THE NIGHTSTAND...
This page is a
personal record of some of my intake of printed matter. I'm an avid
and incorrigible book collector, not to mention magazines, pamphlets and
even comic books. The very best books I have hoarded over my years of haunting
thrift stores and flea markets. My tastes are odd and eccentric, and I have no interest in "first editions".
We're in an age of aggressive media that demands an audience be passive. The
advantage of printed matter is allowing rumination; pausing to think
at any time about what one is reading or seeing. It's really an interplay
or dialogue between the reader, the writer, and the subjects themselves.
That is a precious but undervalued thing.
It's also the terrain where new ideas are born.
It's a big world out there, and much of our present media doesn't remotely
connect to it. I think the Arts should refresh and rejuvenate people before
sending them back into life, and I believe Art is like a mirror that should reflect who you are,
not the other way around.
MH
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FAMOUS ARTISTS MAGAZINE
Published for the students of the well-known FA school founded by illustrator Albert Dorne, this is one of
several issues I have featuring student success stories, profiles of working professionals plus explorations of their methods.
All the instructors show up in FAM issues eventually: Norman Rockwell, Robert Fawcett,
Ben Stahl, Austin Briggs, Jon Whitcomb, etc. The oddest aspect of Dorne's profile is that although he was an
artistic child prodigy and later a skilled illustrator
extraordinaire, he claimed he never felt the slightest urge to express a personal feeling in a picture made
for its own sake. To him, creating the work-for-hire was all and everything.
The excellent FA school is still with us today.
FAMOUS ARTISTS SCHOOL
HOT ROD CARTOONS
Like a strange sister-world orbiting a mundane comic-book planet, Hot Rod Cartoons and its
companion magazines occupied a niche for young readers who couldn't care a whit for regular superhero fare.
That's what's so refreshing about these mags; they reflected the reality of young guys (and gals, from
the letters column) who found a measure of freedom by getting a car and getting out of their parents' hair.
You could soup-up your own rod and exercise your creativity, attend Drag Races and hang with your pals,
and when the day was over, read some funny cartoons to cool down. A companion magazine Surftoons
is rare and highly collectible. Click below for more history.
HOTROD.COM PROFILE
JUDITH VIORST
Another discovery that began with seeing this old, squarish volume of poetry in a dusty box somewhere, I can only
compare Mrs. Viorst's crystalline insight and incisive wit to Jules Feiffer. The illustrated
poems of People and
Other Aggravations, perfect in form and
function, strike at the heart of 1960s social mores and timeless human foibles as well. Yet, they manage it with a tactful and wry humor. Upon
further research, I find more books--some popular ones for children and novels for adults, and involvement with a
Kennedy Center program, linked below.
JUDITH VIORST INTERVIEW
APARTMENT 3-G
A long-time reader--and clipper--of Alex Kotzky's masterpiece Apartment 3-G, the intrusive eye of eBay has
allowed me to raid the trashbins of yesteryear's old newspapers for more lost installments. Sometimes demeaned as
mere soap operatics, the skilled craftsmanship of the art and lifelike tone of the series have, to my mind, never
been equalled. Unsurprising, seeing that Mrs. Kotzky claimed her husband almost never left his attic studio.
With that I can relate. See examples of his astonishingly naturalistic draftsmanship via Stephen Donnelly's original art gallery
HERE
DIAL CORD GUIDE
Hokay--here comes the Weird Stuff... This arcane tome has survived longer than I have, so
I figure what right have I got to destroy it? Back in 1964 if ya had to re-string the tuner
dial on a TV or radio you'd be utterly lost without this book and its extensive expanse of
diagrams. The exact number of twists and
turns needed to precisely navigate those hidden posts and pulleys are like some magical voodoo incantation. People
still refurbish those old sets, so its usefulness may not have ended. Has yours? When will all of
OUR precious gadgetry hit the junkpile? Who owned this book and wrote Eleanor's phone number in the back?
When you die, what paraphenalia will you leave behind--and who will care? We may never
know the answers to all these questions, but be sure there is yet a small and quiet story there.
See more useless pages at the useful link below.
OLD RADIO REPAIR
HILL'S MANUAL
Dated 1921 but with an outlook more like 1870, this thick, musty
door- stopper is dedicated to those who "...easily and gracefully express
the right thought". On second thought, that could get to be dangerous what with everyone
expressing the same "right thoughts" all the time--ya need a few "wrong thoughts" now and then.
But, some social decorum must be maintained if anyone's going to get laid and extend the species,
and all that's covered here in excruciating detail via guides for communicating in finance, the bedroom,
on airplanes, in various capitols of the world,
and a million other potential disaster areas of every imagineable type and then some.
To be fair, a lot of it is still useful in spite of the years between Us and Them. Plus,
there are very handsome hand-made line engravings
on nearly every page; I think it's safe to say
that THAT'S a completely dead art. It's true; I read this thing in the bathroom. Here's a
real commode-jolter for ya, the illuminating piece titled
"Fashion---Why Does it Change?"
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