RIP, Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry, one of the greatest writers and advocates for rural America, died yesterday in Kentucky at age 92. A number of his books grace my bookshelves.

Sarah Ladd wrote an excellent obituary for the Kentucky Lantern, noting that Berry "leaves behind a sprawling legacy of advocacy, conservationism, literary pursuit and protest that inspired people from the hills of Kentucky to Hollywood and beyond."

On Substack, Mike Small wrote today: "We have lost one of our most important thinkers. ... On education, community, health, technology and economics, his writing poured out home truths and wisdom. He was an iconoclast who was rooted in tradition(s) but not bound by them. Berry wrote at least twenty-five books (or chapbooks) of poems, twenty-four volumes of essays, and fifteen novels and short story collections — including the seminal The Unsettling of America (1977). ... His writing style had range, from poetry to polemic, often in short essays and aphorisms; it was deep, insightful, and wise but remained untainted by academia or jargon."

In a late-1970s essay, Berry wrote: "People who are willing to follow technology wherever it leads are necessarily willing to follow it away from home, off the earth, and outside the sphere of human definition, meaning, and responsibility." Those words seem particularly apt all these decades later, as we grapple with the spread and implications of generative artificial intelligence and technology that consumes our humanity.

Earlier, in "Think Little," a short 1970 essay on environmentalism and sustainability, Berry wrote this: "But even the most articulate public protest is not enough. We don't live in the government or in institutions or in our public utterances and acts, and the environmental crisis has its roots in our lives. By the same token, environmental health will also be rooted in our lives. That is, I take it, simply a fact, and in the light of it we can see how superficial and foolish we would be to think that we could correct what is wrong merely by tinkering with the institutional machinery. The changes that are required are fundamental changes in the way we are living."

Related post [from 2019]: Lost Corners: Review of Wendell Berry book from 12 years ago

Two-thirds of the way through the movie viewing year

We're two-thirds of the way through 2026, and I thought I'd share my work-in-progress ranking of favorite first watches of the year. It will be interesting to see how this list changes between now and the end of the year, in terms of both new additions and thinking more deeply about the films already on the list.

1. Harold and Maude (1971, director: Hal Ashby)

2. The Earrings of Madame de... (1953, Max Ophüls)

3. Brazil (1985, Terry Gilliam)

4. The Great Dictator (1940, Charlie Chaplin)

5. UFOria (1985, John Binder)

6. Sinners (2025, Ryan Coogler)

7. Times Square (1980, Allan Moyle)

8. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994, Stephan Elliott)

9. Backrooms (2026, Kane Parsons)

10. Sherlock Jr. (1924, Buster Keaton)

And here's the big catch. My favorite segment of the year, by far, is Federico Fellini's "Toby Dammit," (starring Terence Stamp, pictured above) from the 1968 anthology film Spirits of the Dead. However, the other two segments are not compelling enough to pull the film as a whole into the Top 10. (Sorry, Fonda siblings.)

Overall, I've had 34 first watches so far this year. And I will say that list includes Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, and just leave it at that. The oldest movie I've seen is 1922's The Toll of the Sea, which is important historically but problematic on multiple levels. 

Here was 2025's final list. I ended up not ranking them last year, and that may be the case again this year! 

Scholastic book: "M for Mischief"

I brusquely dismissed this book as "fine" in a 2020 pandemic shelfie post, but it deserves more attention than that, especially given that it's one of the very first books that I distinctly remember having, circa second grade in Clayton, New Jersey (this cover, specifically). I've been invigorated lately by the posts and robust community discussion on the Vintage Scholastic Books and Vintage Paperback Books pages on Facebook, so here's a full look at this one...

• Title: M for Mischief
• Author: Richard Parker (1914-1990). He has an entry in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and I mentioned one of his other books in this 2014 post.
• Illustrator: Carol Wilde (born 1938). It appears that she was born in Virginia, studied art in Philadelphia and later in life moved to northern Italy, where she became a painter. I could not confirm whether she's still alive.
• Publisher: Scholastic Book Services (TX 1254)
• Cover price: 50 cents
• Year: Fourth printing, March 1972 (first published in 1965)
• Pages: 95
• Format: Paperback
• Provenance: A previous owner, likely long ago, wrote "Ruth" in pencil on the inside front cover.
• Random passage from the middle #1: "It was something more than ancient. None of the children had ever seen a stove quite like it. There were so many curly, twisty bits. The four legs were like eagles' feet, with the sharp talons really biting into the wooden floor. The scale and feathers were so clear they seemed almost real. Up the sides of the stove were sprays of fern made of iron, and clusters of odd flowers, also made of iron."
• Random passage from the middle #2: "Then the cookie dropped to the floor and their mother disappeared! Where she had been standing was a speckled brown hen, which looked at Peg with one eye, then began pecking up crumbs from the broken cookie."
• Rating on Goodreads: 3.89 stars (out of 5)
• Goodreads review excerpt: R. Lee Frankenstein recently wrote: "This is just a great kids story that is partially responsible for a lifetime of reading enjoyment so, the 5 stars may be based slightly on sentiment."
• Rating on Amazon: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
• Amazon review excerpt: In 2013, R.M. Clinkscales wrote: "I still have my 1971 Scholastic Book service copy that I remember my mom reading with me on the porch of our house. My copy still has my elementary school aged handwriting on the inside cover giving my name and address. As you can tell this book had an impact on me and helped launch my love of reading. I have read the book to many children over the years and it continues to be a well loved early reader story."
• One last memory: In a 2014 post on Gransnet, Upsydaisy writes: "M for Mischief by Richard Parker was my favourite ever children's book. The story of a magic oven. That is as much as I can remember about the book, but I can remember reading it so many times. It was funny so I always read it either when I was poorly or feeling sad and it always cheered me up and made me feel better. Its funny but as an adult I always tend to go for books that are lighthearted and are a good laugh out loud kind of a book."

