What's My Line?

What's My Line? ran on CBS for a total of 25 seasons and 876 episodes

from 1950 - 1967. While I always love seeing the surprise celebrity guests

from across the entertainment and news-making spectrum, I always got a kick

out of the "every day folks" whose professions the panel of notable guests 

would have to guess by asking a series of questions. These professions, of course, 

were shown on the screen for the television viewers and this text overlapping 

the contestants' faces often provided an intriguing, if not humorous, graphic.

Hundreds of episodes of the show are available to watch on YouTube,

 many of them having been broken down into season by season playlists

 and arranged in their original televised running order. They're worth a look.

Pleased To Greet You - A Vintage Scrapbook

Several months ago I was handed this book by my friend Vanessa 

while visiting her very charming thrift and antique shop (which is

called This, That And The Third) in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. 

Vanessa generously tried to give me the album free however I

insisted on giving her at least 5 dollars for it because it felt very special.

 I was touched by the fact that somebody, most likely a grandmother, 

had taken the time to compile greeting cards from her children, friends, 

husband and grandchildren into this blue scrapbook album from Woolco. 

I have been doing this for decades: saving greeting cards from family and

friends in photo albums amongst my ticket stubs, event wrist bands, printed

photos and hand-written postcards and letters. As far as I could tell, the

cards in this collection dated from 1959 - 1981. I removed the large Woolco

sticker (which had been left on the album's cover all these years) and

placed it in my current sketchbook. The pages were faded, yet mostly

intact, as was the book's binding. I saved my favorite items from the lot...

 mostly the 1950s and 1960s cards (many of them pop-ups or fold-outs but all of

them beautifully illustrated) and placed them in a separate album of my own,

where they are mounted on archival papers beneath plastic protector sheets.

Thanks again, Vanessa. This is a truly beautiful collection of printed ephemera.