Barney Miller was fair and thoughtful, and a little flawed. During the run he had a separation from his wife, which they eventually figured out. Barney was always the even, measured voice of reason. I can see why my mom had such a huge crush on him.

Sgt. Stanley “Wojo” Wojciehowicz — it’s spelled just how it sounds — (Max Gail) was simple and kind of dumb, he was passionate and headstrong, but a little misguided at times. His character showed the greatest development as the series progressed.

Sgt. Ron Harris (Ron Glass) was the snappiest dresser, and had a wonderful sarcastic streak. Those three characters lasted throughout the entire run.

Sgt. Philip K. Fish (Abe Vigoda) was the source of every old person joke the writers could think of, which is hilarious to me now considering the fact that he was only 54 when the series started. He was eventually replaced by Sgt. Arthur Dietrich (Steve Landesberg) who was one of my favorite characters due largely to his intelligence and quick, sarcastic wit.

Sgt. Nick Yemana (Jack Soo, who died during the run) was like a walking one-liner machine.

Sgt. Chano Amengual (Gregory Sierra) was a Puerto Rican cop with a strong moral streak who hated seeing his fellow countrymen breaking the law. Chano disappeared from the show with no explanation.

My least favorite character when I was watching the show as a teen was Officer Carl Levitt (Ron Carey), who became one of my favorite characters upon my recent viewing. He was sarcastic, and a little needy, but was one of the best cops out there.

Same deal with Inspector Frank Luger (James Gregory) who I found annoying in my youth. That opinion didn’t change, Luger was supposed to be annoying, but seeing how James Gregory played him made me change my mind.

Honorable mention has to go to Linda Lavin who played Detective Janice Wentworth on several episodes. She played the character with such spunk and drive, and I really wish they could have kept her on longer. But she went on to make the series Alice, and she did pretty well there.

Then we can talk about the cavalcade of recognizable faces who played other cops, perpetrators, and victims who paraded through the episodes. Fans of M*A*S*H (like me) or pretty much any TV show of the era saw so many character actors parade through the ol’ 1-2 — sometimes several times playing the same or different characters.

The show wasn’t just a goofy comedy. It dealt with real world issues, and contemporary themes of the times: nuclear proliferation, gay rights, city and national elections, freedom of speech on the job, feminism and sexism, and did it all without being too trivial or too preachy. Very few modern comedies (many of which I see as just an endless procession of terrible people being terrible to each other) could say that.

My life changed in April of 1981 when my dad died at the age of 50. TV shows weren’t all that important to me then, and that hasn’t really changed much (the notable exception would be the Star Trek franchise). As a result I never saw the last couple of seasons of Barney Miller.

The last three episodes are about the precinct building being sold by the city for development, and the final scene has Barney having a few short flashback memories of Amengual, Fish, Wentworth, and Yemana. Barney turns out the lights, walks out, and closes the door behind him.

And I cried.

I cried for a lot of reasons. I cried because the characters all went their separate ways. I cried because I remembered how my family used to gather around the TV to watch the show. I cried because of my dad.

It’s weird to cry over a show that’s over 40 years old, especially one that I could just start over by just clicking “play.”

Nostalgia is a hell of a thing.

Washington (AP)– The army said Thursday it had received a report that ther Germans were using a new and diabolical booby trap–candy with a piece of thermite implanted in its center. When eaten, the candy melts away and the termite (sic) flames up i nthe throat and mouth.

Two experts in booby trap detection told of the device during a demonstration of weapons and mines at acting Secretary of War Patterson’s news conference.

The Germans also are using the Yankee desire for cleanliness in devising other traps, the experts reported. A liquid soap dispenser is filled with sulphueric acid, or similar material, to burn the hands when tipped up. Another gadget is an innocent looking cake of soap which can be used for some time and then, when the outercoating is worn away, detonates an explosive to blow off the hands.

Trivia

Thermite, according to Wikipedia, is “a pyrotechnic composition of metal powder and metal oxide. When ignited by heat or chemical reaction, thermite undergoes an exothermic reduction-oxidation (redox) reaction.”

