August 20, 2008
NEWS WAG
[NIGEL PRESCOTT SHARES HIS THOUGHTS]
My friend Al and I used to prank newspapers by sending them ludicrous letters to see what they would run without checking. We were alarmingly successful.
One time, we wrote a senior citizen advice columnist in West Palm Beach, posing as a lonely older woman who was alarmed by the arousal she felt for a younger man who saved her from a foul ball at a minor-league baseball game.
It wasn't a total work of fiction; the young man in question was our friend Marc and the foul ball scenerio actually happened. The woman Marc saved from the baseball was extremely appreciative.
After receiving the bogus letter, the columnist politely, and correctly, explained in her next column that age did not diminish such physical reactions and that the writer should not feel ashamed for having felt those sensations. She then confessed to having experienced the same type of feelings. Ew. Al and I still laugh hysterically about it to this day.
I mention this anecdote so that I can happily report that, although I had nothing to do with it, the tradition apparently continues.
A newspaper in an adjacent county recently held a comics page poll to see which ones readers liked best. By the looks of things, they got lots of responses. Comics polls always do.
Hey, I know that name!
Funny. I always pegged Nigel as more of a Doonesbury dog.
Posted by Jeff at August 20, 2008 06:50 AM | TrackBack