Difference between revisions of "Widowers"

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'''Widowers''' is a fictional [[Manchester]], [[UK]], department store created by [[Eric Needham]], for which rhyming advertising jingles became a [[fannish]] fad after the first of them appeared in the second [[ish]] of Needham and [[Harry Turner]]’s [[OMPA]]zine, ''[[Now & Then]]'' ([http://www.htspweb.co.uk/fandf/romart/het/fanzines/nt02.htm  November 1954]). An example by Needham:
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'''Widowers''' is a fictional [[Manchester]], [[UK]], department store created by [[Eric Needham]], for which rhyming advertising jingles became a [[fannish]] fad after the first of them appeared in the second [[ish]] of Needham and [[Harry Turner]]’s [[OMPA]]zine, ''[[Now & Then]]'' ([https://www.htspweb.co.uk/fandf/romart/het/fanzines/nt02.htm  November 1954]). An example by Needham:
  
 
           Judas hung himself from a bough
 
           Judas hung himself from a bough
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             WIDOWERS WONDERFUL PEAS?
 
             WIDOWERS WONDERFUL PEAS?
  
The best of these four-line verses have a completely absurd counterpoint between the first couplet and the product promoted in the last; a rhyme scheme of ''abccb'', with an internal rhyme in the third line; and, ideally, do not rely on a preposition to begin the final line.  
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The best of these four-line [[poetry|verses]] have a completely absurd counterpoint between the first couplet and the product promoted in the last; a rhyme scheme of ''abccb'', with an internal rhyme in the third line; and, ideally, do not rely on a preposition to begin the final line.
 
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In the 1980s, [[Harry Turner]] [https://www.htspweb.co.uk/fandf/romart/het/footnotes/widowers.htm recalled]: <blockquote>[[File:Widower.jpeg|frameless|left]] WIDOWER'S WONDERFUL PRODUCTS appeared in the mag early on. [[Eric Needham]], my co-producer, did some bulk-buying to economise on his house-keeping, and confessed he was getting fed up with a steady diet of Batchelor's Baked Beans. After a discussion on the techniques of persuasion, Eric tried his hand at some advertising jingles for the products from an imaginary company — Widower's. I used the results as [[fillers]] in ''[[N&T]]'', and we found readers joining in with new jingles. There was a time when we had so many jingles on our hands that we had plans to produce a WIDOWER'S CATALOGUE...<br>And in the [https://www.htspweb.co.uk/fandf/romart/het/fanzines/nt03.htm third issue] of ''[[N&T]]'', Eric came up with the strange story of WIDOWER'S WART REMOVER. </blockquote>
In the 1980s, [[Harry Turner]] [http://www.htspweb.co.uk/fandf/romart/het/footnotes/widowers.htm recalled]: <blockquote>WIDOWER'S WONDERFUL PRODUCTS appeared in the mag early on. [[Eric Needham]], my co-producer, did some bulk-buying to economise on his house-keeping, and confessed he was getting fed up with a steady diet of Batchelor's Baked Beans. After a discussion on the techniques of persuasion, Eric tried his hand at some advertising jingles for the products from an imaginary company — Widower's. I used the results as fillers in ''[[N&T]]'', and we found readers joining in with new jingles. There was a time when we had so many jingles on our hands that we had plans to produce a WIDOWER'S CATALOGUE...<br>And in the [http://www.htspweb.co.uk/fandf/romart/het/fanzines/nt03.htm third issue] of ''[[N&T]]'', Eric came up with the strange story of WIDOWER'S WART REMOVER. </blockquote>
 
  
 
The Widowers trend has periodically seen a revival,  notably in the 1970s and ’80s, and in 2000, after [[Leah Zeldes Smith]] wrote a number of them as [[fillers]] for ''[[STET]]'' 9, including:
 
The Widowers trend has periodically seen a revival,  notably in the 1970s and ’80s, and in 2000, after [[Leah Zeldes Smith]] wrote a number of them as [[fillers]] for ''[[STET]]'' 9, including:
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'''More reading:'''
 
'''More reading:'''
* [http://www.htspweb.co.uk/fandf/romart/het/footnotes/widowers0.htm Words on Widowers’ Prequel]
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* [https://www.htspweb.co.uk/fandf/romart/het/footnotes/widowers0.htm Words on Widowers’ Prequel]
* [http://www.htspweb.co.uk/fandf/romart/het/footnotes/widowers.htm Words on Widower’s]
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* [https://www.htspweb.co.uk/fandf/romart/het/footnotes/widowers.htm Words on Widower’s]
* [http://www.htspweb.co.uk/fandf/romart/het/footnotes/widowers2.htm More Widowers verses]
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* [https://www.htspweb.co.uk/fandf/romart/het/footnotes/widowers2.htm More Widowers verses]
  
 
See also [[Daffy Poetics]], [[Poetry]], [[Rich Lynch]].
 
See also [[Daffy Poetics]], [[Poetry]], [[Rich Lynch]].
  
  
{{fanspeak}}
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{{fanspeak|start=1954}}
 
[[Category:fanhistory]]  
 
[[Category:fanhistory]]  
 
[[Category:fiction]]
 
[[Category:fiction]]

Revision as of 09:26, 29 November 2022

Widowers is a fictional Manchester, UK, department store created by Eric Needham, for which rhyming advertising jingles became a fannish fad after the first of them appeared in the second ish of Needham and Harry Turner’s OMPAzine, Now & Then (November 1954). An example by Needham:

         Judas hung himself from a bough
            A curious use for trees...
    What use to perish, no more to cherish 
            WIDOWERS WONDERFUL PEAS?

The best of these four-line verses have a completely absurd counterpoint between the first couplet and the product promoted in the last; a rhyme scheme of abccb, with an internal rhyme in the third line; and, ideally, do not rely on a preposition to begin the final line.

In the 1980s, Harry Turner recalled:

Widower.jpeg

WIDOWER'S WONDERFUL PRODUCTS appeared in the mag early on. Eric Needham, my co-producer, did some bulk-buying to economise on his house-keeping, and confessed he was getting fed up with a steady diet of Batchelor's Baked Beans. After a discussion on the techniques of persuasion, Eric tried his hand at some advertising jingles for the products from an imaginary company — Widower's. I used the results as fillers in N&T, and we found readers joining in with new jingles. There was a time when we had so many jingles on our hands that we had plans to produce a WIDOWER'S CATALOGUE...
And in the third issue of N&T, Eric came up with the strange story of WIDOWER'S WART REMOVER.

The Widowers trend has periodically seen a revival, notably in the 1970s and ’80s, and in 2000, after Leah Zeldes Smith wrote a number of them as fillers for STET 9, including:

           Socrates, so wise, drank hemlock
             And that was the end of him
          So much for high thinking, you’re 
                 better off drinking 
               WIDOWERS LONDON DRY GIN

More reading:

See also Daffy Poetics, Poetry, Rich Lynch.



Fanspeak 1954
This is a fanspeak page. Please extend it by adding information about when and by whom it was coined, whether it’s still in use, etc.