Lisa Shufro’s mother, Miriam Kerpen, discuss the discovery of a magazine hidden inside her great-uncle’s dictionary that caused some sparks when she was 13 years old and away at summer camp.
Originally aired July 1, 2005, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
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"I went into Uncle Jake's room and opened up the dictionary, and in the middle was hidden a magazine..."
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Transcript
Miriam Kerpen (MK) and Lisa Shufro (LS)
MK: I was 13 at the time so this was 1933. I went into Uncle Jake’s room and opened the dictionary and in the middle of the dictionary was hidden a magazine called Spicy Stories. Spicy Stories was pictures it, I guess it qualifies as porn, I’m not sure but it was mostly pictures of naked ladies dressed in jewelry and high heels and it absolutely was astonishing to me. And I wrote down the name of the publisher and I wrote to them and said, please, I’m gonna be going away to camp this summer but I would appreciate a subscription. And I would appreciate it if you would send it in plain cover It was a dollar for a subscription. I sent the dollar and then forgot about it. It was over and done and I went to camp. And one day I was called in front of the head counselor who said, this came in the mail for you. And there was Spicy Stories.
LS: No plain cover.
MK: No plain cover.