Football obsession, 60 years ago

This editorial cartoon by Frank Miller, poking fun at the obsession over football, appeared on the front page, above the fold, of the Sunday, November 12, 1961 edition of the Des Moines Sunday Register. Exactly 60 years ago today.

At three columns wide, the cartoon is the main art on the front page, with a two-column-wide head shot of Jean Seberg serving as the only other prominent artistic element. ("Otto got rid of me like a used Kleenex," Seberg states in the article, speaking of director Otto Preminger. Seberg died at age 40 in 1979; her short life with was beset by tragedy and she was the target of viciously unfair treatment.)

This was amid the long heyday of American newspapers. The Register billed itself as "The Newspaper Iowa Depends Upon." Its Sunday edition featured 202 pages spread over 11 sections, for a cost of 20 cents. (The advertising revenue was surely tremendous.)

Miller was a staff cartoonist for the Register from 1953 to 1983 and won a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1963, for his cartoon about the futility of nuclear warfare.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi postcard from Japan

This Postcrossing postcard from Yoshiko, a castle and Moomins fan in Japan, brought some good cheer amid a busy and stressful workweek. 

It features the work of Japanese artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861). Yoshiko writes, "This card is an ukiyo-e print. ... It's unusual to draw a cat. She is brushing her's [sic] cat's hair. I hope you like it."

Ukiyo-e, which dates to the 17th century, is a style of woodblock prints and paintings. The term itself translates to "pictures of the floating world," which is quite beautiful. You can see many examples of this colorful style of art on Wikipedia.

Kuniyoshi's ukiyo-e subjects included cats, women, actors, landscapes and mythical creatures. He made this amazeballs triptych titled "Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre." Imagine having a large print of this on your wall!

Dandy movie posters: "Nashville" and "Licorice Pizza"

First up, I love Robert Altman's 1975 film Nashville, and I also love the design of this particular German-language poster for the movie.

I first introduced to Nashville by a few of my Spartanburg Herald-Journal co-workers in the late 1990s, with it serving as a background movie for our card-playing. Honestly, it didn't make much of an impact on me at the time. But other viewings over the years, minus any focus on a crappy hand of cards, have paid rich dividends. It's an amazing film; a little bit of a miracle, even. 

It seems that Paul Thomas Anderson's newest film, Licorice Pizza, may have a bit of Nashville in its veins. I've been torn between wanting to know more about it and wanting to avoid too many spoilers. (And I've already read a few.) Today was the day that reviews, impressions and spoilers could first be posted on social media, so I think I might have to stay off @Papergreat on Twitter and the movie websites until after the national release on Christmas Day. It's not immediately clear how I'm going to manage that feat, though.

I did like this spoiler-free collection of thoughts on the Licorice Pizza from Rodrigo Perez (@YrOnlyHope). He wrote:

"If you consider PTA Altman PTA and Kubrick PTA (1st & 2nd halves of his career), then #LicoricePizza is like an early PTA Altman movie made by a later PTA Kubrick. Warm, nostalgic, romantic and affectionate, but cinematically ok with just hanging out and just vibin’

Maybe you could call it a Master-like pace.

In that sense it reminds me of Hal Ashby the most and true Altman (Boogie Nights is actually more coked up and Scorsese and Altman was never that keyed up as his early movies)

In a sense it’s much more Inherent Vice than it is Boogie Nights, minus the density of that film and the Zuckerberg jokes. It’s a PTA film that could potentially divide as much as IV did and there’s something exciting about it.

I’m still processing, but it’s largely great, if languid and baggy in spots (like a Long Goodbye), but Alana Haim is just luminous and outstanding.

Anyhow, it’s a film that don’t fit into one tweet, feels like 3 hrs, is sprawling, but still largely terrific."

That made all the sense in the world to me, and makes it sounds like Licorice Pizza might be Paul Thomas Anderson channeling Nashville through his own unique vision, sense of humor and style. Which sounds perfect. As is this poster.

Superstition connection from nearly 40 years ago

We have old Adams/Ingham/Otto postcards tucked into different corners of the house here in Florence, Arizona, but it was still a surprise when Joan came across this coincidental family postcard the other day while writing and mailing out her own delightfully decorated cards and postcards to various parts of the globe.

In March 1982, my grandmother, Helen Chandler Adams Ingham (1919-2003), received this postcard at her house in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. It shows the Superstition Mountains, which I can see to our north if I walk a few blocks to the edge of the development. And it was postmarked in scenic Sedona, Arizona, which we visited back in early July (see a couple of pics below).

I'm not sure who the WTL's are, but they seemed to enjoy this part of Arizona back in the day. In March 1982, I was living in Montoursville, Pennsylvania, and surely had no notion I'd find myself living in The Copper State some day.

My July 2021 Sedona pictures...

