I grew up reading Parade magazine in the Fargo Forum. It had a comic about a very large dog, which I think was drawn by the same fellow who did that long-running account of marital misery, "The Lockhorns." Googling . . . yes. Bill Hoest. To my surprise, the big dog comic, "Howard Huge," did not start until 1981, long after I lived in Fargo. As long as we're at it:
Awww. Anyway. The other feature I read was Walter Scott's Personality Parade, wherein people asked Walter questions about famous people and popular culture, and Walter - having stated up front that the volume of mail made individual replies impossible - would answer. There was no Walter Scott. That was the pen name of Parade writer Lloyd Shearer, whose byline graced other Parade stories. From his obit:
Ah HAH I knew it. But if you get 5,000 letters, why would you have to make up anything? Did he go through 5K requests and think "man, there's not a useful query in the batch this week, again.
Anyway. This week's Personality Parade had a question from someone who wanted to know whether the "Driving Miss Daisy" production coming to movie theaters was a film or a play. Why, it's both! Which you would know, if you just googled the name of the thing. Or there's the question about Jimmy Page remastering the first 3 Zep albums. Why did he do that? asks Ted J in Patterson, New Jersey.
Wonder how Ted's friends reacted to that. Hey, you hear from Parade yet? No. Probably next week. Look, I've been reading lots about the remastering online; Page is a fascinating and articulate musician whose intuitive grasp of the studio technology of the day - both its limitations and possibilities - seem matched only by his recollect of the processes he invented to get that signature sound. Why, the New Musical Express - "
Shut up! I don't want to know! Walter will tell me what I need to hear! I know he will!
As it happens, the question was most timely, since Parade has a clip of an alternate take of "Heartbreaker."
When I was in high school listening to Zep the idea that Walter Scott would ever admit their existence, let alone point us to an alternate take, would have been insane.
