Mister Ron's Basement II - podcast cover

Mister Ron's Basement II

***"The stories are gentler than what passes for humor today, but what's surprising is how current some of them are. Human folly doesn't change much from decade to decade." --John Kelly, Washington Post*** Our mission is to explore the universe of Public Domain American humor, featuring the greatest writers in the world seven days a week - Five days a week lately but seven will return! If you haven't subscribed yet, please do, as ALL 1960+ Episodes are available on iTunes! Your comments are welcome, and emails can be sent to revry@panix.com. **We are now serializing James M. Bailey's 1878 book, 'England From a Back Window' every Monday. Don't Miss it! ** Please post your comments and reviews here on iTunes. Thanks!
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Episodes

Mister Ron's Basement #1212

Sun, Nov 16 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1212 SUNDAY SALAD offers Stanley Huntley's clever 1880 spoof of Jules Verne's 'Around the World in Eighty Days.' It's called 'A Journey to the Sun by Jules Verne, Jr.' Sorry -- there are no unread Spoopendyke stories available this week. We will keep searching. Time: approx eleven minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The Stanley Huntley and Spoopendyke Catalog of Stories is at: htt...

Nov 16, 200811 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1211

Sun, Nov 16 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1211 Mr. Bowser has 'the event of his life' in C. B. Lewis's 1899 tale 'Fishing for Tautog.' Time: approx ten minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The M. Quad (C. B. Lewis) Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/quad.html The M. Quad (C. B. Lewis) Mister Bowser Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/mrbowser.html...

Nov 16, 200810 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1210

Fri, Nov 14 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1210 We continue to read assorted stories from 'Mrs. Partington's Carpet-Bag of Fun,' compiled by Samuel Putnam Avery back in 1854. In the early 19th Century, communities would board school teachers at the homes of parents -- here's the sad tale of 'A Schoolmaster 'Boarding Hound.'' Time: approx five and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html...

Nov 14, 20085 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1209

Thu, Nov 13 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1209 We continue to read assorted stories from 'Mrs. Partington's Carpet-Bag of Fun,' compiled by Samuel Putnam Avery back in 1854. Yep, today's piece is more an old, old joke than a story, but it is pretty funny nevertheless. It's a story about a traveller 'Getting Up an Examination' Time: approx three and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html...

Nov 13, 20083 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1208

Wed, Nov 12 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1208 We continue to read assorted stories from 'Mrs. Partington's Carpet-Bag of Fun,' compiled by Samuel Putnam Avery back in 1854. When Amelia Bloomer invented her namesake pantsuit for women back in the early 1850s, many writers made fun of them, as in this short piece, 'A Rhyme for the Bloomers.' Time: approx three and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html...

Nov 12, 20083 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1207

Tue, Nov 11 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1207 We continue to read assorted stories from 'Mrs. Partington's Carpet-Bag of Fun,' compiled by Samuel Putnam Avery back in 1854. Today we visit a lonely man trying to catch a snooze in the cold in 'A Bachelor's Woes.' Time: approx three minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html

Nov 11, 20083 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1206

Tue, Nov 11 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1206 For Mark Twain Monday, we present Chapter Twenty-One (Part Two of Two) of 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' from 1889 -- 'The Pilgrims' -- where Sandy and The Boss join a group of Pilgrims heading for Holy Waters, when they meet a top-hatted knight coming the other way. Time: approx nineteen and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The Mark Twain Catalog of ...

Nov 11, 200819 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1205

Sun, Nov 09 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1205 Spoopendyke is BACK! For this episode of SUNDAY SALAD we have dug up a so far undiscovered story of Mr. and Mrs. Spoopendyke from 1880 -- it's called 'A Little Large in the Neck.' Also from 1880, we are including a tale of a man purchasing an obituary notice in 'A Perplexing Situation' and another story of woman with a flair for Shakespearean dialogue finding her Romeo at a Coney Island hotel in 'A Peculiar Boarder.' Time: approx fifteen minutes The M...

