"Nostalgic Tastes and Icons: The Legacy of 80s Chinese Restaurants and Actors"

Hi, I'm Kevin. No, I'm not Kevin. What's the line? Hi, I'm Jack.

Hi, I'm Jack. And I'm Kevin. This is good company in the car. Music.

Now, when you were in high school in Parkersburg, you had a Chinese restaurant. Yes. What was it called? China Garden. And what did you do at China Garden? I got hot sauce soup, two egg rolls. Every time? Almost every time, like literally I would walk in and the chubby little hostess-y lady in her silk dress with no sleeves would walk towards the back going, hot sauce to egg roll when I walk in. And why did you do that? Because it was so yummy. And it was always consistent. Yeah.

And you've searched for that egg roll wonton soup combination ever since. It is, unfortunately. It's iconic for you, right? Yes. My, my taste of Chinese food is based on a restaurant from the eighties in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and Chinese food that doesn't like, you know, Chinese restaurants. Now they're a dime a dozen. They're in every strip mall. They're everywhere. And they all use the same stuff. They all use the same recipes and it just, it, I can taste a difference.

You've been with me when I've been in a restaurant. Oh, they changed something. Because my sense of taste can be that specific on things. And it's not even that it's quality or... Yeah, it could be shitty, but it's a shitty flavor you like. Like Velveeta. I love Velveeta. Velveeta's garbage. I love Velveeta. I love it. But I also like Mimelette, which is, you know, 50 bucks a, you know... A Mimelette is the cheese where the mites... Mite poops all over. Yes, it's French. It's French.

It's fancy. It's very fancy. That's Varenge. It's Varenge.

We were kind of the escalator at macy's one time and you saw it was for something owed to perfume or whatever you're like that's for wrench that's for all 20 people in front of us on the escalator turned around and looked at you i like that that's for red laughing it was funny it was almost choreographed everyone turned around well listen i try to have a good time regardless have a good time all the time like the drummer for spinal tap okay and the one thing about consistency is you know

what you're going to get and i was i don't know why it happened but i watched basic instinct fatal attraction and romancing the stone they were all on pluto tv or whatever and i realized michael douglas for about for about 10 years he just played the same character he doesn't he made a boatload of money he doesn't he the only act i've ever seen him do was that recently he played Liberace in a movie. That was several years ago at this point. I'm not even talking about that.

I know what you're talking about. I'm just saying that he plays- He's always him. He just plays- Michael Douglas in Basic Instinct is- Is the same character from Romancing the Zone. And he's a detective in Basic Instinct. What was the other one? Fatal Attraction? Yes. He's a detective. I believe he's a lawyer in that one. Yeah. No, no, no. He was a detective. And, but it's just him over and over being Michael Douglas, getting paid $15 million to just do that.

I feel the same way about Tom Cruise. I think Tom Cruise is a better actor. Yes. I think he's a better person. Yes. Oh, I don't like Michael Douglas at all. There's something about him that just rubs me the wrong way. I've never liked him. Never, ever, ever liked him. I think that I'm okay with that. He started out in the streets of San Francisco. Talk about a nepotism job. Yeah. Was his dad the producer or something? His dad is Michael Douglas. Right.

Michael Douglas Sr.? The famous actor, Michael Douglas. I know he is. I know he is. Or Kirk Douglas. Kirk Douglas. Kirk Douglas. Kirk Douglas. I'm sorry. But did he produce The Streets of San Francisco? Because that was, who was the guy with the big nose? The actor. Klugman? No, Carl Maldon. Carl Maldon. Carl Maldon was the chief detective in Michael Douglas' character. It was The Streets of San Francisco. Right. It was an early 70s crime drama set in San Francisco.

