Above: James Thurber with his beloved Christabel, circa 1950s, and Mary Pickford enjoying some puppy love, circa 1920. (The Thurber Estate/Pinterest)
James Thurber and silent film star Mary Pickford had one thing in common; they loved their dogs.
September 21, 1935 cover by Ilonka Karasz. Antiques magazine (March 8, 2018) described Karasz’s covers as “leafy modernism,” evolving from “dynamic modern depictions of urban life to enchanting, peaceful images of leisure activities…recording details like family picnics or the insects and flowers in her garden.” Many depict scenes around Brewster, New York, where she lived with husband, Willem Nyland, a Dutch-American chemist and pianist. Karasz contributed 186 covers across six decades, beginning with her first on April 4, 1925.
From that point of agreement, however, these contemporaries (Pickford was born in 1892; Thurber in 1894) diverged. Consider Thurber’s response (excerpted) to Pickford’s spiritual musings in a Liberty magazine article titled “Why Die?”
…Thurber contributed this spot drawing for his rebuttal…
ONE OF A KIND…James Thurber immortalized his Airdale, Muggs, in a 1933 story, “The Dog that Bit People.” Muggs, who died in 1928, has his own monument in Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus, Ohio, installed in 2021. The inscription, taken from Thurber’s short story, reads, “Nobody knew exactly what was the matter with him.” (https://www.dispatch.com/Facebook)AMERICA’S SWEETHEART was well-known as animal lover. At left, Mary Pickford in 1916; at right, with husband Douglas Fairbanks at their mansion, Pickfair, in the 1920s. (Wikipedia/Pinterest)SECOND LIFE…Mary Pickford gave up acting in 1933 to pursue her writing career. In 1934 she penned the tract, Why Not Try God?, followed in 1935 by another spiritual bestseller, My Rendezvous with Life. That same year she also published a novel, The Demi-Widow. From left, cover of Liberty magazine with her essay, “Why Die?,” Aug. 18, 1935; Pickford posing with copies of The Demi-Widow, ca. 1935. Kirkus Reviews (Aug. 1, 1935) dubbed The Demi-Widow “Good hammock reading for hot days — light and not too dreadful froth…” (picclick.com.au/digitalcollections.oscars.org/Goodreads)
* * *
Rumble Humbled
In his “Notes and Comment” E.B. White observed the absurdity of a grown man riding alone in a rumble seat. These seats were phased out by 1939 in American autos (the British, who called them “dickies,” abandoned them a decade later). Rumble seats were unsafe, to be sure, but it was also unpleasant to sit near the exhaust pipe and collect the dust, grit and bugs that would merrily dance around one’s eyes, nose and mouth.
BONE RATTLER…Detail from a photo of man riding in a rumble seat, 1935. (General Photographic Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
A Red By Any Other Name
White also considered the intentions behind a new book by Robert Forsythe, Redder Than a Rose. Kyle Crichton (1896-1960) used the Forsythe nom de plume whenever he wrote for communist publications such as the Daily Worker. A former coal miner and steel worker, Crichton was also a writer and editor for Collier’s magazine.
* * *
Fight Night
In anticipation of the boxing match between Joe Louis and Max Baer, The New Yorker featured a Peggy Bacon portrait of Louis at the bottom of its events section, which also contained a listing under “Sports” of the upcoming fight at Yankee Stadium. The caption below the Louis portrait was a quote attributed to Bacon: An out-size in juveniles, simple, unruffled, a shade sullen, practically expressionless, hoarding his energies with the inarticulate dignity and pride of some monster vegetable.–P.B.
a better view of Peggy Bacon’s portrait of Joe Louis…
(Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery)
* * *
At the Movies
Well, the fun couldn’t last forever, as critic John Mosher discovered with the latest batch of films to roll out of Tinseltown. Here he tried to make sense of The Big Broadcast of 1936, and gave a closing nod to Dorothy Parker.
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT…Theatre card promoting the appearances of Gracie Allen and George Burns in The Big Broadcast of 1936. These films were essentially long promo pieces for Paramount’s stable of stars. (IMDB)
Mosher also took in The Goose and the Gander, featuring Kay Francis, one of Warner Brothers’ biggest stars and one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors. Known for her roles as a long-suffering heroine and her lavish wardrobes, Mosher found Francis ill-suited to a comedic role.
NEEDED A BIT MORE GOOSE…Kay Francis and George Brent in The Goose and the Gander. (IMDB)
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From Our Advertisers
The 1920s and 30s saw a proliferation of all sorts of electric gadgets, one of them being the toaster, here serving as a centerpiece for a cocktail party…
…before 1935 beer cans were not feasible because they couldn’t withstand the internal pressure of a carbonated liquid…it was the American Can Company (not Continental) that solved the problem by developing an internally-lined can that could contain the pressure…the lining also prevented the beer from tasting metallic…
…R.J. Reynolds continued to build its tobacco empire by lining up scads of famous athletes to endorse the health benefits of their Camel cigarettes…
… Liggett & Myers, who in 1926 launched their “Blow some my way” advertising campaign to target women smokers, continued to employ images of young lovers in romantic settings to push their Chesterfields…
…for reference, a Chesterfield ad from 1931…
…on to our cartoons, we start with this spot from Perry Barlow…
…Alain looked in on a tender moment between father and son…
…Charles Addams found a glitch on the assembly line…
…Peter Arno drew up two old toffs looking for some adventure…
…Robert Day offered up the latest twist in the culinary arts…
…and we close with Helen Hokinson, who was just passing the time…
Above: Will Rogers (with hat) visits with pilot Wiley Post near Fairbanks, Alaska, hours before their fatal crash on August 15, 1935. (okhistory.org)
It would be a challenge to find a place for a multi-talented, mega-star like Will Rogers in today’s over-saturated and segmented media landscape—he was a trick roper, vaudevillian, social commentator, comedian, journalist, author, and radio and film celebrity. His early fame on the vaudeville circuit, including the Ziegfeld Follies, would spark a film career in 1918 (he would appear in 71 films), and a 1922 town hall speech would lead to a nationally syndicated newspaper column. When radio became a nationwide phenomenon his voice could heard coast-to-coast. He was seemingly everywhere.
August 31, 1935 cover by Harry Brown. Brown illustrated eighteen covers for The New Yorker.
Rogers (1879-1935) was also a big promoter of aviation, and he gave his audiences many entertaining accounts of his world travels. In the summer of 1935 he announced plans to join famed aviator Wiley Post (1898-1935) on a flight to Alaska and beyond. It appeared to be routine, making the trip’s tragic ending all the more poignant.
Although E.B. White often seemed stuck in the past—he preferred Model Ts and rattily omnibuses to more more modern conveyances—he was a flying enthusiast, never missing a chance to hop aboard an airplane and marvel at the scene far below. However, when tragedy struck, White would become circumspect. When Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne’s Fokker Trimotor crashed into a Kansas wheatfield, White expressed doubts about air safety and pondered “safer” alternatives such as autogiros (a kind of early helicopter that wasn’t so safe or practical). Such doubts returned in his “Notes and Comment” for August 31, 1935:
The fated aircraft, a Lockheed Orion, was heavily modified by Post into a floatplane; one wing was even salvaged from a wrecked Explorer (an older Lockheed model). The pontoon floats he attached were also designed for a larger aircraft, which made the nose-heavy Orion even more unwieldy.
BUILT FOR SPEED…A Lockheed Model 9 Orion parked at Boeing Field, Seattle, in May 1935. With 200-mph speed, the single-engine passenger aircraft (5 to 6 passengers) was faster than any American military aircraft of the time. It was Lockheed’s last aircraft to use wood construction in the frame, which was lightweight but not designed for longevity on major airlines. (James Borden Photography Collection)TIGHT QUARTERS….Interior view of a Lockheed Orion 9. No doubt much of the passenger space was loaded with gear for the trip to Alaska. (James Borden Photography Collection)
When Post and Rogers arrived in Juneau, local bush pilots doubtfully regarded the Orion and asked Rogers about the flight plan. “Wiley and I are like a couple of country boys in an old Ford—don’t know where we’re going and don’t care,” he said. They were actually headed to Point Barrow, and from there planned to hop over to Siberia.
After stopping in Fairbanks they set off for Point Barrow in bad weather. Lost in the murk, they landed short of their destination in the shallow waters of Walakpa Lagoon, fifteen or so miles southwest of Point Barrow. Post and Rogers then took off—despite warnings from locals about the conditions. But the weather wasn’t the worst problem: Post had a bad habit of taking to the air in an abrupt, steep climb, which likely caused the engine to stall. Powerless, the ungainly aircraft plunged into the lagoon and landed on its top. Post and Rogers were killed instantly.
