1999-2001

Spooldrippings:

Archive Number Three

This is the last updated version of the third
Spooldrippings page (March 1999-December 2001).
Information was added and deleted during that period..

Updated 30 January 2006

Spooldrippings
Indian Lake Letter
Two Letters
Ring & I
It all comes back
Finds
Friends
Lardner Links

Old Spooldrippings:
1995-1997
1997-1999
1999-2001
2002-2005

Lardner Family Updates:	Rex Lardner dies: Born in 1918 in St. Paul, Minnesota, Rex, nephew of Ring and son of sportswriter Rex, died July 27, 1998 after collapsing on a tennis court in Great Neck, New York. He was a World War II veteran, a journalist for many national publications, and chief writer for Ernie Kovacs on various television shows. Rex also wrote 15 books, the most famous of which are The Lardner Report, Out of the bunker and Into the Trees, Downhill Lies and Other Falsehoods, and Ali. top
LARDNER ON STAGE Sarah Jessica Parker is still not in June Moon.	New Moon: Two new productions of June Moon have come to my attention: May 1 - June 26, 1999 Swift Creek Mill Playhouse P.O. Box 41 Colonial Heights, Virginia 23834 Phone: 804-748-5203 Web: http://members.aol.com/chloemiles/index.html Email: RobynON@aol.com Dates Unknown, 1999 The Colony Theatre Company 1944 Riverside Drive Los Angeles, CA 90039 Phone: (323) 665-3011 Web: http://www.colonytheatre.org/index.html Email: TheatreCol@aol.com New Page: I've started a June Moon page (with a lot of help from Kevin Grace). It is still very rough, but it does provide some information about the play which is not collected anywhere else. Anyway, tell me what you think: The June Moon Page. High School Nonsense: Thomas Jefferson High School and East Wichita High School in Kansas both produced The Tridget of Greva in 1997. top
Quotable Lardner	Often I am asked if Lardner said this or that. Usually I have no clue. He said so much. I am aquatinted with the major quotable lines, but so many clever ones have snuck by me. Here are a couple puzzlers: Roedy Green from Canada asks if Lardner said the following: "It hasn’t been said until its been said a thousand times." top
No Respect	On the Dowagiac, Michigan (13 miles from Niles, Lardner's birthplace) radio station WDOW this last August 19, they were announcing famous birthdays. I was happy to hear Ring Lardner, Jr. mentioned. Then the announcer said, "There’s a high school in Cass named after him." A junior high in Niles for his father. Well, close. top
LARDNER IN BOOKS	Vending Lardner: A 1945 vending machine paperback called Great Comedies Made Into Movies, includes "Alibi Ike." According to Kevin Grace, these were dispensed like soft drinks in machines in 16 cities. top
The President, Potatoes, & Lardner	Ring is not entirely forgotten. There is something strangely funny about this recent proclamation which mentions him, though. I've bolded--a verb?--the reference. Proclamation 7070 - Irish-American Heritage Month, 1998.(Transcript) February 27, 1998 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation As it has been for many immigrants, America has always been a beacon of hope for the Irish people, a land of promise beckoning on the far shore of the Atlantic where they could build a better life for themselves and their children. Those who traveled here in the 17th and 18th centuries came primarily to escape religious, social, and political discrimination in their homeland. But millions of Irish immigrants who came to the United States in the 19th century were fleeing not only persecution, but also the specter of starvation and disease brought on by the Great Hunger, the devastating potato famine that began in the 1840s. Many of them did not survive the journey; many of those who did arrive at America's ports were hungry, ill, and crushingly poor. But the Irish did not come to America empty-handed. They brought with them strong arms and an even stronger spirit that would help to build our Nation's great canals, bridges, and railroads. They would wrest coal from the mines of Pennsylvania and raise the skyscrapers of New York. They brought with them a love of words that enriched American journalism and literature and produced writers such as John Boyle O'Reilly, Ring Lardner, Eugene O'Neill, and Mary McCarthy. They brought as well a great reverence for education and created schools, colleges, and universities across the country renowned for their scholarship and social conscience. Perhaps their greatest gifts to America have been a abiding love of liberty, and an patriotic spirit. Irish Americans have served with distinction in every American conflict, from the Revolutionary War to the Persian Gulf, and their keen sense of social justice made them among the first and most effective voices for labor reform. From Mary Kenney O'Sullivan to George Meany, they have been in the vanguard of efforts to improve working conditions and wages for all Americans. Generations of Irish Americans entered public service to reach out to those in need - to feed the poor, find jobs for the unemployed, fight for racial equality, and champion social reform. From the Kennedys of Massachusetts to the Daleys of Chicago, from Governor Al Smith to Ambassador Mike Mansfield, Americans of Irish descent have made important and enduring contributions to the public life of our Nation. The United States continues to draw strength and vision from our multicultural, multiracial society. This month, when citizens across the country celebrate Saint Patrick's Day, we remember with special gratitude the gifts of Irish Americans: faith in God, love of family and community, and an unswerving commitment to freedom and justice that continues to enrich our Nation and fulfill the promise envisioned by the first Irish immigrants who turned their eyes and hearts toward America so many years ago. Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 1998 as Irish- American Heritage Month. I call upon all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate ceremonies, programs, and activities. In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety- eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-second. William J. Clinton [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:34 a.m., March 2, 1998] NOTE: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on March 3. COPYRIGHT 1998 Superintendent of Documents Proclamation 7070 - Irish-American Heritage Month, 1998.(Transcript)., Vol. 34, Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, 03-02-1998, pp 346(2). top
Lost in Lardner	Long-time correspondent and contributor Kevin Grace of Cincinnati visited Niles recently. We had a nice conversation at a local pub, and then we did a little Lardner sightseeing, what little there is left to see. I hate to admit it, but Niles always confuses me. I think it’s cities with rivers that make it difficult for me to find my way around. Anyway, Kevin, of course, wanted to see the Lardner home, and getting there is pretty easy. It is only a few blocks from downtown. I got him lost. We did get a nice view of a couple area parks and such before stopping and asking my wife for directions. I always like to impress visitors to the area with my expertise. top
World Wide Lardner	Recently I've been in contact with a Bert Natter at Publishinghouse De Prom in Holland. He tells me their firm is interested in publishing the first Dutch translation of Lardner's work. Their tentative selections are: "Haircut," "Anniversary," "I Can't Breathe," "Old Folks' Xmas," "The Golden Honeymoon," "There Are Smiles," "A Day With Conrad Green," "The Love Nest," "The Maysville Minstrel," and "Who Dealt?" According to Bert, the reason no baseball stories have been selected is because baseball isn't very popular in Holland. "We want to leave the public as few excuses for not buying the book as possible," he says. Good idea. Some countries that have visited Lardnermania: Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Germany, Japan, Italy, Russia, France, Thailand, Switzerland, Brazil, United Kingdom, Israel, Finland, Bela Rus, Portugal, Ireland, South Korea. Eric Eldred of Eldritch Press has been putting a lot of Lardner full-text editions on the web. His first was YKMA and now there are others. See his work at http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/rl/rwlsr.htm top
The Lardner Zone	While browsing the Rod Serling Archives at Ithaca College (and who doesn't from time to time?) I learned that one of Serling's earliest scripts is an adaption of Lardner's "Champion," written for Climax! Chrysler Theatre and airing on 31 March 1955. This entry can be found at: http://www.ithaca.edu/library/archives/serling/misc.htm top

Home • Up • Reader Guides • Study Guide • Works • Life • Features • Family • Store