E.B. White – A New Yorker State of Mind

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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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.

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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.

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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)

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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)

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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…

**Kirsten Flagstad** circa 1940. (Wikipedia)

…we continue with Helen Hokinson soaking up some sun…

…Robert Day cracked the whip in the steno pool…

…originally published sideways, another look at club life by Gluyas Williams...

…James Thurber offered up a toast…

…Richard Taylor looked into an auction mystery…

…Barney Tobey gave us a friendly greeting on the slopes…

…Perry Barlow was lost in a department store…

…William Crawford Galbraith continued to probe the woes of sugar daddies…

…and we get the last word from Mary Petty…

Next Time: Strike Me Pink…

Magnificently Obsessed

Above: Irene Dunn gets her head examined by Parisian doctors during a scene from the 1935 melodrama Magnificent Obsession. (letterboxd.com)

I can’t think of a better time to escape the world for a few moments and indulge in a bit of frivolity. In this case we take a brief look at a popular film that pushed the envelope of plausibility in true Hollywood style.

January 11, 1936 cover by Helen Hokinson.

Magnificent Obsession featured two of Tinseltown’s leading stars, Irene Dunn and Robert Taylor. Although many critics have called the film’s plot preposterous, it was a fan favorite—at the Radio City Music Hall premiere on Dec. 30, 1935, capacity crowds braved sub-zero weather to see it.

For a film that has been debated and discussed for decades (and remade to some acclaim in 1954 by director Douglas Sirk with Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson in the leads), critic John Mosher barely gave it a glance, feeling sorry for Dunne in her role as a tragically blinded widow.

MAGNIFICENT HAPPENSTANCE…In Magnificent Obsession, **Robert Taylor** played a spoiled playboy, Robert Merrick, who survives a boating accident at the expense of kindly doctor. Clockwise from top left, Taylor in a scene with **Margaret Brayton**; Taylor and **Irene Dunn** in the scene where Dunne’s character, Helen Hudson, is struck by a car and blinded; Dunn with child actor **Cora Susan Collins** *(who incidentally passed away in April 2025 at age 98)*; the end of the film emphasized Merrick’s transformation from a selfish playboy into a selfless, Nobel Prize-winning man of faith and science. (roberttayloractor.blog/mubi.com/rottentomatoes.com/Facebook)

A brief synopsis: Wealthy playboy Robert Merrick (Robert Taylor) drunkenly capsizes his boat. A hospital’s only pulmotor saves his life at the expense of a beloved surgeon who dies without it. Merrick falls in love with the surgeon’s widow, Helen (Irene Dunn). While driving Helen home he makes a pass at her; she exits the car and is struck by another, losing her eyesight. Merrick conceals his identity while watching over Helen; he then follows her to Paris, where she learns her sight is gone forever. Merrick reveals his identity and proposes. Helen flees. Six years later Merrick, now a Nobel Prize-winning brain surgeon, restores Helen’s sight.

In the film’s defense, plots that stretch credibility have been around since the Greeks and deus ex machina, and consider how many films today employ “portals” of various types to get heroes out of sticky situations. Unless you’re talking about a Werner Herzog film, it’s all make believe.

HANDS OFF…**John Mosher** had particular scorn for the way beloved character actor **Charles Butterworth** (left) was used in the film. Along with Dunn, Butterworth was another “victim” of *Magnificent Obsession*, according to Mosher. (IMDB)

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A Lot On His Mind

E.B. White had a lot to say in his Jan. 11 “Notes and Comment,” beginning with a paragraph about the impending merger of two Condé Nast publications, Vanity Fair and Vogue. The old Vanity Fair magazine, published from 1913 to 1936, was a casualty of the Great Depression, and it essentially disappeared with the merger (Condé Nast revived the title in 1983).

FADE OUT…At left, *Bali Beauty* by Miguel Covarrubias, on the cover of the final issue of the old *Vanity Fair* magazine, February 1936. Publisher Condé Nast merged VF with Vogue beginning with its March 1, 1936 issue (at right). *The New Yorker,* once considered a competitor of the old *Vanity Fair,* was itself acquired by Condé Nast in 1985. (vanity fair.com/vogue.com)

White also commented on a new book, The Ruling Clawss, which criticized The New Yorker for its “bourgeois attitude.” Interestingly, the book was produced by none other than New Yorker cartoonist Syd Hoff, who wrote and illustrated The Ruling Clawss as “A. Redfield,” a pseudonym he used in the 1930s for his contributions to The Daily Worker and other leftist causes.

HOFF IN A HUFF…Cover of the 1935 edition of *The Ruling Clawss;* frontispiece from a 2023 reprint of the book by *The New York Review of Books.* **Syd Hoff** (1912–2004) contributed 571 cartoons to The New Yorker between 1931 and 1975. Hoff also drew cartoons for The Daily Worker under the pseudonym “A. Redfield.” (*abebooks.com/nyrb.com)*

In The Ruling Clawss, Hoff (as Redfield) criticized “bourgeois humor” as an opiate of the masses, citing The New Yorker, Esquire, Judge, and Life as publications that take “the banker boys and politicians, who are the rapers of liberty and democracy,” and present them between perfume ads in whimsical situations. The bourgeoisie makes itself look human, wrote Hoff, “By exposing itself in the boudoir, or the night club, doing foolish things or saying something ‘funny’…In other words, the fascists and warmongers are little lambs who do their parts in contributing to the merriment of a nation.”

Referring to his fellow cartoonists, Hoff concluded: “the Arnos, Soglows, Benchleys and Cantors…are all talented and funny, but…and here, I believe, is the point…their comedy is all too often a whitewash for people and conditions that, in reality, are not funny.”

NO LAUGHING MATTER…Examples of **Syd Hoff’s** cartoons in *The Ruling Clawss. (nyrb.com)*

Today Hoff is probably best remembered for his children’s books, especially Danny and the Dinosaur. You can read all about his work at this website.

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A Different Kind of Hoff

We move on to another Hoff, namely Mardee Hoff, who was “ungrammatically selected” by the American Society of Illustrators as the possessor of the “most perfect figure in America.” Here is an excerpt from “The Talk of the Town.”

