Post to the Host
Host Garrison Keillor answers your questions about life, love, writing, authors, and of course, A Prairie Home Companion.
November 2, 2006 | 8 Comments
Post to the Host:
In the PHC movie DVD special features, Tommy Lee Jones referred to an episode where he laughed his a** off. It was something like "The day the Mongols invaded McDonalds". When was that broadcast? I'd like to hear or read it.
R.D. B.
Pottstown, PA
He may be referring to a story of mine about a Mongol invasion of Chicago and how President Bush the First responded to it. A little satiric bon-bon collected (I think) in We Are Still Married. Or maybe in The Book of Guys. I can't recall the title of the story, sorry. But I do recall that Pottstown is where John O'Hara grew up. Is that not true? I mean to go back and reread some of his stories. Is he still remembered there?
8 Comments
|
Previous Post: |
Next Post: |
Post to the Host Archive
- The Lake Wobegon Effect
- Longevity
- Abdication vs. Retirement
- Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility
- Memory
- Sarah Bellum
- Starting Over
- Do you get to laugh?
- Keep Looking Ahead
- Big City vs. Hometown
- Awful Timing for Love
- Write Funny
- Telling a Story
- Fathers and Daughters
- Big City Yearnings
- Performing in Public
- Visiting Denmark
- Breaking into Show Business
- Moving Back with Mom
- Surviving as a journalist
- Advice for a Competitive Campaign
- A Life-Changing Moment
- In Search of a Wedding Poem
- Trying to turn a passion into a profession
- Spring Break
- American Jokes
- Norwegian Immigration to Lake Wobegon
- One thing leads to another
- All Good Writing is Rewriting
- The Goodbye To Childhood You're On Your Own Now Ceremony
- Skiing in the Alps
- Competing against the young
- Finding confidence
- The value of public universities
- Ruining Lutefisk
- A Christmas Blizzard
- Memoirs
- How do I get noticed?
- Poetry and the Fairer Sex
- Developing a natural voice
- Pentecost
- Boycott
- Anonymous in the Big City
- Thanks to Ford
- Offended
- What happened to that "Sweet Biscuit Fiddle?"
- "Tom and Sally"
- NOTE FROM THE HOST
- SFX Lady??
- Missing The Old Scout
- Live in San Diego
- So Where's Sinclair?
- This is my first big trip away from home. Any advice for a first-time traveler?
- How come the house band is called The Shoe Band?
- October 21 Cinecast
- Getting into the Radio Business
- On the 12th Floor of the Acme Building...
- Going to the Big City!
- 73 Days of Summer Vacation
- Help with a Eulogy
- Where Do I Start?
- Fantasy League Whippets
- Clergywomen in Lake Wobegon
- The more you write, the better it gets
- The Voice
- A Note from GK about Retirement
- Low Self-Esteem
- Useless Degrees
- Car Bomb
- The Dog-Ears of Summer
- Dealing with Disappointment
- Rejection Letters
- English Majors Strike Again
- 7th Grade Report
- GK Responds to Cinecast Posts
Complete Post to the Host Archive
Eugene H. Poppel | November 3, 2006 5:21 AM
John O'Hara grew up in Pottsville, not Pottstown, PA. Pottstown is about 54 miles northwest of Pottstown, which is about 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
As for whether Pottsville remembers O'Hara, I don't know--never been there. It is the home of a fine brewery, Yuengling.
Kathy Belovesick | November 3, 2006 6:43 AM
John O'Hara was from Pottsville, Pa. Not Pottstown. Yes he has been honored with a park, a statue and a street. Also, Pottsville has America's Oldest Brewery.Yuengling. Sincerely Kathy Belovesick, Pottsville, Pa.
Bill Owens | November 3, 2006 7:53 AM
The piece is in We Are Still Married, and it's called "How the Savings and Loan Were Saved". And it's very good reading. Especially if you're the sort of person who can hear Garrison's voice as you read...
Dave Deatrich | November 3, 2006 8:07 AM
John O'Hara was from, and wrote about Pottsville, not Pottstown. Same state, on the same river about 60 miles apart.
Jon Oliver | November 3, 2006 8:15 AM
John O'Hara grew up in PottsVILLE, PA.
Cynthia Wallace Love | November 3, 2006 11:38 AM
He should be remembered in Pottstown, but he was born in Pottsville, PA (Gibbsville in his books). A couple of years ago I re-read Appointment in Samarra. I was a teenager when I first read it, into Werther/Van Gogh/etc. romanticized angst. Fifty years later I was amazed at how much O'Hara knew about depression. That book will endure.
C.W.L.
Athens, OH
Don Campbell | November 4, 2006 11:55 PM
I grew up near Pottsville, and as a high school student knew that John O'Hara grew up in the area. I had several "old maid" school teachers for English in high school. They so disliked his tendency to curse that they would not admit that he was part of our local heritage. He was not on our reading list. That was the early 1960's. Things have changed so much since then.
Ava Buchanan | November 11, 2006 2:54 AM
There are two stories that involve Huns invading Chicago. One is in "We are still Married" called "How the Savings and Loans were Saved",and one in "The Book of Guys" called "George Bush". (The last is my favorite)