The WLBOTT Library y Biblioteca Extraordinaria received a new tomb from Elder DZ this holiday season.
E. Townsend Artman is a renowned toaster historian and author, famous for his definitive book “Toasters: 1909-1960: A Look at the Ingenuity and Design of Toaster Makers,” a key resource for collectors, detailing the evolution of toasters from early designs to mid-century marvels, and connecting with the online toaster museum, toaster.org, highlighting his passion for these iconic household gadgets.
Key Contributions:
- Authoritative Book: His book serves as a comprehensive guide to the history, manufacturers (like GE’s D-12), and design innovations in toasters during their golden age.
- Collector’s Resource: Artman’s work provides valuable details on markings, mechanisms (pinch, whirl, drop), and designs for enthusiasts.
- Link to Online Museum: He is associated with the online toaster.org museum, further cementing his expertise in the field.
In essence, E. Townsend Artman is a central figure for anyone interested in the history and collecting of vintage toasters, offering deep insight into this fascinating aspect of domestic technology.
Gemini
There is a certain WLBOTT vibe surrounding Mr. E. Townsend Artman.
Mr. E. Townsend Artman’s book is available on Amazon, and ranks significantly higher than any WLBOTT metric.
Los Toastadores
Elder G is accompanying me on today’s Toast Quest.
We did not stay in the confines of our cozy test kitchen, The Ladle & Lube. We took our quest to the remotest corners of the world.
The Toaster Wastelands of Nairobi
The Northern Alberta Toastless Zone
The WLBOTT Corporate Toaster and Can Opener Ensemble
The Andy Griffith Toast Tie-In
Emmett’s Fix-It Shop is run by Emmett Clark. It was originally Floyd’s Barbershop and even uses the same set. It was stated in Goober the Executive that Floyd had enough money and decided to retire, and sold the barber shop. Afterwards, Emmett bought it and made the Fix-It Shop. Like the barbershop beforehand, the fix-it shop also provided a sounding board.
mayberry.fandom.com
The “toaster” reference on The Andy Griffith Show likely points to Emmett’s Fix-It Shop, where characters, especially Barney, often brought broken items like TVs and toasters for repair in various episodes, a common trope showing Mayberry’s self-reliance and folksy problem-solving, with real-life Mt. Airy shops (like the actual “Emmett’s”) playing on this legacy today.
Gemini
We must be careful not to limit our exploration of Andy Griffith Show toasters to mere props at Emmett’s Fix-it Shop.
As you will recall that in season 8, episode 7, originally aired on October 23, 1967, Aunt Bee acts as a juror in a case involving a stolen toaster (among other articles). She is the single holdout on the jury, believing in the accused Marvin Jenkins is innocent. The other jurors are angry at her, but Aunt Bee is vindicated when another Mayberry neer’-do-well is identified as the actual criminal.
And who was this Marvin Jenkins? He was played by none other than:
As it turns out, as it was meant to turn out, there are purveyors of sit-com memorabilia.
We couldn’t determine, with our limited “research”, if this is the actual toaster used in The Andy Griffith Show, or just the same model. We cast no asparagus on the provenance of the following:
Other Toast Moments in the Career of Jack Nickolson
Toast seems to have played a big part in the career of Jack Nickolson. Consider the diner scene in Five Easy Pieces:
From Lapham’s Quarterly
https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/food/hold-chicken
About This Text
Carole Eastman and Bob Rafelson, from Five Easy Pieces. Jack Nicholson played Bobby; Karen Black played Rayette; Lorna Thayer played the waitress. While driving with his girlfriend Rayette to his upper-class family home in Puget Sound, Bobby picks up a pair of hitchhiking lesbians, and they all stop at this roadside diner. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor (Nicholson), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Black), Best Picture, and Best Writing.[Bobby, Terry, Rayette, and Palm are seated at a booth in a roadside diner. The women have given their orders and a waitress stands above Bobby, waiting for his.]