JUST A COUPLE OF COUNTRY BOYS…Top photo, Will Rogers on the wing of the Lockheed floatplane belonging to famed aviation pioneer Wiley Post, hours before their fatal crash on August 15, 1935. Below photo, inverted wreckage of the float plane in Walakpa Lagoon. (Wikipedia/vintageaviationnews.com)
Rather than eulogize the fallen Rogers, “The Talk of Town” offered up an anecdote about his rise as a newspaper columnist, which was sparked by a backhanded endorsement speech:
A HUMAN FACE…Top left, Will Rogers backstage with the 1924 Ziegfeld Follies cast. At right, Rogers made his film debut in the now lost silent film Laughing Bill Hyde (1918) with co-star Anna Lehr. The magazine ad at right quoted producer Rex Beach, who called Rogers “the most human player who ever faced a camera.” (Will Rogers Memorial Museum/Wikipedia/IMDB)FINAL CURTAIN…Top photo, Will Rogers with co-star Anne Shirley in Steamboat Round the Bend. Rogers wrapped filming just before heading to Alaska. The film was released posthumously on September 6,1935. Bottom image is a detail from a full-page ad in the October 1935 issue of Picture Play Magazine. Oddly, the ad makes no mention of Rogers’ death, proclaiming that “Will blazes a new path in his screen career as he scores his greatest triumph!” (theretrorocket.blogspot.com/IMDB)
* * *
Putting it Mildly
In “Onward & Upward With the Arts,” H.L. Mencken continued to explore the quirks of American language, this time looking at the pervasive (and evasive) use of euphemisms by “professional uplifters.” Excerpts:
INTELLIGENCE TEST was suggested by “professional uplifters” as a polite replacement for giving someone “The Third Degree.” Image is from the 1941 noir thriller I Wake Up Screaming, starring Victor Mature, pictured here getting his “intelligence test.” (cinematography.com)
* * *
At the Movies
We join film critic John Mosher to take a look at the latest epic from Cecil B. DeMille,The Crusades, which to Mosher’s disappointment was a rather mild epic, with little to astonish. However, our critic did find something to admire in a more recent historical drama, Diamond Jim.
ANTISEPTIC EPIC?…Clockwise, from top left, movie poster for The Crusades offered up an image one typically does not associate with religious warfare, but you had to bring ’em in somehow; Henry Wilcoxon and Ian Keith in a scene from the film; co-stars Loretta Young as Berengaria of Navarre and Wilcoxon as Richard the Lionheart; the film also featured Joseph Schildkraut as Conrad of Montferrat and Katherine DeMille as Princess Alice of France (bottom left). A talented actress, Katherine reportedly landed the role as a Christmas gift from her adoptive father, Cecil B. DeMille. (cecilbdemille.com)HEY BIG SPENDER…At right, Edward Arnold in the title role (here with Eric Blore) in Diamond Jim. At left, Cesar Romero moves in on Diamond Jim’s love interest, portrayed by Jean Arthur. (Rotten Tomatoes/IMDB)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
We begin with this advertisement from Lord & Taylor, featuring the latest fall fashions for young women heading to college…notable here is the inclusion of Mickey Mouse in the illustration…the animated rodent was in vogue as much the latest fashions…
…John Hanrahan, whose advertising savvy helped guide The New Yorker through its lean early years, was publisher of the richly designed Stage magazine, promoted here on the inside front cover…
…soft drink giant Coca-Cola recalled its soda fountain origins in this ad that promoted its 6.5-ounce bottled product…
…on the inside back cover Goodyear continued its series of perilous ads illustrating the dangers of tire blowouts (but not the obvious hazard of children riding untethered in a rumble seat, where they doubtless inhaled all manner of noxious fumes)…
…the majority of back covers in 1935 featured tobacco companies…here we learn that Lucky Strikes were more than cigarette; they were your “best friend”…
…on to our cartoonists, we start with this “Profile” illustration by William Steig…the profile was a two-parter featuring a clever summons server…
…Adolph Dehn adorned the “Goings On” section with this illustration…
…unsigned, but I’m pretty sure this is H.O. Hofman…
…here we get a lift from Robert Day…
…Al Frueh conjured up a nightmare of leaping sheep…
…Helen Hokinson gave us some famous footwear…
…Hokinson again, with Romulus and Remus providing a convenient metaphor…
…Kemp Starrett was bogged down in the rules of a game…
…George Price discovered a budding talent…
…Richard Decker took to the back roads…(reminds me of a scene from The Long, Long Trailerwith Lucy and Desi)…
…James Thurber raised a glass to a dry do-gooder…
…Alan Dunn brought an unexpected windfall to Westchester…
…and to close we Dunn again, and a bit of flattery…
City life is a noisy life, especially in places like Manhattan, one of the most densely populated places in the world.
August 24, 1935 cover by Rea Irvin.
In his “Notes and Comment” column, E.B. White described the occasional “intestinal stoppage” of traffic outside The New Yorker’s offices at West 45th Street, an entire block “laden with undischarged vehicles, the pangs of congestion increasing till every horn is going—a united, delirious scream of hate, every decibel charged with a tiny drop of poison.”
ABOVE THE FRAY…E.B. White with his pet dachshund Minnie at the West 45th Street offices of The New Yorker. (New York Times)AND DON’T CALL ME SHIRLEY…New York City’s Commissioner of Health, Shirley Wynne (right), created a Noise Abatement Commission in 1929. After eight months of research the Commission published City Noise, which included recommendations for a quieter city. (Wikipedia/trevianbooks.com)
The city began addressing the problem in 1929, when New York City’s Commissioner of Health, Shirley Wynne (1882-1942), created a Noise Abatement Commission, likely the first such commission in the U.S. The Commission cited the “mounting roar and crash of traffic, building, manufacture and sundry other noises which have accompanied the growth of the city.” After eight months of research the Commission published City Noise, which included recommendations for a quieter city.
URBAN CHORUS…A chart featured in City Noise depicted some of sources of noise in New York City.PIPE DOWN!…Clockwise, from top left: The Noise Abatement Commission took to the streets with a municipal acoustics-measuring truck in 1930; cartoon in the New York Herald Tribune illustrated the challenge ahead; Commission officials conducting noise tests in Times Square, circa 1930; poster circa 1936 promoted Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s anti-noise drives. A 1936 noise code put sound restrictions on everything from radios to the “prolonged and unreasonable blowing of a horn.” A first offense cost $1; the second, if committed within the next year, $2. (hii-mag.com/Bloomberg.com/NYTimes.com)
Not one to leave a stone unturned, White also added this note about the noisy doors on Pullman train car toilets…
Here are the Otto Soglow spot drawings that accompanied the “Talk” piece:
Final note: A colorful exploration of sound can be found on the One Thousand Birds site,Hii Magazine.Check it out!
* * *
Puff Pushers
Tobacco companies like Philip Morris have long been savvy in finding ways to expand their market, including taking their product directly to the consumer, as “The Talk of the Town” explained in this entry:
SMOKE FREE…Sample pack of Philip Morris cigarettes, circa 1930s. (Ebay)
* * *
A Rare Glimpse
Before Roger Angell started writing about baseball in 1962, there wasn’t a whole lot written about the sport in the pages of The New Yorker. In the magazine’s early years, the game was probably perceived as too low-brow, while other athletic pursuits such as golf, tennis, and polo were more in line with the desired or perceived readership. Early contributors such as Ring Lardner had also soured on the sport, thanks to the Black Sox Scandal of 1919 and the greed of team owners. So here is a rare look at baseball, and Yankee coach Joe McCarthy (1887-1978), in “The Talk of the Town.” Excerpts:
BRONX BOMBERS…Coach Joe McCarthy (center) with sluggers Lou Gehrig, left, and Babe Ruth during the 1932 World Series. The first manager to win pennants in both the National and American leagues, McCarthy’s teams would win a total nine league pennants and seven World Series championships. (CARLI Digital Collections)
* * *
Music Under the Stars
The monumental Lewisohn Stadium was a popular classical music venue on the City College of New York campus until its unfortunate demolition in 1973. According to BBC Music Magazine, “for nearly half a century, Lewisohn Stadium gave people from all walks of life the chance to hear performances by the likes of violinist Fritz Kreisler, soprano Leontyne Price and clarinettist Benny Goodman for as little as 25 cents admission. The New Yorker paid a visit during eighteenth season of the Stadium Concerts. Excerpts:
CLASSICAL MASSES…At left, cover of the 1935 Stadium Concerts Review; at right, Andre Kostelanetz conducts before a crowd of thousands at Lewisohn Stadium in 1939. The stadium was demolished in 1973 to make way for City College of New York’s North Academic Center. SeeThe New York Philharmonic Archive for the complete digital version of the 1935 Stadium Concerts Review. (NY Philharmonic Archive/PressReader.com)
* * *
At the Movies
Film critic John Mosher continued to search in vain for a film he could endorse, but he came away empty-handed after screening a star-studded screen adaptation of Jack London’s novel The Call of the Wild. Star power also fell short for Mosher in the screen version of Booth Tarkington’sAlice Adams.
