Oh, You Never Knew It!
Wimple and Bing, the City’s fifth-most-famous intersection, was almost known as Wimple and Porkpie! In 1903, due to inattentive aldermen, street-naming honors had devolved to the rascals of the Bottling District. A Mr. Elliott Lamb sought to name that “elm-festooned†promenade after Porkpie, his prize-winning mule. But on the way to file the papers, Porkpie dropped dead, most likely from Mulish Discomfiture. Lamb, fearing to speak the name of the deceased, was forced to substitute the name of his traveling companion, Bing (a bantam rooster). Had things worked out differently, just imagine how that old melody would go: “Please Meet Me at the Corner of Wimple and Porkpie!â€
– B. Grossblatt
Pianist returned
Russian pianist Vladimir Fiorello has been returned unharmed to the Royalton Hotel, the spot from which he mysteriously vanished nearly two weeks ago. Known for a series of award-winning Bach recordings released to polite applause in 1952 (Bach Tonight!, The Well-Tempered Clavier Well-Played, Bach Tonight! Part Two and Back to Bach), the pianist claims he was abducted by Clive Chance, general manager of the City Orchestra, in a ransom attempt that clearly failed given that no one realized Fiorello was even missing until his wife finally called last week, berating the Royalton concierge and demanding he tell her why Fiorello had not yet brought home the roast she planned to prepare for Christmas dinner.
When asked about the allegations, Clive Chance told reporters, “I didn’t realize she was waiting for a roast.â€
– L. Lent
The Wrong Maps
A printer’s error in 1987’s Frommer’s guidebook for the city resulted in some map pages from directories of Indianapolis and Baltimore replacing the correct ones. The mistake was not noticed until almost a year after the books had hit store shelves. One reason for this was the fact that the maps, when overlaid with the correct ones, were oddly similar, particularly in parts of the Downtown and Lindenmeyr areas of the city. Also, tourism was not exactly a leading industry for the city at that point in time.
– R. White