Carl Rose – A New Yorker State of Mind

A Letter From Berlin

Above: Nineteen-thirties dance class sponsored by Kraft durch Freude (Strength Through Joy), a sub-organization of the German Labour Front that sought to fulfill the totalitarian ambitions of the Nazi regime by "forming a genuine national and performance-based community of all Germans," in other words, keep them busy and distracted from reality. (bundesarchiv.de)

Paris correspondent Janet Flanner visited Berlin to check on that city’s preparations for the 1936 Olympic Games, an event Nazi leaders saw as a prime opportunity for some big-time propaganda.

August 1, 1936 cover by **Constantin Alajalov** with a wry twist on the upcoming Berlin Olympic games (note the strap along the left edge bearing some of flags of competing nations).

Flanner noted Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels’ charge to the German people, instructing them to show the world that the German Volk were “more charming than Parisians, more lively than the Romans, more worldly than the Londoners, and more efficient than the New Yorkers.”

EYE ON BERLIN…**Janet Flanner,** who wrote under the pen name *Genêt,* in 1940. *(National Portrait Gallery)*

There was an ambiguous quality to Flanner’s early writings about Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler in particular. As The New Yorker’s Andrew Marantz noted in “Takes” (Aug. 10, 2025) regarding Flanner’s 1936 profile of Hitler, “Instead of telling readers what they needed to know—that was what newspapers were for—she focused on what they might want to know…” Rather than taking sides, she reported in a cool and ironic tone. In her biography Genêt, Brenda Wineapple wrote that Flanner in her early writings “thought of herself as a high-class gossip columnist.”

Here are excerpts from the first part of Flanner’s “Berlin Letter.”

FASCIST FEVER DREAM…The Nazis spent large sums in preparation for the Olympic games, seeing them as the ultimate propaganda opportunity. Clockwise, from top left: Nazi officials show the extent of the Olympic village using a scale model in July 1936; a street scene with displays of the Olympic and swastika flags in Berlin, August 1936— the regime temporarily toned down public anti-Semitic displays and cleaned up the streets to impress international visitors; lively café scene on the Kurfürstendamm, known colloquially as the Ku’damm, in 1936. (Robert Hunt Library/Sueddeutscher Verlag Bilderdienst/tripadvisor.com)

BEFORE IT ALL WENT DARK…In 1936 the Kurfürstendamm was a bustling Berlin boulevard, temporarily masking the oppressive Nazi regime with a veneer of normalcy for the 1936 Summer Olympics—shown at left is the Scharlachberg House at the corner of Kurfürstendamm/Uhlandstraße in Berlin, where the Maison de France stands today; at right, the Hindenburg flies over the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, August 1936. *(Wikipedia/Encyclopædia Britannica)*

In these excerpts, Flanner wrote that the arts were overseen by Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring (of all people). She also noted the absence from the opera (which she rated poor under Goebbels) of the world-renowned conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, who was in seclusion “writing an opera,” but probably wanted to be out of the limelight due to his controversial decision to stay in the Reich rather than flee like other artists and musicians. Furtwängler detested Hitler, but believed his art would wither if he left his homeland.

HORROR SHOW…**Adolf Hitler** and his Nazi thugs at the opera in Berlin in 1936. Hitler often appeared in carefully staged public settings like this one and the one in the photo below. *(archaeohistories.via Facebook.com)*

MUSICAL STRAIN…Conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler acknowledges the audience following a 1935 performance by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra—visible in the left corner of the photo are **Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler,** and Joseph Goebbels, among other Nazi leaders. (Archiv Berliner Philharmoniker)

A closer look at the photo—a combination of hatred and fear in Furtwängler’s eyes? The first and second violinists don’t look too thrilled either.

In a related item, Howard Brubaker (in his “Of All Things” column), had this to say about Germany’s Olympics preparations.

* * *

A Friendly Shakedown

In Part Two of his profile on Tammany powerbroker Jimmy Hines, journalist Jack Alexander noted Hines’ unorthodox habit of soliciting contributions from his friends (illustration by Hugo Gellert). Excerpts:

* * *

At the Movies

“In the dreadful summer of 1932, [The New Yorker] paid me ten dollars for an anecdote. I was ripe for seduction…,” Russell Maloney once recalled. “[Then] I sent in an account of a situation that I thought would make a good Helen Hokinson picture…and got paid for that: seven dollars.”

Maloney (1910–1948) proceeded to send more ideas to The New Yorker, and enough were accepted that in 1935 he packed his bags and moved to Manhattan for a job at The New Yorker. In his ten years at the magazine he would contribute thousands of anecdotes to “The Talk of Town” as well as casuals, profiles, and countless cartoon captions. His interest in theater as well as celebrity gossip suited him well when he substituted for John Mosher as the magazine’s film critic.

So let’s see what Maloney—who would later call 1939’s The Wizard of Oz a “stinkeroo,” had to say about the latest fare from Hollywood.

BUT THEY PAID ME THIS MUCH…Top: **Russell Maloney** wrote that both **Bette Davis** and **Warren William** seemed “embarrassed” to be appearing in *Satan Met a Lady*, which was a loose adaptation of Dashiell Hammet’s 1930 novel *The Maltese Falcon—*Maloney found Satan to be vastly inferior to the 1931 film *The Maltese Falcon* (below), which starred Ricardo Cortez and **Bebe Daniels**. In 1941 Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor would appear in yet another adaptation of the Hammet novel. *(imdb.com/facebook.com/jbkaufman.com)*

Maloney “enjoyed” The Return of Sophie Lang, with actors “baffling one another with the greatest suavity”…

IS THIS SUAVE ENOUGH FOR YOU?…**Ray Milland** and **Gertrude Michael** get close in *The Return of Sophie Lang. (Pinterest.com)*

…while Spendthrift, featuring actors speaking in various accents, was “perfectly dreadful.” Fortunately Suzy managed to lift the reviewer’s spirits, especially with the appearance of Jean Harlow.

A WINNER AND A WIENER…Top, **Jean Harlow, Cary Grant,** and **George Davis** in *Suzy*; bottom: **Henry Fonda** is flanked by **Pat Paterson** (left) and Mary Brian in *Spendthrift. (tcm.com/eBay.com)*

See this post from Michael Maslin’s Inkspill about Maloney’s contributions to The New Yorker. Also, check out this photo below that includes Maloney (standing next to James Thurber):

LITERARY CLUBHOUSE…Familiar New Yorker faces gathered for a cocktail party at the Hotel Algonquin to celebrate the success of **Frank Case’s** 1938 memoir, *Tales Of a Wayward Inn.* Seated, from left, are **Fritz Foord, Wolcott Gibbs, Case** and **Dorothy Parker**; standing, left to right, are Alan Campbell, St. Clair McKelway, Russell Maloney and James Thurber (untappedcities.com)

* * *

From Our Advertisers

We begin with this colorful inside front cover advertisement for Bacardi rum, illustrated by George de Zayas, the younger brother of Marius de Zayas. Born in Mexico, these talented brothers took different artistic paths—Marius became a prominent avant-garde artist who collaborated with Alfred Stieglitz and others in New York, while George focused on commercial art and popular media…

…this isn’t exactly avant-garde, but the makers of Four Roses added a modern twist to their usual traditional style…

…United Airlines offered overnight flights as well as “scenic” daylight flights from coast to coast (New York to San Francisco)…this flight typically took seventeen to nineteen hours, with refueling stops in Cleveland, Omaha, and Cheyenne/Salt Lake City…the planes were not pressurized, so they flew through the weather rather than above it…at least this plane (Boeing 247), according to the ad, had air-conditioning…

…for the more adventurous (and perhaps wealthier) traveler, you could hop aboard a Pan Am Clipper and head for Rio de Janeiro…in 1936, this flight from Miami to Rio took five days (flying in daylight only)…

…a one-way ticket to Rio would have cost close to $11,000 in today’s dollars, while the equivalent $9,000 would get you a one-way ticket to Europe on the Hindenburg…

…in the back of the book we find various food and cocktail diversions…

…and some one-column tennis-themed ads…”Johnson’s Tennis Gut” referred to the material used in the Thirties to string rackets…the strings were almost exclusively made from natural animal gut—commonly called “catgut,” though they were actually made from processed and twisted sheep intestines…

…Liggett & Myers claimed the back page to promote their Chesterfields to women smokers…one wonders if a racking cough interfered with her playing…

…on to our illustrators and cartoonists, we kick things off with spots by Adolph K. Kronengold…

…John Groth…

…Richard Taylor…

…Christina Malman…

…and Victor de Pauw…

…Carl Rose took us through a sculptor’s creative stages…

…Helen Hokinson pondered a recipe for the day’s catch…

…and she checked out some summer reading (Warwick Deeping was a British writer of historical romances as well as books that defended the lifestyles of the bourgeoisie)…

…this was F.E. Smith’s sole contribution to The New Yorker, and it’s pretty good…beyond that, I came up empty trying to find out more about the cartoonist…

…but we all know Leonard Dove (who contributed fifty-seven New Yorker covers and 717 cartoons)…here he’s keeping things quiet on the tennis court…

…and, of course, we have the great Charles Addams…

…we close with one of my favorite cartoonists, Barbara Shermund, keeping things light after the wedding…

Next Time: Men in Kilts…

That Tammany Taint

Above: The building that housed Manhattan's Democratic Party, known as Tammany Hall, circa 1935, and James Joseph "Jimmy" Hines, perhaps Tammany's most powerful leader. (wpsu.org/facebook.com)

Tammany Hall was founded more than two hundred years ago as an independent social organization serving the needs of New York City’s immigrants and Irish Catholics in particular. After the 1854 mayoral election, however, Tammany grew into a powerful political force, and for nearly a century controlled both city and state elections and the power of patronage that came with them.

