Openers: [To Louis Harap]
[early 1944]
dear uncle louie --
I really have nothing to say in a letter. any letter. because I am saving up everything i know to get ten cents a word for, and it isn't everybody gets a letter from me these days either, however. I read, painstakingly (why the hell don't you get a typewriter?) all your letters to stanley, and am very proud to find that you are now in a chazzical scholl learning to be a gwlyph, you must tell me about it when you come back or when you to write. also stanley tells me that you are a private french chess (o you louie!) and have a frimbinch coming up. good for you, old man! I hope to god that when the army gets stanley and starts to make a man of him he will keep away from gwylphs, which i understand the army discourages anyway.
stanley and laurence get along fine, by the way, except that i think stanley is going to get along better without the patter of tiny feet on his face.
junie came back to town and is looking for a job. every time she comes over here laurence throws up on her and she has tp stay for two days. the last time she came he decided to get teeth and she had to walk the floor with him because we couldn't wake stanley.
now that we are making a lot of money we are living fine. we even saw a movie not long ago. I bought myself a fascinator, one of those head things.
i do very little writing these days...
-- from The Letters of Shirley Jackson, edited by Laurence Jackson Hyman (2021)
This is a big fat book, covering letters by Jackson from 1938, when she was twenty-one, the 1965, just six days before her death.
[For a bit of context: Louis Harap was the editor of The Jewish Survey and a close friend of Jackson and her husband, Stanley Hyman. Laurence is their first child, Laurence Jackson Hyman, born October 1942. Junie is June Mirken Mintz, a lifelong college fried and the godmother to Laurence. I have no idea the meanings of "qwylph," "french chess" (French chef, perhaps?), or "frimbinch" -- Jackson would often put her on twist on words and phrases ion her letters and would also use "code" words that she and her friends understood.]
As a young woman, Jackson was besotted with Stanley Hyman and would declare her love in almost daily letters to him. Hyman's influence lead her to avoid the caps key on her typewriter when writing to friends and family. Her early letters were almost an exercise in stream of consciousness. They are warm, funny, personal, self-deprecating, and display her intellect as well s her inferiority complex. She battled depression, agoraphobia, and poor health later in life; hints of those problems can be found in her early letters. The letters also reveal the mind of one of the most celebrated American writers of her time. They are thoughtful, entertaining, and revealing. For anyone who ever been enchanted with the worlds, and the words, spun by Shirley Jackson, this collection is a must.
Herbie: One of the most unusual comic book superheroes was Herbie Popnecker, the Fat Fury. Herbie was the brainchild of Richard E. Hughes (writing as "Shane O'Shea") and artist Ogden Whitney and first appeared in Forbidden Worlds #73 (December 1958). Twenty-one issues later he was back (with a cover blurb) for the March-April 1964 issue of Forbidden Worlds (#94). There was only a sixteen issue gap when Herbie made his third appearance in #110 (March-April 1963). He appeared twice more with his name emblazoned on the cover in letters larger than the title of issues #114 and #116 (September 1963 and November-December 1963). In May of 1964, he graduated to his own title, which ran for twenty-three issues. Poor health forced Hughes to reduce his comic book work and Herbie was cancelled after its twenty-third issue; a few months later its publisher, American Comics Group, went out of business. Although there have been attempts to revive the character, none have really succeeded -- the combined magic of Richard E. Hughes and Ogden Whitney were missing.
So what was so special about Herbie Popnecker, anyway? He's a kid. Short, fat, lazy, dull, lacking in energy, emotionless, addicted to lollipops, constantly taunted by his father ("a fat little nothing") and by his schoolmates. But Herbie is perhaps the most powerful superhero in the world, due partly to genetics and partly to the magic lollipops he consumes. He can fly. He can become invisible. He talks to animals. He has heat vision, as well as any other power the story calls for. His known and respected by world leaders. Beautiful women idolized him. After each of his adventures he goes home and reverts to the sluggish, patient lump of a kid to endure his father's ridicule.
Way back in his first adventure, we got a hint of what Herbie could do. Forced out of the house on a Saturday afternoon by his father, Herbie first captures a runaway tiger by the tail and saves a zoo custodian. (He and the tiger, who knows Herbie by name, have a chat.) When a well-know senator whose plane has crashed and he is feared lost at sea, Herbie walks off a pier into the air, becomes invisible, and arranges for the rescue. Now bored, Herbie begins to walk home when a flying saucer lands in preparation for an invasion of Earth lands near him. Although the aliens and the ship are invisible, Herbie see them and warns them against the invasion. They, in turn, vaporize Herbie's lollipop. Herbie the vaporizes them and their ship, preventing the alien invasion from ever happening. All in all, it was "pretty quiet for a Saturday afternoon."
