Feature Stories by Bob Schwabach

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JOKES TO STOP ALMOST ANY SERIOUS DISCUSSION OF FOOD

By Bob Schwabach Originally published in the Chicago Tribune, January 22, 1979 Woody Allen has this routine in which he talks about a country where anything sexual is perfectly all right but food is dirty. He checks into a hotel room in a sleazy district and ask the room clerk to send up a tuna fish on rye. The food is brought by a beautiful girl, a lady of the supper, so … [Read more...] about JOKES TO STOP ALMOST ANY SERIOUS DISCUSSION OF FOOD

HELP! HELP! I’VE BEEN BURGLARIZED

By Bob Schwabach Originally published in the News-Journal, August 7, 1973, reprinted in the Chicago Tribune and other Knight papers. Wilmington, Delaware -- WE ARRIVED home from vacation at three in the morning. I knew something was wrong as I looked in the living room window and saw the desk drawers and papers strewn over the rug, and bookcases knocked flat in the … [Read more...] about HELP! HELP! I’VE BEEN BURGLARIZED

DON’T BET YOUR CYBER SAVINGS ON VIDEO GAME SPIN-OFFS

By Bob Schwabach IN 1938, Johan Huizinga, the Dutch medieval historian, published a speculative essay called ''Homo Ludens'' -- literally, ''game playing man.'' In it, Huizinga examined the generally unquestioned labeling of our species as ''Homo sapiens'' -- ''intelligent man.'' Several alternative labels have been put forth by anthropologists and historians: ''man the … [Read more...] about DON’T BET YOUR CYBER SAVINGS ON VIDEO GAME SPIN-OFFS

A SILENT COMEDY SURROUNDED BY SOUND

By Bob Schwabach THE first time I saw a Jacques Tati movie, I thought something had gone wrong with the sound system. It was a student film society showing at the University of Chicago, and things like that go wrong all the time. I was on the verge of getting up to tell someone in the projection booth when I realized that there was nothing wrong with the sound at all -- it … [Read more...] about A SILENT COMEDY SURROUNDED BY SOUND