A Letter from Jobyna

June.12.1924

Dear Mertzal,

I finally have completed that book you sent me. What a lovely story! I couldn’t put it down. I have tried to read out loud, but sometimes, the words just don’t come out right. I didn’t know that you had brothers! That must have been lovely! Can you please give me a phonetic way of how to say your last name? I know how to spell it just fine, just saying it, is a little bit hard! I’ve been alright, thank you for asking! I hope you are doing well! Oh! I spoke to Ms. Lillian Gish today. She knows you too!! Such a small world it is! I am planning on seeing you soon! I want to read another book to you. I think I’m getting better (with my mouth, well, you have the other name for it, but I don’t like saying it). But, I am doing well in the pictures. I’m working in another picture with Harold Lloyd. I wrote you about him last week! I’m starting a picture called “Girl Shy”. It should be a lot of fun! Ohh Mertzal! I get to wear such nice clothes for this picture and I get to have a little puppy dog with me! But, can I tell you a secret? Harold has to stutter and it sort of reminds me of what I have , sort of .. does that make sense. But, I will ‘play it safe’, if that makes sense to you at all. So, I heard someone speaking Yiddish today and I thought of you! You speak it fully or ‘fluently’ right? I thought you did! I cannot wait to see you again! I am so sorry this letter is brief, but here is a little portrait of me. I think you’ll like it. I think it. I like the fence, I think you would too! By the way, when I come back to see you, can you show me all of the library, I don’t think I’ve seen it all yet! I would love to see it all!! Ohh! Before I forget, when I get there, Ms. Gish had asked me to check on her books for her. She said that she had two books that you are keeping for her, right? That’s what she told me. I wish I had a book for you to keep! Oh! But, I don’t understand what she needs the books there for?

Well, lovely, I must be off now! I shall see you soon, alright!

Sincerely,

Jobyna Ralston

June in Peril

July 22, 1933

Dear Mertzal, or Mert,

I don’t know which one you prefer? I went to the doctor and they said that can try to help me fight this disease. I am not sure what it will do, but they say I could end up dying from it. OH! But need not worry about me, for I have my family supporting me. I thank you for your kind letter and your lovely offer. I will be alright.

Mert. I need to tell you this now.

I’m scared to death. I’m not alright. I’m sick.

I have this disease. But, I am ready for another vacation, how about you? I want to see you now. I feel like you can help me solve the question of how I got this incurable disease? Is it a disease? I’m just so scared. I cannot even sleep at night without thinking of a tombstone. I can’t even breathe. Mert, please, help me. Read what you can to figure out this. I need to know a cure! Is there a cure? I need to know. I’m scared that I’m going to die. I’m scared of the Earth below me. I don’t want to die now. Help me, please. I have sent you a list of my symptoms. I hope cancer doesn’t kill. I am hoping not. I cannot even think of a funeral.

Mert, you have expressed how much you care for me and I do reciprocate that. I wish to see you very soon!

Lots of Love,

June Caprice.

Lillian Gish

Mert said this of this picture: “I will always treasure this one. Lillian looked like this when I first met her. I remember that face. She always told me that people don’t think that she smiled enough. I said ‘You showed your teeth to me plenty of teeth’ and then she’d smile with her teeth. She said that she had a ‘mere mouth’. I’m not sure what she meant by that, but I know that she meant well!”

Pulp Ten

Literature

Here are twenty books I've never read.
And neither have you.
And you never will.
And neither will I.
Nobody will.

A Picture of Peter Saville

Really

one

of

the

best

designers

ever.



Data Visualization Reinterpreted by VISUALIZED from VISUALIZED on Vimeo.

True Romance

May.2.1925

Jobyna came back to the library. She ran in, like something was wrong. She had tears in her eyes.

“MERTZAL! MERTZAL!” She cried. I immediately got out of my seat.

“Joby! How lovely! What, what’s wrong?” I asked her.

“MY MOUTH! MY MOUTH!!” She said, pointing to her mouth.

“I see nothing wrong with it,” I said.

She held out her hand and I took it. She led me to a book shelf and grabbed a book and tried to read it. She was frustrated and upset. Then I wrapped her in my arms.

“What’s wrong, whose hurt you?” I asked.

“Mertzal, how can I sustain that magic you have when I’m here when I’m not here?” She asked.

“I’m not magical,”I said.

“Mertzal, you make me speak right when I’m here, but when I’m away, I can’t speak right!” She wailed. She was really upset.

“Ohh, Joby, please, please don’t cry,” I said, holding her in my arms again.

“Why, then, why, can’t I speak right?” She asked.

“You are perfect to me,” I said. She was. Her lovely eyes shouldn’t be upset. I kissed her head.

“You... you like me, don’t you?” She asked, looking at me. I nodded. I didn’t like her, I LOVED HER. I really wanted to propose, but we were on different scales of the country.

She leaned her head into my chest.

“I... I just want to talk,” She said. I had a feeling she might have been ridiculed.

“You will, that’s why I’m here to help you,” I said.

“You are soo good to me, why?” She asked. Then, I blurted out something I shouldn’t have.

“I love you”. She looked up at me.

“You... really? How, I’m so insufferable,” She said.

“I’d marry you in an instant,” I whispered. She liked the sound of that, I could tell. She made a little giggly noise that I’ll never forget.

“Will you be my guest for dinner?” She asked. I nodded. She told me where she was staying and where to eat. I told her I would be delighted to have dinner with her and so we did.

The rest, is our history.

Fuck Yeah Punk Rock!

There's an impressive collection of punk photographs here.
This is one of my favorites.

Ewa Aulin Can Mesmerize! 2012

The somewhat ridiculous nature of this picture should indicate to those who know me well that, A, I am in a good mood and, B, it's time for you to send me an expensive gift.

Amazing Stories

When I was a kid, I had a picture book of cover art from science fiction pulp magazines that I used to pour over constantly. Those paintings had me rapt and though I've since lost the book somewhere, I still sometimes think about how cool that stuff was, so when I found some via stumble upon, I naturally had to hold them in a post here at PROOF.

Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Before Amazing, science fiction stories had made regular appearances in other magazines, including some published by Gernsback, but Amazing helped define and launch a new genre of pulp fiction.