tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19977373995032044392024-03-13T15:36:54.824-05:00MaggieThompson.comThe official website of Maggie Thompson, collector and commentatorJohn Jackson Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02450012837939955658noreply@blogger.comBlogger217125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-54631689537561923952014-05-23T04:35:00.000-05:002014-05-23T04:35:00.035-05:00Remembering Don Thompson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EDfU561TVUs/U38Vkuu87LI/AAAAAAAAAlc/ZuKuqpbqGrQ/s1600/Don+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EDfU561TVUs/U38Vkuu87LI/AAAAAAAAAlc/ZuKuqpbqGrQ/s1600/Don+web.jpg" height="320" width="214" /></a></div>
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Two decades ago - Don didn't wake up. The day before, he had one of the best days he'd had in months. After weeks and weeks of health crises and now-and-then emergency room visits, he was restored: happy, energetic, and gloating with me over how proud and delighted we were about our kids and our lives.</div>
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We'd driven home from Madison after Stephen's graduation ceremonies on Saturday: Both Valerie and Stephen were through with college, both were doing brilliantly, and all was well with the world on a sunny May day. We'd driven by fields where sprinklers had been encouraging just-planted crops - and the sprays of water had made rainbows as we traveled. On his way to the house, Don plunged his face into the sprays of lilac blossoms blooming next to the garage, and we basked in the glories of the day and our lives.</div>
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It had been a wonderful weekend.</div>
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Don died May 23, 1994 - and, thanks to our work together in those pioneering days of comics fandom, many of our friends in that world thought of him solely in those terms. But he was brilliant in too many ways to list here. Even as a college student in the Journ School at Penn State, he was active in student radio (WDFM, where his work included his "Dead Air" show devoted to comedy and his other stint devoted to folk music) and the student science-fiction club. It was his SF fan activity that led to our meeting in 1957 - and we attended Detroit and Pittsburgh WorldCons separately before we were married and then many other SF cons big and small afterward. His "The New Science" in <i>Venture Science Fiction</i> opened the door to his membership in Science Fiction Writers of America, where he served a term as one of its officers.</div>
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His knowledge was encyclopedic, his reading speed was swift, and, wow, he was fun.</div>
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Following 1960 graduation from Penn State, his newspaper career lasted for more than two decades at <i>The Cleveland Press</i> (a job he'd chosen to be near to where I was attending Oberlin College), and his assignments included the financial department, police beat, suburbs, and copy desk with byways including writing feature articles and folk music, science-fiction, and fantasy reviews. <i>The Press</i> left Cleveland - and so did we, when our mutual hobby of comics turned into our mutual profession of editing collector publications.</div>
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We were lucky: We got to work and live together all day every day for more than two decades. We were granted the delights of two fantastic kids - and those kids continue to be a constant joy. Today, we share the pleasures of remembering their dad. We were lucky we had him as long as we did. Love you, Don.</div>
Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-13362662972964511892013-11-19T13:14:00.000-06:002013-11-19T13:14:08.495-06:00I Collect So That I Have It<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
This is the week that the first auction of the Don and Maggie Thompson Pedigree comics collection will be held, offering a few of the valuable comic books that we bought over the years. Maybe you've seen <a href="http://www.antiquetrader.com/featured/maggie-thompson-shares-collecting-insights-selling-keys-comic-book-auction">this feature</a> or <a href="http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/Home/4/1/73/1017?articleID=141071">this one</a> - and, at a guess, there will be more. The pricey issues aren't in my house any more. First, it was scary to have valuable stuff in my home. Second, it was intimidating to have to care for them. Third, Heritage Auctions' Steve Borock helped me to work out a way to have them after they're gone.</div>
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Because my collecting began so that I could have what I want when I want it.</div>
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When I was learning to read and such comic-book creators as Walt Kelly and Carl Barks were telling me fresh stories every month, I <i>also </i>learned that what I didn't buy one month would be gone forever the next. I haunted the newsstand and planned my allowance accordingly, because I wasn't going to get another chance at those issues. I certainly was never going to find them at the library.</div>
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And pop culture (a term years away from its coining then) was fleeting. Daily newspapers were discarded. Movies passed through theaters in a flash. Even more transitory were the weekly visits of such favorites as The Shadow, Suspense, and Jack Benny. Gone. They could be no more than memories.</div>
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Lesson learned: When you appreciate something enough to want it with you - to be able to have it if you want to check a fact or revisit an entertainment at 2 a.m. - you'd better collect it. This lesson learned has a variety of results. If many <i>other</i> people have that same appreciation for an item but don't have the item, it may become valuable. If no one else gives a hang for it, you're going to have to deal with storing it so that you can enjoy it again.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My collection of old cassette tapes?<br />Not so valuable to other folks.</td></tr>
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But sometimes, belongings become too valuable. What if there's a fire? A flood? A windstorm? What if, when you are scanning a page of a comic book, you actually <i>hear</i> the cover begin to tear at the staples? Given that we are only temporary custodians of what we own, we should take the best possible care of our treasures - and then pass them on.</div>
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And - lucky for me - we live in an age in which having kept comics in great condition makes them worth more. Because (as you know if you've followed those links earlier) the goal is to replace them with comics in rotten shape: copies that are so beat-up as to be the cubic zirconia to the disposed-of diamonds. So I'll have them, even while I'm getting rid of them.</div>
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And the proceeds from the auctions (of which this is, as I say, the first) will go, first, to paying the capital gains tax and, second, to the custody of the guy who's been my financial advisor since before Don died. Last week, he frowned as he threatened, "You know, you <i>could </i>live 20 more years."</div>
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So no mink sandwiches. And I hope the new owners will get as much pleasure and use out of my comics as I did.</div>
Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-19864800038439093642013-09-17T10:06:00.002-05:002013-09-17T10:06:50.282-05:00Betsy Curtis September 17Betsy Curtis was born 96 years ago today - and married 72 years ago today. And yesterday - yes, just yesterday - I finished preliminary proofreading of my transcription of her 14 published stories. Because I'm in the midst of a project that will be a rarity: the edited collection of all the published stories of a pioneering woman science-fiction writer. (Part of the fun will be its existence as a three-generation project: stories by my mom, editing by me, and design by my daughter, Valerie.) My next step will be to edit all 14 (roughly 100,000 words) into my favored formats (Oxford comma, typos repaired, etc.). Happy birthday and anniversary, Mom! Hope my tinkering doesn't bother you - and wish you were here to participate!<br />
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Thanks, too, Mom, for providing reproof to me for not posting on this site since I left the offices of <i>Comics Buyer's Guide</i>. Just yesterday (again!), I uncovered the manuscript for a proposed collection of her poetry. She was (in the terms of a George Price cartoon she had attached to the 20-gallon crock she used to make home brew) "a very remarkable woman" - and, I think, a compulsive, playful writer. In honor, then, of the folks who haven't seen posts from me in more than half a year (and who, giving up, may not see this, either), here's Mom's "No Word from Thee." (She guessed at the year of composition as 1938, not long after the time this photo was taken.)<br />
