ST Squeezita Thickly

[Mark Kohut]

Thanks Robin,

And wonderful to read you again here....

Mark

On Sun, May 3, 2026 at 10:17 AM Robin Landseadel via Pynchon-l <
pynchon-l at waste.org> wrote:

> 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.
> --
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>