Monday, July 31, 2023 Schmoozing with the Shmoos

I grew up with these salt and pepper shakers and I grew up knowing they were called “Shmoos.” I had a complete lack of curiosity as to why we called them that. It was as solid a piece of information in my mind as anything else that I was given a name for.

Adulthood came along and I left the Shmoos behind and entered into a Shmoo-less world. If the topic ever came up, nobody had ever heard of a Shmoo. Have you?

Nevertheless I had a great deal of affection for these little salt and pepper shaker Shmoos and would occasionally look for their kin in antique stores. Nada.

My mom just moved into a much smaller space, so my siblings and I went through all her stuff. You know the drill: claim, donate or throw away. I sent my sister’s boyfriend into the kitchen and said “We won’t want to keep any of that stuff – just pack it all up to donate.” If the Schmoos could have let out a squeal of alarm at this disregard, I’m sure they would have. Fortunately, my brother overheard this, went and opened a random cabinet and said, “Are you sure you don’t want any of this? What about the Shmoos?”

I’m sorry, dear Shmoos, that I forgot about you in these intervening years. You are now mine.

For those of you with a lively sense of curiosity, a Shmoo (I learned) was a cartoon character. Here’s a quote from our good friend, Internet: “The shmoo is a fictional cartoon creature created by Al Capp; the character first appeared in the comic strip Li’l Abner on August 31, 1948. The popular character has gone on to influence pop culture, language, geopolitics, human history, and even science.”

Well, if it’s so popular, how come nobody seems to have heard of it? I’d be interested to know how this humble, rotund creature influenced geopolitics, human history and even science – seems like a pretty bold claim to me.

I’ll probably Shmoo this post in the morning.