Thank God it’s Monday, again. I always look forward to Mondays, as they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you. Therefore, happy Monday, to everyone – and happy Cinco de Mayo, too.
Last month, we celebrated National Humor Month, among other things; and, similarly, in that cartoons are a great source of humor, today celebrates National Cartoonists Day.
By the way, just over a week ago, it was also National Tell a Story Day and, as the old adage says: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thus, cartoons and humor go together, hand-in-hand, to tell funny, short stories.
Mom had a great sense of humor that she used in all of her creative works. Like a lot of comedians, she found her family to be the best subjects from which to draw inspirational humor for her stories, columns, and cartoon panels that she developed before she ever became known as the famous Secret RecipesTM Detective.
Mom could see the humorous side in almost anything and we provided her with an unlimited source of material – more than enough from which to make a living, for over fifty years. Mom was very resourceful, artistic, and satirically funny in her interpretations of the many events in our lives. This first full week in May (for 2025) is also… Small Business Week.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Mom created a whole series of satirical cartoon panels, called “Full House, as Kept by Gloria Pitzer©”. She could really “spin a yarn” – and not just in her crocheting talents – in her creative writings, as well as her delightfully funny cartoons, which she often referred to as her “doodles”.
The cartoons (and columns) were on subjects to which other homemakers like herself could relate. In regards to her ideas and subject matters, it’s difficult for me to tell which came first, the columns or the cartoons, as they paralleled each other perfectly.
Her cartoon panels were initially printed in The Richmond Review (Richmond, MI) but, since their humor was so timeless, Mom also reused them, later, in the newsletters and cookbooks that she went on to write. That’s also why I use them often in my blog posts about her, as well.
Mom’s various columns ran under different series titles, including “The Pitzer Patter”, “Minding the Hearth”, “The Cook’s Corner”, “Food for Thought” and “No Laughing Matter”. All of these columns focused on the satirical side of the not-so-liberated-life of a wife, mother and homemaker, such as herself.
FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, p. 52)
THE CARTOONS & JOHN McPARTLIN
THE CARTOONS… had been the very beginning of my work in newspapers, as I provided ‘The Roseville Community Enterprise’ and, later [in between which I was writing at the ‘Algonac Courier’], the ‘Richmond Review’ with a cartoon panel I called ‘Full House, As Kept By Gloria Pitzer’.
The cartoons were published every week for four or five years. At the same time, I was also giving another paper a panel entitled ‘Could Be Verse’, which was three or four lines of rhyme or bumper-sticker-type logic.
One, for instance, read: ‘All marriages are happy… Love songs and laughter – What causes all the trouble is the living together AFTER!’
They were silly verses but fun to do at the time. From that, came [my] column entitled ‘No Laughing Matter’, which ran weekly for about six years; and, during some of that time, it was syndicated by Columbia Features out of New York.
AMAZING CHANGES
SO THE TIME I spent trying to keep up with what was going on in the food industry, also included what was going on in the world, in general. I wrote about everything the homemaker might be interested in and, in those days, 1960s to 1970s, women were trying to break loose from the housewife stereotype.
It was a difficult period for those of us born during The [Great] Depression, raised during WWII and almost to young for [the Korean War] but too old for Vietnam. The automation [evolution] that took so many jobs away from us, forced our generation into further education in order to compete.
I felt the pressure of having to keep up with the progressive community in which we lived. But little did I know, at the time, that every one of those precious experiences and semi-tribulations were actually stepping stones to a more stable lifestyle that was to come years later.
Mom always had a delightfully mocking sense of humor – not just in her writings and drawings, but also in life. Almost half a century later, I’m amazed by the timelessness of many of the issues about which Mom once wrote in her columns and illustrated in her cartoons.
I guess it’s true – the more things change, the more they stay the same. We still need to fix the roads and there’s still corruption in politics. Every now and again, we face a food crisis or another inflation. There are always natural disasters like hurricanes, tornados, wild fires, floods, or draughts just to name some.
History continually tends to repeat itself in new forms of old events and cartoonists continually find ways to capture family life, work life, hot topics and public issues, often turning them into educational or humorous interpretations.
Cartoons are clever ways to make memorable and insightful or profound observations about daily life, politics, social trends and values. As such, they often highlight our general strengths and weaknesses (or flaws), in a mocking manner.
MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret Recipes, St. Clair, MI; Dec 1989, p. 75)
THE CARTOONS (aka: Family Talents)
I DIDN’T “DRAW”. I “doodled”. The rest of my family could draw. My uncle, Earl Klein, is a celebrated artist in Southern California, who has spent most of his professional life with Walt Disney, Hanna-Barbera and other wonderful studios.
His own company, Animation Inc., produced the milk commercials for TV that included, ‘Daddy, there’s a cow in the bedroom!’ Another of Uncle Earl’s commercials was the Faygo commercial, ‘Which way did he go… Which way did he go… He went for FAYGO!’
He even did the Cocoa Wheats commercial with the cuckoo clock. One of my mother’s other brothers, Herb Klein, was also an artist and had his own advertising agency in Detroit for many years.
My [two] younger sisters are both accomplished artists. Paul and I are glad to see even our children are blessed with this artistic gift, as our son, Michael, has gone through the Pasadena Art Center to become [an] art director for many fine advertising agencies over the years…
Our daughter, Laura… Is just as talented as her brother, but she has had not a smidgen of special training. Her illustrations are currently with the Center for creative arts here in St. Clair and also at the Mortonville Shoppe across from the old Morton Salt Company plant in Marysville.
My doodles can hardly fall into a class with either of our children, but they are fun to do and, also, have pleased the family over the years.
HEALTH BENEFITS OF CARTOONS & HUMOR
Did you know that there are positive mental and physical health benefits attained from humor and cartoons, in general? They don’t say “laughter is the best medicine” for nothing. In fact, studies claim that laughter lowers cortisol levels, decreases stress, and floods the body and mind with feel-good hormones such as endorphins, dopamine, and oxytocin.
Cartoons amuse, entertain, educate, and persuade us. Thus, they’re very memorable. Sometimes they offer lessons in history or geographical elements, from which to learn. Most times, cartoons have moral and social lessons imbedded within; teaching us that the little things like family, friendship, teamwork, and determination are what truly matter in life.
Mom and Dad gave each of me and my siblings (and our kids) a spiral bound booklet they had printed of all of Mom’s old cartoon panels (from the 1960s and 1970s). My sisters helped them to resize all the various cartoon panels to match.
Most of Mom’s cartoon panels corresponded with most of her satirical columns, back then. The largest such collection of columns was called “No Laughing Matter”. It focused on her life as a working homemaker, wife, and mother of five kids – who survived and lived to tell about it.
LAST THOUGHTS…
ALL ABOUT MOMS
Mother’s Day will be celebrated next Sunday. My mom joked in some of her cartoons and columns about how Americans honor silly things like pickles for a whole week, while mothers are celebrated for only one day. I’d also like to know why such oddities are observed for a week or a month, while our very “givers-of-life” only get one day of honor.
Moms, in general, are perceived as probably the most influential and compelling people in our lives – not only in how they impact us, personally, but also in how they leave their footprints on the world, one child (and future adult) at a time. Check out this website’s “Crafts” tab for Mom’s handmade “Sand Candles”, as a great gift idea to make for your mom.
Usually around this time each year, I write about honoring our mothers for more than just one day. In fact, I often advocate that we should start a nationwide campaign for all of May to be celebrated as National Mothers Month. If you agree moms deserve a whole month, instead of just a day, share your thoughts on social media, with #NationalMothersMonth.
Thanks for visiting! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my memories of my mom, her memories, and other related things. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at therecipedetective@outlook.com. You can also find me on Facebook: @TheRecipeDetective.
IN CLOSING…
In honor of May, being American Cheese Month, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for imitating the “Hilton Hotel 3-Cheese Nut Roll”; from… The Original 200 Plus Secret Recipes© Book (Secret RecipesTM, Marysville, MI; June 1997, p. 14). As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to re-share it.
P.S. Food-for-thought until next Monday…
May observes… Better Speech and Language Month, National Asparagus Month, National Stroke Awareness Month, National Barbecue Month, National Egg Month, National Get Caught Reading Month, National Hamburger Month, National Preservation Month, National Recommitment Month, National Salad Month, National Salsa Month, National Strawberry Month, and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month – among other things.
This first full week in May (4th-10th for 2025) celebrates, among other things… Small Business Week, National Wildflower Week, and National Pet Week – which is the 1st Sunday through 2nd Monday of May (4th-12th of 2025).
Today is also… National Totally Chipotle Day and National Hoagie Day. Plus, as the first Monday (for 2025), it’s also the start of… Teacher Appreciation Week, which runs through Friday.
May 6th, is… National Beverage Day and National Crepe Suzette Day. Plus, as Tuesday of the first full business week in May (for 2025), it’s also… National Teacher Appreciation Day.
Wednesday, May 7th, is… National Packaging Design Day, National Paste-Up Day, and National Roast Leg of Lamb Day.
Thursday, May 8th, is… National Coconut Cream Pie Day, and National Have A Coke Day.
Friday, May 9th, is… National Lost Sock Memorial Day, National Moscato Day, National Butterscotch Brownie Day, and National Sleepover Day.
May 10th, is… National Clean Up Your Room Day, National Shrimp Day, and National Washington Day. Plus, as the 2nd Saturday of May (for 2025), it’s also… National Miniature Golf Day and Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive Day.
May 11th, is… National Eat What You Want Day and National Foam Rolling Day.
Additionally, as the start of the second full week in May (for 2025), next Sunday is also the start of… American Craft Beer Week.
Have a great week!
…18 down and 34 to go!