In later adventuress, Herbie would travel through time, live underwater, go into space, and enter the spirit world. He would even prove to be stronger than the devil.
Whitney used understated art to enhance the character's blandness. (It's believed that Herbie was drawn to resemble the artist as a child.) The blandness was emphasized when Herbie finally got a costume in Herbie #8: a red union suit (with back flap) with a bathroom plunger for a hat.
Comics legend Alan Moore declared Herbie to be his favorite comic book character. I san see why.
Here's a bit of Herbie miscellania:
https://archive.org/details/ComicBook-HerbieTheFatFury-Extras/mode/2up
Sic Transit Gloria: Once upon a time Sparta was the big kid on the block, the mightiest and most-feared city-state in Greece, a position it secured in the 6th century BC during the Persian Wars, then effectively controlling Southern Greece after it defeated the Athenian navy in the Battle of Aegospotami in 415 BC, and further strengthened with the King's Peace of 387 BC which ensured Spartan dominance over the Greece.
Sparta's shining moment did not last, though. Just sixteen years later, Greece was still wracked by post-Peloponnesian War conflicts, when Boeotians (from Central Greece where Thebes was one of their largest cities) led by the Theban Epaminondas fought and defeated the Spartans at the Battle of Leuctra, a village in Boeotia. Thebes, a newly established democracy, had elected four Boeotarchs. harking back to the Boeotian League, with the aim of reestablishing the League that the Spartans has previously disbanded. Sparta did not take kindly to this, but a treaty was signed. Supposedly the Thebans signed "The Thebans" and, on the next insisting on changing it to "The Boeotians." One of the Spartan kings, Agesilaus II would not allow it. The other Spartan king, Cleombrotus I, saw this as a chance to shore up Spartan dominance, which at the time was a bit shaky, over Central Greece, and marched to war and took the fortress of Creusis. The Thebans then marched to nearby Leuctra, where the six Boeotian generls were divided as to fight a larger force; a seventh general then showed up and broke the tie. Details are inexact, but it is thought that the Boeotians had an army of 6000 to 9000 men, while the Spartans had 10,000 infantry and 1000 cavalry. (Athens, an ally of Thebes, was reluctant to enter the fray, while Sparta had several allies to rely upon.)
A standard practice for the Spartans was to place their infantry in a solid rectangular mass (or phalanx) some eight to ten or twelve men deep. For some reason a phalanx would tend to drift to the right, so only the fiercest, deadliest warriors were placed at the right side of the phalanx, while less experienced soldiers were place at the left wing. Epaminondas placed the Thebans on his left, with a column fifty soldiers deep; his center and left wing troops were held back a bit, further to the right and rear of thpreceding troops. A column of 12 men could not withstand the force of a column of fifty men, and the Spartans were crushed, with the death of some 1000 men, including King Cleombrotus.
This one battle marked the end of Spartan dominance in Greece.
The Thebans did not enjoy their victory for long. Both Thebes and Athens were soon conquered by the Macedonians led by Philip II.
It may be wishful thinking, but I can't help but hope that the mighty Russian army of today may meet its Battle of Leuctra with the smaller, more determined army of Ukraine.
Remember These?: "Forgotten" appliances that should come back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hegcPS6zMY
Stupidity --The Theory and Practice Thereof:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww47bR86wSc
And here are the five laws of Stupidty:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O9FFrLpinQ
Happy Birthday, Candy Barr: (1935-2005) She was born Juanita Dale Shlusher inn
Edna, Texas. She ran away from home at 13, moved to Dallas, and worked in a motel. She began working as a prostitute and, when she was 14, reportedly married her first husband, but the marriage ended when he was jailed for safecracking. She then worked as a waitress before becoming an exotic dance. At 16, she appeared in the underground pornographic film Smart Alec. The film was widely distributed and wildly popular -- she then became inaccurately known as "the first porn star." (She later claimed that she was drugged and coerced into appearing in the movie without her consent.) While still underage, she became a stripper at the Theater Lounge in Dallas, where owner Barney Weinstein gave her the name "Candy Barr" (because she loved Snickers). She also worked at Weinstein's Colony Club while continuing to act in porn films. After work she would go to the Vegas Club, where she met owner Jack Ruby and they became casual friends. During this time she never work for Ruby and never saw him outside of the Vegas Club and the Silver Spur Inn, which Ruby also owned
Sometime around 1953 she married her second husband and had a daughter about a year later. In January of 1956, Barr shot her husband when he kicked the door in at her apartment. She was charged with assault with a deadly weapon but the charge was later dropped. In October of 1957, she was arrested for drug possession when Dallas police found three-quarter of an ounce of marijuana in her bra; She was convicted and sentenced to fifteen years (this was Texas, after all). As the case went through a lengthy series of appeals, Barr found herself with national fame. she was earning $2000 a week in clubs in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and New Orleans. While stripping at the Largo Club in West Hollywood she met gangster Mickey Cohen and became his mistress. Cohen, who wanted to marry her, sent Barr and her daughter to Mexico with cash, a fake birth certificate and a fake social security number. She soon tired of Mexico and of Cohen and moved back to the United States.