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When for a time I've had no word from thee,<br />
Strange causeless fears my mind do oft oppress<br />
And add a terror to my loneliness<br />
From which no reasoning can set me free.<br />
I fear that thou perhaps unwell may be<br />
Or caught in trouble's grip; and then I guess<br />
Thou findst in me some grievous faultiness:<br />
Conscience and apprehension well agree.<br />
I know thy labors have enforced charm;<br />
I know thine hours for letter writing few;<br />
I'm sure thou hast not met with any harm.<br />
Why should I fear? Knowing thy love is true,<br />
I need not feel unwonted grave alarm.<br />
--I know not why I should, and yet I do.Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-21490641348941951852013-01-11T17:27:00.002-06:002013-01-11T17:56:26.539-06:00A Clean Office at Last!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xJ0CJt_18PY/UPCfuIpzPVI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/dGrUoLzjrFg/s1600/Clean+office+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="370" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xJ0CJt_18PY/UPCfuIpzPVI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/dGrUoLzjrFg/s640/Clean+office+web.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo credit: Brent Frankenhoff</td></tr>
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After 30 years!<br />
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Now, I begin to organize plans so as to get done many of the projects that have had to wait "until I have more time." It's exciting!Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-47489194893280831602013-01-10T10:40:00.001-06:002013-01-10T10:40:19.733-06:00CBG Staff Released Neat Books in 2012As I look back over the years at <a href="http://www.cbgxtra.com/">Comics Buyer's Guide</a>, I'm reminded that 2012 saw Brent Frankenhoff and me coming up with three books in addition to the 12 monthly issues of the magazine.<br />
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They are <a href="http://www.krausebooks.com/dangerous-curves">Comics Buyer's Guide Presents Dangerous Curves</a>, <a href="http://www.krausebooks.com/greatest-comic-book-covers-of-all-time">Comics Buyer's Guide Presents the Greatest Comic Book Covers of All Time</a>, and <a href="http://www.krausebooks.com/parent-s-gd-to-best-kid-s-comics">A Parent's Guide to the Best Kids' Comics</a>. Each is fun, the first two basically being romps through the wonder world of comics images and the last being A New Concept.<br />
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<i>A Parent's Guide to the Best Kids' Comics</i> was my concept, born out of ongoing questions I've received in the past couple of years, questions that boiled down to, "What comics do you recommend for my kids to read?" I figured that what was needed was more than an article: It needed, not only recommendations, but samples of those recommendations so that adults and kids could see at a glance what looked good to them. And the recommendations needed to come from experts who knew that specific field, top to bottom. So I came up with the format - and we found top experts (Scott Robins and Snow Wildsmith) to provide the actual information. I see from the link I've just provided that the book is on sale at a whopping discount at the moment: a word to the wise.Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-76975104807731890312013-01-09T12:15:00.002-06:002013-01-09T12:15:51.147-06:00Maggie's World Begins, Comics Buyer's Guide Ends with #1699The <a href="http://www.cbgxtra.com/comics-news-and-notes/fw-announces-closure-of-comics-buyers-guide">press release</a> concerning cancellation of Comics Buyer's Guide with #1699 appears on the magazine's website.<br />
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It's been a delight to have had the opportunity for the last three decades - plus a prior decade with the magazine's creator, Alan Light - to communicate so wonderfully with comics collectors, comics fans, and comics professionals. Over the years, we were able to reach out in a variety of ways, including coming up with the term "Done in One" (to identify stories told completely in one issue, announced in CBG for April 5, 1996). We also helped create a trade journal that was the inciting force behind the Free Comic Book Day outreach project that Diamond Comic Distributors implemented and that continues every May. Don and I were excited by Krause Publications' challenge of revamping an advertising newspaper into a full-fledged information resource. It has been an energizing challenge to adapt to the changes of the field, as it grew from a niche interest to something popular enough to command the covers of national pop-culture magazines.<br />
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John Jackson Miller has provided <a href="http://blog.comichron.com/2013/01/end-of-era-comics-buyers-guide-1971-2013.html">a look at the history of CBG</a> on his website; check it out!<br />
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How about me? Hey, the same week that Krause Publications announced the end of CBG saw the <a href="http://comic-con.org/toucan/why-i-love-comics">first installment of my contribution to a new outlet</a> for me: a monthly post on Comic-Con's "Toucan" blog. Hope you enjoy it!<br />
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Onward!Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-71779592121755858702012-10-31T14:16:00.002-05:002012-10-31T14:16:33.297-05:00A Derivative Ghost Story<br />
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A few weeks ago, the folks at <i>Wisconsin Life</i> announced a competition in ghost writing. Wait. That's not quite what I mean. The competition was not to write under a pseudonym. It was a competition to write an entirely original ghost story in fewer than 600 words.</div>
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The resultant entries chosen for broadcast appear <a href="http://wilife.tumblr.com/post/33734414985/flash-fiction-ghost-story-winners-and-we-have">online </a>- though, for reasons I do not comprehend at the moment, <i>Wisconsin Life</i> has opted for a format not designed to be accessed on one of today's most-used Internet-access tools (which is to say, iPads, such as the one on which I'm writing this). In any case, the challenge was to write an (it was emphasized) original story. Which made me wonder what a derivative tale might resemble. So I sent to the competition the following non-contribution, which I now share with you. Happy Halloween!</div>
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<i>This is not an entry in the Ghost Story competition for several reasons: (1) With the exception of one substituted word, it is not original. (2) I don't think I could compete in any case, because my son works for National Public Radio. (3) I'm a friend of the judge. But the challenge itself enticed me, what with its insistence that the story be wholly original. "So," I said to myself, "what would be the opposite of that? A derivative ghost story, of course!" So I played a bit with that concept, keeping within the total word limit, and thought you might find it similarly amusing. As a NON-entry, then, it is offered in the spirit of exploration - and you're certainly free to do what you like with it, since it's public domain in any case.</i></div>
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<i>Here you go:</i></div>
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<b>Derivative Ghost Story</b></h2>
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<b>I … had not been asleep long when I was awakened by the continual repetition of a monotonous sound.</b> [“The Spectre in the Cart” 1904 by Thomas Nelson Page, 19 words]</div>
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<b>“She is below,” I thought, “and terrified by my entrance has evaded me in the darkness of the hall.”</b></div>
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<b>With the purpose of seeing her I turned to leave the room, but took a wrong direction - the right one! My foot struck her, cowering in a corner of the room.</b> [“The Moonlit Road” 1909 by Ambrose Bierce, 51 words]</div>
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<b>She looked straight into my eyes. “Dear, do you not understand? Have you forgotten? I died three years ago today.”</b> [“The Bridal Pair” 1902 by Robert W. Chambers, 20 words, replacing “his” with “my”]</div>
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<b>On her limbs was the stiffness of death, and on her face, in the fading light of the sun, the terror of something more than death. Her lips were parted in entreaty, in dismay, in agony; and on her blanched brow and cheeks there glowed the marks of ten hideous wounds from two vengeful ghostly hands.</b> [“The Romance of Certain Old Clothes” 1885 by Henry James, 56 words]</div>
