Topical Guide 886
Mark Dorset
Advertising
Projects, Practical and Impractical
Leaving Small’s Hotel, Chapter 5:
[…] once, when I was about twelve, I got the idea that I could build a tape recorder. […] If this seems preposterous to you, you probably have a good grip on reality and are not related to me.
Not only did I suppose that I could build a tape recorder, but I expected to be able to build it out of common household junk. If that seems unlikely to you, then you have never come across a copy of Impractical Craftsman magazine. I think it is safe to say that this magazine has been responsible for more wasted hours of labor in the basement workshops of America than any other single cause.
To give you an idea of the range of temptations that would have enticed the twelve-year-old Peter, I offer these actual advertisements from the February 1953 issue of Popular Mechanics, a magazine of the Impractical Craftsman type.
Performance
Here is Kraft’s reading of the episode from Chipps & Company’s 1999 series of readings from Leaving Small’s Hotel for LTV Studios:
See also:
Advertising: Types of Appeal TG 373; “The Grass Is Greener,” Exoticism TG 441, TG 442; Appeal to Ego TG 823; Appeal to Desire to Enhance One’s Self-Image TG 476, TG 484, TG 823; Appeal to Sensual Pleasure TG 476; Branding TG 505; Appeal to Naïveté, Wishful Thinking, Good Works, Noble Efforts TG 547; Appeal to Determination to Meet a Challenge TG 823; Brand Mascots TG 589; Media: Matchbook Covers TG 823, Slogans TG 829
Projects, Practical and Impractical TG 367, TG 569, TG 615, TG 800; Ideal or Real TG 443; Difficult TG 714; Fallout Shelter: Stocking It TG 797
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You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.
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