Robin Jacques' front and back covers: "The Gypsy Fiddle"

With its gorgeous Robin Jacques dust jacket illustrations, this book looks like it could fit right alongside all of Jacques' "A Book of..." collaborations with Ruth Manning-Sanders. I especially like the fluffle of bunnies above. (Yes, it's correctly called a fluffle.)

• Title: The Gypsy Fiddle
• Subtitle: and Other Tales Told by the Gypsies
• Author: John Hampden (1898-1974)
• Illustrator: Robin Jacques (1920-1995)
• Publisher: The World Publishing Company
• Year: 1969
• Pages: 160
• Format: Hardcover
• Price: $3.95
• Dust jacket blurb: "The stories Gypsies tell around the campfire are culled from different countries they travel through; so this collection contains tales from the British Isles, from Poland, from Hungary, from Slovakia, Transylvania, Bukovina, Turkey, and Syria. ... The gaiety, the nonsense, and the robust good nature of Gypsy tales is an unceasing delight."
• A more honest view of 20th century Romani life: It's only one perspective, but an illuminative place to start might be this 2009 piece written by Roxy Freeman. "I was ... completely unaware of the outrageous way the media portrays the Gypsy population. As children, we had very little contact with people living in houses and because we didn't go to school or watch television, I was oblivious," she writes. "If it hadn't been for literature, maybe I would have remained unaware of the way we were described."
• Hampden's dust jacket bio: "John Hampden is a British author whose career has included teaching and publishing, as well as writing a number of books for young people. He has had a lifelong interest in folklkore, and for this collection did a considerable amount of research among the classic sources of Gypsy lore. Mr. Hampden lives in Sussex, England."
• Jacques' dust jacket bio: "Robin Jacques is a well-known artist and designer who has illustrated a large number of books. British by birth, he now lives in the South of France, but he enjoys travel, and with his wife and son has also lived in Mexico, the United States, and South Africa."
• Introduction: It's a eight-page essay by Jan Yoors. I'm not sure what to think about Yoors, who is also cited by author Hampden as an expert in his Author's Note at the end of the book. Yoors ran away to join a group of Romani as a child, giving him a unique perspective on the culture. And his 1967 book The Gypsies has a 4.18 rating (out of 5) on Goodreads. But some of the reviews there give me pause. Yoors' perspective might not be the one you want to immerse yourself in when learning more about the Romani people. 
• Titles of some stories included: The Golden Box, The Yellow Dragon, Ashypelt, Clever Pat, Magic Apples, Batim the Horse, A Wicked Fox, Small White Stones, Goggle-Eyes, Baldpate.
• Online reviews of The Gypsy Fiddle: Zilch. Nada.

OK, then how about some more Robin Jacques illustrations? 

1973 advertisement for Licorice Pizza music stores

Licorice Pizza is not just Paul Thomas Anderson's highly anticipated new movie. It was also a real place. Licorice Pizza was a chain of record stores that operated in California from about 1969 to 1986. To those who grew up in the San Fernando Valley circa 1971, the place and time in which the new movie is set, Licorice Pizza definitely means something (just like those mashed potatoes meant something Richard Dreyfuss, but I digress.) 

Pictured above is a Licorice Pizza music store advertisement from the December 2, 1973, edition of The Los Angeles Times. Coincidentally, one of the albums pictured in the advertisement (Pin Ups) is by David Bowie, whose iconic 1971 song "Life on Mars?" serves as the music for Licorice Pizza's trailer, which I promise I've only watched about a dozen times.

(A further fun twist: The trailer includes a scene in which Bradley Cooper's character attempts to give Cooper Hoffman's character a lesson in the pronunciation of Barbra Streisand's name. In 1974, Streisand covered Bowie's "Life on Mars?" and Bowie later called it "Bloody awful. Sorry, Barb, but it was atrocious.")

Postcard: House on the Rock in autumn

This postcard was mailed 37 autumns ago, in October 1984, the month that the Chicago Cubs tried unsuccessfully to break the Curse of the Billy Goat in the National League Championship Series. 

Pictured is the famous oddity known as the House on the Rock, in southwestern Wisconsin. Here's how the attraction's website describes it: "For over 60 years, the House on the Rock has been a majestic work in progress. It began in 1945, when a man named Alex Jordan had a towering goal: to build a man-made retreat as awe-inspiring as the view from the rock upon which the house would eventually be built. From that spark of imagination, the House on the Rock has evolved to include displays and collections of the exotic, the unusual and the amazing that can be viewed as three separate tours."

