TV Quote of the Day (‘Frasier,’ As Our Hero Is Distracted)

Dr. Frasier Crane [played by Kelsey Grammer]: “Dad! Dad! I can't read my paper! Eddie keeps staring at me!”

Martin Crane [played by John Mahoney]: “Just ignore him.”

Frasier: “I'm trying to!”

Martin: “I'm talking to the dog!”— Frasier, Season 1, Episode 2, “Space Quest,” original air date Sept. 23, 1993, teleplay by Sy Dukane and Denise Moss, directed by James Burrows

Movie Quote of the Day (‘No Hard Feelings,’ With a Pet Adoption Q&A at an Animal Shelter)

Percy Becker [played by Andrew Barth Feldman] “Why do you want to adopt a dog?” “

Maddie Barker [played by Jennifer Lawrence]: “Because I can't have dogs on my own.”— No Hard Feelings (2003), screenplay by Gene Stupnitsky and John Phillips, directed by Gene Stupnitsky

Photo of the Day: Misty

The photo accompanying this post is one of the few you’ll see from my somewhat distant past: the 1980s, as it happens. It shows not merely a constant presence but a constant source of joy for our family: our Sheltie, named Misty.

“A beautiful dog,” a friend observed when he saw this photo. Yes—and, much like others of her breed, playful, gentle, affectionate, and loyal, too.

In front of Misty is a tennis ball that she loved to chase, catch and toss in the air for my father. In another sense, though, the photo catches her in an uncharacteristic moment: at rest, rather than scampering around in the backyard or in a nearby park, as she enjoyed.

As happy as she was greeting all members of our family, she was devoted to none more than my father, who, especially after he retired, gloried in taking her everywhere he walked. 

He and my mom were especially heartbroken, then, when, after 15 years—with the last several marked by deteriorating health—Misty had to be put to sleep. No dog could ever replace her, they felt—and, in fact, they never had another.

“All Dogs Go to Heaven,” went the title of a 1996 animated film. If any canine belongs up at the pearly gates, it’s surely Misty. Twenty-five years after leaving us, I hope she’s still spreading happiness.

Quote of the Day (James Thurber, As ‘The Pet Dept.’ Discusses Hypnotizing a Bloodhound)

“Q. My husband, who is an amateur hypnotizer, keeps trying to get our bloodhound under his control. I contend that this is not doing the dog any good. So far he has not yielded to my husband's influence, but I am afraid that if he once got under, we couldn't get him out of it. A. A. T.

“A. Dogs are usually left cold by all phases of psychology, mental telepathy, and the like. Attempts to hypnotize this particular breed, however, are likely to be fraught with a definite menace. A bloodhound, if stared at fixedly, is liable to gain the impression that it is under suspicion, being followed, and so on. This upsets a bloodhound's life, by completely reversing its whole scheme of behavior.”—American humorist, cartoonist, and playwright James Thurber (1894-1961), “The Pet Department,” in The Owl in the Attic and Other Perplexities (1931)

Sixty years ago today, perhaps the most popular American humorist of the first half of the 20^th century, James Thurber, died, a month after being stricken with a blood clot in his brain. It was a miserable end for a writer with more than his share of private torment—notably, increasing blindness, alcoholism, a thyroid condition, and orneriness that could morph into malicious mischief-making.

The quote I selected was written before the worst of Thurber’s health issues began to plague him. It reflected a lifelong affection for dogs that was in direct opposition to his cynicism about their masters: “If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.”

Quote of the Day (P. G. Wodehouse, Inside the Restless Mind of a London Pub Puppy)

“I was born…in a public-house in the East End, and, however lacking a public-house may be in refinement and the true culture, it certainly provides plenty of excitement. Before I was six weeks old I had upset three policemen by getting between their legs when they came round to the side-door, thinking they had heard suspicious noises; and I can still recall the interesting sensation of being chased seventeen times round the yard with a broom-handle after a well-planned and completely successful raid on the larder. These and other happenings of a like nature soothed for the moment but could not cure the restlessness which has always been so marked a trait in my character. I have always been restless, unable to settle down in one place and anxious to get on to the next thing. This may be due to a gipsy strain in my ancestry--one of my uncles travelled with a circus—or it may be the Artistic Temperament, acquired from a grandfather who, before dying of a surfeit of paste in the property-room of the Bristol Coliseum, which he was visiting in the course of a professional tour, had an established reputation on the music-hall stage as one of Professor Pond's Performing Poodles.”— English humorist and lyricist P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975), “The Mixer,” in The Man With Two Left Feet and Other Stories (1917)

TV Quote of the Day (‘Frasier,’ As Our Hero Calls in a Big Favor on Little Bro)

[Niles Crane refuses to sub as radio shrink during his brother Frasier’s vacation.]

Frasier Crane [played by Kelsey Grammer] [haughtily]: “Very well. You leave me no alternative but to call in my marker.”

Niles Crane [played by David Hyde Pierce] [nervously]: “What marker?”

Frasier [lowering his voice threateningly]: “Oh, I think you know.”

Niles [gasping]: “You wouldn't!”

Frazier: “I would!”

Niles: “You can't!”

Frasier: “I will!”

Niles: “That was three years ago.”

Frasier: “I don't recall there being any statute of limitations. I distinctly recall that when you asked me to go out with Maris's sister, you said that you would ‘owe me one forever.’"

Niles: “But you only spent one evening with Brie. That hardly compares with what you're asking me to endure.”

Frasier: “Oh? Shall I refresh your memory? Midway through the opera, her ermine muff began to tremble. As it turned out, she had used it to smuggle in her adorably incontinent Chihuahua. Just as I thought we'd reached the low point of the evening, I suddenly felt a sandpaper tongue licking my earlobe. Alas, it did not belong to little Herve! Fortunately, my shriek coincided with the on-stage murder of Gondolfo!”— Frasier, Season 4, Episode 5, “Head Game,” original air date Nov. 12, 1996, teleplay by Rob Greenberg, directed by David Lee

Quote of the Day (Washington Irving, on Two MIGHTY Ugly Dogs)

“She [Lady Lillycraft] has brought two dogs with her, also, out of a number of pets which she maintains at home. One is a fat spaniel called Zephyr—though heaven defend me from such a zephyr! He is fed out of all shape and comfort; his eyes are nearly strained out of his head; he wheezes with corpulency, and cannot walk without great difficulty. The other is a little, old, gray muzzled curmudgeon, with an unhappy eye, that kindles like a coal if you only look at him; his nose turns up; his mouth is drawn into wrinkles, so as to show his teeth; in short, he has altogether the look of a dog far gone in misanthropy, and totally sick of the world. When he walks, he has his tail curled up so tight that it seems to lift his feet from the ground; and he seldom makes use of more than three legs at a time, keeping the other drawn up as a reserve. This last wretch is called Beauty.”—American man of letters and diplomat Washington Irving (1783-1859), “The Widow's Retinue,” in Bracebridge Hall (1822)

Photo of the Day: (Paws)ing for Attention

This dog, named Lily, belongs to a friend of mine whom I visited down by the Jersey Shore a little over a week ago. This photo I took is unusual because it catches Lily in a very untypical moment of rest.

But, as I found to my delight, Lily is not only a creature of boundless energy, but of friendliness to match. Even as she managed to stay still, she was sitting there hoping that I would pet her belly (and I did not disappoint her).

I have not met such an affectionate dog in a very long time, and by the end of my visit I had made a new friend in her.

Quote of the Day (Mark Twain, on Prosperity, Dogs and Men)

“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.”―American novelist and humorist Mark Twain (1835-1910), Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894)

Photo of the Day: Broadway Goes to the Dogs—Gladly

Yesterday afternoon, with a little time to spend after an Off-Broadway matinee, I detected quite a hubbub as I approached Shubert Alley. 

Bodies were densely packed amid all the humidity on this landmark in the Broadway district, but virtually everybody was smiling and most of the spectators were looking down on the sidewalk.

Curious, I cast my eyes downward and saw dogs and cats just about everywhere. No wonder there were so many smiles. 

Elsewhere in the alley, several tables had been set up containing leaflets and sign-up sheets, promoting various animal-rights and animal adoption causes. I figured something big was going on, and when I got home I found out what it was: Broadway Barks. 

Twenty years ago, Bernadette Peters and the late Mary Tyler Moore set up this dog-and-cat adoption event that benefits New York City animal rescue groups. The promotion remains a draw because of its star-studded lineup. 

No, I don’t mean the celebrities that often come here, but instead the furry creatures being celebrated. This photo I took demonstrates how much these lovable animals were centers of attention.

Quote of the Day (P.G. Wodehouse, As a Guest Faces a German Shepherd on His Bed)

“Freddie looked at the dog. The dog looked at Freddie. The situation was one fraught with embarrassment. A glance at the animal was enough to convince him that it had got an entirely wrong angle on the position of affairs and was regarding him purely in the light of an intrusive stranger who had muscled in on its private sleeping quarters. Its manner was plainly resentful. It fixed Freddie with a cold, yellow eye and curled its upper lip slightly, the better to display a long white tooth. It also twitched its nose and gave a sotto-voce imitation of distant thunder.”—English humorist P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975), Young Men in Spats (1936)