I started listening to PHC when you first were on NPR. Was that also the first year you produced the show? We enjoyed your 50th anniversary show from Austin. I have a good friend who is an English Major and I managed to get a used (but very good) set of the English Major CDs in their original packaging to give to him on his 80th birthday last year. He happens to be an Australian and I wrote several limericks for him, one of which is more related to his POEM membership:
There was a young man from Perth
Who searched all over the earth.
He sought to distinguish
Good from bad English
But wondered how much that was worth.
Keep it up. I am only a bit older than you and, boy, would I lover to be 60 again!
Regarding a poster's referring to something he/she enjoyed called "Six Minute Hamlet", it brought to mind a book by Richard Lederer that as a child I read and re-read and laughed out loud every time. The book's title escapes me and doesn't appear on the long list of Richard Lederer books so it must be out of print, but in my memory it was hilarious and consisted of abbreviated and very funny versions of many of Shakespeare's plays. Its title was something like your "Six Minute Hamlet" and thus might have been an aware or unaware inspiration. Now I will be on the lookout for an out of print copy of that book, always on the hunt for things that bring laughter.
In about 1982, the News from Lake Wobegon reported that Mrs. Magendansk, she of the lime green pantsuit, had a vision when she stayed up all night ironing. Her vision indicated, as I recall, that the answer to life was in the New York City phone book. How did Mrs. M. fare after that? I had taped that segment and a few others, and took it with us when we moved to Munich, where my then-husband had a post-doc. We didn’t return until 1986, so I missed three years of PHC (and nearly wore out those few cassettes). But I’ve always wondered if Mrs. Magendansk, continued making the News. In my imagination she had quite a time buying a new sewing machine, but when she did, she sewed an exquisite prom dress for her daughter Maureen, and was quite miffed when Maureen was named to the honor guard rather than being crowned Prom Queen. Does Mrs. M. still iron? Does she sew parachutes for Maureen’s presumably teenage children, who are likely into sky diving? And other speculations along those lines.
I started listening to PHC when you first were on NPR. Was that also the first year you produced the show? We enjoyed your 50th anniversary show from Austin. I have a good friend who is an English Major and I managed to get a used (but very good) set of the English Major CDs in their original packaging to give to him on his 80th birthday last year. He happens to be an Australian and I wrote several limericks for him, one of which is more related to his POEM membership:
There was a young man from Perth
Who searched all over the earth.
He sought to distinguish
Good from bad English
But wondered how much that was worth.
Keep it up. I am only a bit older than you and, boy, would I lover to be 60 again!
All the best, Jim Hammond from Sisters, Oregon
Regarding a poster's referring to something he/she enjoyed called "Six Minute Hamlet", it brought to mind a book by Richard Lederer that as a child I read and re-read and laughed out loud every time. The book's title escapes me and doesn't appear on the long list of Richard Lederer books so it must be out of print, but in my memory it was hilarious and consisted of abbreviated and very funny versions of many of Shakespeare's plays. Its title was something like your "Six Minute Hamlet" and thus might have been an aware or unaware inspiration. Now I will be on the lookout for an out of print copy of that book, always on the hunt for things that bring laughter.
In about 1982, the News from Lake Wobegon reported that Mrs. Magendansk, she of the lime green pantsuit, had a vision when she stayed up all night ironing. Her vision indicated, as I recall, that the answer to life was in the New York City phone book. How did Mrs. M. fare after that? I had taped that segment and a few others, and took it with us when we moved to Munich, where my then-husband had a post-doc. We didn’t return until 1986, so I missed three years of PHC (and nearly wore out those few cassettes). But I’ve always wondered if Mrs. Magendansk, continued making the News. In my imagination she had quite a time buying a new sewing machine, but when she did, she sewed an exquisite prom dress for her daughter Maureen, and was quite miffed when Maureen was named to the honor guard rather than being crowned Prom Queen. Does Mrs. M. still iron? Does she sew parachutes for Maureen’s presumably teenage children, who are likely into sky diving? And other speculations along those lines.
Carol Chittenden
Falmouth, MA