From the readers: Toys of yesteryear, Earle Cook Jr. and liminal spaces

It's ridiculously already 100 degrees outside, so it's a good day to try to type up a post while Bandit sleeps between my arms and Mommy Orange gives my right arm a bath. Here are some reader comments that have come in since early February:

Can we have a national discussion about this vintage toy advertisement? Anonymous writes: "The floor is lava. This is why the guy needs rescuing by a lift cage. Big Josh has pecs. But so did my Big Jim's roommate, GI Joe, with a taped-on leg. He was a Vietnam vet, but still highly deadly and capable."

Never underestimate the capabilities of an action figure and an awesome imagination.

A long-gone motor inn, longer-gone ancestors and a sketch: Anonymous writes: "I remember [Framingham Motor Inn in Framingham, Massachusetts] fondly. My now hubby of 50+ years and I had our 1st upscale date there."

Book cover: "The Second Hammer Horror Film Omnibus" (1967): Anonymous writes: "Five shillings was a pretty high price for a paperback in the UK in 1967. You could buy new paperbacks for 2/6, half that price. Probably first publication, royalties to Hammer and film script-writers, and Burke's own fees helped put the price up."

Thanks for the insight! 

Old postcard: "The World's Most Famous Chicken Dish": Anonymous writes: "My family dined frequently at MD's Chicken in the Rough in New Market, Virginia. As a child, the warm rolls and honey were my favorite. The chicken platters were generous and mounded high with shoestring potatoes. I believe MD's burned in the early 1980s. It is sorely missed!!"

Thank you for sharing that memory, and I'm very sorry to hear about the restaurant's fate.

Unfortunate apparel of 1980: The official Star Trek duty jacket: Anonymous writes: "I still have the LED jacket. The silver is flaking off but the LEDs still work."

Realms of the uncanny: Dreamcore, backrooms & liminal spaces: Anonymous writes: "Hmmm, it seems like this dreamcore and liminal space isn't ... imaginal enough. But I appreciate the pictures you already have. Keep doing what you're doing!!!"

Thanks! I'll have to wrangle up another post of my photos this summer.

Luckyday buttons — the talk of the town: Two replies on this 2015 post!

Anonymous #1 writes: "I have a half a card with a red head in a yellow sun hat and red ribbon around it. They must have been known for putting different models on the cards!"

And Anonymous #2 writes: "I have a 2.5" x 3.75" card with 3 of 6 remaining white baby buttons 1/4-inch wide, states size 12. Baby sitting in left upper corner wearing a blue hooded cape over white dress, shoes and socks. Card color is pale pink. Price imprinted in right lower corner is 5 cents."

A postcard of Earle W. Cook's house, for some reason: Anonymous writes: "Earle W. Cook Sr., the senator, was my great uncle. My grandmother had this postcard and I saw it in the mid 1960s. This house was torn down later in the 1960s to make way for the construction of Interstate 40 through Kingman, Arizona. Earle Cook Jr. died May 12, 1981, in northern California. The family, including me, to this day still believe Earle Jr. was innocent."

I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment and for providing these additional details. It's was certainly a strange, strange case, involving a bomb on a jetliner.

1938 holiday postcard from Leinhardt Bros. of York: Anonymous writes: "I have a dresser made by Thomasville Chair Company in NC (the name changed in 1961 to Thomasville Furniture). The paper tag stapled on the back of this beautiful mahogany chest of 4 drawers had 'Leinhardt Bros York, Pennsylvania' typed on it. The piece was probably manufactured in the 40's. Just guessing by the style. Anyway, it ended up in Florida!"

Postcard of vanished attraction:

Ed's Ghost Town in Indiana: Beth Michael-Chasse writes: "Ed’s was an awesome place and we loved stopping there when we were kids. Dad would usually stop on our way from Shelbyville to Chrisney to visit our grandparents. Ed’s was located about halfway between the two towns, making it a great place for a break. The time or two he didn’t stop saw us crying with disappointment and in dire need of a restroom stop. My favorite things to look at were the shells and rocks, the puzzles in the toy section and of course we had to get some of their stick candy. The many signs along the road informing us we were getting closer to Ed’s were each read aloud with growing excitement. We were so ready to get out of the hot car and hunt through souvenirs and interesting odds and ends. When the interstate was finished, we never saw Ed’s again. That was such a huge disappointment for us. We sometimes talk about Ed’s and we enjoy those nostalgic trips down our memory’s lane. I wish I could go back just once more."

