1. This particular prank letter circulated widely in the mid-twentieth century. Where the idea originated and from whom Warren might have gotten a copy is unknown. What makes this fondly recalled prank funny (putting aside whether or how often he actually perpetrated it and upon whom) is how it plays to the commonplace interest in hidden lives and feet of clay. Its essence is a tribute to the power of shame.
2. The impact of Sears, the first department store in Tenleytown, and its unusual rooftop parking lot are described in Judith Beck Helm’s Tenleytown, D.C.: Country Village into City Neighborhood. Washington, D.C.: Tennally Press, 1981.
3. In an interview, Norma Thurston-Perna substantiates the essential elements of this story, recalls her boyfriend Don Danly “hooking” from Sears with Warren, adds that to some extent this behavior continued into high school, and mentions how annoyed she was to discover that an impressive honeysuckle fragrance and bath powder set given to her by Don as a birthday gift turned out to have been stolen from Sears.
4. A letter from Suzanne M. Armstrong to Warren Buffett, December 20, 2007, recalls a friend of her father’s cousin, Jimmy Parsons, stealing golf balls with Buffett while at Woodrow Wilson High School.
5. Hannibal was the antihero of the book and movie The Silence of the Lambs.