Above: Margaret Mitchell poses with her award-winning novel, c. 1938. Mitchell won the National Book Award for Fiction for Most Distinguished Novel of 1936 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937. Gone With the Wind was the only novel she published in her lifetime. (britannica.com)
Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel Gone With the Wind and the 1939 film it inspired have both served as controversial reference points for cultural critics and scholars, particularly for the stereotypical and derogatory portrayals of African Americans in the 19th century South.
July 4, 1936 cover by Peter Arno.
Ninety years later the novel still proves divisive; it also remains one of America’s most-loved books. Worldwide, more than 30 million copies have been printed in the U.S. and abroad.
In 1936 the novel quickly rose to the top of fiction bestseller lists, and was generally well received by critics. Novelist and literary critic Louis Kronenberger (1904–1980), who sat in for Clifton Fadiman in The New Yorker’s book section, praised the novel for its “highfalutin absurdities,” calling it a “masterpiece of pure escapism.” Kronenberger wrote that Gone with the Wind provided “a kind of catharsis…of all the false sentiment and heady goo that even the austerest mind somehow accumulates and periodically needs to get rid of.” He correctly predicted that the novel would be “very feverishly discussed” once people found the time to read its thousand-plus pages. Excerpts:
GOO GONE…Clockwise, from top left: Reading Gone With the Wind will clear one’s “heady goo,” according to critic Louis Kronenberger; Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949) seated before a selection of Gone With the Wind translations; an example of a German version of the novel—Gone With the Wind was translated into at least forty different languages with eight hundred unique international printings. (azquotes.com/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/georgiaencyclopedia.org)IT HAS HOW MANY PAGES?!…Clark Gable, who portrayed Rhett Butler in the 1939 film adaptation of Gone with the Wind, has a look at Margaret Mitchell’s doorstop of a book. Mitchell was not involved in the screenplay or film production. (yahoo.com)
* * *
Tweet From Tinseltown
Apparently actress Mary Astor was a New Yorker reader, having read an E.B. White “Notes” column that mentioned his stained-glass hummingbird feeders.
FOR THE BIRDS…A New Yorker column by E.B. White inspired actress Mary Astor to feed Hollywood’s hummingbirds. (Wikipedia)
* * *
Going, Going, Gone
A “Talk of the Town” piece co-written by A. J. Liebling and Russell Maloney tracked down what remained of the Central Park Casino, which had been demolished under the orders of Parks Commissioner Robert Moses.
Moses hated former Mayor Jimmy Walker, and by association he hated Walker’s favorite haunt, the Central Park Casino. Despite pleas from preservationists to save the famous Art Deco supper club, which had been beautifully rebuilt by the late designerJoseph Urban, Moses moved as quickly as possible to demolish the building. Following a public auction, the iconic horseshoe-shaped bar and some interior fixtures were acquired by the Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey and subsequently installed beside the park’s wave pool.
FROM GLITTER TO RUIN…Clockwise, from top left, the Central Park Casino on the evening of Sept.10, 1935; interior images of Joseph Urban’s elegant Art Deco designs; workers remove windows and interior fixtures as demolition commences in May 1936. (nycgovparks.com/centralpark.org/mcny.org)
* * *
Maddy Returns
It’s a shame that writer Maddy Vegtel is largely forgotten today. She wrote with great wit and verve, and was well known in the 1920s and 30s for her Vanity Fair profiles and for her articles about Holland, her native land. A contributor to The New Yorker from 1926 to 1956, she published this casual in July 4 issue.
* * *
Bad Men and Mad Men
The poet Ogden Nash shared his thoughts on the summer political convention season:
THE LORD’S ANOINTED…Ogden Nash (center) observed this belief in the political animal; at left and right, the Democratic and Republican nominees for president in 1936, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Alf Landon. (Wikimedia/poetryverse.com/Wikipedia)
* * *
At the Movies
Critic John Mosher was on board for MGM’s musical-drama disaster film San Francisco, which told the story of a saloon keeper, a singer, and a priest caught up in 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
SHAKING IN THEIR BOOTS…Clockwise, from top left: MGM poster for San Francisco touts the first-time pairing of Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald in a film; scene from the film featuring, from left, Gable, Jack Holt, Spencer Tracy and MacDonald; the film included stunning effects, including an earthquake montage sequence that interspersed scenes of wreckage with the faces of terrified victims; Gable assesses the carnage in a scene from the film. (imdb.com/kittypackard.wordpress.com)
Mosher offered a tongue-cheek assessment of Shirley Temple’s appearance in her latest film, The Poor Little Rich Girl, noting that “There’s not the slightest indication of aging in Miss Temple.” The child star was just shy of eight years old when she filmed the picture. As for the The White Angel, Mosher found the Florence Nightingale biopic—with Kay Francis in the title role—”a little schoolbookish [and] quite on the dull side.”
THAT YOUTHFUL GLOW…Top photo: Critic John Mosher found Shirley Temple still able to “delight her tremendous public” in The Poor Little Rich Girl—she is seen here with co-stars Jack Haley and Alice Faye; Below: Kay Francis and Ian Hunter in The White Angel, a film about Florence Nightingale’s pioneering work as a nurse during the Crimean War. (tcm.com)
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From Our Advertisers
Sunscreen as we understand it today wasn’t available to New Yorkers in 1936, so they relied on zinc oxide and other mineral applications to avoid sunburns…however, Eugene Schueler, founder of L’Oréal, developed the first tanning oil with UV radiation-filtering properties in Europe in 1935 (active ingredient was benzyl salicylate), and later marketed it to the U.S. as Ambre Solaire…the brand is still sold today…
…Stage magazine continued to promote their 1911 throwback issue…
…the back cover belonged to Liggett & Myers, offering another romantic couple enjoying their Chesterfields…
…we open the cartoons with Richard Taylor, who felt the heat as summer took hold in the city…on July 4, 1936, the official high temperature in Central Park reached an unseasonably warm 93 degrees F (34 c), hitting 106 F (41C) five days later on July 9…that mark remains the city’s all-time absolute highest temperature…
…Otto Soglow’s spot art showed us how one well-heeled family escaped the hot city…
…while Susan Willard Flint offered a woodcut if a quiet cobbled street…
…Tom Holloway showed us how one posh kid delivered the Saturday Evening Post (Holloway was a cartoonist for the Post, contributing just two drawings to The New Yorker, both in 1936)…
…the woman’s expression says it all in this Helen Hokinson cartoon…
…George Price gave us a saleswoman who saw one two many pool floats…
…Gardner Rea drew up a vast estate for a man who (almost) had it all…
…Fritz Wilkinson did some deep sea swan diving…
…Gilbert Bundy found a clue at the gentleman’s club…
…Mary Petty went all out for the Fourth of July…
…and we close with Peter Arno, and the miracle of birth…
Above: Rudolf Persson's rendering of the main entrance to the Stockholm Exhibition of 1930, designed by Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund. The exhibition was a landmark event that introduced Functionalism to Swedish architecture and design.(Svensk Form)
Architecture critic Lewis Mumford turned his exacting eye on exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art that looked to the future of building design. Of particular interest was an exhibit on those world expositions that have given us everything from theEiffel Tower (1889 Exposition Universelle) to the car-dominated landscape that inspired millions of Depression-weary visitors at New York’s 1939 World’s Fair.
June 20, 1936 cover by Adolph K. Kronengold. Kronengold (1900–1986) created twenty-three covers for the New Yorker from 1928 to 1947. Born and raised in New Orleans, he frequently used watercolors and often painted scenes honoring his hometown. The June 20 cover was Kronengold’s seventeenth for the magazine.
Mumford made passing mention to the museum’s exhibit on government housing (he noted it was below MoMA’s standard) and then turned his attention to a review of world’s fairs, examining how they have inspired both waves of architectural achievement and “counterfeits of civic grandeur…”
BREAK FROM THE PAST…Images from the covers of MoMA’s exhibition catalogs depict the 1934-35 Carl Mackley Houses in Philadelphia (top, from the government housing exhibit) and the 1930 Stockholm Exposition. (MoMA.org)STILL SERVING…the 1934-35 Carl Mackley Houses in Philadelphia have been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1998. (Wikipedia)PONDERING what a modern exhibition should be, Lewis Mumford cited the granddaddy of them, the London Exhibition of 1851 (top), with its Crystal Palace, which he called “the first definitive monument of modern architecture,” as definitive and challenging as the Pavillon L’Esprit Nouveau (bottom), designed by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret for the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. (devonandexeterinstitution.org/Wikipedia)SHAM AESTHETIC…Mumford referred to buildings in the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair (left) as “laborious limestone counterfeits of civic grandeur,” while praising the 1893 and 1900 Paris expositions for design innovations including the Art Nouveau style—at right is Le Pavillon Bleu, a lavish restaurant once located at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. It was built by French architect René Dulong in collaboration with Belgian architect and designer Gustave Serrurier-Bovy, one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. (getzen.com/messynessychic.com)
Looking ahead to the planned 1939 World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows, Mumford believed the age of grand world expositions had passed, especially those that moved the needle on design innovation. Moreover, he observed that the lack of real drama or rational purpose would threaten bankruptcy to future fairs, a symptom especially acute in America: “…a hasty transfer of attention from the agents of production to the organs of reproduction; a bevy of naked hussies remind the spectator that there are other wonders in Nature besides the harnessing of Niagara Falls, or the five-millionth Ford car.”
POINTING TO THE FUTURE..Rosalie Fairbanks, a guide to the 1939 New York World’s Fair, points to the theme of the exposition—the Trylon and Perisphere—after the entire sheath of scaffolding was removed for the first time on February 22, 1939. (Associated Press)
Earth-movers were already at work sculpting the fair’s site from the swampland and ash heaps along the Flushing River when Mumford assembled a self-anointed advisory group in 1936. This group— the “Fair of the Future Committee”—urged the fair’s leaders to abandon superficial commercialism and instead demonstrate how technology could serve the public good and restore ecological balance in American communities. That did not come to pass; when the fair opened in 1939, Mumford wrote in his “Sky Line” column (titled “Genuine Bootleg”) that the committee’s “hopes and proposals for a major contribution to urban design were progressively defeated. Today their wreckage is strewed about the Fair, so thoroughly smashed and disfigured that their own fathers could scarcely identify the corpses.”
