I resolve not to support AI "art" again after this apocalyptic post

Admitting up front that this post is hypocritical, my resolution for 2025 is to cease all use and support of AI-created "art" in 2025 and, overall, to greatly reduce my reliance on AI. Illustrations created by AI lead to the loss of human creativity; constitute the theft of intellectual property; financially harm human artists; accommodate the spread of misinformation and propaganda; and are a massive drain on the power grid, contributing to environmental harm and global heating. 

AI sucks. Of course, a lot of things suck right now. And these AI images generated while I was selfishly messing around earlier this year pretty much sum up the state of things headed into 2025.

Rest in peace, President James Earl "Jimmy" Carter Jr.

This is my only postcard of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who died today at age 100. The postcard was published by Coral-Lee¹ and the caption on the back states:

"President and Mrs. Carter "take the wheel" of the U.S.S. Eisenhower during the president's inspection of the U.S. naval vessel. In the early 1950's Jimmy Carter served in the Navy and has often proudly related his experiences. Winston-Salem, N.C., March, 1978"

The man behind President Carter, I'm 99% sure, is Vice Admiral William E. Ramsey (1931-2018), who was the first commanding officer of the Eisenhower, a nuclear-powered Nimitz class aircraft carrier.

Here's an excerpt from the remarks President Carter made on March 17, 1978, upon visiting the Eisenhower: "As President of the United States and as Commander in Chief, I've had a chance today to be reassured that our Nation is strong, that that strength is being used to preserve peace around the world, and that the destiny of our country rests on the shoulders of strong men like yourselves, who exemplify superb service and courage in one of the great ships of the greatest navy in the greatest country on Earth."

Carter, by the way, is the only president to have earned the Submarine Warfare insignia, known as the "Dolphins" badge.

He and his wife Rosalynn (who died in November 2023) lived modestly after his one-term presidency ended in January 1981. As The Washington Post notes: "Mr. Carter declined the corporate board memberships and lucrative speaking engagements that have made other ex-presidents tens of millions of dollars. He said in the 2018 interview that he didn’t want to 'capitalize financially on being in the White House.'² ... For decades, the Carters spent a week a year building homes with Habitat for Humanity, the Georgia-based nonprofit organization that constructs housing for low-income people. Wearing their own tool belts, they helped build or renovate about 4,300 homes in 14 countries."

That's a damn fine legacy.

Carter is the first president I remember. He took office in early 1977, when I was 6 years old, and I recall lots of conversation about how interesting it was that a kid (the Carters' daughter Amy) lived in the White House. Once 1980 rolled around, I was well aware of the Iran hostage crisis and the intense news coverage, which included a running counter of the total days the hostages had been held. But I certainly didn't grasp the politics behind the situation.

It wasn't until many years later that I had a deeper understanding of Carter's legacy, of his successes and mistakes, and how his loss in the 1980 presidential election greatly shaped the world we live in today. 

Footnotes

1. Coral-Lee was the nickname and business name of Coralie Sparre, a teacher and avid postcard collector who got into postcard publishing when she retired. As this 2021 article by Bill Burton on Postcard History notes: "She decided that there was a need for postcards that documented the contemporary world. Her first project was a series of cards on the Presidential administration of Jimmy Carter, who had just been elected. Her first project became a 12-card set, but by the time President Carter left office she had published 72 cards. She assembled all of them into an album that she personally presented to Carter in late January 1981 in the Oval Office."

2. Ahem.

Merry Christmas 2025. Here's another yule log.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! Here's another illustration of the gathering of the yule log, following the one I posted earlier this month. I think it's interesting that this one features three women, one of whom is decidedly not helping with the efforts. 

This is an undated trifold Christmas card that has "All kind thoughts and wishes sincere For a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" printed inside. No manufacturer is listed. It just states "MADE IN U.S.A." I'm guessing it's from the 1920s or 1930s.

If you have a hankering to browse a lot of Christmas ephemera today while drinking eggnog and celebrating Yuletide, this is the most up-to-date directory I have of all of Papergreat's ephemera posts.

And here's Nebula with today's card.

One orange cat to beam up, Scotty

Merry Christmas Eve from Bandit, who likes to stand 

right in front of the Christmas laser lights. 

He's not helping with the perception that orange male cats have a few loose bulbs in their string of lights, 

if you know what I mean.

Historic Montoursville church is closing its doors

Episcopal Church of Our Saviour in Montoursville, Pennsylvania, is the subject of this undated, never-used postcard from my collection that was published by Merrimack Picture Post Card Co., of North Springfield, Vermont.

I'm posting it because I read on Facebook over the weekend that the church is closing its doors on Christmas Eve (tomorrow night).

Our family connection to the church is slight. We attended services there for a very short period in the early 1970s when living on Mulberry Street. But the tiny church on Loyalsock Avenue is iconic, perhaps the most beautiful one in Montoursville. Although it can be hard to spot because it's so small and tucked away on a mostly residential street, it's always been a landmark for me when driving back through town on infrequent visits.

Steve Bagwell, who is Montoursville's mayor but also an avid historian and talented photographer, posted this message on Facebook, along with a number of beautiful photos of the church's interior:

"The Church of Our Saviour has been celebrating Christmas services since 1870. That would make this year the 155th time and it will be the last. The church is a special place, it looks very much like it would have shortly after the Civil War. The last Christmas celebration will be on Christmas eve at 7:00."

According to the Society of Architectural Historians, the church was designed by the Rev. John Henry Hopkins Jr. That website notes: "Boldly articulated framing members and long vertical boards, an elongated bell-cote, and a sharply peaked vestibule give the small church a tall and imposing presence on a crowded residential street. The church's small size dictated its nave plan."

