Thank Goodness It's Monday #437

THE LESSON OF THE LEFTOVERS

I apologize in advance if the thought of even more post-Thanksgiving turkey makes you groan.

Still, I hope you’ll read on because –

 

1. No matter how abundant your second-, third-, or even fourth-day surplus was, it’s miniscule compared to the “leftover” challenge Gerry Thomas successfully overcame.

And --

2. Although he died in 2005 at the age of 83, it’s particularly appropriate to revisit his claim to culinary fame on this Monday after a l-o-n-g weekend of coping with Thanksgiving leftovers since it supplies us with a seasonal TGIM TURKEY TAKEAWAY or two.

Here’s the story: During World War II, Thomas was a U.S. Army intelligence officer and was awarded the Bronze Star for his work in breaking Japanese codes. After the war he went to work as a salesman for C.A. Swanson & Sons.

 

In 1953, the company overbought turkey for Thanksgiving.

You think you had leftovers? Swanson had 260 tons of “left-over” turkey.

 

What to do? They had no room to store the excess, so they loaded the half a million+ pounds of poultry into ten refrigerated train cars that had to keep moving continuously so the electricity/refrigeration would stay on.

Clearly, this wasn’t the most efficient solution.

So, as Gourmet magazine reports it, the Swanson brothers challenged their employees to come up with an alternate use for the meat.

Although there is some dispute about the depth of his contribution, for years Gerry Thomas maintained he came up with –

The solution:

Package it as frozen dinners
 with side dishes
in aluminum trays.

Talkin’ turkey: Thomas said he designed the company's famous three-compartment aluminum tray (the dessert didn’t appear until 1960) after seeing a similar tray used by Pan Am Airways.

He also –

... said he coined the name "TV Dinner"

… brainstormed the idea of having the packaging resemble a 50’s-era TV set

and

… contributed the recipe for the cornbread stuffing.

In 1954 it was an immediate success: Swanson sold 10 million of the dinners -- at 98 cents each -- in part because they took "only" half an hour to heat up.

The company quickly expanded the line to other meals, which some say Thomas tested on his own family. In the late 1960s he reputedly helped adapt the meal to a new kitchen appliance -- the microwave oven -- which cut prep time to about 5 minutes.

Now, according to the American Frozen Food Institute, the average American eats 72 frozen meals a year and frozen foods are a $60 billion industry.

The Library of Congress says the history of the TV Dinner is murky, but notes that frozen dinners existed several years before Swanson made the idea famous. Pinnacle Foods, which currently owns Swanson, still credits Thomas with proposing the TV Dinner concept.

In an interview with the Associated Press news agency Thomas recalled, “I think the name made all the difference in the world … It’s a pleasure being identified as the person who did this because it changed the way people live.”

Changed the way people lived? 

If you’re not old enough to recall, that’s actually pretty accurate. 

Due to Swanson’s brand notoriety, expansive advertising campaign, and catchy concept, the idea and availability of TV Dinner s altered the way people approached frozen food.
 

And that rippled out to have wider societal repercussions. 

The original “Mother’s little helper.” Even before the Rolling Stones popularized the phrase (and in a far different context) the TV Dinner was deemed “The Great Liberator” arguably giving women (who were predominantly the family cooks) more free time to pursue jobs and other activities while still providing a hot meal for their families.

TGIM TURKEY TAKEAWAY: Gerry Thomas was and is a great example of the EHFTB-FTWMIH credo I espouse -- “Everything Happens For The Best—For Those Who Make It Happen.”

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Confronted with a challenge, he drew on skills he had developed and observations he had made and applied them to the situation at hand. 

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: With a marketer’s “find-a-need-and-fill-it” mindset, he took apparently disparate information he had absorbed (perhaps even unconsciously) in his routine – air travel, kitchen skills (see the P.S.), awareness of trends in popular culture and emerging social developments – and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. 

Then he brought the elements together and applied the –

Useful Rule of a Successful Product or Service:

Be first, best or different.

Can you do the same?

 

Of course you can. The EHFTB-FTWMIH concept argues simply that you must take action for anything to turn out “For The Best.” You must be ever alert for opportunities to triumph in the face of adversity.

It’s not easy. You can’t be a passive bystander. You must be always preparing for the future. And, when challenges arise, you must rally that preparation and confront them. It isn’t enough to want the best. Continually challenge yourself to know what you’re going to do to get to where you want to be. Effort makes achievement.

Talkin’ Turkey—and makin’ the effort to make it happen.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373

tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S. Historical sidebar: Gerry Thomas abstained from the quickie frozen meals. According to the BBC, Thomas’ wife admitted that he was a gourmet cook (lucky for her) who never ate the dinners.

