Rising to the occasion of a summery new week

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By Bill Wundram | Sunday, August 10, 2008 2:05 AM CDT | () comments

THIS whole universe is not made up of atoms and politicians and the Olympics, but stories like a fellow eating 10 ears of corn in three minutes, and a performer breaking a leg on opening night at Circa ’21.   Not to mention, one of summer’s best Sven and Oley jokes …

Ugh! An old saw comes true

It was opening, the premiere performance of “Vaudeville” at Circa ’21 in Rock Island. Bootleggers, the talented Circa wait staff, were debuting their own show on Thursday night.

It’s an old show adage to say “break a leg.” For a dumb reason, some people say that before a performance. It is supposed to bring good luck to performers.

Some luck it brought Sarahjayne Snow! Just before the show, she tripped and broke a leg — in three places.

There was no time for rehearsal to fill in for her three solos. Good troupers that they are, colleagues in the show — Sunshine Ramsey, Liz Millea and Bryan Spies — filled in for Sarahjayne. They did her solos.

“They just performed, and the audience didn’t know the difference,” says Dennis Hitchcock, the guru of Circa. Sounds like they’ll do Sarahjayne’s “Vaudeville” solos every Thursday night for the rest of August. Other nights of the week, the main show is “Are We There Yet?”

“Stepping in at the last minute — that’s show business,” says Dennis.

Chuck and his $700 hog

Chuck Cox of DeWitt, Iowa, wandered into the sale barn where prize hogs were being sold at the closing of the Mississippi Valley Fair.   In all innocence, Chuck wanted to endear himself to the pork producers.

“The auctioneer was talking so fast that I couldn’t understand him,” says affable Chuck, “but I had a pork tenderloin stand at the fair and a restaurant in DeWitt, so I nodded at him.”

Chuck says the auctioneer was yapping as fast as a machine gun. “I just stood there, grinning and nodding. I asked a guy next to me what was going on. He said, ‘You just bid $500 for that hog.’   I was totally confused. Next thing I knew, the auctioneer said ‘sold’ and pointed to me that I had just bought a hog for $700.”

Chuck was stunned. He boomed to the crowd: “My pork tenderloins have just gone up to $9.”

Chomp! Off the cob in 3 buttery minutes

Chomping on sweet corn is the anthem of the Quad-City area. But this? It’s gotta be a record because it made national news.

Mark and Steve, the KUUL guys, had a Cob-Off at the Mississippi Valley Fair. Contestants licked their chops. Winner was Mike Ivanoff, Davenport, who chomped his way through 10 ears in three minutes. He must still be picking his teeth.

Sven and the Sears catalog

Sven and Oley were all excited. The mailbox had a new Sears Roebuck catalog.

“Yust look at all the pitchers of dem pretty girls. I tink I’ll order one,” says Sven.

A week later, Oley asks his friend, “Hey, did you get dat pretty girl yet?”

“Nope,” says Sven. “But it should be any day now. Her clothes yust arrived yesterday in da mail.”

Bill Wundram can be contacted at (563) 383-2249 or bwundram@qctimes.com.