Angela Lansbury (1925-2022)

Nancy. Edwina Brown. Sybil Vane. Mabel Sabre. Doris Hillman. Myra Leeds. Eleanor Shaw Iselin. Isabel Boyd. Nellie Lovett. Jessica Fletcher. Mrs. Potts. Balloon Lady. Those are the roles I know her from.

The New York Times has an obituary.

Coronation with Zeppelin

I had a crown placed on a molar this morning. It’s a much simpler matter than a root canal: the dentist drills away the temporary crown, does some 3-D imaging, [mysterious gap], makes some small adjustments, [mysterious gap], and cements the permanent crown in place. In the mysterious gaps: the making of the crown and its placement in a kiln. Those things happened offstage, or at least off my part of the stage.

The strangest thing about my adventure in dentistry: the local radio station that plays in the dentist’s office played Led Zeppelin for at least half an hour or so while I sat in the chair. “Squeeze my lemon till the juice runs down my leg”: I never thought I’d hear that in a dentist’s office.

See also How to have a root canal.

[The lyric is from “Traveling Riverside Blues,” Led Zeppelin’s refashioning of a Robert Johnson song. And no, I’m not a Led Zeppelin fan, but I can recognize their music.]

“All of this together”

Konstantin Dmitrievitch Levin is happy.

Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, translated by Constance Garnett, revised by Leonard J. Kent and Nina Berberova (New York: Modern Library, 2000).

Also from this novel
“The turning point of summer” : Theory of dairy farming : Toothache : Anna meta : “Brainless beef!” : “He could not help observing this” : “Official activity”

[The revised translation replaces roofs with roof, pavement with sidewalks, and doves with pigeons. So it’s puzzling to see dove in the fourth sentence.]

Fritzi at 100

From The Daily Cartoonist : “A Century of Fritzi Ritz.” Fritzi Ritz, later known as Nancy’s Aunt Fritzi, first appeared in the New York World on October 9, 1922.

Related reading
All OCA Nancy posts (Pinboard)

SCOOP: Musk’s next move

Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less. New York: Workman, 2022. 224 pp. $27.

Smart Brevity is neither smart nor brief.

The book, by the founders of Axios, offers a dumbed-down writing template that assumes an easily distracted reader: a six-word-maximum title or subject line, a strong single sentence (the “lede”), some context about why what you’re saying matters (the “nut graf”), and an invitation to go deeper. It’s the model behind Axios — though even Axios doesn’t observe a six-word limit for titles.

And because the reader is easily distracted, it’s necessary to write with bold text, bullet points, emoji, and illustrations. And only two or three sentences per paragraph, please. It all begins to sound like a recipe for gaining the attention of a defeated former president. And for gaining customers: an AI service called Axios HQ can evaluate your writing for you — or, really, for your company. Pricing starts at $12,500 a year.

At 224 pages, Smart Brevity is painfully repetitive: if you miss the first pronouncements that reading habits have changed but writing habits haven’t (uh, Twitter?) and that most people don’t read most of what’s put in front of them, fear not: you’ll find those pronouncements offered again and again. Indeed, you’ll find every idea repeated. Even anecdotes repeat. There are, to use the book’s language, “too many words.”

A far more helpful resource about writing for the world of work: Bryan Garner’s HBR Guide to Better Business Writing (Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2012). Far broader in scope, far wiser about writing.

[This post’s title is a sample title from Smart Brevity, which recommends the use of “a hot name or brand” in a headline or subject line.]

Joe Bussard, streaming

Ninety episodes of Joe Bussard’s radio show/podcast, Country Classics. All 78s: country, blues, jazz, gospel.

A related post
Joe Bussard (1936–2022)

Frasier reboot

The Frasier reboot: I fear that nothing good can come of this. But I’d be happy to be wrong.

Little rituals

In New York Times, readers share rituals that keep them going. I’m reminded of the fourth of five tips for success in college that my daughter Rachel wrote sixteen (!) years ago.

My rituals for daily sanity: tea, writing and posting, a long walk, coffee, a meeting of the Four Seasons Reading Club (reading with Elaine), one drink in the evening. You?

[The Times link is a “gift” link. No need for a subscription.]

Autumn in Mutts

[Mutts, October 9, 2022. Click for a larger view.]

I’m with you, Earl.

Also with you, Linus, Fritzi, and Nancy.

Related reading
All OCA Mutts posts (Pinboard)

Two or more grocery stores

  [Roulston’s and 11th Ave. Market, 4512 and 4510 11th Avenue, Boro Park, Brooklyn, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click either image for a much larger view.]

As a young Brooklynite, I never made it to 11th Avenue, but there I am today, where I noticed these grocery stores side by side. What was that all about? I think I know.

Roulston, it turns out, was a major name in groceries. Thomas Roulston (1840–1918) founded what became a chain of at least 700 stores in Brooklyn, Long Island, and Staten Island. His son Thomas H. Roulston (1874–1949) succeeded him. The New York Times headline for Thomas H.’s funeral: “1,000 in Last Tribute to Thomas Roulston.” The chain was sold in 1951.

Here’s a bit of Roulston history and some sample advertisements:

[The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 30, 1936. Click either image for a larger view.]

[Home Talk, September 23, 1908. Click for a larger view.]

[The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 6, 1921. Click for a larger view.]

[The Brooklyn Daily Times, June 17, 1921. Click for a larger view.]

[The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 18, 1949.]

Here’s my idea about 4512 and 4510 11th Avenue: I can’t imagine a grocery store opening next to the outlet of a long-established chain. I suspect that the 11th Ave. Market came first. Some circumstantial evidence: the 1940 Brooklyn telephone directory lists 161 Roulston’s stores. But there’s no listing for this Roulston’s, which makes me suspect it’s a relatively new addition to the chain. Move in next to an established business and — you already know the story. Notice the contrast between Roulston’s many slick-looking signs and the two homemade signs in the windows of 4510.

One more detail: if you click for the larger image, you’ll see a grown-up and a child looking out the window above the ls of Roulston’s.

Before sealing up this rabbit hole, here’s one more Roulston’s, just twelve blocks away. This might be the sharpest, most beautiful tax photo I’ve seen:

[5702 New Utrecht Avenue, Boro Park, Brooklyn, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections.Click for a larger view. You really should.]

Related reading
More OCA posts with photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives : The Roulston warehouse : The warehouse, repurposed