In 1959 she was hired as a choreographer for the film Seven Thieves and taught actress John Collins how to dance as a stripper for the movie. Near the end of that year, be finally began serving her prison sentence and was paroled after serving three years of her sentence. The terms of her parole were strict and she returned to her hometown of Edna; she had intended to go to Dallas but her parole would not allow that. While in Edna, she and Jack Ruby became closer through telephone calls. After Ruby had shot Lee Oswald, the FBI descended on Edna with a raft of questions about him. Barr later said, :They thought Ruby had told me names and places and people, but he didn't." In 1968 Texas Governor John Connelly pardoned her for the marijuana conviction.
She returned to the stripping circuit inn 1966. In 1969 she was again arrested for possession of marijuana -- a charge she said was set up -- and the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. In 1976 she was featured in Oui magazine and shortly thereafter gave an interview to Playboy. during this time she had a fling (probably one-time) with Hugh Hefner.
She retired in 1982 and moved back to Edna, where she lived quietly until her death at age 70. She had had a troubled and storied life.
Candy Barr was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Exotic World Burlesque Museum.
Here's a (probably NSFW) clip of Candy Barr in 1964:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfqA-SdAX7k
Florida Man:
- An unnamed Florida Man crashed his SUV headlong into a FEDEX truck earlier this month while receiving oral sex from a passenger. Both people in the SUV were reportedly naked. The two persons in the FEDEX truck received minor injuries. The driver of the SUV suffered "unspecified injuries to his goin area," the police reported, stating what should be obvious. It is not known if anyone will be charged in the incident.
- Florida Man Mark Francioni may relate to the SUV driver above. Francioni, 51, and allegedly drunk, after earlier holding his partner at gunpoint, threatening to shoot her and then kill himself. She eventually made it a neighbor's home and called police. Then seven-hour standoff began with Francioni barricading himself in the home and becoming more intoxicated and more irrational. Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly then ordered a SWAT team to use a battering ram to force the door open. After the door was destroyed, Francioni stepped out but refused to obey orders and was seen reaching his left hand toward his jeans pocket. That when police fired two rubber bullets at him, with one hitting right in the groin. Francioni doubled up inn pain, stepped forward, and uttered a curse word. He was then easily taken into custody.
- An unnamed 47-year-old Florida Man man was killed in an alligator attack while looking for a lost frisbee in waters at John S. Taylor Park in Largo. And alligator was trapped and taken for examination to determine if it had been the one to attack the man. Although this was the first death by alligator attack in Florida sine 1979, the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) warned that people should avoid entering those waters at anytime, especially now during alligator mating season when the animals become more aggressive.
- 39-year-old Florida Man Sean Ruel is not the most patient person on the planet. While at a gas station in Palm Coast. Ruel found himself in line behind a 76-year-old man who was taking too much time, Ruel thought, in being served by the cashier. What to do? Well, this is Florida, so Ruel poured a cup of hot coffee over the old man and left the building. The victim then followed Ruel out but before anything could be said Ruel punched him, knocking him to the ground. It turns out Ruel had previous arrests, including three for driving under the influence.
- Pakistani man needed surgery in Alabama and got so much love he invited the whole city to his wedding https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/man-in-pakistan-invited-the-entire-city-of-birming-ham-alabama-to-his-wedding/
- Woman finds $36,000 in a Craigslist free chair cushion and never considered keeing the money for herself https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/women-finds-36k-in-free-craigslist-chair-cushion-and-never-considered-keeping-the-money-for-herself/
- Immunotherapy puts 74% of kids with peanut allergies into remission in breakthrough study https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/researchers-discover-immune-system-changes-that-support-peanut-allergy/
- Protein destroys "hard to treat" cancers, could become "one size fits all" pill https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/university-of-texas-cancer-breakthrough-erx-41/
- British woman who fled war in 74 closes her hotel to tourists to give Ukrainian refugees a home instead https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/woman-closes-her-seaside-hotel-to-give-ukrainians-a-home/
A private french chess would be the next rank up from a dollar private (or is that a bull private?) in the Amry, though I'm still musing on what a gwylph might be in the vernacular.
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