And Michael Douglas was Michael Douglas. and i feel like tom cruise because we're gonna i i want to watch that the the movie where tom cruise goes through it's the same it's like groundhog day called with aliens something something engagement the day i thought it was engagement or something yeah and he he just keeps reliving the same day over and over and there's something about that that i find very like groundhog

day the movie groundhog day really appealed to me it's like a sinister groundhog day Yes, well, yeah, kind of, science-y fiction. But Tom Cruise, yes, he's always Tom Cruise, but it is entertaining.

No, no, no, he is a really, I liken him to Coca-Cola. It's a consistent product. You know if you're, I want a soda, I want a nice ice-cold Coke. Yeah. It's going to taste good, you know what I mean? Right, yes. And if Tom Cruise gives you Tom Cruise, he's really good. And he's so familiar now, you almost feel like you're related to him.

Yeah, I don't. I'm trying to think really hard. The only movie that I can think of where he didn't really play himself, so to speak, was the interview with a vampire when he was Lestat. That one didn't work. And it didn't. Well, he wasn't that good. It wasn't. The movie wasn't that good. It's not that good of a movie. It's not that good of a movie. And it didn't work. And also the one where he's got a lot of makeup on. He's like a sport.

No, I think that one was very well-received where he's the fat, bald guy. Yeah, no, it wasn't. I thought that was very well-received. I never watched it. It looked dumb, the clips I saw on the TikTok or whatever. But he also did a cameo in, you only know it now because everybody knows everything, Young Guns, that was Emilio Estevez. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's one of the people trying to kill them when they're locked into the little house at the inn.

He's one of the the the lull men who gets shot and killed because he wanted to be on the set that day and they put him in a costume and let him play oh i think i knew that yeah but if i was that super famous i would be all about like cameos where you didn't know it was i would you know what i not that i'll ever be famous but i've actually thought the same thing i think it would be so fun drop in on shit like like an alfred hitchcock cameo you don't have to say anything Yep.

Just walk through the background, order a coffee, just something stupid. Did you know that was Tom Cruise in the background? Did you know that was Jack Evans is the guy who served the coffee? I think that that would be a really easy way for a movie star to get in the Guinness Book of World Records. Like, he was in this mini, even though he was in a minor, you know, he was in this mini major movies. And also, maybe have some fun with their career. Exactly!

Because so many of those actors, like Leonardo DiCaprio and all that...

Think they're kind of celebrity fatigued and you know what i mean like that you wouldn't but i think that maybe the novelty of just doing some fun shit like that i don't know i'm speculating wildly kind of in a way think that like you know every now and then we'll be talking about somebody who's famous we think they get it we think they're having fun they think they think and what was it uh jason momoa it seemed like he was really enjoying himself

and george clooney seems to be having a good time yeah yeah yeah those guys are i think they are and i but i but then there's the other the tortured actors right i'm so tired of the game another actor laurence olivier laurence olivier and his friends called him larry larry did you know that yes he seemed like he was and and and who was florence of arabia the irish oh i can see him oh oh oh oh laurence of arabia, Oh, come on. I'm not going to Google it.

He, and he was famous for his. Super famous, big drunk. Yep. Him and the other guy who married Elizabeth Taylor. The other guy who married Elizabeth Taylor. Well, we'll do this live on the thing. Hey Siri, who starred in Lawrence of Arabia? Lawrence of Arabia features Peter O'Toole. Peter O'Toole. Peter O'Toole. Peter O'Toole, I think, grew weary of fame. But his alcoholism caught up to him in the end. Yeah. And who was married to Elizabeth Taylor? Eddie Fisher? No, no, no, no. The actor.

Oh, Richard Burton. Richard Burton was another one who I think got fatigued by fame. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I've got to do another movie. Well, because, now I'm not, technically, I'm not really defending them, but I believe, because, you know, Richard Burton and I are like, you know, two peas in a pod. Yeah. Richard Burton was an artist. He wanted to act. That was his art. That's what he wanted to do.

