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…
Above: A German American Bund parade in New York City on East 86th Street. Oct. 30, 1937. (Library of Congress)
Among the many ethnic enclaves of 1930s New York City was a neighborhood that was feeling the influence of world events, and not necessarily in a good way.
July 13, 1935 cover by Helen Hokinson. One of the first cartoonists to be published in The New Yorker, she appeared in the magazine for the first time in the July 4, 1925 issue. She contributed 68 covers and more than 1,800 cartoons to the magazine.
Journalist Chester L. Morrison looked at life among German immigrants on the Upper East Side for “A Reporter at Large.” Under the title “Muenchen Im Kleinen” (Little Munich), Morrison examined the everyday life of the Yorkville district between East 79th and East 96th streets.
Germans had settled in New York City almost from its first days, and by 1885 the city had the third-largest German-speaking population in the world, outside of Vienna and Berlin, the majority settling in what is today the East Village. Following the General Slocum disaster in 1904, German settlement migrated to Yorkville, which was commonly referred to as Germantown. Here are excerpts of Morrison’s observations:
ENCLAVE…Clockwise, from top left, Rudi and Maxl’s Brau-Haus at 239 East 86th; Oktoberfest celebration in Yorkville, undated; Walker Evans photo with Rupert Brewery sign in the background; the Yorkville neighborhood in the 1930s with the old Third Avenue El in the background. (postcardhistory.net/boweryboyshistory.com/metmuseum/gothamcenter.org)
With the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany in the 1930s, a pro-Hitler group called the German-American Bund began to organize street rallies and marches on 86th Street and on 2nd Avenue. Although they represented a minority of German settlers, the Bund made itself visible in parades and other public events that culminated in a mass demonstration at Madison Square Garden in 1939. The Bund also organized training camps for young men outside of the city, such as Camp Siegfried in Yaphank, L.I.
Morrison noted that Yorkville homes looked like many others across the city, that is until you saw the pictures on their walls.
SCOUT’S HONOR?…At a German-American Bund camp in Andover, New Jersey, young campers stand at attention as the American flag and the German-American Youth Movement flag are lowered at sundown, July 21, 1937. (AP)THE MADNESS OF CROWDS…A German-American Bund color guard marches through Madison Square Garden, Feb. 20, 1939. (AP)
* * *
Garden Varieties
Now for a palate cleanser as we turn to Lois Long and her “Tables For Two” column, in which she examined the confluence of hotel gardens and marriage proposals. Excerpts:
OASIS…Lois Long recommended the Hotel Marguery’s formal garden as a place to “fritter away” an afternoon. The hotel was demolished in 1957 to make way for the Union Carbide Building. (Museum of the City of New York)A COOL, SWISS CHALET was how Long described the new Alpine Room in the basement of the Gotham Hotel. (daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com)
Long continued as she set her sights on Brooklyn…
HE WILL LIKELY SAY YES, according to Long, if you got your beau to accompany you to the roof of the Hotel Bossert in Brooklyn. (brownstoner.com)THE TUNEFUL SURROUNDINGS of the Famous Door were a bit too crowded for Long, however this group seems to have had plenty of room to enjoy the greats Ben Webster, Eddie Barefield, Buck Clayton, and Benny Morton on stage at the Famous Door in 1947. (Wikipedia)
* * *
Monster Mash-up
Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi are synonymous with 1930s monster flicks (they did eight together) but their latest outing, The Raven, left critic John Mosher wondering where the Poe was in the midst of this “sadistic trifle.”
BUDDY FILM…The Raven (which had almost nothing to do with Edgar Allen Poe’s famous narrative poem) was the third of eight films that featured Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. According to film historian Karina Longworth, thanks to a wave of monster movie hits in the 1930s, these two middle-aged, foreign, struggling actors became huge stars. (cerealatmidnight.com)TYPECAST? WHO CARES?…Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in 1932. Despite being monster movie rivals, the two seemed get along well off-screen, perhaps appreciating their mutual good fortune. (beladraculalugosi.wordpress.com)
* * *
Ode to Education
Clarence Day, best known for his Life With Father stories, also contributed a number of cartoons to The New Yorker that were accompanied by satirical poems…here he examines attempts at education in the arts and sciences…
* * *
From Our Advertisers
We start at the back of the book, and a couple of one-column ads (appearing on the opposite sides of the same page) that catered to very different clientele…
…the makers of Lincoln luxury cars knew the type of client they were fishing for here…
…pin-up artist George Petty continued exploring his beauty and the beast theme on behalf of Old Gold cigarettes…
…and Camel offered more reasons why you should smoke your way to athletic glory…
…this inside back cover advertisement reminds us that we are indeed back in 1935…
…as does this one from Dr. Seuss, with a shot of insecticide for a talking toddler…
…on to our cartoonists, beginning with Charles Addams and some Navy hijincks…
…Gluyas Williams offered his latest take on American club life…
…William Steig took us to summer camp…
…Otto Soglow looked for a good night’s rest…
…Mary Petty explored the latest in bathing fashions…
…Perry Barlow introduced us to some proud parents…
…and to close with Helen Hokinson, who showed us some innocents abroad…
Above: Seated in front of a massive Technicolor camera, Rouben Mamoulian directs Miriam Hopkins (also inset) in Becky Sharp, the first feature shot entirely in three-color Technicolor. The film was based on character from William Makepeace Thackeray's 1848 novel Vanity Fair. (UCLA Film & Television Archive)
Rouben Mamoulian’s 1935 production of Becky Sharp wasn’t the first color film, but it was the first feature film to use the newly developed three-strip Technicolor process throughout, setting a standard for color films to come.
