April Fool’s Day! A Little Fun With Norman Rockwell

He who lives without folly isn’t so wise as he thinks.

–François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld

When I was a kid, I remember poring over the April Fool’s Day illustrations by Norman Rockwell, which graced the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.  You know the ones:  They’re full of “mistakes” which the reader must identify.

On April 1st, for some reason, people think it’s fun to do goofy things and to fool one another.

• I had a friend who served her family a tasty dessert of chocolate-covered pickles—what a waste of perfectly good chocolate!
• The same fun-loving friend once covered over her daughter’s closed doorway with newspaper, so that when she opened the door she’d have to break through the paper.
• A co-worker “pranked” her husband by painting his fingernails while he slept. (Gotta laugh at that one!)

Do you have a great April Fool’s Day story to tell? Your humorous anecdote may be just the impetus for some joke-challenged reader to get off the sofa and make some innocent fun!

While you’re thinking about it, here’s Rockwell’s April Fool’s Day cover from 1948. There are 56 mistakes—Can you find them all? Answers will be posted tomorrow, so work fast!

Looking foolish does the spirit good.
– John Updike