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<b>“This is too much!” cried I passionately, and convinced that I was the victim of a trick, though how such a trick could have been effected, I did not care to consider.</b> [“The Underground Ghost” 1866 by John Berwick Harwood, 32 words]</div>
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<b>As soon as I had partially recovered my comprehension I rushed madly to the door, with the dim idea of beating it in. My fingers touched a cold and solid wall. There was no door!</b> [“The Lost Room” 1858 by Fitz-James O’Brien, 35 words]</div>
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<b>Life is very much more exciting now than it used to be. You see I have something more to expect, to look forward to, to watch.</b> [“The Yellow Wall Paper” 1892 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 26 words]</div>
Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-72623520768283279622012-09-12T18:02:00.003-05:002012-09-12T18:05:03.591-05:00The Shock of Nostalgic RecognitionThe American Association of University Women first attracted my attention decades ago by the quality of its incredible used-book sales. While the AAUW is laudably devoted to such efforts as supporting education for women, I confess it was the lure of massive quantities of used books that drew me to the organization. This year, I'm targeting the 76th annual book sale of the Appleton, Wisconsin, branch; it's scheduled for October 25-28 in the Northland Mall, and high-energy sorting activities have been going on for many, many days. I'll be donating a considerable run of <em>American Heritage</em>, myself - thereby clearing some bookshelves and hoping to find a home for a publication I've loved but haven't consulted for some time.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gcoj-z1zdwk/UFEUGZiktqI/AAAAAAAAAac/G0csrGjFGzs/s1600/Mr+and+Mrs+Mouse+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gcoj-z1zdwk/UFEUGZiktqI/AAAAAAAAAac/G0csrGjFGzs/s200/Mr+and+Mrs+Mouse+web.jpg" width="164" /></a></div>
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But one of the delights of handling hundreds of discarded books is stumbling over unusual items - often, those of no interest to most prospective purchasers. Case in point: the shock I got when I picked up a tattered book titled <em>Mr. and Mrs. Mouse</em>. Credits on the title page are as follows: Illustrated by Ida Bohatta Morpurgo. English Version by June Head. Publishing information ran: Ars Sacra, Herbert Dubler, Inc., New York, N.Y. It was copyright 1943 by Herbert Dubler, Inc. And, yes, I'd absolutely had a copy - last seen probably 60 years ago. I hadn't been looking for it. It had never entered my thoughts later. But it evoked a double-take and an ensuing quick grab, followed by residence in my tote bag and an IOU in the cash can.<br />
<br />
An online search has turned up little information. "Ida Bohatta" was apparently a popular German illustrator of children's books, and a Google search of images shows the book cover, where it's titled <em>Mauschen Sorgen</em>. So was the U.S. version in any respect outstanding? Well, after I finished reading it, I did, indeed, savor one entry - a poem accompanying this illustration - which I think became something of a family saying:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_LbT4ilkEmQ/UFEUXCz1v1I/AAAAAAAAAak/XayyP1xryB0/s1600/Mr+Mrs+Mouse+cheese+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_LbT4ilkEmQ/UFEUXCz1v1I/AAAAAAAAAak/XayyP1xryB0/s200/Mr+Mrs+Mouse+cheese+web.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
"I have the most astounding news,<br />
The best you've heard for ages,<br />
They're giving bits of cheese away<br />
In pretty wire cages."<br />
<br />
"Don't you be taken in, my dear,"<br />
Said cautious Mrs. Grey.<br />
"I never trust the humans when<br />
They give their cheese away."Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-27345630002430203692012-09-11T07:56:00.001-05:002012-09-11T07:56:25.212-05:00Keepsake Closeup<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3r-67Hn9eNE/UE806VfX0KI/AAAAAAAAAaI/VIoEYtFF1Cg/s1600/Keepsake+closeup+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3r-67Hn9eNE/UE806VfX0KI/AAAAAAAAAaI/VIoEYtFF1Cg/s400/Keepsake+closeup+web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-4194017583124420612012-09-11T07:47:00.000-05:002012-09-11T07:47:02.461-05:00Keepsake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k8QXXmZTZ3o/UE8ygzvkh7I/AAAAAAAAAaA/559YjctA9Fg/s1600/Postmark+Keepsake+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k8QXXmZTZ3o/UE8ygzvkh7I/AAAAAAAAAaA/559YjctA9Fg/s400/Postmark+Keepsake+web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-28966931796181119512012-07-13T10:35:00.001-05:002012-07-13T10:35:24.527-05:00Comic-Con Hint: Use Your Camera to Take Notes<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6lYBgsdjqxE/UAA_ruIrwaI/AAAAAAAAAZs/xDHLawWud24/s1600/Ski+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6lYBgsdjqxE/UAA_ruIrwaI/AAAAAAAAAZs/xDHLawWud24/s200/Ski+web.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jim Sokolowski</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AOkSyI4mgqs/UAA_a1fiehI/AAAAAAAAAZk/dInWNnx_A-Q/s1600/Olbrich+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AOkSyI4mgqs/UAA_a1fiehI/AAAAAAAAAZk/dInWNnx_A-Q/s200/Olbrich+web.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dave Olbrich</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Yesterday, I whined about not having time to post, if I also took time to be active in convention activities, and it continues to be true. In the moments I'm taking before leaving for the show, I downloaded a bunch more photos and realized that I can use pictures to remind myself of conversations that I'll be able to refer to later. Because I know full well that I will quickly otherwise be lost in a haze of dimly remembered events. And it's not because of what I've drunk; it's because there is just too much to remember. Case in point came this morning as I transferred photos from my camera to my laptop for a backup (a good idea, by the way; you can at least salvage a chunk of what you've done, if your camera is stolen or dies). I'd forgotten till I looked at the photos that I'd had a laugh-filled pre-show exchange with Dave Olbrich and Jim Sokolowski in which we chatted happily about the long-ago days when Dave (with Malibu) and Ski (with Marvel) lived through the acquisition of Malibu, the marketing of the time, and so on and definitely so forth. And, in the midst of all that, we were delighted to see Jim Lee with his family cheeerily preparing to enter the floor. (Mind you, this morning I'm frustrated to realize I don't know the names of Jim's other family members, but I love the photo and hope someone out there can fill in the details. In any case, I'm just saying: Nice!)<br />
<br />
Ski's now Archie Comic Publications' Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Development - and it is terrific seeing him again and - And if I don't post this right now, I'll miss the first panel I need to attend.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FhA4T2Mxpek/UAA_7AgY1rI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/ApiPOsbZKew/s1600/Jim+Lee+family+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FhA4T2Mxpek/UAA_7AgY1rI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/ApiPOsbZKew/s400/Jim+Lee+family+web.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jim Lee and Family</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-57581416895416614412012-07-12T10:34:00.002-05:002012-07-12T10:36:24.974-05:002012 Comic-Con Preview Night<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ovkvvkWeYjE/T_7uCJNxUnI/AAAAAAAAAZY/AhN0XBudQhM/s1600/Jill+Thompson+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ovkvvkWeYjE/T_7uCJNxUnI/AAAAAAAAAZY/AhN0XBudQhM/s320/Jill+Thompson+web.jpg" width="219" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I grabbed the chance to give Jill Thompson<br />
a copy of our Parent's Guide to the<br />
Best Kids' Comics. Her work is, of course,<br />
