Rising from the ashes like a phoenix, back for an encore performance, it's finally time for another dandy installment of "From the Readers."
Of course, I have some handy excuses for the drought. Such as the pandemic and moving all the way across the United States. But, holy stromboli, I haven't done one of these in more than six months, so it's time to reach far back into the comments section and share what you've sent my way since October 9, 2021.
The Nimoy Award for 1967 goes to ... Miss Nancyann Hiera! "J" sends along this delightful note:
"Mom just showed me this. She was only 17 in that picture, still in high school. (Catholic high school no less — yep, Bible in the morning, sci-fi in the afternoon.) She was so happy when she received this award, as she and her friends all worked very hard on Spock's People (her fan club's name). This was a big achievement for her!
"She came across this article at random a couple hours ago. She had told me many times over the years about her fan club, and she even has a copy of the actual magazine somewhere, but we haven't found it in years. This is the first time we've ever seen this picture online. Thank you for this post, it brought back some good memories for my mom!
"Also, I thought you may've made a typo calling her 'Nancyann,' since her respective first and middle names are 'Nancy' and 'Ann,' but Mom explained, in certain situations, such as with her fan club, she liked to write 'Nancyann' because it was fancy and formal-sounding.
"Though I mentioned she and her friends worked very hard on Spock's People, I should have said her friends were very supportive of her industriousness, as Mom did virtually all of the work herself. Most, if not all, of her friends were members, and she said her mom did help a little, but the grand majority of putting this club together was Mom's doing. She really did earn this award on her own.
"She told me about how she and group of maybe seven or eight friends, her mom, and one or two of her mom's friends, drove to the airport to meet Mr. Nimoy, and how, when she first learned she was receiving the award, everyone was shocked my very introverted, very boring mom managed to develop a fan club worthy of an award from 'Mr. Spock' himself."
(Note: I love this so much!! It's personal connections to ephemera posts like this that keep me super-charged to keep Papergreat going.)
Book cover: "Ghosts of Derbyshire": Tom from the Garage Sale Finds blog writes: "I loved all those books of collected ghost stories. This looks like a good one." (Speaking of good ones, I love this recent post on Garage Sale Finds about a sticker-adorned bedroom door.)
Vanished place: Old South Bar-B-Q Ranch in Clewiston, Florida: Unknown writes: "In the 50s and 60s, rollin' down old road Route 27 from Hialeah to Dover to Grandma and Grandaddy's house. The cypress signs with funny southern phrases went on for miles. The Old South Bar-B-Q Ranch signs, of course. What a memory!"
QSLs: Stoneham, New Brunswick, Attleboro, Lexington, Bridgewater: In regards to the "All 23" reference on QSL cards, "Geo." writes: "Yes, there were 23 channels available for the Citizens Band Radio Service until the late 70s/early 80s." Also, regarding QSLs printed by CBC Club, "Geo." notes: "CBC Club sold QSL cards nationwide, probably the largest printer of cards in the country."
Attention housewives: Here are 5 of the 219 ways to a man's heart: Just J writes: "Thanks for the information on this cookbook. Recently acquired a copy and wanted to know who, what, why and where. ... A big smile from me."
Polish poster for 1965's "Kwaidan": Roger Allen writes: "Seijin Suzuki's TaishÅ Roman Trilogy are very unconventional — but effective — Japanese ghost stories made in the 1980s, films about what may not be ghosts and looking at the impact of Western culture on Japan in the 1920s."
Lamenting what we'll never know about Phyllis J. Stalnaker Harris: This somber post continues to draw a lot of comments and discussion:
- Unknown wrote: "I believe all us souls are attended to, whether we are honored at a funeral, or end up anonymously in a mass grave."
- Unknown wrote: "Phyllis has a lovely headstone, someone took care in doing that for her." This comment garnered two replies:
1. From Janine: "I don't know about that. A headstone engraved with just 'at rest' typically implies that the people paying for the headstone (usually the family) thought the person was a problematic and troubled soul, and that they're just happy the person is finally at rest now."