SMALL TALK…The film adaption of Booth Tarkington’sAlice Adams seemed to have all of the right elements in place, including director George Stevens and stars Katharine Hepburn and Fred MacMurray (left), but critic John Mosher found it somewhat average. In a 1991 retrospective review, however, The New Yorker’sPauline Kael deemed the romantic comedy “a classic” and stated that “Hepburn gives one of her two or three finest performances.” At right, the character of Alice Adams was first portrayed on the silver screen by Florence Vidor in a 1923 silent film. (Toronto Film Society/Wikipedia)THE BIG CHILL…Clockwise, from top left, Clark Gable and Loretta Young brave the Yukon wilds (actually Washington State) in The Call of the Wild; Jack Oakie provided comic relief as Gable’s sidekick Shorty Hoolihan; Young watches the filming of a scene on location at Mt. Baker National Forest; Gable shoots a scene with the St. Bernard Buck. (IMDB/Wikimedia)CLARK’S BEST FRIEND…Dog lover Clark Gable became very close with Buck during the filming of The Call of the Wild. Buck appeared in seven more films from 1935 to 1940, even receiving star billing as “Buck the Wonder Dog.” (Facebook/Pinterest)
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From Our Advertisers
Colorful ads returned to the August 24 issue, featuring familiar sponsors who could afford full-page, full-color spots, namely tobacco and liquor producers…Camel was back with their athletic theme, however they might have chosen someone other than Bill Tilden, who looked perfectly ancient…
…Old Gold returned with another George Petty-illustrated ad…
…Courvoisier cognac took the back page spot…
…Powers Reproduction showed off their color printing expertise…I wonder if that is a Lucky she is smoking…
…because I believe she is the same woman who appeared in this ad from the July 27 issue:
…back to August 24, where we were encouraged to enjoy a Johnny Walker highball to stave off the late summer heat…
…the distinctive crown of Hotel Windemere on the Upper West Side was an eye-catcher even in this one-column ad from the back of the book…photo at right from around the time it was completed, 1927…
…on to our cartoonists, an unexpected profile caricature by William Steig (this two-part profile featured process-server Harry Grossman)…
…interesting spot drawings by George Shellhase (top) and Leonard Dove (bottom right), and at left, two by Christina Malman…
…Malman (1912-1959) produced at least two-dozen covers for The New Yorker between 1937 and 1956, including this gem from 1941:
…some baby names have real meaning, according to Alan Dunn…
…Peter Arno offered caution about dancing with a prickly Colonel…
…Fritz Wilkinson answered one cat call high above the city…
…Franz Shubert met Busby Berkeley, via Carl Rose…
…George Price persisted in threading a needle…
…Robert Day gave us a pacifist of sorts in a game of tug-of-war…
…Burma Shave jingles seemed to be everywhere in the 1930s, per Alain…
…An example of replica Burma Shave signs along Route 66:
(roadsideamerica.com)
…some parenting tips came our way via Helen Hokinson…
The 1935 film She was one of those old movies you’d see on television during the 1970s when there were only three or four channels (plus UHF) and local stations would tap into the “B” movie vault to fill airtime. One of those films was She.
August 3, 1935 cover by Helen Hokinson.
Film critic John Mosher felt a bit sorry for Helen Gahagan, who portrayed “She Who Must Be Obeyed” (aka “She”)—an immortal who ruled an exotic, lost civilization near the Arctic Circle. The challenge for Gahagan was to seem imperious before her co-stars Randolph Scott and Helen Mack, who seemed more suited to the high school hijinks of an Andy Hardy picture. The film was a pretty standard adventure tale, in the mold of producer Marian C. Cooper’s 1933 King Kong, with two explorers falling in love during a perilous journey.
ARCHETYPE…At left, Helen Gahagan as “She” (Who Must Be Obeyed). Her costume possibly inspired the Evil Queen in Disney’s 1937 animated Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. At right, lobby card that promoted the film. (Scifist.net/Reddit)WHEN YOU PLAY WITH FIRE…She Who Must Be Obeyed (Helen Gahagan), believing that the explorer Leo Vincey (Randolph Scott) was a reincarnation of his ancestor (whom she loved), and jealous of his girlfriend Tanya (Helen Mack), invites Leo to join her in the eternal flame. Unfortunately, her re-entry into the flame that gave her immortality turned her into a dying, withered crone. (The Nitrate Diva/Scifist.net)
The 1887 H. Rider Haggard novel, She, inspired eponymous silent films in 1908, 1911, 1916, 1917, and 1925. The 1935 film reviewed here received tepid reviews and lost money on its first release, however in a 1949 re-release it fared much better. She was re-made in 1965 with Ursula Andress in the lead role, and again in 1984 in a post-apocalyptic film that had virtually nothing to do with Haggard’s novel.
SHE THROUGH THE YEARS…Clockwise, from top left, “She” (Marguerite Snow) offers a dagger to Leo Vincey (James Cruze) in a 1911 two-reel (24 min.) adaptation; Valeska Suratt as “She” in the 1917 film (now lost); Betty Blythe took the title role in the 1925 production, considered to be the most faithful to the 1887 H. Rider Haggard novel; Sandahl Bergman appeared dressed for a Jazzercise video in the 1984 post-apocalyptic She; and finally, Ursula Andress and John Richardson in the 1965 CinemaScope production of She. (Wikipedia / digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu / cultcelebrities.com / Reddit)
* * *
Colonial Ambitions
With most of Africa carved up by other European powers (Britain, France, Belgium etc.) in the 19th century, Italy set its sights on Ethiopia, which by the end of the 19th century was the only independent country left on the continent. Ethiopia fought off Italy’s first attempt at conquest in the Battle of Adwa (1896), but with the rise of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, Italy paid a return visit, this time with heavy artillery and airstrikes that included chemical weapons. E.B. White tried to make sense of this latest invasion in his opening comments.
THOSE GUYS AGAIN…Italy invaded Ethiopia on October 3, 1935, a significant act of aggression in the lead up to World War II. Despite facing a technologically superior Italian army (top) equipped with modern weapons, including tanks, aircraft, and chemical weapons, the Ethiopian forces (bottom photo) mounted a strong resistance. (Wikipedia)
In his weekly column, Howard Brubaker mused on the Italian aggressions and other rumblings of the coming European war.
* * *
Author, Author
The writer Willa Cather was a favorite of New Yorker critics, including Clifton Fadiman, however her latest novel was a bit too mild for his tastes.
HERE’S LUCY…Clifton Fadiman confessed he was “mortified” to admit that he found Willa Cather’s latest novel a bit too gentle. At right, portrait of Cather on her birthday, December 7, 1936. (willacather.org)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
We begin with more fearmongering from the folks at Goodyear, who offered weekly reminders of the perils of not choosing their all-weather tires…
…the Liggett and Myers Tobacco Company conjured up this “naughty maiden” to encourage even timid souls to take up the habit…
…on the other hand, the makers of the upstart KOOL brand kept it simple with their chain-smoking penguin, who was grabbing ever more market share from rival menthol pusher SPUD…
…ads in the back of the book offered up even less sophisticated products, such as Crown Smelling Salts…
…while Dr. Seuss and Norman Z. McLeod continued to make a living with their distinctive illustrations…
…at the very back of the magazine, this tiny ad from Knopf promoted Clarence Day’sLife With Father, published just months before Day’s death on Dec. 28…
…which brings us to our cartoonists…Constantin Alajalov kicked us off with this happy number…
…James Thurber found steamy goings on in the parlor…
…Charles Addams came down to earth with this pair…
…George Price showed us the rough and tumble of news reporting…
…Mary Petty contributed this sumptuous drawing of a croquet match…
…Helen Hokinson was in a transcendental mood…
…and Ned Hilton had a big surprise for one garage tinkerer…
…on to August 10 and a rich summer scene by Arnold Hall:
August 10, 1935 cover by Arnold Hall.
“The Talk of the Town” checked the lunch crowd at Mary Elizabeth’s Tea Room, where some preferred to drink their lunch.
TEA AND SWEETS (and cocktails) were among the offerings at Mary Elizabeth’s Tea Room at 36th and Fifth, seen here circa 1912. (Photo by Karl Struss via Facebook)
* * *
Comic Relief
Film critic John Mosher offered an appreciation of W.C. Fields, noting that civilization needed films like Man on the Flying Trapeze during those hard years. Mosher also found some worthy distractions in the Jean Harlow vehicle China Seas, but was prepared to consign Spencer Tracey’s latest offering to the “lower circles of cinema hell.”