FUTURAMA was a popular exhibit and ride at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Designed by Norman Bel Geddes for the General Motors pavilion, it proposed a sprawling car-based future that was the antitheses of Lewis Mumford’s vision of human-scaled, ecologically balanced development. (Wikipedia)
Mumford got one thing right. Although the 1939 fair attracted more than 45 million visitors, it lost a lot of money, recouping only 32 percent of its original cost.
* * *
Only a Memory
In “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White recalled the brief life of “America’s Little House” at 39th and Park in the Murray Hill neighborhood. The eight-room Georgian colonial was built in 1934 during the “Better Homes in America” campaign that promoted single-family home ownership as well as design innovations. The CBS radio network (which contributed $50,000 to the project) installed a studio in the house’s garage, from which it broadcast three national radio programs to a hundred stations across the country.
Open for about a year, the house was demolished in November 1935, its doors and interior furnishings sold to hostesses who had worked at the house. In its place William Van Alen—architect of the Chrysler Building—erected the all-steel “House of the Modern Age.”
CHANGE OF SCENE…At left, America’s Little House on Park Avenue and 39th Street, replaced by William Van Alen’s prefabricated steel house (right), “The House of the Modern Age,” detail from a photo by Berenice Abbott. (Wikipedia/cornell.edu)
…in the following week’s issue of The New Yorker, June 27, a back of the book ad from the Modernage Furniture Corporation touted the opening of “The House of the Modern Age”…
* * *
Fan Fans
Staying on the domestic scene, here is an excerpt from Barbara Blake’s “About the House” column, where she updated readers on the latest in electric fans (air-conditioning in private homes was still a rarity).
ELECTRIC WIND…Barbara Blake highlighted the latest in electric fans including, clockwise from top left, the Airflow Safefan, which moved air with looped ribbons; the Samson Safeflex employed rubber blades as a safety feature; the noted designer Robert Heller produced these fan designs (1936 and 1937) modeled on airplane propellers. (worthpoint.com/ebay.com/Montreal Museum of Fine Arts)
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Billy’s Beef
In 1899 vaudevillian Billy Watson (aka Isaac Levie) formed his Beef Trust burlesque troupe of plus-sized women. Although his shows starred women in the 200-pound range, he also relied on slight-of-hand provided by the “Tights King” Morris Kohan, who apparently could produce tights that could make a person look either heavier or slimmer. “The Talk of the Town” explains in this excerpt:
WHERE’S THE BEEF?…Billy Watson’s burlesque troupe of plus-sized women—the Beef Trust— padded their profiles with the aid of specially designed tights. (Facebook.com)
* * *
Divine Dilemma
In Part Two of Father Divine’s profile, St. Clair McKelway and A.J. Liebling recounted the preacher’s 1931 arrest, prompted by ongoing complaints from the citizens of Sayville, New York about the traffic jams caused by Divine’s daily feasts as well as the noise generated by the faithful who would holler hallelujahs late into the evening. During one of these late night revivals police raided Divine’s property and fined each of the seventy-eight followers a few dollars apiece. Divine, however, insisted on a jury trial, which was held seven months later. The charge: Maintaining a public nuisance.
Jurors convicted Divine, with a request for leniency, but Justice Lewis Smith sentenced the preacher to a year in prison, calling him a “menace to society.” However, four days later the judge dropped dead of a heart attack, and Divine was freed. The notion that the judge’s death was divine retribution was naturally perpetuated by the media. A brief excerpt, with illustration by Abe Birnbaum.
GET OUT OF JAIL CARD…In 1931 Father Divine was arrested for maintaining a public nuisance. Following a jury trial and conviction, the presiding judge dropped dead, leading the preacher’s freedom a few days later. (facebook.com/nydailynews.com)
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At the Movies
The drama film Private Number was based on the 1915 play Common Clay, which had already been made as a silent in 1919 and as a sound film in 1930. The play had a somewhat scandalous theme for the time (a young servant is fired when she becomes pregnant by her employer’s son), but thanks to the Hays Code, the more scandalous parts of the earlier films were omitted in 1936’s Private Number, leaving the viewer with little except for some “old-fashioned hocus pocus,” according to critic John Mosher.
THE BUTLER DID IT…In Private Number,Basil Rathbone portrayed a tyrannical butler with a personal interest in one of his new maids (Loretta Young). She in turn secretly marries the scion of the family (Robert Taylor) and bears his child. Clockwise from top left: Poster for the film; Rathbone, Kane Richmond, and Young; Taylor, Young, and well-known canine actor Prince; rivals for a maid’s affection—Taylor and Rathbone. (Wikipedia/imdb.com/basilrathbone.net)
Thirty-nine-year-old Marion Davies appeared in one her final films, Hearts Divided, a musical based on the real-life marriage between American Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Patterson and Jérôme Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. Although in real life Napoleon annulled the marriage, Hollywood gave the couple a happier ending.
THREE’S A CROWD…Napoleon (Claude Rains) comes between lovers Marion Davies and Dick Powell in Hearts Divided. The two also shared an off-screen romance behind the back of William Randolph Hearst, with whom Davies had a long-term relationship and to whom she believed she owed her career. (imdb.com)
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From Our Advertisers
Illustrator R. John Holmgren drew up this non-partisan appeal for White Rock mineral water…
…Stage magazine touted its upcoming July issue, featuring the “Glamour Girls” of Hollywood…
…here is the cover of that July 1936 issue, illustrated by Abe Birnbaum, featuring caricatures of leading ladies including Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, Merle Oberon, Myrna Loy, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, and Katharine Hepburn…
(abebooks.com)
…longtime member of the New Yorker coterie and contributor Alexander Woollcott appeared in this full-page ad endorsing the work of the American Civil Liberties Union…
…from the 1920s to the 1940s the Powers Reproduction Corporation was a prominent, New York City photo-engraving firm that created high-quality color images for magazines and advertising agencies…
…these back of the book ads joined forces to promote the healing waters of Saratoga Springs and the Gideon Putnam hotel and spa…apparently the waters and other spa services treated everything from heart conditions to obesity…
…Dr. Seuss returned with another scenario for insecticide use…
…on the inside back cover, the distillers of Four Roses Whiskey conjured up a June bride as an apt metaphor for their blending techniques…
…while Lucky Strike reclaimed the back cover with an ad that promoted its low acid cigarettes, whatever that meant…
…on to our illustrators and cartoonists, we begin with Arnold Hall…
…and Robert Day…
…with other featured spots from John Groth…
…Richard Taylor…
…and Otto Soglow…
…James Thurber drew up an unusual development in the sheepfold…
…Barbara Shermund posed a challenge for a hair dresser…
…and Shermund again, revealing a tactic of the modern woman…
…Carl Rose commanded a two-page spread to tell his tale of sin and redemption…
…Ned Hilton needed a hand at the subway station…
…Mary Petty gave us a patient in need of a second opinion…
Above: The RMS Queen Mary arriving at New York harbor accompanied by a flotilla of escorts on June 1, 1936. (liverpool.ac.uk)
The RMS Queen Mary was launched in the age of superliners that included the SS Bremen, the SS Île de France and the SS Normandie. These and other liners competed for the Blue Riband, an unofficial honor bestowed on Atlantic Ocean liners achieving the highest average speed. These ships also vied for the distinction of being the most luxurious.
May 30, 1936 cover by Rea Irvin, celebrating the arrival of the June bride.
The Queen Mary was a top contender for both honors when she departed on her maiden voyage from Southampton on May 27, 1936. London correspondent Samuel Jeake, Jr (aka American poet and novelist Conrad Aiken) paid a visit to the liner just days before her first Atlantic crossing. Excerpts:
BOAT AFLOAT…Clockwise, from top left, a Bentley automobile is brought aboard the Queen Mary before her maiden voyage; the liner departs from Southampton, May 27, 1936; first-class passengers dining during that first crossing; the Queen Mary arriving at the newly built Pier 90 in New York Harbor, June 1, 1936. The Queen Mary and the SS Normandie were speedy competitors for the Blue Riband in the 1930s. (RMS Queen Mary via Facebook/NYC Municipal Archives)SEEING STARS…Celebrities on the maiden voyage included John F. Kennedy and his father, Joseph P. Kennedy (top left), as well as actress Joan Crawford (right). Bob Hope, Mae West, and Noël Coward were also spotted aboard the maiden voyage.Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Dolores Del Rio (bottom left) were photographed on the liner’s second departure from Southhampton. (cruiselinehistory.com/RMS Queen Mary via Facebook)HOME AWAY FROM HOME…First-class accommodations on the Queen Mary included, clockwise from top left, the Main Lounge; the Queen Mary Suite; swimming pool; and Observation Bar. (RMS Queen Mary via Facebook)NOT BAD…Conrad Aiken called the liner’s second-class (Tourist class) sections “one of the best travel bargains in the world.” Photos at left show lounge areas, while at right is the ship’s Shopping Centre, open to all passengers. (RMS Queen Mary via Facebook)OUT TO PASTURE…The majority of the great superliners were either destroyed during World War II or scrapped after their service. However the RMS Queen Mary, after her retirement in 1967, was permanently moored at Long Beach, California as a hotel, museum, and convention space. During her years of service she crossed the Atlantic 1,001 times, carrying more than two million passengers. From 1939 to 1946 the liner also served the war effort, transporting more than 800,000 troops. (visitlongbeach.com)
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Green Acres
It’s hard to believe that at one time Greenwich Village was home to trash-filled back yards and deteriorating tenements. Beginning in the 1920s, residents transformed these back yards into communal green oases. “The Talk of the Town” visited three that had “more or less grown together.” Spot art by Christina Malman. Excerpts:
URBAN OASIS…Undated photo shows the interior courtyard garden shared by twenty-one row houses of the Macdougal-Sullivan Gardens Historic District in Greenwich Village. (nytimes.com)
* * *
Art for the People
Geoffrey Hellman penned a profile of social realist artist George Biddle (1885– 1973), who played a major role in establishing the WPA’s Federal Art Project and who created murals for government buildings in the U.S., Brazil, and Mexico. Excerpt:
SERVING THE PUBLIC GOOD…George Biddle at work on a fresco titled Society Freed through Justice, located in the fifth floor lobby of the Attorney General’s office in the Department of Justice Building, Washington, D.C. (Wikipedia)AMERICAN IDEAL…Detail from Biddle’s fresco painting Society Freed Through Justice. (Library of Congress)
* * *
The Shoe Fits
Architecture critic Lewis Mumford was unimpressed with latest designs in commercial shops, however for “some mysterious reason” he was quite taken with various shoe stores in Midtown. Excerpts:
BRIGHT SPOTS…Lewis Mumford lauded the shoe company Thom McAn (top left) for its pioneering designs. Other notables included I. Miller & Sons (top right) on Fifth Avenue, and below, Florsheim Shoe on West 37th. (clickamericana.com)
* * *
A Pirate Sets Sail
In her “Tables for Two” column, Lois Long noted a few of the summertime getaways near the city including the Westchester Embassy Club. She also mentioned the re-emergence of Don Dickerman, famed for his series of gaudy themed restaurants in the West Village from the late 1910s to 1930. Among those was his famed Pirate’s Den, which was destroyed in a 1929 fire. With the stock market crash Dickerman (1893-1981) was forced to sell the location, and he declared bankruptcy in 1932. However by 1936 he was on his way back, opening a pirate-themed enterprise near Port Chester:
SUMMER DIVERSIONS…At top is a postcard image of the Westchester Embassy Club; below, Don Dickerman at his Los Angeles Pirates’ Den with his fifth wife, Thelma Mills Wunder (he had at least seven known wives). Originally a fixture of Greenwich Village, Dickerman emerged from his 1932 bankruptcy to open themed restaurants in Miami, Miami Beach, Port Chester, NY , Washington DC, and Hollywood. Bottom right, a matchbook cover from Dickerman’s revived Pirate’s Den at Port Chester, which was mentioned by Lois Long. (facebook.com/restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/ebay.com)
* * *
At the Movies
Under the strict moral guidelines of the Hays Code, gangster films of the Pre-Code era gave way to milder fare, much to the chagrin of film critic John Mosher.
