jim henson

This past Monday was the first day of Autumn.

You wouldn't necessarily know it around here these past few days, but there have been some indications recently of Summer beginning its retreat.

I'm only getting around to sharing it now, but on Monday My Friend Topic was kind enough to send along a poem to mark Summer's passing.

I hope the poem resonates with you as it has with me...


The Summer Day

by Mary Oliver


Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

- - from New and Selected Poems, 1992
Beacon Press, Boston, MA

Big thanks again to My Friend Topic for sharing another treasure from her fabulous trove of vintage booklets.

Memory expert Edward Stoddard's 'personal success program' is fun to flip through, primarily for the
circa-1958 faces in the photo recognition tests and the nifty practice 'flash cards' kit. (See below)

Stoddard's memory methods tend to stress many very simple but effective common-sense techniques, along with encouraging the use of mnemonic devices to establish mental word and picture associations in conversation with people.

A few images and informative passages from the middle of the text follow...







HOW TO REMEMBER NAMES

Far more people feel they need help in remembering names than in remembering faces.

"Sure I remember your
face, but. . ."

I hope we've made it clear already that this is partly fooling yourself.
Just a hunch that you've seen a face before is not remembering it.
But it is perfectly true that names are harder to remember than faces.
There are several good reasons for this.

First, more people are "eye" minded than "ear" minded.
This means that we really notice and remember things we see better than we notice and remember things we hear.

Second, when you meet a person you see his face for at least several moments.
In effect, you are seeing his face many times. Often you hear his name only once.
Sometimes you don't even hear his name once. The person introducing you may slur it or mumble it.
Even if he pronounces it clearly, often you are thinking about shaking hands and noticing how he looks. and you don't hear it clearly, if at all.

This leads us into - -

THE FIRST RULE FOR REMEMBERING NAMES

The first rule for remembering names is so simple and obvious that it seems absurd to mention it.
Yet it is skipped so often that it has to be made a rule:

Get the name.

This one rule, all by itself, will increase your memory for names by 50 per cent.
How often have you beeen introduced to several people at once and realized, when the introductions were over, that you didn't really get one single name?

So make it a hard and fast rule to get the name right at the start.

Stop, Look, and Listen

In fact, this and the first rule for remembering faces should all be rolled into one big rule labeled with the old railroad crossing slogan:

Stop. Look. Listen.

Stop thinking about anything else for a moment.
Think only of the person you are meeting.
Look at his face.
Listen to his name.
Sometimes you can't get the name even if you are listening.
In this case, don't skip over it. Stop the proceedings and say you didn't get the name.
Don't ask the person doing the introducing. Ask the person to whom you are being introduced. He won't slur his own name.

The person will definitely not be insulted that you ask him to repeat his name.
He will be pleased as punch. This indicates your interest in him.
If the name is unusual, ask him how to pronounce it or spell it, or both.
Again, I promise you he won't be insulted.
Everyone loves the sound of his own name, and he'll be delighted to talk about it.
Don't go on to the next step until you are sure you have the name right.
Everything that follows depends on rule one:

Get the name.

THE SECOND RULE FOR REMEMBERING NAMES

The second rule is not quite so obvious, but it is a great big step in making sure you remember every name:

Repeat the name.

That's all. But you'll be surprised at the difference it makes.

It's as simple as responding to the introduction with, "Glad to meet you, Mr. Austen."
There are valid psychological reasons for the importance of this.
The repetition imprints the name more firmly on your memory.
The fact that you said it, not someone else, gives it another hold on your memory.
It also makes extra sure that you really do have the name right.
When meeting several people, you can even just nod in a friendly way as you shake hands with each and state his name as your greeting - - "Mr. Austen. Mr. Jones. Mr. Phillips."

In case you don't remember (!), every memory expert you have ever seen show off his ability to memorize a long series of names repeats each name as it is given.
At that moment he is not thinking about the job he has to do.
He is not thinking ahead to the next name he will hear.
He is thinking of just one thing: the name he has just learned.
He is concentrating on it, memorizing it, and he never fails to follow rule two:

Repeat the name.

THE THIRD RULE FOR REMEMBERING NAMES

The third rule for remembering names is this:

Use the name.