Nov 09, 200815 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1204

Sat, Nov 08 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1204 Our favorite old crank sets out to win a contest and prove himself the most well-liked man in town in C. B. Lewis's 1899 story 'Mr. Bowser's Popularity.' Time: approx eight and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The M. Quad (C. B. Lewis) Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/quad.html The M. Quad (C. B. Lewis) Mister Bowser Catalog of Stories is at: http://rone...

Nov 08, 20089 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1203

Fri, Nov 07 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1203 Famed illustrator and art collector Samuel Putnam Avery edited a collection of humor in 1854 called 'Mrs. Partington's Carpet-Bag of Fun.' We are wrapping up a week of very short, fun stories about kissing from that book, with FIVE pieces - - 'A Kiss in the Dark' 'Barking Up the Wrong Tree' 'An Ecstatic Lover' 'A Smacking Article' and 'Improved Cookery.' Time: approx six and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http:/...

Nov 07, 20086 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1202

Thu, Nov 06 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1202 Famed illustrator and art collector Samuel Putnam Avery edited a collection of humor in 1854 called 'Mrs. Partington's Carpet-Bag of Fun.' This week, we will be reading very short, fun stories about kissing from that book. Today's piece is more interesting than funny, but is worth a listen. It's called 'Kissing Philosophy.' Time: approx three and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full...

Nov 06, 20084 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1201

Wed, Nov 05 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1201 Famed illustrator and art collector Samuel Putnam Avery edited a collection of humor in 1854 called 'Mrs. Partington's Carpet-Bag of Fun.' This week, we will be reading very short, fun stories about kissing from that book. Today we explore the mechanics of a proper smooch in 'How to Enjoy A Kiss.' Time: approx three and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html...

Nov 05, 20083 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1200

Tue, Nov 04 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1200 This is Mister Ron's Basement Episode #1200!! Famed illustrator and art collector Samuel Putnam Avery edited a collection of humor in 1854 called 'Mrs. Partington's Carpet-Bag of Fun.' This week, we will be reading very short, fun stories about kissing from that book. Today's is called 'A Chapter on Kissing.' Time: approx four minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html...

Nov 04, 20084 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1199

Mon, Nov 03 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1199 For Mark Twain Monday, we present Chapter Twenty-One (Part One of Two) of 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' from 1889 -- 'The Pilgrims' -- where Sandy and The Boss have Breakfast with the Pigs... Time: approx nine and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The Mark Twain Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/Twain.html The Mark Twain Connecticut Yankee ...

Nov 03, 200810 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1198

Sun, Nov 02 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1198 SUNDAY SALAD features TWO Stanley Huntley stories concerning sadness and grief. Of course, they are both hysterically funny! The two tales appeared in 1883 -- 'Profound Grief' and 'A Delicate Mission.' Sadly, we have yet to dig up any undiscovered Spoopendyke stories yet, and may never do so. But we will keep searching! Time: approx nine minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html Th...

Nov 03, 20089 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1197

Sun, Nov 02 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1197 Mr. Bowser encounters an incredible turning point in his relationship with Mrs. Bowser in C. B. Lewis's 1892 tale, 'There Are Occasions When the Worm Will Turn.' Time: approx eight and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The M. Quad (C. B. Lewis) Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/quad.html The M. Quad (C. B. Lewis) Mister Bowser Catalog of Stories is at: htt...

Nov 02, 20089 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1196

Fri, Oct 31 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1196 Perhaps not among his funniest stories, we present Charles Battell Loomis's charming 1909 tale, 'Politeness As An Asset.' Time: approx six minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The Charles Battell Loomis Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/charlesbattellloomis.html...

Nov 01, 20086 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1195

Fri, Oct 31 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1195 We are featuring another truly odd story from Charles Battell Loomis written in 1906 -- it's not exactly Science Fiction -- but in it we get a report from someplace not of this Earth -- about 'The Poets' Strike.' Time: approx nine and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The Charles Battell Loomis Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/charlesbattellloomis.html...

Oct 31, 20089 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1194

Wed, Oct 29 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1194 Here's another quirky (but very short) 1902 story from Charles Battell Loomis -- it's called 'Five Hundred Dollars.' You can draw your own conclusions to this enjoyable tale. Time: approx four minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The Charles Battell Loomis Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/charlesbattellloomis.html...