July 25, 1936 cover by **William Crawford Galbraith.**

It was no secret that political graft was rampant in the organization, but business leaders were happy to support Tammany’s corrupt practices as long as they served the bottom line. The same, it seems, also applied to politicians, law enforcement, and the courts, beneficiaries of political favors as well as outright bribes.

Few knew how to work Tammany’s levers better than James Joseph “Jimmy” Hines (1876–1957), who held absolute power over New York’s Eleventh District. Journalist Jack Alexander published Part One of a three-part profile on Hines for the July 25 issue. Excerpts:

SOBER REPORTING…Journalist **Jack Alexander** (1902–1975) was a reporter in St. Louis before joining New York’s *Daily News* in 1930. He later worked for *The New Yorker* and then moved to *The Saturday Evening Post*, where he became senior editor. He is best known for his groundbreaking 1941 article on Alcoholics Anonymous. *(saturdayeveningpost.com)*

Tammany was weakened when their scandal-plagued mayor, Jimmy Walker, was ousted in 1932 and eventually succeeded by reformist Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. Hines, however, grew even more powerful as head of the U.S. Civil Service’s patronage system for Manhattan District employees. Ironically, Hines was appointed to the post by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who saw Tammany as a liability but owed Hines a favor—in 1932 Hines split from other Democratic machine bosses (who initially favored Al Smith) to back Roosevelt’s bid for the presidency.

One person who was not tainted by Hines’ influence was Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey, who in 1936 was busy going after New York’s rackets and Hines in particular.

William Auerbach-Levy provided the illustration for Part One of the Hines profile:

In these excerpts, Alexander noted Hines’ “ace in the hole” (the White House) when Tammany Leader James J. Dooling tried to oust him.

I’M GONNA GET YA…Clockwise from top left: In 1936 reformers looked to Special Prosecutor **Thomas E. Dewey** to fight New York’s entrenched rackets; **Jimmy Hines** (right) leaves the courthouse after a 1938 mistrial; Hines was accused of having close ties with mobsters **Dutch Schultz** and **Lucky Luciano** among others; Hines with his attorney, **Martin Littleton**, after leaving Tombs Prison on April 4, 1939—he was released on $35,000 bail pending an appeal for his conviction as a political fixer for the numbers racket. Hines would lose the appeal—convicted on thirteen counts of racketeering, he would be imprisoned at Sing Sing until 1944. *(alchetron.com/facebook.com/Wikipedia)*

Despite his misdeeds, Hines’ many admirers remained faithful to him until his death in 1957 at age 80. Many recalled his annual “June Walk” from the days before he went to prison. According to his New York Times obituary, the annual event in Central Park drew as many as twenty-five thousand women and children, who “listened to half a dozen brass bands, put on paper hats and gorged themselves on ice cream, hot dogs and pop furnished by Hines, who used to take part in the fun wearing the gay green bucket hat of the stage Irishman.” The obituary noted that when Hines left Sing Sing prison, a guard said, “Best of luck. Jimmy! Give my regards to the missus!”

* * *

At the Movies

Critic John Mosher found the perfect distraction from the summer heat in the Mary Boland–Charlie Ruggles comedy Early to Bed:

SILLY SOMNAMBULIST…From left, **Mary Boland, Charles Ruggles** and **Colin Tapley** in *Early to Bed. (*Pinterest)

Mosher also reviewed a Nero Wolfe mystery starring Edward Arnold, and a rather “slight” romance featuring an heiress with a penchant for speeding.

HOMEBODY…**Rex Stout’s** portly detective Nero Wolfe loved to solve crimes without venturing from the comforts of home. Clockwise, from top left; **Edward Arnold** (as Wolfe) with **John Qualen, Lionel Stander**, and **Dennie Moore** in *Meet Nero Wolfe*; eighteen-year-old **Rita Hayworth** (credited as Rita Cansino) appeared in several Nero Wolfe scenes as she continued to build her résumé at Columbia; an heiress with a lead foot runs afoul of a traffic cop (**Randolph Scott**) who eventually falls in love with her in “And Sudden Death; **Frances Drake** as the heiress in a scene with **Tom Brown**. (dancinglady39.wordpress.com/csfd.cz)

* * *

Genteel Sport

The New Yorker featured a variety of sports in its early years, most of them elite pastimes except for hockey, college football and boxing. Save for the occasional mention of Babe Ruth’s antics (and his 1926 “Profile”) and a scattering of cartoons and spots, the game was conspicuously absent from the magazine during the Yankees’ “Murderers’ Row” years in the late 1920s and beyond. I’ve read that editor Harold Ross hated the game, but perhaps the real reason was explained by James Thurber in his “Talk of the Town” piece titled “Peanuts and Crackerjack” (September 22, 1928). Thurber described Yankees baseball as a mass spectacle for out-of-towners who were “a bit mad.” It wasn’t cool to be a Yankees fan if you counted yourself among Manhattan’s smart set.

G.O.A.T. HERD…Less than a month after James Thurber published “Peanuts and Crackerjack,” the New York Yankees would sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in The World Series. The 1928 Yankees set a major league record by having nine players on the team who would eventually be elected to the Hall of Fame. (Wikipedia)

Basketball was also missing from those early issues of The New Yorker, even though it had been played since the 1890s. So we turn to New Yorker cartoonist and author Michael Maslin (via his essential Ink Spill), who recently noted The New Yorker’s very first basketball-themed cartoon by Robert Day (Dec. 23, 1933). The post also features Abe Birnbaum’s terrific 1951 basketball-themed cover and a hilarious MAD magazine parody of Charles Addams.

The elite sports that dominated the back half of the magazine in those early years included golf, tennis, badminton, squash, yachting, rowing, horse hunts and horse racing, and polo (both indoor and out).

Lets look at a couple from the July 25 issue, beginning with these brief excerpts from the “Polo” column authored by “Backhander”—a generic pen name that referred to a rotating cast of polo correspondents including Robert F. Kelley, George F. T. Ryall and Tom O’Reilly (who covered indoor polo).

ELECTRIC HORSEMEN…At left, the Jaipur Polo team (shown here in England in 1933) won all the open tournaments between 1930 and 1938 in India and England. From left is **Maharaja Swai Man Singh** of Jaipur State and **Rao Raja Hanut Singh**, **Rao Raja Abhey Singh** and Colonel Prithvi Singh of Baria; at right, international polo star **Laddie Sanford** was the dynamic patron and captain of the famed Hurricanes, which won the U.S. Open in three different decades. (The Rajputs via Facebook/polo museum.org)

The “Yachts and Yachtsman” column was also signed by a pen name—”Bosun”—signifying any staff writer assigned to boat races or boat shows. In this case the writer was H. K. Rigg, who covered the start of the 1936 Larchmont Race Week, one of the most successful and heavily attended spectacles in the early history of yacht racing.