recommended therein.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As ever, there are choices for bloggers, Tweeters, and the like at Comic-Con International: San Diego: doing or posting. Tweeting is simple, but even that means Taking a Moment. So you're in a world surrounded by activities and fascinating people and news - but <strong>TIME OUT</strong>! I've been taking notes about a vast variety of news, not to mention catching up with people I haven't seen for at least a year. And, to top it off, the jammed Preview Night is the least crowded the floor will be. So it meant lugging my two totes around, greeting with hugs, taking a few photos and moving along. (Moving along is a good idea; security is rightly keeping people from blocking halls and aisles. Rightly, because really. But it can be hard to grab a moment when at times you must, like a shark, keep moving to survive. Oh, come on. It's not that bad. Because really. But it's not the time for an in-depth interview.) The exhibitor booths are different. Given folks' need to do business so one shouldn't hog time, you can still talk to people. Which will be a goal for today. After I give blood. Which I need to head out to do <strong>now</strong>. Yikes!Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-32840783897164623612012-06-23T09:32:00.001-05:002012-06-23T09:33:33.929-05:00Don and Maggie Thompson At Last! Half a Century Ago<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a-DUZDFctXU/T-XF6QW8lCI/AAAAAAAAAZA/ac73dOHH3H8/s1600/19620623A+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a-DUZDFctXU/T-XF6QW8lCI/AAAAAAAAAZA/ac73dOHH3H8/s400/19620623A+web.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maggie Thompson, Don Thompson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Woo hoo! Don and I had been engaged for two years, and every weekend he would take the bus to Oberlin, where he would stay in a rooming house while I lived in Dascomb Dormitory (freshman year), with my grandmother (the intervening summer), and in Fairchild Dormitory (sophomore year). My college tuition was supplied by Allegheny College, where Dad taught and which participated in a faculty-member-offspring student exchange program with other colleges. So Don and I had gone through months of tension regarding whether the tuition would continue, if we married. I bet you can figure out that it did - and so it was that we found ourselves at 3 p.m. at Christ Church, Episcopal, in Meadville, Pennsylvania, on June 23, 1962.<br />
There was a reception in the Church Parish House following the ceremony - with sandwiches made by Mom, featuring her home-baked bread (Blue Ribbon-winning quality, per the Crawford County Fair). Mind you, she'd added food coloring to each batch, so the sandwiches were pink, yellow, green, and blue. (At least one guest - hi, Nancy! - took one look and opted to come back after she'd eaten at a nearby restaurant.) There was a follow-up celebration at the house - and then someone (Dad?) drove us north to Erie, where we caught the train to Cleveland - where we were to spend the rest of my summer vacation before we moved to Oberlin.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ncJFUsJlBhA/T-XTKS78kXI/AAAAAAAAAZM/ogmGiPXMlPA/s1600/19620623B+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ncJFUsJlBhA/T-XTKS78kXI/AAAAAAAAAZM/ogmGiPXMlPA/s320/19620623B+web.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Susan Thompson, Charles Thornton,<br />
Maggie, Don, James Broschart, Mary Curtis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Weather during and just after the ceremony was lovely - as you see here. But, it's fun to note, there was a light rain during the drive to the train station - and that gave us a rainbow, as we set out on our wedded adventure.<br />
(Oh, and a postscript: That wedding gown had been worn once before: when Mom and Dad married September 17, 1941, in Hudson, Ohio. Mom had sewn it for herself.)Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-68933225864598162542012-06-08T18:01:00.000-05:002012-06-08T18:01:25.459-05:00Don Thompson Met Maggie Curtis 55 Years Ago Today<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eCxrRd5RBc4/T9J-49j8laI/AAAAAAAAAY0/laI3CUzAUq4/s1600/Best+Group+1960+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eCxrRd5RBc4/T9J-49j8laI/AAAAAAAAAY0/laI3CUzAUq4/s320/Best+Group+1960+web.jpg" width="305" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ed, Mary, Betsy, and Maggie Curtis, Don Thompson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This is a year of anniversaries for me - and one of them is today. At about this time 55 years ago, Mom was offering to give Don a ride as far back as our house on his way back to Titusville - an invitation he gladly accepted. Yesterday, Gary Colabuono asked on Facebook for what amounted The Tale of Don and Maggie Thompson - or at least the first chapter. So ... Mom (science-fiction writer Betsy Curtis - no, you've never heard of her) drove to Kinsman, Ohio, thinking that an announced picnic of science-fiction fans and pros was being held at the home of Ed Hamilton and Leigh Brackett. That turned out not to be the case. One of their relatives lived across the road, Mom made inquiries, and it was revealed that the picnic was at the home of Basil and Virginia Wells. What to do? Mom commented later that, if Dad had been along, we'd have probably given up - but it was just Mom, my two younger sisters, and me. So off we went to the Wells home. Other picnic attendees included P. Schuyler Miller and Andre Norton - and a fan named Don Thompson, who'd hitchhiked there, invited as a member of the National Fantasy Fan Federation.<br />
Don, it turned out, was not only a fan of Mom's but also shared many other pop culture interests (before that term was even used). He and I talked pretty much nonstop on topics ranging from SF to fantasy to movies to radio shows to pulp magazines to detective fiction to comics to <em>Mad</em> magazine - and so on. He'd just finished his sophomore year in Journ School at Penn State, where he worked on the radio station and belonged to the SF club. And, yes, he was 21 and I was 14. (When this information was included in Dark Horse's <em>Between the Panels</em>, I was told, lawyers going through the preliminary draft circled it as a possible legal concern for publication. Hee!)<br />
As noted, we drove him as far as our house - whence he continued his hitchhiking travel to his home. Next communication from him: a copy of <em>Humbug</em> #1 folded to fit into a #10 envelope with a note asking whether I'd seen it - which I hadn't. Over the next while, we wrote now and then, and he visited a few afternoons during vacation breaks. Again, nonstop conversation about SF, fantasy, movies, radio ... Yep, more pop culture chat. I graduated from high school, we started dating in 1960, and he graduated from Journ School. Mom even included him in the 1960 WorldCon "Best Group"-winning costume group shown here. (It's "The Five Fannish Senses": Dad as Sense of Science, Mary as Sense of Humor, Mom as Extra Sense, me as Sense of Wonder, and Don - Well, Don was 35 to 50 Cents, the price of science-fiction magazines.)<br />
So I started college at Oberlin in the autumn of 1960, and Don went to work for the Cleveland <em>Press</em>, taking the bus each weekend and staying at an Oberlin bed-and-breakfast (well, I don't think he got breakfast there, but you get the idea) each Saturday night. Till we got married June 23, 1962.<br />
Hey, that means I get another anniversary this month! Hot diggity!Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-14522756225088973162012-05-30T10:19:00.001-05:002012-05-30T10:24:57.824-05:00Dick Beals Thought Big<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AOvghjJ23QY/T8Y2DTUOGMI/AAAAAAAAAYo/6PAAhExpNhY/s1600/Dick+Beals+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AOvghjJ23QY/T8Y2DTUOGMI/AAAAAAAAAYo/6PAAhExpNhY/s320/Dick+Beals+web.jpg" width="209" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dick Beals</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The sad news came this morning via <a href="http://www.newsfromme.com/2012/05/30/dick-beals-r-i-p/">Mark Evanier's website</a>. Richard Beals died yesterday. Born March 16, 1927, he turned what many with his dreams would have termed an insurmountable disability into a triumphant career. His autobiography is appropriately titled <span style="font-size: small;"><i>Think Big</i>, </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">and its back cover summarizes, "Was he just
lucky? No. Dick believes that 'Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.'
Dick prepares, and then gives life's challenges everything he has in his 4'6",
68-pound frame." He loved sports - but his size kept him off the playing field. Except that it didn't - because he adapted his role to that of cheerleader and commentator. He loved acting - but his size and eternally youthful voice would have been an impediment to most other performers. Nevertheless, he turned that voice into an asset, by daring to move to California in 1952 to try to make a living in a highly competitive field.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I quote from <i>Think Big</i>, page 81:<span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">It happened on a day when a bunch of us were sitting
around in the lobby of CBS.</span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></i><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">"Hey, busy actor," [Virginia Gregg] said, grinning at me. "Which of the directors upstairs here have you met?"</span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></i><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">"Well, none, actually," I said. "I got to see Mr. Del
Valle's secretary, but she told me not to bother seeing the directors at CBS."</span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></i><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">"Why not?" Ginny cried in disbelief.</span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></i><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">"She said Mr. Del Valle's wife does all the kid's parts
and I wouldn't stand a chance."</span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></i><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">"She said <b>what</b>?"