HER BODY OF WORK…**Mardee Hoff** (1914–2004) possessed the best body shape in America, according to the American Society of Illustrators following a contest involving 2,600 women at New York’s Commodore Hotel. At left, Hoff on the cover of *Life*, Oct. 21, 1940. At right, circa 1936. (findagrave.com/Reddit)

* * *

Life With Clarence

“The Talk of the Town” noted the passing of beloved author and cartoonist Clarence Day in a lengthy tribute that highlighted his remarkable output despite crippling arthritis. Excerpts:

GOOD OLD DAYS…**Clarence Day** (1874–1935) developed crippling arthritis as a young adult, and spent the remainder of his life as a semi-invalid. Nevertheless, he churned out more than a dozen books, most famously Life With Father, a collection of stories from *The New Yorker* that were published in book form shortly after Day’s death. *The New Yorker* continued to publish Day’s stories through August 1937. Above, Day, circa 1920, and a first edition of *Life With Father.* Below, scene from the 1947 comedy film by the same name featuring **William Powell, Irene Dunn,** and **Elizabeth Taylor.** (Wikipedia/abebooks.com/IMDB)

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At the Movies

In addition to Magnificent Obsession, John Mosher endured screenings of several other pictures he could not recommend, despite featuring “talented and delightful people”…

…Mosher thought the best thing about mezzo-soprano Gladys Swarthout in Rose of the Rancho was her, um, feet…

SINGING BANDIT…**Gladys Swarthout**, a popular Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano, portrayed the daughter of landowner besieged by outlaws in *Rose of the Rancho.* In the film she disguises herself as a man (right) and organizes a band of vigilantes to fight the outlaws. The film was one of five produced by Paramount in the 1930s featuring Swarthout. (IMDB/swarthoutfamily.org)

…and he was frankly mystified by the Soviet Russian film Frontier, featuring lots of beards, collective farms, and a big display of airplanes at the finale…

FOR THE FATHERLAND…At left, **Aleksandr Dovzhenko** directs the Soviet film *Frontier* (aka *Aerograd*), about a remote Siberian outpost that comes under threat of attack by the Japanese. At right, **Sergey Stolyarov** portrayed the pilot Vladimir Glushak, who was filled with wondrous tales about the new city of Aerograd. The film was commissioned by Joseph Stalin. (IMDB/kinorium.com)

…English actress, dancer and singer Jessie Matthews (1907–1981) also wore the pants in First a Girl, a comedy adapted from the 1933 German film Viktor und Viktoria (which was remade as Victor/Victoria in 1982 with Julie Andrews)…

SHE/HE…At left, **Jessie Matthews** in First a Girl, a comedy adapted from the 1933 German film *Viktor und Viktoria;* right top, Matthews with **Sonny Hale;** and, at bottom, with **Griffith Jones.** Mosher called the film a “dreary affair.” (IMDB/interwarlondon.com)

* * *

All Aboard

During the 1930s “Snow Trains” carried skiers from Manhattan to the Catskills, the Berkshires and other destinations. Railroads offered travel packages that helped popularize downhill skiing before World War II. Excerpts:

POLAR EXPRESS…A Snow Train arrives at Thendara Station full of skiers headed for the slopes and winter activities in Old Forge. Circa late 1930s. (northcountryatwork.org)

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From Our Advertisers

We take wing with Bergdorf Goodman’s stylish “Trinidad Clipper suit…

…the folks at Nash took out the center spread to tout their inexpensive yet distinguished Ambassador…

…apparently it was distinguished enough for these toffs…

…by contrast, a more spare, minimal style is seen in this ad for Schaefer beer…

…and in this ad for Bloomingdale’s…this was tricky to reproduce, the lightness of the compass against all that black ink…

…here’s a new marketing ploy from R.J. Reynolds…smoke a half a pack of their Camels, and then send back the rest if you don’t like them…I’m guessing most folks finished them off…

…Liggett & Myers kept it simple, equating smoke in your lungs with clean, crisp winter air…

…on to our cartoonists, we begin with spots by Gregory d’Alessio…

…Daniel “Alain” Brustlein…

and Christina Malman…

…Leonard Dove looked in on an owly patient…

…Alain again, seeking an elusive promotion…

…the stages of love and marriage, per George Price…

…Helen Hokinson reconvened her ladies club…

…Barbara Shermund discussed politics…

…Mary Petty considered the price of great art…

…and Petty again, at the dress shop…

…Robert Day illustrated the benefits of “how to” books…

…and we run off with James Thurber...

Next Time: A Profile in the Paint…

The Major’s Amateur Hour

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’s** *Scandals.* **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’s Ah 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 Hitler forced 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…

Next Time: Magnificently Obsessed…

Fracking the Frick

Above: Critic Lewis Mumford was not ecstatic about his visit to the newly opened Frick Collection, unhappy with the museum's crowd-control regulations that limited his view of Giovanni Bellini's masterpiece, St Francis in Ecstasy, among other things. (wikiart.org/communitydevelopmentarchive.org)

Considered one of the finest museums in the U.S., the Frick Collection on the Upper East Side of Manhattan was established in 1935 to preserve steel magnate Henry Clay Frick’s priceless 14th- to 19th-century European paintings as well as the Frick house and its furnishings. When it opened to the public on Dec. 16, 1935, museum staff distributed timed-entry tickets to prevent crowding, and therein lay the rub for New Yorker critic Lewis Mumford.

December 28, 1935 cover by **William Cotton.** Exclusively a cover artist for *The New Yorker,* Cotton (1880–1958) produced fifty-five covers for the magazine.

The timed tickets, along with ropes that forced visitors to follow a defined path, spoiled the museum’s debut for Mumford, who was one of its few detractors. In these excerpts Mumford addressed the crowd control measures, and criticized the furniture and other “bric-a-brac” that further served to obstruct his viewing pleasure:

ROPES AND BRIC-A-BRAC presented obstacles to Mumford’s visit at the opening of the Frick Collection. Clockwise, from top left, view of the Frick mansion, circa 1935; installation view of the Living Hall, 1935; West Gallery, 1935; invitation to the opening of The Frick Collection, 1935. (businessinsider.com/Frick Art Reference Library Archives)

The Frick’s recent renovation and expansion has also had its detractors; after enduring a long and contentious proposal review process and five years of renovation and construction, the Frick reopened to the public in April 2025. It seems most attendees appreciate the changes.

OLD AND NEW…The Frick Collection’s home today, with expansion to the right. (untappedcities)

Mumford also took a look at the latest work by ceramic sculptor Russell Aitken (1910-2002), comparing his work to that of a cartoonist. Aitken was a rather odd duck in the art world, renowned both for his quirky sculptures as well as for his exploits as a big game hunter.

KILLER ARTWORK…**Russell Aitken** had eclectic tastes, to say the least, ranging from creating cutesy ceramics and cartoonish enamels to murdering Cape buffalo. Top left, *Virgins of Mogambo*, enamel on metal, 1935; bottom left, *The Cactus Kid,* ceramic, 1932. At right, midcentury whiskey ad featuring Aiken as a big game hunter. (Cleveland Museum of Art/findagrave.com)

It’s always a little dicey to review the work of a colleague, but in the case of Peter Arno, Mumford had mostly praise, some of it quite high, that is except for Arno’s “white-whiskered major” which Mumford characterized as a “lazy, pat form.”

