Widely acknowledged as a classic, The 39 Steps further solidified British director Alfred Hitchcock’s image as a master of suspense with American film audiences.
September 14, 1935 cover by Helen Hokinson. Over a twenty-year span, she contributed 68 covers and more than 1,800 cartoons to The New Yorker.
A successful follow up to 1934’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps was conceived and cast by the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation as a vehicle to establish British films in America. The film also featured one of Hitchcock’s favorite plot devices—an innocent man forced to go on the run—seen in such notable films as 1942’s Saboteur and 1959’s North by Northwest.New Yorker film critic John Mosher was among the film’s many admirers:
WE’LL TAKE THE STAIRS…Clockwise, from top left, poster for The 39 Steps; Alfred Hitchcock (second from right) directing the handcuffed Madeleine Carroll (as Pamela) and Robert Donat (as Richard Hannay) on the first day of filming; Hannay evades police on the heath; Pamela and Richard make the best of their predicament as handcuffed escapees. (Wikipedia/jimcarrollsblog.com/criterion.com)
* * *
Pop-Up Stores
“The Talk of the Town” had a look at the “madhouse” on Nassau Street that daily erupted from noon to 2 p.m. as peddlers took over the street to hawk their wares.
IF WE DON’T HAVE IT, YOU DON’T NEED IT…Hester Street peddlers in 1936. Photo by Berenice Abbott. (boweryboyshistory.com)
* * *
Art of the Artless
James Thurber dissected the workings of a “bad play,” examining varied techniques and familiar tropes. Excerpts:
…below is the complete illustration for Fig. 4, which got cut off in the excerpt above…Thurber depicted “the elderly lady who is a good sport, a hard drinker, and an authority on sex.”
* * *
The Petulant Painter
Known for a primitive style that included bizarre scenes of frolicking (or floating) voluptuous nudes, the painter Louis Michel Eilshemius (1864–1941) had a style all his own, and had no trouble telling anyone that his work was better than anything hanging in the finest museums (which would not consider him at all until after his death). In 1931 he began calling himself “Mahatma,” hence the title of this profile by Milton MacKaye (illustration by Hugo Gellert). Some brief excerpts:
IRASCIBLE RASCAL…Clockwise, from top left, Louis Michel Eilshemius in 1913; Standing and Reclining Nymphs (1908), Self-portrait (1915); Nymphs Sleeping (1920). Known for his numerous and vitriolic letters to newspaper editors, his letterheads would proclaim such accomplishments as “Educator, Ex-actor, Amateur All-around Doctor, Mesmerist-Prophet and Mystic, Reader of Hands and Faces, Linguist of 5 languages, Spirit-Painter Supreme.” He also claimed to be a world-class athlete and marksman as well as a musician who rivaled Chopin. (Wikipedia/Smithsonian American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery)
Eilshemius regularly visited art galleries, loudly condemning the works on display. No wonder museums would not consider his odd paintings, which were probably best received by the French, including the artists Henri Matisse and Marcel Duchamp; the latter invited Eilshemius to exhibit with him in Paris in 1917.
Eilshemius’ mental stability had deteriorated substantially by the time MacKaye wrote the profile, which concluded with this sad, final accounting of the man’s life.
Eilshemius would die in the psychopathic ward of Bellevue Hospital in 1941. In the years since, his work has gained a wide audience and can be found in such collections as the Smithsonian, The Phillips Collection, MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
SINGULAR VISION…Louis Michel Eilshemius, Afternoon Wind, 1899. (MoMA)
* * *
In Good Company
In her “Letter From Paris,” Janet Flanner noted that even the French honored the memory of Will Rogers, who had died in a plane crash with aviator Wiley Post on Aug. 15, 1935.
NOTED AND NOTABLE…As an example of Will Rogers’ worldwide fame, Janet Flanner noted that the Paris entertainment newspaper Comœdia published Rogers’ obituary next to that of famed neoimpressionist painter Paul Signac. The other obituary remembered the renowned Swiss soprano Lucienne Bréval. (gallica.bnf.fr via onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu)
* * *
At the Movies
Coming down from The 39 Steps,John Mosher also sampled some of latest comedies gracing the silver screen…
…Mosher didn’t understand why Marion Davies, nearing the end of her film career, even bothered to appear in the romantic comedy Page Miss Glory (although she was also the producer), in which she portrayed a country girl who stumbles into fame while working as a chambermaid in a luxury hotel…
JUST LIKE CINDERELLA…Marion Davies and Pat O’Brien in Page Miss Glory. (IMDB)
…Two For Tonight featured a lot of fine crooning from Bing Crosby, and some hijinks, but fizzled out in the end…
Bing Crosby (right) takes aim in Two For Tonight. (IMDB)
…of the three comedies, Mosher found The Gay Deception to be the most winning. Directed by William Wyler, the film featured a sweepstakes winner pretending to be a rich lady (Frances Dee) who encounters a prince masquerading as a bellboy (Francis Lederer)…hilarity ensued…
THE WYLER TOUCH…William Wyler’s The Gay Deception, starring Francis Lederer (left) and Frances Dee, anticipated Wyler’s 1953 Roman Holiday, also a tale about a royal wanting to be a normal person. (letterboxd.com)
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From Our Advertisers
We welcome fall with the latest fashion from Forstmann Woolens…
…and here is where those wool dresses were spun…
Image from the National Archives depicts the spinning room at Forstmann & Huffman in Passaic, N.J., 1918. The Passaic plant closed in 1958. (Historical Society of Garfield, NJ)
…the makers of leaded gasoline continued to promote their product in full-color spots…
…General Tire (like competitor Goodyear) played up the safety theme and potential perils to loved ones to tout their “blow-out proof” tires…
…like many advertisers in The New Yorker, United Air Lines appealed to the affluent, hoping some of them would take to the air, since only they could afford it…
…for reference…
COZY…Interior of the Boeing 247. (Wikimedia Commons)
…Abe Birnbaum, who contributed nearly 200 covers to the New Yorker, offered this rendition of Mickey Mouse to Stage magazine…
…heading to the back of the book we find the latest in entertainment at the Plaza…
…James Thurber contributed the drawing at left (rendered in negative) on behalf of Libby’s tomato juice on page 75, and page 80 featured the spare, modern lines of a Cinzano ad…
…our cartoonists include Richard Decker, on the set with a missing extra…
…Charles Addams offered a new twist on the Sunday sermon…
…Peter Arno found an epic struggle in the shoe department…
…Robert Day offered this energy-saving tip…
…and we close with Helen Hokinson, and a lively game of charades…
Morris Markey embodied the ideal of “A Reporter at Large,” and for his Sept. 7 column he decided to stroll the steamy streets of Manhattan on a late summer night, finding the sidewalks alive with folks seeking a break from their stifling dwellings.