ANSWERING HIS NATION’S CALL…W.C. Fields brought joy to millions during the Depression in movies such as Man on the Flying Trapeze. Above, from left, Kathleen Howard, Fields, and Mary Brian. (IMDB/Rotten Tomatoes)SHORE LEAVE…At left, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, and Clark Gable on the set of China Seas; top right, Hattie McDaniel with Harlow in a scene from the film; below, Gable, Rosalind Russell, and C. Aubrey Smith with Harlow in China Seas. (musingsofaclassicfilmaddict.wordpress.com / Pinterest)FRESH FACE…Cinema newcomer Rita Hayworth was credited as Rita Cansino (she was born Margarita Carmen Cansino) in Dante’s Inferno. Here she is flanked by Spencer Tracy and Gary Leon. Dante’s Inferno was Spencer Tracy’s final film for 20th Century Fox. It was at MGM where his career really took off. (IMDB)
* * *
All Wet
In his London Letter, Conrad Aiken (pen name Samuel Jeake Jr) examined the priggish ways of England’s seaside resorts.
SITE OF SCANDAL…Bathing huts at Bognor Regis, circa 1921. (bognorregistrails.co.uk)
* * *
Beware the Bachelor
In her “Tables for Two” column, Lois Long examined some of the city’s seasonal escapes for “summer bachelors.”
GHOSTS OF THE PAST…Lois Long recommended the air-conditioned lounges of the Madison Square Hotel and the Savoy Plaza (center) or the cooling breezes of the Biltmore roof (right), which featured music by Morton Downey. Sadly, all three of these beautiful buildings have been demolished. (geographicguide.com/Wikipedia)
Other more casual venues recommended by Long included Nick’s Merry-Go-Round…
…a menu from Nick’s dated 1937…
(nypl.org)
…and its cryptic back cover…
From Our Advertisers
…speaking of the Biltmore and Morton Downey, we kick off our advertising section…
…the ad on the left announced the private residences at the Waldorf-Astoria…
Clockwise, from top left, the Waldorf Astoria circa 1930; the Waldorf’s Starlight Roof in the 1930s; after eight years and billions in restorations and renovations, the hotel has seen many changes including the transformation of the Starlight Roof into a swimming pool. Decades of grime were also cleaned from the building’s exterior. (mcny.org/loc.gov/som.com)
…another ad from the makers of Lincoln suggesting that the market for their luxury auto wasn’t confined to citified execs…
…the Camel folks introduced us to their latest society shill…
…I didn’t find much about Beatrice Barclay Elphinstone (1916-1977), described in the Camel ad as a “charming representative of New York’s discriminating younger set”…she did make the Times‘ Dec. 10, 1937 society wedding announcements, however…
…Dr. Seuss was back with another twist on Flit insecticide…
…on to our illustrators and cartoonists, a nice charcoal by Hugo Gellert for a profile titled “Yankee Horse Trader,” written by Arthur C. Bartlett…the harness horse racing legend Walter Cox (1868-1941) was known in New England as “the king of the half-milers”…
…James Thurber contributed this cat and dog face-off to the opening pages…
…Helen Hokinson offered her perspectives on the summer dog show across pages 16-17…
…and for a closer look…
…Gluyas Williams went back to nature in his “Club Life” series…
…Leonard Dove introduced us to an undaunted salesman…
…in the world of George Price, crime didn’t pay…
…Barbara Shermund gave us a rare glimpse into the secret lives of men…
…patronizing words were unwelcome at this chess match, per William Steig…
…Denys Wortman took us on a family outing…
…and we close with Alain, and a mother of multiples…except words…
Heading into the dog days of summer we take a look at the last two issues of July 1935, both somewhat scant in editorial content but still offering up fascinating glimpses of Manhattan life ninety years ago.
July 20, 1935 cover by William Crawford Galbraith. He contributed seven covers and 151 cartoons to the magazine.
That includes the observations of theatre critic Wolcott Gibbs and film critic John Mosher, both escaping the summer heat to take in some very different forms of entertainment.
Gibbs found himself “fifty dizzy stories above Forty-second Street” in the Chanin Building’s auditorium, where he experienced New York’s take on Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol. Founded in Paris by Oscar Méténier in 1897, Grand Guignol featured realistic shows that enacted, in gory detail, the horrific existence of the disadvantaged and working classes. It seems audiences were drawn to the shows more out of prurient interest (or sadistic pleasure) than for any desire to help the underclasses.
NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART…Wolcott Gibbs recommended the Grand-Guignol only for those who “admire a frank, uncomplicated approach to the slaughterhouse and the operating table.” (Image: Wikipedia)PRETTY HORRORS…Clockwise from top left, the original Théâtre du Grand-Guignol, in the Pigalle district of Paris–it operated from 1897 until 1962, specializing in horror theatre; a poster from one of its productions; New York’s Chanin building, circa 1930s; the Chanin’s auditorium “fifty dizzy stories above 42nd Street”; fake blood applied to an actress’ neck before a scene from The Hussy; Wolcott Gibbs described a madhouse scene from André de Lorde’sThe Old Women, which depicted the fury of ancient inmates performing “optical surgery” on a young woman. (thegrandguignol.com/Wikipedia/NYPL/props.eric-hart.com)
* * *
Popeye to the Rescue
With the Hays Code in effect you wouldn’t see anything like the Grand-Guignol on the silver screen. Indeed, with the exception of a Popeye cartoon, critic John Mosher found little to get excited about at the movies. He did, however, enjoy the air conditioning that offered a break from the hot city streets.
THEY ALL COULD HAVE USED SOME SPINACH…Clockwise, from top left, Popeye and Bluto strike an unlikely partnership in Dizzy Divers; Bette Davis and George Brent in Front Page Woman; Will Rogers and Billie Burke in Doubting Thomas; James Blakeley and Ida Lupino in Paris in Spring. (brothersink.com / rottentomatoes.com / cometoverhollywood.com / classiccartooncorner.substack.com)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
Just a few ads from this issue, first, a jolly appeal from one of the magazine’s newer advertisers, the makers of the French apertif Dubonnet…
…by contrast, this quaint slice of Americana from Nash…
…and a shot of pesticide from Dr. Seuss…
…our cartoonists include Constantin Alajalov, contributing this bit of spot art to the opening pages…
…Barbara Shermund explored the world of hypnotic suggestion…
…Peter Arno prepared to address the nation…
…William Steig checked the weather forecast…
…Helen Hokinson’s girls questioned the burden of a lei…
…Carl Rose found himself on opposite sides of the page in this unusual layout…
…Richard Decker joined the crowd in a lighthouse rendering…
…Ned Hilton reminds us that it was unusual for women to wear trousers ninety years ago…
…Mary Petty examined the complications of marital discord…
…and Charles Addams shone a blue light on a YMCA lecture…
…on to July 27, 1935, with a terrific summertime cover by William Steig…
July 27, 1935 cover by William Steig, one of his 117 covers for the magazine.
E.B. White (in “Notes and Comment”) was ahead of his time in suggesting that the city needed to build “bicycle paths paralleling motor highways” and invest in more pedestrian pathways.
NEW YORK’S FINEST…Doris Kopsky, who trained in Central Park, won the first Amateur Bicycle League of America Women’s Championship in 1937. Bicycle races were a big draw in the 1930s. (crca.net)
* * *
Breaking News
“The Talk of the Town” checked in on the New York Times’ “electric bulletin,” commonly known as “The Zipper.” Excerpt:
NIGHT CRAWLER…Launched in 1928, the Times Square “Zipper” kept New Yorkers apprised of breaking news. (cityguideny.com)
* * *
Dog Knots
“Talk” also took a look backstage at the Winter Garden, where burlesque performers shared the stage with a contortionist dog called “Red Dust.” Excerpt:
WOOF…Famed animal trainer Robert “Bob” Williams with one of his pupils. The dog in the photo is misidentified as Red Dust (he was actually a Malemute/chow mix).
* * *
Suddenly Famous
Charles Butterworth (1896-1946) earned a law degree from Notre Dame before becoming a newspaper reporter. But his life would take on a new twist in 1926 when he delivered his comical “Rotary Club Talk” at J.P. McEvoy’sAmericana revue in 1926. Hollywood would come calling in the 1930s, and his doleful-looking, deadpan characters would become familiar to movie audiences through a string of films in the thirties and forties. Alva Johnston profiled Butterworth in the July 27 issue. Here are brief excerpts:
Charles Butterworth (left) and Jimmy Durante in Student Tour (1934). A bit of trivia: Butterworth’s distinctive voice was the inspiration for the Cap’n Crunch commercials voiced by Daws Butler beginning in the early 1960s. Butterworth’s life was cut short in 1946 when he crashed his imported roadster into a lamppost on Sunset Boulevard. (Detail from film still via IMDB)
* * *
Noisy Neighborhood
The “Vienna Letter” (written by “F.S.”–possibly Frank Sullivan) noted the rumblings of fascism in a grand old European city known for its many cultural delights as well as its many factions that included Nazis, Socialists and Communists (and no doubt a few Royalists). An excerpt:
CALM BEFORE THE STORM…Vienna in 1935, less than three years before the Anschluss, when Nazi Germany annexed Austria. (meisterdrucke.us)
* * *
Ex Machina
The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and author Stephen Vincent Benét (1898-1943) penned this poem for The New Yorker that is somewhat appropriate to our own age and our fears of the rise of A.I. In “Nightmare Number Three,” Benét described a dystopian world where machines have revolted against humans.
