I think the Pez dispenser image is meant to represent the prolificacy of the writers depicted. They literally spout books.
My first thought was that it was simply a bizarrely arcane collectible Pez set, but my literacy doesn’t extend to comparative output of contemporary authors.
Footnote: In the strip “Alley Oop”, Professor Wonmug’s name is a twist of Einstein (Ein = One, stein = mug).
Oliver, wouldn’t there be a James Patterson Pez dispenser?
Or Nora Roberts, or Barbara Cartland…
It does say “great writers series” on the Pez ink bottle, though: all four got a Pulitzer, one a Nobel; conversely, critics are not very nice to James Patterson.
MinorAnnoyance is probably right.
@MinorAnnoyance, Professor Wonmug may have been influenced by Doctor Einmug, who appeared in Mickey Mouse in a 1936 – 37 story, a little more than two years before Wonmug was introduced in 1939. Both Wonmug and Einmug were brilliant inventors.
What scientist is most asked for in German bars? “Ein stein.”
I think the Pez dispensers are representing authors that “high-brow” readers would recognize, and have names that (somewhat) couldn’t be mistaken for other folks. James Patterson’s last name (or Stephen King’s, or whoever) could be confused with many other folks.
Plus, it’s Six Chix, so that “explains” a lot.
The first one has already been done, kind of:
There’s a notable family named Stein,
There’s Gertrude, there’s Ep, and there’s Ein.
Gert’s prose is all bunk,
Ep’s sculpture’s just junk
And nobody understands Ein.
And here we go again – the monster was NOT named Frankenstein; that was the doctor’s name.
Andréa, Frankenstein actually is the monster’s name in the parallel universe where castaways can live for years on a ten-foot-wide island with a single coconut tree, and surprising a man makes his hat fly off his head.
“James Patterson’s last name (or Stephen King’s, or whoever) could be confused with many other folks.”
Great point.
RE: Frankenstein vs DR. Frankestein: IOW, I’m being too literal (and pedantic) . . .
It’s FrankenstEEn!
Andrea — naw, Frankenstein was the monster. To create a sentient being then to discard it and refuse to take responsibility for its care is monstrous.
While I don’t personally draw a distinction between “highbrow” and “lowbrow” literature, I understand that many people do, and by that standard, King and Patterson lie in a different category than Oates, Mailer, Roth, and Morrison. And I think the joke is just that Pez doesn’t do highbrow stuff, just pop culture.
Andrea, how do we know what surname the monster adopted when he applied for his driver’s license? He couldn’t say “my full name’s ‘Monster’ you know, like Madonna.”
‘Cause you didn’t need a driver’s license to drive carts back then, so that wasn’t an issue for him.
Anyone who’s ever had a Pez dispenser knows that it takes longer to put the package of candy in than it takes to get them back out.
But once the thing is loaded, you can spit out candy after candy, after candy.
” here we go again – the monster was NOT named Frankenstein; that was the doctor’s name.”
In our patriarchal society, the man who creates a new life lends his name to the result. So they are BOTH “Frankenstein”. Then, when ol’ Vic gets going again, and makes the bride, she ALSO is a “Frankenstein”, both before and after the ceremony.
I thought it would add a uniting factor to note that they are all deceased — but a quick check shows that is wrong! Morrison and Oates are still alive.
This “Stein” thing is an example of the alienation I was talking about in another post caused by my coming form a different part of Germany than most of the German immigrants to the US came from — we call the thing a “Krug”, or maybe a “Mass”; Stein just means “rock” where I come from. I also never encountered it being called a Stein anywhere in Germany or Austria, but then, I wasn’t looking for it; Duden confirms it is used for that, but, geez, not by my people…
It feels like the misappropriation of the word “Blitz” by the British… Or maybe like the meaning the word Angst has acquired only in English…
Though the cartoon itself prompts us to think of the mug meaning of stein, I also usually associate that (especially as part of a name) with “Stone”. My late friend Brian Stonehill insisted that the immigrant generation in his family changed their name from Steinberg.
Pronouncing these names presents a little problem for some speakers — when to try for an original-language pronunciation and when to go with the flow of full Anglicization (or Americanization if that sometimes differs). It bothers me to hear Ein-shtein! On the other hand, when mentioning my favorite 20th Century philosopher, I tend to go one step further and say Vittgen-shtein.
