Above: Undated image (left) demonstrates the versatility of the Model T Ford. At right, E.B. White and Katharine Sergeant White take a spin in a Model T Roadster. (freep.com/whistlestoppers.com)
E.B. White often shared anachronistic views on progress, decrying everything from streamlined cars to fully-enclosed city buses that removed passengers from the open air.
May 16, 2026 cover by Leonard Dove. Note the star next to the date. On older New Yorker magazine covers, the star was a printer’s mark indicating a split run or a specific newsstand edition.
Instead, White celebrated the simplicity and mechanical quirks of earlier motor vehicles, including his beloved Ford Model T. For the May 16 issue White collaborated with journalist Richard Lee Strout on a homage to the old motorcar, “Farewell, My Lovely!” Strout’s contribution is important here, since it was he who originally submitted a manuscript to editor Harold Ross about the Model T. Either White rewrote Strout’s submission or used it as inspiration for “Farewell, My Lovely!” At any rate, that explains the blended byline, “Lee Strout White.” Here are some excerpts (spot art by Constantin Alajalov):
MIX AND MATCH…E.B. White’s famous Model T was a 1917 Roadster like the one pictured at top left. He purchased the car shortly after college and famously drove it across the country in 1922; at top right, the dash featured the ignition key and nothing else, however you could add such extras as radiator “Moto Wings” or a Ruby Safety Reflector. (volocars.com/ebay.com)KEEPING IT HUMMING…As E.B. White noted in his opening lines, you could buy an axle as well as a number of other parts for the Model T from the Sears catalog. Clockwise, from top left: Cover of the 1936 “Golden Jubilee” catalog; replacement parts featured in the catalog included new car tops and an array of replacement parts. (archive.org/babel.hathitrust.org)
Model T owners developed all sorts of hacks to keep their Lizzies running. White wrote that “Dropping a camphor ball into the gas tank was a popular expedient; it seemed to have a tonic effect on both man and machine.” He also noted that the Ford driver “flew blind,” given that on earlier models the dashboard was bare save for an ignition key. Those cars lacked speedometers, fuel gauges, as well as gauges for engine temperature and oil pressure. “Whatever the driver learned of his motor,” White wrote, “he learned not through instruments but through sudden developments.” He concluded his piece with some thoughts on the golden days of the automobile.
SHOWOFF…The Model T’s unique transmission and gravity-fed fuel system were key to the rugged car’s many stunts. In scaling Scotland’s Ben Nevis mountain, the driver often had to go backwards up inclines to maintain fuel flow. Above is a photo of a Model T climbing the stairs of the Tennessee State Capitol in 1911. (media.lincoln.com)
* * *
Total Recall
E.B. White also filed a lengthy “Notes and Comment” comprised entirely of brief dispatches from around the country:
CIVILIZED SHOPPING…Tea time was observed every afternoon at Kress’s department store—images above are of the store’s ladies lounge; body builder and fitness magazine publisher Benarr Macfadden (seen here with President Franklin Roosevelt circa mid-1930s) said he had no plans to run for president; bottom left, a sale was in progress at the Rolls-Royce building on East 57th. (nypl.org/public domain/mcny.org)
Here are the rest of White’s notes on the passing scene:
LIMITATION OF STATUES…At left, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia presides over the dedication ceremonies of a Times Square statue honoring Father Francis Patrick Duffy, May 2, 1937—apparently some folks were opposed to a statue honoring the most decorated chaplain in Army history; at right, a Borden’s milkman making a delivery in New York City, 1936. (facebook.com/photo army.mil)
* * *
Not Playing in Peoria
Jack Kirkland’s play Tobacco Road, based on the 1932 novel by Erskine Caldwell, was one of the longest-running plays in theater history, with 3,182 performances from 1933 to 1941. Although banned in major cities such as Chicago and Detroit for being sensational and immoral (and panned by critics), it nevertheless saw huge success on Broadway and with its touring company. “The Talk of the Town” checked the status of the play at the Forrest Theatre, where it had exceeded the millionth ticket mark.
WORD GETS AROUND…Folks queue up in 1937 to see Tobacco Road at Omaha’s Paramount Theater. Despite being banned in many cities, the play ran until 1941. (Wikipedia)
* * *
At the Movies
One Rainy Afternoon was the first of a small number of films from United Artists produced by its vice-president, Mary Pickford, through her Pickford-Lasky production company. In his opening lines critic John Mosher alluded to Pickford’s popular 1934 essay, Why Not Try God?
HONEST MISTAKE…Francis Lederer played a debonair actor who accidentally kisses young socialite Ida Lupino in a darkened theatre in One Rainy Afternoon. Hilarity and romance follow. Lederer (1899–2000) would enjoy a successful stage, film and television career while becoming wealthy as an L.A. real estate investor. Lupino (1918–1995) was an actress, director, writer, and producer, appearing in 59 films and directing eight. She is regarded as the most prominent woman filmmaker working during the Hollywood studio system of the 1950s. (Wikipedia)
Mosher also reviewed some “Good mid-May entertainment for honest idlers” and a documentary about the Dust Bowl.
MAY DIVERSIONS…Clockwise, from top left: Herbert Marshall and Gertrude Michael in Till We Meet Again; Margaret Sullavan and Henry Fonda in The Moon’s Our Home; Thomas Beck and Helen Wood in Champagne Charlie; a farmer looks to the sky in the Dust Bowl documentary The Plow That Broke the Plains. (csfd.cz,pinterest.com/imdb.com)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
The makers of Campbell’s soups continued to market their product as an upscale starter for dinner…or perhaps a time-saver for the cook, Madam none the wiser…
…Cadillac continued to entice buyers with bucolic scenes dominated by their luxury sedans…the price isn’t outrageous, roughly equivalent to $40K today…
…we experience much of 1930s history in black and white, but according to this ad things were quite colorful…
…now a couple of ads with an eye on the clock…here we have a suggestion that Johnnie Walker can be enjoyed before dinner and up to bedtime…
…the brewers of Guinness suggested their tipple was suitable for lunchtime, before bed, or when one is “tired or depressed”…
…as we already know, R.J. Reynolds encouraged folks to smoke from morning to night, with the added benefit of improved digestion…
…on to our cartoonists, we begin with a spot by Abe Birnbaum…
…and spots from frequent contributors Richard Taylor…
…and Christina Malman…
…and a spot drawing on the opening pages by James Thurber…
…who also contributed this cartoon to the issue…
…Thurber’s caption refers to journalist and radio broadcaster Dorothy Thompson. One of the few women radio news commentators of the 1930s, she was the first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany in 1934. In 1936 Thompson launched her “On the Record” column, syndicated nationwide by the New York Herald Tribune…
Dorothy Thompson in 1937. (Wikipedia)
…we continue our cartoons with Charles Addams (apologies for the quality) floating to earth…
…which recalled another Addams cartoon from the Aug 3, 1935 issue (caption reads “My wife crocheted it.”)…
…and Addams again, this time down to earth…
…Mary Petty looked in on the art world…
…William Crawford Galbraith continued to explore lives and loves of sugar daddies…
…Alain had folks deciphering the news crawler at Times Square…
…Helen Hokinson avoided temptation at the pet shop…
…and we close with Whitney Darrow Jr, and a bedtime story that would keep the sandman at bay…
Above: Washington Square North circa 1930. (nypap.org)
In the first decades of the 20th century very few buildings in New York City were considered sacred, especially during the building boom of the Twenties when large swaths of the old city were erased to make way for massive skyscrapers and more than 740,000 new housing units.
May 9, 1936 cover by Constantin Alajalov.