A paint can of thermite can burn through a car engine. Even a small amount is violently destructive, as shown in the following video:

I have to wonder how many people fell victim to such a diabolical trap. Nasty.

Fish Caserole (1944)

Recipe by Charlotte Adams

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: MainCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Cooking time

40

minutes

From the St. Cloud Daily Times, May 19, 1944

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. Fish fillets: cod or any kind of fish (keep skin and bones aside)

• 2 cups Mashed potatoes

• 1/2 lb. Mushrooms

• 2 cups White sauce (described below)

• 1 Bay leaf

• 1 Carrot

• 1 Onion

• Few leaves of celery

• Salt & Pepper

• Dash of nutmeg

• Dash of paprika

• Chopped parsley (optional)

• 1/8 cup Sauterne*

Directions

• Boil the fish 10 minutes, adding skin and bones, bay leaf, carrot, onion, celery.
• Remove fish, throwing away skin and bones, and bay leaf. Reserve liquid with carrot, onion and celery in it.
• Make a white sauce with butter, flour and the reserved liquid of fish and milk. Add the wine if desired.
• Add spices and cooked mushrooms.
• Grease a baking dish, put the fish in, then cover with a layer of white sauce and repeat until all is used up.
• Top with a layer of mashed potatoes.
• Put in a moderate oven (375°) until potatoes are golden brown (30-40 minutes).
• Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Notes

• * Sauterne is a sweet white wine that is apparently rather expensive. Alternatives are available, and can be found with a simple internet search.

So many missing ingredients and steps. It kind of assumes you have mashed potatoes sitting around, and tells you to add cooked mushrooms without ever telling you to cook them. Not sure if I’d ever actually want to try this, but who knows?

When reading the papers, I will sometimes look up the names mentioned in the articles, and so I looked up George Harsh. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to die in the electric chair. He wound up getting his death sentence commuted to hard labor. While in prison he saved the life of a fellow inmate by performing an appendectomy (there’s a story I’d love to hear), and was released after serving 12 years.

After drifting for a few years he emigrated to Canada where, during WWII, he joined the Canadian Air Force, serving as a tail gunner. His plane was shot down and he was captured by the Germans. In 1944 he helped 126 Allied prisoners tunnel out of Stalag 3. You might remember that caper from a little movie they made about it called “The Great Escape.”

In 1971 he wrote a book called Lonesome Road and became an anti-capital punishment advocate.

He went from teenage thrill killer to war hero to author and activist, and died in 1980.

The more I think about this, the more I believe that “1-3 cups of flour” was a misprint. 3 cups of flour will make you a loaf of bread, and even one cup would be excessive for a recipe like this. I’m pretty sure they meant 1/3 cup of flour, which still seems like a lot, but is a much more reasonable amount.

Clear Apple Jelly.–Pare and cut up five dozen large, juicy, acid apples; put them in a pan with as much water as will cover them, boil gently until soft, let them cool, then strain them through a jelly bag; put the juice in your preserving pan, and to each pint of juice put on pound of fine sugar, and the peel of two lemons; then boil it until it is reduced to the stiffness of calves’s foot jelly: skim it will; add the juice of a lemon.

So many questions! What are “acid apples?” What’s a “jelly bag?” What’s a “preserving pan?” And what’s “calve’s foot jelly??” –Ed.

Queen of Puddings.–One pint of bread crumbs, one quart sweet milk, four eggs, a lump of butter the size of a hickory nut. When the pudding is nearly done, spread a layer of any kind of stewed fruit over the top of it, and on the top of that, spread the whites of three eggs, beaten to a froth, with three tablespoonfuls of white sugar. Set it in the oven again, to stiffen the froth. Eat with cream and sugar.

Good Hams.–After the hams have been smoked, take them down and thoroughly rub the flash part with molasses, then immediately part apply ground of powdered pepper, by sprinkling on as much as will stick to the molasses, when they must be hung up again to dry. Hams treated in this manner will keep perfectly sweet for two or three years. This must be done before the fly deposits its egg, for after that is done nothing will stop their ravages.