ON YOUR MARK…Photo above depicts the start of the July 21, 1936 Larchmont Yacht Club Race. The 1936 event is remembered for its massive turnout—300 boats duelling through crowded waters. In the Aug. 1, 1936 issue of *The New Yorker,* **H. K. Rigg** wrote that a “sausage balloon” was needed just to see over the congested fleet. *(Rosenfeld Collection via newyork32.org)*

* * *

From Our Advertisers

A couple of issues ago we looked at the Advertising Federation of America’s “truth in advertising campaign” (Better Living Through Fiction) that sought to forestall government regulation. On June 29, 1936, the AFA hosted more than a thousand ad executives in Boston, where the head of advertising at Scripps-Howard criticized competitive selling among papers (it hurt them in competition with other media). Newspaper ad executives were urged to work together as a profession, and that likely explains this lavish two-page spread in The New Yorker…

…as well as this full-page appeal from the Chicago Daily News…

…and this spot from the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin…

…Dr. Seuss was still honing his style in ads for Flit insecticide…

…this White Rock ad featured the work of two artists…the prolific R. John Holmgren famously illustrated White Rock ads in the 1930s and 40s, often featuring the “tiny Colonel,” seen below regarding the original painting of Psyche at Nature’s Mirror by German artist Paul Thumann…the owners of White Rock bought the rights to the painting after seeing it at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 and adopted Psyche as their trademark…Holmgren would incorporate a modernized version of Psyche in dozens of ads…

…on the inside front cover Seagram’s referenced the character of Thomas Jefferson as an apt metaphor for their product…

…and on the back cover the makers of Luckies kept it simple with this colorful appeal to the growing market for women smokers…

…on to our cartoonists, we begin with another installment of “Limericks” by Morris Bishop featuring the unique style of cartoonist Richard Taylor…

…Alain helped open things up for the events calendar…

…as did Susan Willard Flint with her woodcuts…

…Ned Hilton offered a new wrinkle in a familiar game of skill…

…and Hilton again, preparing for take-off…

…Carl Rose used a double spread to illustrate a singles match…

…Alan Dunn illustrated a familiar problem of the electric age…

…and Dunn again with some realtor trickery…

…Helen Hokinson looked to an Eastern ascetic for some sage advice…

…and found one of her “girls” overdressed for an outing on the Thames…

…Rea Irvin celebrated the genius of American marketing…

…and we end with Peter Arno, and his unique view of matrimony…

Next Time: A Letter From Berlin…

An Urban Spectacle

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 the Eiffel 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)*

* * *

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)*

* * *

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 Richmon**d, 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)

* * *

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 Sam Berman 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…

…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…

…while Alan Dunn weighed summer camp options…

…and we close with Dunn, and a true urban escape…

Next Time: Poppy Returns…

Meet Father Divine

Above: Father Divine points to a Crum Elbow Estate sign (in Highland, NY) in July 1938. His followers purchased the 500-acre spread from anti-New Dealer Howland Spencer...the property was located directly across the Hudson from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Hyde Park family home. That same summer Father Divine would also buy a fifty-room double dwelling in New York City. These and other locations served as integrated "heavens" for his followers. (Wikimedia Commons)

America has long been fertile ground for various religious denominations, sects and cults. Although the U.S. Religion Census has cataloged more than 370 distinct religious groups and bodies in the U.S., there are tens of thousands of independents scattered across the country.

Some of these remain small, while others grow into megachurches often organized around a charismatic leader. Such was the case with Father Divine (1876–1965), aka Reverend Major Jealous Divine, aka George Baker.

His life as George Baker of Valdosta, Georgia came to an end in 1907 when he became known as “the Messenger.” He parted ways with the Baptist church, declared himself a god, and was asked to leave Georgia after his 1914 arrest for lunacy. He led his followers to Brooklyn and later to a commune in Sayville, New York (Long Island), where he founded the International Peace Mission movement and came to be known as Father Divine. By the early 1930s his small and predominantly black congregation had grown into a multiracial and international church.

So intriguing was his story that The New Yorker published a lengthy, three-part profile written by St. Clair McKelway and A.J. Liebling. Here are excerpts from Part One (illustration by William Cotton):

A DEFT DUO…**A.J. Liebling** (left) and **St. Clair McKelway**, both acclaimed journalists, co-authored the three-part profile of **Father Divine**. Liebling (1904–1963) was closely associated with The New Yorker, joining the magazine in 1935 (he was also a well-known gastronome); McKelway (1905–1980) served as *The New Yorker’s* managing editor for journalistic contributions from 1936 to 1939 and wrote for the magazine for forty-seven years. *(Wikipedia/sfgate.com)*

DIVINE’S PATH…Clockwise, from top left: After relocating to Brooklyn in 1914, **Father Divine** married his first wife, **Peninniah**—they are shown here admiring his portrait; Father Divine led large gatherings centered on food—here he entertains guests at a summer retreat in upstate New York in 1938; following the death of **Peninniah**, the 70-year-old Father Divine married 21-year-old **Edna Ritchings** in 1946—she took the name “Mother Divine, with Father Divine claiming she was the reincarnation of Penninah; in 1953 Father Divine was given a hilltop estate (“Woodmont”) in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, by follower John Devoute. The estate is the center of the International Peace Mission movement, a shrine to Father Divine’s life, and a meeting place for the few remaining followers. *(thecityroot.com/Newark Public Library/hsmcpa.org/Wikipedia)*

How did Father Divine come to believe he was a god? This excerpt offers some insights into his early development:

One of the perils of this kind of thinking is that it can lead to the formation of dangerous cults. Jim Jones, the notorious leader of the Peoples Temple, heavily modeled his early church activities and authoritarian structure on Father Divine’s example. Jones even attempted to take over the International Peace Mission after Father Divine’s death—in 1971 he tried to convert the Peace Mission’s followers, claiming he was the reincarnated Father Divine. His takeover attempt was thwarted by Mother Divine, who went to the media and publicly denounced Jones and the Peoples Temple. In 1974 Jones and his followers would relocate to a Guyana commune he called Jonestown. Four years later Jones would lead the mass murder-suicide of 909 Jonestown inhabitants.

AT ODDS…**Jim Jones** (left, circa 1970) attempted to take over the International Peace Mission after **Father Divine’s** death, but was publicly denounced by Mother Divine. At right, **Mother Divine** giving her first interview following the death of Father Divine in 1965. (Wikipedia/temple.edu)

* * *

At the Movies

The media has always thrived on crime stories, feeding the public’s insatiable desire to be tantalized; once sated, they often demand swift justice. Take the heavily publicized 1933 case of two San Jose, California men who were accused of kidnapping and murdering a department store heir. Rather than wait for justice to be served, an angry mob broke into the jail and lynched the accused. Fascinated by the story, MGM screenwriter Norman Krasna pitched it as a potential film.

That film would become Fury, German director Fritz Lang’s first American project. Prior to fleeing the Third Reich in 1933, Lang was perhaps best known to Americans for his pioneering 1927 silent sci-fi film Metropolis and the 1931 thriller M. Lang sought to demonstrate how a decent and civilized man could become filled with vengeance and hate. Although critic John Mosher could see how the film had been tampered with by studio execs (and the Hays Code), he was nevertheless impressed by Lang’s direction and by the performances of lead actors Sylvia Sidney and Spencer Tracy.

WRONG TURN…Clockwise, from top left: In *Fury,* **Spencer Tracy** played gas station owner Joe Wilson, who drives west to reunite with his fiancée—the dog seated to his right is **Terry**, the same Cairn Terrier who played Toto in *The Wizard of Oz*; while camping outside a small town, Joe is arrested by a creepy local deputy (**Walter Brennan**) on suspicion of kidnapping a child; a mob forms and tries to burn Joe in his cell; in the confusion of the fire he escapes and seeks vengeance on the mob, but in the end finds peace with his fiancée (**Sylvia Sidney**). (imdb.com)

Peter Lorre, who was famously directed by Fritz Lang in the 1931 German thriller M, was starring in Alfred Hitchcock’s Secret Agent, which also featured John Gielgud (already famous as a London stage performer), Madeline Carroll, and Robert Young.

SECRETS AND LIES…Clockwise from top left: **Peter Lorre, John Gielgud, Madeline Carroll,** and **Robert Young** in *Secret Agent;* Carroll with Young, who played a German mole; Carroll, Gielgud and Lorre amid the wreckage of a train; Lorre in a scene with **Lilli Palmer.** *(imdb.com)*

Mosher briefly mentioned a new Fred MacMurray/Carole Lombard comedy–mystery, and the return of two silent movie stars.

CHOOSE YOUR PARTNER…The second of four films **Fred MacMurray** made with Carole Lombard between 1935 and 1937, *The Princess Comes Across* featured Lombard doing a clever take-off on **Greta Garbo**; silent-film veterans **Harry Carey** and **Hoot Gibson** stood for the ideals of the Old West in a culture clash with scientific crime-fighting in *The Last Outlaw.* The film was a remake of a 1919 silent film originally written and directed by John Ford. (imdb.com/csfd.cz)

* * *

Beer Bottle Battle

E.B. White (in his “Notes and Comment”) seized on the battle between bottle and can manufacturers as an apt metaphor for the jousting of Republicans and Democrats ahead of the November elections.

