Hi and Lois watch

[Hi and Lois, February 22, 2013.]

If I were one of those people who think that their radios and televisions are sending them secret messages, I would wonder what’s going on here. But I’m not, and I don’t. Far right, that’s a Led Zeppelin poster, nothing more, nothing less. It has nothing to do with Leddy. Still, you gotta wonder.¹

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All Hi and Lois posts (Pinboard)

¹No, you don’t, not really.

[By the way: what is that stuff in the bottom-left corner?]

Hats off to Allaway

[Life, April 24, 1950.]

I’d like to know something about the hand that made this lovely piece of commercial art. It appears under the heading “A Chorus of Praise” in an advertisement for AC Spark Plugs. The tiny lettering in the lower left corner appears to be the artist’s name, Allaway. It took two trips to the library, the second with a loupe, to figure that out. Thanks, library. Thanks, loupe. I’ve been unable though to find out anything about the artist.

How many hat-and-glove pairings in this picture signify specific occupations? I see nine before starting to guess. You?

[Post title inspired by an old song.]

Creeping credentialism

Here’s a law firm that won’t hire anyone, for any position, who doesn’t have a college degree. Even the $10-an-hour courier has a bachelor’s.

Says one of the firm’s employees, a receptionist with $100,000 in student loans, “I will probably never see the end of that bill, but I’m not really thinking about it right now . . . . You know, this is a really great place to work.”

Hi and Lois watch

 
[Hi and Lois, February 21, 2013.]

In the Flagston household, as in Washington, there are Cabinet (or cabinet) changes. But in the Flagston household, they’re all in a day’s work.

 

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All Hi and Lois posts (Pinboard)
Flagston refrigerator trouble
More refrigerator trouble

DSONGS

[Late 20th century CE.]

This label fragment, bearing my daughter Rachel’s inscription, at long last fell away from the videotape it once identified as KIDSONGS. Now this fragment lives on my desk, a scrap of fambly papyrus.

More early writing
Blue crayon
RACHEL MOMMY DADDY BEN

Marianne Moore on writing

“A writer is unfair to himself when he is unable to be hard on himself”: Marianne Moore, in a 1961 Paris Review interview.

Other Marianne Moore posts
A few notes
Marianne Moore magic
Q and A

Orange manual art

[Click for a larger, oranger view.]

“This site is dedicated to serve as an archival record of a first edition NYCTA Graphics Standards Manual designed by Massimo Vignelli of Unimark International.The manual was found in a locker beneath old gym clothes”: New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual (via Coudal).

Other posts with orange
Crate art, orange : Orange art, no crate : Orange crate art : Orange crate art (Encyclopedia Brown) : Orange flag art : Orange mug art : Orange notebook art : Orange notecard art : Orange peel art : Orange pencil art : Orange soda art : Orange stem art : Orange telephone art : Orange timer art : Orange toothbrush art : Orange train art : Orange tree art : Orange Tweed art

A Mel Tormé story

Show biz:

One night, at a party at Jack Lemmon’s house, Gene Kelly walked over to me and inquired if I knew where he could get a print of Singin’ in the Rain. He wanted to run the film for one of his kids who had never seen it.

“Gene,” I said, “Films Incorporated has a rental print listed in their catalog. But I simply can’t believe you’re asking me about this. You were the king of the MGM lot. You mean to tell me you don’t have a print of every movie you ever made?”

He smiled sadly. “No, I don’t. Not one of them. You see, Mel, in those days, I would call for a projection room, invite thirty–forty people, and run anything I pleased. Seven nights a week. Any movie I wanted to see. From any studio. And you know,” he concluded, with a catch in his voice, “we thought it would never end.”

Mel Tormé, It Wasn’t All Velvet (New York: Viking, 1988).

My dad put me onto this book. He suspects that I am becoming a Tormé fan. Could be.

Recently updated

Presto change-o, Tazo Has Tazo changed its Awake tea? Now with an answer by e-mail.

How to improve writing (no. 42)

The words that began episodes of The Paper Chase, as spoken by Professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. (John Houseman):

“The study of law is something new and unfamiliar to most of you — unlike any other schooling that you have ever known before.”

Something new = new. New = unfamiliar. Any other schooling = any schooling. Ever known before = known. Like they say, omit needless words. Thus:

“The study of law is new to most of you — unlike any schooling you have known.”

I’m not sure whether removing the curlicues makes the statement more Kingsfieldian, or less so. What do you think? Yes, Mr. Hart?

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[Why “most of you“? Perhaps some of the students have previously tried law school, left, and returned. This post is no. 42 in a series, “How to improve writing,” dedicated to improving stray bits of public prose.]