Category: Jimmy Fallon

Ben and Jerry and Jimmy and Emmett Lee

2/22/2015

Ben & Jerry's recently announced a new flavor called "The Tonight Dough," inspired by Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show. However, this is not the first flavor dedicated to Fallon. In 2010, Ben & Jerry's introduced "Latte Night with Jimmy Fallon," an ice cream which blended Jimmy Fallon's devotion to his favorite poet, Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request), and two of Dickinson's (and Fallon's) favorite flavors, coffee and candy corn.

Ben & Jerry's brothers Benjamin "Ben" and Jerald "Jerry" Wooster , like Fallon, are also devotees of Emmett Lee Dickinson.

Both attended the Emmett Lee Dickinson School for Boys in Manhattan. Then, as adults, they moved to Burlington, Vermont, where they opened Vermont's first Emmett Lee Dickinson School for Boys. In 1978 they opened an ice cream business that includes 30+ flavors named after poems by Emily Dickinson and Emmett Lee Dickinson. More information is HERE.

Above left: School pictures from the Emmett Lee Dickinson School for Boys' yearbook of Benjamin "Ben" Wooster and Jerald "Jerry" Wooster.

Above right: The first Ben & Jerry's flavor dedicated to Jimmy Fallon and his devotion of Emmett Lee Dickinson, "Latte Night with Jimmy Fallon."

Below: The Ben & Jerry's Candy Corn Factory in Burlington, Vermont, makes all the candy corn used in their best-selling flavor "Latte Night with Jimmy Fallon."

For more information on Ben & Jerry's flavors inspired by the poetry of Emmett Lee Dickinson, click HERE.

0 Comments

Je Suis Toonces - Part 2

2/19/2015

1 Comment

While the stage and the audience were star-studded at SNL's 40th Anniversary show, there were some glaring absences. According to the Huffington Post (shown below), the top exclusion (in their top ten list of "Glaring Omission in 'SNL 40' Reunion Show") was Toonces the Driving Cat.

Toonces was a recurring character based on Mr. Toonces, the beloved cat of Qwerty Dickinson, the daughter of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request). We agree that this oversight was inexcusable. More about Toonces the Driving Cat and the inspiration for the character, Mr. Toonces, can be found HERE.

A poem by Emmett Lee Dickinson entitled "Upon Concluded Shows" seemed to foretell this egregious blunder on the part of SNL. Back in the late 1800s, Qwerty Dickinson's beloved cat Mr. Toonces was supposed to appear and perform tricks at the finale of Washerst's Moss and Hornwort Jubilee, an annual celebration in the city celebrating moss and hornwort. However, when a cooking demonstration on the uses of hornwort and other bryophytes in every-day, family dinner recipes went long, Mr. Toonces closing act was cut. The crowd became angry, then disorderly, and ultimately violent. There were riots in the streets for several days following the Jubilee.

Dickinson's poem about the incident is below on the left. His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen a poem entitled, "Upon Concluded Lives," shown on the right.

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

Upon Concluded Shows
There’s nothing colder falls –
Than One’s Elimination –
The nixing Bells and Paws –

Makes Lacerating Toonces –
The Years of Driving Skits –
‘Tis Criminal – and so Final –
Concluding – without his Bits –

By Emily Dickinson:

Upon Concluded Lives
There's nothing cooler falls –
Than Life's sweet Calculations –
The mixing Bells and Palls –

Make Lacerating Tune –
To Ears the Dying Side –
'Tis Coronal – and Funeral –
Saluting – in the Road –

1 Comment

Je Suis Toonces - Part 1

2/18/2015

0 Comments

Did you watch the 40th Anniversary show for "Saturday Night Live" last Sunday (February 15, 2015)? Did you notice how it opened?

The camera showed a single actor in the spotlight in the middle of the stage. Of course, every one in the television audience wondered, "Who is that? Who gets to open the 40th anniversary show? It was Jimmy Fallon.

However, those familiar with Fallon and the works of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) knew that Fallon was paying homage to Dickinson, whom he has said was "the greatest influence on my career." Yes, the show opened with Jimmy Fallon in the classic pose of Emmett Lee Dickinson.

Jimmy Fallon and nearly every past and current cast member of SNL has, in some way, been influenced by Dickinson, America's greatest poet. As a matter of fact, Fallon has portrayed Dickinson on stage and screen on numerous occasions, so it was no surprise to us at the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum (above the coin-op Laundromat on Dickinson Boulevard) that he was channeling the poet one more time.

We were surprised, though, by a glaring omission in the star-studded show. While a host of past cast members took the stage and while countless clips of past sketches were highlighted throughout the show, one noteworthy cast member from the past was not even mentioned -- Toonces the Driving Cat.

Toonces appeared in many sketches, most often with Dana Carvey and Victoria Jackson, and he was instrumental in "bringing in the ratings for Season 14 of SNL," according to Lorne Michael himself -- but in all the hype and hullabaloo of the 40th Anniversary Show, somehow this important recurring character was all but forgotten.

Toonces the Driving Cat was named for Mr. Toonces, the beloved cat of Qwerty Jean Dickinson, Emmett Lee Dickinson's daughter. Dana Carvey, who attended the Emmett Lee Dickinson School for Boys in Missoula, Montana, suggested the name for the character, and all of the cast at the time -- all great aficionados of Dickinson -- agreed!

We were certainly thrilled to see the Emmett Lee Dickinson tribute at the start of the show, but we were very disheartened when Toonces the Driving Cat was all but forgotten. Here's hoping that such an omission does not occur 10 years from now when SNL celebrates 50 years of humor -- and 50 years of influence of Emmett Lee Dickinson.

Right: Toonces the Driving Cat on Season 14 of SNL.

Far right: Mr. Toonces, the beloved cat of Qwerty Jean Dickinson, the daughter of Emmett Lee Dickinson. The carcass of Mr. Toonces can be viewed at the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum in the Grand Hall of Taxidermy.

Left: Scuzzy the Cat, who portrayed Toonces the Driving Cat in Season 14 of Saturday Night Live, could not be reached for comment. He is currently residing in the Betty White Home for Ailing and Abandoned Theatre Animals in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Who on SNL has been influenced by Dickinson?

0 Comments

PLOG

A poetry log for the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum (above the coin-op Laundromat on Dickinson Boulevard in historic Washerst, Pennsylvania).

Ben and Jerry and Jimmy and Emmett Lee

Je Suis Toonces - Part 2

Je Suis Toonces - Part 1

Who on SNL has been influenced by Dickinson?

Archives

PLOG

Categories