Category: Uncategorized
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SATURDAY EVENING POST 1947
After World War I, general circulation magazines dropped the theme of reform that made publications like McClures so popular and picked up on the culture of consumerism. That reform effort was led by none other than Samuel Sidney McClure who “swept through Knox in a whirl and went on in a blaze of business acumen…
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BEAVER SAM
Smokey the Bear has served as the nation’s camp conscience since 1944 while Woodsy Owl has been urging folks to give a hoot for decades. But maybe it’s time for another forest creature to guide us. Having just read Beaverland by Leila Philip, I nominate Beaver Sam to become the voice of reason when it…
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HENRY KAISER
The closing scene of The Weakly Reporter, the 1944 Warner Brothers cartoon that takes a satirical look at U.S. home front activities during WWII, closes with a sign on the door of the office of Henry J. Kaiser: “Back in 2 Min. Out to Launch.” The reference is to industrialist Kaiser who built ships at…
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PHILIP JOSE FARMER
What are Sam Clemens, Cyrano de Bergerac, the adventurer Richard Francis Burton, olde England’s infamous Prince John and Alice Hargreaves, the real-life inspiration for Alice in Wonderland, doing together in a science fiction story? They’re just some of the leading characters in Philip Jose Farmer’s rambunctious Riverworld series. Farmer’s book about Riverworld was a sensation…
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Newspaper recollections
By now you know that the past two decades have seen a precipitous decline in the newspaper industry. Some papers have disappeared altogether. Others limp along as ghost versions lacking the personnel that made the paper what it was. The paper trail leads back to private investment firms that have taken a scorched-earth policy when…
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SIDEKICKS
Defining a sidekick can be tricky. The dictionary definition specifies that a sidekick has a lesser role than the more acclaimed partner—he or she may be no less important but stature-wise, not so much. So is Jerry Seinfeld’s pal, George, a friend or sidekick? One could argue both ways but, as popular as Seinfeld is,…
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William Conrad
William Conrad is back in a way. The star of TV’s Cannon (1971-76) and Jake and the Fatman (1987-92) died in 1994 but his image will grace the star of a new cartoon series, Grimsburg, to debut on the Fox network Sunday (Jan. 7). Jon Hamm of Mad Men fame supplies the voice of the…
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What to make of A.I.?
Time magazine crowned Taylor Swift as its Person of the Year but, while she may have packed ballparks and theaters, 2023 belonged to a non-human, artificial intelligence. “This was the year—ask your stockbroker, or the disgraced management of Sports Illustrated—that artificial intelligence went from a dreamy projection to an ambient menace and perpetual sales pitch,”…
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THE THING ABOUT THE TWILIGHT ZONE
I always liked The Twilight Zone. I was a kid when it first ran, enjoying the show’s sci-fi elements that rarely showed themselves on television at that time. It was different from all the sitcoms, police, and variety fare that dominated network television in the 60s (Twilight Zone debuted in 1959, the same year as…
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THE MOUSE THAT ROARED
Mickey Mouse, the cartoon character that sent Walt Disney on his way, will become public domain in 2024. So does Minnie. That means there’ll likely be a run of projects using the celebrated duo. It might set off something of a renaissance. After all, while Mickey’s likeness is known to us all, the mouse has…