OT: I CANNOT find this poem by Ogden Nash!

Kismet

Kismet

Joined
Jan 30, 2002
Messages
7,269
But it is about optimists. Apparently a discusson went on about all of the leftover dishes from Thanksgiving, prompting Nash to speculate about what would happen if Thanksgiving came twice. This is the bit I remember:

"When Thanksgiving came twice
Who walked so proud,
As that grateful optimist,
Mr. McCloud.

Things you and I would deeply deplore,
McCloud found ways to be grateful for.

Mrs. McCloud, on the other hand,
Was always complaining to beat the band.

One day she tired of his cheery note,
And stuffed a tea-tray
Down his throat.

He remarked from the floor,
Where they found him reclining,
"I'm just a McCloud,
With a silver lining."

Ogden Nash.

:D :D :D


(The Pocket Book of Ogden Nash is essential for me in the history of American writers. He was of a generation who loved ideas and words, and the confusion of the human condition.)


Kis
 
Reflections on Ice-Breaking

Candy
Is dandy
But liquor
Is quicker.

:D

Sorry, Kis, can't help you out. I'll take a look at some of my poetry anthologies when I get home, as I can't find anything online.

--Josh
 
Here's a post by someone who could likely tell you:

"From: Dorothy J Heydt (djheydt@kithrup.com)
Subject: Re: Holidays and Santa
View: Complete Thread (53 articles)
Original Format
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom
Date: 2002-10-13 18:00:01 PST
In article <aocnor$q5f$1@wheel.two14.net>,
Cally Soukup <soukup@pobox.com> wrote:
>.............................
>........................
>1939. There were five Thursdays in November that year, and FDR
>declared the fourth Thursday as Thanksgiving. Others claimed the
>"last" Thursday was Thanksgiving. Different calendar makers chose
>different dates. Hilarity ensued.
Oh yes, and Ogden Nash wrote a poem that began,
"When Thanksgiving came twice, who cheered so loud
As that eminent optimist, Mr. McLeod?"
Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djheydt@kithrup.com
http://www.kithrup.com/~djheydt "

note variation in words & "mcleod"
 
Of course he is, Kis.
Why else would he be here,
With the rest of us so dear?
:D :D :D

( Did I mention that I can resist anything but temptation? ) :p
 
Rusty said:
Did I mention that I can resist anything but temptation?
Click to expand...
Otherwise he'd feel great frustration.

And in such a situation,
he'd likely seek some sublimation.
 
ddean said:
Otherwise he'd feel great frustration.

And in such a situation,
he'd likely seek some sublimation.
Click to expand...
Yea, at places probably very much like The Mustang Ranch.:rolleyes: :D ;)

Also when Danny comes back to America we're gonna need to try and keep him outta Nevada where prostitution is legal.:rolleyes: :p :D ;)
 
From the gracious Ms. Heydt,

"Well, well. I don't remember ever quoting it on the internet,
but maybe I did. I was able to find it in Nash's collection _Versus_,
and it's titled "The Outcome of Mr. MacLeod's Gratitude."

[Notice the spelling; but it's pronounced "McCloud."]

When Thanksgiving came twice, who walked so proud
as that grateful optimist, Mr. MacLeod?
Things you and I would deeply deplore
MacLeod found ways to be grateful for,
And this was his conscientious attitude:
Double Thanksgiving, double gratitude.
Whatever happened, no matter how hateful,
MacLeod found excuses for being grateful.
To be grateful, he really strained his wits.
Had he hiccups?
He was grateful it wasn't fits.
Had he hives?
He was grateful it wasn't measles.
Had he mice?
He was grateful it wasn't weasels.
Had he roaches?
He was glad it wasn't tarantulas.
Did his wife go to San Francisco?
He was glad it wasn't Los Angeles.
Mrs. MacLeod, on the other hand,
Was always complaining to beat the band.
If she had the mumps she found it no tonic
To be told to be grateful it wasn't bubonic.
If the cook walked out she would scream like a mink
Instead of being grateful she still had a sink.
So she tired of her husband's cheery note
And she stuffed a tea tray down his throat.
He remarked from the floor where they found him reclining,
"I'm just a MacLeod with a silver lining."


Ms. Heydt continued:

"Now I would gladly give you date and place of first publication,
but the publisher of _Versus_ doesn't specify. It says "Some of
these verses have appeared in the following magazines and are
reprinted through the courtesy of American Magazine,
Cosmopolitan, '47, '48, Good Housekeeping, Harper's Bazaar,
Ladies' Home Journal, McCalls, The New Yorker, Promenade, The
Saturday Evening Post, Sport, and This Week." "Copyright 1942,
1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948 by the Curtis Publishing Company"
[which published a lot of the magazines listed above]; "Copyright
1939, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949 by Ogden
Nash."

So we have a general date for the poem of "sometime in the
1940s;" but the reference to Thanksgiving coming twice refers to
I think 1933--it was certainly early in Roosevelt's first
term--when he moved the date of Thanksgiving up a week to give an
early send-off to the Christmas shopping season, hoping to boost
the economy. Some states went along with it, some didn't. And
the reference to Mrs. MacLeod complaining when her cook walked
out hints at a date before, or early in, the war, before all the
domestic servants went to get war jobs (and never came back).

Hope this helps.....

Dorothy J. Heydt"


Through friendship, internet searchs, and extraordinary courtesy...a comprehensive answer is found. (There are times when the world is just great.)



Kis
 
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