Daily Dirt: ‘If I had wanted potato soup, I would order potato soup’

Daily Dirt for Sept. 14, 2021

Among the subjects that Vol. 67 of the Daily Dirt touches on are lukewarm tater tots, James Bond and “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” Sit back and enjoy today’s three observations:

1. The best way to serve potatoes? Here are your six best choices: 

A. Potato chips: Ah-hah!! You weren’t expecting this one, were you? Americans eat about 1.85 billion pounds of potato chips each year, or about 6.6 pounds per person annually. I’m probably a tad above the national average, but just a tad.

B. Baked potatoes: Personally, I think the best baked potatoes at a restaurant in Quincy are served at the Coach House.

C. Mashed potatoes: I prefer my mashed potatoes to be slightly lumpy. I do not like the super creamy, almost-runny style. If I had wanted potato soup, I would order potato soup.

D. Potatoes Au Gratin: In this particular dish, I prefer the potatoes to be sliced thin. Very thin. 

E. Potato salad: I enjoy the potato salad that offers decent-sized chunks of potato, not the variation that can almost be classified as soup — mushy, almost runny. And keep those little chunks of pickle and other illegals out of this delicacy. It’s potato salad, not a Caesar salad.

F: Tater tots: It’s hard to beat a good order of hot tots. Nothing worse than an order of tots that has cooled off.

2. Some more people who deserve statues:
A. Hal Richman, the inventor of the world-famous Strat-O-Matic baseball game: The world would be a much poorer place without Strat-O-Matic baseball (PUBLISHER’S NOTE: And S-O-M Football, Basketball and Hockey. JRG).

B. John Stith Pemberton, an American pharmacist: Pemberton developed the earliest version of Coca-Cola in 1886, which he sold shortly before his death two years later.

C. Barney and Ally Hartman, plus Bill Bridgforth: The Hartmans were Tennessee beverage bottlers who came up with the original formula for Mountain Dew in 1940, which Bridgforth refined in 1958.

D.James M. Faria and Robert T. Wright of The Chemstrand Company, a subsidiary of Monsanto Industries They invented artificial turf in the late 1950’s: Where would our sports world be without it today?

E. Ian Fleming, writer and British naval intelligence officer: Fleming gave the world James Bond in the early 1950s, and by the 1960s the secret agent was already a worldwide film institution who is still going strong today.

3. Yesterday’s Daily Dirt mentioned how much I have always loved “They Died With Their Boots On,” the western-themed film that helped immortalize the legend of Gen. George Armstrong Custer. Errol Flynn starred as Custer, but that was hardly his only major role. Flynn was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars in the mid-1930s, 1940s and into the 1950s. Here are my top Flynn flicks:

A. “They Died With Their Boots On” (1941): Along with all of the action and Flynn’s dynamic presence, the movie featured the song “Garry Owen,” a famous military marching tune. Olivia de Havilland was Flynn’s love interest in this film. She died last year at age 104. Flynn died in 1959 at age 50.

B. “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (1936): It’s hard not to stand and cheer during the final action sequence of this great, great movie.
C. “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (1938): Flynn’s portrayal of Sir Robin of Locksley is magnificent.

 D. “The Sea Hawk” (1940): He portrayed Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe. I named my son after Flynn’s character in this movie.

E.”Captain Blood” (1935): This was his first starring role, and the first of eight movies with de Havilland. “They Died With Their Boots On” was his last.

Honorable mention: “Dodge City (1939)”: Flynn’s first western. (I should actually make this is a tie that includes “Santa Fe Trail” (1940), “Virginia City” (1940), “San Antonio” (1945), “Objective, Burma!” (1944) and “The Dawn Patrol” (1938).)

Steve Fact O’ The Day
My first job, as a sophomore in high school, was as a bus boy at national chain restaurant back in Ohio. I used to sneak into the cooler as much as possible and eat desserts, notably pie and jell-o.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. They call him Tater Salad.