KINDER, GENTLER GANGSTERS…Clockwise from top left, poster for Bullets or Ballots gave Edward G. Robinson top billing with Joan Blondell also prominently featured—Humphrey Bogart was a relative newcomer in the movies, seen here in a scene with Robinson in Bullets or Ballots; Robert Young and Betty Furness in The 3 Wise Guys; James Cagney and Loretta Young in the pre-Code film Taxi, which was released in 1932 but reissued in 1936 (SEE BELOW) to capitalize on Cagney’s new superstar status. The film also featured the famously misquoted line: “Come out and take it, you dirty yellow-bellied rat.” (imdb.com/tcm.com)
In the following week’s issue (June 6), Mosher noted that he’d forgotten about his previous review of the Cagney film Taxi in 1932:
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From Our Advertisers
Appropriately buried in the back pages of The New Yorker was this tiny ad promoting Don Dickerman’s new Pirates’ Den at Port Chester, referenced above in Lois Long’s “Tables for Two” column…
…the Cunard White Star Line took out this two-page spread to announce the launch of the Queen Mary…
…illustrators with European roots brought modern touches to fashion advertisements…the Ukrainian-born Simeon Braguin (1907–1997), who created the ad below for Bergdorf Goodman, emerged in the 1930s as a prominent fashion illustrator, ultimately becoming the Creative Director for Vogue…during that time (1940s) he supported the work of an unknown artist, Andy Warhol…
…the artist behind this next fashion illustration was the prominent French-Hungarian costume designer and illustrator Marcel Vertès (1895–1961)…
…the prolific illustrator R. John Holmgren (1897- 1963) worked for dozens of publications, and was well known for his White Rock ads in the 1930s and 40s…
…the folks at R.J. Reynolds were still pushing their digestion claims along with their cigarettes…here they demonstrated the appeal of Camels to both the working class and the classy…
…Brown & Williamson introduced a new cigarette to the market…Viceroy was the first brand to feature a cork-tipped filter…
…Liggett & Myers continued to run their somewhat old-fashioned ads with softly lit, romantic settings…illustrator McClelland Barclay (1891–1943) created this look to promote the company’s Chesterfield brand…
…Barclay’s work recalled similar imagery used in a controversial 1926 ad for Chesterfield that sought to break the taboo placed on women smokers…
…not so controversial was Susan Willard Flint, who opened the magazine along with…
…Otto Soglow…
…and Richard Taylor…
…we turn to the cartoons starting with Whitney Darrow Jr and a canoodling couple…
…Charles Addams found some formidable bowling opponents…
…and Addams again at the races…
…Alain showed us the harder edges of marital bliss…
…while William Steig was all sweetness and light…
…Peter Arno showed us some political intrigue…
…Alan Dunn offered a new twist in hat fashions…
…and we close with Denys Wortman, and a very posh lion…
Above: Washington Square North circa 1930. (nypap.org)
In the first decades of the 20th century very few buildings in New York City were considered sacred, especially during the building boom of the Twenties when large swaths of the old city were erased to make way for massive skyscrapers and more than 740,000 new housing units.
May 9, 1936 cover by Constantin Alajalov.
To keep anything historic from the wrecking ball required constant vigilance as well as political savvy. Such was the case at Washington Square, where in response to a 27-story building erected at 1 Fifth Avenue a campaign was organized to create height limits around the square itself. The land for 1 Fifth Avenue was leased by Sailors’ Snug Harbor—a foundation dedicated to assisting retired mariners and one of the largest owners of land in Greenwich Village. The threat to Washington Square became even greater in 1936 when the same foundation announced plans to demolish several of the structures facing the north side of Washington Square, known as “The Row.” In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B.White explained:
INTERLOPER…The Sailors’ Snug Harbor Foundation had already altered the scale of Washington Square with the erection of 1 Fifth Avenue (1926-27), seen to the right of the arch in the bottom photo (by Berenice Abbott, 1936); above left, facade of Sailors’ Snug Harbor Foundation building as it appears today (inset: the foundation’s monogram set within the spandrels of the arched windows); top right, looking west down Washington Square North, 1937. (daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/geographicguide.com)
Fortunately the demolition did not proceed, with Sailors’ Snug Harbor deciding to retain the character of “The Row”—numbers 1-13 Washington Square North. Not so fortunate were the adjacent Rhinelander Houses that were demolished in the mid-1940s, and “Genius Row” on Washington Square South, which was demolished in 1948 to make room for the NYU Law Center.
NOT SO FORTUNATE…The Rhinelander Houses at Washington Square North (top photo, from 1922) were demolished in 1951 to make way for an apartment house; photo below, the “Genius Row” on Washington Square South was demolished in 1948 to make room for the NYU Law Center. Occupants of Genius Row included writers Stephen Crane, O. Henry, and Willa Cather.(nypl.org/Village Preservation–GVSHP)
Beginning in the 1940s, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses would try many times to ram a highway through Washington Square Park, including a proposal in the early 1950s (below) that would bisect the park with a 48-foot-wide highway connecting Fifth Avenue to West Broadway.
PAVING PARADISE…Opposition was so great to Robert Moses’s Washington Square proposals that he finally abandoned plans for a highway through the park. (MTA Archives)
* * *
Farewell Artie
Legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini (1867–1957) transformed the New York Philharmonic into a world-class ensemble during his stint as music director from 1928 to 1936. Unfortunately, his stellar career with the Philharmonic ended rather ignominiously: When the Maestro turned to take a bow at the conclusion of his Carnegie Hall farewell concert, a young photographer exploded a flash bulb directly in his face, causing the great conductor to flee the stage. E.B. White was there to take it all in:
I SAW THE LIGHT…a photographer’s flash temporarily blinded legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini (top) following his farewell concert at Carnegie Hall. Below, a ticket stub from the historic evening. Five bucks seems like a bargain, but it is roughly equivalent to nearly $120 today. (wfimc.org/carnegiehall.org)
The New Yorker’s music critic Robert A. Simon also shared some thoughts on the evening, which included a scuffle between a “hatless fellow” and another fellow (also hatless) that followed the photographer incident:
PLEASE BEHAVE…A view from the Carnegie Hall stage in 1930. Following Arturo Toscanini’s farewell concert in 1936, a scuffle broke out in the lobby, the result of a row over the temporary blinding of the Maestro by a photographer’s flash bulb. (nypap.org)
* * *
Lah-Dee-Dy
“The Talk of the Town” looked into the fuss over the toy industry’s first practical “drink-and-wet” baby doll, Effanbee’s Dy-Dee doll. Marketed as “The Almost Human Doll”, the “Talk” correspondents (Helen and Charles Cooke) found a demonstration at Macy’s a bit too real (included with this excerpt is spot art by Abe Birnbaum).
UNCANNY…The Effanbee Doll Company marketed their “Almost Human” Dy-Dee doll as the first workable “drink-and-wet” baby doll. The doll was designed by German-born Bernard Lipfert (1886–1974), who sculpted dolls for prominent American toy manufacturers from the 1920s to the 1960s, including the famous Patsy and Shirley Temple dolls. (collectornet.net/Linda Lipfert White via catskilldolls.com)
* * *
At the Movies
Many film critics in the 1930s, including The New Yorker’sJohn Mosher, admired the Soviet film industry for its cinematic innovations and often brutal realism, even if deployed as propaganda. Such was the case with We Are From Kronstadt, which depicted heroic Red sailors defending the city of Petrograd from counterrevolutionary forces. “It’s a film to be respected,” Mosher wrote.
NO BLONDES, JUST BOMBSHELLS…Clockwise from top left: Russian poster for We Are From Kronstadt; actor Georgi Bushuyev; battle scene from the film; actress Raisa Yesipova. (Wikipedia/imdb.com)
Mosher also reviewed the lighter fare coming out of Hollywood, including two films featuring the actress Joan Bennett.
