On this, the 365th day of 2024, I commemorate the rare simultaneity of Christmas and Hanukkah coinciding (at least in the same year) with the $6 million sale of Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian (aka banana with duct tape) … and simultaneously celebrate the best pun of the year.
A stretch? Perhaps! But I ain’t got nothing else for today’s DH.
So … if you are desperate to find that unusual gift for the host of this evening’s New Year’s Eve fete, I suggest a cultural statement with a peel. For just 20 bucks, light up the penultimate night of Hanukkah on the last day of 2024 with Kikkerland‘s Banorah created by E for Effort Design (tested and approved by my colleague Jeff Roth). Guaranteed to kindle the ultimate gasp of holiday spirit.
And here’s some additional banana lore: Rick Cohen’s 2023 book, The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King, details the colorful journey of an immigrant named Sam Zemurray, the founder of Chiquita, who battles with competitive all fruit business leaders who showed disdain for this entrepreneur because of the heavy Yiddish accent.
Zemurray was also a staunch supporter of the future State of Israel, and used his influence to sway the United Nations’ vote on its establishment. Cohen notes that “he was one of the guys who put up the money for the Exodus,” the ship at the center of the 1960 film of the same name.
