Radio Shack Pulp Fiction????

Oh dear just read your YT comment - take care of that analogue computer :) Get better soon

Great set of videos recently Fran. You're doing well.

I like the brief flash of recognition for James Burke and Connections. That show was soooo influential for me. Maybe that is a topic for a future blog?

Andy Kellett

Certainly this research and archive effort has put forth an effort worth a peek: http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/history.html

Inventor Pardue

Guess that's part of the mixed story lines

They chose the name "Radio Shack", which was the term for a small, wooden structure that housed a ship's radio equipment. The Deutschmanns thought the name was appropriate for a store that would supply the needs of radio officers aboard ships, as well as hams (amateur radio operators). The term was already in use — and is to this day — by hams when referring to the location of their stations.[11]

Why not drop that host a line asking where he found the story?

Good urban legend though :)

Could be the branch when RS was bought by Tandy (It started as a leather crafts hobbyist store in Texas). I don't know, was there a Lee Archer with Tandy when they got control?

Robin Kent

Sounds like the whole Frau Blücher of young Frankenstein. It doesn't mean horse glue in German but there's a lot of people who think it does. Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder where geniuses!

Aaron Nadler

In 2016 I saw The Hitch-Hiker at the Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum here in Rochester, and in the introduction, they made no mention of this anecdote. Given the sensational aspect, I'm sure it would have garnered a mention, but given that the introductions to the films are so thoroughly researched, I am inclined to believe that this is apocryphal. What is interesting and important, though, is that The Hitch-Hiker is the only classical film noir ever directed by a woman. (As a bonus, it's also incredibly tense, suspenseful, and well-made.)

Jason Olshefsky

Yeah I knew this had to be some kind of "Rest of the Story" type bullshit. I used to work for Radio Shack. I've been to the first one. The dates don't mesh. It's like the lovely little tale about the Kennedy assassination, that Kennedy had hired the hitter to kill his wife (so he could be with Marilyn), not him, and the dude fucked up and killed Kennedy and that's why Jack Ruby killed him. Compelling, but the dates don't line up, so it can be dismissed offhand. And I'm surprised, a movie about a killer that was inspired by true events but it wasn't poor old Eddie Gein, who only ever killed one person but ends up inspiring shit like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"!

Sean

Fran is on fire!

Simon Mikkelsen