CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
Here's a precursor to Singin' in the Rain. Â The caption reads, "The desolate, black day touched him no more than a summer shadow touches a sunlit sea, for his whole soul was afire with the golden blaze of his song." Â From Munsey's Magazine (1920).
"He goes and comes with silent feet. He sobs amid the rain." From Red Apple and Silver Bells by Hamish Hendry and illustrated by Alice B. Woodward, 1899.
An illustration from an 1887 issue of Frank Leslie's Pleasant Hours magazine. The caption reads: "The rain came on so suddenly, and there I was on the tower, amid the wet ivy, with that stupid boy, who couldn't be made to understand a thing."