Calendar

Join us when Josh Kornbluth performs "Haiku Tunnel.” This story recounts the neurotic misadventures of a terrific temp ("Josh") who always becomes a terrible "perm” when he is hired by a sinister law firm, Schuyler & Mitchell (S&M) as the secretary to Bob Shelby, a highly intimidating tax attorney who Josh comes to suspect may be Satan.  A book sale & signing follows the event.

Related exhibition: On the Clock: A Playful Guide to Working Life Selections from the Schmulowitz Collection of Wit & Humor Main Library, Skylight Gallery, April 1 – May 31.

Works for Me: Diligence and Drudgery, with Some Distractions,  a book cover display  in  General Collections on the third floor of the Main Library.

The Library's annual wit & humor exhibition examines the subject of work. Most of our lives are taken up with searching for and keeping a job; how about finding a job that we love? This exhibition draws on the Schmulowitz Collection of Wit & Humor to find the the lighter side of employment: a completely silly guide to working life. 

RELATED EXHIBITION & DISPLAY

April 1-May 31: S.S. Adams, the Edison of Practical Jokes.           Exhibition, Government Information Center, 5th Floor

April 1-May 31: Works for Me: Diligence and Drudgery, With Some Distractions. A book cover display, General Collections & Humanities, 3rd Floor

RELATED PROGRAMS

April 3: Elect to Laugh: An Evening with Political Satirist Will Durst.      Main Library, Koret Auditorium, 6:30pm

May 28: Josh Kornbluth presents Haiku Tunnel. Main Library, Koret Auditorium, 6:00pm

Thursdays at Noon (Large Screen Videos)
On the Clock: Films About Jobs and Working Life. Main Library, Koret Auditorium, 12 noon

April 4: High Fidelity
April 11: Trading Places
April 18: Up in the Air
April 25: The Associate

All films are shown with captions when possible to assist our deaf and hard of hearing. All program at the Library are free.

Images: Harold Lloyd, Master Comedian by Jeffrey Vance and Suzanne Lloyd (2002); all others courtesy San Francisco History Center, SFPL.

The San Francisco Public Library presents S.S. Adams, the Edison of Practical Jokes. This exhibit is a collection of patents from, professional prankster, Soren S. Adams. The exhibition opens April 1st and continues through May 31st, on the fifth Floor of the Main Library.

S.S. Adams went from humble origins to inventing many of the famous practical jokes including the joy buzzer, sneezing powder, and the dribble glass. Soren Sorenson Adams was a first generation immigrant from Denmark. While working for a dye company in 1904, he realized that derivative of one of the dyes caused people to sneeze. He decided to market this product as “Sneezing Powder” to use to prank unsuspecting groups of people. He patented a delivery method and started the Cachoo Sneeze Powder Company. It proved to be very popular, though controversial.

Later, he expanded his product line, inventing new gags, and renamed it to the SS Adams Company. In 1909, he invented the dribble glass, a drinking glass with minute holes in it causing water to drip on the victim. In the 1930s, he patented both the Joy Buzzer, a handheld device that imitates a shock, and a gag that involved snakes shooting out of a can. Soren S. Adams continued to invent new products through to the 1950s.