BOTH CLASSY AND FOLKSY is how some today describe Stephen Vincent Benét, who in 1928 wrote a book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, John Brown’s Body, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He was also know for such short stories as The Devil and Daniel Webster, published in 1936. (mypoeticside.com)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
We begin with more extraordinary claims from R.J. Reynolds, who convinced a lot of folks that drawing smoke into your lungs actually improved your athletic stamina…
…the makers of Lucky Strike, on the other hand, stuck with images of nature and romance to suggest the joys of inhaling tar and nicotine…
…General Tire took a cue from Goodyear, suggesting that an investment in their “Blowout-Proof Tires” was an investment in the very lives of a person’s loved ones (even though they apparently drove to the beach without seatbelts or even a windshield)…
…another colorful advertisement from the makers of White Rock, who wisely tied their product to ardent spirits as liquor consumption continued to rebound from Prohibition…
…I toss this in for the lovely rendering on behalf of Saks…it looks like the work of illustrator Carl “Eric” Erickson, but he had many imitators…
…we do, however, know the identity of this artist, and his drawings on behalf of the pesticide Flit, which apparently in those days of innocence was thought appropriate for use around infants…
…great spot drawing in the opening pages…I should know the signature but it escapes me at the moment…
…James Thurber quoted Blaise Pascal for this tender moment ( “The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing”)…
…Peter Arno illustrated the horrors of finding one’s grandmother out of context…
…Helen Hokinson’s girls employed a malaprop to besmirch the good name of an innocent mountain…
…Richard Decker discovered the missing link(s) with two archeologists…
…Alan Dunn narrowly averted a surprise greeting…
…George Price added a new twist to a billiards match…
…Price again, at the corner newstand…
…Al Frueh bit off more than he could chew…
…and we close with Barbara Shermund, and a prattling mooch…
In 1933 the U.S. economy began a slow recovery from the 1929 market crash, but the recovery stalled in 1934 and 1935, and folks including E.B. White were looking for any indication of brighter days ahead.
June 29, 1935 cover by Barbara Shermund. A prolific contributor of cartoons to The New Yorker (600 in all), Shermund also illustrated eight covers, including this charmer.
White suggested that Americans look for smaller signs of normalcy, such as the new slogan, “Happy Motoring,” that was being rolled out by Standard Oil’s Esso.
IT’S A GAS…At left, Gasoline Station, Tenth Avenue, photo by Berenice Abbott, 1935; at right, newspaper ad, May 1935. (metmuseum.org/wataugademocrat.com)
Like many of us, White was a study in contradictions, enthusiastically embracing the age of air travel while rejecting the style and comforts of modern automobiles (he famously loved his Model T). It is no surprise that he also preferred Fifth Avenue’s spartan green and yellow omnibuses over the new streamlined buses that would soon be plying the streets of Manhattan.
NO THANKS…E.B. White preferred the spartan accommodations of the old Fifth Avenue buses to the comforts of their replacements. (coachbuilt.com)
White elaborated on the advantages of the older buses:
STYLE OVER COMFORT…Of the old Fifth Avenue buses, E.B. White wrote that he preferred the “hard wooden benches on the sun deck, conducive to an erect posture, sparkling clean after a rain.” (Ephemeral New York)
* * *
Cinderella Story
Challenger James J. Braddock achieved one of boxing’s greatest upsets by defeating the heavily favored (and reigning champ) Max Baer. For this feat he was given the nickname “Cinderella Man” by journalist Damon Runyon. The writer of the “Wayward Press” (byline “S.M.”) seemed less impressed, and mocked the national media for their sudden pivot on the bout’s unlikely outcome.
BRINGING THE FIGHT…Challenger James J. Braddock lays into defending champ Max Baer during a heavyweight boxing title match on June 13, 1935, at the Madison Square Garden Bowl in Long Island City. Although the national media dismissed Braddock’s chances of winning, Braddock trained hard for the fight while Baer spent more time clowning around than training. Braddock won by unanimous decision, eight rounds to six. (thefightcity.com)
* * *
Seemed Like a Nice Guy
Henry Pringle penned the first part of a three-part profile of Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes (1862–1948), who was also a former New York governor and U.S. secretary of state. William Cotton rendered a rather severe-looking Hughes in this caricature for the profile…
…although in reality he tended to look more like this…
PROGRESSIVE THINKER…Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes in 1931. Known as a reformer who fought corruption, Hughes was a popular public figure in New York. (Wikipedia)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
We begin with an advertisement that goes down easy, with its minimal style…
…by contrast, a busy Camel advertisement…R.J. Reynolds alternated full-page ads featuring society women with these health-themed spots that linked smoking with athletic prowess…
…this advertisement by Fisher claimed the 1935 Pontiac was “The most beautiful thing on wheels,” however here it looks perfectly ancient…
…as does this Nash on the inside back cover…
…the back cover was claimed by Highland Queen, a blend of some very fine distilleries…
…Theodore Seuss Geisel continued his ongoing saga against the mighty mosquito…
…and we have this back of the book ad for Webster cigars, who enlisted the talents of Peter Wells…
…Wells (1912–1995) was also a children’s book writer, most famous for contributing drawings to the Katzenjammer Kids comic strip …
Peter Wells, detail from the opening page from “The Katzenjammer Kids,” #16, Spring 1951, King Features Syndicate, Inc.
…and of course we are all familiar with Otto Soglow, who sold his beloved Little King to Hearst (and made a pile) but was still able to feature his diminutive potentate in the The New Yorker in a series of ads for Bloomingdales…
…which brings us to our cartoonists, and a familiar torment for our beloved James Thurber…
…Independence Day offered a marketing challenge to these shopkeepers, per Garrett Price…
…Peter Arno was at his best, in his element…
…Charles Addams explored the unnatural, which would become his calling card…
…Robert Day offered a new twist to the tonsorial arts…
…William Steig gave examples of some budding “tough guys”…
…a rare baseball-themed cartoon from Richard Decker (editor Harold Ross was not a baseball fan)…
…from George Price, what appears to be the end of his “floating man” series, which began in September 1934…
…and we close with one my favorite cartoonists, Barbara Shermund, here at the bookstore…
Above: Coney Island "freak" show, summer of 1935. (seeoldnyc.com)
It has been about a year since we’ve visited Coney Island, and with summer upon us (and upon 1935 New York) let’s have a look at “The Talk of the Town” and see the latest attractions.
June 15, 1935 cover by Garrett Price. Price (1897–1979) illustrated 100 covers for the magazine.Garrett Price’s first New Yorker cover, “Heat Wave,” Aug. 1, 1925.
This lengthy “Talk” entry (excerpted), attributed to Clifford Orr, noted that much was unchanged, including the “mustard-laden breezes.” The place was noisier, however, with carnival barkers increasing their range through loudspeakers.
THE HIGH AND LOWS of society were on display in various attractions at Coney Island. Clockwise from top left, gawkers gather at Coney Island freak show, which included the “Armadillo Boy,” August 5, 1935; strollers near the Virginia Reel and Wonder Wheel, circa 1935; Borden’s frozen custard stand, 1930s; couple have a nap on the beach, circa 1935. (seeoldnyc.com)LINEUP…Beauty contests near the Steeplechase, like this one in 1935, were a common sight at Coney Island. (seeoldnyc.com)LIKE MOTHS TO THE FLAME, the dazzling lights drew thousands to Coney Island’s Luna Park in the 1930s. (seeoldnyc.com)THEY LOOK LIKE…ANTS…Aerial view of the beach in 1935. The Steeplechase ride is at the top left. (seeoldnyc.com)
* * *
Ship Ahoy
E.B. White (in “Notes and Comment”) mentioned that he danced aboard the newly arrived S.S. Normandie (presumably with Katharine White) while it was docked at Pier 88.
GROOVY…E.B. White noted the “luminous grooves” of the S.S. Normandie’s theatre. (drivingfordeco.com)JUGGERNAUT…The S.S. Normandie docked at New York’s Pier 88 after completing her maiden voyage on June 3, 1935. Note the paint chipped from the hull, the result of the ship’s record-breaking speed. (yesterdaystrails.wordpress.com)
* * *
Another Freak Show
Theatre critic Wolcott Gibbs found Earl Carroll’s latest stage production to be nothing more than a “vulgar assortment of comedians, jugglers, and performing dogs,” accompanied by “very lovely and disarming” young ladies who chanted their lines “in high childish voices.” One skit apparently featured Abe Lincoln with “fifty-six young ladies in cellophane hoopskirts.” Too bad no one filmed that performance.