September 7, 1935 cover by Constantin Alajalov.
Markey (1899-1950) began “Summer Night” by describing a bus ride from Midtown to Washington Square with (I assume) his wife, Helen Turman Markey. They enjoyed the breeze atop the bus as they passed Central Park and heard the faint strains of music in the air.
FINAL NOTES…Morris Markey thought he heard music coming from the Central Park Casino (left) on that hot summer night; it would prove to be one of the Casino’s last summer nights since Robert Moses would have it demolished the following May; at right, Adolf Dehn lithograph Central Park at Night, 1934. (NYC Parks/Art Institute of Chicago)AMID THE BUSTLE the Markeys hopped off the bus at Washington Square and set out on foot. At left, Washington Square by night, 1945; at right, cacophony on Fifth Avenue, circa 1940. (Facebook)
The scenes described by Markey offer a glimpse of what has changed and what still remains of Manhattan night life after ninety years.
GO BLOW YOUR HORN…Something taxis did then and do now; Markey described folks looking at hats in a shop window, probably similar to this 1930s store at right. (theguardian.com/Pinterest)
They concluded their stroll on the Lower East Side, where Markey noted a tenement clearance project on Allen Street. Considered one of the most densely populated places in the world, the street was widened by demolishing all of the buildings on its east side from Division to Houston Street.
HERE COMES THE SUN…The densely populated Allen Street was called “a place where the sun never shines.” The narrow street was mostly under the shadow of the elevated train tracks until it was widened in 1930s by demolishing all of buildings on its east side. Photo at left shows the public bath at 133 Allen Street (now used as a church). The demolition project, and the removal of the overhead “El” tracks in 1942, created a broad thoroughfare with a meridian mall in the center, as seen in the bottom photo of the intersection of Allen and Delancey circa 1950. (mcny.org/leshp.org/Facebook)
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At the Movies
Film critic John Mosher finally found a film he could gush about in Anna Karenina, and most notably its star Greta Garbo, who in Mosher’s words “sets the pace and the tone for the whole thing.” Mosher was not alone in his praise: Writing for The Spectator in 1935, Graham Greene wrote that Garbo’s acting in the film overwhelmed the acting of all the supporting cast save that of Basil Rathbone. This observation was later echoed by Roland Barthes, who wrote in 1957 that Garbo belonged “to that moment in cinema when the apprehension of the human countenance plunged crowds into the greatest perturbation, where people literally lost themselves in the human image.” Here is Mosher’s review:
GARBO AND THE OTHERS…Greta Garbo dominated the screen in 1935’s Anna Karenina. Clockwise, from top left, MGM poster for the film; Garbo with Fredric March as Anna’s lover, Count Vronksy; Garbo with Basil Rathbone, who portrayed Anna’s husband Karenin, and child actor Freddie Bartholomew as their son, Sergei; Maureen O’Sullivan took a break from the Tarzan films to portray Anna’s friend Kitty (here with Gyles Isham as Levin). (filmforum.org/Wikipedia/IMDB)
As Mosher noted, Garbo also portrayed Anna Karenina in the 1927 silent film Love, in which she co-starred with John Gilbert as Count Vronsky.
BEEN HERE BEFORE…Greta Garbo as Anna Karenina and John Gilbert as Count Vronsky in the 1927 silent film Love, the second of four films they made together. They were also lovers off-screen in the 1920s, but with the advent of sound pictures her star rose as his began to fall; in their last film together, Queen Christina (1933), Garbo insisted that Gilbert be cast opposite her in a final attempt to revive his declining career. He essentially drank himself to an early grave, dying of a heart attack in January 1936. (rottentomatoes.com)
Mosher also enjoyed the dance moves of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Top Hat (although it could have used less “patter and piffle”), and brought out his hankie for The Dark Angel, where he once again encountered the acting of Fredric March.