2. From lilbit: "It could also mean that they couldn't afford anything bigger. Her relatives' headstones that are pictured are not much bigger/nicer."
- Anonymous wrote: "The comments, 'Weedhead' and 'Tramp' are very unprofessional terms for police work. They are more personal insults than a description of violations of law. I've seen mugshots from around the country. Usually, only a photo and booking number are included. In fact, the comments may be considered Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI), that may not be released, except under very limited circumstances. Aside from being a disgrace to law enforcement, The San Diego Police Department may be liable for violation of law for releasing this type of information." There was one reply to this comment:
Anonymous: "Agreed. The comments below the photo are a disgrace. The San Diego Police Department should be ashamed it released the photo, and should remove it from official police files, the police museum, etc. Phyllis deserves some minimal dignity and respect. She was someone's daughter or sister. Could have been someone's mother or wife."
- Unknown wrote: "This short bio grabs me as I have been thinking lately about how little of us is remembered or retained in memory after we die. My mother's father, William M. Hoag came to the U.S. around 1900 from Scotland. He worked in a steel mill in Pittsburgh where he was badly injured. He died of tuberculosis of the spine in the early 1920s. We have exactly one picture of him. That is the sum total of what we know about our maternal grandfather. I hope everyone else is doing a better job of chronicling their family members in 2021, as well as their ancestors."
A little bit of this and that: Ziaheart writes: "I suspected that the phrase 'mad money' came from 'money for getting home when mad at date.' It's good to finally have a confirmation."
Remembering "Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted Houseful": Inky from
On Shoes and Ships and Sealing-Wax writes: "I know I have 'Alfred Hitchcock's Solve-Them-Yourselves Mysteries' and a few of The Three Investigators books, but I can't remember if I have this one or one of the other children's anthologies with that cover you think I'd remember)! Either way, you've spurred me into pulling out some of Hitchcock anthologies and magazines this week!"
"Cousin Katie" and three dolls: Inky writes: This photo seems like it should come with the caption: "Little did Cousin Katie know that soon she'd be joining them in the nursery?"
- Jan. O. writes: "I just received from my aunt 3 lace handkerchiefs, made in Belgium, that were purchased through this Around-The-World Shoppers Club. She said that the handkerchiefs were given to my grandmother or were purchased by her. My grandmother passed away 40 years ago."
- Unknown writes: "I collect cuckoo clocks and came upon a German Black Forest Mini, one-weight cuckoo clock from the Around-The-World Shoppers Club. It came with the original paperwork. I cleaned the movement and re-oiled the clock and it is up and running to this day."
Cheerful Card Company can help you earn extra money for the holidays: Unknown writes: "I currently work for an organisation that provides care to people with disabilities in Northern Ireland. The premises were bought and donated to the local community by Thomas Doran, who I believe may have owned the Cheerful Card Company. Would anyone know if this was correct and what happened to the company and Thomas Doran."
Book cover: "I'd Rather Be Wright": Regarding book author Steve Wright, Donna Price Chisam writes: "Hello to Steve. We were friends in the the summer of 1963 when he was in North Alabama for an archeological dig and course. Clarification. Never dated, just friends."
Postcard: Very twisted tree in Michigan's Thumb: Erik Nilsen of Portland, Oregon, shares some great additional history: "The crooked tree as we called it was in our front yard at 228 North Huron. It is definitely a mountain ash and it choked itself off and rotted back in 1977 I believe. The legend surrounding it was that when it was a sapling the French fur trappers known as a voyageurs twisted it as a trail marker. Absolutely no idea if that's true or not but I loved playing in it as a kid and my Mom named her nursery school the crooked tree preschool after it."