Yinzer blepping.

Tim Curry tribute post

With Tim Curry dying hours after Dolly Parton, I didn't want to let the week end without writing something in appreciation of Curry, too. But I don't really have any Curry ephemera, so I had to figure out what to post.

Then I remembered my newspaper's first local review of The Rocky Horror Picture Show phenomenon.

Jon Ferguson, whom I worked alongside for a few years when I joined the newspaper in 2014, wrote "The Theater Darkens, And Crowd Lights Up" for the Lancaster Intelligence Journal's Lifebeat section on April 6, 1979. As far I can tell from searching the archives, it's the first time Curry's picture appeared in the newspaper in something other than a movie advertisement for a midnight showing.

Curry isn't even mentioned by name in Ferguson's article (only Susan Sarandon gets that honor), but there are some interesting comments, nonetheless. Please remember that this is 1979 in ultra-conservative Lancaster County (current home of America's measles revival); the fact that Rocky Horror was showing in Amish country at all is kind of stunning. Ferguson writes:

• The fool foolish enough to wear his Sunday best was quickly warned as he stepped down the aisle. "You wore a suit to the wrong movie," a voice hidden in the darkness of the theater called out.
• "It's not the movie that provides the show, it's the audience. Don't expect the crowd to sit placidly back in silence as this trifle of a film about a 'sweet transexual from Transylvania' unfolds."
• "Basically, the movie focuses on the debauching of an innocent young couple at the hands of Dr. Frank N. Further, the travestite from the planet Transexual in the galaxy of Transylvania, and his demented minions. The plot is next to invisible, the acting reaches new heights of campiness and there is no hint of social redeeming value. But criticisms of this sort have no place when discussing 'Rocky Horror.' The movie is unto itself, and the same goes for its audience."

Last year, Sarah Nicell had some more contemporary insights when writing a column on the movie's 50th anniversary for LNP | LancasterOnline:

"Much about the movie is outdated, even if it pushed boundaries for its time. There are corny, blood-drip transitions and fourth wall breaks. Frank-N-Furter, the host of the castle played by Tim Curry, sings a seductive song about being a “Sweet Transvestite” from his home planet of 'Transexual' in the galaxy of 'Transylvania.' (It’s unclear in the film whether the character identifies with the antiquated term because he’s a cross-dresser or for his alien heritage. Perhaps it’s both.) The same character tricks his virginal guests into non-consensual sexual encounters. Alien siblings have an implied incestuous relationship. ... The movie is, regardless of the year you watch it, absurd. It is offensive and strange. Some lyrics are nonsensical, and the camera work is shaky."

Ahh well.

Personally, I think "Don't Dream It, Be It" is about as clear and sensible as you can get for a lyric that has been embraced by what is now generations of queer fans.

I also like the summary in Steve Appleford's Curry appreciation for the Los Angeles Times: "No one was ever bored watching Tim Curry onscreen."

To that end, Ashar and I greatly enjoyed watching Curry in 1980's Times Square and 1990's The Hunt for Red October the past two nights as we honored his memory. We're planning to watch Annie and Clue in the coming days. And, having seen some stills, we'd like to track down his 1978 British six-part series Will Shakespeare. 

Swooning over "The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet"

I posted the 1966 Scholastic cover of The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet, pulled from my 2014 blog post, over on the Facebook group Vintage Paperback Books this morning. It got a tremendous response, with 120 likes as of this writing.

Here are some of the comments and memories people shared:

• "I'm amazed how many people also loved this book in school. I read and re-read it many, many times."
• "I have two in the series and loved these as a kid."
• "This is the first book I remember reading."
• "I think mushrooms were involved in the writing of this book somehow."
• "I've taken that flight."

The book is still extremely popular and in print and on Amazon for less than $8. People are still discovering it or rediscovering it and still writing reviews. Here are some excerpts just from this year on Goodreads:

• "An absolute delight of a children's science fantasy — this was the first science fantasy I read, when I was a 10 years old."
• "Thanks for my sci-fi loving Uncle Charlie who recommended this book to me. I can’t wait to pass along to my grandson. He is 9 and I know will love it too."
• "I found this book while shopping on Ebay for mushroom identification books for my mycologist-in-training twelve year old. A middle-grade fiction book where we visit a mushroom planet? Yes, please! I had hoped she would be inspired to read this herself, but alas, this book-loving mama has produced an accelerated reader that doesn't enjoy reading for pleasure! We do have a tradition of reading out loud at bedtime, which I will hold tightly to until she protests, so this went on the TBR-at-bedtime list."
• "I first read this in 1975, I think. And by then it was already an older book, gathering dust on the library bookshelf. But I was an 8 year old boy and this was a book about boys, rocket ships, and an alien planet. SO I checked it out and read it. It turns out to be a fantastic adventure story for young boys and girls to read. If you can find it, get it. Even if you're 80 not 8."

If you want to know more about author Eleanor Cameron (1912-1996), Paul V. Allen has written a well-received biography titled Eleanor Cameron: Dimensions of Amazement. It's great to see such scholarship on women authors of the 20th century, especially those whose are less well-remembered with the passing of the decades.