DEFYING GRAVITY…Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire made their complex dance moves look effortless as they glided through Top Hat, the fourth of ten films they made together. (americancinematheque.com)TEARS FOR FEARS…Fredric March and Merle Oberon portrayed old friends and lovers facing a rival lover and the horrors of World War I in the 1935 weeper The Dark Angel. (rottentomatoes.com)
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From Our Advertisers
We begin with a splash of color from the makers of Imperial washable wallpapers…not sure why a wire fox terrier is featured in the advertisement…they were a popular breed, and maybe Fido was the reason one needed washable walls…
…White Rock rolled out their tiny Colonel to promote mineral water as an ideal mixer…
…ever heard of Victor Moore?…well, he was quite the comedian back in the day, playing timid, mild-mannered characters on stage and screen…Moore (1876-1962) was also famous for his 1942 marriage to dancer Shirley Paige when Moore was 65 and Paige was 20…
…Camel rolled out another high society endorser, Maude Adele Brookfield van Rensselaer (1904-1945)…her color image is a watercolor by Leslie Saalburg…
…on to our cartoonists, we begin with spot art by Abe Birnbaum…
and Maurice Freed…
…also in the opening pages this wordless contribution by James Thurber…
…Gluyas Williams found this midday repast anything but relaxing…
…Otto Soglow found a new “man’s best friend”…
…Denys Wortman encountered some frank advice at the cosmetics counter…
…Helen Hokinson found appreciation for the “strong and silent” acting style…
…Peter Arno gave us a department store clerk in need of some time off…
…and we close with Richard Decker, finding some truth in advertising…
Above: Will Rogers (with hat) visits with pilot Wiley Post near Fairbanks, Alaska, hours before their fatal crash on August 15, 1935. (okhistory.org)
It would be a challenge to find a place for a multi-talented, mega-star like Will Rogers in today’s over-saturated and segmented media landscape—he was a trick roper, vaudevillian, social commentator, comedian, journalist, author, and radio and film celebrity. His early fame on the vaudeville circuit, including the Ziegfeld Follies, would spark a film career in 1918 (he would appear in 71 films), and a 1922 town hall speech would lead to a nationally syndicated newspaper column. When radio became a nationwide phenomenon his voice could heard coast-to-coast. He was seemingly everywhere.
August 31, 1935 cover by Harry Brown. Brown illustrated eighteen covers for The New Yorker.
Rogers (1879-1935) was also a big promoter of aviation, and he gave his audiences many entertaining accounts of his world travels. In the summer of 1935 he announced plans to join famed aviator Wiley Post (1898-1935) on a flight to Alaska and beyond. It appeared to be routine, making the trip’s tragic ending all the more poignant.
Although E.B. White often seemed stuck in the past—he preferred Model Ts and rattily omnibuses to more more modern conveyances—he was a flying enthusiast, never missing a chance to hop aboard an airplane and marvel at the scene far below. However, when tragedy struck, White would become circumspect. When Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne’s Fokker Trimotor crashed into a Kansas wheatfield, White expressed doubts about air safety and pondered “safer” alternatives such as autogiros (a kind of early helicopter that wasn’t so safe or practical). Such doubts returned in his “Notes and Comment” for August 31, 1935:
The fated aircraft, a Lockheed Orion, was heavily modified by Post into a floatplane; one wing was even salvaged from a wrecked Explorer (an older Lockheed model). The pontoon floats he attached were also designed for a larger aircraft, which made the nose-heavy Orion even more unwieldy.
BUILT FOR SPEED…A Lockheed Model 9 Orion parked at Boeing Field, Seattle, in May 1935. With 200-mph speed, the single-engine passenger aircraft (5 to 6 passengers) was faster than any American military aircraft of the time. It was Lockheed’s last aircraft to use wood construction in the frame, which was lightweight but not designed for longevity on major airlines. (James Borden Photography Collection)TIGHT QUARTERS….Interior view of a Lockheed Orion 9. No doubt much of the passenger space was loaded with gear for the trip to Alaska. (James Borden Photography Collection)
When Post and Rogers arrived in Juneau, local bush pilots doubtfully regarded the Orion and asked Rogers about the flight plan. “Wiley and I are like a couple of country boys in an old Ford—don’t know where we’re going and don’t care,” he said. They were actually headed to Point Barrow, and from there planned to hop over to Siberia.
After stopping in Fairbanks they set off for Point Barrow in bad weather. Lost in the murk, they landed short of their destination in the shallow waters of Walakpa Lagoon, fifteen or so miles southwest of Point Barrow. Post and Rogers then took off—despite warnings from locals about the conditions. But the weather wasn’t the worst problem: Post had a bad habit of taking to the air in an abrupt, steep climb, which likely caused the engine to stall. Powerless, the ungainly aircraft plunged into the lagoon and landed on its top. Post and Rogers were killed instantly.
JUST A COUPLE OF COUNTRY BOYS…Top photo, Will Rogers on the wing of the Lockheed floatplane belonging to famed aviation pioneer Wiley Post, hours before their fatal crash on August 15, 1935. Below photo, inverted wreckage of the float plane in Walakpa Lagoon. (Wikipedia/vintageaviationnews.com)
Rather than eulogize the fallen Rogers, “The Talk of Town” offered up an anecdote about his rise as a newspaper columnist, which was sparked by a backhanded endorsement speech:
A HUMAN FACE…Top left, Will Rogers backstage with the 1924 Ziegfeld Follies cast. At right, Rogers made his film debut in the now lost silent film Laughing Bill Hyde (1918) with co-star Anna Lehr. The magazine ad at right quoted producer Rex Beach, who called Rogers “the most human player who ever faced a camera.” (Will Rogers Memorial Museum/Wikipedia/IMDB)FINAL CURTAIN…Top photo, Will Rogers with co-star Anne Shirley in Steamboat Round the Bend. Rogers wrapped filming just before heading to Alaska. The film was released posthumously on September 6,1935. Bottom image is a detail from a full-page ad in the October 1935 issue of Picture Play Magazine. Oddly, the ad makes no mention of Rogers’ death, proclaiming that “Will blazes a new path in his screen career as he scores his greatest triumph!” (theretrorocket.blogspot.com/IMDB)
* * *
Putting it Mildly
In “Onward & Upward With the Arts,” H.L. Mencken continued to explore the quirks of American language, this time looking at the pervasive (and evasive) use of euphemisms by “professional uplifters.” Excerpts:
INTELLIGENCE TEST was suggested by “professional uplifters” as a polite replacement for giving someone “The Third Degree.” Image is from the 1941 noir thriller I Wake Up Screaming, starring Victor Mature, pictured here getting his “intelligence test.” (cinematography.com)
* * *
At the Movies
We join film critic John Mosher to take a look at the latest epic from Cecil B. DeMille,The Crusades, which to Mosher’s disappointment was a rather mild epic, with little to astonish. However, our critic did find something to admire in a more recent historical drama, Diamond Jim.
