JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

Source: Captain Britain #28, April 20, 1977. Sort this one out: a game page written and drawn by a Canadian for an American publisher who placed it in a comic book designed for the British market. You follow? The game itself is pretty simple. If you're feeling bored, print out the full-sized version , grab the nearest die, and play a round or three. Owen McCarron was an advertising director and cartoonist with the Halifax Chronicle-Herald whose feature Fun and Games was syndicated across Canada. A comic book fan, McCarron produced various giveaways that, according to John Bell's guide to Canadian comic book history Invaders From The North (Toronto: Dundurn, 2006), were "mostly full-colour comics that were distinguished by bold, engaging artwork and reasonably solid storylines." For  Marvel, McCarron produced Fun and Games pages like the one above and a series that ran 13 issues in 1979-80 with covers advising readers that "all you need is a pencil....

  The journalism school that Toronto's morning conservative paper barely conceals its disdain for evolved into the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (though I agree that one doesn't have to sit in a classroom to learn the essentials of reporting). Seventy-nine budding scribes made up the opening class on September 30, 1912. Within five years, the school handed out its first Pulitzer Prize, which makes me wonder if the Mail and Empire later pooh-poohed the concept of journalism awards. Source: the Mail and Empire , April 19, 1912.

One series of paperbacks I've picked up at fundraising book sales over the years is Penguin's food handbooks.  Small, rarely more than 50 cents a copy, and ranging in subjects from haute cuisine to proper freezing techniques, they're food guides designed for reading instead of gawking. Aimed at a British audience, there are occasional nods to North America, such as a brief look at our fermented grape industry in Allan Sichel's 1965 guide The Penguin Book of Wines .

Anyone following the saga of Caterpillar's decisions to first ask its workers in London, Ontario to take a 50 percent pay cut , then close the plant may find dark humour in the ads we're spotlighting today. Back in the late 1970s, Caterpillar portrayed itself as a good corporate citizen interested in spurring debate on environmental and public infrastructure issues. A long series of ads in National Geographic explored topics ranging from road maintenance to water pollution. The tag line on all of them — "There are no simple solutions. Only intelligent choices" — probably sounds like a sick joke to those who lost their jobs in London. There are a dozen more ads in this series on my Flickr feed . Source: National Geographic , June 1977

At first I laughed at the absurdity of this ad’s claims: turning into a misanthropic wretch because of an ill-fitting shirt. Then I remembered I’ve been guilty of yelling in anger or cursing my physical shape whenever a shirt that fit well on its first wearing shrank after being washed. This is especially true if the shirt cost more than my usual apparel budget. There have been times where I’ve been ultra-paranoid about purchasing clothes out of fear they would shrink by 50% or, if it was a type of garment I knew was prone to a water-induced diet, remain in an enlarged state suitable for a clown costume. In other words, the man in the ad deserves his moment of cheerfulness. Source: the Toronto Daily Mail , January 23, 1892

How to turn a nice sketch of a turn-of-the-century gentleman into a depiction of a hideous victim of venereal disease: assign the printer to randomly drop ink over a second copy and switch his fancy tie into a bow tie. The victim in today's ad looks not so much like a tragic sufferer of syphilis, but more like an Edwardian conception of a zombie or a gentleman whose portrait was painted by Basil Hallward .  Source: the Toronto World , May 21, 1902.

There once was an ad Whose opening was mad And celebrated poetry so bad It made us kinda sad But not as much as Vlad Who tried to write a poem about plaid While sprawled in his pad Next to his sleeping dad For a recent literature grad He did not think his prose was so rad. Source: Now , March 30, 1989.

Do not go gentle down that good road... Photo taken on Royal Oak Road, west of Little Britain, September 14, 2011.

With the backlog of material sitting here, it takes a while before I get around to thoroughly browsing magazines I've picked up on a whim because they could be useful for future research or a tossed-off blog post.  When I finally get around to reading them, the notes previous readers left behind jump out at me. Such is the case with today's feature presentation, taken from an early 1950s issue of Better Homes & Gardens I purchased in Herkimer, NY during a roadtrip to Boston last spring.  I was walking off lunch from a nearby diner (a massive Denver omelette, accompanied by biscuits served with gravy that didn't resemble wallpaper paste) along the town's definitely-seen-better-days main street when I stopped in a quirky antique shop. Unlike similar establishments, the prices weren't going to break the bank — the magazine was one of several items I purchased for a buck apiece. Took a quick flip, saw its potential, tossed it in the trunk, and rediscovered it ...

Construction continues on the ground level of the Toronto Reference Library . Coming during 2012: a new browsery, expanded gallery space, and a branch of Balzac's . Also coming in 2012: a return to regular posting on this site.  Photo taken December 28, 2011 .