So when he did that stuff, like brought shows, West End, stuff like that, he got to do the work he wanted to do, but he didn't get paid very much. Right. So he had to do the other shit to make the money. That's why Angela Lansbury did Murder, She Wrote. She wasn't making enough money as an actress, a live Broadway actor, stage actress. That's why she took on. But that was really late in her career, too. That's why we looked it up over the weekend, because I said,

I think she didn't like doing it. And you said, yes, she did. I think she did because every, oh, I don't remember having that part of the conversation. She was a taskmaster apparently. But I remember saying, yeah. But she took that job because she needed the money. But she, okay, maybe, but. Or wanted the money. She hired, her children were producers and directors and writers. And she made a point of hiring the older Hollywood actors that had trouble getting, you know, jobs.

Nepotism and whatever the other word would be. Frank Sinatra was a big fan of that show. Well, it was a fun show. I love that shoulder. The first couple of seasons I really enjoyed. I could watch the first, I've stumbled across the first episode a couple times. They could only murder so many people in Cabot Co. Poor Cabot Co. Before they were like, Jesus Christ.

How stabby is that little town in Maine? And then I also pointed out to you, like, she brought a lot to the, because you know, Edith Bunker, Gene Stapleton, that was who they had in mind for the role. She would have done great at it. And she was like, no, I really don't want to do something like that. And that's how it got down to Angela Lansbury. But Angela Lansbury brought to the role, she says, I don't drive. So why not make this JB Fletcher, this Jessica Fletcher chick not drive?

Cause that also gives her opportunity to get rides with people. She constantly needs rides. It's great. Yes. And that's one of the things she brought to it, you know, not to mention she was English. So there was a lookalike cousin who was from England. Does she actually do an English accent when her English cousin comes into town?

Yes. And it was Cockney too. and and then she she you know because she is an accomplished actress right she did a couple of like like she she was jessica fletcher going undercover so she looked fancy and dressed up like a rich maven so she could do something and as i asked you jessica fletcher was rich because she was a best-selling novelist yes and you were like was she and i was like yes she was she was like on par with like like

like like uh mitchener well i don't know about mitchener but somebody Louis L'Amour.

Barbara Cartman well no because that was romance novels she wrote mystery novels like like James Patterson I mean those are the kind of mystery novels she wrote and she I think during the course of the series her character had like seven or eight books yeah so you know good selling well selling you know mystery novels she she was she was she was kind of co's wealthiest she was fine And she was financially comfortable, but that Yankee spirit or that Yankee wisdom or whatever she says she has,

because she's from where Maine or whatever, and she still lived in the house. She lived with her and her husband. She didn't have any fancy things in her house. It was the stuff she'd always had. Is this her character or her in real life? This was her character because she was a retired school teacher. She was a retired English teacher. She retired and wrote the book. What was she like in real life? Angela Lansbury? Yeah. Well, I don't know, Kevin. I didn't know her. Oh, I thought,

I mean, no, I thought you knew if she was a fancy pants or a smarty pants. I don't know. I think she was a relatively plain person, but, you know, she was, there were several times where she was on award shows where she had beautiful dresses. It's like, wow, that's really kind of knocking your socks off. Angela Lansberg. Yeah. You're not expecting that. I love that. I'm having trouble deciding what to wear today. My smarty pants or my fancy pants.

That's me. she because you know she that's always smarty with you yeah she she did only a couple of roles where she was a vamp usually she was the older sister she was the neighbor she was the whatever i know when she came to hollywood with those early disney movies or whatever she was getting fan mail and everybody thought she was in her early 20s and everybody thought she was 50 because she just had an older face yes

what was it in national velvet with she plays the the mom and she's no no no she no settle down.

Elizabeth taylor she plays the older sister and she like she's so dowdy and and like you know mother it's so embarrassing she acts like a horse and blah right and all that kind of stuff and then and then she was a fred is fred not fred astaire oh you just said his name frank frank frank sinatra frank sinatra she was frank sinatra's father and the man mother in the manchurian candidate that's it and they're like six seven years apart yeah you know she's younger than frank sinatra

yeah she's younger than yeah i didn't remember his mother yeah she's playing his mother and she it's believable yeah it's believable she just had an older but i think she had a huge sense of humor because you look at the role she took on when she was older she was in that she was in the movie nanny mcphee and she plays the old dowager you know with the pointy nose like a bird and she can't see and stuff and she does stupid stuff you know i think she had a sense of humor she did so.