Andréa: To expand on what ianosmond said, in case you’re not familiar with the argument (although you probably are): The monster calls himself Dr. Frankenstein’s son, so accepting the monster’s (IMO, reasonable) claim, both the Doctor and the Monster are Frankensteins.
Well, then Wittgenstein was a beery Schwein — still works!
Andrea, he didn’t drive at all. But he needed the driver’s license so he could drink in bars. Since various parts of his body were different ages, he was always getting carded.
‘-)
Take an average?
You could say he was made of dis-carded body parts.
Also, in the book Victor is not actually a doctor.
I immediately got he “stein” thing, but was thrown off by the PEZ dispenser thing. I was trying to work “PEZ” into their names.
I can’t imagine that much of his body would be under 18 — given that they were in Europe, the aberrant 21+ drinking age of the United States wouldn’t be relevant, and I assume pediatric body parts would generally be too small to be useful.
WW – the Creature may be arguably Victor’s son, but he’s not his legitimate son (he is not the son of Victor and Elizabeth (who weren’t married at the time of creation, anyway), and Victor never legitimized him), so he arguably doesn’t have right to the Frankenstein name, even so.
“And here we go again – the monster was NOT named Frankenstein; that was the doctor’s name.” And here I go. He wasn’t a doctor but a medical student drop out.
@Kamino Neko: “WW – the Creature may be arguably Victor’s son, but he’s not his legitimate son ”
So, in some cultures, his name would have been Monster FitzFrankenstein ? I think Ihat sounds a little suggestive…
@beckoningchasm: Well, confusion accomplished. When I first read it, I thought it was Jim Morrison. I thought it was stretching to include him with those other writers. I had to look at it several times before I got that it was supposed to be Tony Morrison.
TonI Morrison.
Ah, Jim Morrison. The dream man of my teen years . . .
“So, in some cultures, his name would have been Monster FitzFrankenstein ?”
If they put it to an Internet vote, he’d have wound up Boaty McMonsterface.
@ larK – I remember an article by Harry Rowohlt in which he had to translate “Stein” for the benefit of his (German!) readers. Duden notwithstanding, I’m sure that the word is not used (for “beer mug”) anywhere in Germany.
P.S. This “aberrant” usage is very like the “English” word that Germans use to describe a mobile phone: “Handy” (!)
Love that Gertrude Stein w/Alice B on the handle. I’d’ve kept that! Was just reading something about the two of ’em . . . would liked to have met them and seen all the art they collected; walls and walls of art.
KN: I’m not sure what, if any, legal rights a constructed sentient entity has. But I think the monster has the moral right to the Frankenstein name.
None, I imagine. Does anyone really think we won’t have to go through the civil rights struggle again for AIs when the time comes?
Dave In Boston: Skynet didn’t have to go through any civil rights struggles.
Has anyone seen ‘AI: Artificial Intelligence, by Steven Spielberg? Much better than his Star Wars or whatever they were . . . Joel Haney Osment before he became a teen and weird.
Dave in Boston: depends on how we get AI — if it’s through the upload and simulate route rather than from bottom up de novo route, then it might not be too much of a struggle; it’s a copy of “you” in there, so we’re more likely to sympathize and see it as merely an extension of “you”. On the other hand, we might choose to deliberately not see and go “la-la-la!” with our fingers in our ears ala Black Mirror White Christmas. But if it’s from the bottom up de novo, there will definitely be a struggle, especially as this AI will most likely be significantly different from us in its way of thinking.
“Steven Spielberg’s ‘A.I.'” was original “Stanley Kubrick’s ‘A.I'”, but he passed away before he got around to making it.
Yep; I’ve wondered how different it would’ve been with Mr. Kubrick, rather than Mr. Spielberg . . .
I think both Kubrick AND Spielberg are overrated. I actually like less than half of each’s filmography. (Although that’s harder to judge once Spielberg became a marketing brand as much as a hands-on filmmaker.)
Some people really like “The Shining” but I find it dreadful. Dr. Strangelove and Full Metal Jacket do a good job of capturing, accurately, what military life is like while the same time, in both cases, viciously attacking the absurdity. The stylistic flow of A Clockwork Orange is distinctive, but doesn’t quite capture the essence of the book… he needed another hour or so, and I’m not sure audiences would have sat still for it.
And… 2001. Leaving aside the jumble that is the ending, Kubrick intentionally chose to go with long shots throughout the movie. Unfortunately for him, the trend was toward shorter shots, making the extra-long shots in 2001 feel interminable today.
Spielberg… may have set JJ Abrams on HIS path. The story is going along. I know, all of a sudden, with no explanation at all, and no foreshadowing, the alien can levitate himself, a couple of kids, and all their bikes over the ominous G-men! Abrams must have seen that, and said “cool. If my movies (lensflare) don’t have to (lensflare) explain anthing (lensflare), I can (lensflare) just keep going.(lensflare)(lensflare)(lensflare). I’ll never have to stop just because I can’t figure out what’s happening again! (lensflare).
But . . . have you seen ‘AI: Artificial Intelligence’? I agree with most of what you said above; well, about the few movies of theirs I’ve seen, which is why I was very much amazed when I realized ‘AI’ was a Spielberg movie. No Oscar.
Just as I was gobsmacked at Jim Carrey’s performance in ‘The Truman Show’, when all I’d ever seen was snippets of some weird things he made that were supposed to be comedies. No Oscar.
Steve Martin? Not funny (to me), except for ‘My Blue Heaven’. To me, a ‘feel good’ movie.
Tom Cruise? No thanks, except for ‘Minority Report’.
“But . . . have you seen ‘AI: Artificial Intelligence’?”
No. Nor the B&W one he won a prize for. Never got around the Kubrick’s “Spartacus”, either.
“Steve Martin? Not funny (to me)”
“The Jerk” is a timeless classic, with many, many quotable lines. And he and Dan Aykroyd’s signature character pair are also still funny. (to me). (But also to a lot of other people. Just sayin’).
I first saw E.T. about six weeks after it first appeared; after so much exposure to all of the hype about how wonderful the movie was supposed to be, the actual theater experience was a fairly steep disappointment. I know he was supposed to look both ugly and cute, but to me he never stopped looking like a rubber puppet.
There is a Pez dispenser museum – I think in Connecticut. I saw it on “Comic Book Men” – they took a trip there when Jay and Silent Bob had Pez dispensers of them – Jay went with others from the show (not “Bob”)
Comics I Don't Understand 
I think the Pez dispenser image is meant to represent the prolificacy of the writers depicted. They literally spout books.
My first thought was that it was simply a bizarrely arcane collectible Pez set, but my literacy doesn’t extend to comparative output of contemporary authors.
Footnote: In the strip “Alley Oop”, Professor Wonmug’s name is a twist of Einstein (Ein = One, stein = mug).
Oliver, wouldn’t there be a James Patterson Pez dispenser?
Or Nora Roberts, or Barbara Cartland…
It does say “great writers series” on the Pez ink bottle, though: all four got a Pulitzer, one a Nobel; conversely, critics are not very nice to James Patterson.
MinorAnnoyance is probably right.
@MinorAnnoyance, Professor Wonmug may have been influenced by Doctor Einmug, who appeared in Mickey Mouse in a 1936 – 37 story, a little more than two years before Wonmug was introduced in 1939. Both Wonmug and Einmug were brilliant inventors.
What scientist is most asked for in German bars? “Ein stein.”
I think the Pez dispensers are representing authors that “high-brow” readers would recognize, and have names that (somewhat) couldn’t be mistaken for other folks. James Patterson’s last name (or Stephen King’s, or whoever) could be confused with many other folks.
Plus, it’s Six Chix, so that “explains” a lot.
The first one has already been done, kind of:
There’s a notable family named Stein,
There’s Gertrude, there’s Ep, and there’s Ein.
Gert’s prose is all bunk,
Ep’s sculpture’s just junk
And nobody understands Ein.
And here we go again – the monster was NOT named Frankenstein; that was the doctor’s name.
Andréa, Frankenstein actually is the monster’s name in the parallel universe where castaways can live for years on a ten-foot-wide island with a single coconut tree, and surprising a man makes his hat fly off his head.
“James Patterson’s last name (or Stephen King’s, or whoever) could be confused with many other folks.”
Great point.
RE: Frankenstein vs DR. Frankestein: IOW, I’m being too literal (and pedantic) . . .
It’s FrankenstEEn!
Andrea — naw, Frankenstein was the monster. To create a sentient being then to discard it and refuse to take responsibility for its care is monstrous.
While I don’t personally draw a distinction between “highbrow” and “lowbrow” literature, I understand that many people do, and by that standard, King and Patterson lie in a different category than Oates, Mailer, Roth, and Morrison. And I think the joke is just that Pez doesn’t do highbrow stuff, just pop culture.
Andrea, how do we know what surname the monster adopted when he applied for his driver’s license? He couldn’t say “my full name’s ‘Monster’ you know, like Madonna.”
‘Cause you didn’t need a driver’s license to drive carts back then, so that wasn’t an issue for him.
Anyone who’s ever had a Pez dispenser knows that it takes longer to put the package of candy in than it takes to get them back out.
But once the thing is loaded, you can spit out candy after candy, after candy.
” here we go again – the monster was NOT named Frankenstein; that was the doctor’s name.”
In our patriarchal society, the man who creates a new life lends his name to the result. So they are BOTH “Frankenstein”. Then, when ol’ Vic gets going again, and makes the bride, she ALSO is a “Frankenstein”, both before and after the ceremony.
I thought it would add a uniting factor to note that they are all deceased — but a quick check shows that is wrong! Morrison and Oates are still alive.
This “Stein” thing is an example of the alienation I was talking about in another post caused by my coming form a different part of Germany than most of the German immigrants to the US came from — we call the thing a “Krug”, or maybe a “Mass”; Stein just means “rock” where I come from. I also never encountered it being called a Stein anywhere in Germany or Austria, but then, I wasn’t looking for it; Duden confirms it is used for that, but, geez, not by my people…
It feels like the misappropriation of the word “Blitz” by the British… Or maybe like the meaning the word Angst has acquired only in English…
Though the cartoon itself prompts us to think of the mug meaning of stein, I also usually associate that (especially as part of a name) with “Stone”. My late friend Brian Stonehill insisted that the immigrant generation in his family changed their name from Steinberg.
Pronouncing these names presents a little problem for some speakers — when to try for an original-language pronunciation and when to go with the flow of full Anglicization (or Americanization if that sometimes differs). It bothers me to hear Ein-shtein! On the other hand, when mentioning my favorite 20th Century philosopher, I tend to go one step further and say Vittgen-shtein.
Andréa: To expand on what ianosmond said, in case you’re not familiar with the argument (although you probably are): The monster calls himself Dr. Frankenstein’s son, so accepting the monster’s (IMO, reasonable) claim, both the Doctor and the Monster are Frankensteins.
Well, then Wittgenstein was a beery Schwein — still works!
Andrea, he didn’t drive at all. But he needed the driver’s license so he could drink in bars. Since various parts of his body were different ages, he was always getting carded.
‘-)
Take an average?
You could say he was made of dis-carded body parts.
Also, in the book Victor is not actually a doctor.
I immediately got he “stein” thing, but was thrown off by the PEZ dispenser thing. I was trying to work “PEZ” into their names.
I can’t imagine that much of his body would be under 18 — given that they were in Europe, the aberrant 21+ drinking age of the United States wouldn’t be relevant, and I assume pediatric body parts would generally be too small to be useful.
WW – the Creature may be arguably Victor’s son, but he’s not his legitimate son (he is not the son of Victor and Elizabeth (who weren’t married at the time of creation, anyway), and Victor never legitimized him), so he arguably doesn’t have right to the Frankenstein name, even so.
“And here we go again – the monster was NOT named Frankenstein; that was the doctor’s name.” And here I go. He wasn’t a doctor but a medical student drop out.
@Kamino Neko: “WW – the Creature may be arguably Victor’s son, but he’s not his legitimate son ”
So, in some cultures, his name would have been Monster FitzFrankenstein ? I think Ihat sounds a little suggestive…
@beckoningchasm: Well, confusion accomplished. When I first read it, I thought it was Jim Morrison. I thought it was stretching to include him with those other writers. I had to look at it several times before I got that it was supposed to be Tony Morrison.
TonI Morrison.
Ah, Jim Morrison. The dream man of my teen years . . .
“So, in some cultures, his name would have been Monster FitzFrankenstein ?”
If they put it to an Internet vote, he’d have wound up Boaty McMonsterface.
@ larK – I remember an article by Harry Rowohlt in which he had to translate “Stein” for the benefit of his (German!) readers. Duden notwithstanding, I’m sure that the word is not used (for “beer mug”) anywhere in Germany.
P.S. This “aberrant” usage is very like the “English” word that Germans use to describe a mobile phone: “Handy” (!)
