LOS ANGELES – I received a thoughtful email last week from a reader in Washington, DC. The reader pointed out to me how much my Man from B.L.O.G. character resembles Professor Berlitz, of Berlitz Language Instruction (1965) fame. Actually, sharp-eyed readers will notice that I obviously borrowed him from the Man from U.N.C.L.E. TV show logo of the 60s. I thought I’d come completely clean and show a lineup here of a few other potential look-a-likes.

On the far left we have the Woody Allen cartoon character that appeared briefly in Annie Hall. He is much shorter than Mr. B.L.O.G., but is only slightly more neurotic.

On the other side of my avatar/cybernaut is in fact Professor Berlitz, gesticulating wildly. “You are trés tall, Monsieur B.L.O.G.” He employs the same technique that most Americans use when communicating with foreigners: he slows his speech (and increases its volume), pronounces each consonant as hard as possible, and of course gesticulates. We find it works fine here on the island of America, so we’ll probably continue to use it. The Berlitz method. The character is no doubt based on Berlitz founder, Maximilian Delphinius Berlitz (1852 – 1921), who was born in Germany, orphaned at an early age, moved to France and ultimately the United States.

The Mr. Peanut (Planter’s) character‘s appearance is suggested here by a line at the Professor Berlitz reference page. They propose that the Berlitz man may have had a side career as Mr. Peanut. I don’t see the obvious likeness to Monsieur B.L.O.G., but since he resembles Prof. Berlitz, and Prof. Berlitz resembles Mr. Peanut, others might. You be the judge.

Lastly, I present Sherman from the Sherman and Peabody cartoons. They appeared in a regular segment called Peabody’s Improbable History in the early ’60s cartoon series The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. Sherman was the boy to Mr. Peabody (the genius dog). This is the origin of the WABAC (pronounced “wayback”) machine. The WABAC, or contemporarily Wayback Machine, is a common device used to conjure up nostalgia even today. So in addition to resembling a young Mr. B.L.O.G. (you should see the class photos side by side), Sherman’s (and Mr. Peabody’s) WABAC is the technological ancestor to the advanced Google/Raytheon time travel plugins which my man is so fond of using. I’ll have another lineup in the future should the need arise.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 11th, 2009 at 9:43 pm and is filed under General, Satire, The Man from B.L.O.G.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.