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Weekend Butler: Two airlifts, one evil, one historical, and an idea for a third. Movie preview: Whitney Houston. The wisdom of being early. A Mary Oliver poem. A joke. And Marcella Hazan’s truly effortless chicken.

By Jesse Kornbluth
Published: Sep 22, 2022
Category: Weekend

PHOTO: THE BERLIN AIRLIFT
In 1948, Soviet forces blockaded rail, road, and water access to Allied-controlled areas of Berlin. The United States and United Kingdom responded by airlifting food and fuel to Berlin from Allied airbases in western Germany.

TWO AIRLIFTS, ONE EVIL, ONE UPLIFTING — AND A MODEST PROPOSAL FOA A THIRD
They walked 10,000 miles through as many as ten countries, and when they reached the United States, they asked for asylum. Fifty of them were told a fairy tale and flown to Martha’s Vineyard, courtesy of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is, as you surely don’t need to be reminded, running for President on the notion that he can be Donald Trump, just without the baggage. People who get off on cruelty cheered. Did this stunt “own the libs?” In reality, no. On the Vineyard, people who understand “the least of these” welcomed them. A Texas sheriff has launched an investigation. Arrests — of the perpetrators — may follow.

If you are a certain age, you recall another airlift.

And if you’re a certain age and have a modest flair for drama — if, in this case, you’re me — you have an idea for copying that airlift in the Ukraine this winter.

On June 24, 1948, Soviet authorities indefinitely closed the Autobahn, the highway connecting western Germany to Berlin, “for repairs.” They barred all barge and rail traffic from entering West Berlin. The goal: cut Berlin off from the rest of the world.

America and Britain decided to supply the two million citizens of Berlin with food and vital supplies by air. They created three air corridors — one-way streets in the sky, two for flights to Berlin, one for return flights. “Operation Vittles” had American and British planes landing in Berlin every 45 seconds. During the airlift, the U.S. and U.K. made 278,000 airdrops and delivered more than 2.3 million tons of food, fuel and supplies to West Berlin. And, when it was clear these flights would continue until the Russians surrendered, Russia ended the blockade of Berlin.

The drama? “The aircraft came down very slowly and you could see the crew, the pilot and the co-pilot, you could see them all. And they always waved to us.” Even better, the American crews had a surprise for the children: little parachutes. “There was chewing gum and some chocolate attached, and it was always a free-for-all as soon the candy came down.”

That was one sustained media opportunity.

Flash forward to 2022. The citizens of England and the Ukraine face a similar crisis this winter: citizens, short of money, will have to choose between food or heating fuel. There’s really no compassion between the countries: Russia, with Putin updating Stalin, means to starve Ukraine into submission. On the theory that the Allies can’t let that happen, we will be flying supplies to the Ukraine in giant planes with the cargo packaged in easy-to-unload shipping containers — think UPS or Amazon. Efficient. Also soulless.

Yes, this airlift would be a great humanitarian gesture. Add something to it: wouldn’t it be sweet if, in areas of Ukraine that the Russians can’t bomb, a few of those planes could drop small parachutes with gifts for kids?

Propaganda? Sure. And like the best propaganda, heart-stirring, a visible, easily understood affirmation of American goodness at a time when examples of American goodness are in short supply.

Just a thought.

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE BITE TAKEN OUT OF THE APPLE ON THE APPLE LOGO?
This is a great story. Widely shared on Facebook. Alas, it’s NOT true.

Alan Turing invented computer science and using his early designs to crack the Enigma code — the encrypted machine that the Nazis and the German Army used to communicate secret commands to each other during world war — thereby saving millions of human lives and bringing us to the modern computer. He ended his life on June 7, 1954 by biting into an apple laced with cyanide and eating a bite of it. He did it because the British government chemically castrated him, humiliated him, and prosecuted him for being gay. For that reason there is a bitten apple in the Apple logo… in honor of Alan Turing.

MOVIE PREVIEW: WHITNEY HOUSTON, “I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY”
Coming in December. Watch the trailer. Note that the movie uses Whitney’s voice. Mark your calendar.

HARVARD FOOTBALL COACH TIM MURPHY: “IF YOU’RE AHEAD OF TIME, YOU’RE NEVER LATE”
Tim Murphy has led Harvard’s football team to nine Ivy League championships, three unbeaten seasons, and a 186-83 record in 28 years. He is the winningest coach in Ivy League history. Two lessons from a profile in the Harvard Gazette:

GAZETTE: One of the lessons your players say really sticks with them is “Murphy Time.” It’s more than being on time; it’s actually always being five minutes early. Why is that a good habit to develop?
MURPHY: Murphy Time is a small piece. It’s just one of the beliefs I have. It’s a virtue to always be on time, and if you’re ahead of time, you’re never late, so you’re guaranteed to have that virtue. I think it’s a sign of highly motivated, high-character people. They’re going to be on time or ahead of time. It’s a very small thing, but it goes a long way.

GAZETTE: Can you describe your coaching philosophy?
MURPHY: I’m a teacher, No. 1, but I’m also a manager. No. 2, the biggest things we want to teach our student-athletes are life lessons. Some of the basic life lessons may seem corny and trite, but they work. In preseason, we always talk about never giving up — never, ever giving up. As corny as that sounds, that’s the way life is. It’s going to be hard at times. We’re all going to have some real challenges in our life on many levels. Having the ability to just fight all the stuff that you’re going to face in life and have that resiliency is critical to success on many levels. That can be applied to real-life things other than just the sport of football. So, it’s all about life lessons. It’s everything we do. Don’t settle for an average grade in the class when you can get an A. Be the best you can be. The question is: What are we going to focus on to maximize ourselves?

THE WEEKEND POEM: “I GO DOWN TO THE SHORE,” BY MARY OLIVER

I go down to the shore in the morning
and depending on the hour the waves
are rolling in or moving out,
and I say, oh, I am miserable,
what shall —
what should I do? And the sea says
in its lovely voice:
“Excuse me, I have work to do.”

THE WEEKEND JOKE (COURTESY OF JERRY DELLA FEMINA)
Late one afternoon a burglar breaks into the home of Marty and Louise Tashman and surprises the occupants locked in a nude embrace in bed.
At gunpoint, he forces the two to sit on chairs naked and ties them to the chairs.
The burglar slowly and methodically begins stealing from the house.
When the burglar has taken everything of value, he gets ready to leave.
The man yells at the burglar: “Please untie her, please, let her go!”
The thief’s response: “No, I’m not untying either of you.
“Please, just untie her, I’ll do anything! I’ll even give you the password to my bank account.”
The burglar: “I need to get away, I’m sorry, I can’t leave anything up to chance.”
The man shuffles his chair towards the burglar, in a state of mania: “I’m begging you, man, just let her go, she won’t call the cops, I promise!”
The burglar was still unwilling to budge, but he did find it touching how much his hostage cared about his wife.
“Wow,” he said “You must really love your wife to beg me to untie her so desperately”
“No,” The man replied. “My wife will be home in in an hour.

LEONARD COHEN, ON HIS BIRTHDAY
“There are always meaningful songs for somebody. People are doing their courting, people are finding their wives, people are making babies, people are washing their dishes, people are getting through the day, with songs that we may find insignificant. But their significance is affirmed by others. There’s always someone affirming the significance of a song by taking a woman into his arms or by getting through the night. That’s what dignifies the song. Songs don’t dignify human activity. Human activity dignifies the song.”

MARCELLA HAZAN: ROAST CHICKEN WITH LEMONS
Victor Hazan, Marcella’s husband, writes: “If this were a still life, its title could be ‘Chicken with Two Lemons.’ That is all there is in it. No fat to cook with, no basting to do, no stuffing to prepare, no condiments except for salt and pepper. After you put the chicken in the oven, you turn it just once. The bird, its two lemons, and the oven do all the rest. Again and again, through the years, I meet people who come up to me to say, ‘I have made your chicken with two lemons and it is the most amazingly simple recipe, the juiciest, best-tasting chicken I have ever had.’ And you know, it is perfectly true.

for 4 servings

A 3-to 4-pound chicken
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
2 rather small lemons

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Wash the chicken thoroughly in cold water, both inside and out. Remove all the bits of fat hanging loose. Let the bird sit for about 10 minutes on a slightly tilted plate to let all the water drain out of it. Pat it thoroughly dry all over with cloth or paper towels.

Sprinkle a generous amount of salt and black pepper on the chicken, rubbing it with your fingers over all its body and into its cavity.

Wash the lemons in cold water and dry them with a towel. Soften each lemon by placing it on a counter and rolling it back and forth as you put firm downward pressure on it with the palm of your hand. Puncture the lemons in at least 20 places each, using a sturdy round toothpick, a trussing needle, a sharp-pointed fork, or similar implement.

Place both lemons in the bird’s cavity. Close up the opening with toothpicks or with trussing needle and string. Close it well, but don’t make an absolutely airtight job of it because the chicken may burst. Run kitchen string from one leg to the other, tying it at both knuckle ends. Leave the legs in their natural position without pulling them tight. If the skin is unbroken, the chicken will puff up as it cooks, and the string serves only to keep the thighs from spreading apart and splitting the skin.

Put the chicken in a roasting pan, breast facing down. Do not add cooking fat of any kind. This bird is self-basting, so you need not fear it will stick to the pan. Place it in the upper third of the preheated oven. After 30 minutes, turn the chicken over to have the breast face up. When turning it, try not to puncture the skin. If kept intact, the chicken will swell like a balloon, which makes for an arresting presentation at the table later. Do not worry too much about it, however, because even if it fails to swell, the flavor will not be affected.

Cook for another 30 to 35 minutes, then turn the oven thermostat up to 400 degrees, and cook for an additional 20 minutes. Calculate between 20 and 25 minutes total cooking time for each pound. There is no need to turn the chicken again.

Whether your bird has puffed up or not, bring it to the table whole and leave the lemons inside until it is carved and opened. The juices that run out are perfectly delicious. Be sure to spoon them over the chicken slices. The lemons will have shriveled up, but they still contain some juice; do not squeeze them, they may squirt.

Ahead-of-time note: If you want to eat it while it is warm, plan to have it the moment it comes out of the oven. If there are leftovers, they will be very tasty cold, kept moist with some of the cooking juices and eaten not straight out of the refrigerator, but at room temperature.

WEEKEND MUSIC: VIEUX FARKA TOURÉ ET KHRUANGBIN – “TONGO BARRA”
Vieux Farka Touré is the son of Ali Farka Touré, who took the music of his native Mali and and blended it with American blues of the Deep South to produce CDs of piercing originality and astonishing beauty. This homage is addictive. Watch and listen.