Friday, July 5, 2013

Mourning the Magnovox

Tonight:  A Claire McCardell swimsuit from the early 1950s.


And People Are Still Talking About stuff.





Now Tweeting - "Freddie the Freeloader," by Miles Davis, which sounds a lot like "So What."  I am building up a tolerance for both jazz and musicals.  Here is one thing that couldn't happen to you in 1959.  Let's say you open the lid to your Magnavox to play Kind of Blue.  Your Magnavox wouldn't start nagging you about neglecting The Sound of Music.  What's it to you, Spotify, if I haven't listened to something for a while?  This is worse than if the Magnavox mentioned that my neighbor was listening to Frank Sinatra right now, hint, hint.  Or is it?   I can't imagine anyone ever bothered to wonder about the musical tastes of remote acquaintances before their selections were constantly dangled in front of us.   Nice, safe, steady, non-leaking-of-private-listening-habits Magnavox!


What's the topic for today?

People Are Talking About. . . "Marya Mannes, handsome, thoughtful, who wrote "The Handsome Heart" in this issue,
who is now working with George Voskovec on a satirical musical comedy." That was going to be called Time and Again, according to the NYT, but nothing appears to have come of it.


Having read "The Handsome Heart," and you'll have a chance when we turn the page, I don't think she is quite the right person for a musical comedy, especially a satirical one.  Who was she?

A social critic, magazine writer, Vogue alumna, a talking head - her obituary makes no mention of this play, but she did publish a volume of satirical verse in 1958, called Subverse.   I can't find an example online.  She seems to have been a quintessential public television person and here she is on public television (after a short introduction):



I'm afraid I find you kind of a pill.

But her quotes are all over the Twittersphere!  This is the best:


People on horses look better than they are. People in cars look worse than they are. ~Marya Mannes

Agreed! (I have no idea who this Twitterer is - just picked one at random.)

Tomorrow: The Bowser Garage

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