Elaine and I scored big at a nearby used-book store this weekend: nine Steven Millhausers. (We need two copies of everything.) We left one In the Penny Arcade on the shelf. It was like going through baseball cards: got it, need it, need it, got it.
The bookseller mentioned that he puts most of the books he buys and reads in the store, knowing that he’s never going to read them again. But, he said, he has a shelf of Steven Millhauser at home — those books stay. And now he’s going to reread Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943–1954, by Jeffrey Cartwright.
Related reading
All OCA Steven Millhauser posts (Pinboard)
[I recently borrowed Dennis Duncan’s Index, A History of the from the library.]
Monday, January 23, 2023
Shelves, books off the, books on the
Lorem ipsum
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, &c.: from Jack Shepherd, a close look at the history of Lorem ipsum.
Orange Crate Art has three lorem ipsum posts, one of which shows the dummy text on a now-dead congressman’s house.gov page, where it spelled out his position on health care.
Thanks, Rachel.
Sunday, January 22, 2023
The Oteris and Marty
Previously on Orange Crate Art:
We visited no. 2376, once the home of Arthur Avenue Noodle & Macaroni Manufacturing. Today we’ll look at the two establishments that once flanked AAN&MM. To the south, the Baccalà Store.
[2374 Arthur Avenue, The Bronx, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]
Baccalà, salted cod, is a traditional Italian food. No, I’ve never had it.
And just north of AAN&MM, the Oteri Bros. Prime Meat Market.
[2378 Arthur Avenue, The Bronx, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]
These photographs would be worth posting for their own sake — they’re beautiful streetscapes. But there’s a bonus.
Danielle Oteri tells some of the Oteri history here and here: her great-grandfather and great-grandmother, Albino and Grazia Oteri, opened the baccalà store in 1918. The Oteris’ son John (Danielle’s uncle) converted the store to a butcher shop post-World War II. Danielle confirms in a Facebook message (thanks, Danielle; thanks, Elaine) that John previously ran a butcher shop for a short time at no. 2378.
The later shop at no. 2374 is the butcher shop in the opening scene of Marty (dir. Delbert Mann, 1955). You can watch here. Look closely and you’ll see the shadow of the street address on the wall.
[Ernest Borgnine as Marty Piletti. Click for a larger view.]
More from Danielle Oteri:
The scenes of Marty working were shot in Oteri’s Butcher Shop. Uncle John had to teach Ernest Borgnine, who also won Best Actor for his performance, how to cut meat, specifically sausage, so that his scenes would be realistic.Vincent’s Meat Market is still going strong at no. 2374. No. 2378 is now the second-floor residence above the now-defunct Club Fiasco at no. 2376, which took up the storefronts at nos. 2376 and 2378.
Although the screenplay indicates that Marty’s boss was to be named Mr. Gazzara, Uncle John was able to convince them that his name should be used instead, and in the final cut, Marty refers to his boss “Mr. Oteri” at least four times.
In 1980 my Uncle John sold the shop to Peter De Luca, who runs the shop today. Peter has a butcher pedigree as well. He grew up working in his father’s butcher shop on 143rd Street and Morris Avenue. (The current store is named Vincent’s Meat Market in honor of his father.)
You can hear Marty refer to “Mr. Oteri” twice in the scene with Clara (Besty Blair) in the luncheonette and twice in the scene with his cousin Tommy (Jerry Paris) on the Piletti porch. The second (silent) butcher in the opening scene is played by Silvio Minicotti, husband of Esther Minicotti, who plays Marty’s mother Teresa Piletti.
Related posts
More OCA posts with photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives : A corner in Marty (White Plains Road and E. 211th Street) : Happy birthday, Mr. Piletti (Marty and Clara post-Marty)
And from NYC in Film, a detailed look at various Marty locations, with a photograph of Ernest Borgnine and John Oteri. As Marty would say, Holy cow!
Recently updated
F.H. Knapp Now with the Knapp backstory, a possible future, and crowds watching an automaton at work.
Saturday, January 21, 2023
Knives for sale, 70% off
The defeated former president’s faux-Twitter feed is now showing advertisements for switchblade knives, along with advertisements for alternatives to Botox and blood-pressure medication.
Every pane in the Overton window is broken, and the window’s casing has been ripped from the wall and thrown in a dumpster. The dumpster is burning.
[Why do I look at the defeated former president’s faux-Twitter? As a lack-of-wellness check on a dangerous, deranged man. I hit some kind of limit when seeing this advertisement.]
Domestic comedy
“I wonder if anyone has vandalized his Wikipedia page.”
“Don’t you mean ‘vandelayzed’?”
Related reading
All OCA domestic comedy posts (Pinboard)
[Strange: George Santos’s Wikipedia page seems to be untouched by pranksters. Vandelay, for anyone who needs it: Seinfeld.]
Today’s Saturday Stumper
Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, is by the puzzle’s editor, Stan Newman, constructing as “Anna Stiga” (Stan Again), the pseudonym that signals an easier Stumper. The right half of the puzzle — yes, easier. I started with 29-A, five letters, “Chilling” and 12-D, eight letters, “Schubert sacred song” and soon had half of the puzzle done. The left was tougher.
Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:
1-A, ten letters, “Brown-orbed breakfast.” This clue gets the puzzle off to a whimsical start. My first thought was WHEATCAKES, but they’re discs, not orbs.
9-D, five letters, “Green toon with a ‘Fairytale’ Baskin-Robbins flavor.” I think most solvers will choose wrongly.
11-A, four letters, “Son of Marge and Homer.” See 9-D.
15-A, then letters, “Newly coined (9/20/22) name in the news.” I’m not sure that the date is right, but I don’t care either.
19-A, three letters, “Key to leave with.” Clever.
22-A, five letters, “Long divisions.” Nicely punning.
23-D, four letters, “‘My dream world is complete Hieronymous Bosch and ___’: Lennon.” My first guess was ACID.
37-D, eight letters, “She first met 15-Across last September 9th.” Oh, her.
41-A, three letters, “Staple of Canadian music education.” I did not know that.
43-A, five letters, “Clamshell, for Neanderthals.” SCOOP? SPOON?
51-D, five letters, “Jazz singer with a damehood.” I had to reach a bit for the name.
62-D, three letters, “What may be found between two dogs.” Stumpery!
One problem: 1-D, six letters, “Introductions to oboe music.” I thought this clue was clever, but Elaine pointed out that it’s mistaken.
My favorite in this puzzle: 25-A, nine letters, “About a third of 1/2.”
No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.
Friday, January 20, 2023
“That bright August morning”
Jeffrey Cartwright recalls first meeting Edwin Mullhouse.
Steven Millhauser, Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943–1954, by Jeffrey Cartwright (1972).
The date: August 9, 1943. Edwin was nine days old. Jeffrey was six months and three days.
Elaine and I finished the novel a few days ago. We’re reading all of Steven Millhauser and are crazy happy to know that a new book of short stories, Disruptions (Knopf), is coming out in August.
Also from Steven Millhauser
From Martin Dressler :
Also from Martin Dressler
Domestic comedy
[The television was on.]
“Unfortunately, this guy is a total bore.”
“Who?”
Related reading
All OCA domestic comedy posts (Pinboard)
Thursday, January 19, 2023
David Crosby (1941–2023)
The New York Times has an obituary.
[I went looking for this 2019 performance of “Long Time Gone” but it seems to have disappeared.]
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