The Phantom Tollbooth Turns 50

Officer Officer Short Shrift to Milo: “Not doing anything, eh? You’ll have to admit at your aOfficer Short Shrift to Milo: “Not doing anything, eh? You’ll have to admit at your age that’s a crime.”

Milo and Tock, Norton and Jules, Officer Short Shrift and the Spelling Bee–the gang is together again thanks to a new documentary film celebrating the 50th anniversary of Norton Juster’s classic book, The Phantom Tollbooth (also known as the Only Book I’ve Read More Than Once). Get the details on Kickstarter.

Also, be sure to check out these brain-bending infographics from Brooklyn artist Jan Avendano.

Garden & Gun in WWD

Congrats on the great press in today’s Women’s Wear Daily to my favorite magazine, Garden & Gun. Much deserved. (And thanks, Lee Norwood, for alerting me to the story.)

Fry-Fry Chicky-Chick

If you haven’t seen self-described fried chicken obsessive Aziz Ansari break down his unique food lingo on Parks and Recreation, please break away from the coverage of Osama bin Laden’s death for 30 seconds to watch this clip. You’ll never look at eggs or rice the same way again.

Banff Mountain Film Fest

Looking forward to checking out the Banff Mountain Festival this Sunday and Monday at Symphony Space on 95th Street.

In doing research on the Banff event, I came across complete collections of Summit and Climbing magazines, both of which were/are pretty much the handbooks for early climbers like Yvon Chouinard, Glen Denny, and Royal Robbins, as well as for the generations of climbers and mountaineering types who followed. I posted a gallery of some of the most captivating covers from Summit over at Southern in the City, my other blog for Garden & Gun magazine (click here if you’re interested). On Monday, I’ll post some shots from Climbing magazine, as well (in keeping with the whole mountain-climbing, adventure-sport theme).

 

 

The Mid-Century South

Old-time fun at the Varsity in Atlanta. Story by James Street, Photos by Lois and Joe Steinmetz.

Yesterday, I found an old stash of Holiday magazines from the 50′s in the back of a vintage shop. I wasn’t surprised to see more than a dozen stories on the South and Southerners–the magazine’s expressed purpose was to convey the good life, after all–but I was surprised to see how the stories and pictures managed to capture the best of Dixie society in what was undeniably not her finest or most socially conscious hour. William Faulkner paints a verbal and photographic portrait of his Mississippi in the April 1954 issue and Ovid Williams Pierce shows the diversity of North Carolina’s mountain culture (February, 1957). Not only did James Street’s portrait of Atlanta (January 1951) make me crave a Coke like I haven’t in years, it made me want to restore the South’s signature drink to its full and proper name. He refers to it repeatedly as the South’s vin de pays (freetranslation.com tells me this means “country wine”); the least I can do is drop the slang and call it Coca-Cola.

Bare ankles and loafers on Georgia Tech's campus. Take that, Take Ivy.

A gaggle of teenagers enjoying a good, old-fashioned Coke party. (Steinmetz)

Arriving for a gathering at Bolling Jones. (Steinmetz)

Casual summer pool party? Check. Regulation-size climbing raft? Check.

A slightly terrifying yet efficient way to view the Blue Ridge Mountains.

New Hipster Profession Alert: Aristan Broommaker. Cherokee mentor and well-worn overalls not included.

A Bauhaus-inspired bathhouse in Cape Hatteras, NC. Eat your heart out, Marfa.

Nothing says Texas oil money like a red gingham table cloth. (February 1957)

A vintage sorority belle at Old South? No, Silly! It's the annual Natchez Pilgrimage.

When Carroll Baker starred in Tennessee Williams' film, Baby Doll, Holiday's movie critic called her "the hottest thing South of the Mason-Monroe line." Bam!

Travel+Leisure Hearts Charleston

The 2010 America’s Favorite Cities survey is out, and Charleston, South Carolina is the overall winner. Not only does the Holy City rank first in friendliness and attractiveness (hello!), it ranks number two for its sense of style and breaks the top 10 for its intelligence (take that Berkeley!).

T+L has a handy little widget that lets you compare two cities to see how each matches up. I did–shocker–Charleston vs. New York. Click here to see the results.

Morbid Anatomy of a Southern Belle

I found this Ronald Searle illustration, which accompanies a tongue-in-cheek article on Southern mores and manners by North Carolina–born author Frances Gray Patton, in the November 1959 issue of Holiday magazine. All I could think of when I saw it was that if Tim Burton were to redesign Maryln Schwartz’s Southern Belle Primer, this is how it might look.

Belle Boggs Gets Love from the Daily Beast

The cover of Belle Boggs' latest short story collection.

Kudos to Virginia-born writer, Belle Boggs, who is one of the Daily Beast’s featured Best New Writers today.

Southern Design Stars

Yes, all of my friends are model-pretty and, yes, I love them anyway.

The latest Garden & Gun just hit newsstands.

I don’t often get to say, “I know her!” when I see a beautiful and accomplished gal on the cover of a magazine. But that’s happened to me twice this month already, and it’s only the 10th! First, I spied interior designer Rachel Halvorson (below) on the cover of the latest Garden & Gun, which profiled, among other things, her work for Ronnie Dunn, one-half of the duo formerly known as Brooks & Dunn. Then, I got an email this morning alerting me to the latest issue of Lonny, and who should grace that cover but my very dear friend and former colleague, Callie Jenschke (above), one-half of the very much alive Scout Designs (partner Nicki Clendening is a fellow South Carolinian). We’ve featured Callie and Nicki here before, but Rachel is a new friend who I met through another Southern friend and former Metropolitan Home colleague (where Callie and I worked together), Lenora Jane Estes (who’s now at Vanity Fair). (As if that’s not complicated enough, we were all together at a small birthday dinner party barely a month ago–and no one breathed a word of her impending celebrity to me!) Yes, my Southern world is small and shrinking more and more everyday. But back to the point: Congrats, Rachel and Callie! I’m so proud to say I know you both.

Something About the South

I know it’s hot outside, but it seems the media is sweating our fair South particularly hard this month. First, Travel + Leisure (the first magazine to hire me, way back in 2004), ranked Charleston, South Carolina, the 3rd best city in America in its 2010 World’s Best Awards (the Holy City was narrowly eclipsed by NYC and San Francisco). Then, I opened up this week’s New York magazine–the one with crazy James Franco on the cover–to find this observation by City Council Member Letitia James on page 7: “I just see the U-Haul trucks, and people coming up to me and kissing good-bye. They just indicate to me that their dollar can go farther in the South.” Now, upon closer inspection, I realized that James said this in 2007, but given the economic freefall we’ve been experiencing since then, I can only imagine this is even truer today. (If they’re looking for a less expensive place to call home, though, let’s hope they’re not heading toward Charleston.)