Bogie, Christmas Day, and Mellins baby food...

I’ve always associated Christmas Day with heroes.

My parents were two of them. Somehow, despite a lack of funds, they always managed to make the day special. And the night before.?

The fat guy in the red suit was another.

Somehow, despite a lack of chimney, he always managed to sneak my presents into the house without being seen.?

And, of course, there’s the obvious. Blame that one on my Catholic upbringing.? Now as lapsed as my childhood library card.

But it wasn’t until many years later that I also associated Christmas Day with villains, tough guys, private eyes, and movies.?

And one advertising campaign in particular.?

The year was1899.? The day was Monday, December 25th.? A child was born in New York to a couple called Maud and Belmont.? The child’s name was Humphrey.

Humphrey DeForest Bogart, to be precise.?

Belmont was of English and Dutch descent, and was a cardiopulmonary surgeon.? Maud was of English heritage and descended from John Howland, a passenger on the Mayflower.

She was an in-demand commercial illustrator for magazines, children’s books, and ad campaigns…and became art director of the fashion magazine The Delineator.?

Young Humphrey had a good start in life.? He even went into advertising at an astonishingly early age.?

Maud used a drawing of little Humphrey in a well-known campaign for Mellins Baby Food.? The formula was advertised with the slogan:? “Mellins Food for Infants and Invalids: The only perfect substitute for Mother’s Milk”.?

Nope…not going there.?

Anyway, pretty soon little Humphrey became big Humphrey and found himself starring in such movie classics as The Petrified Forest, Angels with Dirty Faces, The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, Dark Passage, Key Largo, and The African Queen.?

In 1999, The American Film Institute ranked him as the greatest male star of Classic American Cinema.?

He’s one of my all-time favourite movie stars, appearing in one of my all-time favourite movies.?

Casablanca.?

Every Christmas Day…when the rest of the family (and probably the rest of the world) is toasting each other, Santa, world peace (for a day), and thinking good thoughts about each other (again, for a day)…I’m normally bucking the trend. And raising a glass to Bogie.? Or rather…Rick.?

Of all the lives in all the towns in all the world, I’m pretty damned glad he walked into mine…