ANTISEPTIC EPIC?…Clockwise, from top left, movie poster for The Crusades offered up an image one typically does not associate with religious warfare, but you had to bring ’em in somehow; Henry Wilcoxon and Ian Keith in a scene from the film; co-stars Loretta Young as Berengaria of Navarre and Wilcoxon as Richard the Lionheart; the film also featured Joseph Schildkraut as Conrad of Montferrat and Katherine DeMille as Princess Alice of France (bottom left). A talented actress, Katherine reportedly landed the role as a Christmas gift from her adoptive father, Cecil B. DeMille. (cecilbdemille.com)HEY BIG SPENDER…At right, Edward Arnold in the title role (here with Eric Blore) in Diamond Jim. At left, Cesar Romero moves in on Diamond Jim’s love interest, portrayed by Jean Arthur. (Rotten Tomatoes/IMDB)
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From Our Advertisers
We begin with this advertisement from Lord & Taylor, featuring the latest fall fashions for young women heading to college…notable here is the inclusion of Mickey Mouse in the illustration…the animated rodent was in vogue as much the latest fashions…
…John Hanrahan, whose advertising savvy helped guide The New Yorker through its lean early years, was publisher of the richly designed Stage magazine, promoted here on the inside front cover…
…soft drink giant Coca-Cola recalled its soda fountain origins in this ad that promoted its 6.5-ounce bottled product…
…on the inside back cover Goodyear continued its series of perilous ads illustrating the dangers of tire blowouts (but not the obvious hazard of children riding untethered in a rumble seat, where they doubtless inhaled all manner of noxious fumes)…
…the majority of back covers in 1935 featured tobacco companies…here we learn that Lucky Strikes were more than cigarette; they were your “best friend”…
…on to our cartoonists, we start with this “Profile” illustration by William Steig…the profile was a two-parter featuring a clever summons server…
…Adolph Dehn adorned the “Goings On” section with this illustration…
…unsigned, but I’m pretty sure this is H.O. Hofman…
…here we get a lift from Robert Day…
…Al Frueh conjured up a nightmare of leaping sheep…
…Helen Hokinson gave us some famous footwear…
…Hokinson again, with Romulus and Remus providing a convenient metaphor…
…Kemp Starrett was bogged down in the rules of a game…
…George Price discovered a budding talent…
…Richard Decker took to the back roads…(reminds me of a scene from The Long, Long Trailerwith Lucy and Desi)…
…James Thurber raised a glass to a dry do-gooder…
…Alan Dunn brought an unexpected windfall to Westchester…
…and to close we Dunn again, and a bit of flattery…
City life is a noisy life, especially in places like Manhattan, one of the most densely populated places in the world.
August 24, 1935 cover by Rea Irvin.
In his “Notes and Comment” column, E.B. White described the occasional “intestinal stoppage” of traffic outside The New Yorker’s offices at West 45th Street, an entire block “laden with undischarged vehicles, the pangs of congestion increasing till every horn is going—a united, delirious scream of hate, every decibel charged with a tiny drop of poison.”
ABOVE THE FRAY…E.B. White with his pet dachshund Minnie at the West 45th Street offices of The New Yorker. (New York Times)AND DON’T CALL ME SHIRLEY…New York City’s Commissioner of Health, Shirley Wynne (right), created a Noise Abatement Commission in 1929. After eight months of research the Commission published City Noise, which included recommendations for a quieter city. (Wikipedia/trevianbooks.com)
The city began addressing the problem in 1929, when New York City’s Commissioner of Health, Shirley Wynne (1882-1942), created a Noise Abatement Commission, likely the first such commission in the U.S. The Commission cited the “mounting roar and crash of traffic, building, manufacture and sundry other noises which have accompanied the growth of the city.” After eight months of research the Commission published City Noise, which included recommendations for a quieter city.
URBAN CHORUS…A chart featured in City Noise depicted some of sources of noise in New York City.PIPE DOWN!…Clockwise, from top left: The Noise Abatement Commission took to the streets with a municipal acoustics-measuring truck in 1930; cartoon in the New York Herald Tribune illustrated the challenge ahead; Commission officials conducting noise tests in Times Square, circa 1930; poster circa 1936 promoted Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s anti-noise drives. A 1936 noise code put sound restrictions on everything from radios to the “prolonged and unreasonable blowing of a horn.” A first offense cost $1; the second, if committed within the next year, $2. (hii-mag.com/Bloomberg.com/NYTimes.com)
Not one to leave a stone unturned, White also added this note about the noisy doors on Pullman train car toilets…
Here are the Otto Soglow spot drawings that accompanied the “Talk” piece:
Final note: A colorful exploration of sound can be found on the One Thousand Birds site,Hii Magazine.Check it out!
