Pulp Fiction on Monument Square

Last month, Abraham Schechter of the Portland Public Library's Portland Room pointed this photo out to me. The other night I finally had a chance to do some digging and find out what it was.

Pictured here is Russell Mack, proprietor of Russell's Cigars, a variety shop run at 15 Monument Square. [Those Portlanders among you will know the building as the current location of a few businesses including Others! Fair Trade Coffee House.] Both Abraham and I were enthralled by the array of old pulp books and magazines shown on Mr. Mack's shelves.

In digging for the article that this photo used to be attached to, I had good luck. In fact, the story is more than just a "Hey, look at this local business owner working with his customary stock." No, instead the story was "Here is Russell Mack dutifully packing up books and magazines that Portland city officials are banning due to their salacious content!" Those pulp paperbacks he's holding are by Erskine Caldwell, the famous author who owned a bookstore in Portland in the late 1920s, in Longfellow Square at 668 Congress Street (see below).

The Portland Press Herald article, published in the August 21, 1948 issue on page 14, details the ban on Caldwell's novels that occurred in Portland... it was in effect for a mere 5 hours on August 20th, before the "misunderstanding" was corrected.

After receipt of the complainant's letter, a city inspector was sent out on the town to see what was what. He returned bearing 6 so-called "art magazines" and 3 of Caldwell's books. The ban was intended to target the magazines only, but in a miscommunication, the Caldwell books got lumped into the mix. The entire brouhaha was started by a letter to City Hall from a Portland citizen who was concerned about the "salacious magazines" and literature being made available to local students in the bookshops of the area. Perhaps some of the other visible titles below Mr. Mack's bent knee are those in question? With titles like "Confessions of a Good Time Girl," "Party Wife," "Pleasure After Hours," "Excess Wife," and "Confessions of a Shakedown Dame," it is hard to imagine these publications wouldn't raise an eyebrow or two. On the other hand, they probably weren't talking about the nearby magazine with the banner headline, "FOOT DOCTOR TO THE STARS!"

Misinformed, the Portland Police Department's detective squad was sent out to warn booksellers off the banned titles, including the 3 Caldwell books, only to have to rescind the ban as it pertained to the Caldwell titles 5 hours later. The City government announced belatedly that it had "no opinion" when it came to differentiating between the varying degrees of worth in adult literature, even though earlier in the day it had officially typified Caldwell's books as "distasteful literature." The "art magazines," however, remained under ban due to their manifest tendency "to corrupt the morals of youth."

Five local booksellers were interviewed as to their opinions on the ban. Most agreed it was "a silly thing to do," as one female bookseller (unnamed) neatly summed it up. Booksellers are notorious as being the bastions of freedom of literary expression, and it seems this has been a trend for a long time.

For those of you wondering about where Erskine Caldwell's Longfellow Bookshop was, here is a comparative shot of 668 Congress St. in 1925 (before Caldwell opened his shop) compared with how it looks today. True to form, this location is right across the street from my own used bookshop, the Green Hand Bookshop, at 661 Congress Street. Longfellow Square cannot help but attract booksellers, no matter what century it is.

Knave makes off with pastries!

The Portland Press Herald ran this article late last week. Special thanks to Corey Templeton, who spotted it! The great photo of Zarra's is by Brad Searles, and is used in accordance with Creative Commons terms.

...And to think, all these years we thought it was the pesky seagulls.

Stakeout catches pastry thief in the act
Submitted By David Hench, Staff Writer
on Friday, Mar. 20 at 12:05 pm

PORTLAND -- An early-rising Portland thief with a taste for fine pastries was nabbed on a theft charge this morning.

The owners of Zarra’s Monumental Coffee House had asked police to keep an eye on the business because some of its early-morning pastry deliveries had been disappearing, police said.

Police staked out the coffee house at 24 Monument Square and spotted a man who arrived at 5:45 a.m. and took up a position in an alcove nearby.

The store’s pastries were left in front of the unopened store at 6 a.m. and after the delivery person left, the man in the shadows emerged to grab one of the white pastry boxes filled with fresh scones and saunter off toward Congress Street.

Police confronted Darrin Hatt, 43, and arrested him on a charge of theft by unauthorized taking.

Police could not say whether Hatt planned to share his haul with co-workers, or hoard them for himself.

[Source]

Hmm... co-workers??? Who is this guy working for?

All Signs Point to Zombies, Monsters, and Music

Don't miss the big event tonight at Merrill Auditorium. It's billed as A Night of Maine Film and Music, featuring two movies by Empythouse Film - the world premiere of "Monster in the Woods" and a screening of zombie flick, "2" - plus music by local bands Live Studio Audience and Covered in Bees. Don't miss it!

For those of you who missed the Zombie March in Portland last night, shame on you! Here's some photos of the event, where fun was had by all! Luckily it stopped raining by the time the zombies hit the streets.






(all photos (c) Chris Wallace)

You can see more photos from the Zombie March here.

Zombie Bliss

In spite of the cold, and the rain that plagued Portland up until about an hour before the event, the Emptyhouse Film sponsored zombie march was remarkably well-attended, with about two dozen folks present, many in zombie makeup. Channels WMTW-8 and WGME-13, as well as the Press Herald were present. I heard that some other local papers sent reporters, but I'm not sure who else was represented.

Biker zombie and daughter enoy the pretty lights in the trees around the square (photo by Michelle Souliere). See a few more photos here on Flickr, mostly before and after the march (one must try to stay in character during these things!). No word on how the clientele at David's responded.

Fun was had by all, and as the event broke up, happy promises were made to meet again tomorrow night at the big Maine Film and Music extravaganza at the Merrill Auditorium! Ahhh, zombies.

Waterproof Zombies!!!

Andy Davis reminds all zombies that tonight's Zombie March in Portland's Monument Square is a rain or shine event!!!