Attempted Bloggery: Louella Parsons

Showing posts with label Louella Parsons. Show all posts

Thursday, March 24, 2022

Barbara Shermund: A Shermund's Sallies Flong

In relief printing, a flong is a temporary negative mould made of a forme of set type, in order to cast a metal stereotype (or "stereo") which can be used in a rotary press, or in letterpress printing after the type has been broken down for re-use. The process is called stereotyping.
—Wikipedia

I couldn't have said it better. All of which begs the question, why would anyone wish to keep a flong after it had served its original purpose? There are one hundred ninety flong listings on eBay right now but the one of interest to us is from Pictorial Review in 1946. A flong of two facing pages from October 6 correspond to the cartoon feature Shermund's Sallies by Barbara Shermund and to the Hollywood column by Louella Parsons. It seems plain that one of these two features is the reason for the flong being retained by somebody all these years. So what was it, gags or gossip?

"Thanks—I'll wear it."
* * *
"That's the fourth proposal she's received this week!"
Barbara Shermund
Shermund's Sallies
Flong from Pictorial Review, October 6, 1946

"Thanks—I'll wear it."
* * *
"That's the fourth proposal she's received this week!"
Barbara Shermund
Shermund's Sallies
Flong for Pictorial Review, October 6, 1946

Barbara Shermund
eBay listing accessed March 23, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/223648238152?hash=item3412794a48:g:FTYAAOSwHzNdbTn7

Barbara Shermund
eBay item description

Note: We have seen the flong. Now we need to see the newsprint. Please check your old piles of newspaper for the October 6, 1946 issue of Pictorial Review, particularly the page with Shermund's Sallies by Barbara Shermund and the Hollywood column by Louella Parsons.

03914

Sunday, November 21, 2021

Creig Flessel: Sidelined

DC comic book artist Creig Flessel (1912-2008) provides the color cover cartoon for the Sunday Pictorial Review of October 9, 1955. There's quite a bit of action on and off the football field.

Creig Flessel
Pictorial Review, Baltimore American, October 9, 1955

Shermund's Sallies is cartoonist Barbara Shermund's humorous take on relationships. Here she depicts strong young women taking action on their marriages.

"I think I've softened Albert up enough—

so I've decided to feel better!"

* * *

"The last straw was when he didn't object to my dating other men!"

Shermund's Sallies

Barbara Shermund

Pictorial Review, Baltimore American, October 9, 1955

The Cheering Section features large cartoons by Syd Hoff and Irving Roir that riff on some widely accepted stereotypes of the 1950s.

"The trouble with you is you can dish it out but you can't cook it!"

Syd Hoff

* * *

"I used to be attracted to young men with padded shoul-

ders 'til I found out the older ones have stuffed wallets."

Irving Roir

Pictorial Review, Baltimore American, October 9, 1955

"And there's no need to worry about the Central Intelligence Agency being too intelligent." George Dixon pokes fun at US government institutions. Otto Soglow illustrates.

And Dixon asks why not a Department of Loafing to counter-balance the Department of Labor?

Illustration by Otto Soglow

Pictorial Review, Baltimore American, October 9, 1955

Pete Howe's Where Wives Are Expendable reports as fact a World War II story about the order in which Arab men and women walk that certainly isn't true. The myth persists today in many versions and is debunked on Snopes.com here.