Her eyes flashed all sorts of colors. "You come with me." With that she grabbed
my wrist and hauled me to the elevator. When the door opened, she yanked me in
and smashed the button for floor three and tapped her foot as the elevator
slowly responded. It opened and down the aisle we went. She dragged me past the
first secretary into the first director's office as a startled Elliott Lewis
looked up.</span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></i><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">"Elliott, from this moment on, never use me for kid's
parts, on Suspense or any of the other shows you direct. Use Dick Beals. Is
that clear? He's better than I will ever be."</span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></i><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">And without waiting for an answer, down the aisle we went
to the next office and the next one and the next one. Same story. Same startled
director. When we got to the last office there sat Mr. Del Valle's secretary.
Ginny, followed by my wrist and then me, flew into Mr. Del Valle's office. The
man behind the desk, tanned, steel-gray hair, crew cut, ex-marine type,
continued reading the script on his desk. He slowly raised his arm and waved a
hello.</span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></i><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">"Jaime, listen to me for a second," she began
impatiently. "This is Dick Beals. He does kid's voices. Use him. Don’t use me
ever again." Silence. Long pause. "Are you listening, Jaime?"</span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></i><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">He never looked up. "OK, dear, anything you say," he
murmured. "Be talking to you soon, Dick." Silence. Longer pause. "What are we
having for dinner, honey? I'll be home right after the show … 'bout 6:30."</span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></i><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Mission accomplished. In less than five minutes I was
locked in to every CBS radio show. Shows like Suspense, Lineup, Gunsmoke, Have
Gun Will Travel, Amos and Andy and Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. The last
CBS radio show … Gunsmoke … went off the air six years later. God bless you,
Virginia Gregg, wherever you are.</span></i></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">I first met him at a Friends of Old Time Radio convention in Newark a few years ago where he was appearing as one of the celebrity guests. The voice of Speedy Alka-Seltzer, both Yank <i>and</i> Dan of Roger Ramjet's American Eagles, and more, more, more (including roles in those CBS shows he cited) - he was a wonderful choice as a guest. I was fortunate enough (Thanks, Anthony Tollin!) to appear in a <i>Superman</i> re-creation as Lois Lane, interacting with Beals as Jimmy Olsen - which meant I saw at first-hand how unfailingly professional and supportive he was, whether working with professionals or amateurs. He remains an example for us all of how to triumph over challenges.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Think Big, folks! <i>He</i> did.</span></div>Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-19187551072831430632012-05-06T16:30:00.001-05:002012-05-06T16:34:16.552-05:00Barnaby May Be the Best Comic Strip You've Never Seen. Until Now.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IqjREofhQCE/T6bmE6XJplI/AAAAAAAAAYI/VtN20v7Ckdk/s1600/FCBD+kids+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IqjREofhQCE/T6bmE6XJplI/AAAAAAAAAYI/VtN20v7Ckdk/s200/FCBD+kids+web.jpg" width="196" /></a></div>
Free Comic Book Day 2012 was terrific, and I made my customary run to Madison, Wis., to visit the comics shops there, checking out the FCBD offerings and comparing this event to those of years past. (I even began with the "in memoriam" drive-by of what had seemed to be a busy suburban comics shop north of the city - disappeared between one FCBD and the next three or four years ago.) The shops on my route (as I travel west to east) are: Westfield Comics, 7475 Mineral Point Road; Capital City Comics, 1910 Monroe Street; and Westfield Comics, 944 Williamson Street. And, frankly, it's a route I recommend, with each shop offering a different "feel." Each, too, this year was experiencing an even higher community participation, with shoppers young and old happily enjoying the annual celebration. I'll eventually revisit the event as I plow through the FCBD handouts (not to mention my purchases - because it's all about finding the treats in plain view in today's shops). But at the moment, I want to single out something you may have passed by. Just. In. Case.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vX0H5Bxp-94/T6bnLELmkkI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/MZhUAKZtNmo/s1600/Barnaby+Web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vX0H5Bxp-94/T6bnLELmkkI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/MZhUAKZtNmo/s200/Barnaby+Web.jpg" width="128" /></a></div>
Over the years, I hear many things, lots of behind-the-scenes news, gossip, comments, etc. Often, I'm asked to keep things quiet. "I know you'll be excited to hear this, Maggie, but don't tell anyone." So sometimes I actually push the information as much as possible out of my memory so I don't accidentally mention something that isn't to be common knowledge. And so it was that I exclaimed with surprise as well as delight to see the Free Comic Book Day release from Fantagraphics: a hint of the volumes to come that will provide the world at last with <em>The Complete Barnaby</em>. I'd been told about the project last year but it was with the request that I keep it quiet - and told that putting together the collections was complex and could take quite a while. But here it is! With the first volume due this summer!<br />
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Yet at each shop, as I waved the introductory booklet at people, I was met with friend after friend who hadn't heard of the strip. I hope that, by the end of FCBD, at least a few people have begun to anticipate the release of the first collection. Cushlamochree!<br />
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"Crockett Johnson" was the penname of the brilliant David Leisk (1906-1975). His ongoing legacy is (or was until now) the <em>Harold and the Purple Crayon</em> books, and he also illustrated a number of other children's books, four of them written by his wife, Ruth Krauss. Those tended to feature characters slightly younger than Barnaby, whom he introduced as a daily-newspaper character in 1942. The concept of the strip was simple: Barnaby is a little boy who wishes for a fairy godmother; what he <em>gets</em> is Mr. O'Malley, a winged, cigar-chomping character who is never seen by Barnaby's mother or father or other adult. Not that Mr. O'Malley is invisible; coincidence simply continues to complicate Barnaby's life, as adults think he has imagined the ever-increasing fantasy elements of his life.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JzT59Q5jqNg/T6btRVNx8BI/AAAAAAAAAYc/-Fs3iABC2f4/s1600/Barnaby+strip+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JzT59Q5jqNg/T6btRVNx8BI/AAAAAAAAAYc/-Fs3iABC2f4/s320/Barnaby+strip+web.jpg" width="308" /></a></div>
There have been a few earlier attempts to bring the characters into wider circulation. There were two book collections (1943 and 1944, with at least some of the strips redrawn for the presentation), a <em>Barnaby Quarterly</em> magazine in the mid-1940s, and several mass-market paperbacks from Ballantine in the mid-1980s (with strips reproduced so small the text is occasionally hard to make out) that tend to be pricey, when you can find them. Are they fun for kids? Well, for years as I was growing up, I read and reread one of the copies of the <em>Quarterly</em> - and, even though I had no idea there was something called "hoarding" during World War II, I loved what I read. Part of which you'll find in the Fantagraphics sampling. Check it out. I can hardly wait for the completed Volume One.Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-35137034476121379732012-03-13T19:03:00.001-05:002012-03-13T19:44:05.777-05:00Grace's Invention<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c8sAOqbkEwk/T1_fw14-ZtI/AAAAAAAAAX4/XZJvafRdLug/s1600/Grace+invention+1+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c8sAOqbkEwk/T1_fw14-ZtI/AAAAAAAAAX4/XZJvafRdLug/s400/Grace+invention+1+web.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artificial cat checks out the Crawlway</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Instructed to come up with an invention for school, granddaughter Grace developed this "Perfume Crawlway" for cats. Designed along the lines of a carwash, the invention takes the cat, once entered, into a spray of perfume (presumably a perfume cats would like). There is also a sparkly dust-shaker. (Bonus!) Using considerable ingenuity to keep an unsealed box upright, she demonstrated the set-up as shown. The success of the project is easily seen: Note the cat [Milani] in the box. [Footnote: Grace points out that the box device, with perfume and sparkles removed, could do in a pinch as a shelter when camping.]