The title I gave to one of my two posts regarding the turning point soliloquy of Hamlet was, oddly, “Close, But a Hand-rolled Cigarette.” I am late getting to bed and at that point in time when I feel compelled to share my vast wealth of knowledge with the rest of you.
Back in the olden days, as we say, when I was young, carnivals were a great source of entertainment. One of the most popular booths was the shooting gallery, especially for men wanting to show off for their girlfriends. (I haven’t been to a carnival in a long time, but it may still be true today.) There was a constant line of little animal figures running across the background, and their attempt was to shoot down as many as possible, with the prize being a cigar. If they missed, the barker would call out “Close, but no cigar!”
With that explanation, back to Hamlet and my title. You can probably deduce that I felt my incomplete rendition of my memory of that great work was not too bad after all these years.
I am perfectly happy to share these morsels of intellectual expertise with the rest of you, at no charge, you will be happy to note.
And so to bed.
3 weeks ago
5 comments:
little Bill
You are a treasure and a wealth of knowledge and Americana. I didn't know that about the history of "close but not cigar"
little Bill
Speaking of sharing memories. I would like to hear you tell some childhood stories about Bass Rock!
I don't remember much about Bass Rock except being forced to kneel behind a very large dead fish (probably a bass, come to think of it) to have my picture taken. Not much of a story I can make of that. I was only 5or 6 at the time.
I bet it was or a cod in those days. Do you have any pictures?
There's always for hilarity, if not for Hillary, then at her. And today sure provided everyone with a target-rich environment. However, I still need captions, please!