Harvey Kurtzman book by Bill Schelly

Yesterday I received the book HARVEY KURTZMAN, THE MAN WHO CREATED MAD AND REVOLUTIONIZED HUMOR IN AMERICA by Bill Schelly.  

600 + pages.  I am up to page 20.

Thanks Sabrina, Rocky, and Benjamin.

New Word Today: ICONOCLAST

New Word for Today:  Iconoclast:

a person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditional institutions, etc., as being based on error or superstition. 2. a breaker or destroyer of images, especially those set up for religious veneration.
(Photoshopped by Joe Jenkins).

Throwback Thursday: The Foster Kids

Throwback Thursday:   Anna's mother and two uncles proof pictures:  The Foster Kids c1926.  Marie Foster (1920-2015), Charles Foster (1925-2012), and Paul Foster (1922-1995).  Children of Paul Everett and Irene Jones Foster.

Adventure of Eavesdropping at the Credit Union

Yesterday I went to our Credit Union to get into our safe deposit box.  As I was at a teller's window signing for the box an elderly lady came storming in and told the teller at the next window that she was tired of being lied to.  I only heard part of it, I have no idea what she was talking about..

Then the elderly handed over to the teller a sum of cash and said she wanted to pay off something, take the cash, and use some money in her account to pay off the balance.

The teller apparently looked up her balance on the computer and told her she did not have enough money to pay off the account.

The elderly lady said she most certainly did, pay it off!  Now!

The teller told her she withdrew $500 just a few days ago, now her account balance was almost zero.

She said she did not withdraw any money.   She said will be back with her son.  And stormed out.

The teller that I was dealing with took me to the safety deposit box room, with the credit union's key and my key we got my strong box out of the wall.

I retrieved what I wanted and went back to the teller row of windows to signal my teller I was finished, we can put the box back into the window. 

The teller came back and we both put the box back into the safe.

I spent no more than 5 or 6 minutes.

On the way out the door the elderly lady that was having words with the teller was coming back in.

Herman, a Success Story

Herman Stone, 2010, MHS 1960 Class Reunion.

   In the late 1970s late in the evening, after dark, probably about 10:00pm I heard some clanking out in the street in front of our house.  I looked out the window and a garbage truck was there with a man working on it.

I walked up to the street to see if I could be of any help and I recognized the man as an old high school classmate: Herman Stone.  I asked him what I could do to help him and he said "Nothing."  He went on to say the garbage truck he was driving broke down but he called his company and help was on the way.

I remember him in school very serious, no horsing around, and never cracking a smile.  He stayed that way.

Herman ended up owning that garbage disposal company and became a millionaire.

At the reunion he told me he was living in Dalton.

On This Day in History, Sept 26th

1937, the radio drama “The Shadow,” starring Orson Welles, premiered on the Mutual Broadcasting System.

HAPPY NATIONAL COMICBOOK DAY!

I almost did not get this posted in time.  This is the first issue of MAD Comicbook, The cover of the first issue was drawn by MAD creator and editor for the first 26 issues or so, Harvey Kurtzman.  And published by E.C. Publishing Company, owned by William Gaines.

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! PANIC's HINDU

Cover art  by Basil Wolverton and story art by Wallace Wood.  Basil was well known in the comic-fandom world for drawing grotesque people and slap happy whimsical people.  He also illustrated LIGHTHOUSE, a religious magazine of Jehovah Witnesses.  Wally Wood was known for his science fiction illustrating as well as a ground-breaker artist and original artist for MAD Comicbook.

By the way, in case you did not know, MAD and PANIC were sister publications owned by the same publishing company (E.C.) and used the same artists.

PSST!  click on each page to enlarge it to be able to read the balloons then it might make more sense - or not.

Parts of the Big Picture (Atlanta)

At an establishment in Kennesaw yesterday I sat mesmerized in front of a huge photo Mural of Atlanta, south, looking north. I think I recognized many of the buildings, such as the Federal Annex where I worked and the Richard Russell and Southern Railroad buildings next door.

I whipped out my iphone and snapped a few detailed studies, such as below:

click on each image to enlarge.

Grady Hospital

The block Scrooge McDuck vault looking building  in the foreground used to be the state archives.  I used to research genealogy  there.

On the horizon, right to left: Federal Annex (where I worked), Richard B. Russell Federal Building (where Atlanta Terminal was and where I was mugged once), and Southern Railway Building (where I was also mugged one time)..

Roy Faulkner died

Roy Faulkner, the man who is credited with carving  Stone Mountain, has died at age 84.

Garth's Arm around Herman, a rare scene

Left to right:  Garth Cain, Herman Wrigley, Herman's wife Marilyn , and I think either the station manager or acting Marietta Postmaster.  This picture is inside the Sprayberry Post Office ten years or so ago to say thanks to Herman for his devotion to the Postal Service.  He had just retired.

Ironically Garth Cain, the ex-postmaster has his hand on Herman, like he is petting him.  Garth died a several years ago.  

Herman and Garth had a love-hate relationship, sort of.

I remember one time Garth gave Herman some good advice, paraphrased:  "Only be concerned with what you can control, it is bad for your health to worry about things you can't change."

Throwback Thursday: Aunt and Uncle 50th Anniversary 21 Years ago

Rarely I have the exact dates on photographs I took, but this time I do: June 19, 1995.  It is the 50th Wedding Anniversary of my uncle and aunt, Leonard Petty (1924-2001) and Jeannette Phillips Petty (1925-2004) over 21 years ago.

Leonard was an optician.  He worked for Dr. Cutherson then went into own business.  In Marietta Petty Optician shared a building with Woody's Barbershop.  After Leonard had died I learned that he and the proprietor of Woody's Barber Shop was most likely distant cousins from our roots in Fanning County.

Leonard also owned horse boarding stables in Powder Springs that I think he partnered with his daughter LaVern.

Jeannette was born in Detroit.  Leonard met her when he was in the Navy.  They had three daughters and a son and a black and white long haired dog named Sooner.

Their children and children', and children's children and spouses.

Leonard Francis Petty 1930

Anthony Rollins (son of Opal Petty)

Billy Petty (son of Leonard and Jeannette) and grandson

Center two: Billy Petty, son of Billy, and LaVern, Leonard and Jeannette's youngest daughter

Cheryl and her father Wallace Petty

Janie Petty Hunter and her daughters Frances and Bonnie

Surprised!  LaVern and mother Jeannette

Surprised!

Leonard and daughter LaVonne

Susan Petty Kirkendal (Leonard and Jeannette's daughter) serving.

Sarah Petty McLemore and friend

Mary Joe Johns Petty (widow of Tom Petty) and LaVonne

Monroe Reece (grew up on neighboring farm), friend of the Pettys 

Brothers Leonard and Wallace Petty

Surviving Petty Siblings and Jeannette in 1995 Janie died about eight months later.

Farts Facts

I like to collect useless interesting information.  It makes me look so wise!

They are not conversation pieces.  Once you stated the little interesting fact there is not much left to be said about the subject.

On all the Uncle John's Bathroom Almanacs I have read through the years, on each page at the bottom they have one interesting fact or statistic, just like the kinds I thrive on.

For example: 

An average of two people per year die from flatulence.

and

It takes 30 to 45 minutes for gas in your intestines to become a fart.

You start the conversation and end the conversation, all in one sentence.

Phaye and Fyllis Murner

Sisters Faye and Phyllis Murner at a Bell Reunion.  As children they used to live on Chester Street and if their parents took the Atlanta Journal I probably were there paper boy, briefly.  About a year of delivering newspapers was about all I could afford.

Faye is a volunteer for the Cobb County Humane Society.  Phyllis lives out of town in Vidalia, Georgia.

When our classmate and friend Sam Carsley died a few years ago, Faye,Anna, and I were the only ones of his friends/classmates that attended the funeral.

Which reminds me, this is the truth,  today my ipad dinged and I opened it up to see if I had a message or something - and there was a message alright, a strange message:  "Samuel Carsley is unable to talk on Facetime at the moment."  What is strange is after he died I deleted his email address.

Talk about an eerie feeling.

Castle Lake, Was

I have this named "Castle Lake".  When I took this picture I don't remember a sign was up saying Castle Lake or what.  It was, if I remember correctly, a rock quarry, in a raised crater, sort of a look like  volcano, in the middle of a trailer park at the Connector/Barrett Parkway and The 4-Lane in Kennesaw.  Now, from the road it looks like it has been bulldozed away, along with the trailer park residents,  to make way for a new shopping center,  

Benjamin's First Haircut

September 17, 2016

Photos by Mom  Sabrina Sexton