ST Squeezita Thickly

[Robin Landseadel]

Starting on 218, continuing through 222, Daphne catches up with her dad, Bruno Airmont. "Have you been to the movies lately? We used to do that a lot. How about a date?"
"Sure, April 23, 1928, that good?"

Shirley Temple was born on April 23, 1928. This scene is set in the winter of 1932, by then Shirley started her "Baby Burlesks" shorts, her first movies.

What follows is a trip to the "Mozik" (cinema) to watch Squeezita Thickly (an obvious parody of Shirley Temple) in "Bigger Than Yer Stummick (1931)". Squeezita sings a song about eating that, lyrically speaking, shares a strong resemblance to "On the Good Ship Lollipop". This sequence rhymes with the sequence on pg. 473 of Gravity's Rainbow (I've got the 2000 edition) where young Bianca Erdmann grunts "The Good Ship Lollypop". This is reinforced later on page 241 when a Mangalica pig is described as "One of the more loveable pig faces, surrounded by ringlets and curls. Squeezita Thickly should only look half this adorable."

Shirley Temple "saved" Fox Films after William Fox was kicked out.