Gravy ain’t wavy? Hunh? Burkhardt isn’t American? Hunh? I just don’t get it.
Yeah, Burkhardt is a German. I forget his full name, but it’s been given in the strip, probably on the day Edda dressed him down in the Lincoln Center pavilion. The sultry brunette pianist in today’s strip is also a foreigner, but we’re not sure where she’s from.
The joke in today’s installment is that Burkhardt is undressing Edda mentally as she walks past on her way to rehearsal, and that she’s thwarting his fantasies with a mental block of her own.
“Gravy ain’t wavy,” I don’t understand either. Given Edda’s familiarity with a wide range of popular culture, I think she’s mocking Burk with some sort of archaic slang, and I blush to admit that I don’t recognize it.
According to this website the phrase was used in an old comic strip titled Smokey Stover, which you can learn about here. There seem to be a lot of people who really enjoyed the Smokey Stover comic, as evidenced by all the links on google.
Don’t know if this helps, but it is all I can find so far.
Wavy Gravy is a hippy clown who ran with a bunch called the Merry Pranksters in the sixties. He once ran for Mayor of Berkeley and accused his opponent of never having been arrested even once. He used to give the opening dedication for UCDavis’s Whole Earth Festival. Last I heard, he runs a children’s camp and scares them into brushing their teeth by showing them how few he has left.
Ben and Jerry had an ice cream named in his honor. I don’t know 9 Chickweed Lane well enough to know what Edda’s likely to know. But I’d guess there’s a connection.
The sultry pianist is Portugese, I believe, but I can’t recall her name.
I’ll bet a nickel the reference is to “Smokey Stover” rather than to Wavy Gravy, master of the Hog Farm. Brooke McEldowney likes old comic strips.
So do I, but I’ve never been a big “Smokey Stover” fan. When it comes to screwball comix, I prefer Gene Ahearn’s “The Squirrel Cage” or Milt Gross’ “Count Screwloose of Toulouse.”
I may not be a notary sojac, but I believe the phrase used in Smokey Stover was actually “Scramgravy ain’t wavy.” Foo.
I think I owe you that nickel, Ukulele Ike. I pottered around and found a lot of references to Smokey Stover - and a couple of references to a font named in the phrases honor.
Well, Edda’s telepathic command to Burkhardt was “Scram! Wavy ain’t gravy!” Telling him to beat it, and adding an obscure pop culture reference sure to befuddle and therefore belittle a non-American.
Yllaria: Extremely cool font. Very R. Crumb-ish.
Okay, it’s a nonsense declaration. That would explain its lack of sense.