The Ephemera: A sweet-faced, intelligent 9 year-old boy–Gerard Darrow–who performed on a radio show called Quiz Kids. LIFE says that Darrow “rescued this fledgling martin during a field trip at the Darrows’ summer cottage at Petite Lake, Ill.” Though Gerard was well-groomed and combed in the radio studio, he most loved being outdoors, where he… Continue reading Gerard Darrow: From Quiz Kid to Broken Man
From New Orleans Debutante to Wife of a Marxist, Divorce “Pioneer,” and Reiki Practitioner
The Ephemera Photo – Flickr/Bustbright Fortune, December 1938: About this time every winter in New York, if you happened to pass the Ritz toward eleven o’clock of a December evening, you would notice at the usually dark and deserted Forty-sixth Street entrance a swarm of limousines and taxis busily unloading a crowd of top hats… Continue reading From New Orleans Debutante to Wife of a Marxist, Divorce “Pioneer,” and Reiki Practitioner
Illustration Art Mania
I’m obsessed. It began a few weeks ago when, on an Internet auction, I purchased an original drawing called “Rocket Speedway,” by Sidney Howell, executed in 1935. Howell was an artist who occasionally worked for Orton & Spooner. According to the University of Sheffield’s National Fairground Archives, Orton & Spooner major ride-builders and decorators based… Continue reading Illustration Art Mania
Forgotten Woodstock: Seattle Pop Festival, 1969
Drive through Woodinville, Washington and it has the glimmer of an Eastside Seattle suburb that is rapidly expanding. With its Target, brewpubs, and pricey housing developments, Woodinville is fairly unremarkable, a rural area reinventing itself as a wine-tasting destination. But on one weekend years ago, thousands descended on a rural and remote Woodinville to hear a… Continue reading Forgotten Woodstock: Seattle Pop Festival, 1969
Octopussy, By Ian Fleming: One of the Best Bonds
I picked up Octopussy, by Ian Fleming, sometime in the 1970s at the small-town public library where I grew up. It was for sale, and I think cost something like ten cents. Being a young James Bond fan at the time, I was delighted to happen upon this book. But soon after I bought it,… Continue reading Octopussy, By Ian Fleming: One of the Best Bonds