[Sca-cooks] OT/OOP: and in honor of the mid-Pennsic "silly season"...

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Apropos of not much other than being food-related, I was watching the  
1950's film version of the musical "Guys and Dolls" last night, and  
noted a deeply distressing error of continuity that spoiled my  
ability to willfully suspend disbelief, and thereby compromising my  
enjoyment of the entire production. Putting it simply, "Autocrat,  
they're bring me down!" [This last being a famous Fine Whine popular  
in the East Kingdom, and perhaps elsewhere, many years ago.]

I can't say if this is a socio-political/cultural statement being  
made, or a simple case of extreme ignorance on the part of the  
properties and research department of a major film studio based in  
California, but there is a plot device involving a bet over the  
amount of cheesecake sold at Mindy's Restaurant, and, of course, it's  
a well-known fact that Damon's Runyon's fictional Mindy's is based on  
the non-fictional Lindy's restaurant, contemporary to Runyon and in  
the dead center of his little universe of Broadway between 42nd and  
50th Streets.

Both Mindy's and Lindy's were, and remain, world-famous for their  
cheesecake, each being the respective ne plus ultra of the commercial  
Russian-Jewish-derived "New-York-Style" cheesecake-makers art in  
fiction and in real life.

Imagine my distress when, at a key moment of the story, a piece of  
alleged Mindy's cheesecake is placed in front of Frank Sinatra in the  
role of Nathan Detroit, who proceeds to consume same with more gusto  
than somewhat, as Runyon might have said. However, upon examining  
said piece of alleged cheesecake, the most casual observer can see  
that it is nothing but the phonus balonus, being no more than an inch  
high and having a graham-cracker crust, at that.

It seems to me that some concerned citizen like Harry the Horse might  
have put the arm on somebody under those circumstances, even though  
such cheesecakes are considered quite acceptable for Brooklyn parties  
such as himself, Little Isadore and Spanish John, but these parties  
are considered to have questionable judgement as they are always  
going around shooting people or maybe stabbing them, throwing  
pineapples and carrying on generally. In fact, the odds are this is  
Junior's cheesecake from Flatbush Avenue, which, while popular among  
Brooklyn parties, is not the equal of Lindy's even by a dirty nose in  
this man's town.

Naturally, if word of this outrage gets out among the citizens of  
Broadway, the chances are Mindy's name will be mud, and he will be  
out plenty of scratch when the day is done.

Adamantius