A pair of colorful vintage miniature golf postcards

Continuing with the miniature golf postcards, here are a couple vintage cards of courses with nice splashes of color. The top card, a Plastichrome by Colourpicture, features Lincoln Park, located in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, on U.S. Route 6, midway between Fall River and New Bedford. It touts the 18-hole miniature golf course and Kiddie Wonderland at the park. Sadly, all of it is gone, covered now by residential space. This is Wikipedia's summary of Lincoln Park's history:

"Lincoln Park was a park opened in 1894 by the Union Street Railway Company of New Bedford, Massachusetts ... [and] closed in 1987 and remained abandoned and vacant until the Comet roller coaster was torn down on July 11, 2012. The park's carousel was relocated to nearby Fall River, Massachusetts, and is still in operation at Battleship Cove."

Note the Shoe House-themed hole at Lincoln Park. To see some even bigger Shoe Houses, check out this 2020 post.

The bottom card, with "The Pot of Gold" rainbow and ferris wheel in the background, is from Amigoland Fun Park, at the South of the Border complex on I-95 at the border of North Carolina and South Carolina. The Robinsons Inc. card touts the 37-hole miniature golf course, which includes a 110-yard 37th hole. Most online reports say this miniature golf course is no longer open on a regular basis and that the Amigoland Fun Park has fallen into abandonment and disrepair.  Eyewitness accounts and updates are very welcome in the comments!

From the readers: Late summer edition

Time for another roundup of your feedback and insights! 

Great links: "A Wrinkle in Time" mystery is solved: Commenting on Facebook, Sarah Elizabeth writes: "Hi! I am the Sarah Elizabeth that blog post mentions! AND you may be interested in knowing that I have a new art book out, and because we finally got to the bottom of the cover artist mystery for this book, I was able to include it in the book! ... If you are interested, look up The Art of the Unknown: A Visual Treasury of the Esoteric, Uncanny and Unexplained!"

Thanks for commenting. And I always love hearing news about new books!

The Perry Pictures: Robert E. Lee: Leigh Perry shares this great story: "Funny story about Perry Pictures. My grandparents, long gone, had a print on their wall in Virginia, but we'd never looked at it closely until years after their death. (We thought it was a photograph of a family member.) It ended up in my father's house in Charlotte, NC, and we finally examined it in 2014. We were confused by the Perry Pictures caption because our last name is Perry. Further research showed it was a different branch of Perrys. Then we found out the company was in Malden, Mass., which made us all laugh. Though I'm from NC, I'd been living in Malden for years at that point. With my father's permission, I brought it back home to Malden."

Postcard mailed from Addison, Pennsylvania, in 1912: Beverly writes: "I just got postcard of Swallow Falls in Garrett County, Maryland, addressed to this same Almeda. It came from her brother, Charles. He mentioned then about the food there, too. He was a well-known lawyer."

"Steal not this book my honest lad": John Duel shares this: "From a 1938 Technical Mathematics book inside front cover: 'Steal not this book my honest friend. For fear the gallows will be your end. On that day the Devil will say, where is that book you carried away. And if you say you do not know, the Devil will say just step below.'"

I love that we can help to preserve more of these inscriptions!

Take a ride with Edwards Motor Transit Co.: Bob Taylor left a series of comments showing his amazing memory and providing some great historical detail:

"Bob Taylor here. I worked in the Dubois garage on Hoover Avenue from approximately 1970 till garage closing in mid 70s. Since I was only 19 at the time, I believe I am only one of 2 guys still standing. I will try to name each one starting in the shop: Lloyd Burkett Sr., Lloyd Burkett Jr., Joe Atkinson, Everett McFall, 'Linc' Lingenfelter, Bernard Harriger, William Carlson, Earl Kalgren, Earl Snedden, Allen Bell. ... I forgot one shop employee, Lloyd Getch, and 2 part-time, Ed Swanson and Adam Tschopps.

"As far as the terminal crew, it consisted of Bill Schindley, Floyd Brown, Irene Malaskey, Chuck Smith, Linda McNutt and Gary Patton.

"As far as the drivers as I remember them, some were still wearing the tan uniform including a hat: Albert 'Swede' Carlson, Lamont 'Monte' Marshall, George Lindberg, Dale Hynds, Bob Wilson, John McNutt, Bob Peck, Tom Fairman and Bill McMahon. These were the Buffalo and Pittsburgh drivers. The Cleveland/NewYork City drivers were based out of the Williamsport shop. I only remember a few: 'Woody' Yeich, Walt Muzzy, Bill Taylor ... I hope that I didn't forget someone. It's been 56 years."

Alan Ormsby's 1970s: Summoning zombies and a Scholastic book: John Michlig writes: "Excellent article about a pretty life-changing book! I was lucky enough to correspond with Mr. Ormsby and assure him that my 4th grade Frankenstein mask (based on his paper bag recipe) worked like a charm!"

And Wampa Girl shouts: "I MADE MY MONSTER CAFE SALTILLO FROM HAVING THIS BOOK AS A KID."

Book cover & school days memory: "Arthur's Christmas Cookies": Anonymous writes: "I remember my pediatrician had a copy of this in one of his rooms, I was thinking about it today but I couldn't remember the title."

Obscure nostalgia: 1970s plastic mugs from Whirley Industries: Jose Alb writes: "I had the My Mug version since before I could walk, growing up in the Dominican Republic. We moved around, I kept it through my teens, all the way until right before I left for the US with my wife around 2012, where my mom admitted she might have thrown it away by accident. Fast forward to July 2026. Returned to the Dominican Republic on a sad note (father passed away suddently, cancer). After they got divorced, my mom came to the U.S. and Dad stayed in the old apartment. Picking up and organizing what felt like hundreds of science books and curiosities left behind, there in a cabinet with family heirlooms was my mug! I brought it to the States and gave it to my son, with a story. Thanks for keeping The Mug alive. Forgot to add: I'm 45. Had it since early 80s."

And thank you for sharing this story, which is also helping to keep My Mug memories alive!

