This week from the Time Capsule: the magazine Canadian Weekend November 1979.
Some things just read differently now. For example the headline: “Wonderful WONDERFUL Wonder Weed“… the article is talking about seaweed.
My favourite article is “Kangaroos Are Peculiar to Canada,” tidbits from student essays compiled by a teacher of Canadian history in the U.S. “There are many animals peculiar to Canada. Just for one, it would be peculiar to see Continue reading
Inspiration from the Time Capsule comes this week from The Larkin Plan Fall & Winter catalog 1919-20.
Originally soap producers in Buffalo, NY, the company was founded in 1875.
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FREE For the Asking:
Black Liquid Shoe Polish
Serviceable Mackinaws and Raincoats
pearl buttons
oil heaters
Charm and Daintiness That Pictures Cannot Portray
Comfort Itself
Nightgown No. 14
Exhaust Pipe Enamel No. 463
exceptionally serviceable Hose
Smart Skirts and Pretty Waists
A particularly strong, good-looking Velocipede,
the little girl
made of heavy steel with seamed joints,
eleven rows of
all-coarse teeth
painted red
Today’s inspiration from the Time Capsule comes courtesy of The Strand, October 1948. I used captions of illustrations from several different stories in this edition of The Strand to start off a new story. The first five sentences as well as “a stealthy encroachment of chill into his bones” are borrowed captions.
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Morley sprang up, dark-veined with rage.
Even Slick was startled. “It’s an impossible job,” he said.
The room was ice-cold and dark.
The figure on the bed came suddenly to life. “Did you not hear me? Go,” he ordered, sitting up and pointing a bony yet commanding finger at the door. “Get the Countess. Bring her here.”
“You’d put us in danger again, Squinty? You can’t ask us to bring the Countess here,” said Morley. “What about her bodyguards? And her husband’s spies? They’re everywhere. And they’re well-armed. Didn’t we go through enough getting hold of those pearls for you?”
“I said, bring her here.” Squinty sank back into his pillows.
Morley’s veins throbbed. The Countess! The rustle of her silken dress. The smooth slope of her bare shoulder. Her creamy neck. The string of black pearls around it! Each pearl a perfection!
Oh, how the very memory of those pearls caused a stealthy encroachment of chill into his bones.
“The Countess! The Countess! Always the Countess!” snarled Morley. “Why don’t you think of us for once?”
“You?” Squinty gave a feeble laugh. “Think of you?”
Morley ground his teeth, or what was left of them. He cursed the night he’d run into Squinty in a low-down tavern on the wharf. If only he could have foreseen how he’d end up paying for those free drinks!
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I particularly enjoyed a section in The Strand called “Useless Information.” Did you know, for instance, that “The first Victoria Crosses were made of bronze obtained from Russian guns captured during the Crimean War”? Or that “In flight the wings of the common house-fly make more than 300 vibrations per second”? Or that, because of an earthquake “In 1158 the river Thames ‘was dryed uppe, that all London might walk over the same dry-shod'”?
Inspiration from the Time Capsule: this week I’ve repurposed headlines from The Evening Gazette, June 16, 1930 – mixing and matching real headlines to create alternative news. If you feel inspired to write the story that should go with one of these headlines, please paste the link to your story in the comments box below so we can all enjoy!
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Sermon By Madam Blanche
The Best Dressed Woman
Is Set For Tomorrow
Extraordinary Value
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The Office Cat Marches Toward Utopia
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Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
Aimee “real hurt”
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Psychology In Everyday Life Will Have An Adverse Effect
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“Ideal American Girl” To Become Missionary
Denies Charges
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Pickpockets To Arrange Lawn Party Thursday Evening
Eye-Arresting Legs Free To Enjoy Their Vacation
Susi Lovell 