Why a duck?

Roaming Boro Park, Brooklyn, I came upon this lively blend of residential and commercial life.

[3717 Fort Hamilton Parkway, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]

As with these Fort Hamilton addresses, it appears that a storefront and residential entrance were added to an existing house. Imagine being able to step from your residence for candy, soda, stationery, and cigars. (Don’t worry, Elaine — I’m not getting any ideas, about smoking or about remodeling.)

Next to 3717, on the southeast corner of Fort Hamilton and 38th Street, stood a gas station with battery and lubrication services. Today Google Maps shows 3717 with a pull-down steel door over what was (and still is?) a storefront. Lion Transmission and Parkway Collision sit next door — no gas.

What knocks me out about this photograph: Donald Duck. He’s advertising Nu-Blue Sunoco gasoline. Why a duck? Why not a mouse? Well, Mickey Mouse was also hired, though every link to an image of Mickey’s signage turns out to be defunct. Donald’s wall today sports a stylized flag of Mexico and a lion in profile. A larger lion looks down from a second-story wall.

In a fine testament to American capitalism, many of the brand names appearing in this photograph are with us in 2022. How many names can you spot? I see eight in addition to Sunoco, seven of which are legible. I’ve put my answers in the comments. Click for the larger view for a better look at everything, including the gumball machines.

Related reading
More OCA posts with photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives

[The building to the left, as seen in another photograph, houses Willam Rabus Plumbing & Heating.]

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by Stella Zawistowski, known for tough puzzles. This one took me thirty-one minutes, and at many points I thought I’d have to give up. And then something would fall into place, and onward.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

4-D, eleven letters, “High-upkeep?” Read the clue carefully.

5-A, ten letters, “Removes one’s words, in a way.” My first answer. I had a hunch and played it.

7-D, fifteen letters, “It may keep you up at night.” Uh, SATURDAYSTUMPER?

13-D, seven letters, “General rearrangement.” Now I get it.

17-A, ten letters, “Originally, a river crystal.” Huh.

23-A, five letters, “Whom DiMaggio called ‘the best I ever faced.’” I liked seeing this name.

25-D, eleven letters, “Fourth-century Christian milestone.” Yep, still know it, sort of.

26-A, nine letters, “Sports pages.” I felt pleased with myself for sussing this one out right away. (I am not a sports-minded person.)

28-D, three letters, “Half a Furniture Galleries brand.” An insanely great answer.

34-D, four letters, “Tragic retiree-to-be.” Another hunch played.

57-A, four letters, “Dieter’s unit.” I had all the letters from Down answers and didn’t see how fiendishly clever this clue is.

40-D, seven letters, “Ford debut of 1930.” Must be a car, no?

42-D, seven letters, “Sempiternal.” “Midwinter spring is its own season, / Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown.” I still love Four Quartets.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

Peg and Pinkie (and Floyd)

Looking into the fortunes of the Ace-Hy Sign Co., I found my way to old issues of Billboard. And somewhere on or near a page with an Ace-Hy advertisement, I noticed this item, in Bill Baker’s column “Pipes for Pitchmen”:

[Billboard, November 6, 1948. Click for a larger view.]

Two names stood out: Peg Jackson would be Arthur Jackson (1911–1977), known as Peg Leg Sam, singer and harmonica player, with a long history of performing in medicine shows. Here’s a short documentary about him: Born for Hard Luck (dir. Tom Davenport, 1976). Pinkie Anderson would be Pinkney Anderson (1900–1974), known as Pink Anderson, singer and guitarist, also with a long history of performing in medicine shows, often with Peg Leg Sam. Here’s a 1970 home recording of the two men doing medicine-show material. Here’s a sample of Anderson alone. And here’s Pink’s son, Little Pink Anderson.

Even if you think you’ve never heard of Pink Anderson, you probably have. Here he is with Floyd Council. Those two musicians were the inspiration for the name Pink Floyd.

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And here’s a Peg Leg Sam T-shirt.

[For anyone curious, there’s much more of Jackson, Anderson, and Council at YouTube.]

In search of lost commercials

Did you know that “so many of the melodies of well-known popular songs were actually written by the great masters”?

I did, but I had no idea who was speaking those words.

One big revelation

From today’s January 6 meeting: the defeated former president’s election-night declaration of victory — “Frankly we did win this election” — was planned well before Election Day.

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Another: The Secret Service and other agencies knew of threats of violence against the Capitol well before January 6.

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One more: The committee plans to vote on whether to subpoena the defeated former president.

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In related news:

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request from former President Donald J. Trump to intervene in the litigation over documents seized from his Florida estate.

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The vote to subpoena is unanimous.

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The dfp is having a very bad day.

“What they had no conception of”

Anna, Vronsky, and Vronsky’s old associate Golenishchev are talking about the work of a painter, in particular a painting of two boys fishing.

Borometer

Elaine thought it up, but she left it for me to do the work of defining:

bor∙o∙me∙ter \ˈbȯr-ō-ˌmē-tər n [fr. Elaine Fine, composer and musician] (2022) : the little-understood brain mechanism that measures the boringness of a film or a television show <My husband’s ⁓ is functioning well, as evidenced by his falling asleep during this film>

See also humormeter.

Gabbard, Palin, Hitchens

I think this formulation works:

Tulsi Gabbard is the Sarah Palin of Christopher Hitchenses.

Or:

Tulsi Gabbard is the Christopher Hitchens of Sarah Palins.

I can see it both ways. Context here.

[I’ve already reminded myself, many times, that I once thought of Gabbard as a likely member of a Bernie Sanders administration. Good grief.]

Recently updated

As [+ adj.] a [+ n.] as Someone fixed it.

A critical reader

I just cited Bryan Garner once again, so I’ll toot my horn — just once — in this post:

<toot>
I’m a member of the panel of critical readers for the forthcoming fifth edition of Garner’s Modern English Usage. What that means: I was given a chunk of the revised text to read and edit and comment on in whatever ways seemed appropriate. My chunk: from boyish to cigaret, which seems like a chapter from my life. I also read, edited, and commented on other entries that drew my interest. The work was an exhilarating, mind-stretching joy.
</toot>

The fifth edition of GMEU is available for pre-order from Amazon.

Related reading
All OCA Garner posts (Pinboard)

[Cigaret ? A “needless variant.” That chapter closed on October 8, 1989. And yes, “from boyish to cigaret ” makes me think of “from crayons to perfume.”]