Writing in The New Yorker, Alexandra Schwartz likens Manhattan’s Hudson Yards to “an amenity-stuffed Hotel California that its residents never have to leave. . . . The only thing that Hudson Yards is missing is its own weather.”
A Manhattan model for Hudson Yards can be found in Steven Millhauser’s novel Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer. Starting as a boy working in his father’s cigar store, Martin rises “to a height of dreamlike good fortune” as a builder of hotels. His final achievement is the Grand Cosmo, which opens in 1905. It’s a strange place: “people didn't know exactly what it was.” Promoting it is a challenge, as Martin has placed a significant restriction on the work of his advertising genius Harwinton:
Steven Millhauser, Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer (New York: Vintage, 1996).
“A complete and self-sufficient world”: Hudson Yards advertises itself as a place to live, shop, work, and dine. (Not eat.) There’s even, as Schwartz notes, a hot-dog stand in what the developer calls “the neighborhood of the future.” I suppose you can dine on hot dogs if you’re a tourist in the neighborhood.
I expect that someday I’ll visit New York and everything I love about the city will have been obliterated. All that will be left: a theme park whose price of admission I cannot — and would not want to be able to — afford.
Monday, March 25, 2019
Hudson Yards and the Grand Cosmo
Ohio place names, pronounced
My daughter Rachel alerted me to a Twitter thread about the pronunciation of Ohio place names. Includes “Menner” (Mentor), which captured our familial imagination in 2017.
Thank you, Rachel.
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Still more pencil cups
Elaine Walizer shared these photographs — with captions no less. Click any image for a larger view.
[“Note stylus and letter opener (from Dick Deutsch Printing Co. Warner Bros. Bldg. Phone Prospect 0091).”]
[“This pencil holder is more strategically placed and includes scissors, tweezers, an furled flag, and a mystery object.... revealed below.”]
[“Great for prying things open or up or out... I don't mind folding things; the sad iron is my solution to avoid actually ironing the napkins. (We don't use paper ones.)”]
Thanks, Elaine. The pryer looks pretty powerful. The telephone exchange name for Dick Deutsch Printing is a bonus. But wait: who was Dick Deutsch? And what did he print? Prints. That is, of movies.
From The Film Daily, January 7 and 15, 1936:
Cleveland — Dick Deutsch of the Dick Deutsch Printing Co., has left for a three-week vacation in Miami.And from the same publication, more eventful news from July 17, August 6, August 20, and September 5, 1940:
*
Dick Deutsch of Dick Deutsch Printing Co. is back from a vacation in Florida.
Richard Deutsch, head of the Dick Deutsch Printing Co., has broken ground at Cedar Ave. and E. 107th St., for a sports coliseum.More pencil holders: from Elaine Fine, Fresca, George, Sara, Slywy, and me.
*
HERBERT OCHS, Real Art franchise (with his son JACK, DICK DEUTSCH, o[f] Dick Deutsch Printing Co., accompanied by DEUTSCH and son, JEFFREY are in New [York?] from Cleveland.
*
Cleveland — Pioneer Film Exchange has been formed by Herbert Ochs and Richard Deutsch to handle franchises on Film Alliance product and Select Attractions. The Film Alliance franchise covers Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Indiana. The
Select franchise is for Ohio and Kentucky. Pioneer Film Exchange is located in the Warner Bldg.
*
Thieves broke into the shipping room of the Warner Building and stole nine complete features belonging to Herbert Ochs and Dick Deutsch of Pioneer Film Exchange. The cans were waiting to be picked up for shipment. This is the biggest film theft ever reported in Cleveland.
The features stolen were two prints of “The Leopard Man,” two prints of “Suicide Legion,” two prints of “The Challenge,” one print of “Song of the Road,” one of “Spy Bureau” and one of “Treachery on the High Seas.” Ochs reports that due to the co-operation of Film Alliance and Select Attractions which shipped in duplicate prints by air express Pioneer was able to complete all of its obligations and theaters received their prints on time.
Domestic comedy
“I could do folding, but I don’t feel like it. I put in a long day at the pageant.”
Related reading All OCA domestic comedy posts (Pinboard)
[Elaine spent a couple of hours at a pageant yesterday waiting to hear one of her students perform.]
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Pencil bear
[Photograph by Sara McWhorter. Click for a larger view.]
My friend Sara shared a photograph of a 3-D-printed bear holding Mirado Black Warriors, a pen, and a screw. A stationary stationery bear.
More pencil holders: from Fresca’s desk, George’s table, Slywy’s desk, and my desk.
Today’s Saturday Stumper
Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Matthew Sewell, has a split personality. The top half was as easy as the first word of the clue for 62-Across, “Pie recipe verb.” But the puzzle’s bottom half threatened, in the words of the clue for 31-Across, to “Outwit, perhaps.” But I could finally say, in the words of the clue for 23-Down, “The fog has lifted.” Although I did not follow up with a 54-Across, “Revelation exclamation.” Elaine was still asleep.
My favorite clues: 36-Across, thirteen letters, “Hugo winner,” which broke open the bottom half of the puzzle. 24-Down, seven letters, “Request for a raise.” 27-Down, seven letters, “Price skipping.” And 32-Down, six letters, “Not a major case.”
No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.
More pencil holders
[Photograph by George Bodmer. Click for a larger view.]
George Bodmer, who draws Oscar’s Portrait, shared a photograph of his bamboo pencil holders. The scene is a weekly drawing class that he teaches at a homeless shelter. More pencil holders: from Fresca’s desk, Slywy’s desk, and my desk.
As Goethe almost said, “Pencil holders! More pencil holders!”
Friday, March 22, 2019
Oswald
[Photograph by Gordon Parks. From “Speaking of Pictures,” Life, September 29, 1952.]
The two-and-a-half-page “Speaking of Pictures” spread begins with an explanation, sort of: “Oswald, a baffling blabbermouth, has become television’s greatest what-is-it.” As Life tells it,
The 15 million fans who watch Ventriloquist Paul Winchell each week (NBC-TV, Mondays) have been both entertained and baffled by the bizarre creature shown above. Few have guessed what he is. They know him only as Oswald, a blowhard Briton who has done everything better than anyone else. To believe Oswald, it was he who taught Pinza to hold his high notes, Crosby to croon, Durante to be funny.A lying narcissist with a big tie. But any resemblance to a real person is purely coincidental.
As Ozwald, this character became the stuff of a “Play Set.” (Here’s the patent.) Ozwald wore a suit. And his tie was red. Such fun. But again, any resemblance to a real person is purely coincidental.
[I think that Oswald won’t baffle most twenty-first-century types. But just in case: Oswald was played by Paul Winchell, whose chin was Oswald’s head. Thanks to Diane Schirf for the link to the patent.]
Brett Terpstra’s guide to DuckDuckGo
Brett Terpstra has written “the ultimate guide to DuckDuckGo.” So many shortcuts — and Instant Answers!
[I’d like a shortcut for Google Books though.]
