May is Our Do Gooder Issue

Ochre and yellow, half shades of green between the sea and groves of olives, old, old tamarisks, and the rainbow flowers of quivering red tubes, Willa Cather conjures New Mexico as a dream that turns out to be true.

When Joni Mitchell recorded “The Circle Game” back in 1966, her carousel lyrics conveyed a pensive slant on the passage of time. In fact, that was also a rather doleful time for carousels, which had enjoyed their greatest heyday much earlier – in the first quarter of the 20th century. 

Linda Jay writes about her parents, Verne and Helen Jay, who were writers for the iconic radio shows “The Shadow,” “Mr. and Mrs. North,” “Famous Jury Trials,” and “Grand Central Station” during the Golden Age of Radio.