Thankfully Arno ignored Mumford’s criticism and continued to draw his “white-whiskered major.” Here he is in a delightful 1937 cartoon featured on one of my favorite New Yorker-related sites, Attempted Bloggery:

Caption reads: **“I Only Kill For Food.”**

* * *

Shock of the New

E.B. White, ever skeptical of newfangled inventions, saw no reason why The New Yorker’s old ice-filled water cooler needed to be replaced by a “rattling” electric one:

* * *

O Tannenbaum

Two decades before Rockefeller Plaza raised its giant Christmas tree (or before Rockefeller Center even existed), New Yorkers gathered around a “Tree of Light” at Madison Square. “The Talk of the Town” remembered:

TREE OF LIGHT…America’s first outdoor Christmas tree lighting apparently occurred in Madison Square Park in 1912 (the “Talk” excerpt cited 1911). Bowery Boys History notes that “the organizers knew they were doing something unique, but probably did not realize the special significance of the event. Their 70-foot-tall imported tree from the Adirondacks, festooned with lights from the Edison Company, would be the first outdoor community Christmas tree in the United States.” (Library of Congress )

According to Bowery Boys History, in 1912 “this ‘Tree of Light’, mounted in cement, was such a novelty that almost 25,000 people showed up that night [Christmas Eve] to witness it and enjoy an evening-long slate of choral entertainment.” The following year, The New York Times reported that the Salvation Army took over the event, offering up “10,000 hot sausages and 10,000 cups of hot coffee” for the crowds.

The celebration was sparked by social activists seeking to draw attention to the needs of the city’s poor. On Christmas Day, 1912, the Times ran extensive coverage, and noted the charitable tone of the event in this excerpt:

* * *

Honor Roll

Joseph P. Pollard and W.E. Farbstein covered a two-page spread, listing individuals of “Special Distinction” in honor of the New Year…here is a brief excerpt:

* * *

Best (and Worst) of Broadway

Robert Benchley reviewed the hits and misses of the fall Broadway season, and admitted he had become something of a softhearted theatre critic after spending six months in Hollywood.

MEET THE GANG…Among the plays recommended by **Robert Benchley** was **Dead End**, which opened at the Belasco Theatre on Oct. 28,1935 and ran for 687 performances before closing on June 12, 1937. The play featured an impressive set design by **Norman Bel Geddes** (top) and introduced the **Dead End Kids** (aka the Bowery Boys), various teams of young actors who made 89 films and three serials for four different studios during their 21-year film career. The photo above shows the original six Dead End Kids—front row, from left, **Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Leo Gorcey** and Billy Halop; back row, **Bobby Jordan** and **Bernard Punsly.** (deadendmusical.com)

* * *

At the Movies

New Yorkers could nurse their holiday hangovers with a variety of films, ranging from the “very pleasant” The Perfect Gentleman to the “overdressed” Captain Blood, which featured a young Errol Flynn as a rather gentle pirate. As for the late year’s most anticipated film, A Tale of Two Cities, critic John Mosher found a few bright spots between his yawns, including praise for Blanche Yurka’s standout performance as Madame DeFarge.

GENTLE MAN AND GENTLE PIRATE…At left, **Forrester Harvey** and Frank Morgan in *The Perfect Gentleman;* at right, **Errol Flynn** and **Olivia de Havilland** in *Captain Blood*. The film launched the 26-year-old Flynn and the 19-year-old de Havilland into Hollywood stardom, and marked the beginning of Flynn’s swashbuckler image. (MGM/IMDB)

I’M LOSING MY HEAD OVER YOU…Clockwise, from top left, Sydney Carton (**Ronald Colman)** would lose his noggin to the guillotine in a scheme to save Lucie Manette (Elizabeth Allan) in *A Tale of Two Cities*; veteran theater actress **Blanche Yurka**, who learned to knit for her acclaimed role as Madame Defarge, is shown here in a front row seat before the guillotine—it was Yurka’s first film role; at the bottom, the execution scene at the Place de la Révolution. (bluray.com/michaelbalter.substack.com)

If piracy and revolution were “too much for your holiday nerves,” Mosher suggested the latest Shirley Temple film, The Littlest Rebel, featuring the superstar moppet dancing her way through the Civil War (and, unfortunately, performing a scene in blackface). Also on tap was the the musical comedy, Coronado.

SEEKING A PRESIDENTIAL PARDON, little Virgie Cary (**Shirley Temple)** asks President Lincoln (Frank McGlynn Sr.) to bestow mercy on her Confederate father in *The Littlest Rebel*; below, **Alice White, Leon Errol** and **Jack Haley** in the musical comedy *Coronado.* Haley is best known today as the Tin Man in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz. (whitehousehistory.org/themovieb.org)

* * *

From Our Advertisers

We look in on our advertisers, beginning with this from Stage magazine…the actor portraying Nero is likely from the play Achilles Had a Heel, which closed after just eight performances…

…John Mosher wasn’t wowed by MGM’s A Tale of Two Cities, even if the Capitol Theatre promised a spectacle with “a cast of 8,000″…

…this back of the book ad promised entertainment by “Society Amateurs” selected from the “Sunday Evening Debut Parties”…

…the brewers of Guinness promoted the health benefits of their product for the New Year…

…and the makers of Camels continued to print testimonials touting the invigorating effects of their cigarettes…

…on to our cartoonists, with William Steig taking stock of the Christmas haul…

…Helen Hokinson’s girls were looking for the hottest show in town…

…Barney Tobey was the latest cartoonist to take a shot at the boss-secretary trope…

…Otto Soglow gave us a singing fish…

…George Price came across a landscaping challenge…

…Whitney Darrow Jr focused on a visit to the optometrist…

…Robert Day gave us a party pooper too pooped to party…

…and Peter Arno offered a glimpse into his active nightlife…

…before we go, I ran across this cocktail book, So Red the Nose, at Messy Nessy’s Cabinet of Curiosities…

…this particular tome featured an Alexander Woollcott recipe for a cocktail called “While Rome Burns”…

…you can flip through the entire book at this site…

Next Time: The Major’s Amateur Hour …

Picking on Pickford

Above: Mary Pickford (right, from 1916) spoke out against salacious content in films, such as this scene from 1930's Madam Satan. (Wikipedia/mainemedia.edu)

James Thurber seemed to enjoy teasing silent film legend Mary Pickford in her new career as social commentator and author of spiritual articles and books. Having retired from acting in 1933, Pickford was also using her powerful position as a co-founder of United Artists to focus on the moral direction of the film industry.

December 21, 1935 cover by Ilonka Karasz.

Back in the Sept. 21 issue of The New Yorker, Thurber took a humorous poke at Pickford’s Liberty magazine article on the afterlife, and found more fodder after Pickford, in an interview with the World-Telegram, criticized “salacious” films. “Be a guardian, not an usher, at the portal of your thought,” she advised. Thurber took the bait. Excerpts:

KEEPING IT CLEAN…From left, producer **Samuel Goldwyn**, actors **Charlie Chaplin** and **Douglas Fairbanks Sr.** pose behind **Mary Pickford** at a United Artists board meeting in Los Angeles, July 9, 1935. (AP)

Thurber took particular pleasure in Pickford’s comments regarding the control of one’s dirty thoughts:

PICKFORD’S UNITED ARTISTS produced some memorable, non-salacious films in 1936, including **Charlie Chaplin’s** *Modern Times,* and the acclaimed Dodsworth starring **Ruth Chatterton** and **Walter Huston** as Fran and Sam Dodsworth. (Wikipedia)

Pickford had a strong ally in the Hays Code, a set of self-imposed censorship guidelines that would keep mainstream studio films relatively free of salacious content for the next thirty years.

