AtD (37) p, 1047, Little Rascals, casting, method acting and selling

[Ian Livingston]

I was thinking more the politics of fear-mongering "The Lightning Rod Man"
pedalled.  And the rage it aroused in the narrator.  Visions of Merle meets
Howard Beale.

On Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 9:05 AM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:

> "The Lightning Rod Salesman" story, ya mean?
>
> Natch, as Laura likes to say noirly, but Merle is not such a fraud as that
> story in that time suggests, yes? But I betcha TRP got the first notion of
> lightning-rod salesman from it. (I might argue that that is the way he sees
> Merle's major occupation---photography. He don't seem to like it much, as
> we know...)
>
> I might argue that Merle is just a struggling victim in the wake of?
>
>
> --- On Tue, 7/22/08, Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > From: Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: AtD (37) p, 1047, Little Rascals, casting, method acting and
> selling
> > To: markekohut at yahoo.com
> > Cc: "pynchon -l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> > Date: Tuesday, July 22, 2008, 11:54 AM
> > Uh, Herman Melville register anywhere here?
> >
> > On Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 5:39 AM, Mark Kohut
> > <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > > some words well-defined on the p-wiki if needed.
> > >
> > > L'il Jailbirds. I think that this is more an
> > allusion to Our Gang, known as
> > > The Little Rascals in a Hollywood allusion---orig. in
> > 1922---but with an
> > > internal allusion to the Chums??
> > > I.E. going around doing good deeds, although they are
> > not reform-school
> > > escapees---although we might call them immature
> > juveniles when they start in
> > > AtD. Dunno, maybe too too kutely korresponding (on my
> > part) but
> > > ???[Nah]....maybe an amalgam of The Little Rascals and
> > the others mentioned
> > > on the p-wiki, but none of them seems to have this
> > plot framework.
> > >
> > > Hollywood ignores real identity to cast by
> > 'looks' and reflected light.
> > > More 'daylit' fiction? Continuing metaphor for
> > America fictionalizing
> > > history, life?
> > >
> > > Cici practioing jabbering "Chinese style"
> > for a silent movie. Getting "in
> > > character". Hilarious method acting, overacting
> > joke [imho]. Hollywood's
> > > irreality continued.
> > >
> > > Merle, photographer and traveling salesman, here is
> > what Time Magazine in
> > > 1930 wrote about his work as a lightning rod
> > salesman:"About the turn of the
> > > century, "lightning rod salesman" became
> > synonymous in New England with
> > > "horse thief" in Kansas.
> > > Most industries in such a situation would form an
> > association, hire a good
> > > publicity man, set things right. But the
> > lightning-rod-makers, while they
> > > published sales booklets filled with startling
> > pictures of lightning and
> > > burnt houses, did not have to do this. In 1915 the
> > National Board of Fire
> > > Underwriters set standards for equipment and ever
> > since has urged the use of
> > > lightning-rods."
> > >
> > > Merle is not a citizen of any state but all of America
> > is home. Merle,
> > > deracinated American who 'missed' home and
> > family.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
>
>
>
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