Frankie & Johnny and Al’s

I knew I knew it: The Late Show opening bit last night borrowed the storefront of Frankie & Johnny, the now-defunct New Orleans furniture store whose television commercials became an Internets sensation. Someone in the writers’ room was having fun.


[Click for a larger store.] [Click for a larger store.]

The New Grown-Ups: “Cheese Closet”/“Billy in the Lowground”

Related posts
“Cumberland Gap” : “My Heart’s Own Love” : “The Devil’s Nine Questions” : “William Blake’s Dead” : “Lonesome Pine” : “Tom Paine’s Bones” : “You Were on My Mind This Morning” : “The Hills of Isle au Haut” : “Treehopper” : “I’d Jump the Mississippi” : “What Will Become of Me” : “Early” : “When I Stop Dreaming” : “Taxman Salamander” : The New Grown-Ups at Bandcamp

“Is Reading Over for Gen Z Students?”

College Matters is a podcast from The Chronicle of Higher Education. Here’s an episode that seems urgently relevant: “Is Reading Over for Gen Z Students?” But the light, cheery tone is often weirdly at odds with the topic.

Listening to podcasts and watching YouTube videos — two suggestions offered in this podcast — don’t replace the work (and joy) of reading. Podcasts and YouTube videos might, on occasion, supplement the work (and joy) of reading in worthwhile ways. But without the reading, what’s the point? If instructors are unwilling to assign “an entire novel,” exactly what are podcasts and YouTube videos supposed to be supplementing? And what happens when the work of listening and watching becomes odious?

One more question, unasked in this podcast: how can students be passing classes if they don’t do the reading?

In my last year of teaching (2014–2015) an ace student of mine told me about being in an American lit class in which she was one of just two students who did the reading from class to class. The other reader: another ace student (and former student of mine). People, it’s bad.

Related reading
All OCA reading in college posts (Pinboard)

“A September to remember”

The historian Timothy Snyder writes about “Trump’s Hitlerian month,” or “a September to remember.” With a discussion of the objection to making comparisons.

Recently updated

Animal house Now with added mayhem.

Forty

[Drawing by me. Click for a larger view.]

Elaine and I were married forty years ago today. Our son Ben recently told us that he thinks of me as forty and Elaine as thirty-five. Which would mean that when we married, I was a newborn — zero. And Elaine was negative five.

Happy anniversary, Elaine, at all ages.

[I made this drawing with an Apple Pencil and and iPad last year. I’ve altered it to remove my glasses. I’m still not sure how to draw myself minus glasses.]

The New Grown-Ups: “Taxman Salamander”

With AI-generated lyrics!

Related posts
“Cumberland Gap” : “My Heart’s Own Love” : “The Devil’s Nine Questions” : “William Blake’s Dead” : “Lonesome Pine” : “Tom Paine’s Bones” : “You Were on My Mind This Morning” : “The Hills of Isle au Haut” : “Treehopper” : “I’d Jump the Mississippi” : “What Will Become of Me” : “Early” : “When I Stop Dreaming” : The New Grown-Ups at Bandcamp

Animal house

[107 Flatbush Avenue, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]

Walk down Flatbush Avenue from (what I’ve dubbed) the Leaning Tower of Brooklyn, and you woul have found The House of Pets, aka Altman’s Long Island Bird Store.

I’ll let this ad speak (at length) for itself:

[Brooklyn Times-Union, May 29, 1933.]

Do click for a larger view of the tax photograph for many choice details. The capped fellows looking at the window make me think Sam (Tom D’Andrea), the cabdriver in Dark Passage (dir. Delmar Daves, 1947) who wants to buy a pair of goldfish for his room: “It adds class to the joint.” Though these guys seem to be contemplating birds. Or maybe puppies. Different scenes attracted crowds at other times:

[“Pig-Tailed Monkey Wrecks Pet Store in Berserk Spell.” The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 23, 1930.]

[“Snake, Loose in Pet Shop, Crawls into Window with Pups, Kittens.” The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 29, 1941. Click for a larger view.]

*

October 1: A reader found evidence of further mayhem. Thanks, reader.

[Daily News, May 13, 1951.]

Related reading
More photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives (Pinboard)

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by Stella Zawistowski. I started with 13-D, seven letters, “Ceres’ Greek analog” and began shopping around. It was a tough puzzle.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

2-D, six letters, “Sequenced.” CUEDUP? Nope.

9-D, eight letters, “Bostonian’s rubber bands.” Never heard of the term, but I’m assured that it’s real. When I lived in Boston, I used binder clips, paper clips, and staples to keep things together.

12-D, seven letters, “Term in environmental law.” I was tempted to guess early on but didn’t. Coming next to 13-D, my guess would have helped a lot.

14-A, ten letters, “Certain baker’s dozen.” I’m in.

17-A, ten letters, “Digressive.” The answer needs to be more in the news.

36-D, seven letters, “Ironmonger?” Groan.

37-D, seven letters, “Thundering.” Fun with the parts of speech.

46-A, five letters, “Americas’ ‘mother culture.’” I don’t think I’ve ever seen the answer in a crossword.

47-A, four letters, “Huron, Ohio’s county (no kidding!).” In other words, the Ohio county that the city of Huron is in. Wacky geography.

48-D, five letters, “Where Beowulf begins.” Oddly and some might say ridiculously specific.

49-A, four letters, “Pedal pusher’s apparatus.” I thought I was reading a tricky clue about the piano, but I wasn’t.

55-A, ten letters, “Was all over the place.” A wild and crazy clue.

56-D, three letters, “Unheard howl.” Clever.

My favorite in this puzzle: 18-A, four letters, “Gym ball.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

Watch your wallet

Jonathan Last and Mary Trump offer commentary on Donald Trump’s latest grift.

Last’s estimate of the cost of producing the $499 Trump watch: $60. The $100,000 watch: $20,000.