Thanks for sharing these wonderful memories, Beth! And thanks again to everyone who commented.

If only we knew then what we know now...

On November 3, 1990 — 34 years and 5 months ago — I was a second-year student at Penn State University, learning the ropes of journalism and calling all of my sources via landlines. 

Also on that date, the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal published this short editorial about AT&T's new SmartPhone. Looking back, it's quite the curiosity...

Peeking inside 1916's "The Overall Boys in Switzerland"

Eulalie Osgood Grover (1873-1958) was a Minnesota-born author, primarily of children's books, who was best known for the "Sunbonnet Babies" series, according to an article by Barbara White on the Winter Park (Florida) Public Library website. The "Sunbonnet Babies" books were primers designed to build younger readers' vocabulary. They were informed, in part, by Grover's travels throughout Europe.

The "Sunbonnet Babies" did not, however, originate with Grover. They started with illustrator Bertha Corbett Melcher (1872-1950), who began drawing them in 1897 and published her first book, The Sun-Bonnet Babies, in 1900. After that, the subsequent books (about eight of them) were written by Grover and illustrated by Corbett.

Due to the success of the "Sunbonnet Babies," Melcher and Grover devised a second series of primers following exploits of young boys. Thus were born "The Overall Boys." And that brings us to today's book, The Overall Boys in Switzerland, which was published in 1916 by Rand McNally. It's a gorgeous and sturdy book, well-built to withstand being passed around the schoolhouse and passed down to younger siblings. 

Of course, to get to Switzerland you must travel through other areas of Europe, and the book documents that part of the Overall Boys' trip, too. It starts along the River Rhine before they arrive in Bern ("The Bear City"). And that launches adventures with chapter titles such as "Above the Clouds," "On Mount Rigi," "Shopping in Lucerne," "Saturday Evening on Lake Lucerne," "Over and Through the Mountains," "The Herdsman's Cabin," "A Summer Blizzard," and more. They encounter the legend of the Mouse Tower, the Fountain of the Child-Eater and other grim aspects of Europe's history. This children's book is pulling very few punches. 

The whole book is fascinating, and amusing at times. Here is just a small sampling of passages:

"Look!" shouted Joe. "I see the first castle! We are sailing right up beside it. I wonder if a really, truly King and Queen are living in it."

"Of course," said Jack, "unless they have been killed and their castle turned into a prison or museum."

"Do you suppose it has a dark dungeon under it?" asked Joe. "How I should like to see a real dungeon!"

***

Suddenly somebody screamed, and then somebody else screamed. The little boats began to hurry and scurry in every direction. It looked as if all the Chinese lanterns had gone crazy. Everybody's eyes were turned toward the sky, for up there, right above them, was a fire balloon. The fire had caught in the top of the balloon, and it was all ablaze. Now this blazing balloon was falling straight down, down, down, toward the little boats on the lake. Of course the boats were scurrying to get out of the way, and of course the people screamed. Each thought that the burning balloon would surely fall right into his boat, but it did not. It fell hissing and sputtering into the dark waters, right where the boats had been only a few moments before.

***

The boys bought a number of things to take back to America with them, and they bought a dozen or more post cards to send to their friends. The very prettiest of these cards were sent to their own little brothers, Tim and Ted, and to the Sunbonnet Babies.

***

But the boys liked best the carved wood shops. Sometimes they saw boys, not much older than themselves, carving jumping-jacks and bears and queer little dwarf men out of blocks of pear wood. ... The Overall Boys coaxed their father to buy a fine carved bear to take home with them. The bear was as tall as Joe.

I'm not the only one still reading the book in modern times. A Goodreads reviewer wrote this in 2020: "Years ago my grandma had to sell her house and move to assisted living. She passed many of her children's books to me. This book belonged to my uncle when he was young. ...  I enjoyed this book and also enjoyed learning what appealed to my uncle when he was a boy. I know Switzerland is a far different country today than it was when this book was written, but this book made me want to visit the country and have my own adventures there."

Here's a gallery of some additional images from my copy of The Overall Boys in Switzerland...

And here's a rare shot of Venus (the orange cat on the right). He's the only cat in the house who won't let me pet him, unless I've come upon him when he's sleepy and cornered. He's sitting here with his cousin Dusty.