June 22, 1935 cover by Constantin Alajalov. A New Yorker contributor for thirty-four years, Alajalov (1900–1987) illustrated 170 covers for the magazine. Check out the treasure trove at Ink Spillfor more on Alajalov and all things New Yorker.
Earlier color processes included films that were hand-tinted. Others used various dyes and techniques that included photographing a black-and-white film behind alternating red/orange and blue/green filters, and then projecting them through red and green filters. The inability to reproduce the full color spectrum, among other issues, had many critics dismissing the idea of color films altogether.
Mamoulian was fascinated by the possibilities of color film; by producing (and later directing) the film, he showcased the advancements in Technicolor. Film critic John Mosher had these observations:
THIS IS A TEST…Considered a landmark in cinema as the first feature film to use the newly developed three-strip Technicolor production throughout, in many ways the film validated this advanced color technology. Top photo, Miriam Hopkins portrayed Becky Sharp, a socially ambitious woman (seen here with Cedric Hardwicke) who climbs the British social ladder with the help of her best friend, Amelia Sedley (Frances Dee, bottom photo). (Wikipedia/Amazon)IT WAS FUN ANYWAY…Critic John Mosher was thrilled by the swirl of colors in the ballroom scene, even if flying red cloaks weren’t an aspect of William Makepeace Thackeray’s 1848 novel Vanity Fair. The film, however, was actually based on an 1899 play by Langdon Mitchell, who named his play after one of the characters in Thackeray’s novel. (blu-ray.com)WHOLE NEW WORLD…Rouben Mamoulian, Miriam Hopkins, visitor Michael Balcon, and Kenneth Macgowan on the set of Becky Sharp. According to film historian Marc Spergel, “Mamoulian was fascinated by color…He saw in the color process another opportunity for innovations that would set a standard for the new technology…His interest lay in choosing color for psychological effect rather than mere realistic reproduction or decorative dividends. With the advent of color processing, particularly Technicolor processing—with its non-realistic, supersaturated color—Mamoulian could approach the film medium like a painter with a palette.” (Wikipedia)
Mosher also checked out the latest from Robert Montgomery and Joan Crawford, who exchanged marital banter in No More Ladies, while George Raft went all gangster in Dashiell Hammett’sThe Glass Key.
HIGH FIDELITY…Top photo, socialite Marcia (Joan Crawford) is determined to keep her husband (Robert Montgomery) faithful in No More Ladies; below, George Raft does what he does best (playing a gangster) in The Glass Key. (jacksonupperco.com/notesoncinematograph.blogspot.com)
* * *
Astor’s Risk
“The Talk of the Town” paid a visit to the Real Estate Exchange, where Vincent Astor re-acquired the St. Regis Hotel for five million and change. He then sunk another $500,000 (roughly $12 million today) into the hotel to further its luxurious status (including adding air-conditioning). The hotel’s famed King Cole Room and the Maisonette Russe restaurant opened in October 1935. Excerpts:
GOOD INVESTMENT…At left, Fifth Avenue facade of the St. Regis as seen in 2022. Right, entrance to the King Cole bar in the 55th Street annex. Thanks in part to the repeal of Prohibition, the hotel’s restaurant business increased by 300 percent between 1935 and 1937. (Wikipedia)
* * *
School Days
James Thurber recalled his “tough” years at Sullivant School in Columbus, Ohio, in the essay, “I Went to Sullivant.” Brief excerpts:
ALMA MATER…The Sullivant School James Thurber attended was completed in 1871 and was a school until 1923 when it became the offices for Columbus City Schools. This photo was taken shortly before it was demolished in 1961. (columbuslibrary.org)
* * *
Avril en juin
Paris correspondent Janet Flanner gave a rundown on the latest happenings, including the Toulouse-Lautrec costume ball that attracted none other than Jane Avril, the famed French can-can dancer of the 1890s who could still kick up her heels. Flanner gave Avril’s age at 80, but records indicate she was closer to 70.
STILL KICKING…Jane Avril (1868–1943) was a French can-can dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Paris and a frequent subject of painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The wispy Avril, known for her jerky movements and sudden contortions, was nicknamed La Mélinite, after an explosive. At top left, Avril in her heyday circa 1890s; at right, Avril at the 1935 Toulouse-Lautrec costume ball. Read more about Avril’s strange life at one of my favorite “rabbit hole” sites, Messy Nessy. (messynessychic.com/Pinterest)An 1893 Toulouse-Lautrec lithograph featuring Jane Avril, a lifelong friend of the artist. Avril commissioned this print to advertise her cabaret show at the Jardin de Paris. (met museum.org)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
We begin with the inside front cover, Johnnie Walker strutting along at the horse races…
…the inside back cover belonged to Arrow Shirts…
…and no surprise that the back cover featured a stylish woman enjoying a cigarette, in this case a Lucky…
…Packard continued to run these colorful, wordy ads that made the case for owning a lower-priced Packard, which I’m sure was a fine automobile…
…John Hanrahan, who early on served as The New Yorker’s policy council and guided it through its lean first years, became the publisher of Stage magazine (formerly The Theatre Guild Magazine) in 1932. In 1933 Stage became part of the Ultra-Class Magazine Group’s line-up that included Arts & Decoration and The Sportsman. Stage published its last issue in 1939, and I don’t believe the other two survived the 1930s either…this Mark Simonson site looks at the striking design elements of an issue from 1938…
…a couple from back of the book…calling Europe by telephone in 1935 was an impressive feat, however it could cost you roughly $700 in today’s dollars to make a three-minute call to London…the one-column ad at right offered an Anglophilic appeal to those visiting Cleveland…
…this simple spot for Dole pineapple juice caught my eye because it was illustrated by Norman Z. McLeod (1898–1964), who drew Christie Comedy title cards during the Silent Era…
McLeod was also an acclaimed director of Marx Brothers comedies Monkey Business (1931) and Horse Feathers (1932), W.C. Fields’It’s a Gift (1934), Danny Kaye’sThe Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) and two of the Topper films.
