The Peppermint Gates of Fun Valley

gh-sailors  gh-peppermint  gh-granny

Not only is 1964’s Little Golden Book The Good Humor Man a great example of early product placement (masquerading as a treatise on the delights of suburban life in the summertime, there’s hardly a page that doesn’t sing the praises of licking Good Humor brand ice cream), it’s also riddled with vague and not-so-vague homoerotic references (see images). At least they seem that way to us, seen through modern eyes conditioned by media to scan constantly for veiled references. We could be wrong – it could all be completely innocent, the naive voice of an older writer creating a children’s book in the early 60s. Regardless, the book is a gas. Miles, of course, is blissfully unaware of the undertones – he’s more concerned that Bobby left his boats to go get ice cream, and the fact that the bunny rabbits hanging out by the fence didn’t get a lick.

Music: Pere Ubu :: Drinking Wine Spodyody

4 Replies to “The Peppermint Gates of Fun Valley”

  1. And then there’s also the alliterations throughout. Kids like that a lot. “Granny Griggs”, “friendly flakey frostee”, etc. It’s cheap and below-the-belt writing, but it somehow works.

    The most popular comics series in Belgium – Suske en Wiske – uses alliterations for all of its titles, hundreds of them.

  2. And then there’s also the alliterations throughout. Kids like that a lot. “Granny Griggs”, “friendly flakey frostee”, etc. It’s cheap and below-the-belt writing, but it somehow works.

    The most popular comics series in Belgium – Suske en Wiske – uses alliterations for all of its titles, hundreds of them.

  3. I think this bill needs to be amended to reflect how we’ll suffer from the ideals of its authors. Namely:

    INDUCE-Victims Of Morally Intransigent Thought

    I’ll let you make the acronym.

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