Things Found In Books
From Lee: "Those who follow Arcana’s Instagram know that I rarely – if ever – post myself. That noted, I was so delighted to find the following bit of ephemera tucked into a recently purchased book just now that I felt compelled to share. Stories in the used and Antiquarian book trade of treasures found in books coming across the transom are legion. Everything from hundred dollar bills to bearer bonds to love letters from the rich and famous, and then some. Me, I’ve been doing this for forty years or so, and while I’ve found some amazing announcements and handbills tucked into the odd book and catalogue here and there over the years, I have yet to come across anything significant by way of those things. Anyway, back when I was growing up in Los Angeles, everyone subscribed to the Los Angeles Times. And during the sixties and seventies, arguably the paper’s premier Hollywood / gossip columnist was Joyce Haber. I still remember her talent for the turning the exquisitely glib, innuendo-laced phrase. Coming across this raggedly-trimmed clipping chronicling John Lennon’s notorious March 12th, 1974 drunken (at least!) heckling of The Smothers Brothers at the Troubadour that resulted in his ejection was a Madeleine taking me straight back to my late teen self. So here you go. Lennon, Nilsson, May Pang, Peter Lawford, The Paul Newmans, Flip Wilson, Ken Fritz, and even a bit of potential Lauren Hutton scandal. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore!"
