JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

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