Caroline Kennedy

Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time?
July 5, 2007

I had a good chuckle recently as I proofread some pages for the upcoming issue. As you may know, we have been running a feature this year called “Decade of Excellence” looking back through 90 years of Gifts & Decorative Accessories and highlighting significant aspects of the decade, among them products that we think are notable and others that, perhaps especially when viewed from the perspective of time, are questionable, as in “What were they thinking?”

One of the products singled out under the latter category caught my attention; it was Earl the Dead Cat. I remember Earl. Although the product is of questionable taste, he was the object of much amusement around the office at the time. My co-workers and I had a somewhat warped sense of humor and, of course, that is exactly the audience to whom this piece of totally flat plush animal with X’s for eyes was intended. When I spoke to Meredith Schwartz, who compiled the page, about my memories of Earl, she remarked, “I forgot that you were here at the time.”

It is interesting how time and/or another generation may see things differently. What seemed like a good idea at the time, may not stand up to the hard look of history. Earl was of questionable taste at the time, and still is. I still find him amusing, although Meredith does not.

Out of curiosity, I went on the web to see if Earl is still around, and much to our amazement he still is! You just can’t keep a good dead Earl down!

Posted by Caroline Kennedy on July 5, 2007 | Comments (0)