The attraction gained some further widespread renown when it was featured prominently in Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel American Gods.

This postcard was mailed to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with a 13-cent stamp and this message:

10/26

We had a beautiful day on Tue 10/23 for our trip to see "The House on the Rock." It really is something to see. Understand the man is always adding to his displays in the Alley of Yesteryear. We've been having a lot of foggy mornings & then day is hazy. Also have had rain also. Had a nice visit in Sept. with Bob and friend in Aurora Co. Got home before they had all their snow. Write sometime.

One good website where you can learn and see more about the House on the Rock is fangirlquest.com.

House on the Rock is definitely on my bucket list of places I'd like to see in the continental United States. A lot of my bucket list focuses on architecture, so it also includes the likes of:

• The Biltmore Estate in Ashville, N.C.
• Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, Calif.
• Fallingwater in southwestern Pennsylvania

Of course, I've already been fortunate enough to see many cool places in my half-century on Earth, so I'm doing pretty well in that regard. I've see Lucy the Elephant, Wall Drug, the World Trade Center, the Haines Shoe House, the Gaffney Peach and the Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth, Minnesota, among many other nifty locations. So I'm pretty darn lucky.

Old postcard: The Big Lynn Tree

This postcard has no date, and it was never written upon or sent. It's a Plastichrome card by Colourpicture Publishers of Boston, Massachusetts. And it was published by Hugh Morton of Linville, North Carolina.

According to Grandfather.com, Grandfather Mountain owner Hugh Morton died at his home in Linville on June 1, 2006. "Morton built the Mile High Swinging Bridge and opened the Western North Carolina travel attraction in 1952 after inheriting the Mountain from his grandfather. A world-class photographer, he will also be remembered as a conservationist and civic leader," the website states.

It adds that Morton "was one of the few people who ever fought the Federal Government and won. When engineers wanted to build the Blue Ridge Parkway across Grandfather Mountain at 5,000 feet above sea level with a tunnel at the highest point, Morton forced a compromise that resulted in the building of the Linn Cove Viaduct."¹

Getting back to the postcard (a photo presumably taken by Morton himself) and the tree, this is what the caption on the back of the card states:

THE BIG LYNN TREE

LITTLE SWITZERLAND, NORTH CAROLINA. This huge Linden tree is 600 years old and is a historic landmark of the area.

The landmark is no more, and has been no more for decades, which makes me wonder what year this postcard was published. According to the 2000 Michael Joslin book Appalachian Bounty: Nature's Gifts from the Mountains, the Big Lynn Tree stood over 75 feet tall and had a circumference of 13 feet. It was cut down in 1965. An excerpt from Joslin's book states:

"Even when the trunk of the tree was a hollow shell, Big Lynn stood, battered by winds that tore huge branches from it. Blue Ridge Parkway officials attempted to cut the tree down in 1949 because of the danger it posed, but organized protests earned it a reprieve. In 1965, the owner of the Big Lynn Lodge felt so threatened by its weakened conditions that he asked Parkway officials to take it down. The Big Lynn was no more. However, twin shoots that were growing from its base were encouraged to grow. Today they stand tall and straight themselves, lusty scions of the historic tree."²

The obituary of Dale Beverly Sipes (1928-2011) provides a little more detail about the felling of the Big Lynn Tree. It states:

"While [working] at Spruce Pine [North Carolina], a tree on the parkway in Little Switzerland, known as 'The Big Lynn Tree,' was damaged by lightning. It was a hazard to the parkway, power lines and a motel. No one would take the risk of cutting the large tree but Dale, and he safely got the job done."

Footnotes

1. According to BlueRidgeParkway.org, the Linn Cove Viaduct "was completed in 1987. It was delayed for twenty years as environmentalists, adjacent landowners, engineers, and architects sought a design that would preserve and protect the fragile habitat of adjacent Grandfather Mountain. The Linn Cove Viaduct hugs the face of Grandfather Mountain and is recognized internationally as an engineering marvel."

