Saturday, September 14, 2013

Ah, look at all the lovely people: Rigby, Idaho's historical museum













One of our favorite things to do when passing through America's small, out-of-the-way towns is to take a look inside the local museums and historical societies. There you will find proud tributes to people and things outsiders might find mundane or trivial but that are of great meaning to the locals. The small eastern Idaho community of Rigby has a terrific museum that is actually a twofer: the Jefferson County Historical Society shares space with the Farnsworth TV & Pioneer Museum, commemorating Philo T. Farnsworth, Rigby native and inventor of television. And all of this is housed in a former motel, adding to the quaint roadside ambiance. Here's looking at you, Rigby, with your TV inventors, atomic quilts, big-haired lady composers, stuffed bears and breastfeeding manuals on display. We'll be here remembering you, wearing the face that we keep in the jar by the door.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Happy birthday, Bob Newhart


Today is Bob Newhart's 84th birthday and we'd like to wish him many happy returns. One of our all-time favorite eccentric roadside attractions is the Bob Newhart statue in Chicago (and you can read about it here). One of the best things Bob ever did was close out his Vermont-based sitcom "Newhart" by referring back to his previous sitcom "The Bob Newhart Show". We find out the entire series was dream when Bob wakes up in bed next to Suzanne Pleshette as Emily, making it, in our humble opinion, the best series finale in the history of TV. A youtube search reveals a  little coda during the credits we had forgotten all about. Check it out here.