SEEING DOUBLE…Joan Bennett shared top billing in two new releases—with Cary Grant in Big Brown Eyes (left); and with Fred MacMurray in 13 Hours by Air (top right); Claudette Colbert was paired with Ronald Colman in Under Two Flags (below). (csfd.cz/imdb.com)WET AND COLD…Bette Davis and George Brent went through the motions in The Golden Arrow (left); at right, Rochelle Hudson and Alan Hale braved the wilds of Canada in The Country Beyond. Hale was the father of Alan Hale Jr., who was also a film actor but is best known today for playing the Skipper on TV’s Gilligan’s Island. (pinterest.com/20th Century Fox)
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Swing Time
Ninety years ago America’s youth primarily listened to (and danced to) swing music and big band jazz. The New Yorker kept readers up to date on the latest hits.
RHYTHM SECTION…”The Ol’ Perfessor” Kay Kyser’s band (the “Kollege of Musical Knowledge”) kept the kids in rhythm in the 1930s; at right, Benny Goodman (left) and Gene Krupa both released records with some new “swings.” (jimramsburg.com/grampsblog.wordpress.com)
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From Our Advertisers
The makers of Packard automobiles were big into the idea of continuity, emphasizing the quality and longevity of their product over gimmicky style changes…
…in the mid-1930s (and especially in 1936) Chrysler employed the comedic talents of Ed Wynn to sell its low-priced Plymouths…
…the makers of Fisher car bodies (a division of General Motors) continued their campaign of two-page ads pairing cute kids with their “Turret Top” safety feature…
…canned beer was a recent innovation in 1936, with New York breweries leading the way (Krueger Brewing Company was first, its canned beer officially debuting in January 1935)…
…the French Line enticed New Yorkers to see Paris in the springtime…
…Harper’s ran this ad on the top left corner of page 95 to promote Robert Benchley’sMy Ten Years in a Quandary…and How They Grew, illustrated by Benchley’s New Yorker colleague Gluyas Williams…
BENCHLEY IN A BIND…Robert Benchley and the cover of My Ten Years in a Quandary…and How They Grew. (ebay.com/ebooktakeaway.com)
…on to our cartoonists, we begin with Richard Taylor in the calendar section…
…and a nice bit of spot art by Christina Malman…
…Alan Dunn revealed a time tunnel under the Hudson…
…Rea Irvin drew up an odd sight along a garden path…
…this honeymoon was over before it even started, per Peter Arno…
…Alain showed us the troubled dreams of a jailbird…
…Charles Addams at his best, taking the daily horrors in stride…
…James Thurber gave us a Gish, but not of silent movie fame…
…Helen Hokinson illustrated a day at the radio station across pages 22-23…
…Hokinson again, weighing the competition between a sofa and table…
…and we close with Kemp Starrett, and a helpful husband…
Above: The Morris B. Sanders Studio and Apartment is the second-oldest modern townhouse in Manhattan. Sanders designed the townhouse, located on 49th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenue, in 1934 for his own use, and construction was completed in December 1935. (Wikipedia/docomomo-nytri.org)
Today we barely notice the tens of thousands of shiny glass buildings that populate our cities, not to mention the countless postwar houses that feature vast expanses of glass from floor to ceiling.
April 11, 1936 cover by Helen Hokinson.
In 1936 a house made of glass, especially as a structural element, seemed unlikely to most folks, if not downright bizarre. Enter Lewis Mumford, arts and architecture critic for The New Yorker, who was critical of many modern industrial trends and often promoted his ideal of human-scaled, organic design in buildings and cities. Mumford was not opposed to new technologies, such as glass block, as long as it was employed with sensitivity and good taste. Here are some of Mumford’s observations after visiting the American Glass Industries Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum:
NEW NEIGHBOR…Morris B. Sanders’ studio and apartment at 219 East 49th Street in Turtle Bay boldly interrupted a stodgy row of brownstones. Lewis Mumford pronounced the 1936 building “very handsome.” The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as an official landmark in 2008. (curbed.com/Wikipedia)
The Sanders House wasn’t the first time a brownstone was replaced by a modernist building. That honor goes to another Turtle Bay-area house, just one block from the Sanders house, designed by architect William Lescaze in 1933-34.
ODD COUPLE…Designed by William Lescaze in the International Style between 1933 and 1934 as a renovation of a 19th-century brownstone townhouse, 211 East 48th Street was one of three houses in Manhattan designed by Lescaze. (atlasobscura.com/inside inside.org)
The Brooklyn Museum exhibition also included commercial examples such as one of the world’s first buildings to be completely covered in glass, the Owens-Illinois Glass Research Laboratory in Toledo, Ohio. Mumford also commented extensively on the new uses of glass in Times Square, namely the rebuilt Rialto Theatre and a Childs restaurant located next door. Excerpts:
THINGS TO COME…Clockwise, from top left, the Owens-Illinois Glass Research Laboratory in Toledo, Ohio, built between 1935 and 1936, is recognized as one of the world’s first buildings to be completely covered in glass, utilizing glass blocks for the facade; Lewis Mumford was less impressed with the use of glass by the newly rebuilt Rialto Theatre, but praised the new Childs location next door for being full of “vitality and color.” (facebook.com/dinerhunter.com)
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Down on Il Duce
Last week we saw Robert Benchley’s review of the anti-war play, Idiot’s Delight. This week he reviews another play with themes that resonated in the moment, Bitter Stream. Written by Victor Wolfson and adapted from Ignazio Silone’s novel, Fontamara, the play depicted the horrors of fascism as Mussolini’s Black Shirts brutally seize an Italian neighborhood. It featured relative newcomer Lee J. Cobb as well as Frances Bavier, who twenty-four years later would portray Aunt Bee on The Andy Griffith Show. Excerpts:
TROUBLE IN SUNNY ITALY…A scene set in Fontamara Square in the play Bitter Stream, which ran for sixty-one performances at the Civic Repertory Theatre. At right, Lee J. Cobb portrayed Don Circonstantza, and Frances Bavier played the part of Soreanera. Bavier is best known for her portrayal of Aunt Bee on The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968). (revolutions newsstand.com/facebook.com)
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Sick Leave
Also last week we saw the first part of Edmund Wilson’s account of his travels in the Soviet Union. For the April 11 installment of “A Reporter at Large” (titled “Scarlet Fever in Odessa”), Wilson recounted his six-week stay in a filthy Soviet hospital. Excerpts:
WANTING OUT…Edmund Wilson couldn’t wait to get out of the “terribly dirty” Odessa hospital where he was quarantined with scarlet fever for six weeks. At left, photo by Margaret Bourke White, “In a Hospital Waiting Room, Moscow,” 1932. At right, Wilson in 1936. (nyamcenterforhistory.org/Wikipedia)
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Gall in Gaul
In her Paris Letter, Janet Flanner continued to share her observations about the French mood (agitated) in the wake of the German occupation of the Rhineland.
HOW ABOUT A NICE DITTY INSTEAD?…Janet Flanner reported that there was a “near riot” when a performance at the Paramount Theater (left) included “military music.” At left, the Paramount in 1927; at right, a Popular Front demonstration in Paris, 1936. (Wikimedia/Bibliothèque nationale de France)
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At the Movies
Little Lord Fauntleroy was Selznick International Pictures’ most profitable film until Gone with the Wind, and it featured one of the top child stars of the 1930s, English-American child actor Freddie Bartholomew (1924–1992). However, New Yorker film critic John Mosher was “bored to extinction” by the popular film.
SLUMMING…At left, Freddie Bartholomew and Mickey Rooney in Little Lord Fauntleroy. Rooney once said of Bartholomew: “He was one of the finest, if not the finest child stars that we had on the scene at that time”; at right, Aubrey Smith, Bartholomew and Dolores Costello in a scene from the film. (MGM/Wikipedia)
One of Hollywood’s greatest screen villains, English actor Henry Daniell, caught Mosher’s attention for his “smooth” performance as a blackmailer in The Unguarded Hour. The critic also enjoyed the thriller The House of a Thousand Candles, but was left flat by Give Us This Night.
A MANNERED SCAMP was how John Mosher described one of Hollywood’s greatest screen villains, English actor Henry Daniell (right) in The Unguarded Hour, which also starred (at left) Loretta Young and Lewis Stone. (imdb.com/facebook.com)THRILLS AND TRILLS…Top photo, Mae Clarke and Phillips Holmes in the spy thriller The House of a Thousand Candles; below, Give Us This Night was one of five films produced by Paramount that featured the popular Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Gladys Swarthout, seen here with Polish opera singer and actor Jan Kiepura.(imdb.com/mabumbe.com)
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From Our Advertisers
If you could afford it, a first-class salon on the Normandie sure looked like a great way to travel to France…
…this full-page ad enticed moviegoers with a quiz that promoted MGM’s The Great Ziegfeld…one of the most successful films of the 1930s, the movie won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Luise Rainer), and Best Dance Direction…
…who knows what will happen after the honeymoon, but we do know they will driving around in this swell-looking Packard 120, a lower-priced model that helped keep Packard afloat during the waning days of the Depression…
…Forstmann Woolens continued to entice buyers with their seasonal images of fine fashions…
…on to our cartoonists, we begin with the illustration for “The Theatre” section, this week Miguel Covarrubias taking over for Al Frueh…
…Richard Taylor contributed this fine spot illustration…
…and we have another spot by Helen Moore Sewell…
…James Thurber made an awkward introduction…
…George Price hoped for some comic relief at the theatre…
…Eli Garson found religious zeal at a street corner…
…Alan Dunn gave us a great opening line for an insurance salesman…
…Perry Barlow was inspired by bargains on Union Square…
…Helen Hokinson spotted a familiar face in the crowd…
…a quickie marriage left no room for romance, per Peter Arno…
…Whitney Darrow Jr signed us off with an endorsed blessing…
Above: At left, the Nazi Party sought to remake Christian holidays such as Christmas into Nazi-themed, pagan events, even trying to redefine St. Nicholas as Wotan, the ancient Germanic deity; at right, Adolf Hitler rejected Christianity, calling it a Jewish plot to undermine the heroic ideals of the Aryan-dominated Roman Empire. Here he is seen meeting the nuncio to Germany, Cesare Orsenigo, on January 1, 1935. (reddit.com/Wikipedia)
For the March 7 issue we look at the second part of Janet Flanner’s profile of German dictator Adolf Hitler, in which she attempted to identify the social and political influences that led to his peculiar vision of the world.