* * *

A White Christmas

E.B. White offered holiday greetings to everyone from drinkers of blended whiskey to the makers of red tape (plus a plug for New Yorker subscriptions)…

CHEERS AND JEERS…**E.B. White** sent holiday greetings to the men who were changing the Normandie’s massive propellers (from three- to four-blade), and probably wanted to give a lump of coal to Mayor Fiorello La Guardia for “foolishly” banning organ grinders from city streets. (ships nostalgia.com/ephemeralnewyork)

…and concluded with these words…

…Otto Soglow added this bit of spot art to the bottom of White’s “Notes and Comment”…

* * *

A Holiday Tradition

Page 21 featured Frank Sullivan’s annual Christmas poem (he wrote forty-two of them from 1932 to 1974)…

…which continued on page 22…

* * *

Lost In Paradise

Robert Benchley did the honors as theatre critic for the Dec. 21 issue, enjoying an evening at Longacre Theatre with the richly endowed characters featured in Clifford Odets’ Paradise Lost.

GREAT PLAY, WHATEVER IT MEANS…**Robert Benchley** thoroughly enjoyed **Clifford Odets’** gallery of characters in Paradise Lost. Top, Odets circa 1930s; below, photo from the 1935-36 production at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre. (mcny.org)

Apparently the rest of the Broadway fare was not so great, as Benchley fled Cort’s Theatre (it featured This Our House, which closed after just two performances) to catch A Night at the Opera with the Marx Brothers.

* * *

At the Movies

Benchley wasn’t the only one enjoying a night at the movies. Critic John Mosher found favor with German actor Emil Jannings’ latest flick, The Making of a King (Der alte und der junge König), calling the film “a sensible picture of the old bully,” namely the father of Frederick the Great.

LIGHTEN UP, FRED…**Heinrich Marlow** (left) and **Emil Jannings** in a scene from *The Making of a King*. The film depicted the turbulent relationship between Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I and his son, Crown Prince Friedrich. (IMDB)

Mosher found bright moments in Ginger Rogers’ latest film, but would have preferred another pairing with her fellow hoofer, Fred Astaire.

BETTER WITH FRED thought John Mosher of **Ginger Rogers’s** brave turn as an actress fleeing from her admiring fans in 1935’s In Person. Rogers donned eyeglasses, a wig, and fake teeth (inset) to portray the actress in hiding. She is pictured here in a scene with co-star **George Brent**. (IMDB)

Mosher was stimulated by The Great Impersonation, however, the “cordial” films about small town life and happy radio folk left him less than enthused.

MORE SPIES, PLEASE…**John Mosher** didn’t get too excited over the standard fare offered in the films *Millions in the Air* and *Your Uncle Dudley,* however he found the performances of Edmund Lowe and Wera Engels (bottom right) in the spy caper The Great Impersonation to be most stimulating. (IMDB)

* * *

From Our Advertisers

After touring France in the late 1870s, a New York drugstore owner named Richard Hudnut returned to the States determined to introduce French-style perfumes and cosmetics to American women. He soon transformed his drugstore into an elegant showroom, and in time became the first American to achieve international success in cosmetics…

…advertisements for Christmas gifts mostly dropped out of the magazine, and the back of the book was filled with spots touting various New Year’s Eve entertainments…

…in this ad from the Minnesota Valley Canning Company (renamed Green Giant in 1950), a robber baron’s humble roots, and his checkbook, are triggered by a can of corn…

…thanks to the makers of Luckies, Jolly Old St. Nick was dropping more than soot down your chimney on Christmas Eve…

…we kick off our cartoons with this spot illustration by Abe Birnbaum…

...Richard Decker gave us this caption-less appeal to the masses…

…Al Frueh brightened up the “Theatre” section…

…Helen Hokinson got in line at Macy’s…

…and found a challenge in the housewares department…(see Summer Pierre’s wonderful tribute to Hokinson and her observational forays into the city with James Reid Parker)…

…Mary Petty took the laid-back approach to a medical emergency…

…Charles Addams placed undersea explorer William Beebe in a precarious situation…

…Alan Dunn diagnosed a bad a ticker at a watch shop…

…Gluyas Williams was back with another look at club life…

…Garrett Price snowplowed his way onto the page…

…it seems Howard Baer channeled Peter Arno for this one…

…and we close with William Crawford Galbraith, just doing a little browsing…

Next Time: Fracking the Frick…

Marxist Mayhem

Above: Margaret Dumont with Groucho, Chico and Harpo Marx in A Night at the Opera. A trained operatic singer, Dumont portrayed wealthy, regal women as comic foils to the Marx Brothers in seven of their films. Groucho once referred to her as "the fifth Marx brother." (Britannica.com)

If you were looking for a break from the doldrums of winter or the mad rush of the holidays, a ticket to the Marx Brothers’ A Night at the Opera could fit your bill.

December 14, 1935 cover by **William Crawford Galbraith**. A *New Yorker* contributor from 1929 to 1940, Galbraith (1894–1978), illustrated 151 drawings and seven covers for the magazine.

With their move from Paramount to MGM, Groucho, Chico and Harpo Marx launched a new style of comedy with A Night at the Opera, one of 1935’s biggest hits. Critic John Mosher was pleased to see the trio’s familiar antics on the screen, but with more story structure than their previous films.

SWEET TALKER…In *Night at the Opera,* **Groucho Marx** (as Otis B. Driftwood) advises **Margaret Dumont** (as Mrs. Claypool) on how to be inducted into high society—*Driftwood*: “I have arranged for you to invest $200,000 in the New York Opera Company. You’ll be a patron…Then you can marry me and they’ll kick you out of society and all you’ve lost is $200,000.” *(amazon.com)*

Sure, there were some old gags, as one “youngster”—seated next to Mosher—noted, but even this newbie pronounced the film “excellent.” As Mosher observed, “It may not be new or surprising, but it’s quick and funny.”

OH WHAT A NIGHT…Clockwise, from top left, during the overture to Verdi’s Il Trovatore, the sheet music is switched to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” and Otis B. Driftwood (**Groucho Marx**) responds by hawking peanuts to the startled audience; lobby card for the film; the famous “Stateroom Scene,” written by gag man **Al Boasberg**; taking a break on the set are, from left, **Groucho, Boasberg, Kitty Carlisle**, and director **Sam Wood**. (onset.shotonwhat.com)

Mosher also reviewed the underworld thriller Show Them No Mercy!, which displayed some of the effects of the Hays Code…

TONE IT DOWN, WOULD YA?…From left, **Cesar Romero, Rochelle Hudson, Bruce Cabot**, and **Edward Brophy** in *Show Them No Mercy!* (rotten tomatoes.com))

* * *

Fond Memories

In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White recalled the good old days at a place called Tony’s on 49th Street. I couldn’t find any record of the place (or images), but apparently the new Tony’s lacked the smoke-filled charm of the original. Not to mention that the air-conditioning gave an earache to one of White’s acquaintances:

* * *

Gun Shy

James Thurber was also facing the challenges of the modern world, being the unlikely owner of a very old derringer and hoping to possibly get it repaired. He stopped in at Stoeger’s gun store on Fifth Avenue, where a salesman tried to sell him a newer model. Instead, Thurber opted for a copy of the catalog (which he found fascinating), and pondered the store’s various game calls, which he thought might make suitable holiday gifts. Some brief excerpts:

GUNS ON FASHION ROW…View from inside Stoeger’s Fifth Avenue gun store with manager John T. Meechan, undated; cover of the store’s 1936 catalog. (Facebook/ebay.com)

* * *

Hello Dolly

Dolls of all sorts—ranging from Popeye to the Dionne quintuplets—were all the rage for the holidays, according to the magazine’s third installment of its exhaustive Christmas lists.