Bobby: [looking at his menu] I’d like a plain omelette. No potatoes, tomatoes instead, a cup of coffee, and wheat toast.
[The waitress indicates something on the menu with the butt of her pencil.]
Waitress: No substitutions.
Bobby: What do you mean, you don’t have any tomatoes?
Waitress: [annoyed] Only what’s on the menu… [again, indicating with her pencil] You can have a number two, a plain omelette. It comes with cottage fries and rolls.
Bobby: Yeah I know what it comes with, but it’s not what I want.
Waitress: Well I’ll come back when you make up your mind…
[She starts to move away and Bobby detains her.]
Bobby: Wait a minute. I have made up my mind. I’d like a plain omelette, no potatoes on the plate, a cup of coffee and a side order of wheat toast.
Waitress: I’m sorry, we don’t have any side orders of toast. I can give you an English muffin or a coffee roll.
Bobby: What do you mean, you don’t make side orders of toast? You make sandwiches, don’t you?
Waitress: Would you like to talk to the manager?
Palm: Hey, mack!
Bobby: [to Palm] Shut up. [to the waitress] You’ve got bread, and a toaster of some kind?
Waitress: I don’t make the rules.
Bobby: Okay, I’ll make it as easy for you as I can. I’d like an omelette, plain, and a chicken-salad sandwich on wheat toast—no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce—and a cup of coffee.
[She begins writing down his order, repeating it sarcastically.]
Waitress: A number two, chicken sal san—hold the butter, the lettuce, the mayonnaise—and a cup of coffee…anything else?
Bobby: Yeah, now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, gimme the check for the chicken-salad sandwich, and you haven’t broken any rules.
Waitress: [challenging him] You want me to hold the chicken, huh?
Lapham’s Quarterly
[ed. note: we’ll end the scene there, so as to not offend any delicate WLBOTT viewers]
A Romance Novel Tie-In
George, our unpaid marketing intern (he’s single, ladies!) suggested WLBOTT launch a line of toast-themed romance novels. Let’s consider his suggestions.
Spread Me Gently
Plot:
A slow, tender romance between two retirees volunteering at the WLBOTT Community Breakfast Program. No drama. No villains. Just patience, kindness, and very good bread.
Tagline: At last, a love that waits for the butter to soften.
The Butter Side of Desire
Plot:
A widowed dairy heiress returns to her hometown and reconnects with the man who once dropped her toast butter-side down at prom. Old wounds reopen. New spreads are applied. Redemption comes with sea salt.
Tagline: Sometimes love falls the wrong way.
Toaster Set on High
Plot:
An anxious electrical engineer falls for a fearless wilderness guide who believes toast should be made over open flame. Sparks fly. Fire codes are violated. Someone learns to live dangerously.
Tagline: Some love stories cannot be regulated.
[not sure where the pirate stuff comes in – still working out the plot details]
Love in the Time of Toast
Plot:
During a global breakfast shortage, two rival toast inspectors are stranded together at a remote research station. With only one working toaster and dwindling jam reserves, they must choose between protocol and passion.
Tagline: When the world burns, will your toast still pop?
Fifty Shades of Crumb
Plot:
When a fastidious food archivist meets a rogue artisanal baker with a dangerous toaster and a refusal to use presets, sparks fly. Their passion rises slowly, evenly, until everything is perfectly browned. Trust is tested. Butter is melted deliberately.
Tagline: Some like it light. Some like it dark.
WLBOTT gives a nod to the incredibly creative Garrison Keillor
“Toast and Jelly Days” appears as an item in the recurring News from Lake Wobegon segment during A Prairie Home Companion broadcasts. It’s referenced as a local tradition in the fictional Minnesota town of Lake Wobegon – a kind of charming small-town festival where, in the words of the Wobegon announcer, “all the toast has been picked up from toast and jelly days” and folks are “more or less recovered from that.”
Elder G
A Gallery of Outtakes