March 7, 1936 cover by Constantin Alajalov.
Flanner noted that Hitler’s ancestors were intermarrying, pious Roman Catholic peasants, including his parents, second cousins Klara Pölzl and Alois Hitler. While Klara was a doting parent, Alois was often abusive and distant. And so it began.
MOM AND DAD…Adolf Hitler’s parents were second cousins Klara Pölzl (1860–1907) and Alois Hitler (1837–1903). Pölzl was the third wife of the much older Hitler, who was a stern, mid-level Austrian customs official. (Wikipedia)
Flanner described Hitler’s struggles as an artist (rejected twice by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts), however his real disappointment was nationalistic; serving as a courier (and wounded) in World War I, he blamed internal traitors for Germany’s defeat. To bolster his patriotic ideals, Hitler turned to books, and particularly to poet and dramatist Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805)—the Nazis would later manipulate Schiller’s works to fit the Party’s themes of nationalism, struggle, and obedience. Hitler would further hone his world view through the works of white supremacist Count de Gobineau (1816–1882), nihilist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), and philologist Max Müller (1823–1900), whose work inadvertently contributed to the idea of a superior “Aryan” race.
REWRITING HISTORY…Clockwise, from top, a 1940 Nazi propaganda film, Friedrich Schiller— Der Triumph eines Genies, portrayed Schiller (played by actor Horst Caspar) as an idealistic Übermensch; Hitler and the Nazis were also influenced by white supremacist Count de Gobineau; philologist Max Müller; and the nihilist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. (film portal.de/Wikipedia)
In her conclusion, Flanner noted Hitler’s dislike of jokes at his own expense, and she was surprised that German comedian Weiss Ferdl, known for his “Führer gibes,” wasn’t in a concentration camp with cabaret singer Claire Waldorff (somehow both survived the regime and the war). Flanner also touched on Hitler’s antipathy toward Christianity.
SURVIVORS…At left, Weiss Ferdl (1883-1949) was a German actor, humorous folksinger known for his jibes at Hitler; at right, Claire Waldorff (1884-1957) was a famous cabaret singer and entertainer in Berlin, known for performing ironic songs with lesbian undertones. (Wikimedia Commons)I’LL TRY TO KILL YOU LATER…German Chancellor Adolf Hitler greets (l to r) Roman Catholic Abbot Albanus Schachleiter and Protestant Reichsbischof Ludwig Müller, outside the Frauenkirche in Nuremberg, September 1934. (Wikipedia)
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Thrill Ride
In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White described “one of the strangest nightmares of motordom”…
THE GREAT WALL…E.B. White feared whatever might pop out of the dark tunnels on the northern stretches of Park Avenue. Clockwise, from top, an 1876 illustration of the new viaduct through the Harlem Flats; E. 108th Street pedestrian tunnel between Lexington and Park; Park Avenue Viaduct–La Marqueta. (Wikipedia/manhattanwalkblog.com/6tocelebrate.org)
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Ding-dong
Robert Benchley filed a brief review of The Postman Always Rings Twice, a stage adaptation at the Lyceum Theatre of James M. Cain’s acclaimed novel. Although the play was well received by audiences, many reviewers found the subject matter distasteful. Cain would later describe the 1936 production as “a dreadful experience from beginning to end.”
SCHEMERS AND DREAMERS…Richard Barthelmess and Mary Philips portrayed star-crossed lovers in the 1936 stage production of The Postman Always Rings Twice. Philips was a noted Broadway performer and Humphey Bogart’s first wife. (Wikipedia/imdb.com)
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At the Movies
Critic John Mosher commented on familiar Hollywood tropes (doctors chasing nurses, execs pursuing secretaries etc.) and offered up the “tepid” example of Wife vs. Secretary, which featured three of Tinseltown’s top stars.
MILD HIJINKS…At left, Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in a scene from Wife vs. Secretary; at right, Gable with Myrna Loy.(faintlyfamiliar.com/facebook.com)
Mosher didn’t find much excitement in the dog-themed picture The Voice of Bugle Ann, and was left flat after seeing Road Gang and the German film Liebelei.
SWEET AND SOUR…Lionel Barrymore and Spring Byington were on one side of a feud over a special dog in The Voice of Bugle Ann. (tcm.com)WELL THIS SUCKS…At left, Donald Woods and Carlyle Moore Jr. find themselves behind bars in Road Gang; at right, Paul Hörbiger and Olga Tschechowa in 1933’s Liebelei (aka Playing at Love). (rotten tomatoes.com/screenslate.com)
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Language Arts
H.L. Mencken continued his exploration of American English by taking a look at past attempts to simplify spelling—most of them unsuccessful. Excerpts:
NOT ONE FOR GIMMICKS…H.L. Mencken at his desk at the Baltimore Sun.(Paris Review)
Mencken noted the Chicago Tribune’s radical approach to simplified spelling in 1934, and the lasting effects of Noah Webster’s American dictionary.
“PEDAGOGUE” was one of the milder insults cast at Noah Webster by his peers. (National Portrait Gallery)
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First World Problem
Food critic Sheila Hibben looked into the complexities of tea-drinking during the cocktail hour, and vice-versa.
CHOOSE YOUR MOOD…The Plaza Hotel offered the ideal setting for whatever libation one chose at tea time. At left, the Plaza’s Persian Room, 1934, and the Palm Court, undated photo. (cooperhewitt.org/mcny.org)
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Finer Things
Rebecca West was a brilliant journalist and gifted prose writer, and when she published something people took notice, including critic Clifton Fadiman, who noted her return with The Thinking Reed. A brief excerpt:
A MIGHTY PEN…Rebecca West (1892-1983) was considered one of the finest prose writers of twentieth-century England. This 1934 photograph was produced by Howard Coster. (National Portrait Gallery)
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From Our Advertisers
The March 7 issue opened to this sumptuous image of luxury travel aboard the Normandie…
…the salons of Dorothy Gray returned with another tale of a magical transformation, here the plain “Miss Adams” suddenly becomes lovely and exciting thanks to the illusion of cosmetics…
…the makers of Packard automobiles took out this full page ad to gently chastise Time magazine for questioning the carmaker’s adherence to a timeless, “basic design”…
…although in Time’s defense the Packard didn’t look much different from this Lincoln…
…what did look different was the Chrysler/DeSoto Airflow, which had disappointing sales due to a streamlined design that was a bit too radical for consumers…
…actress and costume designer Kate Lawson (1894-1977) made her image available to promote washable wallpaper…
…in addition to calming nerves and boosting energy, Camels apparently aided one’s digestion, or so this ad claimed…
…Liggett & Myers stuck with the homespun approach, here three generations light up Chesterfields in the warm glow of the parlor…
…did you spot the cigarettes in the ad?…
…on to the cartoons, we have Al Frueh’s take on the Ziegfeld Follies…
…James Thurber contributed this to the calendar section…
…and Thurber again with his beloved dogs…
…George Price found a glitch at the weather bureau…
…Californians circled their wagons in the hostile Midwest, per Carl Rose…
…Alain saw a trip to the dentist in this man’s future…
…Helen Hokinson lost us in the peculiarities of needlepoint…
…Barbara Shermund found a bargain in portraiture…
…and Shermund again, in the dress department…
…and we close with Whitney Darrow Jr, and something to write about…
Above: Former New York Mayor Jimmy Walker and wife Betty Compton, aboard the S.S. Manhattan in 1935. (New York Daily News Archive)
The Roaring Twenties and Jimmy Walker seemed made for each other. A dandy with a taste for fine clothes, late-night parties, and Broadway showgirls, the 97th mayor of New York was a darling of the media…until the market crashed; as nest eggs evaporated along with jobs, folks quickly lost their taste for such frivolity.
November 9, 1935 cover by Daniel “Alain” Brustlein. This was the first of nine covers Brustlein created for the magazine. An Alsatian-born American artist, cartoonist, illustrator, and author of children’s books, Brustlein (1904–1996) contributed to The New Yorker under the pen name “Alain” from the 1930s through the 1950s.Daniel “Alain” Brustlein, in an undated photo. During the height of Abstract Expressionism Brustlein became a reputable painter, exhibiting his work in New York and Paris. (derfner.org)
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The fall of 1935 marked three years since Walker had left office, and for nearly two of those years the city had been governed by the reformist Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. New Yorkers, it seemed, were ready for a dose of Jimmy when he returned from his European exile, hailed by a throng of media and well-wishers.
Writing for Airmail, longtime New York journalist Sam Roberts observes that the city loved Walker, “a charming hellion, a witty, self-effacing, glib humanist, far more flawed, too, and compassionate than pictured previously, a man elevated and condemned by his own character, created and ultimately consumed by his times. He conjures up the anti-Trump—a dodgy philanderer who governed by making people feel good rather than angry.”
WHERE’S THE PARTY?…Former Mayor Jimmy Walker and his wife, Betty Compton, returned to New York in the fall of 1935 amid tremendous fanfare. The New Yorker’sMorris Markey noted that at least 160 media representatives were on hand for the couple’s arrival. (YouTube)
Walker (1881-1946) fled to Europe in November 1932 amid a bribery scandal that had prompted his resignation. Accompanied by Ziegfeld Follies singer Betty Compton (1906–1944)—whom he would marry in Cannes the following April—they would bounce around the continent until Walker determined that the danger of criminal prosecution had passed.
In his “A Reporter at Large” column, Morris Markey wrote about the media’s reception of the exiled mayor, “an army of reporters and photographers, sound engineers and announcers and contact men”…all assembled to inform the world of the return of a “discredited politician.”
HE GOT AROUND…During his time in office from 1926 to 1932, Mayor Jimmy Walker never seemed to miss a moment in the spotlight. Clockwise, from top left, Walker presided over the first shot in the city’s annual marble tournament on June 3, 1928; with actress Colleen Moore at the 1928 premiere of her latest film, Lilac Time; testifying on bribery charges before the investigative committee of Judge Samuel Seabury, 1932; with Betty Compton following their 1933 wedding in Cannes. (New York Times/konreioldnewyork.blogspot.com/villagepreservation.org)
Markey continued to convey his astonishment at “the monstrous complexity, the fabulous opulence, of the machinery put in motion to inform the universe of Mr. Walker’s arrival upon his native shore.” This included a massive cocktail party—hosted by The United States Lines—for more than two hundred press representatives and other officials.
