Tag: reading

Margerumalia – 15 Things I Learned Watching TV & Movies

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – January 30, 2026

PHOTO: Photo by Timur Repin on Unsplash

I thought this might be useful for those of you who only read books…

15 Things I Learned Watching TV & Movies

  1. You don’t need to say goodbye at the end of a phone call, just hang up.
  2. Parking spots are always available in front of tall buildings.
  3. Government secrets are best discussed in restaurants where no one will pay any attention.
  4. A hair brush and push-up bra will transform a schoolmarm into a ravishing beauty.
  5. Drinking 3 or 4 shots of whiskey on an empty stomach won’t have any effect.
  6. A musical instrument is easy to play when you want to sing a song to someone.
  7. You don’t need to watch the road when you drive, you can just look at your passenger.
  8. All bullets fired at you will miss when you’re trying to help someone.
  9. You can borrow anyone’s phone because you’ve memorized the number of every family member, friend, and your lawyer.
  10.  If you talk nice to an office assistant, she’ll make sure you get in to see her boss.
  11.  Alien invasions all begin with dark, roiling clouds.
  12.  Guys with acne scars are always packing heat.
  13.  All passwords can be easily hacked in four seconds.
  14.  Dogs know exactly what you need and where to find the person who can help you.
  15.  Never, never go into a parking garage. Only bad things happen there.

I hope that’s helpful.

TTFN

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – A Mother/Daughter Pair

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – January 23, 2026

It’s very cold outside in the Midwest. I hope it’s less severe where you are. 

Our outdoor cats have us worrying over them when they don’t show up for 48 hours to eat. Tabitha, the mother, finally showed up on Saturday. Then Rocket, one of her kittens from last spring, apparently went into heat because I chased off a large tomcat who was stalking her. The next day she was nowhere to be seen. She came back the day after.

That mother/daughter pair had been sharing warmth in the little cat house we set up for them, but they seem to have abandoned that cozy nook. Meanwhile the temperatures dropped into the single digits. Yikes!

So I’m entering the doors to the track at the Wellness Center and I hold the door for a young mother carrying her baby in a carseat. After my first circle around the track I see her again, cradling her infant while taking a slow walk. She looked like the drawing above but with an infant half that size. 

Two weeks old? Three, I was guessing. It’s been a few years since my daughter was that size.

The mother/daughter pair were the very definition of motherhood and she shared a smile with me as my face reflected that thought. Watching them warmed my heart and reminded me of the kindly looks I got standing in the aisle of an airplane, bouncing my infant daughter on a cross-country flight.

Something in all of us, I thought, wants to keep that infant protected and cherishes those who do.

TTFN

P.S. I’m careful to credit any photos I use in this newsletter to give due credit. In checking the URL of the artwork above, their ending of “.co” is correct. It’s freekidscoloringpages.co (If you try to change it to “.com” it won’t work.)

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This just in…

A fellow named John Raccio posted that on the Baby Boomers account of Facebook. I thought it’d be funny to share in light of last week’s newsletter.

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If you received this email because it was forwarded to you by a subscriber, welcome. You can subscribe as well by following the link on my website: ericmargerum.com. A free story awaits you there.

Margerumalia – A Rorschach Test

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – January 16, 2026

As the new year got started I was reflecting on what age I would be this year and realized it was an opportunity to make a joke about the whole 6-7 phenomenon. So I posted the message above.

I was surprised, then, to learn that my joke became something of a Rorschach Test giving me insight about the people who wrote responses.

Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach created an inkblot test to uncover the thoughts and emotions of patients by presenting them with ambiguous blotches, all open to interpretation.

Here’s a sample of them: 

I look at these inkblots and see several characters ripe for stories featuring mythological antagonists or ancient warriors. Tells you something about my imagination, doesn’t it? 

There’s an old joke about a psychologist showing inkblots to a patient. The dialogue goes something like this: 

Psychologist: I’d like you to look at a few cards and tell me what you see.

Patient: Okay. 

Psychologist: Here’s the first one. What do you see? 

Patient: I see a man and a woman making love. 

Psychologist: And here’s the second one. What do you see now?

Patient: I see a man and a woman making love. 