HOLDING IT TOGETHER…Gibbs noted that comedian Ken Murray carried most of the show’s comedy (Murray had found success on the New York stage after appearing in Carroll’s Vanities on Broadway in 1935); Sibyl Bowen was known for her impersonations of famous women. In Sketchbook she portrayed Martha Washington, among others. (eBay/entertainment.ie)
* * *
Weathering the Field
Like the recent 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont (won by J.J. Spaun), ninety years ago Oakmont was also plagued by bad weather, and it also featured a tournament winner who outplayed the top golfers in the field. Excerpt:
WHY NOT ME?…Sam Parks Jr. (left) was considered an unlikely winner of the 1935 U.S. Open after competing with Hall of Famers at Oakmont. A 25-year-old club pro from Pittsburgh who played on the winter tour without ever winning, he bested a field that included Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, Denny Shute and Horton Smith. His secret? For months leading up to the U.S. Open, Parks played nine holes at Oakmont every morning before going to work at nearby South Hills Country Club. He knew the course like the back of his hand. (progolfweekly.com)
* * *
Straight From the Headlines
Film critic John Mosher noted how the storylines in latest “G-men” pictures seemed to be taken directly from the daily papers. Public Hero Number 1 was no exception.
THE GOOD GUYS…from left, Chester Morris, Lionel Barrymore and Jean Arthur in Public Hero Number 1. One effect of the Hays Code was to replace gangster films—which some believed glorified criminals—with films that depicted the dedication and courage of law enforcement officers. (Rotten Tomatoes)
Mosher suggested moviegoers would get more pleasure out of Public Hero Number 1 than from Our Little Girl, which seems an unfair comparison since gunplay was rare in a Shirley Temple flick.
NO GUNS, JUST SOME SCARY CLOWNS…Joel McCrea and Shirley Temple in Our Little Girl. (csfd.sk/film)
* * *
Speaking Brooklynese
The June 15 issue featured Thomas Wolfe’s classic short story, “Only the Dead Know Brooklyn.” Written entirely in “Brooklynese” dialect, the simple plot features four men standing on a subway platform arguing about how to get to “Bensonhoist.” The story (seemingly told to the author himself) recalls the existential themes of Wolfe’s contemporary, the Irish writer Samuel Beckett. Here is an excerpt, the second paragraph of the story:
So like I say, I’m waitin’ for my train t’ come when I sees dis big guy standin’ deh—dis is duh foist I eveh see of him. Well, he’s lookin’ wild, y’know, an’ I can see dat he’s had plenty, but still he’s holdin’ it; he talks good an’ is walkin’ straight enough. So den, dis big guy steps up to a little guy dat’s standin’ deh, an’ says, “How d’yuh get t’ Eighteent’ Avenoo an’ Sixty-sevent’ Street?” he says.
GONE TOO SOON…Portrait of Thomas Wolfe taken by Carl Van Vechten in 1937. He died the next year, eighteen days before his 38th birthday. (Library of Congress)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
We begin with this two-page spread—what readers of the June 15 issue would have seen after turning the cover page…
…the inside cover ad was part of an ongoing series of spots for Old Gold cigarettes illustrated by pin-up artist George Petty…almost all of the ads featured a fat, homely man (possibly a sugar daddy) mooning over a leggy blonde who relieves the tedium by reaching for an oversized cigarette…
…the ad on the facing page couldn’t be more different, except for the fact the woman is smoking, suggesting, of course, sophistication when paired with the latest fashions from Bergdorf Goodman…
…on the back cover we find these swells enjoying a belt at the horse races…
…while on the back cover, Camel gathered together all of its recent society endorsers for another round of shilling for R. J. Reynolds…
…swells and society women were the only persons (along with celebrities) who could afford to take this early version of a “red eye” to L.A. or San Francisco…it was not all that cushy, however…airliners were loud, cold, and not pressurized, so they flew at low altitudes and were often bounced about by the weather. The Boeing 247 also required several stops for refueling…
‘OL SPEEDY…This Boeing 247 was featured in the above ad. One of the first all-metal airliners, the 247 was considered revolutionary when introduced in 1933—United Airlines boasted that it cruised at speeds of three miles per minute and carried ten passengers across the country in twenty hours, cutting eight hours from previous travel times. Seven refueling stops included Cleveland, Chicago, Omaha, Cheyenne and Salt Lake City. (Wikipedia)WATCH YOUR STEP…Interior of the Boeing 247. Note that the main wing ran through the cabin, so persons moving down the aisle had to step over it. (Library of Congress)
…we learn a lot about a 1930s New Yorker reader by looking at the advertisements…it doubtful the magazine had many truly upper-class readers—the barbarians were content to flip through a copy of Town & Country or similar undemanding fare…what we do have are striving “smart set” readers, some with the means to buy a luxury automobile, fly cross-country, or cruise on the Normandie, all things one would desire as a member of upper-middle class or even the educated bourgeoisie in the middle…this Campbell’s soup ad is for the latter…the upper-middles would sniff at canned soup, while the barbarians would probably eat whatever was set in front of them, since talking about food would be considered vulgar…
…Pabst Blue Ribbon beer has been around since 1844…in the 20th century it was increasingly associated with the working class and rednecks until the brand caught on with urban hipsters in the early 2000s…
…in the May 25, 1935 issue we saw an ad promoting Walter Hagen’s “Honey Boy” golf balls, which contained real honey in their cores…the folks at MacGregor’s had a different idea—they inserted a pellet of dry ice into the center of their golf balls…what will they think of next?…
…we move on to our cartoonists, beginning with a James Thurber spot…
…and continuing with another Thurber classic…
…Robert Day took a lunch break in the opening pages…
…Alan Dunn felt charitable while relaxing in Westchester…
…Mary Petty gave us a wedding guest that would not be out of place today…the caption reads, “Home, Prince!”…
…Helen Hokinson went hog-wild in the garden…
…Barbara Shermund looked in on the idle thoughts of the idle rich…
…and we close where we began, with Daniel Brustlein aka Alain at Coney Island…
Above: Postcard image of Washington Square Park, circa 1930. (citybeautifulblog.com)
New Yorkers know all about change, and especially during the 1920s and 30s when the city razed everything from Dutch settler houses to the Gilded Age mansions of Fifth Avenue. Landmarks such as the old Waldorf-Astoria were leveled to make way for the Empire State Building, while several blocks—22 acres of residential and commercial buildings—were scraped clean for Rockefeller Center.
June 8, 1935 cover by Harry Brown. This June bride-themed cover was Brown’s fourteenth of the eighteen covers he would create for The New Yorker.
Some things, like Washington Square, were still held dear by city residents. But very little was sacred to the city’s new park commissioner, Robert Moses, who had no problem leveling whole neighborhoods if they stood in way of a road or some other ambitious project.
It all seemed well at first when Moses called for the repair of neglected parks, including Washington Square. However, when changes to the park were revealed by the Villager, residents were outraged. Moses’ plan, designed by landscape architect Gilmore Clarke, was a complete reversal of the park’s existing design. In “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White explained:
Village residents organized a “Save Washington Square” committee and successfully blocked Moses from implementing his plan; in true Moses style, he responded by allowing the park to deteriorate.
MAKE NO LITTLE PLANS…Clockwise, from top left, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses; proposal to add colonnades to either side of the arch; landscape architect Gilmore Clarke; Clarke’s plan for the redesign. (Wikipedia/washingtonsqpark.org)
Moses, however, didn’t give up on Washington Square. Around 1940 he began floating the idea of building a double highway through the park. Local residents again rallied, joining business owners and NYU officials in blocking the audacious scheme.
DOUBLE TROUBLE…Around 1940 Moses began floating the idea of building a double highway through Washington Square Park. This illustration is circa 1950. (MTA Archives)
White continued on the theme of city planning, calling on Moses this time to figure out a better plan for sidewalk cafés.
AL FRESCO…Postcard images of sidewalk cafés at 24 Fifth Avenue (top) and 23rd and Lexington, circa 1935. (picryl.com)
Additional note: The magazine’s June 15, 1935 issue featured Lois Long’s criticisms of sidewalk cafés in Manhattan:
Long did offer, however, a couple of recommendations for sidewalk dining, including the Breevort in Greenwich Village…
If you really wanted to eat outside, Lois Long suggested the Breevort in Greenwich Village. (New York Public Library)
…and the St. Moritz’s Café de la Paix at 50 Central Park South…
The St. Moritz’s Café de la Paix in the 1940s. (blog.bondbrand.com)
* * *
Sexily Danced the Burlesques
New Yorker writers loved to take shots at Henry Luce, publisher of Time and Fortune. Wolcott Gibbs famously satirized Time’s writing style in a parody profile in 1936: “Backward ran sentences until reeled the mind.” When Fortune decided to take a look behind the curtain at a burlesque show (February 1935), “The Talk of the Town” was ready to pounce.
