Henry Gibson Anti-Littering Ads

Anyone of a certain age recalls Henry Gibson and his "naive" poems on LAUGH-IN. Apparently, some ad agency thought he'd be perfect for their anti-littering campaign.





Source.

And they were even collected in a book, by the Glass Container Manufacturers Institute.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jul 25, 2020 - Comments (1)
Category: PSA’s, Television, Poetry, 1960s

Dentologia:  A Poem on the Diseases of the Teeth

Full text here.

Thanks to Richard Bleiler.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 13, 2018 - Comments (3)
Category: Hygiene, Poetry, Nineteenth Century, Diseases, Teeth

Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky, and Jayne Mansfield

In 1964, Jayne Mansfield recorded an album for MGM that featured her reading selections from the poetry of Shakespeare, Byron, Shelley, Yeats, and others, as Tchaikovsky's music played in the background. Apparently she hoped the record would show off the asset she was most proud of, her 164 IQ.

The album isn't available on CD or MP3, but you can pick up a copy of the original vinyl on eBay for around $30 or $40.

More info: wikipedia

Posted By: Alex - Wed Feb 21, 2018 - Comments (2)
Category: Celebrities, Poetry, 1960s

Staging a Left-olution

Today's post features a bunch of sinister, leftist radicals, in honor of International Left Handers Day (August 13).



Also, check out the Bill of Lefts.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 13, 2015 - Comments (6)
Category: Riots, Protests and Civil Disobedience, Video, Poetry

The Woman with the Serpent’s Tongue

[Click to enlarge]

Original article here.

Once upon a time, poetry still mattered, and could cause great controversies. No social media for such battles, after all. This poem seems to have cost William Watson the post of UK Poet Laureate.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 13, 2015 - Comments (2)
Category: Poetry, 1900s, Women, Europe, Curses, Slurs, Insults, Vituperation, Libel and Slander

Litigation Through Poetry:  Or, Texas Is Hell

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 22, 2015 - Comments (4)
Category: Law, Nature, Regionalism, Religion, Poetry, 1900s

Can-Fed Husbands

From Songs of a Housewife, by Marjorie Rawlings. It's an odd book of poetry, recording in verse all the various complaints and problems of 1920's housewives, such as husbands who complained about being given canned food.

Available at Amazon, which gives the following, fuller description of it:

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 16, 2015 - Comments (5)
Category: Wives, Poetry, 1920s

Simultaneous discovery of sheep poetry?

In science, the phenomenon of simultaneous discovery, or "multiple independent discovery," is well known. The term describes how two or more researchers often independently discover the same idea, at around the same time. For instance, both Newton and Leibniz came up with the idea of calculus in the late 17th century, and both Darwin and Wallace developed the concept of evolution by natural selection in the mid-19th century.

An example of this phenomenon might have recently occurred in the field of sheep poetry. Though whether it's simultaneous discovery or idea theft depends on whom you believe.

In 2002, Valerie Laws came up with the concept of "Quantum Sheep" or "haik-ewe." Her idea was to spray paint a different word on the backs of 15 sheep, and then watch them as they grazed in a field to see what poems would they would form. Then, last year, artist Alison Cooper came up with the same idea, though she called it "Write to Roam."

Cooper insists she was completely unaware of Laws' previous work, but Laws thinks it's more likely Cooper stole her idea, either consciously or subconsciously. Who to believe? Perhaps someone should ask the sheep what they think. [journallive.co.uk]

Posted By: Alex - Fri Apr 05, 2013 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Poetry

Hiawatha

Enjoy a segment of one of the most-parodied poems in English.

I wonder what the official attitude of Native Americans is these days to Longfellow's work?

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jun 12, 2011 - Comments (4)
Category: Stereotypes and Cliches, Poetry, Nineteenth Century

Henry Gibson, Redux

Race Relations Poem from Swindon Viewpoint on Vimeo.

I'm so pleased to see that people have continued to channel the spirit of Henry Gibson.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 02, 2011 - Comments (3)
Category: Poetry, 1960s