<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ku5LjqKaGW0/T1_gBAqsDeI/AAAAAAAAAYA/V1zVKmBmkBc/s1600/Grace+invention+2+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="363" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ku5LjqKaGW0/T1_gBAqsDeI/AAAAAAAAAYA/V1zVKmBmkBc/s400/Grace+invention+2+web.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Success!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-88346620828960734572012-02-19T16:27:00.002-06:002012-02-19T17:12:38.841-06:00Getting Ready for Comic-Con International: San Diego 2012 - Yes, Already<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WnpC3n1DoGA/T0FyAvxGWmI/AAAAAAAAAXw/zXjbyxfZcFk/s1600/Robinson+Evanie+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WnpC3n1DoGA/T0FyAvxGWmI/AAAAAAAAAXw/zXjbyxfZcFk/s320/Robinson+Evanie+web.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jerry Robinson and Mark Evanier</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Yes, it's only February - but February isn't too soon to begin to consider July's <a href="http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_reg_2012.php">Comic-Con in San Diego</a>. Anyone who has attended within the last decade knows it, and the strange aspect is that many of those who know it also find themselves becoming tense about what is, year upon year, a delightful mix of adrenaline and unexpected pleasures. The catch that makes many tense is the uncertainty over what is to come. So it's time to take a look at a few suggestions and to solicit even more from those who know what's what. (By the way, one of the most expert of those who know what's what is Mark Evanier, whom the convention drafted long ago to evoke anecdotes and other information from those who have made the comics industry what it is. If you have not made it a point to attend his panels, make this your year to do so. He is also a prime source of general advice about attending the convention, and you'll find that and more at <a href="http://www.newsfromme.com/">his website</a>. Don't miss <em>that</em>, either!) Anyway, in the midst of making my own plans, I've so far come up with suggestions to myself that I'll set down here for the record.<br />
(1) Plan ahead. Look at the convention map, the San Diego map, the convention schedule, etc. Note whatever is of interest to you.<br />
(2) Don't let #1 stop you from preparing to seize the opportunity, if something that looks like fun offers itself. Years and years ago, Don and I realized that we were growing so tense over planning that we decided to relax at the next Comic-Con and just enjoy whatever happened. We had a resultant relatively stress-free event that was packed with surprise encounters we'd have never experienced, had we gone with an agenda so strict that it didn't allow us to take time to hang out with nice people.<br />
(3) Consider what to pack. If you want photos, take your best camera; it's not as though you'll see these folks all together somewhere else. Not to be morbid - but this photo is the last one I was ever able to take of Jerry Robinson. (And I love my digital camera and have since added a telephoto lens to the one I had last year - but don't forget to stick some extra memory cards in your pocket. I actually had to walk half a mile back to my hotel room last year to grab one I'd left there, when I realized the one in my camera was full.)<br />
(4) Sign up for Twitter and begin to follow people you care about. Then check it during the show. Sometimes, folks will Tweet about where they are, what they're doing, and what news they've learned. It's a pop-culture festival, after all.<br />
What have I forgotten?<br />
And, before many minutes had gone by, Mark Engblom reminded me of his <a href="http://comiccoverage.typepad.com/comic_coverage/2007/07/your-clip-n-sav.html">invaluable tip sheet</a>.Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-75754207094126203892012-02-07T12:15:00.000-06:002012-02-07T12:15:49.379-06:00Caveman Is Preparing for an NPR Tiny Desk Concert<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_lNaPhnjPBw/TzFqOF29FrI/AAAAAAAAAXo/ZoDJ--xJzrM/s1600/Caveman+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_lNaPhnjPBw/TzFqOF29FrI/AAAAAAAAAXo/ZoDJ--xJzrM/s400/Caveman+web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-34535859031373048132012-02-07T10:02:00.002-06:002012-02-07T10:06:32.075-06:00What? You Thought I Had No More Chicken Bowl Photos?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5kIqo7YtkzQ/TzFKAGuM28I/AAAAAAAAAXA/3HIUYGn9vcA/s1600/Grace+Fort+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5kIqo7YtkzQ/TzFKAGuM28I/AAAAAAAAAXA/3HIUYGn9vcA/s1600/Grace+Fort+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5kIqo7YtkzQ/TzFKAGuM28I/AAAAAAAAAXA/3HIUYGn9vcA/s320/Grace+Fort+web.jpg" width="219" /></a>Admittedly, there were rules and regulations controlling the attendees. The daughter of the household outlined a couple of them for the visitors; it could have been complicated, since her office consists of the entertainment center atop which sat the television set that a few of those present were actually watching. But I'm here to report that everyone was well-behaved, and both fort and office remained intact throughout.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9o9N4-aKt4A/TzFL8ziPwrI/AAAAAAAAAXI/FmVnstmDkMA/s1600/Hot+Dog+Muffins+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9o9N4-aKt4A/TzFL8ziPwrI/AAAAAAAAAXI/FmVnstmDkMA/s200/Hot+Dog+Muffins+web.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>And did I mention there was food? Linda Holmes (of NPR's Monkey See pop-culture blog) brought a contribution that was actually pretty much consumed before all the guests had arrived: hot dog pieces in corn muffins. She said she'd found the recipe online. Thank you, Internet!Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-41496151176713463172012-02-07T09:25:00.004-06:002012-02-07T09:54:07.423-06:00Chicken Bowl XVI Follow-Up<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YeGLH5DYz4c/TzFB1Y_4Y7I/AAAAAAAAAWg/BNFFkDR6MP4/s1600/Announcing+Winner+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YeGLH5DYz4c/TzFB1Y_4Y7I/AAAAAAAAAWg/BNFFkDR6MP4/s400/Announcing+Winner+web.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the moment of triumph, in which Stephen Thompson (right) announced Dan Cernikovsky as winner of the binge-don't-purge event.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>In the brief moment during which my laptop is functioning, I feel it incumbent upon me to provide at least a few images of Sunday's Popeye Chicken-Enhanced Chicken Bowl. Given that this laptop will crash at any moment, let's see what I can post before it does ...<br />
... And, indeed, crash it did. When will I learn to save, save, save? In any case, the house was filled with about 50 attendees - from as far away as New York City and Iola, Wisconsin. There were those who savored the food (which, yes, did include a black bean soup for the vegetarians in attendance), those who actually watched the Super Bowl, those who raced from room to room firing Nerf missiles (those racers, it should be noted, were among those still in grade school; none of those who were older came remotely close to the racers in energy level), and even a few who took photos (especially at the moment of the tiara-winning triumph of the attendee who earned the most points for chicken consumption).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yQVdPZL_1bk/TzFGifY8icI/AAAAAAAAAWo/8wQ-iA00ngQ/s1600/Winner+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yQVdPZL_1bk/TzFGifY8icI/AAAAAAAAAWo/8wQ-iA00ngQ/s400/Winner+web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-6324232836437197912012-02-05T08:58:00.000-06:002012-02-05T08:58:03.610-06:00Chicken Bowl XVI: It Begins!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SZpCPYZdxC8/Ty6Wb-T2MeI/AAAAAAAAAWY/SkP8-v3uurM/s1600/Jonah+Poster+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SZpCPYZdxC8/Ty6Wb-T2MeI/AAAAAAAAAWY/SkP8-v3uurM/s400/Jonah+Poster+web.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>There are those who believe that national attention will be solely focused on the Super Bowl today - but I'm here to tell you that there are those whose sporting spirit will not wish to neglect the wonders of another form of competition. That form was initiated by Stephen Thompson a decade and a half ago, and followers have been impressed by his ongoing dedication to the sport. He has summarized the event for the National Public Radio website on its "Food" blog The Salt - and commenters there have already sneered at what they perceive as its frivolous nature. But come on: How many of you would have devoted yourself to this sort of annual event for so many years so devotedly?<br />
So here I am in Maryland, preparing to be surrounded by chicken-eating devotees. Some of them may even watch the game while gorging. Stephen and I went yesterday to the Popeye's from which the chicken will be picked up today (and let me recommend this particular Popeye's establishment; the gentleman was charming, if a bit bemused: the Takoma Park restaurant on New Hampshire Avenue).<br />