HE GOT AROUND…Clockwise, from top left, director Norman Z. McLeod on the set of 1941’s Lady Be Good with actress Ann Sothern; Young’s familiar stick figure drawings on title cards for the 1928 silent short Loose Change; Cary Grant and Constance Bennett with Roland Young in 1937’s Topper. (TCM.com/silentology.wordpress.com/charlesmatthews.blogspot.com)
…Dr. Seuss was back with his Flit advertisements…
…Richard Decker illustrated this ad for Borden’s “Golden Crest” Farm Products…
…which segues into our cartoonists, and this curious spot drawing by James Thurber…
…Perry Barlow gave us the early days of the “Bed and Breakfast”…
…Peter Arno, and no rest for the titans of industry…
…Gluyas Williams continued to take a sideways glance at Club Life in America”…
…from George Price…back in the day, tattoos were usually confined to sailors and longshoreman…this particular fellow found himself with some outdated ink…
…Kemp Starrett took us ringside…
…Mary Petty reflected on a bit of narcissism…
…and we close with William Steig, and mixed feelings about the summer season…
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: 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)
* * *
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)
* * *
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)
* * *
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.”
* * *
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…
Lois Long employed the Prohibition-era slang term “Everything’s Jake” (“it’s all good”) to headline her latest installment of “Tables for Two.” If you’ve been following the exploits of our nightlife correspondent in this blog, you might recall that for a time in the early thirties she found the New York club scene lackluster, without the daring and grit of the speakeasy era. Lately, however, she was finding some new adventures after dark.
Jan. 19, 1935 cover by Constantin Alajalov.
Long checked out the Revue Folies Bergère at the Earl Carroll Theatre, which had been renamed the French Casino, as well as the cavernous Flying Trapeze and the refurbished Hollywood Restaurant, headlined by crooner Rudy Vallée.
FROLIC AND FOLLY…Clockwise, from top left, a Dec. 24, 1934 Herald-Tribune advertisement for the Revue Folies Bergère, the show that opened the new French Casino; a bubble dance as part of the revue, circa 1936; the interior of the French Casino, view from the stage; interior view of former lounge underneath the balcony converted to a cocktail lounge for the French Casino. (Images from Chris Arena and Anthony L’Abbate via drivingfordeco.com/MCNY)THE SERPENTINE WRITHINGS of dancers Harald and Lola (Harold Liebmann and Lola Werbesz) dazzled Lois Long during a Folies Bergère performance at the French Casino…They are seen here performing at New York’s Shubert Theatre during their first U.S. tour in 1932. (roosvt.com)OTHER NIGHTLY DISTRACTIONS…Clockwise, from top left, postcard image of the cavernous Flying Trapeze Restaurant; Lois Long missed Sally Rand’s bubble dance at the Paradise, but she did catch a swell show at the Hollywood Cabaret at 48th and Broadway featuring Rudy Vallee, seen here on a 1935 postcard; exterior of the Hollywood Cabaret, circa 1935. (Pinterest)NAUGHTY OR NICE…Lois Long was astonished by the female impersonators at the “naughty” Club Richmond…the club’s performers included Harvey Lee. (ualr.edu)
Long also checked out the “naughty” Club Richmond, and returned to the Central Park Casino, which was not long for the world.
* * *
The Cost of Living
In 1934 Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt famously lost custody of her daughter, Gloria Laura Vanderbilt, to her sister-in-law Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Granted limited parental rights, Gloria Morgan was allowed to see her daughter on weekends in New York, but the court had removed GMV as administrator of her daughter’s trust fund, her only source of support. Howard Brubaker had this to say in his column “Of All Things.”
WHAT’S A MOTHER TO DO? Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt in a 1933 photo. Inset, daughter Gloria Laura Vanderbilt in 1935. (Duke University)
* * *
Too Much of a Good Thing
The French automaker Citroën established its reputation for innovation with the 1934 Traction Avant—the first car to be mass-produced with front-wheel drive, four-wheel independent suspension, and unibody construction. However, the cost of making all of these swell improvements—including the tearing down and rebuilding of company’s factory in just five months—led to the financial ruin of the company. After Citroën filed for bankruptcy in December 1934, its largest creditor, the tire-making giant Michelin, swept in to become the principal shareholder
Not only did Citroën lose control of its car company, it also lost its claim to the world’s largest advertising sign. Four nine years Citroën had its brand name emblazoned on the Eiffel Tower, but with bankruptcy (high electricity bills didn’t help) the company was forced to turn off the sign. Paris correspondent Janet Flanner had this observation:
CAN’T MISS IT…From 1925 to 1934, 125,000 glowing lights advertised the Citroën brand on the Eiffel Tower. At right, the company’s innovative 1934 Traction Avant. (Pinterest)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
The National Motor Boat Show replaced the New York Auto Show as the main attraction at the Grand Central Palace…
…the folks at Pond’s found another Vanderbilt to shill for their cold cream, Muriel Vanderbilt, a socialite and noted thoroughbred racehorse owner…she is joined here by Washington Debutante Katrina McCormick, who was also a fancier of the horse circuit…
…the famed slogan Guinness is Good for You was launched in 1929, and apparently there is some truth to the claim (antioxidants, according to a University of Wisconsin study), and no doubt it was kinder to one’s morning head than other libations…
…if you preferred the stronger stuff, you could take the advice of cartoonist Peter Arno and Penn Maryland Whiskey, here making a play on words with the title of the 1925 novel (and Broadway play) Gentleman Prefer Blondes…
…here’s Arno again, with a touching moment among the upper crust…
…Mary Petty also looked in on the gilded set, and a callous young toff…
…but down in the lower classes, George Price found the youth quite engaging…
…Alain looked in on a formidable ping-pong opponent…
…Barbara Shermund was evesdropping backstage at a Broadway revue…
…and we close with James Thurber, and a polite suggestion…
Above, left, a 1935 portrait of Gertrude Stein by Carl Van Vechten; right, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas arriving in New York aboard the French Line’s SS Champlain in 1934. (Library of Congress/AP)
Much of America’s literary world was abuzz about the arrival of Gertrude Stein in New York after her nearly three-decade absence from the States. Audiences were mostly receptive to Stein’s lectures, even if they were largely unintelligible, but The New Yorker would have none of it.