To keep anything historic from the wrecking ball required constant vigilance as well as political savvy. Such was the case at Washington Square, where in response to a 27-story building erected at 1 Fifth Avenue a campaign was organized to create height limits around the square itself. The land for 1 Fifth Avenue was leased by Sailors’ Snug Harbor—a foundation dedicated to assisting retired mariners and one of the largest owners of land in Greenwich Village. The threat to Washington Square became even greater in 1936 when the same foundation announced plans to demolish several of the structures facing the north side of Washington Square, known as “The Row.” In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B.White explained:
INTERLOPER…The Sailors’ Snug Harbor Foundation had already altered the scale of Washington Square with the erection of 1 Fifth Avenue (1926-27), seen to the right of the arch in the bottom photo (by Berenice Abbott, 1936); above left, facade of Sailors’ Snug Harbor Foundation building as it appears today (inset: the foundation’s monogram set within the spandrels of the arched windows); top right, looking west down Washington Square North, 1937. (daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/geographicguide.com)
Fortunately the demolition did not proceed, with Sailors’ Snug Harbor deciding to retain the character of “The Row”—numbers 1-13 Washington Square North. Not so fortunate were the adjacent Rhinelander Houses that were demolished in the mid-1940s, and “Genius Row” on Washington Square South, which was demolished in 1948 to make room for the NYU Law Center.
NOT SO FORTUNATE…The Rhinelander Houses at Washington Square North (top photo, from 1922) were demolished in 1951 to make way for an apartment house; photo below, the “Genius Row” on Washington Square South was demolished in 1948 to make room for the NYU Law Center. Occupants of Genius Row included writers Stephen Crane, O. Henry, and Willa Cather.(nypl.org/Village Preservation–GVSHP)
Beginning in the 1940s, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses would try many times to ram a highway through Washington Square Park, including a proposal in the early 1950s (below) that would bisect the park with a 48-foot-wide highway connecting Fifth Avenue to West Broadway.
PAVING PARADISE…Opposition was so great to Robert Moses’s Washington Square proposals that he finally abandoned plans for a highway through the park. (MTA Archives)
* * *
Farewell Artie
Legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini (1867–1957) transformed the New York Philharmonic into a world-class ensemble during his stint as music director from 1928 to 1936. Unfortunately, his stellar career with the Philharmonic ended rather ignominiously: When the Maestro turned to take a bow at the conclusion of his Carnegie Hall farewell concert, a young photographer exploded a flash bulb directly in his face, causing the great conductor to flee the stage. E.B. White was there to take it all in:
I SAW THE LIGHT…a photographer’s flash temporarily blinded legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini (top) following his farewell concert at Carnegie Hall. Below, a ticket stub from the historic evening. Five bucks seems like a bargain, but it is roughly equivalent to nearly $120 today. (wfimc.org/carnegiehall.org)
The New Yorker’s music critic Robert A. Simon also shared some thoughts on the evening, which included a scuffle between a “hatless fellow” and another fellow (also hatless) that followed the photographer incident:
PLEASE BEHAVE…A view from the Carnegie Hall stage in 1930. Following Arturo Toscanini’s farewell concert in 1936, a scuffle broke out in the lobby, the result of a row over the temporary blinding of the Maestro by a photographer’s flash bulb. (nypap.org)
* * *
Lah-Dee-Dy
“The Talk of the Town” looked into the fuss over the toy industry’s first practical “drink-and-wet” baby doll, Effanbee’s Dy-Dee doll. Marketed as “The Almost Human Doll”, the “Talk” correspondents (Helen and Charles Cooke) found a demonstration at Macy’s a bit too real (included with this excerpt is spot art by Abe Birnbaum).
UNCANNY…The Effanbee Doll Company marketed their “Almost Human” Dy-Dee doll as the first workable “drink-and-wet” baby doll. The doll was designed by German-born Bernard Lipfert (1886–1974), who sculpted dolls for prominent American toy manufacturers from the 1920s to the 1960s, including the famous Patsy and Shirley Temple dolls. (collectornet.net/Linda Lipfert White via catskilldolls.com)
* * *
At the Movies
Many film critics in the 1930s, including The New Yorker’sJohn Mosher, admired the Soviet film industry for its cinematic innovations and often brutal realism, even if deployed as propaganda. Such was the case with We Are From Kronstadt, which depicted heroic Red sailors defending the city of Petrograd from counterrevolutionary forces. “It’s a film to be respected,” Mosher wrote.
NO BLONDES, JUST BOMBSHELLS…Clockwise from top left: Russian poster for We Are From Kronstadt; actor Georgi Bushuyev; battle scene from the film; actress Raisa Yesipova. (Wikipedia/imdb.com)
Mosher also reviewed the lighter fare coming out of Hollywood, including two films featuring the actress Joan Bennett.
SEEING DOUBLE…Joan Bennett shared top billing in two new releases—with Cary Grant in Big Brown Eyes (left); and with Fred MacMurray in 13 Hours by Air (top right); Claudette Colbert was paired with Ronald Colman in Under Two Flags (below). (csfd.cz/imdb.com)WET AND COLD…Bette Davis and George Brent went through the motions in The Golden Arrow (left); at right, Rochelle Hudson and Alan Hale braved the wilds of Canada in The Country Beyond. Hale was the father of Alan Hale Jr., who was also a film actor but is best known today for playing the Skipper on TV’s Gilligan’s Island. (pinterest.com/20th Century Fox)
* * *
Swing Time
Ninety years ago America’s youth primarily listened to (and danced to) swing music and big band jazz. The New Yorker kept readers up to date on the latest hits.
RHYTHM SECTION…”The Ol’ Perfessor” Kay Kyser’s band (the “Kollege of Musical Knowledge”) kept the kids in rhythm in the 1930s; at right, Benny Goodman (left) and Gene Krupa both released records with some new “swings.” (jimramsburg.com/grampsblog.wordpress.com)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
The makers of Packard automobiles were big into the idea of continuity, emphasizing the quality and longevity of their product over gimmicky style changes…
…in the mid-1930s (and especially in 1936) Chrysler employed the comedic talents of Ed Wynn to sell its low-priced Plymouths…
…the makers of Fisher car bodies (a division of General Motors) continued their campaign of two-page ads pairing cute kids with their “Turret Top” safety feature…
…canned beer was a recent innovation in 1936, with New York breweries leading the way (Krueger Brewing Company was first, its canned beer officially debuting in January 1935)…
…the French Line enticed New Yorkers to see Paris in the springtime…
…Harper’s ran this ad on the top left corner of page 95 to promote Robert Benchley’sMy Ten Years in a Quandary…and How They Grew, illustrated by Benchley’s New Yorker colleague Gluyas Williams…
BENCHLEY IN A BIND…Robert Benchley and the cover of My Ten Years in a Quandary…and How They Grew. (ebay.com/ebooktakeaway.com)
…on to our cartoonists, we begin with Richard Taylor in the calendar section…
…and a nice bit of spot art by Christina Malman…
…Alan Dunn revealed a time tunnel under the Hudson…
…Rea Irvin drew up an odd sight along a garden path…
…this honeymoon was over before it even started, per Peter Arno…
…Alain showed us the troubled dreams of a jailbird…
…Charles Addams at his best, taking the daily horrors in stride…
…James Thurber gave us a Gish, but not of silent movie fame…
…Helen Hokinson illustrated a day at the radio station across pages 22-23…
…Hokinson again, weighing the competition between a sofa and table…
…and we close with Kemp Starrett, and a helpful husband…
Above: Posters advertising The Country Doctor, a film featuring the Dionne Quintuplets as "The Wyatt Quintuplets." (Wikipedia/imdb.com)
The Dionne Quintuplets, famed as the first quintuplets known to have survived infancy, appeared in a motion picture before their second birthday—The Country Doctor—just one example of the many ways the girls were exploited by the province of Ontario, their doctor, their father, and the companies who used their images to sell everything from toys to toothpaste.
March 21, 1936 cover by Constantin Alajalov.
The Country Doctor was the first of three 20th Century Fox films featuring the toddlers as the “The Wyatt Quintuplets.” Actor Jean Hersholt played the country doctor (“Dr. John Luke”) in all three films, his character based on Allan Roy Dafoe, the Ontario obstetrician who successfully delivered the identical quints in 1934. It was a sign of the times that no one seemed too concerned about the children’s welfare—TheNew Yorker’s John Mosher was joined by his fellow critics in generally praising the film.
MARKETING MATERNITY…The Country Doctor was the first of three 20th Century Fox films featuring the Dionne Quintuplets. Clockwise, from top left: Slim Summerville, Jean Hersholt, and John Qualen in The Country Doctor; Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn with the quintuplets in 1934; a 1936 book based on the film; a 1937 ad for Karo Syrup, a major sponsor of the girls and Dr. Dafoe; an array of quintuplet-related toys included paper dolls and the much sought after Madame Alexander dolls. (Wikipedia/ebay.com/facebook.com/pbs.org)
The Dionne Quintuplets were used to endorse an array of products including Quaker Oats, Colgate toothpaste, Palmolive soap, and Lysol disinfectant. Dr. Dafoe became a wealthy man due to his association with the quintuplets, while the government of Ontario saw enormous tourism potential (the girls were made wards of the province ostensibly to protect them from exploitation). At the age of four months the quintuplets were moved from the farmhouse where they were born to a compound (“Quintland”) that featured an outdoor playground designed as a public observation area.
SURROUNDED BY RICHES…at left, Allen Roy DaFoe on a postcard with the Dionne Quintuplets; tourists consult sign for the next public showing of the “Quints.”(roadtripusa.com/facebook.com)CHA-CHING…Oliva Dionne, the quintuplets’ father, ran this souvenir and refreshment stand at Quintland, where the public flocked to view the girls playing. (montrealgazette.com)
The last surviving quintuplet, Annette, died on December 24, 2025, at the age of 91. Her sister Cécile died a few months earlier, also at age of 91.
John Mosher also reviewed Mae West’s latest film, Klondike Annie. Some critics regarded it as her finest film, despite heavy censorship and the outrage of “Decency people.”
GO WEST, WEST…Mae West portrayed a kept woman who murders her keeper in self-defense and escapes to Nome, Alaska in Klondike Annie. At left, West in a scene with Son Yong; at right, with Phillip Reed. (Pinterest)
* * *
St. Katharine
Robert Benchley found Katharine Cornell’s theatrical performance in Saint Joan to be “as fine as was expected.” An excerpt:
KNOWN QUANTITIES was how Robert Benchley described the talents of stage actress Katharine Cornell. At left, Cornell as Saint Joan; at right, Cornell (1893–1974) is perhaps best known in her role as Elizabeth Barrett in the 1931 Broadway production of The Barretts of Wimpole Street. (Wikipedia)
* * *
It Begins…
On March 7, 1936, 22,000 German army troops crossed a bridge over the Rhine River and entered the Rhineland, breaking the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, which mandated a demilitarized Rhineland to ensure French safety. Despite the violation, and the fact that the German army was still weak, France and Britain took no military action. E.B. White reported:
REOCCUPATION…On March 7, 1936, German Army troops crossed a bridge over the Rhine River and entered the Rhineland for the first time since the end of World War I. The lack of response from France and Great Britain no doubt emboldened Hitler to annex Austria and occupy Czechoslovakia in 1938. (iwm.org.uk)
Howard Brubaker, in his column “Of All Things,” also noted:
* * *
Some Pretty Things
“The Talk of the Town” paid a visit to the Museum for the Arts of Decoration at the Cooper Union and found many treasures within, including a unique circular elevator.
BRIDGE TO THE PAST…The Cooper Union’s Museum for the Arts of Decoration held many treasures, including (at bottom) an Italian birdcage fashioned to resemble the Rialto Bridge; at top, rooms filled with examples from the decorative arts. (cooperhewitt.org)
The “Talk” visit included a ride up a circa 1850s elevator shaft designed by inventor Peter Cooper four years before safety elevators even existed. The design was based on Cooper’s belief that the circular shape was the most efficient.
ROUND AND SOUND…At left, entrance to Peter Cooper’s circa 1850s round elevator and the elevator’s shaft at the Cooper Union Foundation Building. The round shaft remains a central feature of the building today, now housing a modern round elevator designed in 1972. (Cooper Union Library)
* * *
Commie Cutlery
American non-fiction writer Carl Carmer published the first part of a two-part essay on the revolutionary Oneida Community, which Carmer dubbed “a materially successful communist experiment…”
This polyamorous Christian utopia disbanded before the end of the 19th century and reemerged as a joint-stock company, Oneida Community Limited, which focused on making silverware. This brief excerpt is from the first paragraph.
COHABITING COMRADES…Oneida commune members gather on the lawn in front of the Community Mansion House in in Madison County, New York, circa 1860s. Members of the community practiced free love, women and men had equal freedom in sexual expression and commitment, and children were raised communally. (collectorsweekly.com)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
Yes, take a doctor’s advice, and put some leaded gas in your car, and into the air you breathe…
…R.J. Reynolds presented three women who exemplified the “society model” trend of the 1930s…well-known debs and socialites who provided an air of prestige to a brand…especially cigarettes…
…Lorillard Tobacco Company, on the other hand, stuck with pin-up artist George Petty to push their Old Golds…
…General Motors took out the middle spread to tout their low-priced luxury automobile, the La Salle…
…the convertible La Salle looked handsome, if not a bit brisk with the top down…
…American luxury carmaker Packard proudly displayed their twelve-cylinder luxury model, but reminded readers they could have a lesser model, the 120, for a price “in the $1,000 field”…
…a couple of one-column ads…Don Herold helped Hale’s move mattresses, while fashion columnist Alma Archer employed class anxiety to promote her new book, The Secrets of Smartness and the Art of Allure…
SMARTNESS AUTHORITY Alma Archer in 1937. Archer (1898–1988) wrote a widely read column for the New York Mirror that was syndicated in more than a thousand newspapers.
…if you have been following this blog, you’ll recall the ads with angry duchesses fuming over tomato juice and rich old men fondly recalling their countrified youth via canned corn niblets…well here is one robber baron who needed some niblets pronto to quiet his rage…maybe a snifter or two of brandy would have also helped…
…on to our cartoonists, James Thurber kicked things off on page two…
…the “Goings On” section concluded on page four with this drawing by Charles Addams…
…a couple more spot drawings from the issue by Christina Malman (left) and Richard Taylor…
…Al Frueh offered this interpretation of the players in End of Summer…
…and we have Thurber again, with a hard-to-miss distraction…
…William Steig continued to explore the varieties of “Holy Wedlock”…
…Leonard Dove gave us a golddigger stranded at sea…
…Gardner Rea put a captain of industry in a tight spot…
…Ned Hilton encountered a hairy challenge…
…Eli Garson demonstrated some remarkable foot dexterity…
…while Robert Day showed a lack of dexterity a construction site…
…Charles Addams revealed a materialist in the brotherhood…
…Peter Arno’s charwomen let a sleeping dog lie…
…and we close Garrett Price, and one perceptive lad…
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…
Above: The 1936 Ziegfeld Follies premiered on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre on January 30, 1936 and closed on May 9, 1936 after 115 performances. (Hulton Archive)
Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr died in 1932, but his famous theatrical revue lived on for years with revivals including one in 1936 that Robert Benchley praised for being better than the originals.
February 8, 1936 cover by Helen Hokinson, marking the opening of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden. According to Michael Maslin’s always enlightening Ink Spill, the first dog-themed New Yorker cover was Feb. 8, 1930, by Theodore Haupt (below).
Now on with the show. Brought back to life by Ziegfeld’s widow Billie Burke and theatre operators Lee and J. J. Shubert,The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 was loaded with talent, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, choreography by George Balanchine, and sets and costumes by Vincente Minnelli. What really brought people in was the star of the show, Fannie Brice, who was supported by cast members Bob Hope, Eve Arden, Josephine Baker, and the Nicholas Brothers, among others. Benchley wrote:
FANNIE AND THE REST…Clockwise, from top left: Bob Hope and Eve Arden performed the popular tune “I Can’t Get Started With You”; Hope with Fannie Brice in the sketch “Baby Snooks Goes Hollywood”; Josephine Baker premiered “The Conga” at the Follies, and Harriet Hoctor performed her “Night Flight.” (gershwin.com/uneicone-josephinebaker.webador.fr/libraryofcongress,org)
This ad for the 1936 Follies prominently featured Benchley’s endorsement:
(uneicone-josephinebaker.webador.fr)
Billie Burke (1884–1970) authorized Follies revivals with the Shuberts in 1934, 1936 and 1943, with the Shubert family producing a final revival in 1957. In 1936 MGM also filmed a Ziegfeld biopic, The Great Ziegfeld (which won two Academy Awards), casting William Powell as Ziegfeld and Myrna Loy as Burke. Burke wanted to play herself in the film, but at age 51 she was deemed too old for the part.
ZIEGFELD MAGIC…Florenz Ziegfeld’s widow Billie Burke kept the Follies going after her husband’s death in 1932. She is best known today for her portrayal of Glinda the Good Witch of the North in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz. (oscars.org/Wikipedia)
Fannie Brice (1891–1951) was the biggest star of the Follies and so dominated the show that when she became ill in May 1936 the production closed. Brice returned to the Winter Garden that September for 112 more performances.
Benchley also praised Call it a Day, a 1935 play by British writer Dodie Smith that ran for 194 performances at the Morosco Theatre. Benchley thought it was so good he saw it twice.
SPRING FEVER drove the action in Dodie Smith’s (right) hit comedy Call it a Day. The play chronicles a single spring day in the lives of the Hilton family, during which each member encounters unexpected romantic temptations and complications. Gladys Cooper, left, starred as Dorothy Hilton. The play was adapted to a Hollywood film in 1937. (vocal.media/Wikipedia)
* * *
At the Movies
We go from the stage to the screen, where John Mosher took in Rose Marie, a musical comedy based on a popular 1924 Broadway play. The film “repolished” the old play and used it as a framework for a series of duets between Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy.
MELODIOUS MOUNTIE…Lobby card for Rose Marie, a musical romcom about a singing Mountie and a world-renowned prima donna, joined in love by a haunting “Indian mating call.” (Wikipedia)
Mosher reviewed three other films that could have used some of Rose Marie’s cheer:
CHEERLESS FARE…Clockwise, from top: Gloria Stuart, Freddie Bartholomew, and Michael Whalen in Professional Soldier; James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan and Ray Milland in Next Time We Love; Helen Vinson and Conrad Veidt in King of the Damned. (Wikipedia/imdb.com/letterboxd.com/silversirens.co.uk)
* * *
Miscellany
I strive to keep these posts at a readable length, and (hopefully) lively and enjoyable to read, which means that I cannot include absolutely everything that appears in each issue. For example, there are a number of regular features from the sports world—ranging from major attractions like hockey and college football (no coverage yet of baseball—which for some reason Harold Ross hated—or basketball) to more niche pursuits, such as squash (below) or indoor polo. From time to time I will include these under “Miscellany” as a way to give readers a more complete picture, and to assuage my fear that I am leaving something important out. Here is a very brief snippet of a regular feature, “Court Games,” by staff writer Geoffrey T. Hellman.
RACKETEERS…At left, Beekman Pool of the Harvard Club was the 1936 singles champion of the Metropolitan Squash Racquets Association; at right, Edwin Bigelow of the U.S. Squash Racquets Association presents the National Trophy to Germain Glidden. To the far right is runner-up Andrew Ingraham, who looks a bit miffed about getting a plate rather than a trophy cup. (thecarycollection.com)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
Let’s start with the inside front cover…advertisements from Dorothy Gray salons were all about the restoration of youth in older women…apparently the treatments were so successful that “Mrs. M” was a bigger attraction at a Ritz-Carlton debutante party than her society-bound daughter…note the young gents at right checking out mom, and not the deb…
…opposite Dorothy Gray was this elegant appeal from Bergdorf Goodman…ads aimed at more refined tastes almost always featured these attenuated figures (whether they were people or luxury automobiles)…I guess I would hold onto something too with stilts like those…
…here’s a Steinway grand for less than a grand…$885 in 1936 is roughly equivalent to $20,000 or so today, but that’s still a bargain—Steinway grand pianos currently start at around $85,000…
…speaking of bargains, you could own “The Most Beautiful Thing on Wheels” (according to this ad) for a mere $615…
…and for an extra twenty-five bucks you could own a durable Dodge like the one endorsed by Roy Chapman Andrews (1884–1960), a globetrotting explorer who discovered fossilized dinosaur eggs in the Gobi Desert in the 1920s…
THE REAL INDY…Roy Chapman Andrews gained national fame as an explorer for New York’s American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). The discovery of a nest of complete dinosaur eggs in Mongolia in 1923 (above) provided the first proof that the critters hatched out of eggs. Named AMNH’s director in 1934, Andrews is thought to be an inspiration for the film hero Indiana Jones. (amnh.org/roychapmanandrewssociety.org)
…the folks at Chrysler were doing everything they could to get people interested in buying their Airflows—despite its technological advances, the car’s streamlined design (toned down in later models) was just too radical for mass market tastes…note how the ad draws attention to the work of “Artist Floyd Davis”…
…here’s a photo of Floyd Davis…
CHEERS…Illustrator Floyd Davis (1896–1966) poses in an ad for Lord Calvert whiskey, 1946. In 1943 Life magazine called him the “#1 Illustrator in America.” (Wikipedia)
…the Fisher company, makers of car bodies for General Motors, liked to emphasize the safety of their “Turret Top,” although it didn’t seem to occur to anyone that a child dangling from a car window was problematic…
…actress Lupe Vélez made the unlikely claim that flying on a 1930s airliner was “as comfortable as a private yacht”…
…ads for White Rock were among the more colorful found in the early New Yorker…
…on the back cover, Liggett & Myers tobacco company shifted gears from elegant to homespun with an ad that emphasized the high quality of Turkish leaf tobacco…
…the folks at Coty hired two New Yorker contributors, poet Arthur Guiterman and illustrator Constantin Alajalov, to promote their line of lipsticks…
…which brings us to the cartoonists, beginning with Al Frueh…
…Richard Taylor opened things up in “Goings On”…
…and George Price added this bit of action to the calendar section…
…Abe Birnbaum contributed this delightful spot drawing…
…the Westminster dog show was the talk of the town, and at Grand Central, per Perry Barlow…
…Robert Day had a fight on his hands…
…Helen Hokinson’s “girls” were out to snub the sanitation department…
…Rea Irvin drew up the literal downfall of one business…
…Eli Garson had us seeing spots…
…Charles Addams found the Pied Piper in a Salvation Army band…
…Alan Dunn gave new meaning to “taking a detour”…
…Barbara Shermund illustrated one of the perils of cocktail parties…
…and we close with Peter Arno, and the sinister world of taxi dancers…
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…
Above: Photo of the Hoboken Four as they appeared on the "Amateur Hour with Major Bowes" in 1935. At center is "Major" Edward Bowes, and at right is Frank Sinatra. The other three members of the Hoboken Four were Frank Tamburro, Patty Prince and Jimmy Petro. (knkx.org)
Nearly seventy years before American Idol appeared on our TV screens, a hugely successful and influential talent show filled the airwaves from NBC’s radio studios at Rockefeller Center.
January 4, 1936 cover by Constantin Alajalov.
Millions tuned in each week to the Major Bowes Amateur Hour, which got its start in 1934 at radio station WHN before moving to NBC the following year. Created and hosted by “Major” Edward Bowes (1874–1946), Bowes would chat with contestants before listening to their performances, which could be cut short by the Major’s gong (see below). For his “A Reporter at Large” column, Morris Markey paid a visit to Bowes during evening auditions at the NBC studios. Excerpts:
THE GONG SHOW…At bottom right, Edward Bowes with the gong he used to abruptly end acts he deemed poor or inept—he abandoned the prop in 1936 after receiving thousands of letters from listeners who objected to the premature termination of acts (apparently the concept was a direct inspiration for Chuck Barris’s 1970s TV program, The Gong Show). At left, a July 1936 Women’s Home Companion advertisement from the show’s sponsor, Chase & Sanborn. The ads highlighted the rags-to-riches stories of the more successful contestants. (eBay.com/Wikipedia)
Markey ended his piece noting the reality of the many contestants who, unlike Frank Sinatra, would not go on to successful entertainment careers.
STARMAKER…Clockwise, from left: Major Edward Bowes and returning Amateur Hour performer Frank Sinatra in 1943; in 1935 eleven-year-old Maria Callas performed the Madama Butterfly aria “Un bel dì vedremo,” on the Amateur Hour; actor/baritone Robert Merrill performed on the show in 1936. (winnetoba.com/mariacallasestate.com/Wikipedia)
* * *
Fleeing the Limelight
In December 1935 Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh secretly boarded a ship in New York and headed to England, seeking to escape the media frenzy that followed their son’s kidnapping and the subsequent trial. Thanks to connections through Anne’s family, they were able to move into a secluded estate in the Kent countryside. In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White explained:
HIDEOUT…From 1936 to 1938 Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh lived in a secluded English estate called “Long Barn.” The estate in County Kent was owned by a friend of Anne’s family. (waverlyhs.weebly.com)NOT HIS FINEST HOUR…In July 1936 Luftwaffe commander Hermann Goering (right) presented the Sword of Honor of the German Air Force to Charles Lindbergh during a visit to Berlin. Anne Morrow Lindbergh is to the far left. Goering would also present Lindbergh with a high-ranking Nazi-era civilian medal, the Service Cross of the German Eagle, during a 1938 visit. Anne presciently referred to the medal as “the albatross.” (Library of Congress)
According to White, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia cited lax police control of the media in the case of the fleeing Lindberghs. In turn, White attempted to explain the unique temperaments of Irish police officers.
GIVE US A BREAK…E.B. White noted the courage and wisdom of Irish cops, but also found their lassitude “almost theatrical.” Pictured above is Irish immigrant Patrick Leddy, who joined the NYPD in 1910 and remained on the force for more than thirty-five years. (Courtesy of Margaret Fitzpatrick Leddy via nyirishhistory.us)
A final note on the Lindberghs from Howard Brubaker, a snippet from his “Of All Things” column.
* * *
Italian Swashbuckler
The Italian fencer Aldo Naldi (1899-1965) won three gold medals and one silver at the 1920 Olympics before turning professional. According to West Coast Fencing, Aldo traveled Europe like a prizefighter, “competing in well-attended matches for cash purses…in a world of travel, glamour, drinking, womanizing, gambling and fencing, Aldo Nadi reigned supreme, going nearly eight years without a defeat.” “The Talk of the Town” was on hand for his American debut. Excerpts:
EN GARDE!…During the interwar years Aldo Nadi reigned supreme, going nearly eight years without a defeat. (dennishollingsworth.us)
“Talk” also examined the fuss being made over the Great Chalice of Antioch, which was on display at the Brooklyn Museum. Excerpts:
COULD IT BE?…Claimed to have been found in Antioch around 1900, this chalice’s plain silver bowl was ambitiously identified by some as the Holy Grail, the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper. It is displayed with the Metropolitan Museum’s Byzantium collection. (metmuseum.org)
* * *
Year, Schmear
To mark the New Year, Arthur Guiterman offered up one his humorous poems…
…Guiterman (1871–1943) was an early contributor to The New Yorker—the magazine’s very first issue, Feb. 21, 1925, featured the first installment of Guiterman’s recurring “Lyrics from the Pekinese,” which ran through the first eleven issues.
MEOW…Arthur Guiterman’s “Lyrics from the Pekinese,” featured in the first issue of The New Yorker. At right, Guiterman in an undated photo. (Library of Congress)
* * *
Before He Was Spooky
Robert Benchley’s review of the stage began on a bright note with Victoria Regina, which starred Vincent Price as Prince Albert and Helen Hayes as Queen Victoria. Benchley praised the realism Price and Hayes lent to the production. Excerpts:
A MATCH MADE ON BROADWAY…The 24-year-old Vincent Price and the 35-year-old Helen Hayes portrayed Prince Albert and Queen Victoria in Victoria Regina, which ran for 203 performances at the Broadhurst Theatre. Robert Benchley thought their casting was ideal. (Pinterest)
Benchley also sat through George White’s latest Scandals revue, finding it similar to White’s older shows—beautiful showgirls, various singers and dancers, and assorted comedians—with Bert Lahr shining above it all.
IT SEEMED LIKE OLD TIMES to Robert Benchley as he took in the latest edition of George White’sScandals. Bert Lahr (left) was among the headliners for the 1936 revue, which ran for 110 performances at the New Amsterdam Theatre before taking to the road. (Wikipedia/Playbill.com)
* * *
At the Movies
John Mosher had a busy week at the movies, finding “considerable pleasure” in the screen adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’sAh Wilderness!…
MILLER TIME…The Miller family attends a commencement ceremony that helps kick off the action in Ah Wilderness! From left, Aline MacMahon, Mickey Rooney, Spring Byington, and Bonita Granville. (IMDB)
Mosher also looked at films featuring leading actresses of the day—Barbara Stanwyck in Annie Oakley, Bette Davis in Dangerous, and Claudette Colbert in The Bride Comes Home.
A TRIO OF TALENTS…Clockwise, from top left, Claudette Colbert had her hands full with Robert Young and Fred MacMurray in The Bride Comes Home; Barbara Stanwyck took aim in Annie Oakley; and Bette Davis portrayed a down-and-out actress with trouble on her mind in Dangerous. For her performance, Davis won the Academy Award for Best Actress. (laurasmiscmusings.blogspot.com/girlswithguns.org/vanguardofhollywood.com )
* * *
Gaming the Games
In her “Paris Letter,” Janet Flanner noted the preparations for the Fourth Olympic Winter games to be held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
WINTER HAS ARRIVED…Adolf Hitler and his fellow Nazi thugs brought a certain chill to the 1936 Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Garmisch and Partenkirchen were separate communities until Hitlerforced them to merge in anticipation of the games. (arolsen-archives.org)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
From 1933 to 1939, Macy’s hosted a series of unique design exhibitions under the title “Forward House” that showcased contemporary furniture, decor, and architectural ideas…
…for reference, here is another “Forward House” advertisement from the February 1936 House & Garden magazine…
…the folks at Robbins Island Oysters employed the legend of Giacomo Casanova to market their tasty little rocks…apparently Casanova claimed that he consumed more than fifty oysters each morning to sustain his amorous adventures…
…with the holidays over, the number of ads decreased significantly, leaving readers with a mere sixty pages—less than the half the length of the fat pre-Christmas editions…the theme in the Jan. 4 issue was travel to warmer climes, these examples culled from several back of the book pages…
…the end of the holiday season did not stop tobacco companies from taking out lavish full-page advertisements targeting women smokers, this one gracing the back cover…note the implied medical endorsement at the bottom…
…we clear the air and move on to our cartoonists, beginning with spot drawings by D. Krán…
…and Christina Malman…
…one of Helen Hokinson’s girls sought an impromptu parking lesson…
…while another welcomed winter with her furry charges…
…Whitney Darrow Jr gave us a full-service information booth…
…Mary Petty illustrated a dowager with simple tastes…
…Gardner Rea was confounded at the hat check…
…Carl Rose offered up another example of rugged individualism…
…Alan Dunn served up a unique language challenge…
…Robert Day stood tall at a basketball game…
…William Crawford Galbraith was horsing around…
…Alain looked crosseyed at a store closing…
…and we close with Barbara Shermund, who sized up things at a hat shop…
Above: Clockwise from top left—the Douglas DC-3 was introduced to airlines in 1935; Seaboard streamlined locomotive, c. 1930s; 1936 Lincoln-Zephyr; 1936 Pierce Arrow. (hushkit.net/Wikimedia/classicautomall.com)
As we’ve seen in previous issues, E.B. White often served as The New Yorker’s unofficial aviation correspondent; despite his sometimes anachronistic views on progress, he never missed a chance to hop aboard an airplane and marvel at the scene far below.
November 2, 1935 cover by Constantin Alajalov.
White’s enthusiasm, however, was tempered with doubts about air safety, including observations he made in an August 31, 1935 column following the deaths of Wiley Post and Will Rogers in an Alaska plane crash. Here is what he wrote then:
The aviation industry’s strong reaction to that “noisy little paragraph” apparently led to a number of subscription cancellations, prompting White to return to the topic in his Nov. 2 “Notes and Comment” column:
HE’D BEEN AROUND…E.B. White supported his comments on air safety by citing his many flying experiences, including soaring around the Empire State Building “on a blithe morning.” Pictured above is a New York Daily News plane flying over Manhattan in 1934. (NY Daily News)
White also turned to statistics for his defense, finding that per passenger mile, railroads were still the safest mode of transportation in the country.
HOP ABOARD…According to 1933 statistics shared by E.B. White, trains were the safest mode of transportation per passenger mile, followed by buses. Automobiles were the least safe, a fact that still holds true today. From left, Greyhound bus and driver, 1937; automobile wreck, 1930s; New York Central’s 20th Century Limited leaving Chicago’s LaSalle Street station in 1938. (Facebook/Reddit/Wikipedia)
With that, White still wasn’t done with the topic, turning to none other than Anne Morrow Lindbergh for her thoughts on flying, which she shared in her latest book, North to the Orient. White noted Lindbergh’s mixed feelings about flying, about getting to places quickly and missing familiar landmarks. He also suggested that someday airline passengers would use mountains and rivers as landmarks…(I still try to do that when I fly, but at 35,000 feet it is a challenge). Today most folks are content with plugging in their earbuds and tuning out completely.
NOT YOUR EVERYDAY OUTING…In July 1931 Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh embarked in their Lockheed Model 8 Sirius on an often treacherous 7,100-mile journey across Canada, Alaska, Siberia and Japan in an attempt to find a commercial route to Asia for Pan American Airways. Top photo, Charles (standing on pontoon) and Anne (in the cockpit) make final preparations before the flight; bottom photo, enthusiastic crowds greet the Lindberghs upon their arrival in Japan. The Siberia-to-Japan leg was the most dangerous due to heavy fog. (historynet.com)
E.B. White also announced the return to the city of former Mayor Jimmy Walker, who had fled to Europe in 1932 amid corruption charges. White noted that New York’s nightclubs were eager to welcome the fun-loving Walker back to town.
SECOND ACT…Still image from a 1935 British Pathé newsreel shows the triumphant return from Europe of former Mayor Jimmy Walker and his wife, Betty Compton. (YouTube)
* * *
A Zephyr Blows In
The magazine’s “Motors” correspondent (pen name “Speed”) noted the dazzling display of 1936 models at the New York Automobile Show, singling out the Lincoln-Zephyr as the year’s biggest innovation.
DECO DREAMSCAPE…Streamlining was all the rage at the 1935 New York Automobile Show at Grand Central Palace. Upper right, a woman opens the hood of a streamlining pioneer, the Chrysler Airflow. (New York Daily News)LEADER OF THE PACK…The 1936 Lincoln-Zephyr had tongues wagging at the New York Automobile Show. (thehenryford.org)
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At the Movies
William Powell and Hollywood newcomer Rosalind Russell blessed film critic John Mosher with their spy caper, Rendezvous, while Pauline Lord got lost in the London fog with Basil Rathbone in A Feather in Her Hat.
A CAPER AND A WEEPER…At left, William Powell starred with Hollywood newcomer Rosalind Russell in Rendezvous; at right, Broadway stage actress Pauline Lord appeared opposite Basil Rathbone in A Feather in Her Hat. (1935)
Mosher also screened a French comedy, René Clair’s Le Dernier Milliardaire (The Last Billionaire), finding its slapstick approach to satire a bit dated.
DURABLE AND ADORABLE…Renée Saint-Cyr as Princess Isabelle in the French comedy Le Dernier Milliardaire (The Last Billionaire). Known for her chic comedies, Saint-Cyr (1904–2004) was a major French film star for seven decades. (Film Forum)
Finally, Mosher turned his critical eye toward a British sci-fi film, Transatlantic Tunnel. Looking forward to seeing a gee-whiz Jules Verne-type story, what Mosher found instead was a lot of sentimental “padding” and very little gee-whiz.
UNDERWATER…John Mosher looked forward to an undersea adventure, but instead got a lot of sentimental fluff in the British sci-fi film, Transatlantic Tunnel. Clockwise, from top left, movie poster for the American release; scene from the film depicting the tunnel entrance; the film showcased such futuristic conveniences as video phones (called “televisors”); a group of wealthy industrialists gather at the home of a Mr. Lloyd, a millionaire investor who used a motorized wheelchair. (Wikipedia/Reddit/cinemasojourns.com)
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No Thanks, Ernie
Clifton Fadiman had an armload of books to review, including an autobiography by Andre Gide (If I Die), novels by Mikhail Sholokhov (Seeds of Tomorrow) and Mari Sandoz (Old Jules), and an Ernest Hemingway tale about big game hunting (Green Hills of Africa) that Fadiman did not care for at all. Here are excerpts from a couple of the reviews:
RUGGED TYPES…At left, Ernest Hemingway poses with skulls of kudu and female of sable antelope in East Africa, 1934, part of his hunting trip described in Green Hills of Africa; at right, photo of Jules Sandoz from the frontispiece of Old Jules, a biography written by his daughter Mari Sandoz. (JFK Library/U of Nebraska)
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From Our Advertisers
With the National Automobile Show in full swing at the Grand Central Palace, the issue was jammed with ads for every type and price range…the Chrysler Corporation took out this full-page spot on the opening spread to promote one of the lowest priced cars on the market…
…Chrysler/DeSoto continued to tout its streamlined Airflow models…introduced in 1934, the Airflow was the first full-size American production car to use streamlining, and it featured a number of other innovations, but consumers just weren’t ready for something this radical…even with the streamlining toned down after its first year, only 55,000 units were produced during the model’s four-year run…
…on a side note, Chrysler has revived the Airflow nameplate for an electric car concept due to the marketplace in 2028…
…mentioned in Speed’s review of the Automobile Show, the Lincoln-Zephyr would find success with its aerodynamic design…
…most manufacturers were in on the streamlining trend, noticeable in the tilted grilles, low rooflines, and sweeping fenders…
…unlike the other car companies, Pierce Arrow did not produce an economy model to keep its luxury line afloat during the Depression…emphasizing its handmade quality, this American rival to Rolls-Royce went out of business by 1938…
…Goodyear got in on the Auto Show action promoting its tires for the “new and faster cars”…
…the folks at Campbell’s continued their ad series featuring upper-class women covertly serving canned soup to their society friends…in this ad, however, the hostess reveals her secret…
…there were no secrets to be found at Schrafft’s—its popularity increased during the Depression, when more than forty locations in the New York metro offered moderately priced “home-style” meals in an atmosphere that suggested upper-middle-class gentility…
…Long Island’s Lido Country Club tried to drum up some autumn business by promoting the “warm and lazy” sunshine of “Indian Summer”…
…the makers of King George IV Scotch used the face of Stork Club owner Sherman Billingsley to lend some nightlife cachet to their product…here’s an odd little fact: his nephew, Glenn Billingsley, was married to Leave It to Beaver actress Barbara Billingsley, who played June Cleaver on the TV series…
…this week the back cover belonged to R.J. Reynolds, with various aviators testifying to the calming effects of Camel cigarettes…the lead endorser in the ad, Frank Hawks, was famous for breaking aviation speed records until he perished in the crash of an experimental plane in 1938…
…Forstmann ads were a regular feature on the inside front cover during the fall/winter fashion season, rendered in a style made popular by illustrator Carl “Eric” Erickson…
…on to our cartoonists, we open the magazine with Maurice Freed…
…James Thurber was busy in this issue, writing a touching character sketch of a medicine show man he greatly admired (“Doc Marlowe”)…and contributing this spot art for “Goings On About Town”…
…he also turned in this terrific cartoon…
…Christina Malman livened up the Auto Show review with this spot art…
…Carl Rose also paid tribute to the annual event…
…Daniel ‘Alain’ Brustlein did a bit of home decorating…
…Robert Day was ready to call it a night…
…Helen Hokinson contributed two cartoons, shopping for a pet fish…
and taking in a Dolores Del Rio picture…
…no doubt Hokinson’s “girls” were commenting on the 1935 musical comedy In Caliente, featuring Mexican actress Dolores Del Rio (1904–1983)…Del Rio was the first Mexican actress to achieve mainstream success in Hollywood…
Dolores Del Rio in a scene from In Caliente. (Reddit)
…we continue with George Price, and a dedicated lumberjack…
…Ned Hilton discovered some honesty in the Men’s Department…
…William Steig took a look around on Election Day…
…Richard Decker took the pulse of the medical profession…
…and we close with another by Decker, where seeing is not believing…
Above: First-grade pupils at the blackboard, circa 1943. (The New York Times)
Peering into the life of a Manhattan elementary school—as it was ninety years ago—offers a glimpse into the social mores of the 1930s.
October 5, 1935 cover by Constantin Alajalov.
Taking us back to those days was St. Clair McKelway (1905-1980), who beginning in 1933 served as a writer and editor for The New Yorker. Although not well-known today, McKelway was credited by William Shawn as one of a handful of people who “set the magazine on its course.”
St. Clair McKelway.(LA Times)
For the “A Reporter at Large” column, McKelway toured PS 165 on the Upper West Side. In this first excerpt, McKelway sits in on a geography lesson:
AROUND THE WORLD IN TWENTY VOLUMES…The Grolier Society’s The Book of Knowledge was a well-known resource to students and teachers alike in the 1930s. Originally largely a reprint of the British Children’s Encyclopædia with U.S. revisions, it evolved over time into an entirely new entity. This particular volume is from 1919, part of a twenty-volume set. (Randal Oulton via Wikipedia)
In this next excerpt, a teacher and principal speak of the schoolchildren dispassionately, casually referring to one pupil’s IQ as “almost down to mental defective.”
PS PUPILS…Students participate in Elizabeth Irwin’s “Little Red Schoolhouse“ program at PS 61 in 1928; at right, a kindergarten painter at PS 23 in 1935. (NYC Municipal Archives/Fordham U)
In this final excerpt, McKelway looked in on the school’s “ungraded class” of sixteen boys, most from families who were “on relief.” Beginning in the third paragraph, note how the teacher speculates on the future of one of the students.
STILL STANDING, STILL SERVING…PS 165 Robert E. Simon school today. (insideschools.org/Anna Duncan/Friends of PS 165)
A final note: It is interesting to compare McKelway’s article with one written almost thirty years later byRichard Schickel for Commentary magazine (January 1964). Schickel also visited PS 165, his observations of the “special service” school sometimes echoing McKelway’s. Today PS 165 receives high marks from teachers and parents. Located a few blocks from Columbia University, the school teaches children of graduate students and professors as well as long-time neighborhood residents and newcomers.
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Moving Days
In the fall of 1935 E.B. and Katharine White and their four-year-old son Joel moved from their Greenwich Village apartment on East 8th Street (reluctantly for E.B.) to Turtle Bay Gardens in the East 40s. At about the same time The New Yorker moved from its original headquarters on West 45th Street to its new digs at 25 West 43rd Street, where the magazine would settle in for more than fifty years.
HOME SWEET HOME…This New York townhouse (left) was the new home of E.B. and Katharine White in the fall of 1935 (their neighbor was Katharine Hepburn). At right, The New Yorker also moved to a new home at 25 West 43rd Street. The magazine would occupy several floors of the building for 56 years. (homes.com/Ink Spill)
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A Good Bad Girl
Journalist Meyer Berger (1898-1959) was known for digging deep into his subjects, including a two-part New Yorker profile of Anna Lonergan, “Queen of the Irishtown Docks.” Her two husbands and a brother—notorious killers themselves—were murdered in gang wars along with dozens of others who were Lonergan’s friends and neighbors. She was often called to the morgue to identify murder victims, thus the “Profile” title “Lady in Crepe”—one who is in a constant state of mourning. Here are the opening paragraphs:
SHE WANTED TO BE A NUN…Anna Lonergan, as rendered by Reginald Marsh for the Profile.KILL OR BE KILLED…Members of the Irish “White Hand Gang” battled their Italian rivals (the Black Hand Gang) on the Brooklyn waterfront from the early 1900s to 1930. Anna Lonergan’s first husband William “Wild Bill” Lovett (top) was murdered in 1923; her brother Richard “Pegleg” Lonergan was gunned down in 1925. (artofneed.com)
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At the Movies
Film critic John Mosher took on a couple of very different films—the lively Claudette Colbert comedy She Married Her Boss, and the “mournful, graceful” Iceland Fisherman featuring the 1890s French cabaret star Yvette Guilbert.
BUSINESS AND PLEASURE…Melvyn Douglas and Claudette Colbert in She Married Her Boss. (IMDB)GRAND GRANDMOTHER...John Mosher found French actress and cabaret singer Yvette Guilbert (1865–1944) to be the main attraction as a Breton grandmother in 1934’s Pêcheur d’Islande (Iceland Fishermen). Guilbert was a favorite subject of artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who made many portraits and caricatures of Guilbert, including the one at right from 1894. (musee-breton.finistere/National Portrait Gallery, London/Wikipedia)
Mosher also screened Soviet Russia through the Eyes of an American, which documented American engineer Charles Stuart’s travels through the Soviet Union. You can watch the entire film here.
NO FAMINE HERE…Children playing games were featured in Soviet Russia through the Eyes of an American, a travelogue that skipped all the bad parts of Stalinist Russia. (YouTube/Hoover Institution)
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Some Housekeeping
Before we jump into the advertisements, I would feel remiss not to mention other writers in the issue, including poet Ogden Nash (“How Now, Sirrah, Oh, Anyhow”), James Thurber (“Smashup,” featuring henpecked husband Tommy Trinway); Frances Warfield (“Practical Nurse”); Theodore Pratt (“I Jes’ Goin'”); James Reid Parker (“The First Day”); Andree L. Eilert (“Words Across the Sea”) W.E. Farbstein (“Copycat”); and P. S. Le Poer Trench (“Parsons is Prepared”). Some of these contributors are long forgotten—Warfield often wrote about her deafness, but little to nothing can be found out about Eilert or Trench without considerable effort (Trench published twice in the New Yorker in 1935).
AMONG THE KNOWN…At left, Ogden Nash (1902-1971) is the most famous of this trio that includes Theodore Pratt (1901-1969), center, known as the “Literary Laureate of Florida”; and at right, James Reid Parker (1909-1984), who sidelined as a writer of captions for Helen Hokinson. Read more about Parker’s contributions to The New Yorker at Michael Maslin’sNew Yorker treasure trove Ink Spill.
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From Our Advertisers
Apparently business was booming at Forstmann Woolens, who continued to post these stylish ads in the opening pages of The New Yorker—note Midtown’s 1927-29 New York Central Building (now Helmsley Building) that served as a gateway to Grand Central…
…who knew that one could be so stylish while drinking a glass of tomato juice?…
…the Capehart Automatic Phonograph Company produced a radio-phonograph that could automatically flip records to play both sides—this particular model could play up to twenty records in succession…
QUITE THE GIZMO…Restoration of a Capehart 405E. These units were not cheap, selling for the equivalent of $30k or more today. (forum.antiquephono.org)
…Warner Brothers took out a full-page ad to announce the world premiere of A Midsummer Night’s Dream…the lavish, star-studded production featured, among others, James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, Dick Powell, Anita Louise and Mickey Rooney…
AN ACQUIRED TASTE...Anita Louise as Titania, Queen of the Fairies, and James Cagney as Bottom, the Weaver, in the 1935 film production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The film failed at the box office with mixed reviews, however it won two Academy Awards—Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing, and it was nominated for Best Picture. Today the film gets mostly good reviews. (www.academymuseum.org)
…Stage magazine also took out a full-page ad to trumpet its own star-studded lineup, including contributions by James Thurber, Peggy Bacon and Abe Birnbaum…
…Mrs. Chiswell Dabney Langhorne, nee Caryetta Davis Saunders (1899-1971), was the latest society maven to encourage women smokers to enjoy the unfiltered pleasures of Camel cigarettes…
…on to our cartoonists, George Price and Maurice Freed got things rolling with these spot drawings…
…Carl Rose mixed the old with the new on moving day…
…Barney Tobey showed us how the posh travelled to school…
…George Price again, here demonstrating the joys of moneyed eccentricity…
…Richard Decker explored the origins of art criticism…
…Mary Petty offered some durable fashion advice…
…and we close with Peter Arno, finding sudden inspiration in a Pink Lady cocktail…
Morris Markey embodied the ideal of “A Reporter at Large,” and for his Sept. 7 column he decided to stroll the steamy streets of Manhattan on a late summer night, finding the sidewalks alive with folks seeking a break from their stifling dwellings.
September 7, 1935 cover by Constantin Alajalov.
Markey (1899-1950) began “Summer Night” by describing a bus ride from Midtown to Washington Square with (I assume) his wife, Helen Turman Markey. They enjoyed the breeze atop the bus as they passed Central Park and heard the faint strains of music in the air.
FINAL NOTES…Morris Markey thought he heard music coming from the Central Park Casino (left) on that hot summer night; it would prove to be one of the Casino’s last summer nights since Robert Moses would have it demolished the following May; at right, Adolf Dehn lithograph Central Park at Night, 1934. (NYC Parks/Art Institute of Chicago)AMID THE BUSTLE the Markeys hopped off the bus at Washington Square and set out on foot. At left, Washington Square by night, 1945; at right, cacophony on Fifth Avenue, circa 1940. (Facebook)
The scenes described by Markey offer a glimpse of what has changed and what still remains of Manhattan night life after ninety years.
GO BLOW YOUR HORN…Something taxis did then and do now; Markey described folks looking at hats in a shop window, probably similar to this 1930s store at right. (theguardian.com/Pinterest)
They concluded their stroll on the Lower East Side, where Markey noted a tenement clearance project on Allen Street. Considered one of the most densely populated places in the world, the street was widened by demolishing all of the buildings on its east side from Division to Houston Street.
HERE COMES THE SUN…The densely populated Allen Street was called “a place where the sun never shines.” The narrow street was mostly under the shadow of the elevated train tracks until it was widened in 1930s by demolishing all of buildings on its east side. Photo at left shows the public bath at 133 Allen Street (now used as a church). The demolition project, and the removal of the overhead “El” tracks in 1942, created a broad thoroughfare with a meridian mall in the center, as seen in the bottom photo of the intersection of Allen and Delancey circa 1950. (mcny.org/leshp.org/Facebook)
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At the Movies
Film critic John Mosher finally found a film he could gush about in Anna Karenina, and most notably its star Greta Garbo, who in Mosher’s words “sets the pace and the tone for the whole thing.” Mosher was not alone in his praise: Writing for The Spectator in 1935, Graham Greene wrote that Garbo’s acting in the film overwhelmed the acting of all the supporting cast save that of Basil Rathbone. This observation was later echoed by Roland Barthes, who wrote in 1957 that Garbo belonged “to that moment in cinema when the apprehension of the human countenance plunged crowds into the greatest perturbation, where people literally lost themselves in the human image.” Here is Mosher’s review:
GARBO AND THE OTHERS…Greta Garbo dominated the screen in 1935’s Anna Karenina. Clockwise, from top left, MGM poster for the film; Garbo with Fredric March as Anna’s lover, Count Vronksy; Garbo with Basil Rathbone, who portrayed Anna’s husband Karenin, and child actor Freddie Bartholomew as their son, Sergei; Maureen O’Sullivan took a break from the Tarzan films to portray Anna’s friend Kitty (here with Gyles Isham as Levin). (filmforum.org/Wikipedia/IMDB)
As Mosher noted, Garbo also portrayed Anna Karenina in the 1927 silent film Love, in which she co-starred with John Gilbert as Count Vronsky.
BEEN HERE BEFORE…Greta Garbo as Anna Karenina and John Gilbert as Count Vronsky in the 1927 silent film Love, the second of four films they made together. They were also lovers off-screen in the 1920s, but with the advent of sound pictures her star rose as his began to fall; in their last film together, Queen Christina (1933), Garbo insisted that Gilbert be cast opposite her in a final attempt to revive his declining career. He essentially drank himself to an early grave, dying of a heart attack in January 1936. (rottentomatoes.com)
Mosher also enjoyed the dance moves of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Top Hat (although it could have used less “patter and piffle”), and brought out his hankie for The Dark Angel, where he once again encountered the acting of Fredric March.
DEFYING GRAVITY…Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire made their complex dance moves look effortless as they glided through Top Hat, the fourth of ten films they made together. (americancinematheque.com)TEARS FOR FEARS…Fredric March and Merle Oberon portrayed old friends and lovers facing a rival lover and the horrors of World War I in the 1935 weeper The Dark Angel. (rottentomatoes.com)
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From Our Advertisers
We begin with a splash of color from the makers of Imperial washable wallpapers…not sure why a wire fox terrier is featured in the advertisement…they were a popular breed, and maybe Fido was the reason one needed washable walls…
…White Rock rolled out their tiny Colonel to promote mineral water as an ideal mixer…
…ever heard of Victor Moore?…well, he was quite the comedian back in the day, playing timid, mild-mannered characters on stage and screen…Moore (1876-1962) was also famous for his 1942 marriage to dancer Shirley Paige when Moore was 65 and Paige was 20…
…Camel rolled out another high society endorser, Maude Adele Brookfield van Rensselaer (1904-1945)…her color image is a watercolor by Leslie Saalburg…
…on to our cartoonists, we begin with spot art by Abe Birnbaum…
and Maurice Freed…
…also in the opening pages this wordless contribution by James Thurber…
…Gluyas Williams found this midday repast anything but relaxing…
…Otto Soglow found a new “man’s best friend”…
…Denys Wortman encountered some frank advice at the cosmetics counter…
…Helen Hokinson found appreciation for the “strong and silent” acting style…
…Peter Arno gave us a department store clerk in need of some time off…
…and we close with Richard Decker, finding some truth in advertising…
A New Yorker State of Mind 