After all the commotion, Walker would settle into a job as head of Majestic Records, adopt two children with Compton, and host his own radio series on WHN, Jimmy Walker’s Opportunity Hour.
Compton would divorce Walker in 1941 and remarry. Becoming ill after the birth of a son, she would die at age 38 in 1944. Walker would die two years later at age 65 of a brain hemorrhage.
CALLING ON THE ROOSEVELTS…Jimmy Walker and Betty Compton at the White House in 1937. It was pressure from FDR that led to Walker’s resignation in 1932. (Wikipedia)
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High-flying Hooplah
While New Yorkers were going gaga over Walker, folks in the Bay Area were all atwitter over the first air-mail flight across the Pacific, loading a Pan Am Clipper to the gills with all manner of collectables. E.B. White noted:
BELLYFUL…On Nov. 22, 1935, Pan American Airways made aviation history as the China Clipper lifted off from Alameda, beginning the world’s first trans-Pacific airmail service. Captained by Edwin Musick and crewed by famed navigator Fred Noonan, the Martin M-130 opened a new era of long-distance flight across the Pacific. Noonan, who charted many commercial routes across the Pacific, would go missing along with Amelia Earhart during their ill-fated flight in July 1937. (Library of Congress)
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Wise Men From the East
“The Talk of the Town” visited with Soviet satirists Ilya Ilf (1897–1937) and Evgeny Petrov (1903–1942), who were in New York preparing for a ten-week road trip to California and back. On assignment as special correspondents for the newspaper Pravda, they later published a series of illustrated articles, “American Photographs,” as well as a book titled Single-Storied America (the summer 2004 issue of Cabinet Magazine features an account of their journey as well as a number of their photographs).
AMERICA WAS A GAS…Soviet satirists Ilya Ilf (left) and Yevgeni Petrov check out New York before heading into the American heartland on a ten-week road trip, a highlight being the countless full-service gas stations they encountered along the way. After seeing skyscrapers and mountains and other wonders, the pair agreed that the most enduring image was the one at right: “an intersection of two roads and a gasoline station against a (back)ground of wires and advertising signs.” Sadly, Ilf died two years later from tuberculosis; Petrov died in a plane crash in 1942 while working as a war correspondent. (Aleksandra Ilf archive/Cabinet Magazine)
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A Jumbo Career
Wallace Beery (1885–1949) got his start in the comedy silents of the 1910s and became a star before the sound era made him an even bigger one; by 1932 he was the world’s highest-paid actor. Alva Johnston’s profile (titled “Jumbo”) took a look at Beery’s life and career (illustration by Al Frueh). Excerpts:
COURTING AND SPARKING…Sid Miller (Wallace Beery) spikes the lemonade as he woos Lily Davis (Aline MacMahon) in a scene from the 1935 film, Ah Wilderness! (letterboxd.com)
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A View and Corbu
Art and design critic Lewis Mumford was well-known for his hypercritical eye, but occasionally he could be moved to rhapsodize, in this case about the opening of Fort Tryon Park, and particularly about the view it afforded visitors. He reserved his criticism for one of the latest works by Le Corbusier (aka Charles-Édouard Jeanneret), on exhibit at MoMA.
MAGNIFICENT is the word Lewis Mumford used to describe the view from Fort Tryon Park. This scene is taken from Linden Terrace to the west: a barge on the Hudson River and the Hudson Palisades beyond, with the Englewood Cliffs campus of Saint Peter’s University on the top. (Wikipedia)IRRATIONAL?…Mumford was not pleased with Le Corbusier’s latest work, Le Petite Maison de Weekend (Villa Henfel), which was featured on the cover of the MoMA exhibition catalogue (upper left). Mumford saw the design as a pathetic escape from the architect’s renown rationalism. (MoMA/Fondation Le Corbusier)
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At the Movies
It was a mixed bag at the movies for critic John Mosher, who was delighted by a Soviet take on Gulliver’s Travels, rendered with puppets engaged in a proletarian struggle…
KOMRADE GULLIVER…The Soviet stop motion-animated fantasy film, The New Gulliver, was a communist re-telling of Jonathan Swift’s 1726 novel. The film depicted Lilliput suffering under capitalist inequality and exploitation, with Gulliver enabling a proletarian revolution against the Lilliputian monarchy. (revolutionsnewstand.com)
…but Mosher was less than delighted with the latest from Hollywood, including a sedate The Three Musketeers, a “conventional” remake of D.W. Grifffith’s 1920 melodrama Way Down East, and the romcom Hands Across the Table, which the Times called “uproariously funny” but Mosher deemed barely worth a chuckle.
OUTCLASSED BY PUPPETS…John Mosher found the latest from Hollywood underwhelming. Clockwise, from top, Onslow Stevens, Moroni Olsen, and Paul Lukas in The Three Musketeers; Rochelle Hudson and Henry Fonda in Way Down East;Fred MacMurray and Carole Lombard in Hands Across the Table. (mabumbe.com/zeusdvds.com/Wikipedia)
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From Our Advertisers
The Dorothy Gray salons didn’t mince words when it came to a woman’s beauty regimen…without their help, claimed this ad, the poor “Mrs. Madison” would be “frankly plain,” with a face too wide and eyes and mouth too small…
…notable in ads for men’s and women’s clothes were the presence of cigarettes…all three of the men in this spot are having a smoke in their smart attire…
…White Rock gave their logo-bearer Psyche a rest in 1935 with a variety of ads including this one…
…the makers of Bisquit assumed their customers could read the French dialogue, or at least pretend to…
…when we (of a certain age) think of Marlboro we think of the rugged Marlboro Man, but in 1935 the brand was exclusively marketed to women…
…and who knows what Old Gold’s target was here…definitely women smokers, who were the growth market, but men would take notice of the George Petty pin-up…
…the makers of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, who endured Prohibition by offering products like Pabst-ett cheese spread, were ready to grab a big market share after Repeal…
…Otto Soglow, still contributing to The New Yorker despite taking his Little King to Hearst, drew up this potentate for a tomato juice spot…
…which segues to our other cartoonists, beginning with Al Frueh and his take on the latest Broadway hit, Jubilee!…
…Robert Day saw action on the gridiron…
…unless I missed something, this might be Richard Taylor’s first New Yorker cartoon…
…James Thurber put a unique spin on a bowling ball…
…Alan Dunn was all in knots at a crime scene…
…Dunn again, pondering the wonders of a makeover…
…Barney Tobey eavesdropped on a Downtown subway…
…Fritz Wilkinson looked to return a defective pet…
…Carl Rose needed two pages to illustrate his epic cartoon (caption added at the bottom for readability)…
…and we close with Helen Hokinson, and a whiff of scandal…
It has been a while since we’ve heard from art and design critic Lewis Mumford, who often cast a censorious eye at the rapidly changing world around him.
October 12, 1935 cover by William Steig. From 1930 until his death in 2003 at age 95, Steig contributed 121 covers and 1,676 drawings to The New Yorker.
In his column “The Sky Line,” Mumford cast an envious gaze north toward Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Zoo, which he believed had greatly improved upon the recently rebuilt Central Park Zoo.
HE HAD OPINIONS…Lewis Mumford (1895-1990).
Brooklyn’s advantage, according to Mumford, was the superior design of Prospect Park, which offered a better location for a zoo than Central Park. We’ll let Mumford explain in these excerpts:
CURIOSITIES, MOSTLY…Clockwise, from top left: Animals were on display at Prospect Park as early as 1866, as seen in this photo of the “Deer Farm”; circa 1900 postcard of Prospect Park’s rather distressing “Menagerie,” which opened around 1890; the park’s Elephant House opened in 1908—modeled after the Hippo Palace at the Antwerp Zoo, the Elephant House also featured rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, and tapirs; baby elephants (postcard circa 1940s) were a popular attraction until the zoo moved on to smaller creatures in the 1990s. (bklynlibrary.org/untappedcities.com/blog.wcs.org/nycgovparks.org)
LEWIS MUMFORD PRAISED the 1934 plan for the Prospect Park Zoo, designed by architect Aymar Embury II and approved by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. The zoo was built, in large part, through Civil Works Administration and Works Progress Administration labor and funding. (Brooklyn Public Library)
FLATBUSH FAUNA…Clockwise, from top left: Postcard image of Prospect Park Zoo circa 1935; zoo keeper sprays an elephant with a hose, circa 1940; an 1899 bronze sculpture depicting a mother lion nursing her cubs was created by French artist Victor Peter; seal pool, undated photo. (nycgovparks.org/Center for Brooklyn History/Facebook)
CARING OVER CAGES…Prospect Park Zoo today. The zoo closed in 1988 for five-year, $37 million renovation program that, except for the exteriors of the 1930s-era buildings, completely replaced the original zoo. With an emphasis on education and conservation, current exhibits house smaller species rather than elephants, tigers, and lions. (Prospect Park Alliance)
Mumford also looked at the latest developments at Rockefeller Center. As we’ve seen before, he favored smaller-scale developments that were organic and community-focused, and therefore was a strong critic of projects like Rockefeller Center. At its inception he called it a dehumanizing “megamachine,” a product of corporate greed, a “reckless, romantic chaos” that represented the capitalist jungle. Harsh words indeed, so it was something of a surprise to see his approval of the latest piece of the complex—the International Building at 630 Fifth Avenue:
SIMPLE AND CORRECT were the words Lewis Mumford used to describe the interior entrance to 630 Fifth Avenue. (Wikiwand/newyorkoffices.com)
* * *
Bad Benito
In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White had some choice words for the murderous Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and for the newspaper columnist Arthur Brisbane, both unconcerned with the slaughter of “backward” Ethiopians by invading Italian forces:
White also noted the role played by The New Yorker in a new novel by William Farquhar Payson (1876–1939) titled Give Me Tomorrow. Apparently the novel credited the magazine’s unique humor for revealing the banality of an evangelist and delivering a young woman from his clutches…
THE NEW YORKER TO THE RESCUE…William Farquhar Payson deployed a copy of the magazine for a pivotal scene in his novel Give Me Tomorrow. (findagrave.com)
* * *
A Star Is Born
Stage and film director Vincente Minnelli (1903-1986) moved from Chicago to New York in 1931, where he worked as a stage designer for Earl Carroll’s Vanities and costume and set designer for the Ziegfeld Follies before becoming art director at Radio City Music Hall. He got his big break in 1935 when he directed, to critical acclaim, the Broadway musical At Home Abroad. “The Talk of Town” took notice of the rising star (excerpts):
AN EYE FOR DESIGN…Photographer Lusha Nelson photographed Vincente Minnelli at his desk with a miniature stage on Feb. 1, 1936. (James Grissom via threads.com)
* * *
A Safe Space
Lois Long had mixed feelings regarding the Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room, fearing that it was a tourist magnet but also desiring to take in its sumptuous floor shows. In the first excerpt, Long continued her comment on the heated competition she perceived among nightclub owners.