An online PDF from earlier this year states: "RESOLVED, that the dissolution of the parish of Church of Our Saviour, Montoursville, Pennsylvania, as approved by a vote of at least 2/3 of the parish members and as recommended by The Rt. Rev. Audrey C. Scanlan and Canon Chad Linder, Canon for Finance and Operations, and, subject to confirmation by resolution of this 154th Convention, be and is hereby approved."

I'm not sure how it might happen, but we can only hope that the building is preserved and maintained for its great historic value, even if it will no longer serve its function as a church.

UPDATE: Bagwell posted some additional beautiful photos of the church's exterior.

Postcards of Bronner's Christmas Wonderland

"Look, Charlie, let's face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It's run by a big eastern syndicate, you know." — Lucy Van Pelt

"What's this? 'Find the true meaning of Christmas? Win money money money? Spectacular, super-colossal neighborhood lights and display contest?' Lights and display contest? Oh, no! My own dog gone commercial, I can't stand it!" — Charlie Brown

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965)

* * *

These two modern postcards, one of which I mailed this morning to a pen pal in the Netherlands, promote Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, a seven-acre superstore in Frankenmuth, Michigan, that was founded in 1945.

Its website notes: "Bronner's features a fantastic selection of Christmas ornaments, trims, trees, Christmas lights, nativities and collectibles. Christmas cards, garlands, stockings, Advent calendars and wreaths are also among the many items available. Of the more than 6,000 styles of ornaments which Bronner's carries, half of the glass ornaments are Bronner's exclusive designs." 

And its blog is awash in corporate brand names:

• "Decorate for Christmas with candy! No doubt, several favorites come to mind, including Dum-Dums®, M&M’S®, Pez®, Skittles®, Life Savers®, Starburst® and Hot Tamales®. And what about Milky Way®, Tootsie Roll® Pop, Twix®, Snickers® and gummy bears?"
• "Craft yourself an enchanted little Christmas with our Disney®-inspired, Enchanting Rose Cloche DIY Home Accent!"
• "Detroit Lions Top Nifty New Ornaments for 2024 Topping many Michigander’s list this Christmas, no doubt, will be this Detroit Lions glass football ornament."

In a November 21, 2024, article about Bronner's for National Review, John J. Miller writes: "Shoppers come not only to buy but also to enjoy a spectacle. Outside the store, there’s a life-sized Nativity scene, three 17-foot-tall Santa statues, and the octagonal Silent Night Chapel, a replica of the Austrian original where the hymn 'Silent Night' was written and first performed two centuries ago. Inside the store, lights flash and twinkle everywhere. Electrical bills used to top $1,200 per day, but they fell to $650 per day after the store replaced its incandescent bulbs with LEDs. Bronner’s estimates that in a typical year, it sells strings of Christmas lights whose combined length would stretch to nearly 500 miles."

Billboards for Bronner's can be found as far away as Florida. (That reminds me of Wall Drug's highway advertising strategy.)

Bronner's may be the biggest store, but it's hardly the only one of its kind. Most Americans have a Christmas superstore fairly close by. There are notable stores in Hiawassee, Georgia; Middleburg, Virginia; San Diego, California; Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Santa Claus, Indiana; Mobile, Alabama; Arlington, Texas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and New Oxford, Pennsylvania, among many other locations.

Of course, the Yuletide bric-a-brac competition is fierce, so not all Christmas stores survive. I wrote about Christmas Tree Shops in 2015 and it went out of business in 2023. 

"How I love the sound of clinking money! That beautiful sound of cold hard cash! Nickels, nickels, nickels! That beautiful sound of clinking nickels!" — Lucy Van Pelt

Vintage Christmas card: Bringing in the yule log

4

This small, slightly embossed, Christmas card measures 4½ inches by 3½ inches. It's not folded and there's no writing on the back. So it could have been intended to go inside an envelope, or perhaps just handed to someone — Rheva in this case.

A Google image search brings up other vintage illustrations of folks dragging a yule log through the winter snow, but not this specific illustration. So, no luck on the date or manufacturer. It could easily be 100 years old, or possibly produced as "recently" as the 1940s, in my opinion.

The text states: 

"A Very Merry Christmas

The season's cheer this Wish inspires

Warm as the glow of Yuletide fires"

I also posted a vintage illustration of the collecting of a yule log in 2019. I wrote then of the enjoyable "idea of gathering around a roaring fire at Midwinter for good company, good cheer in a cup, and perhaps a good ghost tale while the wind howls outside." The sentiment still stands. There would be friends and loved ones aplenty, a sprawling vegetarian feast and multiple long, snowy nights of merriment, as the yule log is intended to burn for nearly a fortnight.

And there should be cats, too, of course. Here's Pete.

Saturday's postcard: Vintage Christmas snowball fight

This Whitney Made (Worcester, Massachusetts) postcard features an adorable snow fort and looming snowball fight featuring a couple of tots dressed up as Santa Claus. The message on the front states "A Merry Christmas to You (And I Hope It Hits You, too!)"

The card was mailed with a one-cent stamp and postmarked in Fort Smith, Arkansas. I think the year is 1915, but I'm not 100% sure on that. That was definitely a year in which postcard stamps cost a penny. The card was mailed to St. Louis, Missouri.

The short cursive message on the back states:

Dear Florence:—

I wish you a merry Christmas, and hope Santa will be real good to you.

Your friend,

Louise Zackert

Five films for Christmas

Above: The Night Before Christmas (aka Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka)

Below: Curse of the Cat People

From It's a Wonderful Life to Die Hard to Holiday in Handcuffs, everyone has their favorite Christmastime films. And it's always fun to make lists. I'm a contrarian, so I'm not going to pick anything too obvious (sorry, George Bailey, Home Alone and Elf). And I'm not picking anything too violent, either (sorry, Hans Gruber and Black Christmas).

