Muuch-kiss!

Just heard that Marty Ingels died of a massive stroke.
I don't like to hear about anyone dying of a massive stroke.
People aware of him know about how nuts he was.
You can go anywhere to read about that.
So what can I add to the conversation?
Well, in the early 60's, he appeared on Les Crane's local New York phone-in TV show.
He told a story about his mother when he was a kid, growing up with his brother in Brooklyn in a six-floor apartment building.
Apparently, she was one of the worst cooks who ever lived.
All of this resonated with me.
Except for the fact that I had a sister rather than a brother, and lived in the Bronx, my story is identical.
He described how, every Thursday Night, his mother served up fried liver, a dish that requires special care to prepare well.
It apparently did not live up to that standard.
Marty and his brother ended up chewing the liver but not being able to swallow it and invariably, when their mother wasn't looking, tossed the chewed liver out the window, into the backyard down below, near the clotheslines.
Eventually they got caught as mounds of chewed liver began accumulating down below.
And housewives had to step around it while trying to hang their laundry.
My mother made very good fried liver.
There were other items that we needed to throw out of the window.
The other main plaint that Marty described was how his mother insisted that she make them warm milk before they went to sleep.
They had no problem with drinking warm milk, save for the fact that a skin quickly developed on the top of the glass, which Marty and his brother called "muuch-kiss".
They would be revolted at the sight of "muuch-kiss" and always complained bitterly about it.
As they spotted it they would cry out "Muuch-kiss!"
I wasn't exposed to that kind of muuch-kiss, rather a much more positive form of it.
My-T-Fine chocolate pudding was a staple in our house.
It too, when made properly, developed a skin on top.
That's part of what made it great.
Once we heard Marty's "muuch-kiss" story, my sister and I, to this day, refer to the skin on My-T-Fine chocolate pudding as
"muuch-kiss". My wife has picked up the gauntlet, and uses the term as well. My-T-Fine is an East Coast product. I didn't even know if it still existed.
I did a search, and it does exist, and can be ordered on Amazon.
If you've never tried it, I suggest you get some.
It's the best.
Jello pudding is just one more thing that Bill Cosby misguided the public about.

I had the opportunity to meet Marty Ingels in Laughlin Nevada.
He was accompanying his wife, Shirley Jones, who was appearing at Laughlin's Harrah's hotel.
He was leaving an elevator, and I immediately cried out "Muuch-kiss!"
He certainly remembered, and was pleased that somebody else did.
We were able to chat, and he immediately addressed the major elephant in the room: What on earth did Shirley see in him?
He said "Shirley has always been attracted to funny people. If Jan Murray had asked her to marry him, she would have said 'yes'.
Reading Shirley's book subsequently, it revealed a fairly kinky side to her, which could have also accounted for her marrying
Marty Ingels.
It's a shame that his lack of sanity led to a rather aborted comedy career, because he was a genuinely funny man.
And in my house, he certainly added to the language.


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My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not
e-books. But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one. If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com.

And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.