FEAR FACTOR…The entertainment lineup at Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room helped Lois Long overcome her fear of encountering tourists. Clockwise, from left, the Rainbow Room in 1934; Ramon and Renita lit up the dance floor (photo from Nov. 1935 Harper’s Bazaar); Ray Noble and his orchestra provided “all-around beauty”; and (inset) cabaret singer Frances Maddox offered her sophisticated warble to the glittering affair. (Rockefeller Center Archives/Pinterest/Shedd Institute)
* * *
An Untamed Shrew
Theatre critic Wolcott Gibbs had a good time watching Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne take on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew at the Guild Theatre, especially Lunt’s uproarious take on the play.
FUN WITH SHAKESPEARE…Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne matched wits in the Theatre Guild’s presentation of The Taming of the Shrew. (minnesotaplaylist.com)
* * *
At the Movies
Our film critic John Mosher didn’t have much to say about Here’s To Romance, which seemed contrived to introduce the Italian tenor Nino Martini (1905–1976) to a wider audience. To Mosher, the highlight of the film was the appearance of Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861–1936), the Austrian-American operatic dramatic contralto, who appeared to be having a good time.
SINGER SANDWICH…Genevieve Tobin (center) stands between tenor Nino Martini and dramatic contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink in a scene from Here’s to Romance. (rottentomatoes.com)
Mosher reviewed two other films that were a bit more dismal: The Last Outpost was a war-themed melodrama starring Cary Grant and Claude Rains; O’Shaughnessy’s Boy featured Wallace Beery as a circus animal trainer who loses his arm as well as his family.
DUELING MUSTACHES…Cary Grant (left) sported a rare mustache in a role opposite Claude Rains in The Last Outpost. (mabumbe.com)A TOUGH ACT…Sara Haden played a skeptical aunt who sees a one-armed circus animal tamer (Wallace Beery) regain his son (Jackie Cooper) and the confidence he lost along with his wife in O’Shaughnessy’s Boy. (tcm.com)
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From Our Advertisers
I find these advertisements oddly appealing, because this kind of travel no longer exists. Today there is exactly one ocean liner left in the world—the Queen Mary 2; the cruise ships that rule the 21st century seas are essentially hotel/amusement parks stacked on top of a huge barges…water slides, Vegas-style entertainments, and all-you-can-stuff-into-your-face buffets…
…this curious ad on page 10 mimicked the look of a New Yorker short in the vein of Clarence Day…what it promoted was an around-the-world cruise that would take two-hundred (well-heeled) passengers to more than twenty destinations including Malaysia, Bali and Singapore…
Postcard image of the Franconia. (Pinterest)
…society women could be counted on to endorse all sorts of things from cigarettes to cold cream…here a “Mrs. Francis L. Robbins, Jr” (I couldn’t find her given name) endorses Cutex nail polish and lipstick…the ad noted that Mrs. Robbins “is a beautiful and popular member of Long Island and New York society”…
…the makers of Spud menthol cigarettes entered the realm of the surreal with a talking cigarette that encouraged chain smoking…
…the board game Monopoly had its origins in The Landlord’s Game, created in 1903 by an anti-monopolist named Lizzie Magie…over the years variants of the game were introduced until Parker Brothers bought the rights from Magie and another inventor and began mass-marketing the game in the fall of 1935…
…Peggy Lou Snyder was performing in vaudeville when she met the saxophone-playing bandleader Ozzie Nelson in 1932. Nelson hired her to sing with his band (under the name Harriet Hilliard) and then married her three years later…in 1944 the couple would launch a comedy series for radio, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, which made a successful transition to television, appearing on ABC from 1952 to 1966…
…here we have some old-timers offering hunting advice and promoting octane-boosting Ethyl gasoline, which helped prevent engine knock…it also contained the highly toxic additive tetraethyllead, which could cause severe neurological damage, particularly in children…it was completely banned in the U.S. by 1996…
…on to our cartoonists, we start with this delightful spot art by Christina Malman that graced the bottom of the calendar and events page…
…Helen Hokinson appeared twice, first at the vet’s…
…and later shopping for the maid at a department store…
…George Price had a surprise in store for this mirror-gazer…
…Charles Addams took the top of page 29 to show us a proud papa in a maternity ward…
…Ned Hilton uncovered some history at the Singer Building…
…Mary Petty eavesdropped on a tactless toff…
…Leonard Dove showed us that being a sugar daddy wasn’t so sweet…
…and we close with William Steig, one of his “Small Fry” speaking up for the old man…
Above: Will Hays (center, top) was the enforcer and Fr. Daniel A. Lord was the author of the Production Code that was rigidly enforced beginning in 1934. They and others were responding to the sex, violence and other forms of "immorality" in such films as 1932's "Scarface" (with Paul Muni, pictured at left) and 1931's "Blonde Crazy" with James Cagney and Joan Blondell. (Wikipedia/cinemasojourns.com)
With the Production Code fully enforced, New Yorker film critic John Mosher found even less to get excited about during his visits to Manhattan’s cinemas.
August 17, 1935 cover by Julian de Miskey. He contributed 62 covers to the magazine, as well as 82 cartoons from 1925 to 1962.
The Motion Picture Production Code—a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content—had been around for awhile, but it was mostly ignored until June 13, 1934, when an amendment to the Code required all films released to obtain a certificate of approval. Hoping to avoid government censorship and preferring self-regulation, studios adopted the Code.
The Code’s effects were felt in such films as The Farmer Takes a Wife, a romantic comedy about a Erie Canal boatman, portrayed by Henry Fonda, who dreams of becoming a farmer (a role reprised by Fonda from the Broadway production of the same name; it was Fonda’s first break in films). Mosher was pleased by Fonda’s performance, but found the film adaptation to be corny and phony, filled with “bastard” dialect and schmaltzy musical numbers. “It is the sort of thing which is okayed by Purity Leagues…” Mosher concluded.
SILVER SCREEN DEBUT…Boatman Dan Harrow (Henry Fonda) woos barge cook Molly Larkins (Janet Gaynor) in a scene from A Farmer Takes a Wife. While it was Fonda’s film debut, Gaynor was an established star known for playing sweet, wholesome characters. One of the few actresses who made a successful transition to sound movies in the late 1920s, Gaynor was the number-one draw at the box office in 1935. (IMDB)STILL KEEPING IT CLEAN…The Code was still in force when The Farmer Takes a Wife was remade in 1953; however, nineteen years after the Code took effect there was a notable easing of restrictions, as can be seen in the generous display of Betty Grable’s famous gams (seen here with Thelma Ritter). (IMDB/Wikipedia)
To get a clearer idea of what the Code did to the pictures, compare the scene from 1934’s Tarzan and His Mate (left), which was released two months before the Code went into effect, and Tarzan Escapes (right), from 1936.
CLOTHED IN THE CODE…Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan appeared together in six Tarzan films. In their second outing, 1934’s Tarzan and His Mate, O’Sullivan wore a skimpy halter-top and loincloth (left) and was shown sleeping and swimming in the nude. In their next film, 1936’s Tarzan Escapes (right); Jane is more chastely clad. (mikestakeonthemovies.com/rottentomatoes.com)
* * *
Noted and Notorious
In his weekly column “Of All Things,” Howard Brubaker offered wry observations on the passing scene, including this latest brief that described the rise and fall of a very unlikely quartet of celebrities.
DEMOGOGUES, DUTCH & DIMPLES…(Left to right) Support appeared to be on the wane for radio priest and demagogue Father Charles Coughlin and fellow-fascist Louisiana Sen. Huey Long, while stock was on the rise for mobster Dutch Schultz, who successfully swayed public opinion (while under indictment for tax evasion) by generously donating to various charities. Shirley Temple continued to charm audiences, her films ranking number-one at the box office in 1935 (as well as in 1936, 1937, and 1938). The year 1935 would also be the last for Long and Schultz–both would be assassinated. (Wikipedia)
* * *
Titlemania
Lacking the strictures of Old World caste systems, Americans have had an anxious relationship with class signifiers. In a land where trade schools become universities overnight and their faculty members refer to one another as “doctor,” there is much confusion and hand-wringing in the honorifics trade. H.L. Mencken examined the proliferation of titles in his country, freely handed out without regard to merit. Excerpts:
* * *
From Our Advertisers
The back of the book was where one could find advertisements for upscale urban living, including these two touting the advantages of the Hotel Pierre and The Barbizon…
…In a joint venture with a group of Wall Street financiers, the former busboy-turned restauranteur Charles Pierre opened the Hotel Pierre in 1930—not the most auspicious time to open a luxury hotel as markets continued to collapse…the Pierre went into bankruptcy in 1932 and was later purchased by oilman J. Paul Getty…the legendary Barbizon Hotel for Women, completed in 1927, was designed as a safe and respectable haven for women seeking to pursue careers in New York, especially in the arts, and would host numerous famous women through the 1970s…
At left, the Barbizon in 1927; right, the Hotel Pierre circa 1930. (loc.gov)
…like the tobacco companies, brewers targeted women as a growth market for a product mostly associated with men…
…the makers of juices, meanwhile, created comic strips to promote their products…College Inn still went negative with their ads—recall the violent outbursts of the Duchess…
…here a spiteful husband blames his wife’s choice of tomato juice for his lack of success with the boss…Libby’s, on the other hand, promoted their pineapple juice as a surefire cure for a young woman’s ennui…
…notable in these somewhat thin, late summer issues is the lack of full-color ads…this was on the back inside cover…
…Flit and Dr. Seuss continued to be a weekly presence…
…which brings us to our cartoonists, and a spot drawing by Constantin Alajalov…
…also a modest spot by Robert Day, keeping us cool with this polar bear…
…Alain offered a short course in art appreciation…
…George Price ran afoul of the fire code…
…Carl Rose ran his tracks across this two-page spread…
…William Steig gave us the small fry’s perspective on the world’s wonders…
…a rare appearance of baseball in the magazine, thanks to Robert Day...