Nov. 17, 1934 cover by Rea Irvin.
Stein (1874–1946) visited the U.S. at the urging of friends who suggested that a lecture tour might help her gain an American audience for her work. She crisscrossed the country for 191 days, delivering seventy-four lectures in thirty-seven cities.
Writing for the Smithsonian Magazine (October 2011), Senior Editor Megan Gambino notes that publishing houses regarded Stein’s writing style as incomprehensible (Gambino writes that shortly after her arrival in the U.S., “psychiatrists speculated that Stein suffered from palilalia, a speech disorder that causes patients to stutter over words or phrases”), but in 1933 “she at last achieved the mass appeal she desired when she used a clearer, more direct voice” in The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. However, Stein was still best known in the U.S. for her “insane” writings, as one New York Times reporter described Stein’s work upon the writer’s arrival in New York. Excerpts from the Oct. 25, 1934 edition of the Times:
Stein had also achieved success in America via her libretto to Virgil Thomson’s opera Four Saints in Three Acts. Prior to her visit, Stein was featured in a newsreel reading the “pigeon” passage from the libretto, which James Thurber satirized in this piece titled “There’s An Owl In My Room.” Excerpts.
Here is a YouTube clip of the newsreel satirized by Thurber. Stein begins her “pigeon” reading at the 30-second mark:
If Thurber found the libretto ridiculous, it was an opinion not necessarily shared by audiences who attended Four Saints in Three Acts, which premiered in Hartford, Connecticut, before making a six-week run on Broadway.
SAINTS AND PIGEONS…The original cast of Four Saints in Three Acts, onstage at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, 1934; at right, Gertrude Stein reviews the libretto for Four Saints with American composer Virgil Thomson, 1934. (Harold Swahn/Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley)
Since Stein had never seen the opera performed, writer and photographer Carl Van Vechten convinced Stein and Toklas to fly on an airplane for the first time in order to be able to see the play in Chicago.
FLIGHT INSURANCE…Stein and Toklas were anxious about flying, so Van Vechten gave each a small Zuni fetish—a good luck charm as they prepared to board their plane at Newark. (Boatwright Memorial Library, The University of Richmond)
Thurber wasn’t the only New Yorker writer to throw shade on Stein’s visit. In his “Books” column, Clifton Fadiman described Stein as a “mamma of dada” and a “Keyserling in divided skirts” (Hermann Keyserling was a non-academic German philosopher known for his platitudinous, obscure writings). Excerpt:
Fadiman continued by excoriating Stein’s latest book, Portraits and Prayers, likening its “shrill, incantatory” quality to “the rituals of a small child at solitary play.”
* * *
Over the Rainbow
We leave Gertrude Stein for the time being and check in with Lois Long, who was sampling the fall attractions of the New York nightclub scene in “Tables for Two.” In these excerpts, the 32-year-old Long continued her pose as a much older woman (“about to settle down with a gray shawl”) as she bemoaned the bourgeoisie excess of places like the Colony, once known for its boho, speakeasy atmosphere. And then there was the Rainbow Room, with its organ blaring full blast to the delight of gawking tourists.
LOST IN NEW YORK…Lois Long lamented the demise of cafe life in Manhattan; from left, the Colony, circa 1940, which went from boho to upscale; the 21 Club, a favorite Prohibition-era haunt of Long’s where she was suddenly a nobody; and high above the city, the Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room, and its interminable organ music. (Pinterest/Alice Lum via Daytonian in Manhattan/nycago.org)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
Just one ad from the Nov. 17 issue (more to come below)…the latest athlete to attest to the energizing effects of Camel cigarettes…Cliff Montgomery (1910–2005) was famed for a hidden ball trick play that led one of the greatest athletic upsets—Columbia’s 7-0 win over Stanford in the 1934 Rose Bowl. Montgomery would play one year with the NFL Brooklyn Dodgers, and would later earn a Silver Star for his heroism during World War II…
…on to our cartoonists, we begin with Robert Day’s jolly illustration for the “Goings On About Town” section…
…Rea Irvin looked into fair play among the fox hunting set…
…Garrett Price gave us a tender moment among the bones at the American Museum of Natural History…
…and Peter Arno introduced two wrestlers to an unwelcoming hostess…
…on to Nov. 24, 1934 issue, and the perils of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as illustrated on the cover by William Cotton…
Nov. 24, 1934 cover by William Cotton.
…where we find still more scorn being heaped upon Gertrude Stein. “The Talk of the Town” offered this observation (excerpt):
…and E.B. White had the last word on Stein in his Dec. 1, 1934 “Notes and Comment” column:
* * *
There Goes the Neighborhood
Returning to the Nov. 24 issue, Alberta Williams penned a lengthy “A Reporter at Large” column, titled “White-Collar Neighbors,” about the new Knickerbocker Village development in the Lower East Side. Real estate developer Fred French razed roughly one hundred buildings to build what has since been criticized as an example of early gentrification in Manhattan. Williams assessed the development after more than a year of construction, finding that despite federal funding, the leasing company had yet to rent any apartments “to Negroes or Orientals.” Although the development was meant to serve some of the families it displaced, the vast majority were forced to move back into slums due to escalating rents.