* * *
Puff Pushers
Tobacco companies like Philip Morris have long been savvy in finding ways to expand their market, including taking their product directly to the consumer, as “The Talk of the Town” explained in this entry:
SMOKE FREE…Sample pack of Philip Morris cigarettes, circa 1930s. (Ebay)
* * *
A Rare Glimpse
Before Roger Angell started writing about baseball in 1962, there wasn’t a whole lot written about the sport in the pages of The New Yorker. In the magazine’s early years, the game was probably perceived as too low-brow, while other athletic pursuits such as golf, tennis, and polo were more in line with the desired or perceived readership. Early contributors such as Ring Lardner had also soured on the sport, thanks to the Black Sox Scandal of 1919 and the greed of team owners. So here is a rare look at baseball, and Yankee coach Joe McCarthy (1887-1978), in “The Talk of the Town.” Excerpts:
BRONX BOMBERS…Coach Joe McCarthy (center) with sluggers Lou Gehrig, left, and Babe Ruth during the 1932 World Series. The first manager to win pennants in both the National and American leagues, McCarthy’s teams would win a total nine league pennants and seven World Series championships. (CARLI Digital Collections)
* * *
Music Under the Stars
The monumental Lewisohn Stadium was a popular classical music venue on the City College of New York campus until its unfortunate demolition in 1973. According to BBC Music Magazine, “for nearly half a century, Lewisohn Stadium gave people from all walks of life the chance to hear performances by the likes of violinist Fritz Kreisler, soprano Leontyne Price and clarinettist Benny Goodman for as little as 25 cents admission. The New Yorker paid a visit during eighteenth season of the Stadium Concerts. Excerpts:
CLASSICAL MASSES…At left, cover of the 1935 Stadium Concerts Review; at right, Andre Kostelanetz conducts before a crowd of thousands at Lewisohn Stadium in 1939. The stadium was demolished in 1973 to make way for City College of New York’s North Academic Center. SeeThe New York Philharmonic Archive for the complete digital version of the 1935 Stadium Concerts Review. (NY Philharmonic Archive/PressReader.com)
* * *
At the Movies
Film critic John Mosher continued to search in vain for a film he could endorse, but he came away empty-handed after screening a star-studded screen adaptation of Jack London’s novel The Call of the Wild. Star power also fell short for Mosher in the screen version of Booth Tarkington’sAlice Adams.
SMALL TALK…The film adaption of Booth Tarkington’sAlice Adams seemed to have all of the right elements in place, including director George Stevens and stars Katharine Hepburn and Fred MacMurray (left), but critic John Mosher found it somewhat average. In a 1991 retrospective review, however, The New Yorker’sPauline Kael deemed the romantic comedy “a classic” and stated that “Hepburn gives one of her two or three finest performances.” At right, the character of Alice Adams was first portrayed on the silver screen by Florence Vidor in a 1923 silent film. (Toronto Film Society/Wikipedia)THE BIG CHILL…Clockwise, from top left, Clark Gable and Loretta Young brave the Yukon wilds (actually Washington State) in The Call of the Wild; Jack Oakie provided comic relief as Gable’s sidekick Shorty Hoolihan; Young watches the filming of a scene on location at Mt. Baker National Forest; Gable shoots a scene with the St. Bernard Buck. (IMDB/Wikimedia)CLARK’S BEST FRIEND…Dog lover Clark Gable became very close with Buck during the filming of The Call of the Wild. Buck appeared in seven more films from 1935 to 1940, even receiving star billing as “Buck the Wonder Dog.” (Facebook/Pinterest)
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From Our Advertisers
Colorful ads returned to the August 24 issue, featuring familiar sponsors who could afford full-page, full-color spots, namely tobacco and liquor producers…Camel was back with their athletic theme, however they might have chosen someone other than Bill Tilden, who looked perfectly ancient…
…Old Gold returned with another George Petty-illustrated ad…
…Courvoisier cognac took the back page spot…
…Powers Reproduction showed off their color printing expertise…I wonder if that is a Lucky she is smoking…
…because I believe she is the same woman who appeared in this ad from the July 27 issue:
…back to August 24, where we were encouraged to enjoy a Johnny Walker highball to stave off the late summer heat…
…the distinctive crown of Hotel Windemere on the Upper West Side was an eye-catcher even in this one-column ad from the back of the book…photo at right from around the time it was completed, 1927…
…on to our cartoonists, an unexpected profile caricature by William Steig (this two-part profile featured process-server Harry Grossman)…
…interesting spot drawings by George Shellhase (top) and Leonard Dove (bottom right), and at left, two by Christina Malman…
…Malman (1912-1959) produced at least two-dozen covers for The New Yorker between 1937 and 1956, including this gem from 1941:
…some baby names have real meaning, according to Alan Dunn…
…Peter Arno offered caution about dancing with a prickly Colonel…
…Fritz Wilkinson answered one cat call high above the city…
…Franz Shubert met Busby Berkeley, via Carl Rose…
…George Price persisted in threading a needle…
…Robert Day gave us a pacifist of sorts in a game of tug-of-war…
…Burma Shave jingles seemed to be everywhere in the 1930s, per Alain…
…An example of replica Burma Shave signs along Route 66:
(roadsideamerica.com)
…some parenting tips came our way via Helen Hokinson…
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)
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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:
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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)
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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.
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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…
Heading into the dog days of summer we take a look at the last two issues of July 1935, both somewhat scant in editorial content but still offering up fascinating glimpses of Manhattan life ninety years ago.
July 20, 1935 cover by William Crawford Galbraith. He contributed seven covers and 151 cartoons to the magazine.
That includes the observations of theatre critic Wolcott Gibbs and film critic John Mosher, both escaping the summer heat to take in some very different forms of entertainment.
Gibbs found himself “fifty dizzy stories above Forty-second Street” in the Chanin Building’s auditorium, where he experienced New York’s take on Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol. Founded in Paris by Oscar Méténier in 1897, Grand Guignol featured realistic shows that enacted, in gory detail, the horrific existence of the disadvantaged and working classes. It seems audiences were drawn to the shows more out of prurient interest (or sadistic pleasure) than for any desire to help the underclasses.
NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART…Wolcott Gibbs recommended the Grand-Guignol only for those who “admire a frank, uncomplicated approach to the slaughterhouse and the operating table.” (Image: Wikipedia)PRETTY HORRORS…Clockwise from top left, the original Théâtre du Grand-Guignol, in the Pigalle district of Paris–it operated from 1897 until 1962, specializing in horror theatre; a poster from one of its productions; New York’s Chanin building, circa 1930s; the Chanin’s auditorium “fifty dizzy stories above 42nd Street”; fake blood applied to an actress’ neck before a scene from The Hussy; Wolcott Gibbs described a madhouse scene from André de Lorde’sThe Old Women, which depicted the fury of ancient inmates performing “optical surgery” on a young woman. (thegrandguignol.com/Wikipedia/NYPL/props.eric-hart.com)
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Popeye to the Rescue
With the Hays Code in effect you wouldn’t see anything like the Grand-Guignol on the silver screen. Indeed, with the exception of a Popeye cartoon, critic John Mosher found little to get excited about at the movies. He did, however, enjoy the air conditioning that offered a break from the hot city streets.