Psychologist: Interesting, and the third one. What do you see now?

Patient: I see a man and a woman making love. 

[This continues for two or three more inkblots before the psychologist puts down the cards.]

Psychologist: You seem to be preoccupied with the thought of lovemaking.

Patient: Me? You’re the one with the dirty pictures!

(That dialogue can be made more explicit, depending on your audience.)

When people responded to my social media post, it generated lots playful banter about the 6-7 craze, sober reflections on aging, heartfelt warm regards, and several birthday greetings, though my birthday is still many months away. One helpful person directed me—and others who weren’t in the know—to a short TikTok video explaining the origins of the 6-7 sensation.

I found it to be a fascinating study of people’s reactions to an ambiguous post, and appreciated getting a deeper look at my friends and their personalities.

TTFN

* * * * *

Last week I recommended books about Paddington Bear and this week I happened to see a deal for the audiobook that begins the series, A Bear Called Paddington.

The company is called Chirp Books and they offer discounted audiobooks with no subscription. I’ve bought several from them and I haven’t been disappointed yet. Here’s a link to this book:

https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/a-bear-called-paddington-by-michael-bond?promotion_id=303194

(Just so you know, I don’t get any money by recommending this audiobook.)

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – A Bear Called Paddington

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – January 9, 2026

Our daughter Lora had the wonderful opportunity to go to Scotland for a month last year, performing in a play called Faster in the Attic at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She and the production got several nice reviews. While she was there she stopped to have a chat with Paddington Bear.

She posted the photo above with these comments: 

Today a statue of Paddington appeared at the park near our venue. (My sandwich was in my backpack, I would’ve eaten with him, but he had some other fans to take photos with.)

I’m sure the gentleman who offered to take this photo was confused by how emotional I got after he took it.

My Grandma and I used to read Paddington’s stories all the time (my favorite was when he got a driver’s license for his shopping cart.) And how serendipitous that I wore her necklace today.

Happy that she’s with me today even all the way in Scotland.

My mom read many books to me and my brothers when we were growing up and she was delighted to share the Paddington books with Lora. In fact, Debbie and I often sidled up to the bedside readings and enjoyed hearing the stories as well.

The stories are just right for children in elementary school because they can laugh at the way Paddington takes certain expressions literally, just as they themselves had done only a few years earlier: 

“Are you pulling my leg?!”

“No. In fact I can’t even see your legs from this side of the desk.”

There are three Paddington movies and they’re all very warm-hearted with mild slapstick, humorous misunderstandings, and plenty of marmalade sandwiches. Those are his favorite.

Here’s an Easter Egg moment for you to enjoy in the first movie: Paddington is arriving in London for the first time and sees a friendly old gentleman raise a glass to him in salute. That man was Edward Bond, the man who wrote all of the Paddington books.

I love moments like that!

The books and the movies are all entertaining without the tiresome silliness that make parents dread hearing or seeing them over and over again. In fact, I borrowed a dialogue from Paddington’s visit with a psychologist and have used it repeatedly in giving acting classes. It always draws laughter from the other students and I always enjoy it myself.

I hope you have the chance to treat yourself and any children in your family to A Bear Called Paddington.

TTFN

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If you received this email because it was forwarded to you by a subscriber, welcome. You can subscribe as well by following the link on my website: ericmargerum.com. A free story awaits you there.

Margerumalia – Books of Verses

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – January 2, 2026

I hope you enjoyed my verses last week. I’ve been thinking of writing enough of them to make a children’s book of poetry. How many would make for a modern day “A Child’s Garden of Verses,” I wonder. That book saw it’s 140th birthday last year. That’s quite a publishing run!

Many of my verses make use of idioms and wordplay. In fact, I was originally thinking that I should call it “Verses for the Complete Idiom,” playing off of the “Complete Idiot” how-to series, but I doubted children would get the connection. Also, the number of idioms in the English language is legion! When would such a project even end?

In my days working at Crown Books I was delighted to discover children’s books by Shel Silverstein. His skewed view of the world was nothing short of genius, and his illustrations were of minimalist perfection. Oh, how I wish I could draw! If you don’t recognize the name, seek out “Where The Sidewalk Ends” or “Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book” to get started.