And of course you know she was a singer and she could sing and she did the you know mrs potts and beauty of the beast and you know so and she was on she did a lot of broadway shows she did a lot of broadway shows but i i there was something i was reading about it and and she decided to do the the television series because comparatively for the amount of work you put in back in the 80s and 90s she was you know and by the end of it she was getting three hundred thousand dollars an episode good

for her murder she wrote plus i'm sure she owned like you know points and all that produced yeah yeah right right right that was just for that was just her acting salary let's not forget bed knobs and broomsticks great you know that's one of my favorite underrated lost disney classic because you guys go out watch bed knobs and broomsticks it's so it's funny but bed knobs and broomsticks was up against mary poppin oh yeah yeah yeah and bed knobs and broomsticks i believe i

could be wrong was out first i could be wrong it's not it's not a better movie but if you like mary poppins and that sort of thing bed knobs and broomsticks is a much and what was her name of aurelia athrilia oh it's escaping me she's a witch it's a charming movie and you've heard And I love, I've re M M M Chaguna McCoy T's quorum saying is D I can remember the words to that stupid chant thing to make the things come alive.

And I've been able to do that since I was like, what 10 or however old I was when I first saw the movie, you mean the words here in me book. McCoy T's Chagorum said, how do you have those words? It's what I'm in me book. Oh, yeah. I've come up with a spell for Jules McCray. Oh, Jules. Jiggity-juggity, hippity-hoppity, flippity-floppity, dippity-doo. As she waves her wand. Oh, good Lord. Isn't that ridiculous? Yes, it's perfectly ridiculous. That's been running around my OCD head for ages.

Jules. And for those of you who are unaware, Jules McCray is a fictional character. Fictitional name character based on a friend of ours. That's very, yeah, it's funny. She stumbles across murder scenes, but she's too, she's always a little too, like, I've got a headache to help out with the inspectors. Oh, I really can't do this. My shoulder hurts. So it's funny. It's very funny. Her shoulder and other things. Well, you know, you know, it's fun. Well, you got to make fun where you can.

The Juggles McRae idea is fantastic. And then what was it you came up with, like, and her cousin? Oh, her dirtbag cousin. Dougal or whatever. Dougal McRae. And she goes back to Scotland. No, no, Border Lord. She's a Northern English border lord. I'm Jules McCray. And every time she goes into, the McCray name is rotten. They owe us money. They sell our horses. And she's like, but we're border lords. She's like, you call that swamp a border?

It's really funny. Everything backfires in Jules McCray. Poor Jules. Poor Jules. Poor Jules. My beep hurts. But I digress. Yes, well, that was just for us. So uh it's very very funny do they still sell dippity do i don't think they are honest they have to because it's a setting lotion that i know dippity do is not still out there hold on and tussy t-u-s-s-y do they still make dippity do.

Dippity do haircut volume 10 extreme hole durable dippity do styling products at hair care walmart Dippity-doo is still a product. Holy shit. I think of that as like 1965, the King family. Well, that's because you don't understand hair. No. So these women, you know, they didn't wash their hair every day like they do now. They would do it once or twice a week. They would wash their hair. They would set it and use Dippity-doo as a setting

lotion. So you'd put a little bit in your hair. Then you put your hair in the curler. Then when it's dry, you took your curler out. Did Mama Jean use curlers? I'm telling you, my mother was a beautician for a while. I remember this. And then you combed it out and it would still hold the curl or hold the thing. It was a, it was a setting lotion or not. I don't think that's the right word, but it was a setting. It helped. It was like, it was like gel. Who was the one who did the beehive?