BREATHING ROOMS…Knickerbocker Village in 2019. To make way for the development, one hundred buildings were razed in the “Lung Block,” so named because of its high tuberculosis mortality rate. The development continues to be designated as affordable housing. (Wikipedia)
* * *
Dollmaker
Raised in rural Nebraska, at an early age Rose O’Neill (1874–1944) demonstrated an artistic bent, and was already a published illustrator and writer when she drew her first images of “Kewpie” around the year 1908. A German doll manufacturer began producing a doll version of Kewpie in 1913, and they became an immediate hit, making O’Neill a millionaire and for a time the highest-paid female illustrator in the world. When Alexander King penned a profile of O’Neill, Kewpies were no longer the rage, but O’Neill was nevertheless determined to find success in a new doll line. Excerpts:
QP QUEEN…Clockwise from top left, Rose O’Neill circa 1910, just before her Kewpie dolls made it big; Kewpie doll in original box, undated; as the Kewpie craze faded in the 1930s, O’Neill tried to launch a new line called Little Ho Ho, a laughing baby Buddha, but before production plans were finalized the doll factory burned to the ground; a 1935 ad for a Rose O’Neill-branded “Scootles” doll, another attempt at a comeback. (Wikipedia/Pinterest/museumobscura.com)
* * *
Last Call
Lois Long was back with another installment of “Tables for Two” and in these excerpts she found the Central Park Casino a welcome place to hang out, apparently unaware that Parks Commissioner Robert Moses had already served an eviction notice to the Casino’s owners (Moses would tear down the Casino in 1936, mostly to settle a personal vendetta). Long also found respite at the Place Piquale, which featured the musical stylings of Eve Symington.
BYE BYE…The Central Park Casino was not long for the world when Lois Long paid an enjoyable visit in November 1934. Long also found a good time at the Place Piquale, which featured the “startling,” deep voice of cabaret singer Eve Symington. (centralpark.org/Pinterest)
At the Place Piquale, Long was “grateful” to see that silent film star Louise Brooks was also a good dancer. An icon of Jazz Age flapper culture, Brooks loathed the Hollywood scene and the mediocre roles it offered, and after a stint making films in Europe she returned to the States, appearing in three more films before declaring bankruptcy in 1932. A former dancer for the Ziegfeld Follies, Brooks had turned back to dancing in nightclubs to make a living.
IT’S A LIVING…Promotional photo for the Place Piquale featuring Louise Brooks (sans her familiar flapper bob) and Dario in “Spectacular Interpretive Dances,” April 17, 1934. (books0977.tumblr.com)
…and dance remains a theme with John Mosher’s film review of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Roger musical The Gay Divorcee, which was based on the 1932 Broadway musical Gay Divorce starring Astaire and Claire Luce.
YOU WILL HAVE TO DANCE BACKWARD, IN HEELS…Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire trip the light fantastic in The Gay Divorcee. (precode.com)
* * *
Using Her Heads
Clifton Fadiman praised Peggy Bacon’s collection of caricatures, Off With Their Heads!, which included drawings of fellow New Yorker contributors as well as various Algonquin Hotel acolytes. Excerpt:
HEAD HUNTER…Peggy Bacon offered up caricatures of forty celebrities in her new book, Off With Their Heads! Bacon (1895–1987) contributed cartoons as well as poetry and fiction to The New Yorker from 1927 to 1950. Clockwise, from top left, title page with Bacon’s self-portrait; undated photo of Bacon, likely circa 1930; caricatures of Dorothy Parker, Carl Sandburg and Heywood Broun. (villagepreservation.org/printmag.com/Wikipedia–Peter A. Juley & Son)
* * *
More From Our Advertisers
“Beautiful Vanderbilts” Mrs. Reginald Vanderbilt and Miss Frederica Vanderbilt Webb wowed one unnamed dermatologist who discovered that both had 20-year-old skin even though they were seven years apart! “Mrs. Reginald” was Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, who was thirty when this ad was produced (Miss Frederica was apparently twenty-three). We’ve met Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt before, shilling for Pond’s—she was the maternal grandmother of television journalist Anderson Cooper, and earned her “bad mom” rep from Vanderbilt vs. Whitney, one of America’s most sensational custody trials…
…we move from skin care to who cares…in this case how many Spud cigs you smoke…hell, smoke three packs a day if you like, the cooling menthol will always keep you feeling fresh even as your lungs gradually darken and shrivel up…
…and here’s a lesson from the makers of Inecto hair dye, no doubt a company solely run by men, who schooled wives with the advice that you’d better color that gray hair pronto or your hubby will kick you to the curb…
…the New York American was a Hearst broadsheet known for its sensationalism, however it did claim Damon Runyon, Alice Hughes, Robert Benchley and Frank Sullivan among its contributors…the morning American merged with the New York Evening Journal to form the American and Evening Journal in 1937. That paper folded in 1966…
…illustrator Stuart Hay drew up this full page ad for the makers of Beech-Nut candy and chewing gum…when I was a kid we used to call this “grandpa gum”…
…on to our cartoonists, we begin with a Thanksgiving spot by Alain (Daniel Brustlein)…
…Barbara Shermund delivered another life of the party…
…George Price was finally bringing his floating man back to earth…
…Otto Soglow gave us an unlikely detour…
…Gardner Rea signaled the end to the 1933-34 Chicago World’s Fair…with a boom…
…Leonard Dove dialed up a familiar trope…
…and we close on a more pious note, with Mary Petty…
Above: Bill "Bojangles" Robinson demonstrating his famous stair dance, which involved a different rhythm and pitch for each step. At left, Robinson in Broadway's Blackbirds of 1928; at right, publicity photo circa 1920s. (Vandamm collection, New York Public Library/bet.com)
Bill “Bojangles” Robinson (1878–1949) is considered one of the greatest tap dancers of all time, introducing a style of remarkable lightness and complexity that was perhaps best represented by his famous stair dance.
