Thursday, April 23, 2020

Bruin Auditorium Announced...


Tugging on the Ol' Nickelodeon...


A Nursery Rhyme for Little Edna By Big Mama...


The Death Of Edna Mae Senior - A Plancovania Historical Society Oral History Project by Mabel Mabel Knott






























The Perils of Fishington

The President of the Rose Lake Improvement Company has a rather lengthy story, but here we'll present a shorter 'cold weather' version...























The (Incomplete) Story of Maj- Gen Stanley Fox

Actor, Philanthropist, Explorer, Botanist, Art Collector, Chairman of the Board of the Rose Lake Improvement Company, and Legend in His Own Mind Stanley Wolf published the first volume of his autobiography early in the last century.  Unfortunately the Plancovania Historical Society has only a damaged copy in it's archives, and since this volume is only currently available as part of a 23 volume set, they have elected to present this original, although incomplete, copy of Volume One...














































The remaining 200+ pages of Volume One sadly were consumed by an infestation of Dung Beetles attracted to the book's contents. 

Further volumes are currently being employed in propping up shelves of actually important documents and await the Society's funding of cement block replacements so that the rest of the series can also be shared...

Stay tuned.

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Rose Lake and it's citizens weren't always just on the front page of the paper.



And what's life without SPORTS?  Whether it's that sportsball you try to kick or the one you try to throw more than six feet, they all involve sweaty menfolk at some point...either before, during or after the game! 

Maj-Gen Stanley Wolf always took time to take a stroll through the locker rooms of his teams...and he didn't own nor coach any of them, but he was a avid fan of sportsballs of any type.  If there were balls involved Wolf would sure to be there...unless he was in the middle of a performance of course, the man DID have priorities you know! 

Prof. JP Marvel was often also seen in the locker rooms as he designed the teams headgear....although why that required measuring inseams was always a mystery... 



Saturday, April 18, 2020

Ashes to ashes.

Strange that there were more pictures of the actual fire than of the aftermath, but we did find a couple.





Obviously the great fire of 1910 was not the end of the Rose Lake Park story, by far.  On one hand, how could the park still be standing today?   And on the other hand, why would I have wasted the last 5 months of my life documenting something that went up in smoke 110 years ago?  Remarkably, photos show that the park grew more between the years of 1910 and 1919 than in the two decades prior, combined.   While each of the founders have been demonstrated to have amassed significant wealth in their young careers, this particular article is noteworthy for possibly explaining such a quick recovery.



Looking back into our file on Bartholomew Tete de Taureau, none of this is surprising.  Although now we must wonder the degree to which co-founders Jason Fishington and Stanley Wolf were involved in the nefarious dealings of Taureau's seedy mafia undertakings.  Further, what else were these men willing to do to create their little lakeside empire as the years went on?   Were the other co-founders involved as well?  I mean, one of them even looks like a bear.

And certainly beloved Professor JP Marvel knew nothing of any of this, what between designing his hats, eating Edna Mae Jr's delicious pies, and "excercising" regularly in the cloak room of the Grand Cocotier, how could he have found the time?




Thursday, April 16, 2020

"No fire's stoppin' us!"

Lest you think the fire stopped all progress at Rose Lake, we present this proof that new improvements continued even as the ashes were shoveled up and barged across the lake to the river...

Where they were dumped right at the Peepsburgh city limits and thus became THEIR problem...

Meanwhile...



 Prof. JP Marvel had a special liking for the machine to improve posture - he already had the 'hand on hip with attitude' pose down flat, but one's bosom can always bear increasing I suppose... 

But he heartily endorsed the idea of little effort nor perspiration being involved, at least in THIS activity.

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

The Founders aren't the only things that are 'flaming'!

We now come to a real turning point for Rose Lake Park (and not just the end of the catwalk for one of Prof. Marvel's infamous headwear collection fashion shows...).  Will this be the end of Rose Lake Park?   (Insert appropriate musical "dim-dum-DUUUUUM!" here)  

 Inquiring minds will want to know!





 We found some old photos of the fire, had them restored and colorized...


 Nothing like sitting with your sweetie watching the flames with a jug of wine...or two.  I swear these two were there the day before and haven't moved...





 Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of "Rose Lake - As The Stomach Turns"...

Friday, April 10, 2020

A Most Magnificent Millinerist

At long last today is the day that all 8 of you, or perhaps none of you, have been waiting for.  I sent Bob on an errand into town to find me a new corkscrew (and I'm hoping it's one of those newfangled electronic ones, I'm quite sure we have money in the budget for that.  And if not I think we can use one of Mabel Mabel's Gofundme accounts as we never did get around to getting her that birthday cake or paying for her hospital bills.)

But it really wasn't about the corkscrew at all, I just needed to get Bob out of the way so that I could finally post some scans pertaining to legendary Professor JP Marvel, who as they say popped out of the womb and before the midwife could slap his ass, he promptly slapped her first and then proceeded to criticize her choice in headwear.  

Bob likes to call my interest in Professor Marvel as "an unhealthy obsession bordering on deeply psychotic behavior," however I prefer to refer to it as "great minds thinking alike."  The professor and I both seem to share a desire for beauty in all shapes in sizes, and all corners of the world.  Starting with one's own head.

Worth noting that many of the items used in the construction of Marvel's creations were bore of necessity, as he was a master of using the limited resources about him at Rose Lake to incorporate them into his fantastic hattery.







A couple of those pages came from my Professor Marvel's 1902 Catalog, which Mabel Mabel herself showed up with just the other day.  (She looks good, and has even lost some noticeable weight, can't be an ounce over 60 lbs.)  She apologized for removing the catalog from the archive, as apparently her new "beau" as she calls him does enjoy it when she re-creates the fashions and dances about the room singing "Zou Zou Bisou" and at this point I interrupted her and changed the subject.

TMI, Mabel.  TMI.

Thursday, April 9, 2020

A Couple of Clippings

Probably mostly inconsequential to the story of Rose Lake Park, but at least the park is mentioned in these items, and the bottom article makes reference to our favorite full sized figure, Ms. Edna Mae Sr.  Much like her daughters' obsession with pie and unlike much of her clientele, we just can't get enough of her.






Who knew miss Edna Mae was such the humanitarian?  I love that we keep learning so much more about her and her ginormous generosity, as it has become quite clear that Rose Lake could have never arisen to such a capacious success without her.  I do hope she remains firmly impregnated into this story for many years to come.