The Fairfax Rap. I went to P.J. Skiddoo's many times after rugby practice...Ever hear of an Econolite lamp? I'm guessing not. They were popular in the late Fifties and early Sixties. We had one. (Probably two.) For some reason I was thinking of it the other day. I used to be fascinated by ours, the way the rising warm air given off by the light bulb would cause the inner image to move, creating animated motion. I see I can buy one here for only $187.50... but my wife would probably object to its placement in the living room much the same way Darren McGavin's wife did with the leg lamp in "A Christmas Story." And, to be frank, I don't want one.
Yes, there's an Econolite motion lamp website.
I am now reading "Exploring the World of King Arthur" by Christopher Snyder, but I don't know why. (Well, yeah I do - I got the book for next to nothing at a yard sale).
I used to be deeply into Arthuriana when I was a teenager, but it's rare when anything new appears on the Arthurian scene and so interest waned. I can always predict what images are used with what topics in these books: "Let's see, Merlin constructs Stonehenge - yep, there's that old manuscript illustration of the giant... the Round Table... and there's a photo of that old dependable green and white Henry VIII oak table at Winchester... the Count of the Saxon Shore... there's that clunky medieval manuscript illustration of the gigantic buildings sitting on a poorly-rendered outline of Britain," etc. That's what comes of reading every non-fiction King Arthur book you can get your hands on. I think the Bettman Archive has more than made its money on the subject.
The latest Big Thing was the s0-called Arthur Stone in 1998, but even that really isn't Arthurian. As the wikipedia article points out, the only thing connecting this artifact with an historical Arthur is the prefix "Arth-," which could apply to names other than the right one. So it's a reach.
The stone itself doesn't look very impressive. The people who lived in Dark Age Britain apparently thought that as well, as the thing was used as a drain cover. But it was a big deal because clues about the existence of an historical Arthur are as scanty as clues are about who my 3rd great-grandfather Clark might have been.
But the search continues... after all, what's an interesting life without a central mystery?
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