Ancient Web: Judy Harris Indexed Tenko, Old Movies, and Her Cats

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.

A personal homepage should tell you what interests its owner. Judy Harris's announces those interests at full volume: cats, British television, Buster Crabbe serials, mystery writers, Broadway, and stop-motion animation.

Visit Judy Harris's homepage

The page is an extended table of links with images tucked into the headings. It jumps from cats named Dijie, Buzz, and Duff to the 1930s Flash Gordon serials, Doctor Who, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, and a long list of stage musicals. Harris also mentions her book Time Capsule, collecting film reviews originally written for Cinefantastique.

There is no algorithmic reason for all those subjects to occupy one page. That is rather the point.

The Tenko guide is a project of its own

A particularly substantial branch is the Tenko cast and episode guide. It lists the 1981 television serial and its 1985 reunion, followed by a large cast list and a scene-by-scene account of the series. Harris explicitly credits Jean Curley and Judith Chien for the episode guide instead of claiming the work as her own.

The guide follows British and Dutch women interned in Southeast Asia during the Second World War, beginning with the fall of Singapore. Characters and actors can be looked up independently of the lengthy plot summaries. The material is a fan reference for a television drama, not a substitute for historical scholarship about wartime internment.

Elsewhere Harris keeps a memoir of her cats, pages about the 87th Precinct novels, and an essay on the musical Oliver! that includes an update received from a performer's daughter in May 2001. That dated note is evidence of the homepage's early-Web life; the present site doesn't establish an exact launch year.

The range is not accidental clutter. Its connections are personal: an actor appears in more than one favorite program; a film review sends the reader toward a mystery novelist; a cat picture sits next to an affectionate recollection. The index maps a person's tastes much more faithfully than a single-subject profile would.

Some outside links now point to vanished directories or old media services. The surviving original pages still invite visitors to wander without needing an account.

Browse Harris's homepage or follow the Tenko archive.

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.