THEY ALL COULD HAVE USED SOME SPINACH…Clockwise, from top left, Popeye and Bluto strike an unlikely partnership in Dizzy Divers; Bette Davis and George Brent in Front Page Woman; Will Rogers and Billie Burke in Doubting Thomas; James Blakeley and Ida Lupino in Paris in Spring. (brothersink.com / rottentomatoes.com / cometoverhollywood.com / classiccartooncorner.substack.com)
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From Our Advertisers
Just a few ads from this issue, first, a jolly appeal from one of the magazine’s newer advertisers, the makers of the French apertif Dubonnet…
…by contrast, this quaint slice of Americana from Nash…
…and a shot of pesticide from Dr. Seuss…
…our cartoonists include Constantin Alajalov, contributing this bit of spot art to the opening pages…
…Barbara Shermund explored the world of hypnotic suggestion…
…Peter Arno prepared to address the nation…
…William Steig checked the weather forecast…
…Helen Hokinson’s girls questioned the burden of a lei…
…Carl Rose found himself on opposite sides of the page in this unusual layout…
…Richard Decker joined the crowd in a lighthouse rendering…
…Ned Hilton reminds us that it was unusual for women to wear trousers ninety years ago…
…Mary Petty examined the complications of marital discord…
…and Charles Addams shone a blue light on a YMCA lecture…
…on to July 27, 1935, with a terrific summertime cover by William Steig…
July 27, 1935 cover by William Steig, one of his 117 covers for the magazine.
E.B. White (in “Notes and Comment”) was ahead of his time in suggesting that the city needed to build “bicycle paths paralleling motor highways” and invest in more pedestrian pathways.
NEW YORK’S FINEST…Doris Kopsky, who trained in Central Park, won the first Amateur Bicycle League of America Women’s Championship in 1937. Bicycle races were a big draw in the 1930s. (crca.net)
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Breaking News
“The Talk of the Town” checked in on the New York Times’ “electric bulletin,” commonly known as “The Zipper.” Excerpt:
NIGHT CRAWLER…Launched in 1928, the Times Square “Zipper” kept New Yorkers apprised of breaking news. (cityguideny.com)
* * *
Dog Knots
“Talk” also took a look backstage at the Winter Garden, where burlesque performers shared the stage with a contortionist dog called “Red Dust.” Excerpt:
WOOF…Famed animal trainer Robert “Bob” Williams with one of his pupils. The dog in the photo is misidentified as Red Dust (he was actually a Malemute/chow mix).
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Suddenly Famous
Charles Butterworth (1896-1946) earned a law degree from Notre Dame before becoming a newspaper reporter. But his life would take on a new twist in 1926 when he delivered his comical “Rotary Club Talk” at J.P. McEvoy’sAmericana revue in 1926. Hollywood would come calling in the 1930s, and his doleful-looking, deadpan characters would become familiar to movie audiences through a string of films in the thirties and forties. Alva Johnston profiled Butterworth in the July 27 issue. Here are brief excerpts:
Charles Butterworth (left) and Jimmy Durante in Student Tour (1934). A bit of trivia: Butterworth’s distinctive voice was the inspiration for the Cap’n Crunch commercials voiced by Daws Butler beginning in the early 1960s. Butterworth’s life was cut short in 1946 when he crashed his imported roadster into a lamppost on Sunset Boulevard. (Detail from film still via IMDB)
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Noisy Neighborhood
The “Vienna Letter” (written by “F.S.”–possibly Frank Sullivan) noted the rumblings of fascism in a grand old European city known for its many cultural delights as well as its many factions that included Nazis, Socialists and Communists (and no doubt a few Royalists). An excerpt:
CALM BEFORE THE STORM…Vienna in 1935, less than three years before the Anschluss, when Nazi Germany annexed Austria. (meisterdrucke.us)
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Ex Machina
The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and author Stephen Vincent Benét (1898-1943) penned this poem for The New Yorker that is somewhat appropriate to our own age and our fears of the rise of A.I. In “Nightmare Number Three,” Benét described a dystopian world where machines have revolted against humans.
BOTH CLASSY AND FOLKSY is how some today describe Stephen Vincent Benét, who in 1928 wrote a book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, John Brown’s Body, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He was also know for such short stories as The Devil and Daniel Webster, published in 1936. (mypoeticside.com)
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From Our Advertisers
We begin with more extraordinary claims from R.J. Reynolds, who convinced a lot of folks that drawing smoke into your lungs actually improved your athletic stamina…
…the makers of Lucky Strike, on the other hand, stuck with images of nature and romance to suggest the joys of inhaling tar and nicotine…
…General Tire took a cue from Goodyear, suggesting that an investment in their “Blowout-Proof Tires” was an investment in the very lives of a person’s loved ones (even though they apparently drove to the beach without seatbelts or even a windshield)…
…another colorful advertisement from the makers of White Rock, who wisely tied their product to ardent spirits as liquor consumption continued to rebound from Prohibition…
…I toss this in for the lovely rendering on behalf of Saks…it looks like the work of illustrator Carl “Eric” Erickson, but he had many imitators…
…we do, however, know the identity of this artist, and his drawings on behalf of the pesticide Flit, which apparently in those days of innocence was thought appropriate for use around infants…
…great spot drawing in the opening pages…I should know the signature but it escapes me at the moment…
…James Thurber quoted Blaise Pascal for this tender moment ( “The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing”)…
…Peter Arno illustrated the horrors of finding one’s grandmother out of context…
…Helen Hokinson’s girls employed a malaprop to besmirch the good name of an innocent mountain…
…Richard Decker discovered the missing link(s) with two archeologists…
…Alan Dunn narrowly averted a surprise greeting…
…George Price added a new twist to a billiards match…
…Price again, at the corner newstand…
…Al Frueh bit off more than he could chew…
…and we close with Barbara Shermund, and a prattling mooch…
Above: A German American Bund parade in New York City on East 86th Street. Oct. 30, 1937. (Library of Congress)
Among the many ethnic enclaves of 1930s New York City was a neighborhood that was feeling the influence of world events, and not necessarily in a good way.