I've already managed to incapacitate myself slightly in all this: a missed step led to a certain bruising, including a swollen right foot. But the way I figure is that it will let me all the more empathize with the Super Bowl players requiring icing during Today's Other Event. But, of course, that'll be secondary to the true excitement. Up with chicken!Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-48649758469280372012012-01-31T08:22:00.000-06:002012-01-31T08:22:04.292-06:002012: My Year of Family and Anniversaries<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rXOGr-rcUkg/Tyf4kPSzH1I/AAAAAAAAAWQ/JSPAAow_xic/s1600/Family2011032624+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rXOGr-rcUkg/Tyf4kPSzH1I/AAAAAAAAAWQ/JSPAAow_xic/s400/Family2011032624+web.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">March 2011 (left to right): Katy Curtis, Maggie Thompson, Paul Curtis, Grace Thompson, Stephen Thompson, Valerie Thompson, Devon Jaruk, Roy Jaruk, Jonah Thompson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>This is one of those years of coincidental landmark line-ups. Consider: Mom and Dad were born in 1917. I was born in 1942. My sister Mary was born in 1947. I met Don in 1957. We were married in 1962. Valerie was born in [harrumph] Stephen was born in [another harrumph]. The Cleveland Press folded - and Don and I were hired by Krause Publications - in 1982, the year we moved to Wisconsin. It seemed to me that this is a logical year to celebrate all of that - and to get into more communications with family and friends. It was a shock to learn that my last remaining aunt (Dad's sister) and uncle (Mom's brother) died in 2011, so again: It's time to make an effort to reconnect - and this is a perfect time. I was thrilled to hear this month from a cousin I'd been trying to locate.<br />
When was the last time you reached out to your brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins ...? This would be a great year to do it!Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-9208364200468139002011-12-06T08:42:00.001-06:002011-12-06T08:44:27.856-06:00Happy Holidays - from 55 Years Ago<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vIYHwtMLZKk/Tt4m7nW2DnI/AAAAAAAAAWI/wZcpa8Tc7Sk/s1600/1956+Christmas+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vIYHwtMLZKk/Tt4m7nW2DnI/AAAAAAAAAWI/wZcpa8Tc7Sk/s400/1956+Christmas+web.jpg" width="331" /></a></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">CURTIS, CURTIS, CURTIS, CURTIS & CURTIS</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(The Fountain House, originally an inn, is not only our house, but gives its name to an area about a mile square; that’s why it is really a part of our mailing address.)</span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fountain House, R.D. 2, Saegertown, Pennsylvania</span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ANNUAL REPORT 1956+</span></div><br />
<strong>Yesterday, I posted <a href="http://www.maggiethompson.com/2011/12/happy-holidays-from-60-years-ago.html">Mom and Dad's Christmas Letter from 1951</a>. But I also located their annual letter from five years later. So here it is, with happy wishes to all - and a realization that one problem solved doesn't mean all complications are solved forever. (Ah, memories of having to evacuate when the coal furnace mentioned in the 1951 letter went berserk and filled the house with coal smoke and attendant fumes. Hence, the gas furnace noted in the 1956 letter.) May your coming year have more triumphs and fewer challenges ...</strong><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dear Friends, Relations, Stockholders, and Hockholders,</span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1956-plus has been a year chiefly composed of beginnings. While such things as the April to October rainy season, classes, the 87 quarts of peaches and 4 bushels of tomatoes we put up, and Katy's getting bigger and more fun seemed to have neither beginning nor end, the year was packed with such New Year's Days as those few we have space to record below. Most of these days initiated such interesting chains of happiness that we shall have to let you extrapolate much of the fun we've had for yourselves. We have run this report on into 1957 because the procession of New Year's Days showed no slackening by the first of the calendar year (and occupied so much of our attention that we had no break in which to report the beginnings already behind us).</span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Apr. 3</b>, Molly's New Years making her nine years old, tall, blonde, busy, Brownie Scout.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sometime this month we got a new-to-us radio to bring more and better music.</span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">May 26</b>, Katy's Christening, with Kathryn Hamilton and Gay and Peter McGee as sponsors.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A family New Year's, we hadn’t seen Pete since 1943, nor previously met Gay or cousins Woody and Jamie who stayed for a wonderful two-day visit.</span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">June 7</b>, Katy's Second New Year's, making her one year old, fat and sassy and fun.</span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">July 9</b>, the family's first RBBB Circus (sitting on straw and loving every moment).</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">20th</b>, began the girls' annual Week in Oberlin with Grandmother McGee.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">30th</b>, the Saegertown Marching Band began daily rehearsals for the coming year.</span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Aug. 11</b>, Mother Curtis' annual visit, which wound up with our getting a trip to Ithaca to take her home and to see Pat and Frank, Bettie and Ote, and all six cousins.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">27th</b>, Public School began, as usual at least a week too early to suit us.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">7th or 21st?</b> Bill and Alice and Ann Davidson dropped in for a too brief visit.</span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sept. 6</b>, First Annual Appearance of the Saegertown Band. (Mother McGee came to see it.)</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">17th</b>, Betsy's New Years makes her the same age as Jack Benny? (or so he says.)</span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Oct. 22</b>, Betsy's Intellectual New Years, with mimeographing of her ponderous paper on liberal education and the proposed non-resident quarter system for Oberlin.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">24th</b> (I think), an overnight visit from Mary Helen and Pete Whaley and young.</span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Nov. 20</b>, Pearl, the Pure White Stove, replaced old Una the Universal who conked out.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">22nd</b>, Thanksgiving-New Year's for the McGee family, the first time all Mother McGee's grandchildren had all been together and the first time in fifteen years that she and her children had been all together (in her Oberlin apartment). Now that Chuck and family are near Chicago, we'll hope to make this a yearly do.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">28th</b>, New Year's Day for Betsy’s teeth.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">29th</b>, Margaret's New Year's. (Judy is known as Margaret or Maggie for the purpose of deconfusing school teachers.) Fourteen years old, tenth grader, tall as her mother but purtier and thinner.</span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dec. 11</b>, Ed's New Years made him the same age as Betsy. New Year's Day also for a brown suit (to take the strain off the one he was married in 15 ¼ years ago.)</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">22nd</b>, New Year's Day for The Fountain House, when title passed from Florence and Bill Reid to Ed and Bets. (The New Mortgage included the costs of Phoebus, Cyrene, Georch, white aluminum lap siding, and some needed electrical repairs.)</span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jan. 23-25</b>, New Year's Days for Phoebus the Phurnace (gas) and his pipes which heat even the second floor, and for Cyrene the Cyclic (automatic water heater, also known as Phoebus' Phancy) now faithfully responsible for the Cleaner Curtises.</span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Feb. 13</b>, New Year's Day for Doorbells, Wallplugs, and the Heavy Equipment Circuit.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">15th</b>, New Year's Day for the White White Fountain House and Georch the Porch.</span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mar. 5</b>, Woodwork, walls, ceiling of the livingroom freshly painted with Mother M's help.</span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So … Happy New Year's and all intervening holidays from KATE, MOLLY, JUDY, BETS & ED.</span></div>Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1997737399503204439.post-37660565733360956772011-12-05T11:03:00.001-06:002011-12-06T07:28:33.815-06:00Happy Holidays - from 60 Years Ago<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JbkGrkzWnhA/Ttz2XyGRazI/AAAAAAAAAWA/ZXGbij-O7QI/s1600/1951+Christmas+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JbkGrkzWnhA/Ttz2XyGRazI/AAAAAAAAAWA/ZXGbij-O7QI/s400/1951+Christmas+web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>Every year, Mom and Dad sent a mimeographed Christmas Letter to their friends, and I've just located one of those vintage messages. The heading above was drawn by Dad, and the messages themselves serve to remind me of the way times have changed (though I'm still, obviously, into comics) and the way our parents managed to maintain our world as kids while going through challenging events.