The Fortune piece featured oil paintings by Stuyvesant Van Veen, including this one depicting the Proscenium at the Irving Place…
Fortune images courtesy fulltable.com
…Van Veen got behind the curtain to create this painting (below) of “Burlesque Queens,” and the magazine chastely demonstrated the “cycle of the strip act” with the help of Miss Jean Lee, aka Miss Jess Mack…
The New Yorker also took a sideways glance at Fortune’s stuffy approach to the subject of striptease, suggesting that it was much ado about nothing.
IT’S ALL AN ACT, FELLAS…Gypsy Rose Lee in 1943. (nypl.org)
* * *
Futures and Fascists
Before the days of television and the Internet, a world’s fair was the place to go to see the latest technologies and other attractions from countries around the world. Paris correspondent Janet Flanner filed a special report on the Brussels International Exposition of 1935, which attracted 20 million visitors in a little over six months.
EURO SPECTACLE…Clockwise, from top left, the menacing facade of the Italian Pavilion—its interior walls featured frescoes of marching fascists; the Palais des Expositions (Grand Palais) still stands today as the Brussels Exhibition Centre; an early demonstration of television; the U.S. featured an “Indian Village” at the Expo. (fomo.be/Wikimedia/en.worldsfairs.info)
* * *
Matchbox Cars
The New Yorker regularly checked the automobile competition from overseas, and found a tiny German car to be “perfectly amazing,” even if it didn’t go over so well with consumers.
IT’S CUTE, BUT…Due to its extreme unbalance of the Mercedes-Benz 130 H (two-thirds of the mass, including the engine, was on the rear axle), the car apparently was awkward to handle. It was discontinued in 1936. (automobile-catalog.com)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
Anyway, most Americans preferred bigger cars, especially ones by luxury makers such as Lincoln, if they could afford them…
…Lincoln’s parent company, Ford, offered up a more affordable convertible with some flair of its own…automakers were fond of the marriage theme in advertisements, especially in the month of June…
…automakers and related industries were important advertisers during The New Yorker’s first years…
…indeed, the back cover of Issue #1 (Feb. 21, 1925) featured this ad from the United States Rubber Company, promoting its U.S. Royal Cord Balloon Tires…
…another faithful advertiser in the magazine’s first decade was the Bermuda Trade Development Board…
…this ad for Four Roses whiskey recalled “the glamorous days” (ahem) before the Civil War…
…and this colorful ad from World Peaceways reminded readers there was nothing to celebrate about wars…these ads pulled no punches (read the first few lines)…
…”most interesting country in the world today!” proclaimed this ad inviting tourists to the Soviet Union…during 1934-35 Joseph Stalin was ruthlessly purging the Party, and local leaders across the country were being annihilated…of the 2.3 million people who had been party members in 1935, just under half were executed or perished in labor camps…this fact probably wasn’t mentioned in the travel folder…
…the Webster Cigar Company hired Otto Soglow to create an ad doubtless based on the popularity of “The Little King,” but this isn’t the diminutive monarch…
…which takes us to our cartoonists, beginning with this spot signed E.S., I believe, or L.S. (anyone know?)…at any rate, its whimsical…
…of course we know Robert Day…
…Day again, in a very different style…
…Helen Hokinson, sounding a contemporary note…
…a kindergarten political standoff, courtesy Garrett Price…
…Rea Irvin, and the obsolescence of Pan (today she’d have a cell phone)…
…Peter Arno, and a clueless, cold, cuckold…
…and we close with Alan Dunn, and the future of transportation…
Above: The Waldorf-Astoria's Starlight Roof, and a 1930s menu cover. (Facebook/Pinterest)
With summer approaching, the rooftop restaurants were in full swing, and Lois Long continued her exploration of favorite haunts, including one nightclub that drew many Manhattanites across the Hudson to the cliffs of the New Jersey Palisades.
June 1, 1935 Cover by Rea Irvin.
Ben Marden couldn’t wait for the official end of Prohibition when he opened his Riviera Night Club in Fort Lee in 1931. The frequent site of raids until the repeal of the 18th Amendment, the Riviera continued to be a place well known to Bergen County police thanks to clientele that included racketeers and other unsavory types. But to New Yorkers like Long, it was a break from the din of the city to the relative green of the Garden State. Long wrote:
The Riviera closed during the first years of World War II, but it reopened in 1945 after Bill Miller bought it from Marden and apparently cleaned it up. It then attracted the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Martha Rae, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Pearl Bailey until it closed in 1953. It was demolished the following year.
THEY HAD FOOD, TOO…Clockwise, from left, the1936 spring menu cover of Ben Marden’s Riviera featured an illustration of the original Riviera (ringed by nude showgirls), which burned to the ground on Thanksgiving night, 1936; the building that replaced it was called an architectural wonder with its retractable roof, rotating stage, and glass windows that slid down to the floor; Earl Carroll and his “Beauties” performed at the Riviera in 1935–they are pictured here at a train station in Los Angeles, 1934. (ebay.com/patch.com/lapl.org)
Long also stayed in town to visit the Waldorf-Astoria’s Starlight Roof.
WITH THE STARS, UNDER THE STARS…Clockwise, from left, cocktail menu from the Waldorf’s Starlight Roof, 1935; outdoor seating on the Starlight Roof Terrace; special menu for the Gala Opening Dinner and Supper Dance on the Starlight Roof, May 14, 1935. It was a favorite destination of Frank Sinatra, Cole Porter, Katharine Hepburn, and Ella Fitzgerald, among others. (Pinterest)
Long also mentioned the appearance of Ray Noble in the Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room. This full-page ad appeared in the June 1 issue:
Other summer season attractions were advertised in numerous back-of-the-book, one-column advertisements:
…and at the bottom of page 64…
Wining and dining were also the topic of the profile, a two-parter penned by Margaret Case Harriman, who took a look at New York’s famed Colony Restaurant.
ORIGINAL TRIO…Al Frueh’s caricatures of the Colony’s owners/headwaiters Gene Cavallero and Ernest Cerutti, who flank chef Alfred Hartmann, who was also part owner until he sold his interest to the other two in 1927 and retired to a farm in France. Harriman wrote that Cavallero and Cerutti were “born headwaiters—suave, solicitous, infallible.”A PLACE TO BE SEEN…From the 1920s to the 1960s New York’s café society dined at the Colony. Rian James, in Dining In New York (1930) wrote “the Colony is the restaurant of the cosmopolite and the connoisseur; the rendezvous of the social register; the retreat of the Four Hundred.” Critic George Jean Nathan said the Colony was one of “civilization’s last strongholds in the department of cuisine.” Photo at left of the dining room around 1940; at right, co-owner Eugene Cavallero consults with a chef. (lostpastremembered.blogspot.com)
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The Business of News
In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White contemplated the meaning of a free press, noting that nearly all media was at the mercy of advertisers. That included The New Yorker, which owed allegiance “to the makers of toilet articles, cigarettes, whiskey, and foundation garments.”
* * *
Cat Lady
“The Talk of the Town” anticipated the arrival of French writer Colette (1873-1954) aboard the S.S. Normandie. This excerpt makes note of her high standing in society as well as her love of cats.
SHE ONCE OWNED AN OCELOT….Colette with her cats in an undated photo; at right, entering New York Harbor on the S.S. Normandie, 1935. (Pinterest)
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Public Artists
“The Talk of the Town” noted the latest Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibition…
LENDING THEIR TALENTS…New Yorker cartoonists who helped promote the Outdoor Art Exhibition in Washington Square included James Thurber, Otto Soglow, and William Steig.
* * *
Cutting Remarks
S.J. Perelman offered his thoughts on the decline of the tonsorial arts. In this excerpt, he sees his beloved Italian barber give way to a “knifelike individual in a surgical apron.” Excerpts:
IT’S A SCIENCE NOW, SIDNEY…S.J. Perelman worried about the displacement of Italian barbershops by cosmetologists in “surgical aprons,” such as the one modeled by Helena Rubinstein at right. (Pinterest)
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Even Those Eyes Couldn’t Help
Film critic John Mosher was sad to report that disappointment was in store for moviegoers who enjoyed seeing Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage. Her latest flick, The Girl from 10th Avenue, featured Davis murmuring “gentle nothings of a vaguely noble monotony.”
GET ME OUT OF THIS PICTURE…Left, Bette Davis with Ian Hunter in the uninspired The Girl from 10th Avenue; at right, screen shot of Davis in 1934’s Of Human Bondage, the film that made Davis a star. (thefilmexperience.net)
Other items in the editorial section included a casual by Dorothy Parker’s husband Alan Campbell (titled “Loyalty at Pool-Wah-Met”), and Morris Markey examined the Christian Science movement inspired of Mary Baker Eddy, in “A Reporter at Large” piece titled “But Thinking Makes It So.”