As you talk with the person you have met, use his name every once in a while during the conversation.

This could easily become silly, of course.
You know better than to babble on with, "Nice weather we've been having, Mr. Austen. Don't you think so, Mr. Austen? Mr. Austen, what sort of work do you do?"
But now and then it's very natural to use his name in beginning or ending a sentence, especially if you're talking with several people.
Every time you use the name, it will become more firmly nailed in your memory.

If this is a person with whom you would like to be on first-name terms, using his last name every once in a while will not only keep helping you memorize it, but will also give him the chance to suggest you call him by his first name.
He may not, of course, but if it's in the back of his mind this will give him a natural opening.
Repetition in itself is a strong aid to memory.
When you have to memorize a speech or a part in a play, you do it by reading it first several times.
Repetition. It's 'not surprising that the same technique works with names.

So be sure to follow rule one and rule two with rule three:

Use the name.

Incidentally, there is another perfectly good way of using the name to help you remember it.
If you speak to the person very briefly, say at a party, and then move on to another group, glance at him every now and then and say the name to yourself.
Even with your back to him, you should be able to visualize your mental cartoon (surely you made one!) and say the name a few times to yourself.

















































▲ Above & below: ▼ Images from a section on using 'mental images', in photo tests and in forming a 'caricature' in your mind, exaggerating memorable facial features.

Click on spread below ▼ to view some test questions.












THE STORY OF THE HAT-CHECK GIRL

There is one story quoted in many memory books about a hat-check girl in a New York nightclub who made quite a reputation for herself by never giving anyone a check.

She simply remembered which hat belonged to each person.

This girl would never reveal her secret, though it surely worked along the lines we have already discussed.

Why she felt it was important to remember the people who gave her their hats should be obvious.
They were so flattered at being remembered that her tips were unusually generous.

The story of her standard answer to overly curious customers' ought to be reported, too.

One day a man getting his hat back looked at her and said, "How do you know this is my hat?"
The check girl smiled at him. "I don't, sir!"
"Then why did you give it to me?"
"Because you gave it to me, sir!"

That's all she knew - - all she had to remember.
But it paid off in handsome tips!
























One interesting note throughout the text is the reluctance to use term "his/her".
It was 1958, I suppose it went with the territory...

Below ▼ are scans of the cool 'flash card' practice kit included in the booklet, for honing your skills at matching names and data with faces.

Click on the images to get the memorable details on all of these folks.































































































































ABOUT THE AUTHOR

"Edward Stoddard is an advertising and publishing executive as well as an outstanding memory expert.
"He is the author of a number of books, including works on such varied subjects as power, electronics and magic.
"It is as a close student of stage magic, in fact, that Mr. Stoddard first became interested in the techniques employed by the world's leading memory experts.
"He has himself mastered memory techniques so thoroughly that he is in frequent demand for stage demonstrations.
"This booklet presents his expert knowledge in a form especially designed for rapid learning and for practical application to business and social uses."

Pictured here is an old and slightly shabby kid's 'Teevee Tray' folding tray table, looking like it may have been manufactured circa 1955 - 1963 or thereabouts.

The short legs suggest that perhaps it was planned for use as an in-bed meal tray, to be placed over a semi-reclining little kid's legs, but my own suspicion is that it's intended for a tyke sitting on the floor and snacking in front of the television.
Could have been both, I suppose...

(Click on image to ENLARGE in a new window)

Regardless, the 'cheerful' illustration on it comes off a tad creepy.
I know I'm not the only one to hold this opinion.

This artifact was passed onto My Friend Topic from a friend of hers, who's husband had grown up with it in his family. (Thanks for sharing, Topic!)
To hear Topic tell it, as adults all could appreciate the tray's kitschy qualities, but agreed it was at least a little bit 'off'.

Certainly the TV clown doesn't help matters, nor does the notion that the Dalmatian puppy might be frightened or angered by it.

The leers of the bear and the rabbit confronting the viewer send it over the edge, in my opinion.

The possible sick-bed use for this old tray makes me recall some early nightmarish days home from elementary school with the flu, running a fever, doped up on cough medicine, and losing touch with reality while parked in front of the television.