RARE COLLECTIBLES TODAY, toys popular at New York’s department stores in 1935 included, clockwise, from top left, Ideal’s Shirley Temple baby doll, fashioned after a photo of the young actress at age six months; the Dionne Quintuplets craze continued with the growing quints now standing up; a Skippy velocipede; Buck Rogers Rocket Skates. (theriaults.com/ebay.com/MidwestModern via X/grandoldtoys.com)

* * *

Some Light Holiday Verse

This poem comes courtesy of Phyllis McKinley (1905–1978), a children’s author and poet who lovingly satirized her suburban life, publishing in both popular as well as literary magazines, including The New Yorker.

* * *

From Our Advertisers

Mixed in with the advertisements for last-minute Christmas gifts were a slew of ads beckoning those with wealth and leisure time to head south for the winter…

…Forstmann Woolens switched gears, replacing their lovely seasonal ads (featuring fall and winter fashions) with the latest in tropical togs…

…Bermuda beckoned to those fashionable folks…

…as did the cruise lines heading south…

…even the makers of the La Salle (Cadillac) were feeling the warmth with this image of the sunny Southwest (this was the left panel of a two-page spread)…

…Packard could sweeten a woman’s dowry, according to this holiday message…

…it looked like Grandpa had a bit too much of the Old Schenley…

…according to this Heinz ad, modernism should play a “minor role” on Christmas, so for a real “olden time” treat, you could enjoy some of their figgy pudding…out of a can…

…and leave it to good old St. Nick to push his bagful of cigarrettes…

…Old Gold also employed Santa for this George Petty-illustrated ad…

…Mount Vernon continued its series of ads that idealized the days before Emancipation…

…the automatic toaster, still something of a novelty, was front and center at this holiday gathering…

…Stage magazine touted Broadway’s hit-filled season…

…back of the book, single-column ads featured delights of the stage and screen and an appeal for Pilgrim Rum aided by the talents of William Steig…

…Nikita Balieff’s La Chauve-Souris had seen better days when it showed up at the Continental Room…

…Balieff (1877–1936) was a Russian Armenian performer best known as the creator and master of ceremonies of the theatre group La Chauve-Souris. The company toured the U.S. six times from 1922–1929—including appearances on Broadway—presenting a variety of songs, dances and sketches based on Russian stories and legends. The troupe’s popularity even landed Balieff on the cover of Time (Oct. 17, 1927)…

The New Yorker’s Ralph Barton designed a curtain for the 1922 Chauve-Souris, and Alexander Woollcott heaped praise on the performances. However, his fellow Algonquin Round Table wit, Dorothy Parker, was not impressed: it has come to the stage where these poor nerves jangle nastily every time the local cognoscenti hail as incomparable art any bit of literature, play, writing or stagecraft that comes out of Russia. ….. what I don’t really grasp is just why “Russian” and “great” should have come to be looked upon as synonyms…

**Ralph Barton** painted this celebrity curtain in 1922 for *Chauve-Souris. (National Portrait Gallery)*

…back to our ads…B. Altman had a suggestion for the last-minute shopper…

…a Robert Day cartoon was employed to advertise the latest New Yorker Album…

…Thomas Eastwood opens up our cartoon section…

…Maurice Freed tossed in this spot drawing…

…Perry Barlow got into the rhythm with the Salvation Army…

…Gilbert Bundy looked for some holiday cheer at a neighborhood tavern…

…Helen Hokinson gave us a generous spirit…

…Walter Lippmann’s column raised eyebrows at George Price’s breakfast table…

…Price again, on an urgent request…

…Ned Hilton did some peeking…

…Fritz Wilkerson showed us a couple in need of a dog whisperer…

…Carl Rose unmasked an imposter…

…and James Thurber presented a medical challenge…

…and before we go, another word on our cover artist, William Crawford Galbraith, who also created posters for MGM from the 1920s to the 1940s and drew cartoons for Harper’s Bazaar, Redbook, Vanity Fair, the Saturday Evening Post, and Cosmopolitan. He took over the nationally syndicated “Side Glances” comic panel from George Clark in 1939 and worked on it for two decades.

At left, Galbraith’s poster for *Anna Christie*, 1930; right, a 1946 Side Glances comic panel. The caption reads: “No, I’m not curious – I just like to hear Mom on the phone because her voice sounds so mellow compared to when she’s talking to us around the house!” (IMDB/comicartfans.com)

Next Time: Picking on Pickford…

Two Nights At The Opera

Above: Left image, coloratura soprano Lily Pons with Henry Fonda in I Dream Too Much;at right, Kitty Carlisle and Groucho Marx in A Night at the Opera. (rottentomatoes.com/IMDB)

The title of this post refers to two items below, which you’ll discover as we make our way through the December 7, 1935 issue of The New Yorker.

December 7, 1935 cover by **Robert Day.** A longtime contributor to *The New Yorker,* Day (1900-1985) contributed hundreds of cartoons as well as eight covers from 1931 to 1976.

**Robert Day** (photo from *This Week* anthology via Ink Spill.)

Our first night at the opera comes courtesy of RKO Pictures, which presented French-American coloratura soprano Lily Pons as the star of the musical rom-com I Dream Too Much. Critic John Mosher found the film enjoyable, singling out Pons for praise while chastising the screenwriters for interrupting the lively farce with some “social research.”

DREAM DATE…Clockwise, from top left: **Henry Fonda** in his third screen appearance as **Lily Pons’** love interest in RKO’s *I Dream Too Much;* movie poster and publicity photo of Pons from the film; **Lucille Ball** (seen here with actress **Esther Dale**), appeared in a bit part as a gawky American teenage tourist in Paris (which was actually an RKO studio lot)…little did Ball know that one day she would own that RKO studio lot with husband Desi Arnaz as home to their Desilu Productions facility. *(IMDB/Wikipedia/TCM)*

Mosher also said farewell to Will Rogers in his final film, In Old Kentucky, which he found to be a “minor affair.” He also reviewed The Land of Promise, a film about Palestine that indicated to Mosher that “life there is highly successful for all present.”

