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RICH HALLS VANISHING AMERICA
Chronicles an offbeat cross-country odyssey through the backroads and byways of the United States, immortalizing the people, places, and cultural artifacts vanishing from the nation's landscape
112 pages, Hardcover
Published November 3, 1986
26 people want to read
About the author
Rich Hall
27 books22 followersRichard Travis Hall is an American comedian, writer, documentary maker, and musician, first coming to prominence as a sketch comedian in the 1980s. He wrote and performed for a range of American networks, in series such as Fridays, Not Necessarily the News (popularising the "sniglet" neologism), and Saturday Night Live.
After winning a Perrier Comedy Award in 2000, using the character of Tennesseean country musician Otis Lee Crenshaw, Hall became popular in the United Kingdom, regularly appearing on QI and similar panel shows. He has created and starred in several series for the BBC, including comedies with Mike Wilmot and documentaries often concerning cinema of the United States. Hall has also maintained a successful stand-up comedy career, as both Crenshaw and himself.
After winning a Perrier Comedy Award in 2000, using the character of Tennesseean country musician Otis Lee Crenshaw, Hall became popular in the United Kingdom, regularly appearing on QI and similar panel shows. He has created and starred in several series for the BBC, including comedies with Mike Wilmot and documentaries often concerning cinema of the United States. Hall has also maintained a successful stand-up comedy career, as both Crenshaw and himself.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 16, 2019
Rich Hall will probably always be known as "That Sniglet Guy" - Sniglets (Snig'lit): Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, But Should, but here he follows in the footsteps of Charles Kuralt, touring the U.S., introducing us to a folksy few who embody the can-do spirit that makes our country great . . . and of course, folks who embody just the right amount of nuttiness to make them interesting to folks like us.
I seem to remember Hall as being sort of snarky and mean-spirited, but here he demonstrates a genuine fondness for the people he meets and a yearning nostalgia for the things that are swiftly disappearing from American culture. There are lovely elegies for the last ten cent Coke machine, drive-in movie theaters and the five-and-dime lunch counters where the price of your banana split is determined by popping a balloon.
You'll attend a The Poseidon Adventure party where the movie is shown upside down, then meet a savings and loan officer who uses a lizard to help beat a speeding ticket. I really enjoyed the visit with Pandi Neeb, a young Pakistani store owner in Enid, Oklahoma. He is still learning English and has a tendency to put products on the shelf upside down. He sells W&Ws instead of M&Ms. (I wondered why the chapter was entitled Spap Oop until I saw the photo of the Mr. Neeb standing before a shelf stocked with upside down doo dads.)
Hall also conducts thorough investigations into why you only ever see ONE shoe by the side of the road, and what really happens when you're standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. (It's such a fine sight to see!)
This is a delightful road trip you can enjoy from the comfort of your own lawn chair. I only wish it had been longer, but as Hall puts it - the Surgeon General has only written two or three sentences but has been read by millions.
Can't argue with that.
I seem to remember Hall as being sort of snarky and mean-spirited, but here he demonstrates a genuine fondness for the people he meets and a yearning nostalgia for the things that are swiftly disappearing from American culture. There are lovely elegies for the last ten cent Coke machine, drive-in movie theaters and the five-and-dime lunch counters where the price of your banana split is determined by popping a balloon.
You'll attend a The Poseidon Adventure party where the movie is shown upside down, then meet a savings and loan officer who uses a lizard to help beat a speeding ticket. I really enjoyed the visit with Pandi Neeb, a young Pakistani store owner in Enid, Oklahoma. He is still learning English and has a tendency to put products on the shelf upside down. He sells W&Ws instead of M&Ms. (I wondered why the chapter was entitled Spap Oop until I saw the photo of the Mr. Neeb standing before a shelf stocked with upside down doo dads.)
Hall also conducts thorough investigations into why you only ever see ONE shoe by the side of the road, and what really happens when you're standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. (It's such a fine sight to see!)
This is a delightful road trip you can enjoy from the comfort of your own lawn chair. I only wish it had been longer, but as Hall puts it - the Surgeon General has only written two or three sentences but has been read by millions.
Can't argue with that.
June 8, 2013
A lot of cool things have vanished since the early ages, but Rich did a good job on describing them.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews