Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

Pages 17-19

2007-03-11T16:35:57Z

Andrewafoley: /* Page 18 */ Correction to NOTW information

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==Page 18==

18.22-23 '''"Johnny Doughboy Found a Rose in Ireland"''' 
Song by Al Goodhart and Kay Twomey, composed for the 1942 film Johnny Doughboy, starring Jane Withers and Henry Wilcoxon. Apparently a popular tune, it lasted 16 weeks on the 1942 Hit Parade and was recorded by Kay Kyser and Guy Lombardo, among others.

[[image:george-formby.jpg|thumb|50px|right]]18.25 '''George Formby''' 
See note above at [[Pages 7-16#9|9.05]]. Formby was extraordinarily popular in recordings and films in Britain in the 1940s. Weisenburger claims that Formby’s voice was a "high screech," but it was actually a not-unpleasant baritone. Weisenburger may be confusing Formby with the ukulele-strumming 1960s singing phenomenon Tiny Tim. On the other hand, his singing voice did have a rather whiny Lancastrian accent, similar to his speaking voice. You might like to judge for yourself from his own song [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxWK9keh3XI "When I'm Cleaning Windows" on YouTube]] taken from his 1936 film Keep Your Seats Please.

18.30 '''the skin of a Flying Fortress''' 
Correspondent Stephen Remato adds the following comment: "While detailing the debris on Slothrop's desk, Mr. W. suggests that the bomb which explodes over Hiroshima was dropped from a Flying Fortress. While also made by the Boeing company, it was the B29 Super Fortress, not the B17 Flying Fortress, which was the atomic bomber of WW2. The well-known B29 'Enola Gay' dropped the Hiroshima bomb, while the lesser-known B29 'Bock's Car' dropped the Nagasaki bomb. To those unaware, the superficial similarity in name between these types of aircraft is the main similarity only; they are not variations of the same aircraft but quite distinct."

18.38 '''a News of the World''' 
The ''NOTW'' was not a daily paper but a highly sensationalistic British weekly tabloid published every Sunday, with virtually no serious news (still being published, and now owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation). That "Slothrop is a faithful reader" says much about his intellectual pursuits.
[http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk The paper's current website.]

==Page 19==

[[image:vixen-pantechnicon.jpg|thumb|100px|right]]19.30 '''the pantechnicon''' 
Weisenburger gives this as "a bazaar in Victorian London," but a more fitting setting for Tantivy’s story of "Lorraine and Judy, Charles the homosexual constable and the piano" would be a warehouse or furniture van. See [[Pages 537-548#537|537.16-17.]]

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Pages 17-19

2007-03-11T16:31:56Z

Andrewafoley: Comment on Formby's singing voice, and link to sample of him on YouTube

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==Page 18==

18.22-23 '''"Johnny Doughboy Found a Rose in Ireland"''' 
Song by Al Goodhart and Kay Twomey, composed for the 1942 film Johnny Doughboy, starring Jane Withers and Henry Wilcoxon. Apparently a popular tune, it lasted 16 weeks on the 1942 Hit Parade and was recorded by Kay Kyser and Guy Lombardo, among others.

[[image:george-formby.jpg|thumb|50px|right]]18.25 '''George Formby''' 
See note above at [[Pages 7-16#9|9.05]]. Formby was extraordinarily popular in recordings and films in Britain in the 1940s. Weisenburger claims that Formby’s voice was a "high screech," but it was actually a not-unpleasant baritone. Weisenburger may be confusing Formby with the ukulele-strumming 1960s singing phenomenon Tiny Tim. On the other hand, his singing voice did have a rather whiny Lancastrian accent, similar to his speaking voice. You might like to judge for yourself from his own song [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxWK9keh3XI "When I'm Cleaning Windows" on YouTube]] taken from his 1936 film Keep Your Seats Please.

18.30 '''the skin of a Flying Fortress''' 
Correspondent Stephen Remato adds the following comment: "While detailing the debris on Slothrop's desk, Mr. W. suggests that the bomb which explodes over Hiroshima was dropped from a Flying Fortress. While also made by the Boeing company, it was the B29 Super Fortress, not the B17 Flying Fortress, which was the atomic bomber of WW2. The well-known B29 'Enola Gay' dropped the Hiroshima bomb, while the lesser-known B29 'Bock's Car' dropped the Nagasaki bomb. To those unaware, the superficial similarity in name between these types of aircraft is the main similarity only; they are not variations of the same aircraft but quite distinct."

18.38 '''a News of the World''' 
The ''NOTW'' was not merely a daily paper but a highly sensationalistic British weekly tabloid, with virtually no serious news (still being published). That "Slothrop is a faithful reader" says much about his intellectual pursuits.
[http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk The paper's current website.]

==Page 19==

[[image:vixen-pantechnicon.jpg|thumb|100px|right]]19.30 '''the pantechnicon''' 
Weisenburger gives this as "a bazaar in Victorian London," but a more fitting setting for Tantivy’s story of "Lorraine and Judy, Charles the homosexual constable and the piano" would be a warehouse or furniture van. See [[Pages 537-548#537|537.16-17.]]

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