July 13, 1935 cover by Helen Hokinson. One of the first cartoonists to be published in The New Yorker, she appeared in the magazine for the first time in the July 4, 1925 issue. She contributed 68 covers and more than 1,800 cartoons to the magazine.
Journalist Chester L. Morrison looked at life among German immigrants on the Upper East Side for “A Reporter at Large.” Under the title “Muenchen Im Kleinen” (Little Munich), Morrison examined the everyday life of the Yorkville district between East 79th and East 96th streets.
Germans had settled in New York City almost from its first days, and by 1885 the city had the third-largest German-speaking population in the world, outside of Vienna and Berlin, the majority settling in what is today the East Village. Following the General Slocum disaster in 1904, German settlement migrated to Yorkville, which was commonly referred to as Germantown. Here are excerpts of Morrison’s observations:
ENCLAVE…Clockwise, from top left, Rudi and Maxl’s Brau-Haus at 239 East 86th; Oktoberfest celebration in Yorkville, undated; Walker Evans photo with Rupert Brewery sign in the background; the Yorkville neighborhood in the 1930s with the old Third Avenue El in the background. (postcardhistory.net/boweryboyshistory.com/metmuseum/gothamcenter.org)
With the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany in the 1930s, a pro-Hitler group called the German-American Bund began to organize street rallies and marches on 86th Street and on 2nd Avenue. Although they represented a minority of German settlers, the Bund made itself visible in parades and other public events that culminated in a mass demonstration at Madison Square Garden in 1939. The Bund also organized training camps for young men outside of the city, such as Camp Siegfried in Yaphank, L.I.
Morrison noted that Yorkville homes looked like many others across the city, that is until you saw the pictures on their walls.
SCOUT’S HONOR?…At a German-American Bund camp in Andover, New Jersey, young campers stand at attention as the American flag and the German-American Youth Movement flag are lowered at sundown, July 21, 1937. (AP)THE MADNESS OF CROWDS…A German-American Bund color guard marches through Madison Square Garden, Feb. 20, 1939. (AP)
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Garden Varieties
Now for a palate cleanser as we turn to Lois Long and her “Tables For Two” column, in which she examined the confluence of hotel gardens and marriage proposals. Excerpts:
OASIS…Lois Long recommended the Hotel Marguery’s formal garden as a place to “fritter away” an afternoon. The hotel was demolished in 1957 to make way for the Union Carbide Building. (Museum of the City of New York)A COOL, SWISS CHALET was how Long described the new Alpine Room in the basement of the Gotham Hotel. (daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com)
Long continued as she set her sights on Brooklyn…
HE WILL LIKELY SAY YES, according to Long, if you got your beau to accompany you to the roof of the Hotel Bossert in Brooklyn. (brownstoner.com)THE TUNEFUL SURROUNDINGS of the Famous Door were a bit too crowded for Long, however this group seems to have had plenty of room to enjoy the greats Ben Webster, Eddie Barefield, Buck Clayton, and Benny Morton on stage at the Famous Door in 1947. (Wikipedia)
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Monster Mash-up
Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi are synonymous with 1930s monster flicks (they did eight together) but their latest outing, The Raven, left critic John Mosher wondering where the Poe was in the midst of this “sadistic trifle.”
BUDDY FILM…The Raven (which had almost nothing to do with Edgar Allen Poe’s famous narrative poem) was the third of eight films that featured Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. According to film historian Karina Longworth, thanks to a wave of monster movie hits in the 1930s, these two middle-aged, foreign, struggling actors became huge stars. (cerealatmidnight.com)TYPECAST? WHO CARES?…Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in 1932. Despite being monster movie rivals, the two seemed get along well off-screen, perhaps appreciating their mutual good fortune. (beladraculalugosi.wordpress.com)
* * *
Ode to Education
Clarence Day, best known for his Life With Father stories, also contributed a number of cartoons to The New Yorker that were accompanied by satirical poems…here he examines attempts at education in the arts and sciences…
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From Our Advertisers
We start at the back of the book, and a couple of one-column ads (appearing on the opposite sides of the same page) that catered to very different clientele…
…the makers of Lincoln luxury cars knew the type of client they were fishing for here…
…pin-up artist George Petty continued exploring his beauty and the beast theme on behalf of Old Gold cigarettes…
…and Camel offered more reasons why you should smoke your way to athletic glory…
…this inside back cover advertisement reminds us that we are indeed back in 1935…
…as does this one from Dr. Seuss, with a shot of insecticide for a talking toddler…
…on to our cartoonists, beginning with Charles Addams and some Navy hijincks…
…Gluyas Williams offered his latest take on American club life…
…William Steig took us to summer camp…
…Otto Soglow looked for a good night’s rest…
…Mary Petty explored the latest in bathing fashions…
…Perry Barlow introduced us to some proud parents…
…and to close with Helen Hokinson, who showed us some innocents abroad…
We mark the July 4 weekend with a lighter edition of A New Yorker State of Mind…
July 6, 1935 cover by William Steig, a contributor to The New Yorker from 1930 to 2003, including more than 2,600 drawings and 117 covers.