Once upon a time we owned a Gertrude Stein ( https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1976-FITZ-FLOYD-Porcelain-GERTRUDE-STEIN-Alice-Toklas-Handle-Face-Mug-/232056719226 ) and a Franken Stein. Looking at that eBay asking price, we should held onto them.
Love that Gertrude Stein w/Alice B on the handle. I’d’ve kept that! Was just reading something about the two of ’em . . . would liked to have met them and seen all the art they collected; walls and walls of art.
KN: I’m not sure what, if any, legal rights a constructed sentient entity has. But I think the monster has the moral right to the Frankenstein name.
None, I imagine. Does anyone really think we won’t have to go through the civil rights struggle again for AIs when the time comes?
Dave In Boston: Skynet didn’t have to go through any civil rights struggles.
Has anyone seen ‘AI: Artificial Intelligence, by Steven Spielberg? Much better than his Star Wars or whatever they were . . . Joel Haney Osment before he became a teen and weird.
Dave in Boston: depends on how we get AI — if it’s through the upload and simulate route rather than from bottom up de novo route, then it might not be too much of a struggle; it’s a copy of “you” in there, so we’re more likely to sympathize and see it as merely an extension of “you”. On the other hand, we might choose to deliberately not see and go “la-la-la!” with our fingers in our ears ala Black Mirror White Christmas. But if it’s from the bottom up de novo, there will definitely be a struggle, especially as this AI will most likely be significantly different from us in its way of thinking.
“Steven Spielberg’s ‘A.I.'” was original “Stanley Kubrick’s ‘A.I'”, but he passed away before he got around to making it.
Yep; I’ve wondered how different it would’ve been with Mr. Kubrick, rather than Mr. Spielberg . . .
I think both Kubrick AND Spielberg are overrated. I actually like less than half of each’s filmography. (Although that’s harder to judge once Spielberg became a marketing brand as much as a hands-on filmmaker.)
Some people really like “The Shining” but I find it dreadful. Dr. Strangelove and Full Metal Jacket do a good job of capturing, accurately, what military life is like while the same time, in both cases, viciously attacking the absurdity. The stylistic flow of A Clockwork Orange is distinctive, but doesn’t quite capture the essence of the book… he needed another hour or so, and I’m not sure audiences would have sat still for it.
And… 2001. Leaving aside the jumble that is the ending, Kubrick intentionally chose to go with long shots throughout the movie. Unfortunately for him, the trend was toward shorter shots, making the extra-long shots in 2001 feel interminable today.
Spielberg… may have set JJ Abrams on HIS path. The story is going along. I know, all of a sudden, with no explanation at all, and no foreshadowing, the alien can levitate himself, a couple of kids, and all their bikes over the ominous G-men! Abrams must have seen that, and said “cool. If my movies (lensflare) don’t have to (lensflare) explain anthing (lensflare), I can (lensflare) just keep going.(lensflare)(lensflare)(lensflare). I’ll never have to stop just because I can’t figure out what’s happening again! (lensflare).
But . . . have you seen ‘AI: Artificial Intelligence’? I agree with most of what you said above; well, about the few movies of theirs I’ve seen, which is why I was very much amazed when I realized ‘AI’ was a Spielberg movie. No Oscar.
Just as I was gobsmacked at Jim Carrey’s performance in ‘The Truman Show’, when all I’d ever seen was snippets of some weird things he made that were supposed to be comedies. No Oscar.
Steve Martin? Not funny (to me), except for ‘My Blue Heaven’. To me, a ‘feel good’ movie.
Tom Cruise? No thanks, except for ‘Minority Report’.
“But . . . have you seen ‘AI: Artificial Intelligence’?”
No. Nor the B&W one he won a prize for. Never got around the Kubrick’s “Spartacus”, either.
“Steve Martin? Not funny (to me)”
“The Jerk” is a timeless classic, with many, many quotable lines. And he and Dan Aykroyd’s signature character pair are also still funny. (to me). (But also to a lot of other people. Just sayin’).
I first saw E.T. about six weeks after it first appeared; after so much exposure to all of the hype about how wonderful the movie was supposed to be, the actual theater experience was a fairly steep disappointment. I know he was supposed to look both ugly and cute, but to me he never stopped looking like a rubber puppet.
There is a Pez dispenser museum – I think in Connecticut. I saw it on “Comic Book Men” – they took a trip there when Jay and Silent Bob had Pez dispensers of them – Jay went with others from the show (not “Bob”)