"John and Marsha" is a 1951 American novelty comedy single written and performed by Stan Freberg and released on Capitol Records.  Consisting of only two words:  "John" and "Marsha", the recording is a back-and-forth dialogue between a man and a woman ranging in varied emotion.  It was made into an award-winning commercial by producer-director John Hubley and animator Art Babbitt and aired on television in 1956.  Stan Freberg began his career as a voice actor and impersonator on radio, television and film.  By 1951, he started making comedy records for Capitol Records.  His first recording was "John and Marsha", a parody of the radio soap operas from the day that consisted of a male and female character (Freberg voiced both) saying each other's name over and over to one another in different emotional inflections.  Upon its release, "John and Marsha" reached number 21 on the charts and stayed there for three weeks in total.  In 1956, producer John Hubley and animator Art Babbitt created a commercial showreel for Wesson Oil Snowdrift shortening using Freberg's character names:  John and Marsha.  The animated short depicted a married couple addressing each other in similar fashion as the comedy single but with the added:  "Snowdrift" as a sponsor tag line.  It won the New York Art Directors Award for Best Animated Short in June 1956.  As a sequel to "John and Marsha", on the B-side of "C'est Si Bon (It's So Good)", Freberg released "A Dear John & Marsha Letter" on December 7, 1953 on Capitol Records.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_and_Marsha 

John and Marsha (Freberg-Stone-Liebert) by Stan Freberg, conducted by Cliffie Stone  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEnRePOf708  2:28 

The Alibi Club was founded in 1884 by seven disaffected members of the Metropolitan Club (organized in 1863).  "Together they sought relief from the vicissitudes of domestic life and the rigors of business . . .  in the pursuit of happiness in comfortable surroundings among convivial friends," reads the framed history in the hall.  The club name was chosen in "defense against queries by curious men and women."  The club limits itself to 50 members--certainly with good reason, for no more than that number could fit in the 1,400-square-foot house at one time.  Status or race are not criteria, but no women or blacks are members.  Because of its small size, the club is not legally obligated to admit women.  Smithsonian secretary emeritus S. Dillon Ripley is said to have said upon joining the club:  "It looks as though it's furnished with everything the Smithsonian ever rejected."  The framed Alibi history on the wall explains that the rooms are "packed with discarded furniture and loaded with priceless junk brought in by loving hands."  Sarah Booth Conroy  https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1992/06/22/a-peek-at-privilege-inside-the-alibi-club/e18847d4-49d6-4f1c-81ec-b9149acba2/  The Alibi Club is located at 1818 I St NW, Washington, DC.  

Award-winning contemporary artist and Syracuse University art professor Sam Van Aken grew up on a family farm in Reading, Pennsylvania, but he spent his college years and much of his early career focused on art rather than agriculture.  While Van Aken says that his work has always been "inspired by nature and our relationship to nature," it wasn't until recently that the artist's farming background became such a clear and significant influence, first in 2008 when he grafted vegetables together to create strange plants for his Eden exhibition, and then shortly after that when he started to work on the hybridized fruit trees that would become the Tree of 40 Fruit.  Each tree begins as a slightly odd-looking specimen resembling some kind of science experiment, and for much of the year, looks like just any other tree.  In spring, the trees bloom to reveal an incredibly striking and thought-provoking example of what can happen when nature inspires art.  Then, over the course of several months, Van Aken's trees produce an incredible harvest of plums, peaches, apricots, nectarines, and almonds, including many you've likely never seen before.  Thus far, Van Aken has created and placed 16 trees in museums, community centers, and private art collections around the country, including in Newton, Massachusetts; Pound Ridge, New York; Short Hills, New Jersey; Bentonville, Arkansas; and San Jose, California.  Using a unique process he calls "sculpture through grafting," Van Aken creates trees that grow and support more than 40 varieties of stone fruit, including many heirloom, antique, and native varieties.  Lauren Salkeld  Read interview with Sam Van Aken at https://www.epicurious.com/archive/chefsexperts/interviews/sam-van-aken-interview 

Chapbooks date back to sixteenth century England.  A written account from Cambridgeshire in 1553 describes “lytle books” sold by pedlars, likely containing lyrics to sung ballads.  The price of these books was low—typically a penny or a halfpenny—and they provided cheap entertainment for the masses, although there’s little evidence that the books themselves were mass produced.  The term “chapbook” dates to 1824, and it takes its name from “chapman,” an English word for an itinerant pedlar or tradesman.  (The root word “chap” shares its origin with the word “cheap.”)  Chapbooks were not always synonymous with a collection of poetry; some chapbooks contained short stories, lyrics, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, illustrations, fairy tales, and liturgical text from religious tracts.  Over time, though, poetry chapbooks have proven to be the most enduring form of the medium.  Chapbooks enjoyed high popularity until the mid-nineteenth century, when they were somewhat supplanted by the availability of cheap daily and weekly newspapers.  https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-a-poetry-chapbook#what-is-a-poetry-chapbook 

pentimento  noun (art, literature)  The presence of traces of a previous work in an artistic or literary work; especially (painting) an image which has been painted over but is still detectable.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pentimento#English 

Eadweard (born Edward) James Muggeridge was born in the ancient town of Kingston-On-Thames, England on April 9, 1830.  Muybridge immigrated to New York and was employed by the London Printing and Publishing Company in 1852.  Three years later as the California gold rush was making history, Muybridge moved west to San Francisco and opened a successful bookstore.  In 1868 Muybridge was named director of photographic surveys for the United States government.  He invented one of the first camera shutters in 1869.  In 1872 he documented wine production in California.  As a photography test, Muybridge, used 12 cameras, each hooked to an electrical apparatus that would trip the shutters as the horse galloped past.  A press conference was called to witness the experiment so that no doubt could exist about the authenticity of the photographs.  Governor Stanford’s racing mare, Sallie Gardner, was the model, July 19, 1878 was the date, and the experiment was a great success.  Muybridge invented the zoopraxiscope in 1879, a machine that allowed him to project up to two hundred single images on a screen.  In 1880 he gave his first presentation of projected moving pictures on a screen to a group at the California School of Fine Arts, thus becoming the father of motion pictures.  Muybridge met with Thomas Edison who had invented the phonograph, but nothing productive came of their meeting.  Edison later invented the kinescope, which was the precursor of the movie camera used today.  Vi Whitmire  https://iphf.org/inductees/eadweard-muybridge/ 

Mo Donegal outlasts Nest to win Belmont  Mo Donegal rounded the 1½-mile distance in 2 minutes, 28.28 seconds, three lengths ahead of Nest--ridden by Ortiz's brother, Jose.  Triple Crown veteran Todd Pletcher, who lives on Long Island, adds another Belmont title following wins with Rags to Riches in 2007, Palace Malice in 2013 and Tapwrit in 2017.   Mo Donegal beat an eight-horse field without a clear favorite.  https://www.espn.com/horse-racing/story/_/id/34076392/favorite-mo-donegal-outlasts-nest-win-belmont-giving-trainer-todd-pletcher-1-2-finish 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2533  June 13, 2022