Busiest day since Lowly Worm mistakenly wandered into a foot-stomping contest, and I spend half an hour trying to find a fargin’ picture of a tiled floor. I know I have it. I just don’t know where. Well. I’ll try again in a few moments, after I get this out of the way, write the XM commentary, upload the buzz.mn video, and go outside to pace and breath pure oxygen through a mask while Dean Stockwell sings “Candy Colored Clown.” Because I’m in a Frank sort of state. And if this all that made no sense, well, buy some Busytown books and rent “Blue Velvet.” Okay? Okay.

Here, look at this guy:

Does that spell comedy to you? No? All will be explained.

Honest to Crom it’s been like this all day; in the afternoon I was simultaneously editing the video on the laptop and running upstairs to scan 1921 theater ads on the main computer. All for buzz.mn. Wednesday is now vidcast day, because buzz.mn will be promoted on the front page. Since I have no idea what I’ll be blogging about the day before, I suggested that we promo videos. Which means I have to come up with a video. So I ran around in the rain and shot something today, babbled out the narration, and that was that. This evening: took (G)Nat to choir, and afterwards, since Mom has Bunco here at Jasperwood, we went to Target. But that’s another story. Today all I have are updates and cast-off scans.

As proof that no area of this site ever truly dies, I have an update to the ancient microfiche newspaper comics section. Be still your pounding heart, I know. Link at the bottom of the page.

What’s that? You’re wondering why I know have three different comics sites going, and whether it might be wise to combine them into one section under the Institute of Official Cheer rubric. You’re correct. That will follow in the next redesign. But there’s more: I also discovered something I thought I’d never find. I thought my research was complete, but no: here it is.

A hitherto lost Jerry on the Job flip-take. Behold, the spiral flip-take:

As for that alarming fellow at the top of the page: I did a buzz.mn post on the anniversary of the Marx Brothers opening the Orpheum theater, and got out the Strib microfiche to see if I could find some ads. I did, and was stunned to find the microfiche was in pristine condition. Every page just popped off the screen, and I’ll be going back for more. This was one of the ads:

They smile at your cat / All the while they want to lift your hat / The LID LIFTERS. Whachoo say?

The ad contains a message from the manager, “Old Bill Koenig.”

He left Minneapolis shortly after this ad ran, and went to Hollywood to work for Universal, Metro, and Fox. According to his imdb bio, he was a unit director on a little picture called “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

This was the theater:

Next door:

Somewhere in the depths of my drives there's a photo of the entrance of the Gayety Annex; I posted it to buzz.mn a few weeks ago. Can't find it. Suffice to say that the words GAYETY ANNEX can be found to this day on the pavement in front of this building, which now houses a bar called Runyon's. You can walk on the tiles and tread the same ground as a guy who was a unit director on the original Hunchback movie. Cool, eh? It's things like this that make you realize that every inch of the world is crowded with history, and it's a good thing the ghosts don't talk. We'd spend every day listening. We'd never get anything done. We'd have to tell them "later," and get back to our time with relief. All the details would be too much. No details makes an era slip away for good. One or two details scattered every yard or so? Irresistable.

Here are the new (old) comics. Also an old ad in the Ad Archive. Video at buzz.mn. Myocardial infarction at noon.