Saturday, May 14, 2011

The Waco Whorish Invasion of 1952 (Revisited): A Poetic Call to Protect Houston's Virtue

I liked this poem by Carl Victor Little so much, I had to transcribe it. An army of Jezebels marching across Texas to imperil Houston's virtue just tickles my fancy.
To clarify, my fancy isn't actually being tickled by an army of Jezebels. I'm not Charlie Sheen.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Take in the sidewalks, slam the shutters
Civic leaders, mobilize!
From Waco’s sin strips and her gutters
Come sinful ladies, every size -
The stout and short, the tall and lean,
They come three hundred strong,
The blondes, brunettes and in-between:
Come ring the warning gong!

They’re fancy ladies from Old Waco,
Who flee the legislative wrath;
Three hundred damsels on the make-
A-treading down the primrose path.


Let‘s Search all landing stratoliners,
Come block the highways east and west;
Let's raid the Pullmans and the diners,
Let's show a little moral zest!
We want no sinful infiltration,
Three hundred gals are on the prowl,
They’re causing civic consternation,
Bringing forth a civic howl.

They're antisocial dames from Waco,
Now put to flight by state kefauvers,
Three hundred dames for goodness sake-O
Ole Satan o’er our city hovers


Up Captain Seber, also Buster!
Alert the city and the count!
All vigilantes let us muster-
Upon these heads let’s put a bounty
Call out Jim West, his Cadillacs,
We’ll have no sinners sinning here,
Halt all invaders in their tracks
For civic righteousness, let’s cheer.

They're fugitives from Baptist Waco
Converging on Houston, TX
Three hundred gals in Satan's shako
Who put much emphasis on sex


Let’s' warn all hotel house detectives,
Yea at the Shamrock and the Rice,
That all of Waco’s moral defectives
Are swooping on us, in a trice.
We want no flotsam and no jetsam,
No gals from Waco’s dens of vice,
Let’s hope Ole Nick comes forth and gets ‘em
Before they reach our Paradise!

Away! Away! Soiled Magdalenes!
You're got us in a civic hassle:
They'll welcome you in New Orleans.

Monday, May 02, 2011

Houston & Other Places in Gorgeous Sanborn Insurance Map Titles

Insurance map titles and the word "gorgeous,"not what one would think.  But feast your typography-appreciating eyes on the design beauty of Sanborn Insurance map title pages.








I've been kind of obsessed with these images since being introduced to them by BibliOdyssey's blog post on them.  A google of Houston and Sanborn lead to Sanborn Maps of Texas (which are the source of the above images) from the UT Library Online website.






Salt Lake City, Utah 1911, originally uploaded by peacay.



Friday, April 22, 2011

Houston Might Become Better/Weirder By Addition of Single Person

He won't be attending the downtown campus (where a particularity fantastic professor teaches), but  actor/writer/bong smoker James Franco was accepted for the the University of Houston's writing program Fall of 2012.

I look forward to the addition of his "unusually high metabolism for productivity ...the opposite of ADHD: a superhuman ability to focus that allows him to shuttle quickly between projects and to read happily in the midst of chaos." *

The breathless internet tweeting, blogging and facebooking of his every move if he comes to town should make for fun reading.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

"Socialist Preach Failure & Abortion" - Civics and Grammar Lessons From A Willowbend Neighbor

A new sign went up in the neighborhood, to replace a previous message.


It was unclear if the message is a patriotic one, the flag should clear up any doubts, which was missing from the first one.


Sunday, April 03, 2011

No-Tsu-Oh Needs to Come Back: A Late Fall Mardi Gras for Chemical City

Recently, the idea of a Houston Mardi Gras has been floated. But instead of a new tradition, may I suggest the revival of a uniquely Houston one.



Houston used to have a Mardi Gras-like festival called No-Tsu-Oh. It started in 1899 and ended the outbreak of WW1. To quote the Handbook of Texas Online,

"The festival, designed to stimulate commerce by bringing people to the city, customarily filled a week in November and featured parades, balls, and a football game between the University of Texas and the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University). The carnival was characterized by much backward spelling. No-Tsu-Oh, for example, is Houston spelled backward; black citizens celebrated the De-Ro-Loc (colored) Carnival; and King Nottoc (cotton) reigned over the early festivals until King Retaw (water) replaced him to celebrate completion in 1914 of the deep-water channel to Houston..."

Like Las Vegas' Helldorado celebration, a modern No-Tsu-Oh has the promise to contain all the eccentricity and strangeness that Houston has to offer. Combine the Art Car Parade with debauchery of St. Pat's and the guilt-free paganess of Halloween and that would be my dream.

With backwards spelling part of the tradition, I offer up these suggestions as a starting point for the new festival.

Sir Buh
Erised
Y Loc Nolem

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Also See:

    Wednesday, March 23, 2011

    This Is Houston & This Is Not Houston


    There was a dubious tradition in Ye Olden Days to depict Houston as a place with rolling hills, and not as a flat swamp with occasional buildings. The above picture is one example.


    However, the rollercoaster in the prairie feels right.  Maybe the long-gone Luna Park on White Oak Bayou?

    Normally, I'm a total stickler for image sources, but I can't recall if I found these two at The Library of Congress and/or University of Houston Digital Library

    Friday, February 18, 2011

    Research Project on Middle Bayou Runs Down a Road and To the Preserve: What Oil and NASA Didn't Get, Still Remains

    Old Sig Byrd columns are my frequent source for local history. While there is more Houston every year, (let's hear it for the 4th largest city in the U.S.!) not much of what Sig saw remains. Even 60+ years ago, Sig was lamenting the loss of the city he knew and marveling at the wealth and industry that was building the skyline.

    So, surprisingly, it was three columns about wilderness and bayou that piqued my interest. In 1952, Sig wrote about Jimmy Martyn's 28,000 acre farm, off of Red Bluff Rd. A decade later Humble Oil literally bought the farm. Eventually NASA got some of the Humble property. In the 70's, preservation efforts stopped further development and the remaining wilderness is now Armand Bayou Nature Center.

    The center is where I hope to be on Saturday. A small girl will be in tow, so we'll see how this trip goes.




    Wednesday, January 26, 2011

    Elaine Bradford at Vinson Library - Houston, TX

    Newly installed commission by Elaine Bradford at the Vinson Library Branch.


    IMG_1877.JPG, originally uploaded by esbradford.


    IMG_1924.JPG, originally uploaded by esbradford.


    IMG_1925.JPG, originally uploaded by esbradford.


    IMG_1921.JPG, originally uploaded by esbradford.


    IMG_1887.JPG, originally uploaded by esbradford.




    elephant install - a set on Flickr

    Elaine Bradford - Library Project Blog 


    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Also See:

    Neon Poisoning: Dressing the Dead: Elaine Bradford at the Art League

    Monday, January 17, 2011

    The Waco Whorish Invasion of 1952: A Poetic Call to Protect Houston's Virtue

    In 1952, the Houston Chronicle apparently published an article about 300 whores dispatched from Waco to the major metropolitan areas of Texas. Houston Press columnist Carl Victor Little wrote quite the poem in response.

    "...They're fugitives from Baptist Waco
    Converging on Houston, TX
    Three hundred gals in Satan's shako
    Who put much emphasis on sex."


    Wednesday, January 12, 2011

    Saturday, January 08, 2011

    Fin Dinhning in Txas: Spel Chck edItion

    Texas will probably cut more money from education in the following years due to huge budget debt.  Expect to see more signs like this as a result.



    Resturant - Marshall, TX, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.