I’m no Silverstein, but his work has inspired me and I thought I might use my poem “Verses Versus Curses” as the title of my book. I think it sets the mood, gives a nod to Stevenson’s “Child’s Garden of Verses” and could be the first poem in the book.

Speaking of idioms, here’s another poem I wrote recently based on the weather “raining cats and dogs.”

Cats and Dogs 

It never did rain cats and dogs 

When I played in a puddle.

It may have showered toads and frogs,

But not one you could cuddle.

A street could flood with pigs and hogs, 

Creating quite a mud-dle.

And clouds that hail down sticks and logs

Will make the children huddle.

But “sticks and stones may break my bones”

Is not a sound rebuttal.

I’m aware that “rebuttal” is not on a child’s standard vocabulary list, but there’s nothing more motivating for learning a word than hearing it used in an interesting way. I was three the first time our family took a sabbatical in Germany and I returned at age four with many new words in my own vocabulary, both German and English.

TTFN

P.S. This is not a New Year’s resolution, just an ambition. 

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – Some Holiday Fun

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – December 26, 2025

My brothers and I joke about our mother’s “last minute” gifts on Christmas Day. Younger brother Rich does the best imitation of her sudden squeal when she realized what she forgot to wrap.

Christmas morning always lasted for hours as we first ate Mom’s beloved cinnamon rolls, then opened all our stockings, and then distributed the gifts. The gift opening proceeded one person at a time, starting with the youngest. 

When Mom’s parents and sister were there, it took eight unwrappings to complete one circuit. You see, you can’t just open it and say thanks, you have to try it on, play with it, read the blurb, or play some of the music, and then exclaim how much you’re going to love it. 

Later we added spouses, then grandchildren and the morning extended right into lunchtime. Mom brought out plenty of food for people to graze on during the Christmas marathon.

Near the end of that gift extravaganza, Mom would suddenly utter her high pitched squeal and say “Hold on, one more gift!” We would share smiles that said “There it is!” because it happened every year, and then we waited for her to dig through dresser drawers for a gift she bought back in July which she presented to the lucky giftee with a story about its origins.

In the fond spirit of that squeal here are some last minute gifts for you. They’re a day late, but you’ll know I was thinking about you. 

Mom loved to laugh and I hope my gifts elicit a little chuckle for the holidays.

TTFN

* * * * *

“There it is again! Did ya hear it that time?”

“Definitely. I definitely heard something that time.”

* * * * *

Nothing Rhymes With Orange

Yellow is a mellow fellow and

Green is always keen,

Red is said to have some cred and

Blue is lovely, too

But

Nothing rhymes with orange.

Black is always coming back and

White is quite alright,

Gray can sometimes have its day and

Pink will never stink,

BUT

NOTHING RHYMES WITH ORANGE!

* * * * *

“So, yeah, he told me what street the restaurant was on,

but I had no idea it was actually ON THE STREET!”

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Verses Versus Curses

I’ve often thought that curses were

A useful tool of language

Like mustard on the meat between 

The layers of a sandwedge.

But please be careful who you’re with 

And what they think of curses,

They may object, or take offense, 

Or maybe something worses.

Poetry instead can be

The mustard in your kitchen, 

When cursing isn’t pardoned much

And DRAT just isn’t bitchen.

[Photo Credits Above: AAA Magazine]

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If you received this email because it was forwarded to you by a subscriber, welcome. You can subscribe as well by following the link on my website: ericmargerum.com. A free story awaits you there.

Margerumalia – A Holly Jolly Christmas

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – December 19, 2025

PHOTO CREDIT UNKNOWN

One camera, two actors, a director, and a camera operator stood in front of a little A-frame bungalow in the middle of Oxnard Beach, California. 

“That’s Burl Ives!” I said to my cousin Doug. Our Grandpa shushed me. Maybe he didn’t want us to ruin the shot, probably not, he had no experience with show business. I think he didn’t want these men to be bothered by a couple of nine-year-old kids. 

“I have his record, Grandpa,” I told him. “The Big Rock Candy Mountain. I know all the songs—”

Grandpa shushed me again. He’d heard me sing many, many songs by heart and he knew that with the slightest encouragement I would break out my repertoire.

