Category Archives: Uncategorized

All-American G-Rated Cussin’

     As I continue my hopeless quest to figure out why some writers a hundred years ago or thereabouts referred to a handgun as a “roscoe” (I keep waiting for Fatty Arbuckle to be the answer, but no one goes along with it) and my equally futile journey to find out what happened to theContinue reading “All-American G-Rated Cussin’”

CRUSHES OF YORE

     I am not sure we have ever discussed in this space the phenomenon of the pin-up joke, a classic of humor for decades.  Of course, you know what a pin-up is: THAT goes back for centuries (possibly millennia, depending on whether those cave paintings and ancient sculptures were offerings to a fertility goddess orContinue reading “CRUSHES OF YORE”

The King’s Leg Man

     “Sir Comvent!”      “Sire?”      “I need a new pair of boots.”      “I don’t suppose that means I will accompany Your Majesty to the cobbler’s shop.”      “Perhaps you forgot, sir knight, that you speak to a king who pulled his sword from a stone.”      “Perhaps Your Majesty forgets that Your MajestyContinue reading “The King’s Leg Man”

Having It Both Ways

     A few months gone, we discussed in this space the concept of the trade card, a Victorian sales device issued by stores who realized that if people started collecting these, they would come to the store to see if a new one was ready.  Getting someone into the store was half the battle, afterContinue reading “Having It Both Ways”

FICTION FRIDAY: Those Old Piano Roll Blues

     I need to get this off my chest.  You’ll understand why.      First off, despite all the rumors which have surrounded my discoveries in the pianowork of Wolfgang “Whiskey Pete” M’Cloud, I did NOT use some kind of computer magic on his recordings.  I lack the skill even to come up with some ofContinue reading “FICTION FRIDAY: Those Old Piano Roll Blues”

Covering Dishes

     It has been some time since we meandered through Memory Kitchen, largely because this is NOT a food blog.  But casseroles came up in an online chat, and this threw my mind back into the Iowa kitchen of my boy days.      And I must break your heart at the outset.  We never ateContinue reading “Covering Dishes”

Midweek Fiction: Principles of Economy

     “Mighty big nuggets thus time, sir.”      “I know it.  Just weigh ‘em out and give me scrip to take to the bank.”      “Of course, sir.  Your weekly delivery of gold has been the making of our establishment. My wife and I….”      “Dadgum it!”      “I’m sorry, sir.  I keep forgetting.”     Continue reading “Midweek Fiction: Principles of Economy”

Three of the Culprits

     This column frequently touts the work of postcard cartoonists Walter Wellman and Ray Walters, with occasional salutes to other people whose work is now easiest to find on fossilized tweets from the past.  But the collections coming in to inventory over the past month or so have included the work of several artists weContinue reading “Three of the Culprits”