A Seasonal Tonic

ROBERT PHELPS

I am not, let me specify at once, recommending its charm, or its appeal as a piece of picturesque Yankee Americana. Nor am I hoping to expose its pages to that curious, revivalistic taste which has recently sprung up in reaction to Prog-Culch, and perversely endorses whatever is UN-streamlined, from the staunch sturdiness of Jack Daniels whiskey bottles to automobile headlamps which have not been swallowed by fenders. I sympathize, guardedly, with this well-meaning if slightly monstrous trend (largely because I keep turning up its unhealthy instincts in myself), but on the other hand, I am not anxious to see a copy of this perfectly serious, unexhibitionistic book in the hands of a man who, while he lounges in a steel and canvas chair, listening to his hi-fi unit precisely recreate the tinny timbre of a barrel-house piano, will exclaim patronizingly over its homely, “old-fashioned” ads for eczema curatives, abdominal trusses, and imitation diamond rings, and maybe even—-as a recent house guest of mine suggested—have them photo-statically enlarged and framed for the rumpus room.

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Robert Pheils

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ROBERT PHELPS

I am not, let me specify at once, recommending its charm, or its appeal as a piece of picturesque Yankee Americana. Nor am I hoping to expose its pages to that curious, revivalistic taste which has recently sprung up in reaction to Prog-Culch, and perversely endorses whatever is UN-streamlined, from the staunch sturdiness of Jack Daniels whiskey bottles to automobile headlamps which have not been swallowed by fenders. I sympathize, guardedly, with this well-meaning if slightly monstrous trend (largely because I keep turning up its unhealthy instincts in myself), but on the other hand, I am not anxious to see a copy of this perfectly serious, unexhibitionistic book in the hands of a man who, while he lounges in a steel and canvas chair, listening to his hi-fi unit precisely recreate the tinny timbre of a barrel-house piano, will exclaim patronizingly over its homely, “old-fashioned” ads for eczema curatives, abdominal trusses, and imitation diamond rings, and maybe even—-as a recent house guest of mine suggested—have them photo-statically enlarged and framed for the rumpus room.