Umpdy-Ump in Person

Many a reader of the New York Times looked hard at a seven-column ad for Macy's last week. The headline: UMPDY-UMP and UMPDY-UMP IN PERSON TODAY AT MACY'S TV AND MUSIC HIT PARADE. Next to this nonsense was an unidentified photograph of Bandleader Guy Lombardo.

To curious telephone callers, Macy's gave an embarrassed explanation. It had sent the ad to the Times with the dummy words "umpdy-ump," which were to be filled in when the store lined up a star to appear at the record counter. After Lombardo signed up, his picture was added to the ad, but nobody remembered to change the type.

Next day, Macy's took an ad to explain and to apologize to Lombardo. "We will happily take . . . orders on [Lombardo records]," it concluded. "We will also take a running jump in the lake . . ."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.