Thursday, March 13, 2008

We Don't Believe It

Okay, I sink so low: I'm going to post on this story about the lady stuck to the toilet seat.

The Wichita bureau emboldens me. Thing is, we really don't think it is true. I know, I know, it seems well sourced--real names, real places. But take a look at this Snopes page, with a link back to (criminentlies!) Playboy in 1954, and before.

Ah, memories--it takes me back to 1960 when my (then) wife and I were working for the West Lake County News-Herald in Willoughby, Ohio. Say what you will about her, she was a dynamite copy reader. She made her bones when saw the painted toilet seat float in over the AP wire and said wait a minute this can't be true! She was right; wonder what she thinks of this new avatar (probably just as well that I don't know).

There are variants: Snopes remembers this one and this one. Fans of The Sopranos will remember how Uncle Junior got his hand caught in the garbage dispos-all (pretty tame for The Sopranos, I'd say).

It does permit the recycling of a cute punch line--apparently even older than Playboy:
Ever seen the likes of this before?
Oh, often, but never framed.
Snopes says this one can be found on novelty cards in the 1940s.

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