THIS IS GOODBYE…**Will Rogers** in a scene with **Dorothy Wilson** in Rogers’ final film appearance, *In Old Kentucky. (rotten tomatoes.com)*

ORIGIN STORY…According to the Israel Film Archive, **Judah Leman’s** *The Land of Promise* “laid the cinematic groundwork for all subsequent Zionist propaganda films that would follow.” *(IMDB)*

* * *

E.B. White keeps us on the cinema trail with some thoughts on the film, Mutiny on the Bounty, namely a certain historical inaccuracy:

AHEAD OF HIS TIME…**E.B. White** noted that Roger Byam (**Franchot Tone**) would have to wait seventy years to learn about germ theory. In addition, the trailer for *Mutiny on the Bounty* (above) incorrectly referred to Tone’s character as an ensign, when in fact Tone’s role was as a midshipman. (Wikipedia)

* * *

They Had It First

The swastika was among the more popular designs incorporated into southwestern tribal art during the American tourist era (roughly 1890 to the 1930s). For the Navajo, the symbol represented humanity and life, and was used in healing rituals (it was also widely used by tribal peoples across Europe and Asia). Tourism promoters (called “hotel men” here) encouraged the symbol’s use until the 1930s, when it was increasingly associated with Germany’s Nazi Party. E.B. White explained:

TOURIST FAVORITE…Navajo blankets such as this example, made from 1864 to 1910, were popular with tourists. (Wichita State University)

* * *

Lois Long’s fashion column continued to be dominated by exhaustive Christmas shopping lists, in this issue stretching from pages 58 to 97…here are the first and last paragraphs of the column…

* * *

A Woolly Read

Perhaps your special someone was hoping for a thousand-page book under the tree; then look no further than The Woollcott Reader, a collection of stories, essays and other literary gems by New Yorker personality and former “Shouts and Murmurs” columnist Alexander Woollcott. In this excerpt, book critic Clifton Fadiman noted that a signed copy could be had for $7.50.

MY GIFT TO THE WORLD…**Alexander Woollcott** in 1939, as photographed by **Carl Van Vechten**, and the $3 brown cloth edition. (Wikipedia/Abebooks.com)

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From Our Advertisers

Colorful advertisements brightened the 149 pages of the Dec. 7 issue…we begin with this colorful array from Martex…

…the women’s specialty shop Jane Engel commissioned one of the best-known commercial photographers of the day, Ruzzie Green, to capture this glamorous image…

…Caron Paris offered up this cheerful bouquet…

…the makers of White Rock were enjoying the fruits of post-Prohibition days…

…the publishers of Stage magazine highlighted Beatrice Lillie’s Broadway revue, At Home Abroad…

…the Capitol Theatre took out this full-page advertisement to tout the opening of the latest Marx Brothers film…

…here is a close-up of the ad’s “testimonials”…

…and what awaited audiences…

…the Lord & Thomas advertising firm imitated the New Yorker style in this full-page promotion…

…now who wouldn’t want a Philco “Radiobar” for the holidays?…

…found this one on 1stdibs.com…pretty cool…

…or you could get a little something for every one of your smoking friends (likely everyone)…

…and you could keep those holiday memories alive with a swell Kodak movie camera…

…Schrafft’s must have been something like an upscale Cracker Barrel…

…house ads from The New Yorker included this Otto Soglow-illustrated full pager…

…the magazine also touted books and poems by its contributors…

…and the Seventh New Yorker Album…

…more James Thurber here in this spot drawing for the “Books” section…

…and in this cartoon filled with holiday hijinks…

…Ilonka Karasz gave us a hockey goalie to open the calendar listings…

…George Price drew up this Depression-themed drawing at the bottom of the “Goings On” section…

…a great spot drawing by Aaron Sopher (1905–1972), who is perhaps best known for his depictions of everyday life in Baltimore…it was oddly placed amidst the “Christmas Gifts” section…

…according to Michael Maslin’s Ink Spill, Sopher contributed just two cartoons to the magazine, in the issues of June 15, 1929, and December 6, 1930 (pictured below)…

…back to the Dec. 7 issue, and at the Velodrome with Robert Day…

…who also visited an ill-suited Santa…

…Helen Hokinson pondered gift ideas…

…Carl Rose illustrated an unspeakable act at a progressive school…

…Mary Petty gave us a straightforward diagnosis…

…Alain asked us to ponder the fate of one man…

…Whitney Darrow Jr eavesdropped on some child philosophy…

…and we close with Peter Arno, and a groom’s surprise at the altar…

Next Time: Marxist Mayhem…

Some Holiday Shopping

Above: Ilonka Karasz designed six children's rooms for a holiday display at Saks Fifth Avenue, featuring colorful rugs (left) and nursery screens (detail at right) among other items. In a House and Garden article, Karasz wrote: "Through new theories of design, production and distribution, [these rooms] have more vision than the manufacturer who still insists upon Little Bo-Peep." (MoMA.org/1stdibs.com)

In the Days of Yore, Christmas celebrations were largely adult- or family-centered affairs, that is until the Industrial Age enabled the mass production of toys and other goodies. Beginning in the 1870s, Macy’s began offering impressive toy displays, and even children in the hinterlands could get in on the action with a Sears catalog, the company raising its game in 1933 with the introduction its Wish Book.

November 30, 1935 cover by **Alice Harvey**. From 1925 to 1943, Harvey (1894–1983) contributed three covers and more than 160 drawings to *The New Yorker.* I highly recommend **Liza Donnelly’s** *Very Funny Ladies* for more about Harvey and other women cartoonists.

**Alice Harvey** came to New York from Chicago with her friend **Helen Hokinson** in the early 1920s, finding early success submitting to *Life, Judge* and other publications before she and Hokinson joined the fledgling New Yorker in 1925. (Photo from Michael Maslin’s essential *Ink Spill*).

The New Yorker was no exception when it came to toy shopping, featuring exhaustive lists of toys, games and other items for children available at the city’s major retailers.

BEFORE ONLINE SHOPPING…A crowd of holiday shoppers outside New York’s Macy’s department store, 1939. (Vintage.es)

These lists were in the back of the book, following Lois Long’s “On and Off the Avenue” fashion column. Here are some excerpts:

KEEP THE KIDDOS BUSY…Clockwise, from top left: Bloomingdale’s offered an Optics Set, while Macy’s featured **Lester Gaba’s** soap sculptures (including Popeye, Olive Oyl and Wimpy), 8mm Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony cartoons, and “Jack & Jill” portable children’s record players. (scrappyland.com/acghs.org/etsy.com/worthpoint.com)

Of course it wouldn’t be Christmas in New York without F.A.O. Schwarz, and if you shopped at Saks you could be dazzled by children’s rooms designed by Ilonka Karasz.

GIFTS FOR THE MODERN KID…At F.A.O. Schwarz you could find Foxblox and Buck Rogers costumes, while Saks featured children’s rooms and furnishings designed by **Ilonka Karasz**, including a colorful nursery screen. (Pinterest/invaluable.com/worthpoint.com/cooperhewitt.org/reddit.com)

* * *

Pouting Plutocrat

In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White took issue with J.P. Morgan’s gripes about taxation while grouse hunting in Scotland.

* * *

A City Resurrected

Founded in 1632, Williamsburg, Virginia played an important role in colonial and revolutionary America, but by the 20th century it had become a quiet and rather neglected little town. Then in 1924 the town’s rector, Rev. W.A.R. Goodwin—bolstered by the successful restoration of his parish church—approached oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller Jr. for funds to restore the entire colonial capital. As John Peale Bishop noted in these excerpts from “Onward & Upward With The Arts,” the project left some residents scratching their heads.

MY VISION, YOUR MONEY…The **Rev. W.A.R. Goodwin** (left), rector of Bruton Parish Church, shared his vision for Williamsburg with philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr; top photo, paved streets and modern utility lines were removed as part of the restoration, circa 1930; bottom photo, pre-restoration photo of Duke of Gloucester Street—all businesses located on Market Square, including these, were demolished during the restoration. (colonialwilliamsburg.org)

RENEWED OR REMOVED…Clockwise, from top left, the 18th-century John Crump House was in a sad state in this 1895 photograph; the Crump House after its 1941-42 restoration; workers examine the old foundation walls of the Governor’s Palace; Williamsburg High School was demolished to make way for the Governor’s Palace reconstruction, seen in the background.(yourhistorichouse.com/colonialwilliamsburg.org)

* * *

At the Movies

John Mosher had high praise for King Vidor’s Civil War romance, So Red the Rose. Although it did not have the epic sweep (or epic length) of 1939’s Gone With The Wind, Mosher and other critics praised the film’s human qualities. It did not, however, do well at the box office.

FRANKLY, MY DEAR…a line that would have to wait for another Civil War romance…clockwise, from top left: **Randolph Scott** and **Margaret Sullavan** play kissing cousins in *So Red the Rose*; Mosher singled out **Walter Connolly** for his performance as the family patriarch; child star **Dickie Moore** and Sullavan in a scene from the film. (IMDB/Letterboxd.com)

HIDDEN TALENTS…In two other films, Mosher found the performances of the lead actors to either be upstaged or muffled in period costume. Top, **Paul Cavanagh, Miriam Hopkins,** and Joel McCrea in *Splendor.* Below, **James Cagney** and **Margaret Lindsay** in *Frisco Kid.* (IMDB/TCM)

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From Our Advertisers

We start with this advertisement from The Limited Editions Club, founded in New York by George Macy in 1929. The 29-year-old Macy, determined to make his living from books, focused on publishing beautifully illustrated classic titles in limited quantities, available to subscription-paying members. Illustrators of the editions have included Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Reginald Marsh, Norman Rockwell and many other noted artists. The ad below includes an excerpt from a Sinclair Lewis essay that extolled the virtues of investing in fine books.

Above, frontispiece from The Limited Editions Club’s 1930 publication of **Thomas De Quincey’s** *Confessions of an English Opium-Eater,* illustrated by **Zhenya Gay**. (librarything.com)

…as the holidays grew near the automobile ads grew more luxurious…this Cadillac spot featured an illustration of posh tots driven by their chauffeur…

…and from Packard, an automobile designed with the assumption that you already had a liveried driver…

…colorful ads also came our way from Firestone…

…and Goodyear…these two companies were the largest suppliers of automotive tires in North America for more than 75 years…

…World Peaceways continued their series of provocative anti-war advertisements…

…Kent Ale was produced by Krueger Brewing Company, one of the first breweries to use cans that were coated with some substance referred to as “Keglined”…

…a detail from an Abercrombie & Fitch advertisement, which suggested “Nudist Glassware” as a unique gift idea for the holidays…

…while The New Yorker suggested a subscription (or three) as a gift that keeps on giving…curiously, the magazine used the talents of artist Lowell Leroy Balcom (1887-1938) to render this woodcut illustration of Eustace Tilley…

…James Thurber kicked off our cartoons with a familiar theme…

…and Victor de Pauw offered up this Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade image to calendar section…

…what de Pauw illustrated…

To promote his *Silly Symphonies* animated short, “The Three Little Pigs”, **Walt Disney** designed a balloon based on Practical Pig (the one with the brick house). The balloon was featured in the 1934 and 1935 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parades. (YouTube)

…William Steig stepped in for Al Frueh in providing the illustration for the “Theatre” section…

…and Steig again…

…Robert Day gave us an airhead at a balloon factory…

…Day again, with some evicted ghosts…

…Helen Hokinson went plant shopping…

…and found a surprise in the kitchen…

…Alan Dunn offered a challenge to the Salvation Army…

…Alain received a special layout for this cartoon…

…which was arranged thusly…

…Gluyas Williams was back with his look at club life…

…and we close with Rea Irvin, and the science behind a holiday feast…

…and before we go, our cover artist, Alice Harvey, was publishing New Yorker-style cartoons in Life magazine at least three years before the New Yorker got off the ground. Here is an example of her early work, published 103 years ago on December 28, 1922:

Next Time: Two Nights at the Opera…

Jimmy Comes Home

Above: Former New York Mayor Jimmy Walker and wife Betty Compton, aboard the S.S. Manhattan in 1935. (New York Daily News Archive)

The Roaring Twenties and Jimmy Walker seemed made for each other. A dandy with a taste for fine clothes, late-night parties, and Broadway showgirls, the 97th mayor of New York was a darling of the media…until the market crashed; as nest eggs evaporated along with jobs, folks quickly lost their taste for such frivolity.

November 9, 1935 cover by Daniel “Alain” Brustlein. This was the first of nine covers Brustlein created for the magazine. An Alsatian-born American artist, cartoonist, illustrator, and author of children’s books, Brustlein (1904–1996) contributed to *The New Yorker* under the pen name “Alain” from the 1930s through the 1950s.

**Daniel “Alain” Brustlein**, in an undated photo. During the height of Abstract Expressionism Brustlein became a reputable painter, exhibiting his work in New York and Paris. *(derfner.org)*

The fall of 1935 marked three years since Walker had left office, and for nearly two of those years the city had been governed by the reformist Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. New Yorkers, it seemed, were ready for a dose of Jimmy when he returned from his European exile, hailed by a throng of media and well-wishers.

Writing for Airmail, longtime New York journalist Sam Roberts observes that the city loved Walker, “a charming hellion, a witty, self-effacing, glib humanist, far more flawed, too, and compassionate than pictured previously, a man elevated and condemned by his own character, created and ultimately consumed by his times. He conjures up the anti-Trump—a dodgy philanderer who governed by making people feel good rather than angry.”

WHERE’S THE PARTY?…Former Mayor **Jimmy Walker** and his wife, **Betty Compton,** returned to New York in the fall of 1935 amid tremendous fanfare. *The New Yorker’s* **Morris Markey** noted that at least 160 media representatives were on hand for the couple’s arrival. *(YouTube)*

Walker (1881-1946) fled to Europe in November 1932 amid a bribery scandal that had prompted his resignation. Accompanied by Ziegfeld Follies singer Betty Compton (1906–1944)—whom he would marry in Cannes the following April—they would bounce around the continent until Walker determined that the danger of criminal prosecution had passed.

In his “A Reporter at Large” column, Morris Markey wrote about the media’s reception of the exiled mayor, “an army of reporters and photographers, sound engineers and announcers and contact men”…all assembled to inform the world of the return of a “discredited politician.”

HE GOT AROUND…During his time in office from 1926 to 1932, Mayor Jimmy Walker never seemed to miss a moment in the spotlight. Clockwise, from top left, Walker presided over the first shot in the city’s annual marble tournament on June 3, 1928; with actress **Colleen Moore** at the 1928 premiere of her latest film, *Lilac Time;* testifying on bribery charges before the investigative committee of Judge Samuel Seabury, 1932; with Betty Compton following their 1933 wedding in Cannes. (*New York Times/konreioldnewyork.blogspot.com/villagepreservation.org)*

Markey continued to convey his astonishment at “the monstrous complexity, the fabulous opulence, of the machinery put in motion to inform the universe of Mr. Walker’s arrival upon his native shore.” This included a massive cocktail party—hosted by The United States Lines—for more than two hundred press representatives and other officials.

After all the commotion, Walker would settle into a job as head of Majestic Records, adopt two children with Compton, and host his own radio series on WHN, Jimmy Walker’s Opportunity Hour.

Compton would divorce Walker in 1941 and remarry. Becoming ill after the birth of a son, she would die at age 38 in 1944. Walker would die two years later at age 65 of a brain hemorrhage.

CALLING ON THE ROOSEVELTS…**Jimmy Walker** and Betty Compton at the White House in 1937. It was pressure from FDR that led to Walker’s resignation in 1932. (Wikipedia)

* * *

High-flying Hooplah

While New Yorkers were going gaga over Walker, folks in the Bay Area were all atwitter over the first air-mail flight across the Pacific, loading a Pan Am Clipper to the gills with all manner of collectables. E.B. White noted:

BELLYFUL…On Nov. 22, 1935, Pan American Airways made aviation history as the China Clipper lifted off from Alameda, beginning the world’s first trans-Pacific airmail service. Captained by Edwin Musick and crewed by famed navigator **Fred Noonan**, the Martin M-130 opened a new era of long-distance flight across the Pacific. Noonan, who charted many commercial routes across the Pacific, would go missing along with **Amelia Earhart** during their ill-fated flight in July 1937. (Library of Congress)

* * *

Wise Men From the East

“The Talk of the Town” visited with Soviet satirists Ilya Ilf (1897–1937) and Evgeny Petrov (1903–1942), who were in New York preparing for a ten-week road trip to California and back. On assignment as special correspondents for the newspaper Pravda, they later published a series of illustrated articles, “American Photographs,” as well as a book titled Single-Storied America (the summer 2004 issue of Cabinet Magazine features an account of their journey as well as a number of their photographs).

AMERICA WAS A GAS…Soviet satirists **Ilya Ilf** (left) and Yevgeni Petrov check out New York before heading into the American heartland on a ten-week road trip, a highlight being the countless full-service gas stations they encountered along the way. After seeing skyscrapers and mountains and other wonders, the pair agreed that the most enduring image was the one at right: “an intersection of two roads and a gasoline station against a (back)ground of wires and advertising signs.” Sadly, Ilf died two years later from tuberculosis; Petrov died in a plane crash in 1942 while working as a war correspondent. (Aleksandra Ilf archive/Cabinet Magazine)

* * *

A Jumbo Career

Wallace Beery (1885–1949) got his start in the comedy silents of the 1910s and became a star before the sound era made him an even bigger one; by 1932 he was the world’s highest-paid actor. Alva Johnston’s profile (titled “Jumbo”) took a look at Beery’s life and career (illustration by Al Frueh). Excerpts:

COURTING AND SPARKING…Sid Miller (**Wallace Beery**) spikes the lemonade as he woos Lily Davis (**Aline MacMahon**) in a scene from the 1935 film, *Ah Wilderness! (letterboxd.com)*

* * *

A View and Corbu

Art and design critic Lewis Mumford was well-known for his hypercritical eye, but occasionally he could be moved to rhapsodize, in this case about the opening of Fort Tryon Park, and particularly about the view it afforded visitors. He reserved his criticism for one of the latest works by Le Corbusier (aka Charles-Édouard Jeanneret), on exhibit at MoMA.

MAGNIFICENT is the word **Lewis Mumford** used to describe the view from Fort Tryon Park. This scene is taken from Linden Terrace to the west: a barge on the Hudson River and the Hudson Palisades beyond, with the Englewood Cliffs campus of Saint Peter’s University on the top. *(Wikipedia)*

IRRATIONAL?…Mumford was not pleased with **Le Corbusier’s** latest work, *Le Petite Maison de Weekend (Villa Henfel),* which was featured on the cover of the MoMA exhibition catalogue (upper left). Mumford saw the design as a pathetic escape from the architect’s renown rationalism. *(MoMA/Fondation Le Corbusier)*

* * *

At the Movies

It was a mixed bag at the movies for critic John Mosher, who was delighted by a Soviet take on Gulliver’s Travels, rendered with puppets engaged in a proletarian struggle…

KOMRADE GULLIVER…The Soviet stop motion-animated fantasy film, *The New Gulliver,* was a communist re-telling of Jonathan Swift’s 1726 novel. The film depicted Lilliput suffering under capitalist inequality and exploitation, with Gulliver enabling a proletarian revolution against the Lilliputian monarchy. (revolutionsnewstand.com)

…but Mosher was less than delighted with the latest from Hollywood, including a sedate The Three Musketeers, a “conventional” remake of D.W. Grifffith’s 1920 melodrama Way Down East, and the romcom Hands Across the Table, which the Times called “uproariously funny” but Mosher deemed barely worth a chuckle.

OUTCLASSED BY PUPPETS…**John Mosher** found the latest from Hollywood underwhelming. Clockwise, from top, **Onslow Stevens, Moroni Olsen, and Paul Lukas** in *The Three Musketeers*; **Rochelle Hudson** and **Henry Fonda** in Way Down East; **Fred MacMurray** and **Carole Lombard** in *Hands Across the Table. (mabumbe.com/zeusdvds.com/Wikipedia)*

* * *

From Our Advertisers

The Dorothy Gray salons didn’t mince words when it came to a woman’s beauty regimen…without their help, claimed this ad, the poor “Mrs. Madison” would be “frankly plain,” with a face too wide and eyes and mouth too small…

…notable in ads for men’s and women’s clothes were the presence of cigarettes…all three of the men in this spot are having a smoke in their smart attire…

…White Rock gave their logo-bearer Psyche a rest in 1935 with a variety of ads including this one…

…the makers of Bisquit assumed their customers could read the French dialogue, or at least pretend to…

…when we (of a certain age) think of Marlboro we think of the rugged Marlboro Man, but in 1935 the brand was exclusively marketed to women…

…and who knows what Old Gold’s target was here…definitely women smokers, who were the growth market, but men would take notice of the George Petty pin-up…

…the makers of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, who endured Prohibition by offering products like Pabst-ett cheese spread, were ready to grab a big market share after Repeal…