FOAMING AT THE MOUTH…Competing ads from Collier’s magazine circa 1935-36 illustrate the battle between can and bottle manufacturers. Ninety years later, beer drinkers still debate the merits of glass over cans. *(boakandbailey.com/ebay.com)*

* * *

From Our Advertisers

In 1936 whisky was still firmly in bottle form, and the makers of Canadian Club—through a series of ads—wanted to let us know you could enjoy their tipple almost anywhere in the world…

…this woman poses an interesting question, considering the fellas are riding atop a dusty stagecoach in the Arizona heat—in formal attire no less…

…over the years we’ve seen a lot of Adolph Teidler’s work for the Bermuda Board of Trade…Teidler (1886–1981) was also well known for his Saturday Evening Post covers…

…here’s an example of Teidler’s work for the Bermuda Board of Trade from the Feb. 22, 1936 issue of The New Yorker…

…the Zenith Radio Corporation touted their modern, streamlined “Zephyr” radio by industrial designer Robert Davol Budlong…

A restored Zenith 10-S-147 Zephyr chairside radio. (Pete Johnson–Zenith Radios Enthusiasts and Collectors via Facebook.com)

…Frank Quail Jr was a prominent automotive illustrator active from the 1920s through the 1930s. He was well-known for his work with luxury automobile brands such as Cadillac, LaSalle and Packard…here he conjures up a breezy seaside image for Cadillac’s more affordable LaSalle model (most of these ads were two-page spreads, with promo copy on the right-hand page)…

…and more Dr. Seuss on behalf of Flit insecticide…

…we begin the cartoon section with some spot art…here are two by Arnold Hall…

…and one from Richard Taylor…

…Alain referenced the upcoming heavyweight bout at Yankee Stadium between Max Schmeling and Joe Louis…their two fights in 1936 and 1938 were international sensations…

…more glimpses of “Holy Wedlock” from William Steig…

…a bit of trouble in Yonkers, per Carl Rose…

…George Price brought out the fire brigade for the Crêpes Suzette…

…Peter Arno drew up a colonel with a communication issue…

…William Crawford Galbraith celebrated the June bride…

…two by Mary Petty, at the dress shop…

and at the in-laws…

…Petty’s husband Alan Dunn feted the Class of ’36 (and ’06)…

…Perry Barlow illustrated a scoutmaster’s leadership skills…

…and we check out with Whitney Darrow Jr…

Next Time: An Urban Spectacle…

Izzy & Moe

Above: Former Prohibition agents Isidor "Izzy" Einstein (right) and Moe W. Smith meet at a New York City bar in 1935. Known for their clever disguises and unorthodox tactics, from 1920 to 1925 the duo confiscated roughly five million bottles of illicit liquor and arrested 4,932 people. (Wikipedia)

Legendary Americans come from all walks of life—sports stars, movie actors, political and business leaders—and they also come from unlikely places; take for example a pushcart peddler and a cigar store owner who became national celebrities for their exploits during the first years of Prohibition.

June 6, 1936 cover by Constantin Alajalov.

Prohibition agents Isidor “Izzy” Einstein (1880–1938) and Moe W. Smith (1887–1960) were known for their clever disguises, but the author of their “Where Are They Now?” profile was also in disguise—the piece was written by James Thurber under the pseudonym Jared L. Manley.

Einstein was 40-year-old pushcart peddler and postal clerk when he applied for a job as an enforcement agent at forty dollars a week. Although the 5-foot-5, 225 pound Einstein wasn’t the agency’s “type,” he convinced the feds that there was an advantage to not looking the part (the Austrian-born Einstein also spoke six languages). After landing the job, he asked if his friend, cigar store owner Moe Smith, could join him, since “he doesn’t look like an agent, either.” Some brief excerpts from part one of “Where Are They Now?”

TRICKSTERS…Clockwise, from top left: **Isidor “Izzy” Einstein** (right) and **Moe W. Smith**; the pair sported hundreds of disguises (Einstein on the left); Einstein’s badge and his bestselling 1932 book *Prohibition Agent No 1*; *Daily News* clipping from September 1920 showing results of a raid—Izzy and Moe are at right and left. *(history.com/Library of Congress/Wikipedia/goodreads.com/nydailynews.com)*

In her 2012 article for Smithsonian magazine (“Prohibition’s Premier Hooch Hounds”), Abbott Kahler notes that the agents were victims of their own success. “Superiors grew to resent their headlines, and other agents complained that their productivity made their own records look bad…In November 1925, Izzy and Moe were among 35 agents to be dropped from the force.” Both men went on to successful careers as insurance salesmen. Want to know more? Read Kahler’s excellent account of the duo at the Smithsonian magazine’s website.

TRIBUTE ON THE TUBE…In 1985 **Art Carney** and **Jackie Gleason** starred in CBS’s made-for-television film, *Izzy & Moe,* which was loosely based on the exploits of **Izzy Einstein** and **Moe Smith**. *(imdb.com)*

* * *

At the Movies

Two of the better films playing in Manhattan cinemas featured murders and matrons, the matrons played by Britain’s top female screen star, Madeleine Carroll, and America’s queen of screwball comedy, Jean Arthur. Critic John Mosher observed that their films were the only ones with any “life.”

TRADING GALLOWS FOR A GROOM…Top, **Madeleine Carroll** portrayed a “lady of privilege,” accused of murder, who falls in love with the prosecuting district attorney (**George Brent)** in The Case Against Mrs. Ames—**Scotty Beckett** played Carroll’s son; below, **Jean Arthur** and **William Powell** in the comedy-mystery The Ex-Mrs. Bradford.(imdb.com/mikestakeonthemovies.com)

Other films reviewed by Mosher were rated as “negligible” and “disappointing,” despite their talented casts…

TRAIN SPOTTING…Clockwise from top left: **Esther Howard** portrayed a “flirtatious dowager” who worked her charms on **Jack Oakie** (center) in *Florida Special*; **Sally Eilers** prepares to board the *Florida Special* with **Dwight Frye** and Claude Gillingwater; **Robert Montgomery** and Rosalind Russell in *Trouble for Two;* Montgomery (left), **Leonard Carey**, and **Frank Morgan** in *Trouble for Two. (pinterest.com/imdb.com)*

THE OLD PRINCESS IN DISGUISE TRICK…From left, **Grace Moore, Eve Southern**, and **Franchot Tone** in *The King Steps Out. (IMDb.com)*

* * *

From Our Advertisers

Last week Lois Long mentioned the return of famed Greenwich Village restaurateur and Sheridan Square funboy Don Dickerman. The June 6 issue featured two back-of-the-book ads placed by Dickerman that promoted his latest venture at Port Chester…this ad was on the bottom of page 75…

…and turning the page, you’d find this at the bottom of page 76…

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN…In 1916 **Don Dickerman** (1893–1981) opened a tearoom called the Pirate’s Cave at 133 Washington Place in Greenwich Village. The 6-foot-6 artist and entrepreneur was famous for his many themed establishments as well as for his eccentricities. Obsessed with pirate life, he dressed in full pirate gear in both public and private life. *(facebook.com)*

…Pacific Pottery was among firms in the 1930s marketing informal dinnerware featuring vibrant glazes and Art Deco streamline designs…

…you don’t hear much about the “June Bride” these days, but 1930s advertisers played up the tradition to sell everything from fashions to refrigerators…here the folks at Fisher made sure they connected their solid steel “Turret Top” to the safety of newlyweds…

…Stage magazine promoted its extensive coverage of “After-Dark” entertainments at home and abroad…

…the brewers of Pabst joined a handful of other beer companies promoting their product in newfangled cans…

…Dr. Seuss continued to find new gags to promote Flit insecticide…

…James Thurber kicked things off for the issue’s cartoonists…

…Charles Addams took in the sites along with some June brides at Niagara Falls (the barrel in the water reads “Just Married”)…

…W.P. Trent contributed this caption-less cartoon…

…Carl Rose continued to document the strange happenings of an election year…

…William Steig got superstitious…

…one of Helen Hokinson’s “girls” gave props to lemon meringue…

…and Hokinson again, and an unlikely claim at the salon…

…Alain presented an artist’s greatest challenge…

…Otto Soglow gave us an ideal sandwich board duo…

…Alan Dunn illustrated a “selfless” act…

…a moviegoer found a derivative moment at the cinema, per Whitney Darrow Jr…

…and we close with some idle chat, courtesy of Barbara Shermund…

Next Time: Meet Father Divine…

Vast Horizons

Above: Pierre Lelong painting (circa 1950s) of the outdoor café at New York's Hotel St. Moritz (left); view of the St. Moritz and Café de la Paix, 1944.

After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, nightlife in Manhattan slowly picked up steam. By 1936 things were swinging, and although the club scene wasn’t as heady as the Roaring Twenties, there was still plenty to entice New Yorkers into the night air.