…and see what many New Yorkers were doing on that holiday ninety years ago…
TOGETHERNESS…New Yorkers celebrate the Fourth of July on a Coney Island beach, circa 1935. (coneyislandhistory.org)
Let’s look at some of the advertisements from the July 6 issue, beginning with this alarming image that greeted readers on the inside front cover…
…Goodyear continued its series of safety-minded advertisements (this one on the inside back cover) that played on the fears of parents with driving-age children…strange how no one then considered other hazards such as the hard steel dash, or worse, the steering column that often impaled drivers…also, is that how they taught folks to hold a steering wheel in the 1930s?…
…no stylish models, debutantes or famous athletes for the makers of Chesterfields, at least not in this back page ad which equated their cigarette papers (and by association, the cigarettes themselves) with wholesome milk and pure mountain water…
…we kick off the cartoons with Robert Day, who took to the roads with a touch of modernism…
…Gardner Rea topped off the calendar section with a nod to fireworks safety…
…known more for his New Yorker covers, Constantin Alajalov reflected on a visit to the Met…
…Ned Hilton was tied up on the phone…
…Fritz Wilkinson had one musician ready to play a different tune…
…James Thurber was up in arms…
…George Price found something fishy with two fishermen…
…and Price again, with the latest advances in personal hygiene…
…Rea Irvin gave us an early taste of Halloween…
…Barbara Shermund found some frank advice at the beauty counter…
In 1933 the U.S. economy began a slow recovery from the 1929 market crash, but the recovery stalled in 1934 and 1935, and folks including E.B. White were looking for any indication of brighter days ahead.
June 29, 1935 cover by Barbara Shermund. A prolific contributor of cartoons to The New Yorker (600 in all), Shermund also illustrated eight covers, including this charmer.
White suggested that Americans look for smaller signs of normalcy, such as the new slogan, “Happy Motoring,” that was being rolled out by Standard Oil’s Esso.
IT’S A GAS…At left, Gasoline Station, Tenth Avenue, photo by Berenice Abbott, 1935; at right, newspaper ad, May 1935. (metmuseum.org/wataugademocrat.com)
Like many of us, White was a study in contradictions, enthusiastically embracing the age of air travel while rejecting the style and comforts of modern automobiles (he famously loved his Model T). It is no surprise that he also preferred Fifth Avenue’s spartan green and yellow omnibuses over the new streamlined buses that would soon be plying the streets of Manhattan.
NO THANKS…E.B. White preferred the spartan accommodations of the old Fifth Avenue buses to the comforts of their replacements. (coachbuilt.com)
White elaborated on the advantages of the older buses:
STYLE OVER COMFORT…Of the old Fifth Avenue buses, E.B. White wrote that he preferred the “hard wooden benches on the sun deck, conducive to an erect posture, sparkling clean after a rain.” (Ephemeral New York)
* * *
Cinderella Story
Challenger James J. Braddock achieved one of boxing’s greatest upsets by defeating the heavily favored (and reigning champ) Max Baer. For this feat he was given the nickname “Cinderella Man” by journalist Damon Runyon. The writer of the “Wayward Press” (byline “S.M.”) seemed less impressed, and mocked the national media for their sudden pivot on the bout’s unlikely outcome.
BRINGING THE FIGHT…Challenger James J. Braddock lays into defending champ Max Baer during a heavyweight boxing title match on June 13, 1935, at the Madison Square Garden Bowl in Long Island City. Although the national media dismissed Braddock’s chances of winning, Braddock trained hard for the fight while Baer spent more time clowning around than training. Braddock won by unanimous decision, eight rounds to six. (thefightcity.com)
* * *
Seemed Like a Nice Guy
Henry Pringle penned the first part of a three-part profile of Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes (1862–1948), who was also a former New York governor and U.S. secretary of state. William Cotton rendered a rather severe-looking Hughes in this caricature for the profile…
…although in reality he tended to look more like this…
PROGRESSIVE THINKER…Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes in 1931. Known as a reformer who fought corruption, Hughes was a popular public figure in New York. (Wikipedia)
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From Our Advertisers
We begin with an advertisement that goes down easy, with its minimal style…
…by contrast, a busy Camel advertisement…R.J. Reynolds alternated full-page ads featuring society women with these health-themed spots that linked smoking with athletic prowess…
…this advertisement by Fisher claimed the 1935 Pontiac was “The most beautiful thing on wheels,” however here it looks perfectly ancient…
…as does this Nash on the inside back cover…
…the back cover was claimed by Highland Queen, a blend of some very fine distilleries…
…Theodore Seuss Geisel continued his ongoing saga against the mighty mosquito…
…and we have this back of the book ad for Webster cigars, who enlisted the talents of Peter Wells…
…Wells (1912–1995) was also a children’s book writer, most famous for contributing drawings to the Katzenjammer Kids comic strip …
Peter Wells, detail from the opening page from “The Katzenjammer Kids,” #16, Spring 1951, King Features Syndicate, Inc.
…and of course we are all familiar with Otto Soglow, who sold his beloved Little King to Hearst (and made a pile) but was still able to feature his diminutive potentate in the The New Yorker in a series of ads for Bloomingdales…
…which brings us to our cartoonists, and a familiar torment for our beloved James Thurber…
…Independence Day offered a marketing challenge to these shopkeepers, per Garrett Price…
…Peter Arno was at his best, in his element…
…Charles Addams explored the unnatural, which would become his calling card…
…Robert Day offered a new twist to the tonsorial arts…
…William Steig gave examples of some budding “tough guys”…
…a rare baseball-themed cartoon from Richard Decker (editor Harold Ross was not a baseball fan)…
…from George Price, what appears to be the end of his “floating man” series, which began in September 1934…
…and we close with one my favorite cartoonists, Barbara Shermund, here at the bookstore…
A New Yorker State of Mind 