Dear readers: may you have better luck finding what you wanted under the Christmas tree than these people did a century ago ( I already have ). Unlike Bobby, little Jamie would have been happier receiving a well-illustrated "Lives of Great Men" (or "Lives of Great Hockey Players" or "Lives of Great B-Movie Character Actors") than a pair of skates that might kill my ankles. Source: the Globe , December 25, 1911

H.H. Wiltshire, aka The Flaneur, was one of the first columnists to appear in Toronto newspapers. According to historian Paul Rutherford in his book A Victorian Authority: the daily press in late nineteenth century Canada , Wiltshire's Saturday morning musings in the Mail and Mail and Empire "might roam over the woeful condition of France or Ireland, the arts world, Toronto civic politics, displaying a Conservative bias but not in any strident fashion." As Wiltshire's nom de plume implies, his columns read like the thoughts of a man carefully observing his surroundings as he wanders the city and wire reports. Wiltshire readily interacted with his readers, answering their general questions or debating their opinions. Here's how Wiltshire greeted his readers during his holiday column a century ago: To all my happy readers I wish a Happy Christmas and a good New Year. For them, "may good digestion wait on appetite and health on both," as the familia...

An all-too-familiar pattern of settling into a fine day of work. More about Gluyas Williams in an American Heritage profile . Source: The Telegram , May 28, 1928

"Flee." - Dave Marsh, summarizing the discography of Chase in the 1979 edition of The Rolling Stone Record Guide .  All three of  Chase's records were bestowed with the guide's lowest rating on a five star scale, which wasn't a star but a square, defined as "worthless: records that need never (or should never) have been created. Reserved for the most bathetic bathwater." Was Chase's style of jazz-rock fusion deserving of snarky scorn? A YouTube search came up with a ltelevision performance that lives up to their horny billing. The group's career was cut short when leader Bill Chase and three other members were killed in a plane crash in 1974. Source: National Lampoon , May 1972 

Peter Lorre at dinner , between 1955 and 1964. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 3429 (Alexandra Studio). One of the joys of digging through the treasure chest of photos uploaded by the City of Toronto Archives  is finding unusual pictures that end up distracting me from what I’m supposed to be searching for. Take the shot above, found while seeking "dinner" photos. The scene: a nice restaurant, somewhere in Toronto during the late 1950s or early 1960s (any historic culinary experts good at identifying it?). Actor Peter Lorre is being interviewed by writer Frank Rasky. Lorre holds a sausage, which resembles the breakfast variety despite the picture being taken at dinner, in his fork. He gives it an odd glance. Is Lorre: Pondering his next answer? Discovering there's something wrong with the sausage? Illustrating a point to amuse the interviewer?  Demonstrating a dining technique director Fritz Lang left on the cutting room floor after sho...

While there will be a lot of happy faces at today's Santa Claus Parade today in Toronto, I suspect they may not match the joy expressed along the procession route in 1918. That year's parade rounded out a week that began with the signing of the armistice that ended World War I. Despite the other celebrations and parades that week, Torontonians weren't too pooped to watch Santa make his journey through the city. And a journey it was: back then, the route began at Yonge and Eglinton and made its way south until it reached Eaton's Toyland at the corner of Albert and James (an intersection that survived the construction of the Eaton Centre).

A ghost costume seems odd for Snoopy - were his World War I flying ace goggles being repaired? Also don't recall "gooey stuff in our hair" being a part of Halloween ritual, unless (a) it refers to coloured hairspray being applied too liberally, (b) liquid latex or face putty application went wrong, or (c) it was habit for kids to stick their chewed-up Chiclets or Double Bubble in a friend's hair. A little Peanuts happy dance is a fine way to welcome Halloween. Fingers crossed rain stays away for trick-o-treaters or anyone planning to hit Toronto's Halloween hotspots tonight. One piece of advice: Church Street is fantastic for observing the creativity people put into their costumes (like last year's Lego people and Barbie in a box ) in a party-like atmosphere, but is not recommended for the claustrophobic once half the city descends upon the closed-off stretch.

Have you sent the Great Pumpkin a card (or ecard) yet? Time's a-wastin'! Get to it! Now! No delay! Judging from the glint in his eyes, it looks like Snoopy knows what Linus is getting from the Great Pumpkin this year, doesn't it? It probably won't be Bing Crosby warbling this ode to the monarch of the pumpkin patch.

While out in the pumpkin patch, you can play fun games involving a dash of romance with other vegetables growing nearby. Take this suggestion from the "Hallow-e'en" chapter of Mary E. Blain's 1909 guide to merriment, Games For All Occasions : PULLED KALE All are blindfolded and go out singly or hand-in-hand to garden. Groping about they pull up first stalk of kale or head of cabbage. If stalk comes up easily the sweetheart will be easy to win; if the reverse, hard to win. The shape of the stump will hint at figure of prospective wife or husband. Its length will suggest age. If much soil clings to it, life-partner will be rich; if not, poor. Finally, the stump is carried home and hung over door, first person outside of family who passed under it will bear a name whose initial is same as that of sweetheart. Even with the change of season, it's not the same without the chestnuts roasting on an open fire. I'd suggest roasting pumpkin seeds, but the wrath o...

Several days before Halloween, Snoopy and Woodstock tested the lone tree in the pumpkin patch to see if it would support them in case they dressed up like bats or vampires. The odds of those costumes being their final choice was low: every year, the World War I flying ace was on the prowl for root beer and the dastardly Red Baron. The Great Pumpkin that Linus carved wasn't as comfy as Snoopy's doghouse, but it was good enough for a quick nap. As he drifted off, the beagle wondered who would warble this carol better: Fred Astaire or Frank Sinatra ? To be continued...