Sunday, July 1, 2012

Readers comments and the Italian postcard caption contest results


Last weekend I asked readers to come up with their best captions for the above postcard from Sorrento, Italy. There were some great responses! Here's a recap:
  • Aswope: "(Giggling) Did the carriage driver not get the memo?"
  • Wendyvee of Wendyvee's RoadsideWonders.Net: "... and so, Madam, Shake Weights are a flab-busting breakthrough. They trim your arms and shape your shoulders at the same time!"
  • Jim Fahringer: "Sorry, Dear, the horse is better dressed and looks better than you!"
  • Anonymous entrant: "Honest, all I said was 'Beam me up, Scotty,' and I just turned up here."
  • My wife Joan: "If I have a trussed-up horse, and YOU have a trussed-up horse, I RIDE YOUR HORSE."1
And ... the winner of the two Italian postcards and other assorted bonus ephemera is Jim Fahringer.

Jim, please email me at cotto@ydr.com with your mailing address and I'll get your goodies sent.
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Here's a roundup of some other recent reader comments. Thank you, as always, for sharing your thoughts and continuing the conversation here on Papergreat.

Weekend postcards: Celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II: Anonymous writes: "The last photograph/postcard has to be a photo of the royals and entourage ... in wax. Maybe from one of Madame Tussauds museums. Anyone agree?"

Good call! Yes, I think I would agree with this. I came across a couple of similar vintage photos, including this one. Of course, Madame Tussauds keeps up with the times, and the Queen doesn't look like this anymore. The museum's website offers a look at the current royal wax figures.

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Warm up with baseball photos from the early 20th century: Harold Hecuba2 writes: "Very cool photos. People played for the love of the game in those days."

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There's beauty in them thar old library circulation cards: Mel Kolstad of Ephemeraology writes: "WHOA. I have never seen a circ card that old -- what a find!"

And JT Anthony of A Pretty Book writes: "Joan of Arc was checked out 12 times in nearly 32 years for an average of once every 2.67 years. Wonder how that compares to other books on library shelves then and now?"

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Found recipes, Part 2: Whose box (and turketti recipe) was this? Teresa Nielsen Hayden, the founding author of a highly recommended website called Making Light3, gives us the final word on turketti:

"That Turketti recipe belongs in the same category as Turkey a la King, Turkey Croquettes, Turkey Alfredo, Turkey Hot Dish, Turkey Divan, etc. -- that is, recipes designed to use up post-Thanksgiving leftover turkey. Its closest relative would be Turkey Tetrazzini: turkey, cooked spaghetti, flavorful sauce, cheese.

"Turketti is actually a pretty good recipe of its kind. Using cream of mushroom soup as a basis for sauces was a standard maneuver back then, and the chopped ham, pimento, and green pepper would have added considerable interest. It gets extra points for specifying a sharp cheese rather than Velveeta.

"The only part that puzzles me is refrigerating it, then baking it for 45 minutes, which turns what would otherwise be a respectable midcentury pasta casserole into something resembling school cafeteria food. On the other hand, if the idea was to have a dish you could cut and serve in freestanding squares, that would be the way to go."
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Neat illustrations and more from a 1948 Bear Cub Scout book: Anonymous writes: "Thanks for putting this on. My brother had this very book when I was a kid and I must have worn it out looking at it. Every illustration is familiar."

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Fun stuff from "Practice Activities in English, Grade Eight" (1937): Buffy Andrews of Buffy's Write Zone writes: "This was dandy, Chris. Swell job of posting this. Now I have to go train my tongue!"

Footnotes
1. Joan is, of course, referencing the "I drink your milkshake!" scene in Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood."
2. I'm not sure is "Harold Hecuba" is that reader's real name. But it's also the name of the character Phil Silvers played in a well-remembered episode of "Gilligan's Island" titled "The Producer." It features the castaways staging a musical version of "Hamlet." Also -- and this is REALLY going off on a tangent -- Madame Hecuba is the name of the villainess in the 1974 animated Japanese version of "Jack and the Beanstalk," which has curiously stuck with me through the decades. This blogger remembers it, too.
3. Making Light is filled with fascinating, thought-provoking and sometimes silly stuff. One recent post I enjoyed was titled "The return of the evil spelling test" and garnered more than 200 comments. #Jeaolous

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