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1. Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 15:27:45 UTC Robert McNees

   Writer and illustrator Edward Gorey was born #OTD in 1925.

   In Chicago, of all places.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 15:36:17 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     • etamny

     Folks are often surprised to learn that Edward Gorey is from Chicago.

     Surely his childhood was spent floating down the drafty halls of a bleak country manor in Edwardian England?

     Here's @etamny's piece for The Chicago Reader on Gorey's Chicago origins.

     https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/whats-goreys-story/

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 15:38:17 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     • Mark Dery

     After reading @markdery’s perfectly titled biography “Born to be Posthumous” I realized that one of Gorey’s Chicago addresses is just down the block from me.

     It’s across from the playground where I took my daughter when she was a baby. The building where her godmother lived.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 15:41:14 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     A few blocks in the other direction, my employer Loyola University Chicago holds one of the largest – maybe *the* largest – private collections of works by Gorey.

     The collection was donated by Boston-area Loyola alum Thomas Michalak.

     https://libguides.luc.edu/c.php?g=49890&p=320965

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 15:47:29 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     Speaking of weird coincidences, here is the story of the time we (me and my wife) found Gorey’s house out on Cape Cod.

     Back in 2005-2006, we were living in Providence, RI. One fall weekend we took a trip out to the Cape.

     We were driving through a town with the Lovecraftian name “Port Yarmouth.” I turned to my wife and said “Edward Gorey lived here."

     Just a moment later she replied “There’s his house.” (It became a museum after he passed away, so there's a small sign. edwardgoreyhouse.org)

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 15:48:15 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     Speaking of weird coincidences, here is the story of the time we (me and my wife) found Gorey’s house out on Cape Cod.

     Back in 2005-2006, we were living in Providence, RI. One fall weekend we took a trip out to the Cape.

     We were driving through a town with the Lovecraftian name “Port Yarmouth.” I turned to my wife and said “Edward Gorey lived here."

     Just a moment later she replied “There’s his house.” (It became a museum after he passed away, so there's a small sign. edwardgoreyhouse.org)

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 15:49:46 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     We stopped for a look. It was closed for the season. The windows were dark; the grounds full of odd sculptures.

     A man came out to see what we were up to. He was the house caretaker — a lifelong friend of Gorey’s who also oversaw the Gorey Trust.

     We chatted for a few minutes. He was having computer problems. I offered to take a look.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 15:51:10 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     He was very happy that I fixed his computer, so he gave us a private tour of the home. I got to sit at the drafting table where Gorey used to work!

     The house was as wonderfully macabre as you’d expect. The Gashleycrumb tinies are hidden throughout, waiting to be discovered.

     Look out one window and Neville, who died of ennui, is peeking back from another one.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 15:51:55 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     A pair of baby shoes stick out from under one of the carpets. It’s George, smothered under a rug.

     (In fact, the shoes belonged to Gorey when he was a child. It’s a nice touch.)

   • Phil Plait (badastro@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 15:52:39 UTC Phil Plait

     in reply to

     @mcnees This is all great. I love his work.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 15:53:57 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     We wandered around the house for a long time. Had we overstayed our welcome? We were doubtful guests.

     It was getting dark out, so we said goodbye. As we left, a bat, or possibly an umbrella, disengaged itself from the shrubbery.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 15:56:02 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     • Phil Plait

     @badastro Thanks! That was, honestly, one of the weirdest and most magical things that has ever happened to me. He just gave us the run of the place and let us look around at whatever we wanted. He also gave us tote bags, which maybe isn't as macabre but was still nice.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 15:58:41 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     • Phil Plait

     @badastro We wondered if we'd look around the house and be unable to find him, and then discover we were in a locked house with a front door that clearly hadn't been opened in months.

     I am lobbying Loyola's library to let me display some of the collection in my office. It's remarkable how much they have, but none of it is on exhibit rn.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 16:00:45 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     Anyway, life is full of weird little coincidences.

     Gorey is a fixture in our household. Some families do a nativity scene for the holidays; we're more of an Edward Gorey's DRACULA diorama family.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 16:04:44 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     One of my favorite little Gorey-esque fact about Gorey, who loved to use anagrammatic pen names, is this:

     "writer and artist Edward Gorey" is an anagram of "great weird story and weird art."

   • Ged Maheux (gedeonm@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 16:20:51 UTC Ged Maheux

     in reply to

     @mcnees When I was doing my undergrad work at RIT I wrote to Gorey and asked for permission to use the Tinies in an animation project I wanted to do for class. Wrote and told him how much I admired him, how much I loved his style and vibe.

     I’ll never forget how he wrote back and told me flatly “No.”

     I adore his art but not the man.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 16:22:55 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     • JRDMB

     @jrdmb Thanks! I'm getting an error message when I click the link, though.

     It was truly one of the weirdest and most magical experiences. I've loved Gorey when I was a kid.

   • JRDMB (jrdmb@scicomm.xyz)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 16:22:56 UTC JRDMB

     in reply to

     @mcnees

     Love this thread! Everything about it is fascinating (especially so as a long-term PBS Masterpiece viewer). And you even got to tour the house!

     This is a link to a thread-renderer single-page view of the entire thread.

     https://thread.choomba.one/thread?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmastodon.social%2F%40mcnees%2F109909092783440966

     #OTD

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 16:23:57 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     • Ged Maheux

     @gedeonm Oh gosh, that's a bummer. Glad I got to explore the house, but maybe a good case for “never meet your heroes.”

   • David Friedman (ironicsans@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 16:27:14 UTC David Friedman

     in reply to

     • Phil Plait

     @mcnees @badastro The Gotham Book Mart used to be one of my favorite hidden gems in Manhattan, and it was basically Edward Gorey HQ. I used to love taking people up the small store's creeky stairs to the almost-always-empty second floor that was often used as a Gorey exhibition space filled with his original art. The owner was friends with Gorey and became executor of his estate when he passed.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 16:28:30 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     • Ged Maheux

     @gedeonm But I've used a lot of your apps and icons and absolutely none of his so who's having the last laugh.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 16:30:49 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     • Phil Plait
     • David Friedman

     @ironicsans @badastro Do you know his name? This may have been the guy I met at the house, who I think lived at least part time there in Yarmouth. But he was also a longtime Gorey friend and definitely put off a “I own a beloved Manhattan bookstore" vibe.

   • David Friedman (ironicsans@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 16:32:40 UTC David Friedman

     in reply to

     • Phil Plait

     @mcnees @badastro Yep, he was Andreas Brown. He died in 2020. NYT Obit has a photo from around the time you would have met him: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/books/andreas-brown-dead.html

   • Erikreadonly (erikreadonly@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 16:48:31 UTC Erikreadonly

     in reply to

     @mcnees I remember these when watching mystery theater on pbs WTTW in Chicago as a kid. When I saw these cartoons, I knew Poirot was going to find a murderer!

   • Ged Maheux (gedeonm@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2023 17:36:39 UTC Ged Maheux

     in reply to

     @mcnees 👍👍👍