 

Thomas later said he was uncomfortable with being called the "father" of the TV Dinner, because he felt he just built upon existing ideas. In 1999 he also observed, “If it were today, we'd probably call it the 'digital dinner'."

Thank Goodness It's Monday #436

HISTORIC THANKSGIVING WISHES

I really like Thanksgiving. It’s THE time of the year for my family and many of our friends to gather at my home base and connect or reconnect. 

And for us it’s not just a one day affair. As you read this the squad has already begun to gather. Then the days ahead will bring more and more folks until the big day when the house – and all the guests – will be bursting. 

But wait. There’s more. Then, as Friday and the weekend plays out, the gathering will ebb and flow then gradually diminish until, when the next TGIM arrives in your email, we’ll be back to business as usual.

 

Clearly, I think a Thanksgiving celebration is an inspired and inspiring idea.

But sometimes even the most dynamic leaders can’t get a good idea – like Thanksgiving Day in the United States – rolling and keep it rolling.

TGIM Thanksgiving Takeaway: The next time you can’t get buy-in on a really good idea, take heart from this capsule recap of making Thanksgiving Day “official” throughout our national history:

George Washington's
 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation
October 3, 1789

• On October 3, 1789, President Washington issued a proclamation appointing Thursday, November 26, 1789 as a day of general thanksgiving. For a little while the annual holiday was observed faithfully. But gradually states began to observe the day at different dates.
• In 1864 President Lincoln attempted to get things back on track with a proclamation appointing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day with the idea of having the day observed every year thereafter. However –
• The very next year, the assassination of Lincoln almost caused a suspension of this rule. Lincoln’s successor, President Johnson, prevailed and the uniform national observance was maintained – for a while.
• In 1918 President Wilson made a similar proclamation.
• Then President Roosevelt in 1939, 1940, and 1941 proclaimed the third Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.
• Congress in 1941 locked in the fourth Thursday.



1941 Congressional Joint Resolution
makes it "official"

Now the icing on the cake to this lesson (or whipped cream on the pumpkin pie) is that the famous feast that people in the USA envision was first celebrated in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621 was not a thanksgiving.

 

Strictly speaking, a Puritan thanksgiving day was more like a Sabbath day; a day of fasting and prayer and one where the playing of sports was forbidden. Failure to properly observe the day was a crime.

What did take place, the historic record confirms – and what all the presidential proclamations were about – was a multi-day Harvest Home celebration. (That’s sorta what we do at our house. How historic.)

In 1621: The main course was venison. There’s no evidence that substantiates there was any turkey on the menu although the colonists and their indigenous American “guests” did go “fowling” in preparation (see the P.S.) 

No potatoes either. At the time they were thought to be poisonous.

 

And they didn’t have apples. So there was no apple cider and no apple pie – or even pumpkin pie because, although there were pumpkins, there was no grain for flour or cows for milk to be churned into butter or whipped into cream.

There was corn. The kernels were boiled, mashed, kneaded, and then fried into flat cakes. And the celebrants ate cranberries and other wild fruits and nuts.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: I hope your Thanksgiving observance, no matter how boisterous or modest, is a celebration for you and yours, too. And – even if it’s been a particularly tough year – I hope you have the good fortune and opportunity to reflect on all that the holiday is intended to embody.

What are you thankful for? The Pilgrims were grateful for the many things that give life meaning and joy … the things that matter no matter what our economic or social circumstances … the things that bind us together as –

A human family. I trust, no matter how difficult current circumstances seem, that Thursday you will find some of the First Thanksgiving spirit.

I certainly don't imagine most of you will busy yourself with e-mail. So I will take this TGIM opportunity to --

Thank YOU, one and all.

►   For your generous acceptance of these messages

►   Thanks for liking and sharing the ones you like best with folks you think will enjoy them or benefit from them. We're pleased to make their acquaintance.

►   And thanks for your feedback, both critical and favorable. I appreciate your views and the effort you make to convey them. I learn from what you have to say and hope that this digital connection can continue to be a conduit for sharing that wisdom and understanding.

My Thanksgiving wish for you: I hope this message finds you far from want ... that life is always plentiful for you ... and that once again on Thanksgiving Day you will use the occasion to resolve to find something to be thankful every day of the year.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373

tgimguy@gmail.com  

P.S. Here’s a description of the first Harvest Home celebration in 1621. It comes from a letter colonist Edward Winslow sent to a friend in England. It was first published in London in 1622 so the Elizabethan-era English can be a bit difficult. But the message, especially the second paragraph, is a wonderful articulation of what we celebrate even when times turn “difficult.” 

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING

"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, so that we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as many fowl as with a little help besides served our company almost a week. At which time amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians came amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King, Massaoyt, with some ninety men whom for these three days we entertained and feasted; and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation, and bestowed upon our governor, and the captain and others." 

 

"And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that, we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

Note of the first Thanksgiving celebrated at Plymouth Plantation
as it was published in Mourt's Relation, 1622 

 

Thank Goodness It's Monday #383

 

THE ART OF THANKSGIVING

No, not kid pictures on refrigerators.

·         No Puritan forebears in stiff white collars, shiny buckled shoes and funny hats dining with clad-in-deerskin Native Americans with feathers in their hair.

·         Not the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock.

·         Not stalks of corn and pumpkins. 



· Not even silly turkey cards.

Sure, some of those images have a powerful place in our culture. And while the “art” factor may be questionable and the evolved version of history is not particularly accurate, they are symbolic of the abiding sprit of the seasonal celebration.

But “The Art of Thanksgiving” for TGIM purposes is linked to an idea put forward by Wilfred Arlan Peterson (1900–1995).  And it too is about the – 

Spirit of the season. Peterson found his life’s calling when his inspirational essays began to appear in This Week magazine. His most well-known piece, The Art of Marriage, has been called the one of the "most frequently recited English-language wedding poems and one of the greatest odes to matrimony.”

But marriage is not our focus today. Looking forward to the upcoming Harvest Home/Thanksgiving celebration, I’d like us to consider Peterson’s suggestion that -- 

The Art of Thanksgiving

is

The Art of “ThanksLiving”

Expanding on the idea of “ThanksLiving,” Peterson suggests it is –

GRATITUDE IN ACTION: It is applying Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Schweitzer’s philosophy: “In gratitude for your own good fortune you must render in return some sacrifice of your life for another life.”

The Art of ThanksLiving then is --

►Being thankful and showing your gratitude for the gift of life

… by living it triumphantly.

► Being thankful and showing your gratitude for your talents and abilities

… by accepting them as obligations to be invested for the common good.

► Being thankful and showing your gratitude for all that others have done for you

… by doing things for others.

► Being thankful and showing your gratitude for opportunities

… by accepting them as a challenge to achievement.

► Being thankful and showing your gratitude for happiness

… by striving to make others happy.

► Being thankful and showing your gratitude for beauty

… by helping to make the world more beautiful.

► Being thankful and showing your gratitude for inspiration

… by trying to be an inspiration to others.

► Being thankful and showing your gratitude for health and strength

… by the care and reverence you show your body.

► Being thankful and showing your gratitude for the creative ideas that enrich life

… by adding your own creative contributions to human progress.

► Being thankful and showing your gratitude for each new day

… by living it to the fullest.

► Being thankful and showing your gratitude

… by giving voice to your thankful spirit.

► Adding to your annual celebration of Thanksgiving

… an all-year-round commitment to these Acts of ThanksLiving.

Pollyanna nonsense and greeting card sentimentality? I see your point.

But –

This year, particularly in our storm-wearied part of the Northeast, the exuberant parts of a Thanksgiving celebration may be dampened for many who remain hard-pressed. And while even a large number of these folks will manage to take heart and give thanks that greater troubles and cares did not bear upon us, the burden still weighs heavily.

But Acts of ThanksLiving still surround us. Despite a reputation as a state bursting with “What exit?” Jersey Attitude, abutting a city where “Up yours!” has been deemed a friendly greeting, everyone -- virtually EVERYONE – can recall a recent tale of outreach, compassion, or support in the wake of SuperStorm Sandy’s devastation.

Those are splendid examples of

Acts of – as well as –

The Art of ThanksLiving

TGIM Takeaway: I’m thankful for these – and much, much more in my life. And I trust, no matter how difficult current circumstances seem, you too will find and share some of the Thanksgiving/ThanksLiving spirit in the days and weeks and years ahead. 

Finally, as always at this time of year: I certainly don't imagine most of you will busy yourself with too much head-down, nose-in-digital gear behavior on Thursday. (Please be present with those who are near and dear; don't neglect "the human touch.") So I want to take this TGIM opportunity to –

Thank YOU, one and all: For your generous acceptance of these TGIM blog post messages. Thanks for sharing the ones you like with folks you think will enjoy them or benefit from them. I’m pleased to make their acquaintance.

And thanks for your feedback, both critical and favorable. 

I appreciate your views and the effort you make to convey them. I learn from what you have to say and hope that TGIM can continue to be a conduit for sharing that wisdom and understanding.

I hope this message finds you far from want ... that life is always plentiful for you ... and that once again on Thanksgiving Day you will use the occasion to resolve to be thankful every day of the year. 

Geoff Steck   
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P. S. "Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving." A contemporary of William A. Peterson, inspirational speaker and writer W.T. Purkiser (1910-1992), said that.