The Life of Abraham Lincoln For Young Folks: Ziaheart writes: "The book seems like a good idea to help children learning to read learn to break words down to figure out pronunciation. Better idea might be to have the words whole and a pronunciation guide next to it in parenthesis. I was confused by
leg-is-la-ture for half a second. Because of the way it was broken down I was reading the word with a 'hard g' and a 'short a' — and a kid who's not familiar with that word might have similar problems with that section."
(Note: As someone who covers Pennsylvania politics, I can tell you that legislature is confusing any way you approach it.)
(Yes, I believe kindergartener also referred to a kindergarten teacher.)
Delightful Blair Lent illustrations from "Baba Yaga": Trabeated821 writes: "I just pulled out my copy of this book from my childhood, which brought back memories as I re-read the story. Since it's from 1966, I looked to what became of the author. The images are so vivid in my mind, especially the house on chicken legs. Interesting to learn that the author was also the illustrator."
(Related film for this comment: Jacques Tati's Trafic (1971))
(Full disclosure: This is a spam comment that slipped through. But I'm leaving it in, because it flatters me and I am intrigued by the idea of a Blogging Tournament of Champions.)
Guy Brown Wiser, artist and World War I aviator: Son Of The Dragon (Roger) writes: "Wow, thank you for your courageous service, Mr. Wiser. As a youngster my sister and I absolutely loved his illustrations for
Timothy Turtle. By any chance does any of the artwork survive for this wonderful book?"
- Tom from Garage Sale Finds writes: "I know where you're coming from. I feel an obligation when I come into possession of old items. I think, hey, somebody kept it this long, who am I to get rid of it now?"
- Kellyn writes: "I remembered my childhood on seeing this post today. I used to play similar games my childhood."
(Note: But I did recently
find it in Arizona!)
Discovering Robert Dale Owen: Roger Allen writes: "It ran in the family. His father, Robert Owen, was a successful businessman, reformer and radical in both Britain and the USA."
(Note: Indeed,
as Wikipedia states, Brumbaugh "re-wrote the entire Puerto Rican history curriculum, sanitized it and purged from it any data threatening to the 'American cause.'")
Hans Holzer was stalking ghosts and wild asparagus: Anonymous writes: "Thanks for writing this blog post. I am not sure if you knew this, but Holzer also wrote a book,
The Psychic World of Plants, in 1975; it was also missing from
his Wikipedia article so I added it. It contains a chapter near the end where he talks about vegetarianism and plant pain. Holzer believed that plants are sentient and have ESP ability. He was influenced by the work of
Cleve Backster that was never replicated by the scientific community. Holzer was a big consumer of grains and legumes. I don't think he thought his argument through deeply. He said as a vegetarian he didn't eat anything if the root was destroyed or pulled up, but he was happy to eat other parts of the plant, because even though plants do feel pain it is not as bad as animal pain and the plant will not die. I don't think he realised how many mice are killed when grain is harvested. BTW, I know you are a pescatarian. I am a former vegetarian. I then became a pescatarian paleo diet advocate (no grains or dairy)."
An old copy of The Herbalist Almanac: Catherine Yronwode of
HerbMagic.com writes: "I have copies [of The Herbalist Almanac] dated as late as 1981. The earlier years have cover art signed 'C. Meyer,' which is likely to be Clarence Meyer, one of Joseph Meyer's sons, as he illustrated other editions and collections from the company later."
Coupons from the E.H. Koester Bakery Co.: DarleneChil writes: "My Dad and his sister worked at Koester around 1955. My dad was a route salesman and my aunt worked in office. So the story goes, my dad was on a advertising sign of a man panning for gold. That sign was on the side of streetcar or bus. Would love to find more info about that sign."
Luckyday buttons — the talk of the town: Unknown writes: "Have a Luckyday card with three 1-inch white buttons; the lady in the left corner has large brim green hat, red hair, light blue ruffle around her neck. Not been able to see this particular picture on this card."
(OK, I need a nap now after putting this together. Serves me right for waiting six months.)
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