By Rachel Barduson
LIFE magazine was known for its “Miscellany” page, usually the very last page of the month’s issue. Even though it was the last page in the magazine, it was always the first page I went to when the new issue came in the mail. I guess my curiosity for quirky photos and random trivia started at an early age.
Dad’s subscription to LIFE was perhaps my first introduction to a world larger than the farm where I was growing up. The pictures and featured news stories represented a world that was much larger than my hometown. Back in the ‘60s I couldn’t wait for the next LIFE magazine to come in the mail. I would sit at the kitchen table paging through the pictures. I found interest in current events. I had an idea of what the word miscellany meant, but today I discover that “the word miscellany was probably made up by LIFE magazine in the 1960s – and it’s the label you put on things left over,” said Stuart Moulthrop.
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t understand what the word miscellaneous meant. Miscellany was a bit more tricky. I wasn’t even sure how it should be pronounced. I actually thought miscellany was an abbreviation of the longer word. I went to my trusted Webster’s Dictionary to find out exactly what miscellaneous means, which is, “consisting of several kinds mixed together.” The definition of miscellany is, “A mixture of various kinds. A book containing a variety of literary compositions.”
Why am I explaining all of this? Because, with another year coming to an end, the last Boomer column of the year will be of few things left over that I have never gotten around to writing about. My miscellany will be a few short tidbits of miscellaneous things with no order or particular purpose.
Let’s start with “bucket list” talk. Where did that phrase come from anyway? One source says it was reportedly coined by Justin Zackham, who in 1999 wrote himself a list of once-in-a-lifetime experiences – “a list of things to do before I kick the bucket” – and shortened it. Apparently, the first item on his list was to “get a film made at a major studio” and his list gave him the idea for the screenplay, and The Bucket List starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson became his first studio film. As far as where the term “kick the bucket” came from, well...you can look that one up on your own.
For no particular reason I will share something that was on my bucket list. With Christmas around the corner I have always looked forward to seeing the Radio City Rockettes on television, whenever or wherever they perform in a parade or on a Christmas special. It’s already been 20 years since I fulfilled a bucket list dream of one day seeing, in person, the Radio City Music Hall’s famed precision kick-line dancers onstage – those high-kicking Radio City Rockettes. This dream came true with my kids at Christmas – and it happened in 2004. How can it be that it’s already 20 years ago that we made that trip?
Full disclosure, when I was a little girl I dreamed of one day becoming a Rockette. Oh, I wanted to be a Rockette so bad, at least during the Thanksgiving Day parade. Obviously my dream of becoming a Rockette did not pan out, but my dream of seeing them in person was nothing short of spectacular, goose bumps all the way. And so of course in December of 2004, I was pinching myself to make sure it was real when my kids and I walked into Radio City Music Hall and experienced the magic of the Rockettes. Their “Parade of the Living Soldiers”- a dance that has remained unchanged since the show premiered - was their Grand finale.
More “miscellany” information: The Rockettes will be 100 years old in this coming year, having launched in Missouri in 1925 as the Missouri Rockets, and later that year performed in New York in a show directed by S.L. Roxy Rothafel, who called them the Roxyettes when they opened at Radio City in 1932. Two years later, they adopted the name the Radio City Rockettes.
Here’s some more miscellany bucket list talk. The dream of world travel is likely on everyone’s short or long list. My world travel bucket item was to experience Norway and walk into the church that my great-grandparents got married in. This was more than a miscellaneous thought. This was real and it happened in 2023. I had dreamed of it for a long time – to see and feel my grandparents presence on that landscape of Norway and in that church. It was definitely a dream come true. Christmas brings on a time of reflection – those who came before us that we never had the honor of meeting – and those we made memories with in real life, but are no longer with us. It’s a time of story-telling as we go over the memories of this year or years ago. Memories like that trip to NYC for the Rockettes and all the adventures that ensued during those three days in the big city with my kids. Memories that are ours and ours only.
Miscellany, “a mixture of various kinds. A book containing a variety of literary compositions.”
Christmas gatherings bring out the miscellaneous board games we have collected over the years. Monopoly, Scrabble, Sorry! and Clue. I love trivia, so when the game Trivial Pursuit came out in the early 80s I was instantly in love. Time magazine called it “the biggest phenomenon in game history” and it has definitely been one of the most popular board games of all time. My favorite category of course, is history.
Catch Phrase became an instant favorite in our family when that came out. And then of course there is the game Pit, which brings me right back to the kitchen table with my cousins on the farm on Christmas Eve night. Pit reminds me of also playing SPOON around the table with my cousins and, later, with my kids. These miscellaneous memories seem to be the best. Those happy days of not a care in the world and time spent with family.
This brings me to the last paragraph of my year-end essay about nothing in particular. Nothing special to talk about really, but actually - special things to talk about.
Really.
Miscellaneous thoughts seem to make headlines in my brain at this time of the year. The “what if’s” and the “why not’s” and the “could it be possible” are all out there. The special days, events, memories are things of which albums are made of. Some of the day-to-day real life miscellany is much like the old “miscellany” pages of LIFE - none particularly stand out in my mind. As Stuart Moulthrop wrote, “it’s the label you put on things left over.”
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