First night writing outside in a very long time. Nothing, it seems, has changed; the dog is in his seat, the gazebo lights burn, the planes are rumbling in - the far approach tonight, which is nice. No, nothing much has changed, and I suppose that’s good. Inasmuch as things were nice before.

Some of the landscape lights are on. Always a guess when I flip that switch. Two of the big ones that went by the steps are gone; the pole that held one up broke, as if it suffered a violent blow. Perhaps Birch was chasing something. I found a replacement at Home Depot, which surprised me: the design and quantity of low-voltage lighting hasn’t changed much in 20 years. It’s as boring as ever.

Next step: the Oak Island Water Feature.

And here a great heaviness descended upon my heart.

It’s busy week, with lots of things due. But I know you’re wondering how the theme park is going. Well, thank you! Except not. The usual annoyances, the fiddly piece-placement, the crappy fonts, the stuff that looks great when you’re building, and then when you get close up you see a fire hydrant in the middle of the street. I quickly built two attractions to keep me from endlessly tweaking the Neon City. The problem, as ever, is that you learn from your mistakes and want to start fresh to avoid them.

But the ride is done, inasmuch as I’m just finished with tweaking and have given up on triggering electrical discharges. I know, I know; you’ve had days like that too. Here it is. You can go the page for full screen. But a few words:

The entrance was created by tunneling through a building someone else constructed. All other buildings are mine, except for the street with all the neon signs. (Those are mine.) The idea is a fire in a Cold Storage facility, I guess, and then there’s something about electricity. I just wanted to crash a coaster through a city. The people who are really good at this will probably yawn; it doesn’t have enough of this or that. There are people whose ability to do good coasters and endless amounts of scenery make my wrists ache just looking at their work.

Anyway: here it is. It’s not too long.

It’s 1950.

Who snitched on old Sol?

Fairly standard 1950 page, and not sensational. If it were, I think they wouldn’t lead with beach improvements, and maybe give this one a bigger headline

		These free-for-alls were a grave concern. JDs and their gangs and molls and chains and shivs. A complete mystery to the grown-ups. Why? Why you have to go fighting? Over what?

HURRY UP JER

It's funny because he's unattractive and has no chance of landing a sexual partner out of his league, so he has to take pictures of specific body parts!

		Grainy as it is, you can still tell it's him. I've never liked him. Except for "King of Comedy."

Anyway, Marie Wilson, the object of his leering: lots of radio and TV. Not well-remembered today.

Most interesting detail:

Wilson's left leg was the model for a 35-ft (sometimes referred to as 34-ft), two-ton sculpture outside the Theme Hosiery (later Sanderson Hoisery) plant on Olympic and Barrington in West Los Angeles. The DuPont Co. commissioned the plaster leg, which was painted as if to be wearing nylons, to promote its new nylons product. Wilson was hoisted thigh-level at the sculpture's unveiling August 6, 1949.

And here it is.

Lewis met Wilson while they were doing the “My Friend Irma” movie. It was the first appearance for Martin and Lewis.

Was this a reference to proposals to reduce delivery to once a day? Or proposals to guarantee delivery in one day? 

So if we went to once-a-day delivery, the postman would overburdened because there was now so much to carry and cram?

Nowadays we get very little mail, and absolutely no mail of personal interest. It's one of those things you never thought would go away, but it did.

Pushing back on the JD hoodlum front and giving you renewed faith in the young, it's . . .

Ya'll. Not Y'all.

From her obit:

She grew up in Orlando and Hollywood Florida but was determined to live and travel afar. After meeting her husband John in Cyprus, they avidly lived an almost nomadic life in varied places; England, Atlanta, Cincinnati and Jacksonville, amongst others before settling in the Redlands area. Betty is a graduate of Duke University, a respected and awarded breeder of Lhasa Apsos and a world traveler.

Opened in 1948; closed 15 years later, in 1963.

Cinematreasures pictures here.

Hmm: Idol of the Crowds came out in 1937. I wonder if the crowd thought they were getting fresh Wayne, and groaned at an oldie.

Yum, German food

Your hosts, who are very, very 1950.

To live in Florida in 1950 strikes me as a pleasant thing to do.

That will have to do; some Canadian hooch ads are waiting for your approval.