Oct 29, 20084 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1193

Tue, Oct 28 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1193 Charles Battell Loomis wrote an astonishing array of short stories. This week we will explore some of them. Today we have a 1900 tale of a boy with a unique talent entitled 'The Boy Who Turned Books Into Food.' Time: approx nine minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The Charles Battell Loomis Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/charlesbattellloomis.html...

Oct 28, 20089 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1192

Tue, Oct 28 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1192 For Mark Twain Monday, we present Chapter Twenty of 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' from 1889 -- 'The Ogre's Castle' -- where Sandy and The Boss reach the goal of their quest -- sort of... Time: approx sixteen minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The Mark Twain Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/Twain.html The Mark Twain Connecticut Yankee Novel Index o...

Oct 28, 200816 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1191

Sun, Oct 26 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1191 SUNDAY SALAD offers TWO Stanley Huntley stories from 1882 -- neither of which features the Spoopendykes! Yes, it has finally happened! Unless something so far undiscovered turns up, we have, sadly, run out of Spoopendyke stories. Nevertheless, we will keep looking, and in the meantime we have two tales -- in the first, a reporter tries to write up a Church Picnic in Medieval style in 'Early English' and a family adopts a unique pet in 'Taming an Allig...

Oct 26, 200810 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1190

Sun, Oct 26 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1190 Our favorite old crank comes up with a few ideas to eliminate poisonous gasses and bacteria in his home in C. B. Lewis's 1889 tale, 'Mr. Bowser Has Theories.' Time: approx eight minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The M. Quad (C. B. Lewis) Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/quad.html The M. Quad (C. B. Lewis) Mister Bowser Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.co...

Oct 26, 20088 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1189

Sat, Oct 25 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1189 Fans of the movie 'Ghostbusters' may find some intriguing resemblances to that film in Gellet Burgess's 1905 story, 'The Ghost-Extinguisher.' Your comments on this amazing (and fun) find are more than welcome! Send them to revry@panix.com. Time: approx twenty-five minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html...

Oct 25, 200825 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1188

Thu, Oct 23 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1188 Today we offer the sad tale of a ghost of a man who is still alive! It also features romance, and some serious miscommunication, in Frank R. Stockton's 1884 story, 'The Transferred Ghost.' Time: approx twenty-five and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html

Oct 23, 200826 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1187

Tue, Oct 21 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1187 With Halloween approaching, we are reading some spooky (and fun) ghost stories this week! Today's 1903 tale by Rose O'Neill concerns a strange spirit and a forgetful lady. It's called 'The Lady and the Ghost.' Time: approx eleven and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html

Oct 21, 200811 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1186

Mon, Oct 20 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1186 For Mark Twain Monday, we present Chapter Nineteen of 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' from 1889 -- 'Knight-Errantry as a Trade' -- where Sandy gives The Boss an Earful. Time: approx eight and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The Mark Twain Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/Twain.html The Mark Twain Connecticut Yankee Novel Index of Stories i...

Oct 20, 20089 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1185

Sun, Oct 19 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1185 SUNDAY SALAD reveals the depth and range of Stanley Huntley's humorous writing with THREE pieces! First, a tough cowboy faces town a truly mean gambler in Bismarck, Dakota in the 1882 story 'A Piece of Carelessness.' Then an all-too-familiar poem is rewritten as it would be by four classic writers in 'Mary's Little Lamb - Verses Culled from the Different Authors,' also from 1882, and finally, what may be our last Spoopendyke story, our favorite couple...

Oct 19, 200811 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1184

Sat, Oct 18 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1184 'Mr. Bowser Tries to Show His Wife How to Clean A House,' written by C. B. Lewis, back in 1889. What else needs to be said? Time: approx eight minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The M. Quad (C. B. Lewis) Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/quad.html The M. Quad (C. B. Lewis) Mister Bowser Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/mrbowser.html...

Oct 18, 20088 min

Mister Ron's Basement #1183

Fri, Oct 17 2008 Mister Ron's Basement #1183 George Ade takes a look at a young married couple who separate for the first time in the 1902 tale 'The Fable of the Reckless Wife who had no One to Watch Her.' Time: approx four minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The George Ade Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/AdeCatalog.html...

Oct 17, 20084 min
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