Column: Salk, Seuss, Shirley and (Sort of) Stewart (Or: Famous Folks My Mom Has Known)

My mom was born in Kansas City. They have some crazy little women there, I�ve heard. Perhaps she�s one. However, and more importantly for my purposes, Joan has known a lot of famous people (�famous� is defined as someone you�ve actually heard of) over the years. Ninety of them, as of this writing.

My mother, Joan (Manuel) Weeks, grew up in Wichita, Kansas, after her birth in KC. She eventually attended East High School in Wichita, which at that time (the 1940s) was the largest high school in the U.S. Among her best friends and classmates was Corinne Shirley Jervis, who was Shirley Temple�s cousin.

Yes, THAT Shirley Temple! One of the most famous child actresses (and later politicians) of her time! Granted, her time was an eon or two ago, but still � If you�re over a certain age, you remember: �Animal crackers in my soup! Monkeys and rabbits, loop the loop!� More on soup later.

But it was in Pittsburgh that she really reached her peak, celebrity-wise. My dad was doing his residency at the University of Pittsburgh after medical school, and among his teachers was Dr. Jonas Salk, soon to become famous as the inventor of the polio vaccine. Polio was a big worry back then, and my father and the other medical students were participating in Dr. Salk�s experiments.

Interestingly � or oddly � enough, Dr. Seuss (full name Theodor Seuss Geisel) was also living in Pittsburgh at this particular time. Probably more of you know who he is than know of Dr. Salk, since he was later to become extremely famous as the creator of clever children�s books with distinctive artwork. At one dinner party my parents attended, both Drs. Salk and Suess were present.

Yes, imagine being at a party with that much star power (although in fairness, neither was nearly as famous at the time as they were to become later). It would be like being at a party now with Oprah and, well, anybody! My mother said that Dr. Salk was quiet and standoffish, while Dr. Seuss was friendly and outgoing. Who would have guessed?

Of course, I can�t imagine many people more famous than the actor Jim Stewart was in his day (again, an eon ago). Mom�s brother-in-law (my uncle) was also named Jim Stewart, and partly because both my uncle and the actor had middle names which started with �M,� my uncle once got mail meant for his famous counterpart. It was a check, even, but he did return it. Uncle Jim was also on the �Lawrence Welk Show� once, another biggie to us dinosaurs. When Welk announced Jim Stewart was in the crowd, I think because it was my aunt and uncle�s anniversary, everyone got all excited until they realized it wasn�t the �real� one.

Mom herself has been somewhat famous locally as the �Soup Queen� because of her many wonderful soup recipes published over the years. My friends call her the �Soup Nazi� after the character on �Seinfeld� who demands strict discipline at his soup restaurant. The �Soup Nazi� is based on a real person, and fortunately, so is my mom! I actually talked to someone who had eaten at the restaurant in New York that was the basis for the episode, and he said the �Seinfeld� treatment was really pretty accurate.

A group of friends used to watch �Seinfeld� every Thursday when the TV show was originally aired. Joan often sent soup for everyone, and after the �Soup Nazi� episode, she made every type of soup for us mentioned on the show � I think seven or eight in all. Now that�s talent!

Shirley, Salk, Suess, Stewart, soup � say, something seems strange suddenly. Since she�s still skilled socially, say something sometime. Where? The Senior Center, silly! "Otherwise, no soup for you!"