Memory from the Gettysburg Times: Kate Shoemaker Mayer writes: "I stumbled upon this post while visiting Gettysburg College with my son. Don was my father. This anecdote warmed my heart and accurately represents my dad. I wonder what he would think about technology today? Thank you for sharing!"

I'm so glad you found this post and journalism anecdote about your dad! He was such a terrific person and colleague, and, yes, this accurately reflects how he felt about unreliable technology. Glad I could help in a small way for the memory to live on. 

Snapshot & memories: Huggles in a box of books

This is my oldest photo stored on Shutterfly. It was taken on April 22, 2009, with a Lumix camera.¹ Eventually, it made it from the camera's memory card to a computer, and was then uploaded to Shutterfly. Digital cameras have come a long way since then. Or maybe the photo is just out of focus. The only paperback book titles I can easily make out are The Tower, Mr. Adam and Grand Hotel. These would have been some books Joan and I were assessing for possible sale online. And Huggles the three-legged black cat was "helping" with the process. 

Huggles was a very good kitty and later was a brother to Mr. Angelino (Banjo) and Monkey, who are still with us as the elder statesmen of this Arizona cat household. Huggles would have liked newer cats (especially if he could use them as pillows) and would have had good black-cat mates in Mercury and Stubby (pictured below in another out-of-focus shot taken this morning).

Footnote

1. The Phillies' starting lineup that day in a loss to the Brewers was: Jimmy Rollins (SS), Shane Victorino (CF), Chase Utley (2B), Ryan Howard (1B), Jayson Werth (RF), Raul Ibanez (LF), Pedro Feliz (3B), Lou Marson (C), Joe Blanton (SP). 

RIP Dolly Parton, incredible champion of children's literacy

Dolly Parton died today in Nashville at age 80. The legendary American musician, actress and philanthropist will be well-remembered for a great many things. I want to mostly focus on her incredible work regarding child literacy, something that typically gets placed below all of the other accolades in obituaries about her amazing life.

She founded the Imagination Library in 1995 to provide children with free books throughout early childhood. Through a series of expanding partnerships, it has delivered free books to tens of millions of children across the United States and in four other countries, and is currently sending out about 3 million books every month, including bilingual and Braille books.

According to its website, more than 332 million total books have been gifted through Dolly's initiative.

“When I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true. I know there are children in your community with their own dreams,” Parton once said. “They dream of becoming a doctor or an inventor or a minister. Who knows, maybe there is a little girl whose dream is to be a writer and singer. The seeds of these dreams are often found in books and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world.”

Her work to instill a love of reading in children from a very young age has planted tens of millions of such seeds, which will grow tall and strong for decades to come.

In an article published today by Good Housekeeping, Sarah Vincent notes: "The Imagination Library has been so impactful that we recognized it with the Good Housekeeping Seal in 2001. It marked the first and only time it had ever been awarded to a person, and we can’t think of a better icon to have that distinction."

Children age out of the Imagination Library program when they turn 5. They receive a letter from Parton that states, in part:

"This may be your last book from my Imagination Library but you have to promise me you will keep on reading. If you go to your local public library you will find a great number of books just for kids your age. Every book is a treasure and every time you open one up you will meet new friends and take wonderful journeys to magical places. ... There is no limit to what you can do or how far you can go. ... You do all of these things and you can be anyone you want to be. You are terrific."

“Of all the things I’ve done in my life, this is one of the most precious things,” Parton says in the 2020 documentary The Library That Dolly Built (which is narrated by actress and education advocate Danica McKellar). “If you’re lucky and fortunate enough to be in a position to help, you should help.”

A lot of people are helping today, in Dolly Parton's memory, by donating to or advocating for the Imagination Library. There are other ways to help children's literacy, of course. Place books for kids into Little Free Libraries, for example. I'm already planning to have a Dolly Parton-themed Halloween this year, handing out books to the trick-or-treaters when they stop by. Dollyween has a nice ring to it.

So long, Dolly. And thanks for all the books. 

Nifty packaging in today's mail

I received a package in the mail today and it came with some nifty bonuses. First, taped to the front of the envelope was an old banner for the Arizona Odd Fellow, dated March 15, 1924 — more than 102 years ago! The monthly newsletter cost $1 annually and was "devoted to the welfare of Odd Fellowship in all its branches." The two mottos across the top, bookending the eyeball and the three interlocking links, state "We Seek to Improve and Elevate the Character of Man" and "We Can Be Odd Fellows Only While We Act Like Honest Men."

Then, when I opened the package, it immediately appeared that I had been sent the wrong book. I was not seeking 1973's Pablo, Boy of Mexico / Eskimo Family / Yasin of Arabia (part of the My-Fun-to-Read Books series by The Southwestern Company). Though I'm sure that would be an interesting book to research.

Turns out that gutted pink book's covers were just being used to protect the actual book I was hoping for: Meet the Werewolf by Georgess McHargue. That book is part of a post for another day. So stay tuned. In the meantime, I'll make good use of of those pink covers to protect something I send out in the mails. I wonder how long we might be able to keep it circulating that way?

1978 book on "misappreciated" American films

(Please pardon Snugs' disinterested yawn.)

I found this book a couple of years ago in Bookman's. It's a 1978 hardcover put out by the Royal Film Archive of Belgium with the unwieldy title The Most Important and Misappreciated American Films Since the Beginning of Cinema.

Basically, it's a book of lists of important films, but also of lesser-discussed movies. Right up my alley.

The preface by Jacques Ledoux of the Royal Film Archive of Belgium lays out the book's mission:

"Most written histories of cinema are full of cliches and the attentive reader is easily able to single out those films which the historian has not recently seen or of which he writes second hand. And how could it be otherwise, since so many films remain inaccessible to researchers, often for geographical reasons?

