In 1969, my father took me to Shea Stadium to see the third (and final) playoff game between my beloved New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves. At some point in the game, the Braves, who were losing, brought in Cecil Upshaw, a forgettable relief pitcher with an unforgettable name. Although Upshaw didn’t give up any runs, the Braves still lost and were eliminated. But his name lived on because it inspired my father to create another of his many fictional characters, in this case, another (non-existent) relief pitcher named Wendall Downdraft who joined my father’s menagerie of fictional characters with goofy names (such as Shemdrick von Hoffencleaver).
I’ve continued this ignoble tradition with my daughters, whose childhood included such luminaries as Francois Poulet, a French nobleman fond of chicken; Proctor T. Disbro (named after the real ancestor of someone whose house we rented on Deer Isle): and Popo Gorillio, a caped gorilla on a key chain in Italy who not only was the pope and a gorilla but also taught at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. It was only when they were older, that my daughters discovered that not all families include an extended family of amusing mythical characters.
Today’s #stampoftheday reminds me of these characters because it features Washington Irving, the early American writer who created memorable stories populated by characters with wonderful names. Irving, who died on November 28, 1859, is pictured one today’s #stampoftheday, a 1-cent stamp issued in 1940 that was part of the 35-stamp series honoring notable Americans. In addition to the wonderfully named Rip van Winkle and Ichabod Crane, Irving also gave us Wouter van Twiller, the storyteller who filled the Hudson River Valley with ”haunted fields, haunted brooks, haunted bridges and haunted houses” and Deidrich Knickerbocker, the supposed author of Irving’s “History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty,”
Irvington, who is the namesake of both Irvington, New York and Irvington, New Jersey, is generally considered to be one of the first truly American authors, one who helped shape American culture. Indeed, according to a 1983 New York Times article published on the 200th anniversary of his birth, “by the time he died in 1859, both the man and his house in Tarrytown were almost national shrines.”
”Irving was conscious that if we don’t preserve the past, it gets lost,” Andrew B. Myers, a professor of American literature at Fordham University told the Times. Myers who also was president of the Washington Irving Society, added, “Our mythology was there to begin with. He simply magnified its importance.”
While he took a serious role in American letters, Irving was known as a romantic who favored humorous sketches. According to the Times, he conceded that he ”looked at things poetically rather than politically” and also observed, ”I have always had an opinion that much good might be done by keeping mankind in good humor with one another…When I discover the world to be all that it has been represented by sneering cynics and whining poets, I will turn to and abuse it also.”
At present, sneering cynics, whining poets and others can find much to abuse about the current state of the world. And yet, there is value in finding hope and humor in fictional beings as well. Writing this, I am remembering Marmalade, the invisible dragon who, after my brother died, lived on the roof of my sister-in-law’s house in central Massachusetts. According to my two, then-young nephews, it was Marmalade who was responsible for any unexpected problems, unexplained messes, and unfortunate occurrences. Perhaps it’s time to bring him – and the tradition of fictional familiar characters back.
Be well, stay safe, keep mankind in good humor, fight for justice and work for peace.