May 23, 1936 cover by **Perry Barlow.** The Texas-born Barlow (1892–1977) published 135 covers and 1,574 drawings in *The New Yorker* from 1926 to 1974. According to the late Lee Lorenz, Barlow’s drawings were elegant and deceptively casual, “delineating the absurdities and frustrations of the suburban middle class.” Barlow’s wife, **Dorothy Hope Smith** (also a successful artist) collaborated with her husband on many of his covers. Lorenz noted that “being partly color-blind, [Barlow] depended on his wife to provide the color for his drawings.”

Before we get to our top story, here is a self portrait of Barlow featured in the April 26, 1941 issue of Colliers (via Mike Lynch Cartoons):

**Lee Lorenz** described **Perry Barlow** as a modest man: “Tall, lean, and soft-spoken, he seemed to many of his friends the image of the laconic Texan…(his) drawings remain fresh, and the generous and civilized sensibility behind them is a reminder of a quieter, kinder world.”

Now let’s enjoy a relaxing evening with the world’s greatest nightlife correspondent, Lois Long, who checked out the latest outdoor drinking and dining options in Manhattan. Excerpts:

AL FRESCO…Clockwise from top left: Whimsical illustration of the outdoor cafe at the Hotel St. Moritz by French Post-Impressionist painter **Pierre Lelong,** circa 1950s; view of St. Moritz Hotel and Cafe’ de la Paix, 1944 (in 1997 Donald Trump planned to gut the St. Moritz and cover it in glass; fortunately it was sold before that could happen); circa 1940s postcard depicting outdoor dining/dancing area at Tavern on the Green; dancing and drinks at Tavern on the Green, 1963. *(scan by author/mcny.org/ephemeralnewyork.com/nytimes.com)*

DANCING WITH THE STARS…Clockwise, from top left: The Waldorf’s Starlight Rooftop in the 1930s; **Lois Long** referred to the Waldorf’s multi-talented bandleader **Orville Knapp** as a “handsome dog”; actress **Mary Taylor** makes an entrance at the El Morocco in the 1930s; color image of the El Morocco’s Champagne Room, 1960. *(notjustalabel.com/findagrave.com/facebook.com/life.com)*

* * *

Keeping the Flame

E.B. White began his column with a hopeful message regarding the power of truth in the face of Nazism:

OH SHUT UP…Reich Minister of Propaganda **Joseph Goebbels** giving a speech in Lustgarten, Berlin, August 1934. (Wikipedia)

…White also commented on some “unnerving” moments while encountering quadruplets and a Nazi dirigible…

SISTER ACT…At left, the Keys Sisters circa 1936—**Leota, Mary, Mona,** and Roberta—were a national sensation and America’s most famous set of quadruplets. They were the first quadruplets in history to graduate from college (Baylor 1937), and they traveled thousands of miles on “goodwill tours” to promote Baylor University and the Texas Centennial Exposition of 1936; at right, the Hindenburg looms in the night sky just minutes before it was destroyed while attempting to dock in Lakehurst, N.J.
*(baylor.edu/British Pathé)*

…and one more from White, here musing about Lucky Luciano’s residence at the Waldorf (Penthouse 39C, where Luciano was registered as “Charles Ross”)…

WALDORF ROUND TABLE…**Lucky Luciano** (back, center) with associates at the Waldorf-Astoria, circa 1936. Luciano regularly entertained prominent mobsters like **Meyer Lansky** and **Frank Costello** at the hotel. (dc.lib.jjay.cuny.edu)

* * *

Headline Acts

From 1935 to 1939, the WPA’s Federal Theatre Project gave work to more than 12,000 unemployed actors, directors, writers, designers, stagehands, and seamstresses while staging more than 1,200 productions across twenty-nine states. Although Wolcott Gibbs wasn’t too impressed with the project’s “Living Newspaper” performance, he deemed it worth seeing as the best thing on stage in the waning days of the theater season.

TOO SUCCESSFUL…As the director of the WPA’s Federal Theatre Project from 1935 to 1939, **Hallie Flanagan** (left) oversaw the hiring of thousands of unemployed theater workers and the production of nearly 64,000 theatrical performances. At right, a scene from a “Living Newspaper” performance in the 1930s. Despite its enormous success, the project was abruptly shut down by Congress on June 30, 1939, due to its progressive social commentary. (nara.gov/loc.gov)

* * *

At the Movies

The romantic musical Showboat was a big hit with Broadway audiences after it premiered in 1927, but the play’s first film adaptation in 1929 fell flat; it was shot as a silent and then partially re-shot to incorporate sound dialogue and singing. Film critic John Mosher referred to that version as something “made awful on the screen,” and wanted his readers to know that the new 1936 adaptation had been “magnificently handled” by director James Whale (perhaps best remembered for 1931’s Frankenstein).

THE OLD MAN…Clockwise, from top left: the show boat *Cotton Palace* sets out on the Mississippi River to much fanfare in 1936’s *Show Boat*; **Jeanette Dickson** and **Jimmy Jackson** kick up their heels before the boat departs; **Irene Dunne** (right) and **Helen Morgan** in a dramatic scene; **Paul Robeson** performing his iconic rendition of “Ol’ Man River.” (collider.com/criterion.com/nystagereview.com)

Mosher also reviewed the musical It’s Love Again, finding the comedy “cumbersome,” filled with “very British stuff of the kind we don’t understand over here at all.” He also had little to say about And So They Were Married, expressing sympathy to actress Mary Astor as “the conspicuous victim of effort…”

NOT PLAYING DOCTOR…Folks of certain age will recognize Robert Young from the 1970s TV series *Marcus Welby, M.D.* Prior to that he appeared in more than one hundred films. Top photo, **Athene Seyler, Robert Young,** and **Jessie Matthews** in *It’s Love Again;* Below, **Mary Astor** and Melvyn Douglas with child actors **Edith Fellows** and **Jackie Moran** in *And So They Were Married*. (imdb.com)

And then there was Speed, Jimmy Stewart’s first leading role. Mosher couldn’t make sense of it, but the film did launch Stewart into bigger roles.

OUT OF GAS…**Jimmy Stewart** as race car driver Terry Martin in *Speed.* **Wendy Barrie** played the love interest Jane Mitchell, who was secretly the heiress Jane Emery. The film received tepid reviews, but it helped launch Stewart to stardom. (collider.com)

* * *

From Our Advertisers

The folks at Hormel were back on the inside front cover with another tale from the annals of onion soup…

…and summer fashions once again dominated the opening pages of the magazine…

…Packard answered Cadillac’s pastoral ads with one of its own…

…while the distillers at Seagram’s wanted to reassure thirsty Americans that there was plenty of the hard stuff to go around…

…anticipating the season of the June bride, this ad helpfully suggested the Toastmaster toaster (and accessories) as the ideal gift for the newlywed…

…this ad for Stage magazine featured actress Lynn Fontanne as the mysterious countess Iréne in Idiot’s Delight…

…Fontanne’s play, along with several other stage and screen diversions, were advertised in the back of the book…

…pin-up artist George Petty drew up another odd couple for Old Gold cigarettes…

…While the makers of Lucky Strike cigarettes gave their smokes a homey appeal…

…on to our illustrators and cartoonists, we have spot art from Susan Willard Flint…

…and Christina Malman…

…and Daniel ‘Alain’ Brustlein (for the “Theatre” section)…

…this next bit of spot art has me confused…the signature appears to belong to Arthur Getz, yet the image suggests an early drawing by Ludwig Bemelmans…Getz and Bemelmans were contemporaries at the New Yorker, and both were prolific spot art contributors…

…the drawing seems to anticipate Bemelmans’ 1939 children’s book Madeline…

…Richard Taylor found inspiration on the Broadway stage…

…Peter Arno showed us a sugar daddy receiving an earful (via ear trumpet)…

…Carl Rose offered some Southern-style electioneering in this lively illustration…

…by contrast, James Thurber’s spare lines told us everything we needed to know about this couple…

…Ned Hilton spotted an outlier at an outdoor café...

…Alain again, here anticipating a big surprise…

…Helen Hokinson offered a helpful fashion tip…

…and we close with Mary Petty, and a motherly retort…

Next Time: Queen of the Seas…

Making of a Madman

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)

* * *

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)

* * *

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)

* * *

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)

* * *

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)

* * *

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)

* * *

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)

* * *

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…

Next Time: Nostalgic Notes…

Führer Furor

Above, left, Janet Flanner regards the cover of the Sept. 13, 1931 issue of The New Yorker; at right, Adolf Hitler's chosen filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl at Nuremberg's "Shovel Day" parade, 1936. (Library of Congress/Sueddeutscher Verlag)

The February 29, 1936 issue stands out from pack not only for its cover—James Thurber’s first—but also for the magazine’s first in-depth look at a man who would spark the deadliest conflict in human history.