"On the other hand, it could be imagined that the results of an enquiry such as that offered in this volume, with more than two hundred specialists participating from twenty-two countries, would lead to a statistical judgment of greater reliability than an individual historical appreciation. ...

"Still ... we were wary of ending up with a banal list of obvious classics. In order to avoid this, we decided to ask each participant to compile two lists: one, limited quite arbitrarily to thirty titles, and films considered the most important; the other, not limited in number, of films considered misappreciated. It was also specified that the films were to be cited without any order of preference and that no account need be taken of date of production, genre, or length."

The final list of Most Important Films is indeed fairly banal, with the best inclusion, in my opinion, being F.W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) and the most unsurprising and frustrating inclusion being D.W. Griffith's racist Lost Cause of the Confederacy epic The Birth of a Nation (1915).

The Top 10 vote-getters looked like this: 

1. Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
2. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927, F.W. Murnau)
3. Greed (1924, Erich von Stroheim)
4. Intolerance (1916, D.W. Griffith)
5. The Birth of a Nation (1915, D.W. Griffith)
6. Singin' in the Rain (1952, Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly)
7. Nanook of the North (1922, Robert J. Flaherty)
8. The General (1926, Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman)
9. The Gold Rush (1925, Charlie Chaplin)
10. The Crowd (1928, King Vidor)

This is a good place to add that I scanned the list of the book's 203 respondents and only 15 stood out to me as obviously being women. The actual number is probably a bit higher, because there are a lot of non-American names, but I doubt it's more than about 20 — so, 10%. Bah, humbug!

The true value and fascination of this book is in the respondents' lists of "misappreciated" films along with, in some instances, their commentaries on those lists. It's a wealth of movie titles to scan for little-known gems — little-known even in this day and age of physical media and online streaming, when more movies from throughout history than ever before are available to the casual viewer.

I don't know what "Misappreciated" means (more on that from Jonathan Rosenbaum in a moment), but here are some films I was happy to see listed:

• The Night of the Hunter (1955, perhaps the most frequently cited film)
• Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)
• Titicut Follies (1967)
• Easy Street (1917)
• The Pawnbroker (1965)
• Trash (1970)
• The Son of Frankenstein (1939)
• Johnny Guitar (1954)
• Night Nurse (1931)
• The Seventh Victim (1943)
• The Haunting (1963)
• Nashville (1975)
• Ace in the Hole (1951)
• Salt of the Earth (1953)
• Lonesome (1928)

A surprising number of horror films make these lists, only some of which are listed above. It's better, I guess, to be respected as "misappreciated" than to not be mentioned at all. Film noirs also tended to do very well on the "misappreciated" lists, including Kiss Me Deadly and Gun Crazy.

More importantly, the "misappreciated" lists include many films that are new to me and browsing this book takes me down many happy rabbit holes.

American critic Jonathan Rosenbaum was one of those who submitted a list for the book. Reflecting on the process in a 2024 post on his blog, he wrote:

"By 'misappreciated,' I’m sure that what was meant was 'underrated'. I find that I still agree to a surprising degree with many of my judgments in the mid-70s – including even my belief that Hollywood at the time was going through one of its more meager periods (even though Pauline Kael and many of her disciples seemed to think, and some of them apparently still think, that this was the richest period Hollywood has ever had in its entire history)."

I disagree with Rosenbaum's thought on 1970s American film, especially given the mostly tepid decades that preceded it, but that's the fun of discussing movies and movie history! (I also have a great love for watching 1970s movies, documentaries and TV, so I'm biased.) 

You can read Rosenbaum's list of most important films on his blog post, but I'm sharing his "misappreciated" list here:

• Me and My Gal (1932)
• Her Man (1930)
• Judge Priest (1934)
• Rope (1948)
• The Trouble with Harry (1955)
• Park Row (1952)
• The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1952)
• The Old Dark House (1932)
• The Woman on the Beach (1947)
• The Seventh Victim (1943)
• Sylvia Scarlett (1936)
• Black and Tan (1929)
• Such Good Friends (1972)
• Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
• The Young One (1960)
• Family Plot (1976)
• Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son (1969)

Several of these I haven't seen. I strongly agree with The Old Dark House and The Seventh Victim. And with Make Way for Tomorrow, the film that inspired Tokyo Story. The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T is a one-of-a-kind fantasy that is way too hokey for me at times but deserves credit for translating the imagination of Dr. Seuss into a live-action picture. Rosenbaum writes more about his love for it, much of which is nostalgia-based, in a separate post.

Saturday's postcard: Miniature golf at Raven Rock

At one point I was going to do a week's worth of posts about miniature golf postcards that I've accumulated, but instead I think I'll just sprinkle them throughout the rest of the summer and early autumn.

Leading off, we have this undated postcard by Frank D. Kelly Studios featuring an aerial view of Raven Rock Campground, with its swimming pool and "unique" miniature golf course that spells out the words Raven Rock, presumably for any hot-air ballonists, patrol helicopters or spy satellites that might be staring down from above.

All of this is gone now. Raven Rock Campground was plowed over and became a Maryland housing development (in late 1980s/early 1990s, I believe). For posterity, this was the caption on the back of the postcard:

RAVEN ROCK CAMPGROUND

Smithsburg, MD 21783

This beautiful camp site is high in the Catoctin Mts. 12 miles E. of Hagerstown, Md. on state route No. 491, near Fort Ritchie, Md. Turn N. off I-70 at exit 35 and follow the state camping signs to a great camping experience. Card shows the trading post, pavilion, swimming pool and unique miniature golf course. CB KFE 2251 (The Raven) Phone 301-824-7101

Completely guessing, I'd say this campground was located about 10 miles south or southwest of Raven Rock Mountain Complex, aka Site R, the U.S. government's not-so-secret military installation and underground nuclear bunker. The bunker also isn't far from Fairfield, Pennsylvania, where I covered a lot of high school sporting events when I worked for The Gettysburg Times. I distinctly remember driving around that general area south of Fairfield.