2. Yes indeed, that's the first appearance of the phrase "lusty scions" on Papergreat.

Sotheby's house listing that's perfect for this time of year

As Mild Fear 2021 creeps closer, Ashar and I enjoyed seeing this unique house listing come up this week. The Sotheby's description for the 1836 dwelling provides the lowdown:

"Every so often an opportunity presents itself to possess an extraordinary piece of cultural history. The true story of ‘The Conjuring’ started in this very house, in Harrisville, RI. The critically acclaimed original movie was based on accounts taken from inhabitants of this fourteen-room farmhouse. Rumored to be haunted by the presence of Bathsheba Sherman, who in the 1800’s lived in the house, 1677 Round Top Road is one of the most well-known haunted houses in the United States. The chilling stories from this house have inspired dozens of books and movies. Many qualified paranormal researchers have been invited into the home — most famously Ed and Lorraine Warren, who founded the oldest ghost hunting team in New England, and in the 1970’s were hired to rid the home of its evil. The Warrens confirmed that the events depicted in The Conjuring movies (the third just recently released) actually transpired. The current caretakers have reported countless happenings in the house, and have turned overnight guest bookings and group events on the property into a steady successful business."

Says Ashar: "This is AWESOME. ... Can you imagine actually owning a haunted house?"

Of course, ghosts come with a price, and I'm not talking about being scared out of your socks.

This house costs $1.2 million.

And, horrors, you only get one full bath for all that money.

In looking at the photos and taking the 360-degree virtual tour in the house listing, one of Ashar's favorite things was this wall, signed by folks who have visited or stayed at the house:

And here are some pictures from the listing that I liked:

Finally, and to be clear, if you lived in this haunted house, you'd also be in the middle of nowhere...

RELATED POST: Update on my dream house

RCA, NBC, Star Trek and color

This 1967 magazine advertisement¹ shows off some of the synergy that may have helped Star Trek survive for three seasons despite all that was seemingly working against it (including Gene Roddenberry's hardheadedness).

In a nutshell: RCA owned NBC. And NBC paid Desilu to produce Star Trek. The iconic science-fiction TV show was expensive to make, and often ran over on its production budget. Meanwhile, its Nielsen ratings were nothing to write home about. That's a recipe for getting your show canceled after one season. But, even with middling ratings and a bloated budget, Star Trek looked extraordinary on color televisions. And RCA was very much in the business of selling color televisions. So you can imagine that parent company RCA might have given NBC a nudge to renew its deal with Desilu after Star Trek's first season. There were other factors, of course. But it's nice to have also those bright gold, blue and red shirts popping off the TV screen when you're trying to convince someone to plop down $400 or $500 for a color TV in 1967. (That's between $3,000 and $4,000 today.)

Further reading:

• Star Trek Fact Check: Star Trek and Color Television Households
• The Trek BBS: The reason for the bright colors in TOS???
• Fanlore: History of Star Trek Fan Campaigns

Other Star Trek-related posts

• 1975 Power Records recording with a trio of Star Trek tales
• Unfortunate apparel of 1980: The official Star Trek duty jacket
• Advertisements for a pair of 1980s Star Trek games
• Telegram: Sandra & Leonard Nimoy plead with JFK for a safer planet
• The Nimoy Award for 1967 goes to Miss Nancyann Hiera!
• From 1982: William Shatner peddles Commodore's VIC-20
• Illustration: "Revolving Poker Rack" from Pacific Game Company
• Very authentic Star Trek postcard for Annika in Sweden
• Some WKBS-48 nostalgia
• Papergreat's 3,000th post, with a special celebrity guest
• Stay-at-home shelfie #43
• Snapshot & memories: Me in a Star Trek shirt
• Not just any old Star Trek paperback

Footnote

1. I don't know what magazine, but there's an article about the politics of the Middle East on the other side. The page dimensions are 10½ inches by 13½ inches. So it could be Life.

Postcard: "Redcoat operating Radio Butlin"

I had no idea what I was going to discover when I started researching this vintage postcard. What is that contraption? The front of the postcard states BUTLIN'S and "Redcoat operating Radio Butlin." On the back of the unused card, it states:

• GV. 11 Butlin's Holiday Camp.
• Redcoat Operating Radio Butlin.
• This is a real Butlin's Photograph

So, for starters, it's a British Thing. Which is partially why this didn't ring any bells (no pun intended).

According to Wikipedia, Butlin's is a chain of seaside resorts in the United Kingdom that dates to the 1930s. While the chain struggled in the face of competition in the 1980s and 1990s, it has adjusted to the times and is still going strong today, with resorts called Bognor Regis, Minehead and Skegness. "Butlin's runs a variety of 'family fun activities' and entertainments, many of which are included in the price of a holiday. Redcoats (Butlins frontline staff) provide entertainment, organise activities, and act as hosts," Wikipedia states.

The Redcoats are the Butlin's staffers who keep everything fun and cheerful for vacationing families, and they date to the beginning, too.

Radio Butlin, meanwhile, was kind of the space-age communications center for the holiday resorts. Here's an excerpt from www.butlins-memories.com:

"The now joked about 'dreaded' Tannoy system which covered the Butlin's camps was started in 1946. The camp radio station was often described as the nerve centre of the camp and it couldn't have had a more apt description. ...

"The day would start at 7.30am with the 'wakey' announcement which would be a gentle tune, the longest running tune being 'singing piano' by Tolchard Evans. Halfway through, the record would be faded out and the announcer would inform the campers that it was 7.30am and that the first sitting for breakfast would be at 8.15am with the second sitting at 9.15am. The service was broadcast to the campers 7 days a week until 6pm.

"A typical daily broadcast would include music, advertisements, jingles, and requests from the campers, the days events and general news items. Radio Butlin lasted until the end of the 1974 season when its only use from then on was for emergency broadcasts. ... During its life Radio Butlin was regarded more as a service than a nuisance and although people now look back with humour, at the time it served its purpose, it blended in with what the holiday maker wanted."

You can also read a little more about Radio Butlin at www.butlinsredcoats.com. As one might imagine, so many UK families have vacationed at Butlin's over the decades that there are a lot of fond memories floating around on the internet, even for something so relatively obscure as Radio Butlin. 

Sci-fi book cover: "The Best of Judith Merril"

• Title: The Best of Judith Merril
• Secondary cover text: Science fiction the famous author considers her finest
• Author: Judith Josephine Grossman (1923-1997), whose pen name was Judith Merril
• Cover illustrator: Gray Morrow (1934-2001)
• Publisher: Warner Books
• Year: 1976
• Pages: 254
• Format: Paperback
• Cover price: $1.25 (though it's been blacked out by a marker)
• Excerpt from back cover: "No one projects herself more penetratingly into the psyche of the women of future centuries than Judith Merril. ... No matter how mechanized our journeys into space become, inside the space suits we are human; and Judith Merril predicts we always will be."
• Total stories and poems: 11
• First story: "That Only a Mother"
• Preface to first story: "A buried newspaper item on Army denial of post-Hiroshima rumors engendered Merril's first sf story ('Even in those days some of us automatically read certain kinds of official U.S. releases backwards.') John Campbell bought it for Astounding — October 1948."
• Random sentence from the middle #1: She stuck to her resolve, even after the message from Earth.
• Random sentence from the middle #2: Forty females started the journey, with a supply of sperm from one hundred genetically selected males carefully preserved on board.
• Merrill biographical tidbit from Wikipedia #1: "In 1970 she began an endowment at the Toronto Public Library for the collection of all science fiction published in the English language. She donated all of the books and magazines in her possession to the library, which established the 'Spaced Out Library' (her term) with Merril in a non-administrative role as curator. The library has had its own physical space from the onset. During her last decade it was renamed the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation, and Fantasy. She received a small annual stipend as curator and, when short of money, she lived in her office at the library, sleeping on a cot."
• 
  Merrill biographical tidbit from Wikipedia #2: "From 1978 to 1981 Merril introduced Canadian broadcasts of Doctor Who. As the 'Undoctor', Merril presented short (3-7 minute) philosophical commentaries on the show's themes." [That's her in the photo at right.]
• Merrill biographical tidbit from Wikipedia #3: "From the mid-1970s until her death, Merril spent much time in the Canadian peace movement, including traveling to Ottawa dressed as a witch in order to hex Parliament for allowing American cruise missile testing over Canada."
• Merril was bleeping awesome: Yes.
• Book rating on Goodreads: 3.88 stars (out of 5)
• Goodreads review excerpt: In 2015, Virginia wrote: "These stories focus on the anxiety of the feminine, of the maternal, of the sexual, and of matriarchies. They're excellent and hold up well for their psychological studies."