When she went on, did ethylene use dippity? I'm sure she did. It was really funny. I hope no one knows. Ethelene's here. This, my mom would laugh. She'd go, yeah, you know, ethylene's blind to the one eye. So you always have to make sure she does it. So it's straight up. Ethelene was a hairdresser back in Parkersburg in the seventies. She was one, she was like Truvy from steel magnolias. She had a beauty shop in the basement of her house.

You pulled into her carport and walked down the steps into the basement. Get your hair done. And then one of the, one of the times that I told it, I, Kevin still loves this story. Cause it's so funny. I got home, I was home for the weekend or whatever. And I got home before mom got back to the house. So, you know, I was my house. I just went in, you know, and I'm in there with the dog doing stuff or whatever. And she walked in the back door and she had a fricking behind.

And we're talking like, we're talking like the late nineties, early two thousands. And she walked in the bed and I'd be like, oh my God, look at your hair. She goes, Ethelaine and I were talking and we were, she knew you were coming and we thought it would be funny. So she teased her hair up. Like a Tammy Wynette. Yes. Like a big old beard. She kept it for a day. I, you know, the next day she washed it out and it was really fun. She's like, that's all I, yeah.

Cause mom's like, I can't walk around like this. Cause she was a pretty serious woman.

My mom yeah her yeah she's pretty dry so it was just but she did you know ethelite was like oh that'll be fun you know and piece she had two beauty chairs that would swivel right she had two she had two chairs i think yeah and then my aunt and my aunt and lou out in belleville she had a a screened in patio on the uh framed in patio and alluded hair too yes you i don't think i ever got to take you there so you didn't she she had a beauty parlor in the in the in the it was a screened

porch they walled it in they made it into her beauty parlor she had a chair a sink and several of those dryer chairs you know you'd sit in a good chair and she did that for years and then when she retired she sold it all that stuff to a girl who started her own in the same manner Tanner did Anna Lou and ethylene ever rumble like handbags at dawn. You know what I mean? Like this sound ain't big enough for the both of us. There were tons of those

little home. Oh, did they know each other? No, I do not. I think they might've been aware of each other because Mr. Lynch worked at the newspaper and he worked at one of the plants. And I think he knew my uncle Roy, but I, they were never, it was not competition. Cause you know, these little beauty shops that are in people's homes, they have such a small clientele, you know, I don't know. I don't know anything about it. Oh, Jesus Christ.

I don't. Anyway, and Anna Lou, Anna Lou could easily take ethylene. Ethylene was one of those very skinny feminine lady girls. Did she smoke? I don't remember if, I don't think so. I really don't think they did. Did Antelou? Antelou? No, I don't think Antelou did. Not by the time I remember. Maybe before. Okay. But she, that's what she was always saying. She hated the smoke. People, women would want to smoke in the beauty parlor. Did your dad's mom smoke? Yes. She was a wafer of a woman.

Wafer thin woman. And she had toast for breakfast. She'd have a cigarette and a piece of toast. Mom, you gotta eat. Dad, I can hear my dad. Mom, you gotta eat some.

I had toast. like yeah coffee cigarettes and toast that was my dad's breakfast of champions uh yeah coffee and cigarettes dad's breakfast of champions so but anyway so but annaloo was a country gal man you know she's you know she's a country girl she was she could uh she could you know take down a yeah yeah so etheline would have been a match for her yeah annaloo would have kicked etheline's ass.

I wonder if we could get ai to generate a fight oh that's really funny funny funny anyway but But we started out, I was talking about the consistency. Oh, good Lord. I have no idea what the hell we were talking about now. We were talking about Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise. We ended up talking about athlete and antelope. My choice is made. Anyway, that was just a silly little discussion about things. And that was fun. And thank you for listening. We just wanted to talk about stuff.

Thank you for listening to me ramble on like an idiot. Tell your friends. Tell your friends. Help us grow. We have a small podcast. Yes, we'd like to be bigger. Oh, that's funny. Or Vourvay people. Music.