Here are five of my favorites for the holiday season ...

Curse of the Cat People, 1944, directed by Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise. Producer Val Lewton threw a curveball with this "followup" to his influential 1942 low-budget hit Cat People. The main cast members return, but the plot makes only passing mention to the original. It's a powerful story about the loneliness and imagination of childhood, and to say more would spoil the surprises. I will note that it's set in Tarrytown, New York, and you're "ahead" of the game if you know what that means.

The Night Before Christmas (aka Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka), 1961, Alexander Rou. This one is a perfect example of my love for mid-century international oddities. It's bonkers right from the start, so the first five minutes will either delightfully suck you in or give you fair warning that it's not your cup of peppermint tea. It's based on a short story by Ukrainian-born Nikolai Gogol and set in Dykanka, a Ukrainian village. You can watch the full film, with English subtitles, on YouTube.

Scrooge (released as A Christmas Carol in the United States), 1951, Brian Desmond Hurst. There have been many wonderful filmed versions of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. But this one, the British version with Alastair Sim, is my favorite, in no small part because it's the one that was shown the most on TV when I was a kid. And, with apologies to the Muppets, it's a story that seems to work best in black and white, with every frame looking cold as a freezing winter morning.

The Signalman, 1976, Lawrence Gordon Clark. More Dickens! The plot of this 38-minute TV film doesn't have anything to do with Christmastime, other than that fact that Dickens ghost stories and Christmas go hand in hand (preferably with hot chocolate and warm pajamas). This was part of the BBC anthology series "A Ghost Story for Christmas." The British know best how to tap into the ghostly spookiness of December's long, dark nights, and The Signalman, starring the superb Denholm Elliott, is one of the series' most iconic episodes.

The Holdovers, 2023, Alexander Payne. Yes, I watch modern stuff, too! I watched this twice in early January and fell in love with it. Like Curse of the Cat People, it taps into the loneliness of the season, but ultimately to a much more comedic effect. It's set in December 1970 (the month I was born) and recreates that era brilliantly. And it's a tour de force for actors Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Dominic Sessa. Highly recommended.

* * *

On deck: I'm hoping to find time this month to watch another couple of films with the potential to be added to my list of Christmastime favorites: 1961's Cash on Demand, with Peter Cushing, and Fanny and Alexander, the much-lauded 1982 film by Ingmar Bergman. 

What are your holiday film, TV or cartoon favorites? 

Curating nostalgic memories of WKBS-48

The Joe Oteri Show originated in Boston and was syndicated to WKBS-48. This advertisement is from 1979. 

Oteri, a prominent defense attorney and larger-than-life character, died in 2020.

I wrote a short post in 2019 about my memories of watching various shows and movies on WKBS-TV, Channel 48, when we lived in Clayton, New Jersey, from 1978 to 1980. The station signed off for good on August 30, 1983, more than 40 years ago. But I'm far from the only one who has happy memories of watching Channel 48 "back in the day."

WKBS-TV comes up frequently as a topic on message boards and in Facebook groups (there's even a group with more than 2,000 members devoted specifically to memories of the channel).

For fun and posterity, I thought I'd gather some internet memories of folks who used to watch Channel 48, including some that align with my childhood experience.

• "Fond memories of the Abbott and Costello movie every Sunday at 12 noon."
• "Getting those UHF stations to tune in clear enough, in the outlying suburbs, with a stationary rooftop antenna, was tricky to say the least!"
• "I can't believe no one has mentioned Star Trek. 48 played a part in bringing Trek back from the dead even if they were only showing old reruns. Some episodes were fresh and nostalgic at the same time. I've read that Trek's popularity in reruns and Star Wars' success helped get the ball rolling on making the first Trek movie."
• "I'm old enough to remember the Roller Derby broadcast on Sunday nights in the 1960s!"
• "48 was also famous for showing old movies on Sundays. I watched a lot of old detective movies along with the Bowery Boys."
• "Captain Philadelphia….great show with Stu Nahan as the Captain"
• "No disrespect to channels 17 & 29, who each had awesome cartoons, but growing up with a tv antenna on the home, channel 48 had the best over-all package."
• "I remember my brother and I watching The Honeymooners and Night Gallery late at night on 48!"
• "I remember seeing listings for Channel 48, but it BARELY could be picked up at our house in Lancaster County. The local Christian station, Channel 49 was too strong"
• "Dickory Doc, played by Aldo Farnese, was on at noon on Channel 48 and showed cartoons to the school kids who came home for lunch. Aldo was also a TV cameraman who worked local professional games."
• "Yes! Battle of the Planets for life! This channel was before its time. Rest in Peace."
• "It was my favorite. It had Creature Double Feature, which started my love of horror movies."
• "Star Blazers!"
• "This is where I got my first exposure to 'Star Trek.' Never saw the show first-run, maybe I saw one episode, but that was all. I started watching the show regularly when it went into syndication. My eighth-grade English teacher used to imitate Spock ... and I had no idea who the guy was imitating. He got insulted when I showed no reaction to his 'fascinating' and 'Indeed' comments. As a result, I was disliked by him because I had no idea who Spock was."
• "Kimba The White Lion followed by Ultraman."
• "I still remember my Dad coming home one night and called all 'the kids' into the room. He said 'watch this,' and produced something that looked liked a coat hanger formed into a circle, attached it to the back of the tv, and — ta da! — 3 new channels, one of which was Channel 48"
• "Watched a lot of Godzilla movies on that channel back then and among other horror movies"
• "While the other kids were outside playing ball and such on a Saturday afternoon, I would hole up inside and watch Creature Double Feature every week ... it gave me nightmares. Everything looks like obvious kitsch-schlock-cheese .... but the HAND is real. And THAT was a whole different level of weird. Still IS, actually."
• "I too was a big Brady Bunch fan and watched on Channel 48. My kid was shocked when I told her that the TV stations would play the national anthem and would shut down for the night."
• "Channel 48 was a great indy: they had the best library of classic movies that you now see on Turner Classic Movies. Former WWDB and WCAU talk-show host Bernie Herman hosted the one o'clock movie. Great kids shows like Captain Philadelphia, Dickory Doc, etc., and home to Star Trek. They were also the first tv home of the Philadelphia Flyers."
• "I was so sad when Channel 48 was taken off the air. Don't laugh at me everybody, but I still put it on Channel 48 just to see if there's another station that took its place. I know, it's crazy."