Had I been forced to sit alone with this tray in that condition, there would have been trouble...

Also adding to the mystique is it's 'knockoff' quotient.

Setting aside some of its very specific qualities, the illustration is sort of generic for the era.

Looks like they were going for a Little Golden Book feel, though slightly tarnished here.

When I first saw it I wondered if it might actually be artwork by children's book author ⬅ Richard Scarry, or even Gustaf Tenggren ⬇ illustrating in his 'Poky Little Puppy' style of the era.




I have since decided that neither artist created this image, but that whoever did knew what they were doing.

So: Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!

If you have any information or thoughts to share regarding the origins of this item, please comment or drop an e-mail.
- - Or how about memories? Maybe you lived with a tray just like this once upon a time?

See also two previous posts on this blog:
- 'Excerpts from Richard Scarry's Golden Book Of Manners, 1962'

- 'Gustaf Tenggren's Tell-It-Again Fairy-Tale Illustrations, 1942'

Recently I've been visiting
My Friend Topic, and cruising her amazing collection of 'zines and booklets and pamphlets and other fascinating paper ephemera.

(You'll likely be seeing more results from my raids soon.)

One that I found intriguing was this booklet from 1954,
"... Published for mothers by Personal Products Corporation, Milltown,
New Jersey, makers of Modess".






This was one of many such booklets advertised in women's magazines over the years, so moms could send away for information to help them explain the process of menstruation to their growing daughters.

(click on images to ENLARGE in a new window)
























What struck me here, however, was the overwhelmingly somber tone to the illustrations in this particular edition, the work of
Alexander Brook, "... one of America's foremost painters."

Divorced of context, these painted illustrations are more than a little bit creepy.

Yes - - I'm a man, so what would I know of such mother-daughter talks, and yes - - it's 50+ years later and times have changed, as has 'personal products' technology.

Still, had I been either mother or daughter confronted with this book at that time, I think I might feel my life was over.
(I'll guess that may have been an ordinary response.)





A bit of further investigation online turned up a truly amazing website, The Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health, which is loaded with a wide and varied collection of information and images, from the whimsical and 'historically sad' to a gateway of helpful information.

You can read the entire text from this '54 edition of 'How Shall I Tell My Daughter?' archived there, along with commentary and background information.

While there, you can also link to several later editions of the same book (with completely different visual styles), or the companion volume, 'Growing Up and Liking It'.

(click on images to ENLARGE in a new window)

As to American realist painter Alexander Brook (1898–1980), he was known for portraits of women in quiet or reflective poses, so that reputation certainly couldn't have hurt him here.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, but lived and worked in several places around the U.S. and in Europe after his artwork became popular in the 1930's.

During military service in WWII, he provided sketches to the army as a correspondent in Panama.
After his service he continued providing war illustrations under commission to LIFE magazine.









You can see more art by Alexander Brook online.
Follow links to:
- 18 selected Brook drawings on view at the Childs Gallery
e-catalogue.

- 4 Brook pieces at
The Smithsonian American Art Museum.

- A few more at artnet.

See also:
- More Modess print ads at the TJS Labs Gallery of
Graphic Design.

Please follow this link to my flickr set:
A sampling of photo print envelopes and inserts, 1950's - 1990's! (22 images)

My Friend Topic was going through some old family photos recently, and gathered together a stack of some of the assorted envelopes and various inserts that so many of the old prints had been packaged with after processing.

Looking through them, I was struck by how even in such a seemingly lower echelon of print ephemera, the graphic design choices employed in these 'throwaway' items still tell a fair bit about each of their respective eras.


















- - And not surprisingly, for me the earlier graphics are capable of striking some chord of nostalgia or warmth that diminishes in the more recent examples.
























Even in such a banal item, the fifties and sixties stuff has an 'allure' to the design that's barely perceptible by the '80's, and virtually non-existent by the '90's.

As with so many other design choices, I have to wonder if somehow things from the 1990's will seem more visually appealing in fifty years.

Please follow this link to my flickr set: A sampling of photo print envelopes and inserts, 1950's - 1990's! (22 images)