[Okay, here is something that just isn't working; it's not funny. I tried to make something from nothing, but no, this post should be cut from the blog. So think of this as a deleted scene, cut from the theatrical presentation but included as a special feature on the DVD.]
The practice derives from the early Boston one-sheet entertainment, Ye Stickie Bun, published from 1771 to 1773 by Maynard T. Foxplume. The paper was named the "sticky bun" as it was similar to the gooey, sweet pastry. The paper was a familiar site throughout the Colonies, as copies were discarded into the streets as quickly as they could be printed.
One of Foxplume's favorite sections was, "Laughing-Out-Loudly Felinz," where Foxplume and others would describe humorous adventures or situations involving a domesticated feline and then summarize the description with clever exclamations as if the cat were speaking the King's English, for example:
"It is to appear as if this black, short-haired feline has been awoken in a disagreeable temperament, as her claws are bared and her mouth agape revealing her sharp teeth as she appears to remark: "DON'T TREAD ON KITTEH!"Other features of the paper included detailed descriptions of brief appearances of ankles or shoulder of famous ladies of the theater:
"As Young Miss Lindsay exited the coach, the briefest glimpse of milkye-white smoothness between her hairline and right shoulder-blade could be spyed by the passing gentleman as her loosely fitting garments allowed for unobstructed viewing."
Many women of the period found these depictions to be pornographic.
Little is known of Foxplume other than the half-dozen surviving sheets of his publication. But in honor of this great American tabloid journalist, we celebrate November 13 as "Sticky Buns Day."