Happy 140th birthday, Ruth Manning-Sanders!

Time flies! On this date 140 years ago — August 21, 1886 — Ruth Vernon Manning was born to John Edmondson Manning and Emma Manning (nee Brock) in Swansea, Wales. She later married and became author Ruth Manning-Sanders, of the beloved fairy tale compilations.

I also did posts for her 130th and 125th birthdays. (That's how long this blog has been around!) Overall, there are nearly 90 Ruth Manning-Sanders posts on Papergreat, if you want to dive in and learn more about her life and books. The birthday posts are good places to start, as is this 2011 post about Peter and the Piskies.

If you're seeking affordable and quality reprints of Manning-Sanders' books, Mab's Media is the place to go.

And if you want to hear some Manning-Sanders tales read aloud by some awesome humans, check out the Fairy Tale Fix podcast.

Here are some photos of a 1910s [?] edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales that I acquired a while ago in a sale of items from the Manning-Sanders family estate. The Ward, Lock & Co. publication is well worn and stained, and one can just imagine Ruth thumbing through it over and over. There are even some margin notes. Were those notes in the final photo written by Ruth Manning-Sanders herself? I also like that there's a mention of crab-apples on the page.

Giving schoolchildren a proper monster education in 1976

Fifty years ago, in our bicentennial year of 1976, Scholastic published an amazeballs guide to monsters. School was just cooler then, wasn't it? Movie monsters, mythical creatures and cryptids could be mixed into the lesson plans alongside multiplication tables, the metric system and spelling quizzes. I'm guessing Pennywise, Slender Man and the backrooms don't get that same treatment today, but what do I know? 

Well, what I do know is that this 32-page staplebound booklet rocks. I mean, it has Blacula (William Marshall) right there in the center of the cover, alongside such icons as Lon Chaney Jr., Medusa, Frankenstein's monster and King Kong. Fredric March's Hyde gets a very prominent spot, as does one of the Village of the Damned kiddos. 

What a cover! According to the credits, it was designed by Bonnie Bishop, who also served as the booklet's overall designer and art director. Some of Bishop's papers ended up at the University of New England Library, which notes that she had loved drawing, writing and making books ever since childhood and later became a full-time book artist. That love shows on this cover.

Let's hear it for the rest of the booklet's production crew, too. Lewis Gardner (1943-2020) was the editor and contributed a poem and a short story. Katherine Robinson was the supervising editor and Eve Sennett was the production editor. Ira Peck and Margaret Ronan handled some of the writing, which included retellings of classic horror stories. As a teenager, Ronan corresponded with H.P. Lovecraft (!!) according to the website Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein, and those letters informed some of her work at Scholastic.

In addition to those already mentioned, this book pictures and/or mentions the big-headed alien from 1957's Invasion of the Saucermen, Paul Wegener's 1920 performance as the Golem, the Loch Ness Monster, The Thing from Another World, Cat People, Bigfoot, zombies (but only the kind who obey masters — Romero's flesh-munching zombies might have been a bit much), The Incredible Shrinking Man and Michael Landon's teenage werewolf. 

There are photos of both Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee as Dracula. The book doesn't sugarcoat Lugosi's life for the young audience. Ronan notes: "When Lugosi was 70, he admitted to being a drug addict. He kicked the habit in a hospital. A year later, he died. He had no money left from his days as a monster star. About all he had left was his Dracula cape. So he was buried in it."

The last page of the book is titled "People and Monsters" and has this introductory paragraph: "Why do some people believe in monsters? And why are monster stories popular? Here are some possible answers. Which ones do you think are true?" There are then 11 short paragraphs, all of which seem plausible but some of which are very bizarre for a school activity book:

• Some people fear others who are strange looking or deformed. They may have trouble seeing such people as fully human. They may believe such people have special powers and are evil.
• Drugs have been used in magic and religious ceremonies. After taking drugs, people have seen monsters. They have also imagined themselves as having supernatural powers.
• Monsters usually do horrible things. Deep within us, we may wish to do horrible things. Normal people keep these wishes under control. They may not even be aware of having such wishes. But they may enjoy hearing about monsters that break human laws.

If you're hankering to get your hands on one of these absolute-gem booklets, there's an eBay seller who apparently has a whole stash and is selling them for $12.99. It's well worth the trip down monster memory lane.

 

Are you a lemon or a peach on the party line?

This is the last page of the July 1950 telephone directory for Kingsville, Texas. The Southwestern Bell Telelphone Company lists the do's and don'ts for the polite use of party line telephone service, which was still widespread in the United States at that point.

You're a LEMON if, among other things, you refuse to give up the line during an emergency (and you could have been criminally charged, too, I might add).

You're a PEACH if you extend courtesy, teach your children phone manners and generally just follow the golden rule. 

Like many members of Generation X, I suspect that I mostly learned about party lines by watching midcentury sitcoms. The Andy Griffith Show and Dennis the Menace are two in particular that used them as plot points.

In a 2017 article for the Adirondack Almanack, Lawrence Gooley provides a humorous anecdote about how some party line systems worked when it came to calling your neighbor:

"Calling someone on the same party line was an interesting adventure. If you can believe it, you dialed their number, hung up your receiver, and waited until you thought the person might have picked up their phone (it was basically a wild guess), at which point you picked up and said, 'Hello?' If no one replied, you waited a bit, and if that didn’t work, you either assumed no one was home or you started all over again. What a great system!"

Seems it would have been easier to just go knock on their door.

1986 computer game: "Come party with Jane Austen"

This quarter-page advertisement appears in the May 1986 issue of Computer Gaming World magazine, which features MicroLeague Baseball, Autoduel and Alter Ego, among other games, on its cover. 

It represents a bold move, for sure: Trying to cater to the segment of 1980s computer nerds who were just champing at the bit for a good Jane Austen game. Sold by New Mexico-based Berserker Works Ltd., Pride and Prejudice let one to six players roleplay as young women in Regency era London. 

"Your object — achieve the best possible match and above all avoid spinsterhood," states the advertising copy. The game was available for Apple II, IBM-PC and Commodore-64 computers and cost $34.95, which is the equivalent of $106 today — more than the $99.99 for the Ultimate Edition of this year's release of Grand Theft Auto VI.

I uncovered more about Berserker Works and this game than I thought I might when I started this post, so let's dig in:

• According to this site, author Fred Saberhagen (1930-2007) and Joan Saberhagen led the design and distribution for seven Berserker Works games from 1982 to 1989. In addition to Pride and Prejudice, there were Wings Out of Shadow, Berserker Raids, Sign of the Wolf, Wizard War, Star Ball and Electric Dragon. Pride and Prejudice was designed by Walter Jon Williams. 
• Another advertisement featured on Games That Weren't states that the game involved balls, parties and hunts. "Compete for the fickle attention of Regency bucks! Spread vile gossip about your rivals!" Games That Weren't also has an image of a 1986 review of the game by Bob Lindstrom for The Guide to Computer Living. Lindstrom writes: "Six spinsters take what money a poor family can muster to spend a 15-week season amid London's social whirl. ... Each turn in the game corresponds to one week in London. During a turn, a player can choose to attend a social event, get tutoring or visit the Duchess. ... Though not a game of unlimited complexity, Pride can provide some provocative fun, particularly when played with a group of live, conniving human opponents. And for those who think the game is sexist, the manual explicitly states that the values and goals reflected in the game were chose only to recreate the priorities of their period."
• Some screenshots for the game can be found at this My Abandonware page. One screenshot lists Williams as the creator and Steve Perrin (1946-2021) as the writer.
• Documentation for the game is part of the Fred Saberhagen Papers at Northern Illinois University.

If you have more to share about this game, please leave a comment!

Radio Shack's "Getting Started with Color Basic"

When I was an eighth-grader at Madeira Beach Middle School during the 1984-85 school year, I took an introduction to computers class taught by Joseph Ventimiglia. I think this was the textbook we used to learn about and program the TRS-80s that were stationed around the sides and back of the classroom with Color BASIC. We had to supply our own cassette tape to save and load our programs. I remember that someone in the class made a biorhythms program, a concept that made no sense to me then or now. Between this and the Commodore Plus/4 we had at home, it was definitely the jumping-off point for me in terms of home computers and programming. At one point I was even considering majoring in computer science in college, before shifting gears to journalism. Anyway, this book brings back a lot of memories and is instructive of a time when computer users had to put in some effort to make their computers actually accomplish anything.

• Title: Getting Started with Color Basic
• Author: None credited. It was produced in-house by Radio Shack's technical writing department. Though I have not done any original research or intensive internet-sleuthing, I would say there's a reasonable chance that David A. Lien was a primary author. But that's solely speculation.
• Cover illustrator: None credited.
• Publisher: Radio Shack, a division of Tandy Corporation (1919-2000).
• Copyright date: 1980 (most sites list 1981 as the official first year of publication)
• Pages: 151 (with several blank pages at the back for notes)
• Format: Paperback
• Dimensions: 11 inches by 8¾ inches
• Cover price: Not listed. Contemporary accounts indicate it cost $5.95.
• Excerpt from the Introduction: "This book is for those of you who don't know anything about Computers, and would like to be spared the long, technical explanations! Using this as your guide, you'll be able to interact and enjoy your Computer right away! Later, you'll probably want to read some of our thorough and detailed books. ... There's an infinite number of things it can do for you."
• Excerpt from To Get Started: "Connect your Computer by referring to the Chapters on 'Installation' and 'Operation', and to Figure 1 in your TRS-80 Color Computer Operation Manual. Then power up your Computer:

— Turn ON your television set

— Select channel 3 or 4

— Set the antennae switch to "COMPUTER"

— Turn ON the Computer. The POWER button is on the left rear of your keyboard (when you're facing the front)."

• Excerpt #1: "One of the things that makes your Computer so powerful is its ability to remember anything you ask it to."
• Excerpt #2: "Your Computer has all the attributes of a natural born teacher. After all, it's patient, tireless, and detail conscious ( ...perhaps a bit nit-picky...)."
• Excerpt #3: "One of your Computer's greatest skills is its gift with words. It can tirelessly twist, combine, or separate words to anything you want. Because of this gift, you can teach it to read, write, and even carry on a halfway decent conversation."
• Excerpt #4: "You'll find the Computer much more adept by getting it to constantly watch and react to everything you do. By 'watching you,' we mean watching the keyboard to see if you ware pressing something. The word INKEY$ makes this possible."
• Online memories #1: In a 2024 post on his blog, Jake Levirne writes: "This still stands out as one of the best written computer manuals I’ve ever seen. It gave clear, helpful explanations that even a kid could understand. And it let you know that it was ok to get things wrong, experiment, and try again. This is a lesson that’s served me well for decades in my career."
• Online memories #2: In 2014 blog post that's all about this book, Glen C. Ford raves about how it changed his life: "This hefty tutorial involved no heavy lifting. It was incredibly gentle yet thorough, and never scary. So many times as an adult I've found it daunting to return to a how-to book every day, yet when I was a kid all I wanted to do was plow through this amazing paperback. Anyone responsible for technical documentation (and product managers should be) would benefit from studying Getting Started With Color BASIC to discover and try to reproduce its pedagogical magic."

August & Postcrossing

I received the above Postcrossing card a couple days ago in the mail. It had been mailed from Germany in late July, and its sender wrote:

Hi Chris, I was very impressed about your profile & your philosophy about life & the world. I had to check twice if you're from America, as for me it doesn't sound like typical American values. Speaking of, I live in Cologne, Germany, but in memory of the attack on the Berlin CSD last weekend, I thought I'll send a Berlin postcard. Be brave and keep on fighting for the right values, Chris!

It's sad and depressing that some people don't think the values I mention in my Postcrossing profile are American values. I merely write of the hope for "a world filled with peace, acceptance, equality, inclusion and freedom. A world in which we trust and listen to science and health experts. A world that embraces everyone."

But I can certainly understand how the news reports of America's leadership and government actions that reach the rest of the world convey the idea that the United States, as a whole, doesn't actually stand for those values. We have, deservedly, lost a great deal of our international standing.

* * *

Meanwhile, here are some of the emails I've received from folks who have received Postcrossing cards that I sent around the globe this summer:

Jens from Germany writes: "I was so happy to receive your beautiful card, the kind words, and the lovely stamps. Finding a beautiful and creative card in my mailbox often brightens up my stressful everyday life. I find it wonderful to be part of something bigger as I read your message, and that's what makes Postcrossing such a special hobby.Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the opportunity to get to know you a little through your card. I wish you good health and happiness for the future."

Dominika from the Czech Republic writes: "Warm greetings from Czechia!  The postcard you sent us arrived with today’s mail. Thank you. Nice to 'meet' you! Mr. Angelino is really cute. Greetings to all your animals too. Thank you for sharing a card that was sure to please us all. We are very happy to add it to our growing collection. When we find cards in our mailbox that match one of our preferred postcard styles, we feel especially grateful to be part of this lovely community. Wishing you a great day, a wonderful year, and an incredible life filled with family, friends, many joys, amazing adventures, and precious Postcrossing moments!"

Monique from the Netherlands writes: "Hi Chris thanks for the very nice postcard I received today with the tomcat on the front. Nice you rescued him and he can live in your house. We had years ago 2 cats. But they died. One was 22 years old. You have a beautiful handwriting. Wow. Greetings from me in the Netherlands. Here 21 degrees now."

Darya from the Murmansk region of northwestern Russia writes: "Thank you for your postcard. We have very bad summer this year (it’s really cold outside). Have a good day!”

Book cover: "The Ghost Hunter's Road Book"

• Title: The Ghost Hunter's Road Book
• Author: John Harries. According to the blurb on the back cover: "John Harries has been a full-time writer since the war, in which he served with the R.A.F. A specialist in travel, he has visited every corner of the British Isles in search of the unusual and tourist-appeal material and currently lives in the Chiltern Hills, within audible distance of one of the most bizarre of the animal hauntings described in his new book." Interestingly, the book is copyrighted by Rupert Crew Ltd.
• Cover illustrator: None credited, which is a bummer.
• Publisher: Charles Letts & Co.
• Publication date: This is the revised edition, published in 1974. The book was first published in 1968.
• Pages: 176
• Format: Paperback
• Back cover price: 75p (accounting for inflation and converting from British to U.S. currently, that's about $13 today)
• Excerpt #1: Mystifying balls of light or flickering shapes apparently on fire are seen in many parts of Britain, and the majority of them have been excluded from this book. Those which are mentioned — as in the case of the West Witton light — have been reported in clear, cold weather or from areas free from peat, bog, or decaying material. The reason is that in my opinion lights seen during rain or on days or nights or great humidity , on in marshy districts, are of natural origin.
• Excerpt #2: Black Shuck has been haunting Norfolk for more than a thousand years. His very name proves his ancient origin because it is a dialect version of the Saxon word for Devil. He can alter his appearance, but all of them are terrifying. 
• Excerpt #3: The best-known and most ubiquitous of the Cornish supernatural beings are the pixies, a source of profit for many a souvenir shop in the tourist resorts where pixies are sold by the thousands as good luck tokens. Few native-born Cornish people would  wear the replica of the little man as a talisman. 
• Excerpt #4: Any subsequent attempt to dispose of the skull resulted in screams reverberating around the house, and heard far and wide by villages and farm workers of Bettiscombe. Something very evil indeed was presumably involved in the screaming skull affair, one of a number of such cases in different parts of the country. The usual inference is some connection with vampirism.
• Excerpt #5: Essex, moving willy-nilly into the brave new world of airports, marinas, new towns, nuclear power stations and industrial complexes, is still part of timeless East Anglia. A county slandered as flat, damp and dreary, can still retain a lot of its old-world charm — and its ancient traditions. Phantoms may retreat from the modernism of arterial roads and concrete runways — but ghosts still walk in Essex, and many of their haunts are surprisingly and appropriately unchanged by progress.
• Notes from the web: While the front cover has been a popular post on Tumblr, on message boards and in other locations, there's very little online about the book itself. Amazon reviewer Jackie Garcia wrote this in 2017: "It was a very enjoyable reading. My favorite part was the information given about T.E. Lawrence and the ghost at Clouds Hill." ... A passage from Harries' book is cited on a 2024 blog post about the Flixton Werewolf. ... And the book serves as a reference for the Wikipedia entry about the Shug Monkey.