…Richard Decker brought a modern world challenge to one filling station…
…A sailor’s return to bachelorhood required a new paint job, per Alan Dunn…
…and who else but Charles Addams would circle vultures over an amusement park?…
…and we close with Al Frueh, and a Union Club member not concerned with a dress code…
The 1935 film She was one of those old movies you’d see on television during the 1970s when there were only three or four channels (plus UHF) and local stations would tap into the “B” movie vault to fill airtime. One of those films was She.
August 3, 1935 cover by Helen Hokinson.
Film critic John Mosher felt a bit sorry for Helen Gahagan, who portrayed “She Who Must Be Obeyed” (aka “She”)—an immortal who ruled an exotic, lost civilization near the Arctic Circle. The challenge for Gahagan was to seem imperious before her co-stars Randolph Scott and Helen Mack, who seemed more suited to the high school hijinks of an Andy Hardy picture. The film was a pretty standard adventure tale, in the mold of producer Marian C. Cooper’s 1933 King Kong, with two explorers falling in love during a perilous journey.
ARCHETYPE…At left, Helen Gahagan as “She” (Who Must Be Obeyed). Her costume possibly inspired the Evil Queen in Disney’s 1937 animated Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. At right, lobby card that promoted the film. (Scifist.net/Reddit)WHEN YOU PLAY WITH FIRE…She Who Must Be Obeyed (Helen Gahagan), believing that the explorer Leo Vincey (Randolph Scott) was a reincarnation of his ancestor (whom she loved), and jealous of his girlfriend Tanya (Helen Mack), invites Leo to join her in the eternal flame. Unfortunately, her re-entry into the flame that gave her immortality turned her into a dying, withered crone. (The Nitrate Diva/Scifist.net)
The 1887 H. Rider Haggard novel, She, inspired eponymous silent films in 1908, 1911, 1916, 1917, and 1925. The 1935 film reviewed here received tepid reviews and lost money on its first release, however in a 1949 re-release it fared much better. She was re-made in 1965 with Ursula Andress in the lead role, and again in 1984 in a post-apocalyptic film that had virtually nothing to do with Haggard’s novel.
SHE THROUGH THE YEARS…Clockwise, from top left, “She” (Marguerite Snow) offers a dagger to Leo Vincey (James Cruze) in a 1911 two-reel (24 min.) adaptation; Valeska Suratt as “She” in the 1917 film (now lost); Betty Blythe took the title role in the 1925 production, considered to be the most faithful to the 1887 H. Rider Haggard novel; Sandahl Bergman appeared dressed for a Jazzercise video in the 1984 post-apocalyptic She; and finally, Ursula Andress and John Richardson in the 1965 CinemaScope production of She. (Wikipedia / digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu / cultcelebrities.com / Reddit)
* * *
Colonial Ambitions
With most of Africa carved up by other European powers (Britain, France, Belgium etc.) in the 19th century, Italy set its sights on Ethiopia, which by the end of the 19th century was the only independent country left on the continent. Ethiopia fought off Italy’s first attempt at conquest in the Battle of Adwa (1896), but with the rise of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, Italy paid a return visit, this time with heavy artillery and airstrikes that included chemical weapons. E.B. White tried to make sense of this latest invasion in his opening comments.
THOSE GUYS AGAIN…Italy invaded Ethiopia on October 3, 1935, a significant act of aggression in the lead up to World War II. Despite facing a technologically superior Italian army (top) equipped with modern weapons, including tanks, aircraft, and chemical weapons, the Ethiopian forces (bottom photo) mounted a strong resistance. (Wikipedia)
In his weekly column, Howard Brubaker mused on the Italian aggressions and other rumblings of the coming European war.
* * *
Author, Author
The writer Willa Cather was a favorite of New Yorker critics, including Clifton Fadiman, however her latest novel was a bit too mild for his tastes.
HERE’S LUCY…Clifton Fadiman confessed he was “mortified” to admit that he found Willa Cather’s latest novel a bit too gentle. At right, portrait of Cather on her birthday, December 7, 1936. (willacather.org)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
We begin with more fearmongering from the folks at Goodyear, who offered weekly reminders of the perils of not choosing their all-weather tires…
…the Liggett and Myers Tobacco Company conjured up this “naughty maiden” to encourage even timid souls to take up the habit…
…on the other hand, the makers of the upstart KOOL brand kept it simple with their chain-smoking penguin, who was grabbing ever more market share from rival menthol pusher SPUD…
…ads in the back of the book offered up even less sophisticated products, such as Crown Smelling Salts…
…while Dr. Seuss and Norman Z. McLeod continued to make a living with their distinctive illustrations…
…at the very back of the magazine, this tiny ad from Knopf promoted Clarence Day’sLife With Father, published just months before Day’s death on Dec. 28…
…which brings us to our cartoonists…Constantin Alajalov kicked us off with this happy number…
…James Thurber found steamy goings on in the parlor…
…Charles Addams came down to earth with this pair…
…George Price showed us the rough and tumble of news reporting…
…Mary Petty contributed this sumptuous drawing of a croquet match…
…Helen Hokinson was in a transcendental mood…
…and Ned Hilton had a big surprise for one garage tinkerer…
…on to August 10 and a rich summer scene by Arnold Hall:
August 10, 1935 cover by Arnold Hall.
“The Talk of the Town” checked the lunch crowd at Mary Elizabeth’s Tea Room, where some preferred to drink their lunch.
TEA AND SWEETS (and cocktails) were among the offerings at Mary Elizabeth’s Tea Room at 36th and Fifth, seen here circa 1912. (Photo by Karl Struss via Facebook)
* * *
Comic Relief
Film critic John Mosher offered an appreciation of W.C. Fields, noting that civilization needed films like Man on the Flying Trapeze during those hard years. Mosher also found some worthy distractions in the Jean Harlow vehicle China Seas, but was prepared to consign Spencer Tracey’s latest offering to the “lower circles of cinema hell.”
ANSWERING HIS NATION’S CALL…W.C. Fields brought joy to millions during the Depression in movies such as Man on the Flying Trapeze. Above, from left, Kathleen Howard, Fields, and Mary Brian. (IMDB/Rotten Tomatoes)SHORE LEAVE…At left, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, and Clark Gable on the set of China Seas; top right, Hattie McDaniel with Harlow in a scene from the film; below, Gable, Rosalind Russell, and C. Aubrey Smith with Harlow in China Seas. (musingsofaclassicfilmaddict.wordpress.com / Pinterest)FRESH FACE…Cinema newcomer Rita Hayworth was credited as Rita Cansino (she was born Margarita Carmen Cansino) in Dante’s Inferno. Here she is flanked by Spencer Tracy and Gary Leon. Dante’s Inferno was Spencer Tracy’s final film for 20th Century Fox. It was at MGM where his career really took off. (IMDB)
* * *
All Wet
In his London Letter, Conrad Aiken (pen name Samuel Jeake Jr) examined the priggish ways of England’s seaside resorts.
SITE OF SCANDAL…Bathing huts at Bognor Regis, circa 1921. (bognorregistrails.co.uk)
* * *
Beware the Bachelor
In her “Tables for Two” column, Lois Long examined some of the city’s seasonal escapes for “summer bachelors.”
GHOSTS OF THE PAST…Lois Long recommended the air-conditioned lounges of the Madison Square Hotel and the Savoy Plaza (center) or the cooling breezes of the Biltmore roof (right), which featured music by Morton Downey. Sadly, all three of these beautiful buildings have been demolished. (geographicguide.com/Wikipedia)
Other more casual venues recommended by Long included Nick’s Merry-Go-Round…
…a menu from Nick’s dated 1937…
(nypl.org)
…and its cryptic back cover…
From Our Advertisers
…speaking of the Biltmore and Morton Downey, we kick off our advertising section…
…the ad on the left announced the private residences at the Waldorf-Astoria…
Clockwise, from top left, the Waldorf Astoria circa 1930; the Waldorf’s Starlight Roof in the 1930s; after eight years and billions in restorations and renovations, the hotel has seen many changes including the transformation of the Starlight Roof into a swimming pool. Decades of grime were also cleaned from the building’s exterior. (mcny.org/loc.gov/som.com)
…another ad from the makers of Lincoln suggesting that the market for their luxury auto wasn’t confined to citified execs…
…the Camel folks introduced us to their latest society shill…
…I didn’t find much about Beatrice Barclay Elphinstone (1916-1977), described in the Camel ad as a “charming representative of New York’s discriminating younger set”…she did make the Times‘ Dec. 10, 1937 society wedding announcements, however…
…Dr. Seuss was back with another twist on Flit insecticide…
…on to our illustrators and cartoonists, a nice charcoal by Hugo Gellert for a profile titled “Yankee Horse Trader,” written by Arthur C. Bartlett…the harness horse racing legend Walter Cox (1868-1941) was known in New England as “the king of the half-milers”…
…James Thurber contributed this cat and dog face-off to the opening pages…
…Helen Hokinson offered her perspectives on the summer dog show across pages 16-17…
…and for a closer look…
…Gluyas Williams went back to nature in his “Club Life” series…
…Leonard Dove introduced us to an undaunted salesman…
…in the world of George Price, crime didn’t pay…
…Barbara Shermund gave us a rare glimpse into the secret lives of men…
…patronizing words were unwelcome at this chess match, per William Steig…
…Denys Wortman took us on a family outing…
…and we close with Alain, and a mother of multiples…except words…
A New Yorker State of Mind 