Oct. 6, 1934 cover by Charles Alston. This was Alston’s only New Yorker cover. Active in the Harlem Renaissance, Alston was also a painter, sculptor and muralist (see more on Alston at the conclusion of this post).
St. Clair McElway wrote about the 57-year-old Robinson in a two-part profile that examined his personal life and habits, including his propensity for getting shot. Two brief excerpts:
The New Yorker profile coincided with Robinson’s rising career in films, including four he made with Shirley Temple. For the 1935 film The Little Colonel, Robinson taught the stair dance to the child star, modifying his routine to mimic her movements. Robinson and Temple became the first interracial dance partners in Hollywood history (however, the step dance scene was cut from the film shown to Southern audiences). Temple and Robinson, who became lifelong friends, also appeared together in 1935’s The Littlest Rebel, 1938’s Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and 1938’s Just Around the Corner.
DANCING WITH THE STAIRS…Bill Robinson was also known as Bojangles, a nickname from his childhood in Richmond, Virginia. Clockwise, from top left, with his second wife Fannie Clay in 1933; performing the stair dance with Shirley Temple in The Little Colonel (1935); profile illustration by Peggy Bacon; Robinson with Temple in 1938’s Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. (blackpast.org/Wikipedia)
Robinson is remembered for his generous support of fellow dancers including Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr and Ann Miller, as well as his support for the career of 1936 Olympics star Jesse Owens.
FAST IN BOTH DIRECTIONS…Robinson befriended Jesse Owens (left) after the track & field great returned from the 1936 Olympics (where Owens won four golds). Known for his generosity to his friends, Robinson helped Owens establish a successful post-Olympics career. Robinson himself was also something of a runner, having set the world record for running backward in 1922 (100 yards in 13.5 seconds). (Public domain image)
Although Robinson was the highest paid black performer of his time, his generosity with friends as well as his gambling habits left him penniless at his death from heart failure in 1949. Longtime friend Ed Sullivan paid for Robinson’s funeral, and more than 30,000 filed past his casket to pay their respects.
I’VE STILL GOT IT…Bill Robinson with Lena Horne in 1943’s Stormy Weather, a film loosely based on Robinson’s own life. (MoMA)
* * *
In a Romantic Mood
That is how St. Clair McKelway found Hollywood in two of its latest offerings, The Barretts of Wimple Street and Caravan. To his relief, he found the Hollywood version of Barretts quite “sensible”…
LET’S BE SENSIBLE…The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934) starred Fredric March and Norma Shearer in the lead roles. (TCM)
…as for Caravan, McKelway wrote that he’d “never seen a picture with so much grinning in it.” He found the “peculiar, unreal gleam” of the actors’ teeth a real distraction in closeup shots.
THAT PEPSODENT SMILE…Charles Boyer and Loretta Young showed off their pearly whites in 1934’s Caravan. (IMDB/TCM)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
The Oct. 6 issue opened with a study in contrasts: an image of two Civil War veterans swapping stories over whiskey on the inside front cover, paired with an illustration of a lithe model sheathed in the latest fashion from Bergdorf…
…the folks at Campbell’s continued to suggest that their canned soup was a delight of the elite…
…Heinz took a similar tack, showing the smart set having fun with their sandwich spreads…
…Lord & Taylor touted its “tomorrow look” in furniture…
…R.J. Reynolds continued its series of “distinguished women who preferred Camel’s “costlier tobaccos,” adding to their growing list a the “charming debutante” Evelyn Cameron Watts, who later became Evelyn Watts Fiske (1915–1976)…
…in contrast to Camel’s fashionable ads, the upstart menthol brand Kool offered a series of cheap, back-page ads featuring a smoking penguin, here in the Halloween spirit (detail)…
…another recurring back page ad was this weird spot from Satinmesh, a product that apparently helped close a woman’s “gaping pores”…those pores apparently prompted one man to ponder the eternal why…
…on to our cartoonists, we begin with a two-page spot by Carl Rose…
…James Thurber spiced up a game of ping-pong…
…Mary Petty explored the miracle of birth…
…Peter Arno discovered you’re never too old to play with toys…
…Garrett Price offered a young man’s perspective on a father’s avocation…
…Alain (Daniel Brustlein) gave us a disappointed plutocrat on vacation in Mexico…
…George Price continued to mine the humor of his “floating man” series…
…and contributed a second cartoon that featured some office hijinks…
…and Otto Soglow returned without The Little King, offering in its stead the closest thing to royalty in America…
Before we sign off, a note on the Oct. 6 cover artist, Charles Henry Alston (1907–1977). A Harlem-based painter, sculptor, illustrator, muralist and teacher, Alston was active in the Harlem Renaissance and was the first Black supervisor for the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project. In 1990, Alston’s bust of Martin Luther King Jr. became the first image of an African American displayed at the White House.