February 29, 1936 cover by James Thurber. This was the first of six covers Thurber contributed to *The New Yorker.* You can see all six covers at Michael Maslin’s Ink Spill, the go-to site for all things Thurber and so much more. **UPDATE:** Also check Maslin’s post regarding the repeat of this cover on Sept. 4, 2023. Fascinating read!

Before we jump in…Thurber’s close friend E.B. White noted another unusual fact about this issue…

…twenty-eight years later, and a dime extra (cover by Garrett Price)…

* * *

Inside the Feb. 29 issue, The New Yorker’s Paris correspondent Janet Flanner published the first part of a three-part profile on German dictator Adolf Hitler. In this first excerpt she described the Führer’s ascetic diet and personality (caricature by William Cotton).

NAZI NUM NUMS….Adolf Hitler with one of his official food tasters, **Margot Woelk**, during World War II. Woelk later claimed she was the sole survivor from a group of food tasters who were summarily executed by the Red Army after the fall of Berlin. *(warfarehistorynetwork.com)*

Flanner described Hitler’s relationships with influential women, particularly filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl.

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS…**Adolf Hitler** had influential admirers both in and outside of Germany, including, clockwise, from top left, filmmaker **Leni Riefenstahl** (in the white skirt described by Flanner) at the 1936 “Shovel Day” in Nuremburg; **Winifred Wagner,** daughter-in-law of composer **Richard Wagner,** in 1925; Hitler with **Unity Mitford,** one of six aristocratic Mitford sisters and a fanatical Nazi; Ernst Franz Sedgwick Hanfstaengl with another Mitford sister, **Diana Mitford,** at a 1934 Nuremberg rally. Diana as married to **Oswald Mosley,** leader of the British Union of Fascists, and Hanfstaengl was the son of **Katharina Wilhelmina Hanfstaengl,** a prominent Munich art publisher who helped finance Hitler’s rise to power. *(Sueddeutscher Verlag/Wikipedia/historyreader.com)*

Flanner concluded the piece with a look at Hitler’s sexuality, which seemed non-existent, and drew an ominous conclusion about his personality type.

EXPENDABLE…**Ernst Röhm** with Adolf Hitler in 1933. Although Hitler knew Röhm was gay, he also valued Röhm’s leadership and organizational skills, that is until his presence proved a liability. Röhm was murdered by the SS in 1934 during the “Night of the Long Knives.” *(Wikipedia)*

As part of a centenary series, The New Yorker’s Andrew Marantz recently looked at Flanner’s profile of Hitler, noting that she was “neither an antifascist, like her friend Dorothy Parker, nor a Fascist, like her friend Ezra Pound; she was against crude bigotry, but she was not the world’s greatest philo-Semite.”

* * *

Lamour Amour

In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White pointed out the challenges of expressing physical beauty over a non-visual medium like radio:

TELEGENIC…Hopefully E.B. White managed to see **Dorothy Lamour** on the “television waves… bumping along over the Alleghenies.” At left, publicity photo of Lamour from 1937; at right, Lamour appeared as a mystery guest on *What’s My Line?*, Feb. 20, 1955, seen here with host John Daly. In later years Lamour was a guest on a number of television shows, ranging from *Marcus Welby, M.D.* to *Remington Steele. (Wikipedia/YouTube.com)*

* * *

Shadow Plays

Morris Bishop (1893-1973), a noted scholar of the Middle Ages as well as a writer of light verse, offered up these lines after screening early silent films at the Museum of Modern Art. The screenings were curated by Iris Barry to showcase MoMA’s new film library and to advance the study of film as a serious art form.

TIME CAPSULES…The Museum of Modern Art was a pioneer in the study of film as a modern art form. Among the films screened at MoMA in 1936 (clockwise, from top left): famed stage actress **Sarah Bernhardt** as Queen Elizabeth in the *Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth* (The Loves of Queen Elizabeth) with **Lou Tellegen,** 1912; Bernhardt in the film *Camille* (*La Dame aux camélias*) with **André Calmettes,** 1911; **Theda Bara’s** 1917 take on *Camille*, in a scene with Alan Roscoe; **Gloria Swanson** in *Zaza,* 1923. *(Wikipedia/imdb.com/YouTube.com)*

* * *

A Reporter’s Chops

With so much attention given to James Thurber as a humorist, it is easy to forget that he was an experienced journalist, and that he could apply his considerable gifts as a writer to narrative non-fiction. For the Feb. 29 “A Reporter at Large” column, Thurber penned “Crime in the Cumberlands.” I can’t do it justice through excerpts, but I highly recommend giving it a read as a prime example of Thurber’s skills as a reporter.

SERIOUSLY SERIOUS WRITER…You can find both humorous and not-so-humorous crime stories (and drawings, of course) in 1991’s *Thurber on Crime,* edited by Robert Lopresti. “Crime in the Cumberlands” is included in the collection. *(jamesthurber.org/barnesandnoble.com)*

* * *

At the Movies

Not so serious were the films being churned out by Hollywood, including the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers toe-tapper Follow the Fleet, set to an Irving Berlin score that featured the hit “Let’s Face the Music and Dance.” Critic John Mosher was on board for the ride.

GOOD CLEAN FUN…Dance partners “Bake” Baker (**Fred Astaire**) and Sherry Martin (**Ginger Rogers**) find love during shore leave in *Follow the Fleet.* *(Toronto Film Society)*

Bandleader Harry Richman, well known in the New York nightlife scene of the 1920s and 30s, showed his acting chops in The Music Goes ‘Round…

I CAN SING TOO…**Rochelle Hudson** and **Harry Richman** in The Music Goes ‘Round. (imdb.com)

…Fred MacMurray, Sylvia Sydney, Henry Fonda and Fred Stone appeared in living color in The Trail of the Lonesome Pine–it was just the second full-length feature to be shot in three-strip Technicolor and the first to be shot outdoors in Technicolor…

LIFELIKE…Clockwise, from top left: **Fred MacMurray; Sylvia Sydney**; a Paramount movie poster; **Henry Fonda** and **Fred Stone.** *(moviesalamark.com/imdb.com)*

…the 1936 film Rhodes (aka Rhodes of Africa) featured the massive acting talents of Walter Huston and Peggy Ashcroft; not surprisingly, the subject matter of the film has not aged well…a 2015 review in The Guardian is headlined: “Rhodes of Africa: only slightly less offensive than the man himself”…

COLONIAL KLINK…**Walter Huston** and **Peggy Ashcroft** in Rhodes. *(imdb.com)*

* * *

From Our Advertisers

We begin with a Stage magazine ad from the inside front cover, featuring an illustration by Alexander King…

…only new-money swells would be seen doing this…old money wouldn’t dare enter the kitchen, unless they needed to sack the cook…

…on the back cover of the Feb. 29 issue you would find this elegant woman taking a break from her vanity to enjoy a “toasted” Lucky…

…we join our cartoonists, starting with this spot by Richard Taylor…

…Garrett Price got stuck over the frozen falls…

…George Price drew up a sandwich board competition…

…Al Frueh continued to illuminate “The Theatre” section…

…James Thurber posed a loaded question…

…Denys Wortman got down to some debugging…

…Carl Rose offered up another example of rugged individualism…

…Charles Addams came down to earth…

…Alain illustrated a case of jury tampering…

…Helen Hokinson demonstrated the allure of a netted hat…

…and Hokinson again, doing some early spring cleaning…

…and Barbara Shermund explored the idyll of wanderlust…

…and before we go, here is the New Yorker cover—by Helen Hokinson, Sept. 12, 1931—that was the object of Janet Flanner’s attention…

Next Time: Making of a Madman…

Strike Me Pink

Above: Eddie Cantor (left) consulting his "confidence book" in Strike Me Pink; at right, Dona Drake and the “Goldwyn Girls” performing “The Lady Dances." (cometoverhollywood.com)

You don’t hear much about him today, but in 1936 Eddie Cantor was a household name, an entertainer who seemed to do it all—comedian, actor, dancer, singer, and songwriter were just a few of his trades.

January 25, 1936 cover by **Constantin Alajálov.**

Critic John Mosher marveled at the energy Cantor (1892–1964) brought to his latest film, Strike Me Pink, in which Cantor played a mild-mannered manager of an amusement park infested with mobsters. The film was a “convulsion,” Mosher wrote, packed with action on “the grand scale” with occasional interludes by co-star Ethel Merman, who portrayed Cantor’s love interest.