Singing songs has always been a great joy in my life, and I knew at an early age that life really ought to be a musical. No wonder I went into theatre!

Burl Ives was an early part of that love of music. Besides being an actor, he was also a folk singer, and my brother and I just about wore out that record of his folk songs before we outgrew it.

Well, my brother outgrew it. I had it all memorized and those songs became a part of my life’s mental soundtrack.

My mental Holiday soundtrack includes the voice of Burl Ives singing “Holly Jolly Christmas,” “Silver and Gold,” and, of course, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Oh, sure, other artists have covered these songs, and done them well, but it’s the voice of Burl Ives I’ve heard in my mind for over fifty years now.

Watching Burl Ives and his costar act out this brief scene on the beach we were their little audience of three. Quite a treat for my summer visit to California!

When they were done, Burl Ives smiled and waved at us before Grandpa led us away. But then the director—probably a second unit director based on what I now know about film and TV—came over to us and kindly told us the name of the TV series, the network, and about when the episode would air.

It was called “The Bold Ones: The Lawyers” and it aired at ten o’clock at night, so I never saw it. VCR’s wouldn’t grow into popular use for another dozen years.

Think of me when you watch the Rudolph special, and know that my little nine-year-old self is singing along with Burl Ives, who, like the main character, “will go down in his…to…ree.”

TTFN

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While typing this newsletter I did a search for that TV title on YouTube. It’s there! Full episodes. I skimmed through two of them without finding a beach scene. There are 25 more episodes to look through, so if I find the scene, I’ll let you know. 

My other experience of TV and film is that scenes are sometimes left lying on the editing room floor, as with my IMBD-credited performance in “Right To Die” with Raquel Welch.

Ah, well, that’s show biz!

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – A Moment With Santa Ed

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – December 12, 2025

CREDIT: PHOTOFEST

Ed Asner stood at the end of my gurney and put his hand on my ankle by way of encouragement as he was talking to someone else. He moved on before I could thank him but I sure appreciated the warm assurance. 

You may remember Ed Asner from his portrayal of Santa Claus on the movie Elf. Like my daughter says, the holiday season hasn’t really started until we sit down to watch Elf. It’s a Christmas favorite in the Margerum household and I love to pull my “World’s Best Cup of Coffee” mug off the shelf to salute the holidays.

Maybe you remember Asner as the voice of the curmudgeonly Carl Fredricksen in the animated movie Up. He flew his house to South America by equipping it with balloons.

My memories of him date back much further to “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” in which he played Mary’s boss in the newsroom of WJM-TV. 

In the very first episode when she interviewed for her job, he asked inappropriate questions about her personal life and she stood up and reprimanded him for it. In response, he walked around his big desk with a half grin on his face and told her, “You know what? You got spunk.”

She modestly tried to thank him for the compliment but he interrupted her.

“I hate spunk.” 

That got a huge laugh from the live audience and the relationship was established. The series ran for nine years. 

His character, Lou Grant, was one of the few—maybe the only—to get a spin-off from a sitcom to create a drama. He was given the job of City Editor at a Los Angeles newspaper in a series that began immediately and “Lou Grant” would run for five years. Ed Asner won Emmy Awards for the same character in each series.

This was the Ed Asner I knew and loved even though, like Mary, I was a little intimidated by him. 

I was on a gurney donating blood along with many more actors in the Screen Actors Guild and Asner was there because he was the SAG President. Maybe he could sense my fear, actors are practiced at sensing the emotions in other people. I hate needles, and his hand on my ankle was just the reassurance I needed. I breathed a little easier after that. 

The only words he could’ve said to improve on the moment would’ve been: 

“You know what? You got spunk.”

TTFN

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Screenshot

Last week, a few hours after my newsletter went out, I saw a social media post from Judy Norton that an autographed CD version of her Christmas music is available through her website: judynorton.com.

I had only mentioned where I saw it downloadable.

Downloads are handy but so difficult to wrap, don’t you think?

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If you received this email because it was forwarded to you by a subscriber, welcome. You can subscribe as well by following the link on my website: ericmargerum.com. A free story awaits you there.

