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"Much about the movie is outdated, even if it pushed boundaries for its time.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.