FINDING HIS MOJO…top and below left, **Eddie Cantor** and **Ethel Merman** in *Strike Me Pink.* Bottom right, **Cantor, Sally Eilers** and **Helen Lowell** in a scene from the film. (Wikipedia/tcm.com/imdb.com)

Bette Davis wasn’t the only Hollywood celeb known for her peepers. After artist Frederick J. Garner published a big-eyed caricature of Cantor in 1933, those “Banjo Eyes” became Cantor’s trademark.

BANJO EYES…at left, **Frederick J. Garner’s** caricature of Cantor. After he published the drawing in 1933, other artists followed suit with their own interpretations of the “Banjo Eyes.” At right, movie poster for 1934’s Kid Millions. (npg.si.edu/laughterlog.com/imdb.com)

Cantor would pack a lot into his seventy-two years, a regular with the Ziegfeld Follies (he would repeat his routines in numerous films), he would also appear in other stage productions, on the radio, on television (hosting The Colgate Comedy Hour) and recording hit songs like “Makin’ Whoopee.” He wrote or co-wrote seven books, was the second president of the Screen Actors Guild, and a co-founder of the March of Dimes (Cantor came up with the name as well). He also appeared in numerous cartoons, and even wrote the Merrie Melodies/LooneyTunes theme song, “Merrily We Roll Along.”

DOWN AND OUT…**Eddie Cantor** was caricatured along with, from left, **Al Jolson, Jack Benny** and Bing Crosby in the 1950 *Looney Toons* short “What’s Up, Doc?” The scene depicts a low point in Bugs Bunny’s career when he spends the winter with fellow struggling actors in Central Park. (Warner Brothers)

In 1934 Cantor was depicted as a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the only full-size balloon to represent a real person.

MY, WHAT BIG EYES YOU HAVE…**Eddie Cantor** looms over the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1934. (Ephemeral New York)

* * *

Fishing For Buyers

The Thirty-first annual Motor Boat Show was on at the Grand Central Palace, featuring everything from yachts to tiny sailboats. Excerpts from a report by a correspondent who wrote under the name “Bosun.”

FOR LANDLUBBERS TOO…The New York Motor Boat Show began in 1905 at Madison Square Garden before moving to the resplendent surroundings of the Grand Central Palace. Clockwise from top left, undated photo from the Grand Central Palace; advertisement in *Yachting* magazine; a 1935 Elco Cruisette. (offthehookyachts.com/antiqueboatamerica.com)

* * *

Cultured Congress

Hard to believe that ninety years ago the U.S. House of Representatives devoted considerable time and attention to a proposed bill for a “Department of Science, Art and Literature.” E.B. White covered the hearings in an extensive two-part report for “Onward & Upward With the Arts.” Here is a brief excerpt from part one.

ARTS FANATIC is how **E.B. White** characterized New York Congressman **William I. Sirovich** (1882–1939), who proposed the establishment of a Department of Science, Art and Literature. (findagrave.com)

* * *

A Really Big Show

“The Talk of the Town” paid a visit to the Adelphi Theatre to see how preparations were going for opera-oratorio The Eternal Road. Conceived by journalist and playwright Meyer Weisgal to alert the public to the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, it featured a score by Kurt Weill with libretto by Franz Werfel (translated into English by Ludwig Lewisohn).

Directed by Max Reinhardt on an imposing set designed by Norman Bel Geddes, The Eternal Road would take time to produce, finally premiering at the Manhattan Opera House on Jan. 7, 1937. It ran for 153 performances.

ON THE ROAD…Key figures in the production of *The Eternal Road* included, from left, director **Max Reinhardt,** composer Kurt Weill, and set designer **Norman Bel Geddes** (who here bears an uncanny resemblance to *New Yorker* founding editor **Harold Ross**). (weillproject.com)

DRAMA QUEEN…Among the 245 actors in the production was Lotte Lenya, who portrayed Miriam. An acclaimed Austrian singer and actress, Lenya was also **Kurt Weill’s** ex-wife, and is probably best known today for her role as the sadistic Rosa Klebb in the 1963 James Bond film *From Russia with Love.*

MAKE NO LITTLE PLANS…At left, a sketch by Harry Horner of the *The Eternal Road’s* five-level set designed by **Norman Bel Geddes** for the Manhattan Opera House; at right, massive set piece from the production. (Kurt Weill Foundation kwf.org)

* * *

Location, Location, Location

“Talk” also looked at property values in the city, noting that the site occupied by the Hell Gate power plant was assessed at nearly $57 million (roughly $1.3 billion today). Excerpt:

PRIME REAL ESTATE…Artist’s rendering of the Hell Gate generating station, circa 1922. (T.E. Murray, *Power Stations* 1922)

* * *

A New, Improved Carmen

Music critic Robert Simon (writing for “Musical Events”) was delightfully surprised by the Met’s latest production of Carmen, and namely by the performance of Swedish mezzo-soprano Gertrud Pålson-Wettergren:

HUMOROUS AND HEROIC were just two for the adjectives Robert Simon used to describe an interpretation of *Carmen* by Swedish mezzo-soprano **Gertrud Pålson-Wettergren** (1897–1991). She made her **Metropolitan Opera** debut in December 1935. (Wikipedia)

* * *

At the Movies

We rejoin critic John Mosher for a look at the rest of the cinema lineup, beginning with King of Burlesque, which featured Alice Faye and “everything but the kitchen stove.”

FACES IN THE CROWD…Mosher found a film crowded with talents in King of Burlesque, including **Fats Waller** (performing “I’ve Got My Fingers Crossed”), **Warner Baxter,** and Alice Faye. *(YouTube.com/IMDb.com)*

Mosher found a “stimulating” gangster flick in Exclusive Story…

DRESSED TO THE NINES…**Franchot Tone** was clad in his usual Sunday best, here flanked by **Madge Evans** (left) and **Louise Henry**. (themovied.org)

…and a “trifling” horror movie, The Crime of Dr. Crespi…

I’M NOT DEAD YET…Evil Dr. Crespi (**Erich Von Stroheim**) gives fellow doctor Stephen Ross (**John Bohn**) a drug that induces a state of apparent death in *The Crime of Doctor Crespi.* (moma.org)

* * *

A Hot Hobby

St. Clair McKelway filed the second of a two-part profile on New York’s Chief Fire Marshal Thomas P. Brophy (1880-1962). McKelway wrote, “How to stop a fire is the fire chief’s problem; how it got started, that of the fire marshal, Thomas Brophy…Brophy’s specialty, however, is pyromaniacs— it is almost his hobby.” Hugo Gellert supplied the drawing.

* * *

From Our Advertisers

We begin with the inside front cover, and this colorful illustration of Fanny Brice by Abe Birnbaum for Stage magazine…

…the makers of budget automobiles such as Nash, Plymouth and Hudson were all on the same page when it came to marketing their automobiles, namely, that their products suggested luxury despite the bargain price…a “Motor Car by Hudson,” the ad proclaimed, is “worthy of its place in the New York style ensemble”…

…the makers of Pierce Arrow had a solid reputation as the Rolls-Royce of American automobiles, so they took the safety angle in this understated, hyperbole-free advertisement…(however, cheaper cars like Hudson would survive the Depression, Pierce-Arrow would not)…

…this Scotch whisky ad recalled the days when “rolled hose” could create a scandal, underscoring how things can mellow after ten years, including whisky…

…in this back cover advertisement, Vivian Dixon (apparently just eighteen years old) was the latest New York debutante to invite young women to join her in smoking Camels…

**Vivian Dixon** (1918-1974) circa 1940. You can read more about her here. (stoningtonboroughct.com)

…the Major continued his quest for fresh peas in this ad from the Minnesota Valley Canning Company (aka Green Giant)…

…on to our cartoonists, beginning with this spot drawing for the boat show by Constantin Alajálov…

…this spot by Abe Birnbaum broke up the text for James Thurber’s “Nine Needles” short story…

…Perry Barlow gave us a gentleman attempting to explain the subtleties of ice hockey…

…Barlow again, where seeing is not necessarily believing…

…James Thurber contributed a serenade, accompanied by dog…

…Peter Arno bid farewell to honeymooners destined for Niagara Falls and the Shredded Wheat factory…

…besides the falls, the Shredded Wheat factory was a big attraction in the early 20th century…

A 1905 postcard touting “One of the Wonders of Niagara.” (Niagara Falls Public Library)

…George Price illustrated the hazards of bargain shopping…

…and Price again, with a lucky streak in Atlantic City…

…Carl Rose continued to offer examples of rugged individualism…

…Charles Addams explored some exotic thrills…

…Mary Petty found nuance among youthful suitors…

…and Petty again, and the complexities of hat shopping…

…Alain paid a visit to the boat show…

…Ned Hilton drew up a mail-order mix-up…

…and we close with Alan Dunn, and a matter of the heart…

Next Time: Having a Ball…

A Profile in Paint

Above: Portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe, 1935, by Alfred Stieglitz, gelatin silver print; at right, O'Keeffe's Ram's Head, White Hollyhock-Hills, 1935. Oil on canvas. (National Gallery/Brooklyn Museum)

Over the seven decades of her career, Georgia O’Keeffe created works that did not necessarily follow the art movements of the 20th century. Critic Lewis Mumford referred to these works as “autobiographies in paint,” every painting “as enigmatic as the Mona Lisa.”

January 18, 1936 cover by Robert Day, illustrating the days before the invention of the Zamboni (in 1949).

O’Keeffe was married to art dealer and photographer Alfred Stieglitz, who exhibited her works at his “An American Place” gallery at 53rd and Madison. The couple had a complex, open relationship (Stieglitz had a number of affairs) that proved painful to O’Keeffe, and in 1933 she was hospitalized for two months after experiencing a nervous breakdown; she did not paint again until the following year. Although Mumford did not directly reference this episode in O’Keeffe’s life, he did note that “Certain elements in O’Keeffe’s biography were plainly visible” in her paintings.

PAINED PAINTINGS…Clockwise, from top left, **Georgia O’Keeffe’s** *Eagle Claw and Bean Necklace,* 1934; *Jack-in-the-Pulpit No. IV,* 1930; *Purple Hills,* 1935. (MoMA/Phillips Collection/San Diego Museum of Art)

Mumford noted that O’Keeffe’s newer works revealed a “resurrection of spirit,” such as the painting of a ram’s skull, “with its horns acting like wings, lifted up against the gray, wind-swept clouds…”

GLOWING WITH POETRY AND TRUTH is how Lewis Mumford described **Georgia O’Keeffe’s** latest work. Clockwise, from top left: *Ram’s Head* suggested to Mumford “a resurgence of life and a resurrection of spirit” in the artist; other bright works included *Sunflower, New Mexico 1*, 1935; and *Hill,* 1935. (National Gallery/Cleveland Museum of Art/ Denver Art Museum)

* * *

Lights Out

In the previous issue E.B. White noted that the Edison Company was threatening to cut off electric service to the magazine’s offices due to nonpayment. This “Notes and Comment” update cleared up the matter.

THE PRICE FOR POWER…Above, an aerial view from 1926 of New York Edison’s East River Power Station at 38th Street. In 1936 it was powered by coal, which burned pungently and created problems with soot throughout the area. (tudorcityconfidential.com)

* * *

Revisiting a Pint-size Poet

“The Talk of the Town” paid a visit to Nathalia Crane (1913–1998), who became famous after the 1924 publication of her first book of poetry, The Janitor’s Boy, at the age of ten. Excerpts:

PIXIE POET…**Nathalia Crane** published her first poems in *The New York Sun* when she was only nine years old, the paper unaware that she was a child. She later became a professor of English at San Diego State University. (gutenberg.org)

The fledgling Crane received a very different New Yorker reception in 1928, when Dorothy Parker took her to task for contributing to the collapse of grammar and civilization in general. Here’s an excerpt from Parker’s Jan. 7, 1928 “Reading & Writing” column:

GRUESOME was the word Dorothy Parker chose to describe chocolate-covered olives and bad poetry. At left, Parker in 1928. At right, a contents page from The Spirit of St. Louis, a collection of one hundred poems selected from thousands in a poetry contest celebrating Charles Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic. (literaryladiesguide.com/ebay.com)

* * *

Order in the Court

Howard Brubaker commented on a recent ruling by the Supreme Court regarding the ongoing fight by Republicans to curtail FDR’s New Deal.

* * *

Cinderella Stories

For his Jan. 4, 1936 “A Reporter at Large” column Morris Markey visited “Major Bowe’s Amateur Hour” at NBC’s Rockefeller Center radio studios. He was so impressed by the rags-to-riches stories that he shared a few in his Jan. 18 column, titled “The Crystal Slipper.” He warned readers that the stories were “sentimental,” but not in the vein of A Christmas Carol: “Tiny Tim, asking God to bless every one, regardless, was a pious little fraud,” Markey noted. Excerpts:

Markey shared the story of a garbage collector turned opera tenor, and a wealthy debutante who was encouraged to “stay off the stage” by “Major” Edward Bowes himself.

CUT THE TRASH TALK…**Joseph Rogato** told the Amateur Hour audience that his job as a “garbage man” was no laughing matter, and went on to wow them with his singing voice. At left, a detail from an ad for Chase & Sanborn coffee, the show’s sponsors. At right, show founder and host “Major” **Edward Bowes** with the gong he used to abruptly end acts he deemed poor—he soon abandoned the practice after listeners objected. (eBay.com/Facebook)

Markey next told the story of Marguerite Ryan, the “Singing Housewife”…

FROM RELIEF TO RICHES…This Chase & Sanborn advertisement described **Marguerite Ryan’s** brush with fame and her deliverance from poverty thanks to her appearance on the Amateur Hour. (newspapers.com)

Finally, the story of Rhoda Chase, whom Bowes promoted as a “penniless orphan.” Born Anna Blanor, her stage name, Rhoda, was selected by a psychic, while her last name was inspired by sponsors Chase & Sanborn.

VELVET VOICE…At right, detail from a Chase & Sanborn ad that promoted **Rhoda Chase** as a “Penniless Orphan” who made the big time thanks to the Amateur Hour. At left, a 1944 newspaper ad for the Zombie Club in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Known as “The Blue Velvet Voice”, Chase was a radio, stage, nightclub and USO blues singer. (Wikimedia Commons/eBay)

* * *

At the Movies

Film critic John Mosher found some bright spots at the movies, praising René Clair’s The Ghost Goes West but feeling sorry for Jean Harlow in her “thankless” role in Riffraff, a film about the tuna-fishing industry.

THE FRIENDLY GHOST…**Robert Donat** and **Patricia Hilliard** in the romantic comedy The Ghost Goes West. (IMDB)

FISH OUT OF WATER…**Spencer Tracy, Jean Harlow,** and Joseph Calleia in *Riffraff,* a drama about a strike at a tuna fishery. “Just why a life of tuna-fishing should be chosen as background for Miss Harlow’s vehicle I can’t imagine, but there it is,” wrote critic John Mosher. (IMDB)

Mosher didn’t know what to make of Katharine Hepburn’s latest film, Sylvia Scarlett, in which she portrayed a con artist disguised as a boy hiding from the police. Despite its major star power and George Cukor as director, the film was a flop.

Mosher also reviewed Last of the Pagans (also about a labor dispute!) and The Private Life of Louis XIV (released in Germany in 1935 as Liselotte von der Pfalz).

SHE’S A MAN, MAN…Clockwise, from top left, **Katharine Hepburn** and Cary Grant in Sylvia Scarlett; **Lotus Long** and Mala in *Last of the Pagans;* **Renate Müller** in *The Private Life of Louis XIV* (*Liselotte von der Pfalz*). Müller would die in 1937 at age 31 under mysterious circumstances. Many believe the Nazis had her killed because she refused to appear in their propaganda films. (academymuseum.org/MGM/IMDB)

* * *

From Our Advertisers

General Motors promoted their Buick Eight in a two-page advertisement that called out Eustace Tilley and reprinted a Carl Rose cartoon from the Nov. 2, 1935 issue…

…here is the original cartoon…

…with the holidays a memory and the Depression still lingering, most of the automobile ads touted economy over luxury, however Chrysler claimed you could have both with this $760 model…

…by the looks of this guy, he probably added three fingers of vodka to his pineapple juice…

…as noted before, the folks at World Peaceways pulled no punches with their anti-war appeals…

…the makers of Lux were still rolling out Broadway stars to endorse their toilet soap…(Betty Lawford, #5, was an English film and stage actress and a cousin of actor Peter Lawford)…

…the inside back cover belonged to Stage magazine…the illustration, “Amateur Night at the Apollo,” is by Alexander King…

…the Grand Central Palace was hosting the thirty-first annual National Motor Boat Show, a rare back cover not taken by a tobacco company…

…a couple of ads from back of the book…at left, an Anglophilic appeal from Miami’s Roney Plaza Hotel, and, at right, pre-revolutionary days at the National Hotel in Havana (I had a drink there a few years ago during the Obama thaw…the lobby is beautiful, a classic from another era still hanging on thanks to Canadian and European tourists)…

…William Steig continued to illustrate these one-column ads from Pilgrim Rum…

…which segues to our cartoonists…on the bottom of page 3 was this one-column drawing by Peggy Bacon…

…Norwegian opera singer Kirsten Flagstad (1895–1962) was a famous Wagnerian soprano who made a triumphant debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1935…