Top this, FedEx:Our discussion of offbeat airline...
Top this, FedEx:
Our discussion of offbeat airline routes prompted former Western Airlines publicist Rockey Spicer to recall what may have been “the first airmail special delivery in history.” And one of the most unusual.
In 1926, pilot Jimmy James of Western Airlines was about to take off from Salt Lake City on a mail run to L.A. when he “saw a man running toward the plane waving an envelope,” Spicer said. “Reaching down from his open cockpit, James took the letter as the man shouted above the roar of the Liberty engine that it was an emergency message to his father in East L.A.”
James instructed the man to go find a piece of garden hose at the airfield hangar. The pilot then inserted the letter into the hose.
“Before landing at Vail Field, then L.A.’s air terminal in Montebello, James flew over the address and buzzed the house to bring out residents,” continued Spicer. “On his second pass over the house, James tossed the garden-hose-encased letter over the side. . . . The residents waved their thanks.”
Too bad the concept of overhead delivery never caught on.
‘CONGRATULATIONS FROM THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE’: So read the headline of an ad taken out in Daily Variety last week by the North Dakota Film Commission in praise of the makers of “Fargo.” That, of course, was the blood-and-snow epic made by the Coen Brothers--”Lyle and Erik,” as Oscar host Billy Crystal called them.
A SPACEY LAWYER? Crystal also described the Shrine Auditorium, site of the Oscars, as “the only theater in America not showing one of the ‘Star Wars’ movies.”
So it was appropriate for Kent Bridwell of West L.A. to send along a printout of the November 1978 California Bar Exam results for Southern California. Among those who passed was one Luke Skywalker.
It should be recalled that these results were posted the first time “Star Wars” was a hit. Was the listing a prank? Well, we were unable to find that name in the 1997 Parker Directory of California Attorneys. But there may very well be a Luke Skywalker who is a lawyer.
If so, we say to Luke: May the courts be with you.
NOT THE SPICY BRAND: Robert Switzer of West Hollywood found an applesauce label that bragged about excluding an unusual additive from the contents--”lye.”
LAST VOYAGE: Referring to Ship’s, a longtime restaurant in Culver City, Howard Joseph says: “I have a soft spot in my heart, probably in addition to some platelets, from eating Ship Shape burgers there.”
Alas, the eatery has been shut down for several weeks. And as Joseph was driving through the area the other day, he saw a flatbed truck carrying off the distinctive Ship’s sign. “It was sailing into the sunset,” Joseph observed.
miscelLAny
A Gardiner, Maine, librarian released a list of the favorite books of assorted luminaries she had contacted. Actor Anthony Hopkins, for instance, chose “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Then there was Olympic star Bruce Jenner’s selection--”Finding the Champion Within,” by Bruce Jenner. Hope he autographed a copy for himself.
Steve Harvey can be reached by telephone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com and by carrier pigeon at L.A. Times, Metro, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.
