Quirky Americans - Hobbies of a Different Sort

THE COLLYER BROTHERS were often used by mothers in the late 1940's and early 1950's as a cautionary tale of the consequences of sloppy behavior. Homer and Langley Collyer, Princeton-educated sons of a well-to-do gynecologist and his wife, lived in their Harlem home alone after their parents died. Homer had been bedridden for several years by crippling arthritis and blindness. Langley nursed him, attempting to cure his blindness with, so it is said, 100 oranges a week, black bread, and peanut butter.

Apparently Homer never knew that Langley had filled the house with any and every piece of junk and old newspaper he could carry home from his forays into the streets around their home - to the tune of nearly 95 tons of the stuff. In order to protect this detritus, Langley had rigged traps for would-be burglars. Sadly, one day he tripped one of the devices accidentally and was hoist by his own petard. He died just feet from his incapacitated brother, who succumbed to starvation in a few days.

Some of the more surprising things found in the piles of trash were exhibited at the Hubert Dime Museum, a latter-day version of P. T. Barnum's American Museum. Read more about the Collyers and others who cannot help hoarding junk at http://209.157.64.200/focus/news/1008564/posts - and remind your children to pick up after themselves.

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 Diane Arbus, 1923-1971

DIANE ARBUS (pron. dee-ann) was drawn to those who were not like everyone else. She took many photographs of a lot of different people. To me, they all look strangely like Diane Arbus. A slide show of Arbus's work can be found at http://diane-arbus-photography.com/. WARNING - You may find these photos disturbing, not only because some of the subjects are nude.

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This isn't part of Steve's collection - yet.

STEVE SALCEDO of Fort Wayne, Indiana, has the largest collection of legally acquired traffic signs in the U.S. and is in Ripley's Believe It or Not. See more photos at: http://collectibles.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=collectibles&cdn=hobbies&tm=873&f=20&su=p504.3.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.mycrazyhobby.com/.

Steve owns this fabulous chair (I'd love a set of six, please!) made from two stop signs:

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BARNEY SMITH had a great idea. Why not decorate the top of the toilet seat, a space just begging for art work? He now has something like 700 toilet seats in his museum. See what Barney has wrought at http://www.unusualmuseums.org/toilet/. Here's just one example:

Good idea, huh?

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BILL AND LOUISE PATTILLO created this amazing table of rocks that look like food. People have tried to eat the display!

 Yummy - but anticipate a quick trip to the dentist!

Mouthwatering

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LILLIAN COLTON - Seed Pictures

Hemingway - Gone to Seed

David Letterman looking slightly seedy

Lillian Colton won Best of Show nine times in a row in the Minnesota State Fair Crop Art competition. Her portraits of famous people were created with timothy, canola, pine needles, clover, brome grass, poppy, birdsfoot trefoil, grits, and other natural resources. After her ninth win, she bowed out gracefully and instead displayed her works at the fair.

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ANN MITCHELL LOVELL - Banana Museum

Try to imagine 4000 items - all of them depicting bananas in one form or another. There are costumes, an invention by a Tupperware designer to keep your bananas bruise free, pictures of our immigrant ancestors at Ellis Island eating bananas (a new experience for many), brightly painted fruit crate labels, and - well, thousands more. The Banana Museum can be visited in Auburn, Washington. If you're too far away to go in person, see many more terrific photos here: http://www.bananamuseum.com/.