Comedian Ed Wynn began his long acting career on a vaudeville stage in 1903, and beginning in 1914 his giggly voice would delight Broadway crowds flocking to the Ziegfeld Follies. So when he stepped in front of a movie camera for a talking picture, it was something of a sensation.
It was not an easy transition for the stage veteran. As you can see from Morris Markey’s account below in “A Reporter at Large,” the early talkies presented all manner of challenges and restrictions for stage actors accustomed to a bit more freedom of movement and expression.
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False Modesty?
In Morris Markey’s second installment of his profile on Charles Lindbergh, Markey suggested that Lindbergh’s aversion to publicity might be a pose…
…and also wondered how much credit Lindbergh could take for sparking the aviation industry, given that flying was still an activity reserved for a very few…
…Markey also noted a “lively rumor” that Lindbergh wanted to be President…
…fortunately Lindbergh did not give truth to the rumor, or fulfill the alternate history created by Philip Roth in his 2004 novel The Plot Against America…
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Bad Moon Rising
In 1930 few, if anyone, were aware of Lindbergh’s proclivities toward nationalism and antisemitism. And lacking a crystal ball, Markey’s New Yorker colleague, Howard Brubaker, had little reason to be alarmed by the federal elections in Germany, which gave the Nazis the second largest number of seats in the Reichstag. In his “Of All Things” column, Brubaker quipped:
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Gummed to Death
The New Yorker’s John Mosher took in the latest travelogue to exploit and misrepresent life on the African savannah. Africa Speaks included a scene depicting a fatal attack on a “native boy” by a lion — an attack that was actually staged at a Los Angeles zoo and involved a toothless lion…
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From Our Advertisers
When Paris unveiled is spring and fall fashions, large department stores were always quick to respond with “copies”…
…while the higher end boutiques offered originals to “poor little rich girls”…
…perhaps some of these “poor little rich girls” socialized at the Panhellenic, a “club-hotel for college women”…
…and here are some views of the Panhellenic House, circa 1929…
…the makers of Old Gold cigarettes had some of the weirdest ads to push their smokes, including this one…
…and one wonders what the world would be like (and especially the U.S.) if car buyers would have favored a more compact version of the motorcar going forward…
…on to our comics…we begin with parenting tips from the posh set, courtesy Garrett Price…
…Alan Dunn explored modern matrimony…
…one of Helen Hokinson’s ladies demonstrated a unique taste in furniture…
…Otto Soglow continued to explore humor in a wavy fashion…
…and we close with this vertiginous view provided by Leonard Dove…
Next Time: Leatherheads…
A New Yorker State of Mind 