</em></strong> </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dear Friends,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is to notify you of the change in location of headquarters of our firm and the reason for it. As you will remember from our last annual report, we were enthusiastically planning to rebuild the house at Lark Meadows. However, because of the country-wide expected shrinkage in enrollments in colleges for the fall of 1951, St. Lawrence, like many other schools, was forced to reduce the number of its faculty and the head of our firm was so reduced (actually he didn’t lose a pound, which he could ill have spared). Inquiries of a number of colleges brought to light several good possibilities, the most attractive of which was at Allegheny College in Meadville, Penna., and here the Head of the firm accepted an appointment in May. The secretary wrote the treasurer of Allegheny College hoping for assistance in finding just the quarters which the firm required … a bathtub on the premises, three or four bedrooms, doorknobs on the doors, a study for the head of the firm, a kitchen large enough to contain the breakfast table and washer as well as the usual stove and sink. The treasurer was none too hopeful, especially when the request included wishes that the house should be in the country, have a garage and lawn, and be on a paved road. At least there was nothing yet available when the firm sent its effects into storage and moved for the summer to Mother Curtis' house in Ithaca on the first of July. About the middle of August, all members of the firm drove to Oberlin, Ohio, where Mother McGee supervised the activities of the junior members and the senior members went to Meadville to find housing. There they fell in love with a house which, unfortunately, was so tied up financially that the bank decided to try for a quick sale and not rent it. There seemed to be nothing else; so the members returned to Ithaca. A house in Meadville suddenly became available, and Pres. Ed dashed to Meadville to rent it; but someone else had beat him to it. He discussed courses with Bob Bugbee (head of the biology department) and returned to Ithaca. On Sept. 14, he returned to Meadville for the opening of school … to find that the bank had reversed its decision not to rent the house … and on the 21st of September the new headquarters were formally opened.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">FOUNTAIN HOUSE is supposed to be part of the original tremendous inn of that name at which Lafayette is reputed to have slept. The name comes not from the waterfall which yesterday poured into the cellar when it rained, but from a huge watering trough which stood in what is now our front yard. The spring which fed the trough supplies the water for the house. It (the house) is rectangular, white, tree-surrounded. A central stair leads to the four upstairs bedrooms; downstairs are living room, play room, study, kitchen, and bath. Not only is there a bathtub, garage, guest room, ample kitchen, and isolatable study; but there are doorknobs on the doors, a tremendous attic, and four acres of apple trees, grapes, raspberries, and tangle. It is four miles from the college but in the center of a small faculty settlement: the other new man in the biology department lives across one road and the college treasurer across the other.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The secretary-treasurer of the firm at once dashed to town and bought a second-hand stove and refrigerator and bed for the maaaster bedroom (the Canton bed having been sold there in retribution for its infernal uncomfortability). The house with its miles of white woodwork begs for fluffy white curtains and lush carpeting and other goodies … which makes living in it fun because every month it may have a little of the fluff it asks for, and it's so grateful. The pres has already constructed a beautiful floor lamp from copper piping and wire cloth, and another is in the process of construction. The general manager has reupholstered a chair; a rug is in the process of being sewed together and tinted for the living room; the guest room is slowly being repainted, a piece of linoleum has been cut and placed under the laundry rack to provide a dripping-place for snowsuits; and Christmas will be good to the house too, though we haven’t decided just how.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Major achievements and work in progress of the member of the firm for the last ten months are listed below.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">WILLIAM EDGAR CURTIS, president and chief investor: has completed the dissertation for the Ph.D. degree, "Quantitative studies of echolocation in bats (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Myotis l. lucifugus</i>); Studies of vision of bats (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Myotis l. lucifugus</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eptesicus f. fuscus</i>); and Quantitative studies of vision of owls (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tyto alba pratincola</i>)." He expects to take the final exam for the degree sometime this month or next. He has prepared a new course in comparative anatomy and is preparing one in general physiology. He has drive at least 2600 miles. He has trained a bat to come to a certain place for food and to fly around between feedings. He has constructed a copper floor lamp and a new bat cage for his new bat, Tssitt. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And</i> he has mastered the art of firing the soft coal furnace.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ELIZABETH M. CURTIS, secretary, treasurer, general manager, and janitress: She has been cleaning house (she feels) steadily since May 1. She has nursed the junior members through a case of measles and flu each. She has packed the firm’s effects for a major and a minor move and has unpacked and settled twice. She has upholstered a chair and painted boards for a bookcase. Her chief work in progress is a play (sci-fic of course) which is coming along smoothly if slowly. She costumed her children with such ingenuity that they both won first prizes at the Saegertown Hallowe'en parade.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">MARGARET JUDSON CURTIS, vice president in charge of literary and dramatic research, evaluation of propaganda and educational procedures, and cowhand extraordinary: Has recovered promptly from all measles and other such annoyances, has started school in two different places, has examined a tremendous quantity of comic books and western movies and reported on their quality. Her school at Saegertown (to which she rides on the bus which stops at the door) runs a double shift and she goes to the morning session, leaving her afternoon free for learning to cook, doing homework, playing with the three boys her age who live near, and for the researches listed above. She is finding fifth grade well attuned to her present abilities.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">MARY NASH CURTIS, vice president in charge of dolls and stuffed animals, janitress' assistant, and general overseer and underseer: completed the second term of nursery school, learned to swim effectively with a tube and somewhat without it, succeeded in dressing herself completely (except for some hard snaps and tying her shoes). She is not going to nursery school this fall because of transportation difficulties and is spending the time thus freed in assisting with watching the washing machine and in working up complicated "let’s tend I'm the mother and you're the baby" dramas with Marilyn Rogers from across the street. She has also become adept at climbing apple trees in preparation for next year's crop.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our new headquarters is now prepared for your inspection and patronage; and we hope that we may count on your continued interest, approval, and willingness to inform us of your doings and happenings. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Jubilant Easter!</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Molly, Judy, Bets + Ed</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">[And this appended note appeared upside down:]<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dear Would-be Reader of that outstanding fanzine, THE CRICKET,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This letter is in partial explanation of the year-long delay in production of a new edition of the CRICKET and the similar delay in reprinting old issues. And it may be months yet before we get around to doing anything about it. I am still trying valiantly to work the writing of science-fiction into a housekeeping schedule more exacting than any I have previously known. Your name is on a mailing list for the next issue, which will carry a statement of how to continue to be on the mailing list. I hope you will forgive our not having acknowledged your letters and cards during the last six months. We were <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">busy</i>.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Betsy Curtis</span></div>Maggie Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17330911771595134128noreply@blogger.com0