Margerumalia – Gratitude

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – December 5, 2025

That’s me pushing my snow blower down the length of the driveway—the longest driveway in the neighborhood, thanks Dad—for the second time in one day. The photo credit goes to Debbie who had the good sense to stay inside and take pictures from a warm cozy room.

I heard a podcast recently where the author of a book about mental health was discussing the value of gratitude. It was a fitting discussion for the Thanksgiving Weekend and I got to hear about the science behind brain health and gratitude.

Most of us have heard about endorphins that our body generates in response to exercise and healthy eating, but they’re produced in response to gratitude as well. And a practice of journaling or making mental notes of things we’re thankful for results in us discovering even more reasons to be thankful every day.

I got to discover one such moment.

As I blew snow off the driveway I noticed my neighbor and his son trying to push a car that was spinning its wheels but never finding traction. The end of our cul-de-sac slopes down toward that gray house over my shoulder and the wet snow had accumulated about five inches, leaving the car helpless at the bottom of the street.

I offered to push my snow blower down the street and create two tracks of bare pavement for the women in the car to drive up the hill.

Everyone was happy for the suggestion and I plowed one track down the hill, turned around and positioned the blower to plow another track back up. “Now let’s see if I can get the right distance between the wheels,” I said.

It worked!

As I returned to plowing our driveway I felt a warm glow. Not just because they thanked me for the assistance, but because it made me feel good to be helpful. 

They say it’s better to give than to receive and I think there’s a lot of truth to that old adage. Like the author on the podcast said, I became aware of my gratitude. The opportunity to be of service is always its own reward.

* * * * *

This holiday season, I want to recommend a Christmas album that was recorded by my friend Judy Norton.

If you think you recognize her name, you probably remember her from the TV series “The Waltons” which ran for nine years. She played the oldest daughter, Mary Ellen Walton.

Judy has done plenty more as well, including directing and performing in several musicals. In fact, we met while working together on an original musical. 

When I saw she had recorded a Christmas album I told her that I thought her voice was perfect for this kind of music. I was right. It’s warm, expressive and is accompanied by wonderful arrangements.

It’s available as a download on Amazon and Apple Music, and probably several more venues as well.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

TTFN

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – The Rest of the Story

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – November 21, 2025

HEADLINE: He got cuffed after playing the ‘Imperial March’ at National Guard. Now, he’s suing.

[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/11/10/star-wars-imperial-march-national-guard-washington-dc-first-amendment/87064239007/]

In my October 24 newsletter I invented a phone conversation between a National Guardsman and the DC Metropolitan Police. Turns out that my version of the story is not how the incident played out.

The “Imperial March” dog walker, Sam O’Hara, was confronted and cuffed by the DC Police for 15-20 minutes before they released him. Now he’s suing the city for violation of his First and Fourth Amendment rights, backed by the ACLU.

I think my version of the story had a better outcome. 

Now, the City of DC has a lawsuit on their hands because of a National Guard deployment that they didn’t want, and the National Guard has earned a reputation for not being able to handle a little bit of teasing.

By the way, I looked up the 2:02 on O’Hara’s T-shirt. It turns out to be an Angel Number  (02:02) representing balance, harmony, and the importance of relationships in our lives. Isn’t that interesting?

* * * * *

You probably wanted to know about the four kittens in our basement bathroom. There’s a story there, too.

The Humane Society of told me that strays had to be delivered by  Animal Control from the kittens’ jurisdiction, so I called them for two days and got no reply. On the third day I went to the police station and talked to the guy in person.

“Why did you wait so long to contact us?” he asked. 

I assured him that I had been trying for two days. He was surprised to hear it and I went through my phone menu on speaker so he could hear his own outgoing message. 

His coworker figured out the next day that the desk phone had been disconnected. Lots of voicemail to catch up on! Good thing I came in person.

I’ve always found that direct human contact is the best way to accomplish things. Words of understanding are spoken, clarity is established, and difficulties are resolved.

What was 02:02 supposed to represent again? Oh, yes, balance, harmony, and the importance of relationships in our lives.

I suppose I’ve been using that Angel Number for a while now.

TTFN

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles