"Send My Picture To Scranton, PA" by B.J. Thomas (1970)

In 1970, acclaimed songwriter Burt Bacharach put his own creative mark on Scranton when he wrote a song titled "Send My Picture To Scranton, PA." Bacharach's previous famous collaborations include Dusty Springfield's "Wishin' and Hopin'," The Carpenters' "Close To You" and numerous songs with Dionne Warwick ("Do You Know The Way to San Jose" and "I Say A Little Prayer" just being two).

When it came time to record "Send My Picture To Scranton, PA," Bacharach selected B.J. Thomas, most famous for the song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" (also written by Bacharach) from the 1969 film "Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid" and "Hooked on a Feeling."

The lyrics to "Send My Picture To Scranton, PA" begin:

Send my picture to Scranton, PA
Write them and say
I'm the kid they used to laugh at
Send my picture along with the news
Of all the good things I've done

If you would like to read the rest of the lyrics, click here.

B.J. Thomas recorded "Send My Picture To Scranton, PA," in 1970; it was released on his album "Everybody's Out Of Town." Unfortunately, the album is out-of-print, but the song is available on a Burt Bacharach compilation titled "The Sound of Bacharach."

Why Do Men Have Nipples? (2005)

There is a suprising and SHOCKING reference to Wilkes-Barre in the recently released book "Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini" by Dr. Billy Goldberg, M.D. and Mark Leyner. This bestselling book (presently #1 on the New York Times Bestselling Paperback Advice Books) presents humorous answers to medical questions, from "Can you get high from licking a toad?" to "Why are yawns contagious?" to "What causes an ice cream headache?"

The Wilkes-Barre mention appears in the book's Preface on page 21. In his version on how the two authors met, Dr. Goldberg was asked to be a medical advisor on the short-lived (only 3 episodes, in fact) medical drama Wonderland, for which co-author Leyner was a screenwriter. According to Dr. Goldberg:

*****

Within five minutes Leyner had regaled me with the precise pharmokinetics of jimsonweed...and the inexplicable prevalence of

supernumerary ___________

in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania."

*****

To find the missing word (CLUE: it rhymes with spectacles), pick up a copy of "Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini" by Dr. Billy Goldberg, M.D. and Mark Leyner and see page 21 of the Preface. It's avialable to borrow from several libraries throughout the Lackawanna County Library System under the call number:

610

LEYNER

To place a hold, click here.

To read the entire list of questions answered in the book, click here.