Clockwise, from top left, Charles Henry Alston’s 1970 bust of Martin Luther King Jr; Walking 1958; Andrew Herman photo of Alston, 1939; Midnight Vigil, 1936. (Smithsonian/Wikipedia/Columbia.edu)
Above: Final Design of Grand Central Terminal, ca. 1910. (New York Transit Museum)
The heat wave of 1934 spread misery from the Midwest to the East Coast. The temperature in New York City hit 101 degrees F (38.3 C) on June 29, and July recorded at least ten days of temps in the mid- to upper 90s. It must have been miserable in the days before air-conditioning, and since no adult would dare be seen in public wearing shorts and a t-shirt, an outing on a crowded tour boat, as illustrated below by William Cotton, must have been hellish.
July 21, 1934 cover by William Cotton.
…putting a fine point on it, recall this wryly captioned cartoon from the June 30 issue by Garrett Price…
…but let us move ahead to the July 28 issue, where E.B. White was hopefully keeping his cool in the men’s waiting room at Grand Central Station, where he plunked down a nickel to cool his heels in the “middle class” section, where he observed side attractions including a vending machine that dispensed handkerchiefs and a coin-operated peep show featuring burlesque star Sally Rand.
NO MASHERS ALLOWED…Separate men’s and ladies’ rooms were available in three classes at Grand Central Station—free, five cents and ten cents. Top, the Ladies’ room, Grand Central Terminal (Central Lines), and below, a men’s room at the station. A nickel back then was worth about a dollar today. (Library of Congress)NICKEL AND DIMED…Machines similar to these could be found in some men’s waiting rooms at train stations in the 1930s. (pinballhistory.com/comics.ha.com)
…White referred to a peep show that featured famed fan dancer Sally Rand…
DOING HER DEEP KNEE BENDS…Sally Rand in the 1930s. (www.vintag.es)
White also commented on the growing number of travelers, still pinched by the Depression, opting for the free section:
We settle in with the June 21 issue (which leads this post) with White once again, this time enjoying a drive to Stamford, Conn., where he admired the “splendor” of the Condé Nast printing plant (apparently the plant also printed The New Yorker, although the magazine itself would not be acquired by Condé Nast’s parent company, Advance Publications, until 1985).
ONLY A MEMORY…Postcard image of the Condé Nast printing plant; at left, a relic of the long-gone plant, one of two pillars that flanked the road to the plant. (Greenwich Historical Society/greenwichtime.com)
* * *
Disney’s Other Mouse
Film critic John Mosher was a fan of Disney’s “Silly Symphony” cartoon shorts, which were produced between 1929 and 1939. Animation, and especially color animation, was in its infancy, so these doubtless had an uplifting effect on many moviegoers.
DON’T CALL ME TINKERBELL…The Butterfly Fairy brought some Disney magic to 1934’s The Flying Mouse. (disney.fandom.com)
* * *
The Great McGonigle
W.C. Fields appeared in more than a dozen silent films before making his first talkie, 1930’s The Golf Specialist, and it was in sound films that Fields was able to truly express his vaudevillian wit. It was also in the sound era that Fields teamed up with Baby LeRoy for three films (in 1933 and 1934), including The Old Fashioned Way, in which Fields portrayed “The Great McGonigle,” leader of a traveling (and perpetually underfunded) theater troupe who was always a step ahead of police and creditors. Critic John Mosher found the film’s riff on an old morality play, The Drunkard, to be a bit dated, but overall thought it a cheerful diversion.
HONK…Baby LeRoy, aka Ronald Le Roy Overacker (1932–2001), was just 16 months old when he became the youngest person ever put under term contract by a major studio. He is best known for his appearances in three W. C. Fields films: Tillie and Gus (1933), The Old Fashioned Way (1934) and It’s a Gift (1934). (Rotten Tomatoes/IMDB)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
We begin with scientific proof (from a “famous research laboratory in New York”) that Camel cigarettes increased one’s flow of energy…
…if that crackpot claim doesn’t get you, here’s one that recommended downing a PBR before a big meeting, a sure remedy for that “listless, tired-out feeling”…
…of course we all know that a few sugary Cokes will get you going…back then they were taking it in six- and ten-ounce bottles, not 30- to 50-ounce Big Gulps…
…it’s not every day you see a dog food ad in The New Yorker…in the 1930s there was no secret to where ol’ Sparky ended up…
…popular were these Rockwellian ads that equated various products with happy and wholesome (and safe) living, in this case a massive “Dual-Balloon” tire that dominated this tableau featuring a stylish mommy and her little boy slumming with an old sea salt…
…the folks at Essex House hired an illustrator who did his or her best to channel Helen Hokinson and William Steig for this New Yorker ad…as we have seen before, Essex House ads walked a fine line between thrift and snob appeal…
…on to our cartoons, beginning with Ned Hilton, whose work appeared in The New Yorker from 1934 to 1957…
…Mary Petty recorded some sweet nothings by the seaside…
…George Price drifted along with two men and tuba…
…Carl Rose revealed a modest side to life at a nudist colony…
…we know Clarence Day for his Life With Father series, but on occasion he also contributed illustrated poems such as this one from the July 21 issue…
…on to July 28…
July 28, 1934 cover by Adolph K. Kronengold.
…where we encounter more “scientific research” that encouraged folks to smoke…This ad was placed on the very last page of the July 28 issue by the Cigarette Research Institute, based in Louisville, Kentucky…
…the booklet was filled with “amazing facts” uncovered in a “scientific investigation,” facts did not address the health effects of smoking, but rather such important topics as how to hold a cigarette the right way and how to reduce staining on your teeth…it also helpfully debunked the notion that nicotine was a “dread demon”…
…take for example this woman smoking a Lucky…now she knew how to hold a cigarette!…
…the folks at Essex House were back, aggressively playing the class/caste card…apparently if you lived there you were entitled to kick your old friends to the curb…
…the antacid and pain reliever Bromo-Seltzer was ubiquitous in 1930s medicine cabinets, but after the recipe was changed in the 1970s (all Bromides were withdrawn from the U.S. market in 1975) the brand slowly fizzled away…
…Mildred Oppenheim Melisse was a popular illustrator of ads for department stores and various household goods, including Cannon towels, here guaranteed to absorb even this man’s sweaty “flood”…
…Dr. Seuss back again for Flit, once again having no issues mixing insecticide with food preparation…
…Rea Irvin kicks off the cartoons with his Double Breasted Dowager…
…Helen Hokinson found some misplaced pity at a garden party…
…Garrett Price offered some unsolicited advice…
…Reginald Marsh filled two pages with a scene from Central Park…
…Robert Day looked for a unique experience at an auto camp…
…and we close with Barbara Shermund, and some alarming news on the domestic front…
Above: For this Hollywood-heavy post we feature stars of the 1930s—the two Joans, Joan Blondell (left) and Joan Crawford, marking the Fourth of July holiday.
The New Yorker marked the Fourth of July with this William Steig cover featuring a patriotic “strap” along the binding and one of his precocious “Small Fry”…
June 30, 1934 cover by William Steig.
We’ve been looking at ways New Yorkers kept their cool in the hot summer of 1934, and one way to beat the heat was to escape into the air-conditioned darkness of a movie theater. It was not uncommon for folks to remain seated after the credits rolled and watch the feature all over again, just enjoy some cold comfort.
Film critic John Mosher no doubt enjoyed this particular perk, and perhaps this made him a bit more agreeable to whatever was playing on the big screen, including three rather dull pictures featuring actresses Marion Davies, Kay Francis and Elissa Landi.
Marion Davies (1897–1961) was the veteran of the group, beginning her film career in 1917 and appearing in thirty silent films before breaking into sound movies. Sadly, her talents as an actress and comedian were overshadowed by her reputation as William Randolph Hearst’s mistress. Known for her aristocratic bearing, Austrian-American actress Elissa Landi (1904–1948) appeared in several British silents and on Broadway before signing with Fox Films in 1931. Kay Francis (1905–1968) began her film career with the advent of sound movies in 1929. A major box-office draw for Warner Brothers, by 1935 Francis was one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors (she was also a former roommate and longtime friend of The New Yorker’s Lois Long).
BEFORE SCARLETT AND RHETT…Gary Cooper and Marion Davies as star-crossed lovers in the 1934 Civil War drama Operator 13. Davies portrayed actress Gail Loveless, recruited by the Union to infiltrate a Confederate camp, where she falls for Capt. Jack Gailliard, a Confederate officer played by Cooper. (IMDB)
Perhaps one of the more notorious examples of a white actor in blackface, Operator 13 featured Davies as a Union spy who poses as a Black maid to infiltrate a Confederate camp…
FOOLING NO ONE…Marion Davies, in blackface, with Sam McDaniel in Operator 13. (IMDB)PLAYING DOCTOR…Kay Francis and Warren William in the 1934 Pre-Code drama Dr. Monica. (IMDB)JUST KEEP PRETENDING UNTIL THE CREDITS…From left, Adolphe Menjou, Elissa Landi, and David Manners in the 1934 romantic comedy The Great Flirtation. (IMDB)
* * *
Sentimental Journey
Another critic enjoying the cool of the theater was Robert Benchley, who used this break in the Broadway season to reveal his passions regarding a number of stage actresses. An excerpt:
BENCHLEY’S BROADWAY…Robert Benchley’s all-time favorite Broadway actresses included, from top row, left to right, Maud Adams, Florence Reed, Gladys Hanson, and Charlotte Walker; second row, from left, Laura Hope Crews, Julia Marlowe, Maxine Elliott, and Ethel Barrymore; third row, Janet Beecher, Ina Claire, Marguerite Clark, and Jane Cowl; fourth row, Elsie Ferguson, Martha Hedman, Marjorie Rambeau, and Pauline Frederick. (NYPL/Wikipedia/IMDB)
* * *
A Poke at Palooka
In his column “Of All Things,” Howard Brubaker took a shot below the belt at the new heavyweight boxing champ, Max Baer.
WHO SEZ I CAN’T READ?…Max Baer in the 1930s. (boxing.fandom.com/wiki)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
It was hot outside, folks were cooling off with their favorite beverages, and advertisers responded in kind…we begin with a familiar green bottle, and with apologies to Max Baer, you didn’t need to know how to read to know this was a bottle of Perrier…
…if your taste was more on the domestic side, there was White Rock…
…a series of Hoffman Club Soda ads sought to convince consumers about their superior carbonation…
…or how about a brandy, perhaps lightly chilled, especially if it’s late in the evening, and you happen to be sitting on a breezy hotel rooftop…
…or you could cool down with a Lion beer…considered a heritage brewery, Lion Brewery is one of only ten pre-Prohibition breweries that has independently and continuously operated since the repeal of Prohibition…
…a fairly new brand of cigarettes, Marlboro, was still taking out these bargain-sized ads to build brand recognition…Flit insecticide, on the other hand, was well-known thanks to these ubiquitous Dr. Seuss ads…
…the folks at General Tire & Rubber were the latest advertiser to tie their product to the glamour of aviation…
…and on to our cartoons, we begin with another installment of native birds via Rea Irvin…
…Al Frueh chimed in with this three-panel encounter at a nudist colony…
…Robert Day presented a case of indigestion…
…Garrett Price welcomed us aboard a dream cruise…
…George Price gave us this gem in the “Goings On About Town” section,,,
…Gardner Rea gave us his spare line to illustrate an enormous space…one of his specialties…
…Gilbert Bundy marked the Fourth with an entitled jaywalker…
…and we close with Mary Petty, and a banker’s contentment…
A New Yorker State of Mind 