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From Our Advertisers
We begin with an advertising theme common through midcentury, namely, that you could smoke certain brands as much as you liked and still be a star athlete (as opposed to a wheezing husk of a human being)…
…not only did these cigarettes “steady your nerves” and preserve your “wind,” they also made for sweet, romantic moments…
…in between puffs you could also enjoy breathing in fumes from leaded gasoline…lead pollution increased by more than 625 times previous levels after leaded fuels were introduced in 1924…
…although they were being outlawed by New York Mayor Fiorello Henry La Guardia, an organ grinder nevertheless made an appearance in an Arrow Shirt ad that offered a lighthearted moment for all involved (except for the dude on ketamine)…
…when jeans were called “dungarees” they were reserved for gardening or fishing…at right you could land a pair of “Crazy Shoes” woven with “garish Mexican colours” for five-and-a-half bucks…
…the makers of White Rock kept it cool with this minimalist ad…
…luxury automaker Packard continued to hang on through the Depression by offering a downscale version…it appears their demographic was middle-aged men and women who still preferred the finer things even if they couldn’t afford them…
…now the property of Hearst, Otto Soglow’s Little King could still appear in The New Yorker via the advertising sections…
…and Soglow continued his contribution to the magazine’s cartoons with other multi-panel subjects…
…James Thurber kicked off the cartoonists with this tender spot…
…and contributed this cartoon…
…Alain found competition in the portrait trade…
…George Price was still afloat…
…Charles Addams was tied up with the sculptural arts…
…Denys Wortman shopped for DIY projects…
…Peter Arno found a sensitive side in one member of the NYPD…
…Mary Petty made some alterations…
…and we close with this terrific cartoon by Richard Decker…
Above: King George V and Queen Mary posed for portraits by John St Helier Lander to commemorate the king’s Silver Jubilee in 1935. (Wikipedia)
The British Royal Family has never been my cup of tea, but its hard to deny their influence on world affairs, even if today it is mostly ceremonial. The king and queen were also figureheads back in 1935, however they could still claim to lead a vast empire, albeit one badly fraying at the seams.
May 4, 1935 cover by Ilonka Karasz.
Then as now, the power of the royals lay largely in their ability to boost the political and economic fortunes of their island nation. Such was observed by The New Yorker’s Paris correspondent Janet Flanner, who penned a two-part profile of Queen Mary (nee Mary of Teck or more formally Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes; Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India). Flanner wrote the profile of Queen Mary (1867-1953) in anticipation of the Silver Jubilee of her husband, King-Emperor George V (1865-1936). Excerpts:
A DEB AND A DUKE…In 1886 Mary was a an unmarried British princess who was not descended from Queen Victoria, so she was a suitable candidate for the royal family’s most eligible bachelor, Mary’s second cousin Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale. In early December 1891 Albert Victor (left photo) proposed marriage to Mary, but he died six weeks later in the Russian flu pandemic. Less than two years later (July 1893) Albert Victor’s brother, Prince George, Duke of York, would wed Mary—at right, their wedding day photo. (Wikipedia)
Flanner noted that the King George V and Queen Mary were rated by British industrialists as the Empire’s “two best salesmen,” however it was Mary who proved the most influential whether she was buying a hat or a refrigerator. Excerpts:
SILVER AND GOLD…Top photo: to mark the king’s Silver Jubilee on May 6, 1935, King George V and Queen Mary greet their subjects from a balcony at Buckingham Palace with their grandchildren, (from left) Princess Margaret Rose, Hon. Gerald Lascelles, Princess Elizabeth, and Viscount Lascelles. Below, King George V, the Duke and Duchess of York, and Princess Elizabeth take a trip in the royal carriage, 1933. The Duke and Duchess would succeed the throne upon the death of King George in 1936 and the abdication of the Duke’s brother, Edward, that same year. (Reddit/Town & Country)
Naturally, not everyone in the kingdom was thrilled by the Silver Jubilee…
OPPOSING VIEWPOINT…The anti-monarchist cartoonist Desmond Rowney commemorated the Silver Jubilee with this cartoon in the Daily Worker. The public expense for the Silver Jubilee in the midst of a financial depression caused some controversy. (National Archives UK)
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Corn-fed Canvasses
Critic Lewis Mumford, like many East Coast intellectuals, was allergic to the over-patriotic and the sentimental, so when it came to assessing the work of the regionalist painter Grant Wood (1891-1942), Mumford found himself perplexed but hopeful that Wood would one day “find himself” and produce “first rate” art.
FLANKING THE ICONIC painting American Gothic (1930) are Grant Wood’s Self Portrait (1932) and, at right, Arnold Comes of Age (1930). Lewis Mumford considered American Gothic to be Wood’s best work. (figgeartmuseum.org/whitney.org/sheldonartmuseum.org)
Mumford did not mince words, however, when it came to Wood’s contemporary landscapes, which he called “unmitigatedly bad…If that is what the vegetation of Iowa is like, the farmers ought to be able to sell their corn for chewing gum…”
BUBBLEGUM TREES…From 1919 to 1925, Grant Wood taught junior high art in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The seasonal nature of teaching allowed Wood to take summer trips to Europe to study art, and his early work showed strong post-impressionist influences, including his impressionistic Vegetable Farm (top) from 1924; below, Mumford thought Grant’s later landscapes looked like they were made of cotton and sponge rubber, including Near Sundown, from 1933. (wikiart.org)HOPE AND NOPE…Mumford wrote that Wood’s more “hopeful” works included, top left, Death on Ridge Road and, top right, Adolescence. On the other hand, he found the portraiture in Dinner for Threshers (bottom) vacuous, suggesting “a color photograph of a model of Life in Iowa done for a historical museum.” (wikiart.org/figgeartmuseum.org)
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Daring Young Man
“The Talk of the Town” paid a visit to William Saroyan (1908–1981), an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer who would go on to receive a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940 and a 1943 Academy Award for Best Story for the film The Human Comedy. An excerpt:
HIGH WIRE ACT…The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze and Other Stories (1934) was the first collection of 26 short stories by William Saroyan (pictured here in 1940). The book became an immediate bestseller. (Wikipedia)
* * *
Not Long For Long
In his column “Of All Things,” Howard Brubaker noted that the “loose talk” of Huey Long, a U.S. Senator from Louisiana and prominent critic of the New Deal, could be squelched by a Senate vote. As it turned out, it wouldn’t be necessary; Long was felled by an assassin’s bullet four months later.
* * *
Ode to Abode
E.B. White turned to verse to offer his thoughts on where one should live:
* * *
Tough Guys
After a musical comedy, a Shakespeare adaptation (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and another comedy, James Cagney returned to familiar form with an exciting crime drama, G Men. Critic John Mosher was pleased that Cagney was back to tap-dancing with machine guns rather than showgirls.
CRIME PAYS…AT THE BOX OFFICE… James Cagney takes aim at his new role as a federal agent James “Brick” Davis in G Men. With the Hays Code in force, Warner Brothers made the film to counteract what many leaders claimed was a disturbing trend of glorifying criminals in gangster films. (Still from film)
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From Our Advertisers
According to General Motors’ Fischer division, good taste was in order whether you were choosing a spouse or an automobile…
…New Yorker ads continued to display bright colors to sell everything from cars to whiskey to sparkling water (with apparent health benefits)…
…the shadowy Dubonnet mascot was back, here making the claim (against the wisdom of the ages) that a lunchtime drink will clear your head for the afternoon ahead…
…no health claims here from Penn Maryland, just pure magic as depicted by Otto Soglow…
…and what goes better with whiskey than the Kentucky Derby…
…the 1935 Kentucky Derby was won by Omaha, a three-year-old Thoroughbred; he was the third horse to ever win the Triple Crown (Omaha was the son of Gallant Fox, the 1930 U.S. Triple Crown winner)…
Omaha in 1935 (Wikipedia)
…on the subject of Thoroughbreds, Camel offered up testimonials from top athletes in a variety of sports…they all agreed that the cigarettes “don’t get your wind”…so what did that mean?…according to R.J. Reynolds, “It means you can smoke Camels all you want”…
…Camels also calmed the nerves, and so apparently did Chesterfields…
…on to our cartoonists, we begin with a spot by Charles Addams at the top of page 2…
…later in the issue James Thurber contributed this drawing to stretch across the bottom of page 62 (“On and Off the Avenue”)…
…Thurber again, with the life of the party…
…William Steig offered up a page-full of wits…
…plus one more on the preceding page…
…Gluyas Williams continued to follow the strange ways of club life in America…
…and we close with Alan Dunn, and service with a smile…
A New Yorker State of Mind 