For more on the history of WKBS-TV, check out the excellent posts on Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia and Flapper Press (by John C. Alsedek).

Colorful 1970: "Christmas With All The Trimmings"

Christmas With All The Trimmings is a staplebound booklet that was published in 1970 by Wm. E. Wright. Co., a textile company specializing in home sewing. It appears to have been published in conjunction with Woman's Day magazine, as Needlework Editor Roxa Wright writes in an short introduction: "We hope this little book will stimulate you to try new ways of using the multiplicity of materials now at your fingertips."

There are ideas for candy/cookie containers, party favors, door decorations, scarfs, belts, waste baskets, gift boxes, tree ornaments, stockings, desk accessories, card holders, table cloths, holiday fashions and more. All in the colors marking the the start of the 1970s, a decade that would see some transition from psychedelic tones to "earthy" ones.

But I'll let the photos speak for themselves. First up: some festive candy containers.

    

These two sewing projects are referred to as Silly Snail and Myrtle the Turtle. 

Stockings to hang by the chimney with care.

And, finally, some very 1970 fashions for the neighborhood Christmas party. Want more ephemeral Christmas content? Here's a place to start for Papergreat's past posts.

1975 Christmas issue of Byte

This is the fourth-ever issue of Byte magazine, a home computer magazine that was published from September 1975 until July 1998. 

In the late 1980s, I would occasionally buy Byte on the newstand, but more often I read the new issues in the Strath Haven High School library during study hall. The magazine was an unfathomable moneymaker during its heyday. A September 8, 1984, article in The New York Times headlined "The Computer Magazine Glut" notes that the October 1984 issue of Byte was slated to have 300 pages of advertisements, at an average price of $6,000 per page. (More than $17,000 per page in today's dollars.)

It was smaller at the start, of course. This December 1975 issue was 112 pages, with a healthy number of advertising pages. It was the first Christmas issue, and it features a cover illustration by Robert Tinney that, as the magazine notes, "illustrates the impact of these new toys upon traditional relationships." 

How right they were.

It was a different computer era back then. It was an expensive hobby and most enthusiasts needed to have significant knowledge and skills to build their own machines. This $1.50 magazine was catering to that demographic. Here are some of the article titles, which may sound like Greek to a modern generation that knows nothing about the innards of its laptops and iPhones.

• Powerless IC Test Clip
• LIFE Line 3
• 
  Build a 6800 System with This Kit
• Can Your Computer Tell Time?
• Photographic notes on Prototype Construction
• What This Country Needs Is a Good 8-Bit High Level Language
• The Software Vaccum
• Logic Probes — Hardware Bug Chasers
• What Is a Character?
• Flip Flops Exposed
• Read Only Memory Technology
• The HP-65: World's Smallest Computer
• Assembling an Altair 8800

The advertisements are similarly byzantine. They contain bold pitches such as:

• "Use Our Hardware Assemblers!"
• "Hi-Speed Static RAM 2602-1 475ns"
• "Inexpensive, Sophisticated Mass Storage"
• "Build Your Own Advanced Terminal"
• "Christmas Time Payment Plan, 1K Altair for Just $68 a Month!"
• "Ten Reasons to Choose CMR Memory Card"
• "16K Memory Kit Less Than 5.5¢/Word"
• "Uses Low Power Schottky TTL"
• "Epoxy Boards with Plated Thru Holes"
• "Jump Program 16K Address Slot"
• "TO-92 Voltage Regulators"

And this might be my favorite: 

Seasons Greetings

WHAT SINGLE ELECTRONIC MACHINE CAN BE USED TO PERFORM/CONTROL ALL THE FOLLOWING TYPES OF SERVICES?

• Send morse code
• Control repeater stations
• Operate as a calculator
• Receive/send/buffer data between a wide variety of communication devices
• Monitor instruments
• Control machines
• Sort/compile data
• Test other devices
• Play games

the SCELBI-8B MINI-COMPUTER CAN!

Scelbi 

Finally, if all that text has you scratching your head, that's nothing. This is what most of the article pages in this issue of Byte looked like:

Of course, many of the "computer nerds" who understood all of this stuff back in the 1970s were in a fantastic position for lucrative careers, or even to found billion-dollar companies that now sell us all those nifty devices that we love but don't understand one thing about.

Related posts

• From 1982: Dr. Robert Wesson's program will help you speel better
• Advertisements from a 1982 issue of Creative Computing
• From 1982: William Shatner peddles Commodore's VIC-20
• The "Grand" Stand™ was there to support your joystick
• 1980s computer game: Sonar Search
• Sphere Corporation's "Pleaser" PC from the mid-1970s
• Tackling genealogy on your home PC in the late 1980s

Hans Holzer's "Ghosts of the Golden West"

This is now the seventh Hans Holzer paperback I've written about, so it's time for a directory. I'll put it toward the bottom of this post.

• Title: Ghosts of the Golden West
• Additional cover text: "Unearthly tales of the living dead"
• Author: Hans Holzer (1920-2009)
• Publisher: Ace Books (28622)
• 
  Publication date: Mystery time! The book was first published as a hardcover by Bobbs-Merrill in 1968, so this paperback came afterward, but there's no record on the copyright page or online of exactly when this edition came out. This paperback is listed as 28622 on the cover. There's a 60-cent Ace Books paperback of Ghosts of the Golden West that's marked as 28620 (pictured at right). So maybe my copy is the second or third paperback publication by Ace Books, perhaps as late as the mid 1970s. This is the "style" of Holzer paperbacks that I remember from Mom's collection, including in our attic in Clayton.
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 190
• Cover price: $1.25
• Chapter titles: The Whaley House Ghosts; The Ghost in the Closet; The Wurmbrand Ghost; The Restless Dead; The Ghostly Sailor of Almeda; The Ghost Lady of Newbury Park; The Haunted Barn; The Millbrae Poltergeist Case; The Ghost Who Refuses to Leave; Pioneer State Ghosts; The Ghostly Monks of Aetna Springs; Pipelines to the Beyond.
• First sentence (not including introduction): I first heard about the ghosts at San Diego's Whaley House through an article in Cosmic Star, Merle Gould's psychic newspaper, back in 1963. 
• What more is known about Gould? In Volume XXII, Number 1 of The Awakener Magazine, there's an article by Filis Frederick titled "Reminiscences of the City of Lost Angels." This is the relevant excerpt: "Another person I met at this tiny New Age gathering was Merle Gould, who published the Cosmic Star and had a bookstore in Hollywood of the same name. He had made several movies; one was 'The Body is a Shell,' another, 'The Prophesies of Nostradamus,' narrated by Basil Rathbone. Merle was one of the first Californians to 'network' New Age spiritual groups and arrange group conferences."
• Last paragraph: If your case is one requiring my help and that of one of my psychic friends, be assured that I will try to come and help you. Just as soon as I can, we will enter our Ghost Hunter's car, the sleek white Citroen, and (almost) noiselessly drive out to see you, if you are within driving distance. If you are far away, I shall get to you when opportunity takes me to your area. You will owe me nothing, dear reader, but cooperation and a full account of what has happened to you, or to those you speak of. 
• Random excerpt #1: But despite a careful search of the fragmentary records still extant about the period in question, no Pierre Devon could be pinned down.
• Random excerpt #2: It worried them, but somehow they got through Christmas and hopefully approached the New Year with a feeling of relief since nothing untoward again happened.
• Rating on Goodreads: 3.7 stars (out of 5)
• Rating on Amazon: 4.4 stars (out of 5)

Previous posts about Hans Holzer paperbacks

• The Witchcraft Report
• The Psychic World of Plants
• Window to the Past: Exploring History Through ESP
• Charismatics
• The Psychic World of Bishop Pike
• The Vegetarian Way of Life

But wait, there's more...

Tucked away inside this paperback was a brochure for the Whaley House, probably from sometime in the 1970s, when admission was just $1 for adult, 50 cents for teenagers and 25 cents for children. The brochure for the historic brick structure makes no mention of ghosts.

Finally, here's Bandit posing with today's book, just for the halibut.

Saturday's postcard: Cat luchadores

This awesome-sauce postcard arrived this week from penpal Cynthia in Mexico. The Larenn Syanne illustration shows lucha libre (Mexican pro wrestling), but with cats as the luchadores and the spectators. It's quite the free-for-all taking place in the ring. "It's a really fun activity," Cynthia writes of the human version of lucha libre. "You choose a team and scream to support."

As a member of Gen X, I grew up during peak WWE and Wrestlemania. But, with a few exceptions, I mostly left that behind years and years ago. The fact that the co-founder of WWE could soon lead the U.S. Department of Education, which may subsequently be dismantled, is more than a little sobering.

The most famous luchador of all time is Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917-1984), best known as El Santo. The thing I find most interesting about him is that, at the height of his popularity, he made a long series of movies (more than 50!) featuring El Santo as essentially a crimefighter/superhero. The English version of their titles tell you what kind of films they were. Some of the best titles:

• Santo vs. the Evil Brain
• Santo vs. the Zombies
• Santo vs. The Vampire Women
• Santo in the Wax Museum
• Santo in The Witches Attack
• Santo vs. the Martian Invasion
• Santo in The Treasure of Dracula
• Santo in The Mystery of the Black Pearl
• Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Wolf Man
• Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dr. Frankenstein
• Santo in The Bermuda Mystery

As a movie buff, I feel an obligation to track down and watch at least one of these some day. We'll have to see if El Santo can live up to Rowdy Roddy Piper's performance in They Live. I'll have to do some research and figure out which El Santo movie would be best. Feel free to make a suggestion in the comments section.

As a final note, Cynthia's postcard was mailed with this very cool Día de Muertos stamp:

Note: This is Papergreat's 3,700th post. At my current posting rate, I won't hit 4,000 until early 2028.

1982's "Christmas Comes to Pac-Land"

How is it already time to put up the Christmas decorations again? And how will our family fare at keeping the cats away from those decorations this year? And what obscurities can I dig up for yuletide-themed Papergreat posts?

For starters, let's turn back the clock 42 years (gulp) to December 1982. That's when "Christmas Comes to Pac-Land" tried to chomp its way into the pantheon of beloved holiday specials, alongside those featuring the Peanuts gang, Rudolph & Yukon Cornelius and iconic characters voiced by Burl Ives and Boris Karloff. 

It did not succeed.

I have no recollection of watching "Christmas Comes to Pac-Land" when it debuted on December 16, 1982, days after I turned 12. Or any time thereafter. Certainly I was familiar with and had played plenty of Pac-Man at Pizza Huts, bars and roller rinks. But, for me, the holiday viewing season was still about the classics, not new contenders to the Dolly Madison Holiday throne.

Judy Flander, describing the special for a syndicated column that was published in Lancaster's Intelligencer Journal, wrote: "Actually, it's Santa who pays Pacland a visit — crash-landing, reindeer and all, smack-dab in the middle of Pac-Man, Ms. Pac and Pac-Baby. Well, how to get Santa back on his way to all those little kids in America? First it will be necessary to gobble up the ghost monsters who've made off with Santa's own pack."

Does anyone out there have memories of watching this? Are they good memories?

Here are some translated excerpts of a 2011 German-language review of the special on the website Tofu Nerdpunk:

"An unidentified flying object crashes over Pac-Land. In the sleigh sits a man who calls himself Santa Claus, but they have never heard of him or this Christmas, and he hasn't heard of the Pac people either. Anyway, Rudolph is sick and another way has to be found to distribute the presents to the children. ... I thought it was great how happy Santa was about how much computers made his work easier. ... Basically an entertaining special, but only because it's so absurd that Pac-Man meets Santa Claus. Otherwise there's nothing special about it."

Nosing around the internet, it seems there are, indeed, some fond memories of "Christmas Comes to Pac-Land," and it tends to show up more on the lists of "most bizarre specials," rather than the lists of "worst specials." So it has that going for it.

I also stumbled across a mention of "Lollipop Dragon: The Great Christmas Race," which may warrant a future post.

RIP Jim Lewin: a wonderful bookseller, writer and human being

2018 photo of sales counter at the York Emporium (Chris Otto); inset: Jim Lewin (The York Dispatch)

Last week was a sad one, as we learned that Jim Lewin, longtime owner of the York Emporium, the best used bookstore in York, Pennsylvania, died on Nov. 26. Jim was a family friend, a tremendous writer and a compassionate human being who put his heart and no small amount of elbow grease into making the Emporium one of the very best spots in southcentral Pennsylvania for book lovers (and those seeking out oddball treasures). Jim owned the Emporium for nearly 20 years before selling it and retiring this past April.

Mike Argento, a colleague of mine when I worked at the York Daily Record, wrote a terrific profile of Jim and the store's history when Jim retired. It's the best piece to read for Jim's full story and to learn how Jim and his store became York institutions. Argento writes: "The store’s eclecticism reflects Jim’s own. He loves books and reads widely. One of his benchmarks for a good used bookstore, and one of the benchmarks of his own store, is that someone can wander in and find a book they never knew existed. ... Some things he just did for himself. He started a jam session that features bluegrass, folk and blues every Sunday afternoon, a slow business day, 'because I got tired of being here all alone.' ... Over the years, Jim introduced special events – 'being mercenary,' is how he put it – to make the Emporium a part of the fabric of York’s culture. He’s had events celebrating literary genres, from sci-fi to horror to romance to mystery, and hosted concerts and the aforementioned jam sessions."

To me, Sundays were one of the best days to go to the Emporium. I hate just sitting around, waiting for the week to start. What better way to pass an afternoon than perusing bookshelves? 

Our family went to the store regularly over many, many years. Jim, usually stationed just inside the door, would greet us all by name and ask what was new. Our house remains filled with books purchased at the Emporium. Ash essentially grew up with it as his primary bookstore. While we were memorializing Jim last week upon hearing of his passing, Ash talked extensively of his love for Jim and the store. He noted two important things: 1. You never went into the Emporium looking for a specific thing; unexpected treasures would find you. 2. The passage of time was different when you were inside the Emporium. Two or even three hours might go by as if in a happy dream of endlessly going through mazes of shelves with the wonderful smell of books. It was the timeslip that Jim built.

I've specifically mentioned the Emporium in about three dozen posts over the years. And if I'd been transparently detailing the source of every book I've written about, Jim's Emporium is the source of another fifty or more posts. When Papergreat was in its first year of existence, Jim generously gifted me an 1897 program for the York Opera House that I turned into a two-part post.

Here are two pictures I took inside the Emporium during separate visits in 2018. The first shows a silhouetted Ash browsing the shelves. The second shows some of the eclectic decorations that filled the store. Jim was a huge fan of Star Trek.

In addition to being an bookseller, Jim was also an author. His books include Lines of Contention: Political Cartoons of the Civil War; How to Feed an Army: Recipes and Lore from the Front Lines; How to Tell a Secret: Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Breaking Codes & Conveying Covert Information; and How to Party Like It's 1899.

And from 2008 to 2013, while he was also juggling the daily business of managing the Emporium, Jim wrote more than 50 posts for his blog Book Flaps (subtitled "Musings of a smalltime book peddler"). It's a great peek inside the business and it displays the wonderful writing touch Jim had. As you know, I worry about the permanence of the internet and I don't know how long Book Flaps may continue to be online. I want to share Jim's final blog post, from September 2013, in its entirety. It takes on a new poignance with Jim's passing:

Treasure

    I was on my knees this past Tuesday afternoon, painting (and cursing) an old bookcase that obstinately refused to be anything close to useful. I happened to glance up and saw her standing there, silently, watching me.

   “He’s gone.”

   The shop was closed. It always is on Tuesdays. But I had left the front door unlocked, because you never know who is going to wander in. Obviously, today was her day. She had let herself in and found me there, paint-spattered, on my knees and gently damning this inoffensive piece of furniture.

  “Sunday afternoon. He died in his sleep.”

  I let out a groan and got to my feet. I didn’t really know what to say.

  They were an older couple (“older” being a relative term as I close in on that realm myself); maybe mid-80s. I don’t think I ever got their names. But they had been coming into the shop on a more-or-less regular basis for two or three years now. I’d see them every month or two.

  It was always he who bought the books. He’d walk around and look in several areas, but he would always find his way to the same spot; the same books. He would delve into our Treasure Chest.

   The Treasure Chest is really just an old trunk that I found in one of the storage rooms shortly after we took over the place. The handles are missing. What hardware that is left on it is rusted. It certainly doesn’t lock ,and it really is pretty well beat up. Its glory days are long past.

    For the first year or two we were operating the store, I would drag it around, trying to find a spot where it might fit. But nothing seemed to work. It wasn’t tall enough to be a display stand. It was too rickety for a table of any sort. And while it did have a certain texture and charm (as in, “I’ll-bet-that-was-really-something-in-its-day” way), it was now, simply, in the way.

    Until, that is, we re-worked our paperback fiction area two years ago. Suddenly, and unexpectedly, there was a spot. And! There was a function: older, series paperbacks. They were the sort of paperbacks that few wanted; that wouldn’t command high dollars, or any dollars at all actually. But we had a lot of them left over from the previous owners.

    Don Pendelton’s The Executioner series (more than 700 individual titles so far), Able Team, Phoenix Force and Stoney Man. Also the Nick Carter — Killmaster series (250+ titles) and the like. The main characters are all clean cut, square-jawed and handy with both guns and women. Mostly women. The books all contain plenty of bad guys, too. But they’re pretty disposable.

    We probably had two hundred, or more, of these books when we took over. So we tossed them all into that old trunk and slapped a sign on it, dubbing it our “Treasure Chest.” All books found therein are 50¢.

    We don’t sell a lot out of it, perhaps $5 or $6 a month on average. But its fun, and it fills a niche. And it doesn’t eat much, so we keep it.

    I wiped the paint from my hands and took a step closer to her, preparing to give her a hug. But she wasn’t interested in that. In fact, she wasn’t interested in me, or what I had to say, at all.

   "The last group of books that he got here are still in the bag. They’re on his night stand,” she said.

   I just stood there and looked at her. I still hadn’t said anything.

   “I want to go to the Treasure Chest,” she said. “I want to visit with him there for a minute.”

   She didn’t ask permission. She didn’t say another word. She just went back to the Treasure Chest and spent some quality time there. I don’t think she was interested in the books.

  A little earlier tonight as I walked past, I noticed that our Treasure Chest is starting to look a little empty. And that’s not right.

   I need to start looking for more of The Executioner.

   It’s important.

* * *

I could go on with stories about Jim and the Emporium. But I also realize that so much of Papergreat stands as on ongoing kind of tribute to the man and the place. The books and ephemera I've written about, the rabbit-hole inquisitiveness and the passion for the obscure and esoteric: they're all reflections of the physical bookstore in downtown York that Jim lovingly created starting on Jan. 1, 2005. 

I do want to conclude by noting that, as the United States got crueler and dumber in the past decade, Jim wasn't shy about standing up for what's right. He did this until the very end. Below are a few of his final Facebook posts, and they speak to the man he was. Rest in peace, Jim. We'll keep reading, learning and trying.

Saturday's postcard: Bird's eye view of Montoursville, Pennsylvania

This black-and-white postcard, labeled "BIRD'S EYE VIEW FROM HILL. Montoursville, Pa." is the latest addition to my collection of vintage Montoursville postcards (which I'll have to find a good home for some day). 

It was postmarked 102 years ago, on April 29, 1922, in Montoursville.¹ On the back, I can't make out as much of Robert's cursive writing as I'd like. I feel like that skill of mine of flagging a bit. But tidbits include "Are here for the day," "dandy," "town" and "will write tomorrow." 

The riverside (creekside?) building featured prominently in this postcard has an advertisement for Geo. B. Leiter's books and paper store on Pine Street. There's a Pine Street in Montoursville, but I'm assuming Leiter's store was on the Pine Street in nearby Williamsport. Here's some information about Leiter from 1892's History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, by John F. Meginness:

"GEORGE B. LEITER, dealer in books, stationery, and wall paper, was born in Greencastle, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, November 18, 1863, son of Jeremiah B. and Harriet S. (Wilson) Leiter. His parents were also natives of Franklin County, and removed to Williamsport in 1871, where they are members of St. Paul’s Lutheran church. They have had born to them the following children: George B.; Silas C., who was born December 18, 1865, and is a dealer in stationery, etc., at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania; James W., deceased; Ida May; Seth T.; Grace V.; Betha A., and Vernie G. Our subject was reared in Williamsport, received his education in the public schools and the Williamsport Commercial College, after which he spent several years in Philadelphia. Returning to Williamsport in 1884 he entered into partnership with George A. Cohick and Fred R. Miller in the book, stationery, and bookbinding business. He retired from this connection in the following year, purchased his present business from L.S. Tilton, and has since enjoyed an excellent trade. He is the patentee and manufacturer of the game called 'Ring-a-peg,' and was treasurer of the Williamsport Passenger Railway Company for a number of years. He was married, November 24, 1885, to Miss L. Myrtle McNarney, daughter of Thomas McNarney, of Lock Haven, and has one child, Elsie Reba. He is a member of Lycoming Lodge, No. 112, I. O. O. F., and West Branch Encampment, No. 136; is Republican in his political proclivities, and with his wife belongs to Grace Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is librarian of he Sunday school."

Leiter lived from 1862 to 1939 and is buried in Williamsport. I'm going to do a followup post before the end of the year on Ring-a-peg, as it's too interesting of  a tangent to fold into this post. Stay tuned!  

Related Montoursville posts

• 1913 postcard: A melon field in Montoursville (plus ginseng farming)
• Snapshot & memories: Relocated fire engine in Montoursville
• Compassion and good will trump all else in Montoursville
• And 2018's entire series I wrote about my memories of growing up there

Footnote

1. On April 29, 1922, the Philadelphia Phillies lost to the Brooklyn Robins, 3-2. (They were the Robins and a bunch of other names before finally settling on Dodgers.) Catcher Butch Henline (1894-1957) had two hits, including a home run, for the Phillies. Dutch Ruether (1893-1970) got the complete-game win for the Dodgers. One of Ruether's claims to fame is that his roommate on the 1927 Yankees was Babe Ruth. 

1950 Thanksgiving ads

A handful of advertisements from the November 19, 1950, edition of the Sunday News of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, highlighting Horse Shoe Grill, Bennett's Restaurant, Aunt Sally's Kitchen and Esbenshade Turkey Farm. Those prices look good, even adjusted for inflation. $1.75 in 1950 would be about $22.50 today.

Ralph Senensky's insights on the history of directing TV shows

Ashar and I have been leisurely, over a few years, making our way through the three seasons of the early 1970s supernatural anthology TV show "Night Gallery" — Rod Serling's followup to "The Twilight Zone." Last night we watched the episode "The Miracle at Camafeo / The Ghost of Sorworth Place," with the latter tale starring Richard Kiley and Jill Ireland, who are pictured above in some beautiful Bava-esque lighting. (The screen grab doesn't do it justice; seek out the blu-ray.)

Typically after watching something, I go down internet rabbit holes to learn more. Both of the segments in this episode were directed by Ralph Senensky. He had a long and remarkable career as a television director — and he's spent the years of his retirement blogging about his memories and insights from that time. Oh, and he's 101 now.¹

Senensky is perhaps best known for directing a dozen episodes of "The Waltons"² and six episodes of the original series of "Star Trek." But his resume of directing credits is a grand tour through the history of television from the early 1960s through the mid 1980s. His credits include episodes of "Dr. Kildare," "Route 66," "The Twilight Zone," "The Fugitive," "The Big Valley," "The Wild Wild West," "The F.B.I.," "Mission Impossible," "Mannix," "The Partridge Family," "James at 16," "Eight Is Enough," "Lou Grant," "Dynasty" and much more.

And he's documented almost all of it. As history, its value is immense.

He wrote a Blogspot blog (same platform as Papergreat) called Ralph's Trek that can be found at ralph-senensky.blogspot.com. And there's Senensky.com, aka Ralph's Cinema Trek, which organizes his past posts and has provided a home for his more recent writing. He's also still active on Facebook. Amazing.

Unsurprisingly, it's Senensky's memories of and association with "Star Trek" that garner him the most attention — he even attended a convention this year. But having just read a handful of his blog posts thus far, I find they're all filled with fascinating detail, wisdom and anecdotes about how television productions were brought to life decades ago. I look forward to reading many more of them.

I'm writing this because I hope that more people discover Senensky's blog posts, and because I hope they will be preserved in book form (or at least through printouts). To paraphrase something I read recently on X, the internet is not forever, and we must aggressively support the archiving of online material we're passionate about.³ Some experts, not alarmists, believe that as much as 80% of global digital content could disappear within the next decade or so.⁴

 I'll close with an excerpt from one of Senensky's posts. It's an amusing anecdote about an episode of "The Waltons" titled "The Gift":

"They let me have a big crane for the Franklyn Canyon shoot. I loved crane shots that boomed down, but cranes were also a time saver when filming on rolling terrain like in the canyon. It was easier to move the crane from setup to setup than rolling the crab dolly over the rough ground. There was a lesson concerning the crane that had been drilled into me from the first time I used one on MGM’s backlot when filming the opening sequence of JOHNNY TEMPLE on DR. KILDARE. When I was checking a setup, seated on the crane in the assistant cameraman’s seat alongside the camera operator, I was warned when it came time to dismount not to do so until the assistant cameraman was ready to take my place. Because of the counterweights if I were to jump off too soon, the camera end of the crane would fly up into the air and act as a catapult that would hurl the camera operator off into space. In my twenty-six years I never lost a camera operator that way."

That's just one of the many, many gems within Senensky's reminiscences. May they live on for future readers and scholars.

Footnotes

1. Fun connection: Another "Night Gallery" we watched in the past week featured Norman Lloyd, who I've mentioned often on Papergreat and lived to age 106.

2. Syndicated columnist Tom Purcell recently wrote a piece about his fond memories of watching "The Waltons" with his family in the 1970s. An excerpt:

"Every Thursday, after dinner, my father and I boarded our Plymouth Fury station wagon and headed to the Del Farm grocery store located in a small suburban plaza one mile from our home. ... He’d buy a box of Del Farm’s freshly baked oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies and a bag of Snyder of Berlin potato chips, onion dip (my mother’s favorite) and a wooden case of Regent soda pop. When we finally pulled the loaded-down station wagon into the garage, everyone in the house was alerted and the massive unloading process began. We usually got everything packed away by 8 p.m., just in time to turn on 'The Waltons.' I’d bring a bowl of ice to the family room, open some bottles of Regent soda pop, pour the Snyder of Berlin chips into a couple of bowls and soon my sisters, parents and I would be enjoying the newest episode of one of our family’s must-see shows."

3. By the way, I'm no longer on X. You can guess why. You can find me, as Papergreat, over on Blue Sky now (@papergreat.bsky.social).

4. I have a hard copy of every Papergreat post through mid-July 2023 and will be catching up with the more recent posts soon.