(Note the Imgur link is to a photo of a front page of the Echo; it's not erotic or anything, I just haven't used any other photo sharing sites than Imgur.)
Very good! In 1973 I was a 16-year old printer's devil at the Echo. We were one of the last hot type (letterpress) newspapers in the state, so we could easily swap out a section of the front page of the paper for the paid-for "Manly" story. (To produce a similar one-off in an offset newspaper, the cost of materials and labor-- a new negative with the story in place, a new printing plate, and wasting probably a hundred copies in firing up and shutting down the press-- would be prohibitive.) But for us? We had the halftone cut made by our usual supplier-- seems like they were in Tama?-- the headline hand set with 48 point type, the caption set in "hot lead" on the Intertype, and the whole shebang in a galley ready to drop in. After the regular run of the front/back page of the June 21 issue was done, owner/printer Lyle Summy pulled the chase (the printing form) off the Kelly #2 cylinder press, loosened the quoins, pulled enough out of the page to drop in the "Manly" story, locked it back up, put it back on the press, and ran a couple dozen copies.
The Summys are gone so we can't ask them, but I suspect the job came through the Iowa Newspaper Association. I'm pretty sure neither the Manly man nor Fertile woman had local connections in Earlham.
I suppose next you’re going to tell us there’s no Santa Claus.
It's just been so prevalent, I wanted to look at every angle.
The Earlham Echo of July 14, 1973 would like to disagree with you. Check it out and then I'll tell you the story behind it.
https://imgur.com/a/PFgoZef
(Note the Imgur link is to a photo of a front page of the Echo; it's not erotic or anything, I just haven't used any other photo sharing sites than Imgur.)
It's not a real edition, but I would be interested in hearing the story! The Echo was printed on Thursdays, not Saturdays, and it looks like the actual paper from June 21, 1973, was used as the basis for this printing. http://earlham.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?fn=earlham_echo_usa_iowa_earlham_19730621_english_1&df=1&dt=5
Very good! In 1973 I was a 16-year old printer's devil at the Echo. We were one of the last hot type (letterpress) newspapers in the state, so we could easily swap out a section of the front page of the paper for the paid-for "Manly" story. (To produce a similar one-off in an offset newspaper, the cost of materials and labor-- a new negative with the story in place, a new printing plate, and wasting probably a hundred copies in firing up and shutting down the press-- would be prohibitive.) But for us? We had the halftone cut made by our usual supplier-- seems like they were in Tama?-- the headline hand set with 48 point type, the caption set in "hot lead" on the Intertype, and the whole shebang in a galley ready to drop in. After the regular run of the front/back page of the June 21 issue was done, owner/printer Lyle Summy pulled the chase (the printing form) off the Kelly #2 cylinder press, loosened the quoins, pulled enough out of the page to drop in the "Manly" story, locked it back up, put it back on the press, and ran a couple dozen copies.
The Summys are gone so we can't ask them, but I suspect the job came through the Iowa Newspaper Association. I'm pretty sure neither the Manly man nor Fertile woman had local connections in Earlham.
I've had several readers send me notes regarding your column and what a refreshing take you offer. Way to go, J!