Mystery RPPC: Century-old class photo

Here's an old real photo postcard featuring a school class photo from what was likely a one-room schoolhouse, in Somewhere U.S.A., some year. It's a Kruxo RPPC with no stamp box on the back. So I think that roughly puts it between 1910 and 1920. There's no writing on the back, and thus we know zilch about who these kids are.

It's always interesting to zoom in and examine the faces of all these children and wonder about how their lives unfolded. After doing that, this is a good place to start if you want to check out more RPPCs on Papergreat.

Climate crisis postcard from Germany

As the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference continues in meeting rooms in Glasgow, Scotland, and environmental activists continue their urgent marches and speeches in the streets outside those meeting rooms, I received this postcard with a scene of simple natural beauty this week from a fellow Postcrosser in Germany. 

The self-described "plantmom," vegan and zero-waste proponent wrote:

Hello from Germany! I hope we can create such a world before it's 10° C too late. The earth time is running out so fast. I hope politicians and rich people realize that money can't fix the problems with climate change. But I have hope in younger people, they don't take the shit anymore they have to live with. Wishing you happiness and health. 

Movie posters for Agnès Varda's "Le Bonheur"

Just a short post today to share some of the amazing international posters for Agnès Varda's acclaimed 1965 film "Le Bonheur" (Happiness). It's one of the best films I've watched this year, and I'll be thinking about it for a long time.

I don't want to say anything about the plot, because if you have the opportunity to see it unspoiled, please do so. After you've seen it, a few interesting links you might wish to check out are this one by Abby Monteil, this one on the film's use of music by Adam Scovell, and this extensive, insight-filled photo essay on The Cine-Tourist.

Postcard for Haag's Hotel in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania

After all that Mild Fear, it's time for some food. Komm Esse states this postcard, which translates to "Come eat!" It's for the big spread at Haag's Hotel in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania.

Shartlesville, in a middle-of-nowhere spot just off Interstate 78 in Berks County, used to be quite the tourist spot, as it was also home to now-disassembled-and-gone model train layout extravaganza Roadside America (from which I have a big souvenir on my wall. I'll write more about that place before calling it quits on regular Papergreat postings.)

Haag's Hotel was also apparently quite the spot for good eats. The current building is what was rebuilt by Albert Jacob Haag in 1915 after a fire, according to haagshotel.com. 

Retro Roadmap visited Haag's in 2012, and this is part of what Mod Betty had to say:

"While their website indicates they do technically have some hotel rooms for rent, it’s probably more well known for its PA Dutch breakfast that includes '15 or more dishes from which you may eat all you can' – do I know how to make Retro Roadhusband happy or what? While RRH was busy seeing if he could eat ALL that scrapple (yep. He did.) I ate my fill of bacon and then was off snapping photos of the grand interior, which can seat up to 350!"

Indeed, banquets were part of the hotel's business model, according to the information on the back of this Dexter Press/J.E. Reppert postcard:

HAAG'S HOTEL AND RESTAURANT

Shartlesville, Pa. 19554

Shartlesville (Center of Town), Pennsylvania, 45 miles East of Harrisburg. Leave U.S. 22 (Interstate 78) at Shartlesville Exit. Telephone Bernville 215-488-6692. Open Daily, Sundays and Holidays. Closed Xmas. Pennsylvania Dutch Family Style Meals served from 11:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. Standard Time. Air-Conditioned. We cater to banquets and bus groups.

Writing on Berks County Eats in 2016, Zach Brown also noted that Haag's Hotel was known for its collection of more than 200 ducks: "The ducks are everywhere. Stuffed. Wooden. Plastic. Rubber. From the moment you walk through the door, you can’t escape them. They’re on the wall. They’re on the window sills. There are even wicker napkin holders shaped like ducks on every table."

Yes, I wrote was known. The hotel closed on December 23, 2017, according to the Reading Eagle, and was put up for sale in January 2018. It hasn't reopened.

I found a bundle of photo posts with memories of Haag's Hotel on public Facebook pages (one nice thing Zuckerberg's site is good for):

• Pennsylvania Dutch Recipes and Traditions, July 18, 2021
• Photos of Lehigh Valley, October 29, 2021 (pump organ)
• Photos of Lehigh Valley, October 29, 2021 (front entrance)
• Photos of Lehigh Valley, October 29, 2021 (the bar counter)

One person reminisced: "I was last there a few years ago, before they closed. When I was younger it was one of my grandmothers favorite places to go. We used to make it a day by going to Roadside America, and more recently Cabela’s. Last time there the food was not what it used to be and the sweets and sours on the table family style were limited to 3 items. Just not the same."

On another page, I found that someone recently sold an original Haag's Hotel porch stick chair dating to around 1915. Here's a picture:

Getting back to this postcard, it was addressed to a woman in South Nyack, New York, but there's no postmark or year indicating when it was written/mailed. This is the cursive note:

"Thurs. Eve — Drove all day in the rain — Had dinner here & stayed in this Dutch Motel where we stayed 3 yrs ago  — Home tomorrow & I will be glad  —  Love Edith & John"