other boats: Huey, Louie, Howard and Disco.
Location: Clark and Ontario (the parking lot of the Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's).
What you pay: $20 for adults; $10 for kids.
What you get: a 90-minute land; water tour of the city on a World War II-vintage amphibious craft.
Where you go: Down Clark Street, through the Loop, down Michigan to Burnham Harbor, into the water down to McCormick Place, then back up Lake Shore Drive.
The good part: Friendly employees exhibit occasionally flashes of actual humor (guide referred to the Thompson Center's Dubuffet as "Snoopy in a blender.") Novelty of an amphibious vehicle.
The bad part: Faux-Letterman shtick grew weary after a while; supposed 90-minute tour clocked in at about an hour.
Kids? Just make sure they keep their arms inside when the boat passes close to those wooden uprights at the Burnham Harbor ramp.
Noteworthy error in tour: Claimed Christopher Columbus was born in Chicago, though in jest.
It's hard to prove a negative. "Snoopy in a blender" didn't appear in the Tribune until 2014. Maybe the nameless tour guide made it up. Maybe he read it or heard it somewhere else. If the EGD Irregulars want to have at it, to try to dig up an earlier reference, well, go for it. The monstrosity first went up in 1984. It's on its way to the Art Institute of Chicago now, supposedly. But if they choose to stash it in a warehouse, well, they'll get no complaint from me.
Microsoft's Bing search engine is already crediting you without actually crediting you, Mr. S. No mention of your byline:
ReplyDelete"Interestingly, the first reference to Snoopy in a Blender appears in a fun report from June 28, 1998, titled 'Guide to Chicago Cruises.' The report discusses various boat tours from Navy Pier and the Chicago River. During one of these tours, aboard a Dells-like [Dells-like? Try WWII...] 'duck boat' on the North Branch of the river, the guide referred to the Thompson Center’s Dubuffet sculpture as Snoopy in a Blender".
Tried "Snoopy in a Blender" --and merely got a lot of boilerplate about the artist, the sculpture's controversial appearance, the location, the cutesy nickname, and the relocation. Nothing else from earlier in the 90s, let alone the 80s.
As for "yuppie", people still use it, but not often. I recall how Bob Greene tried to claim fatherhood of it, and knew he was full of [beans]. It first appeared, a number of times, in a 1980 Chicago Magazine story about waves of affluent young professionals and suburbanites, who were then moving to gentrifying North Side lakefront communities, from Old Town to Uptown. The piece also suggested inland alternatives for yupster pioneers--new frontiers like Beverly, Pullman, Wicker Park, Andersonville, and Edgewater. And it even predicted, correctly as it turned out, the eventual demise of Cabrini Green, and other high-rise public housing.
A follow-up story, a year or so later, used the same term...yuppie...for the folks who'd swapped communes for condos, and SDS for MBA, and who were no longer apologizing for....or ashamed of..."living well, eating better, and making a bundle of money."
This same 1981 essay, about Yuptown's hunger for wealth, was also accompanied by a whimsical drawing of dinner guests...yuppies...at a salad bar. They were shown scooping up heaping servings of greenbacks instead of...um...well...you know...salad. Lettuce. Kale. Bacon. And bread. Next to the salad bowl, with the obligatory apple in its mouth, sat a roasted pig.
I remember the Seadogs, and yes, it was a good ride for teenagers. But your crew experience was not ours. I recall that the entire crew comprised Australians in their 20s, and they enhanced the ride.
ReplyDeleteOf course, if this occurred now, someone would complain about them being a bunch of "damned immigrants."
The Tooth
ReplyDeleteI've taken the river cruise a few times. The first one (and maybe the second) in discussing the reversal of the Chicago River mentioned the lawsuit from down river towns, including St. Louis, which supposedly after losing the lawsuit, took all the polluted water coming its way, put it in cans and shipped it back to Chicago as Budweiser.
ReplyDeletejohn
I always thought the Budweiser joke was funny. Even back when I used to drink the stuff.
DeleteStudying the photo of the sculpture it occurs to me that it suffered badly from being placed in front of the Thompson Center. I would look much better in a different setting. You are going to hate this idea, Neil, but I think it would look awesome placed amidst some greenery at the Chicago Botanic Garden, much as those odd structures of a year or two ago.
ReplyDeleteI took a Seadog tour years ago on the river & the lake. When we passed Union Station, the guide said it was built by the Union Pacific Railroad, except it was built by the Pennsylvania, Burlington, Milwaukee Road & Chicago & Alton railroads & each owned 25% of it. The Union Pacific trains actually used Northwestern Station until Amtrak took over long distance passenger service in 1971. Now Amtrak owns all of Union Station & Metra rents from them.
ReplyDeleteHe also had a bunch of other mistakes in his patter, but I've forgotten them after at least 10 years.
The Thompson building was a mistake, too costly and ill designed. Aesthetically it was different in shape and coloring, which I thought was it's only redeeming element. The Dubuffet didn't bother me but the Miro across from the Daley Center hurt my eyes. When the remodel is complete there will be judgement anew to contrast the two and some may come to miss the old.
ReplyDeleteI remember when those reviews ran. They were, as illustrated, great fun. I think it's time for your bosses to send you out to get an update.
ReplyDeleteI used to work across the street from this, and never knew it had a “name”. Snoopy in a blender is quite fitting. I was on overnights, and I used to smoke, so I was out there at odd hours. Let’s just say that some really odd people are out there at 3 AM. I’ve had a couple of characters cross my path. Thanks. I never knew that it had a name.
ReplyDeleteI remembered asking you about this at some point; it turns out that it was in 2014 and I may well have been referring to the Tribune article that you mention in today's postscript.
ReplyDeleteIn a reply to an off-topic question about it here at EGD on 9/3/14, you said:
"Actually .. and I had no idea of this ... I do seem to be the person who first used it in print, in a 1998 summation of Chicago tour boats. I didn't coin it, but I quote a guide on the Mallard, an amphibious craft that used to give land/water tours, as calling it "Snoopy in a blender." Thanks for asking."
It seems like you looked into it a bit at that point and found no earlier citations, either.
The last 3 comments on this page, FWIW:
https://www.everygoddamnday.com/2014/08/youre-smart-and-cute-for-reading-this.html
That 2014 picture was worth a lot of words. Yeah, i know it was 2014, and August, and they were all so cute (well, most of them) and fit, and smart. And young...so young.
DeleteBut the first word that went through my cabeza...upon seeing that crowd... was..."underdressed." Followed by "unkempt." And then bedraggled, disheveled, even sloppy. Everyone seems to be underdressed now. I wear suits...and neckties...to weddings--and funerals. Nowhere else
Countless girls have been waiting in similar crowds for a long, long time. The better part of a century. Valentino, Sinatra, Elvis, the Fab Four, the Stones, and all the newer kids on the block. Apologies for not knowing their names. I'm old.
But look at those grainy black-and-white images of adoring swooners...awaiting the crooners...and the sheiks...and the hip-shakers, and the mop-tops, and the headbangers. At first, they always wore dresses. Or skirts. Later on, slacks. Then jeans. They weren't really overdressed, but they were...well...dressed.
Didn't look like they were waiting for the bus to the beach.
But hey, that's just me. I'm old. I'll stop now.
I'm an old woman who still wears jeans and "tops" which are sometimes t-shirts on a regular daily basis but who wears a dress or a suit to a wedding or a funeral or a lunch or dinner with friends. Those girls do look like they're waiting for the bus to the beach!
DeleteOh, the times, they have a-changed.
I dislike both -the building and the sculpture
ReplyDelete