Above: E.B. White noted the sounds of late summer ranging from jackhammers (that sounded like cicadas) to the songs of katydids predicting an early frost. (pafa.org/Ellyn B/Flickr/nwf.org)
For roughly four decades E.B. White’s “Notes and Comment” set the tone for each issue of The New Yorker, offering observations on daily life that sometimes were compiled from his “disarranged notes.”
September 5, 1936 cover by Adolph K. Kronengold.
For the September 5 issue White offered brief comments on everything from the German military buildup to the romantic life of singer Bobby Arnst.
SHE WENT APE OVER TARZAN…Photo at left: Singer/dancer Bobbe Arnst shares a laugh with her first husband, Tarzan star Johnny Weissmuller—apparently her second marriage to divorce attorney Robert Cavenaugh wasn’t so full of yuks; White also noted the cicada-like sounds of air drills tearing up old trolley car lines—at right is the 1936 painting “End of 14th Street Crosstown Line” by early New Yorker contributor Reginald Marsh. The urban realist Marsh juxtaposed workers tearing up tracks with picketers demonstrating against Ohrbach’s, which would not allow employees to unionize. (whosdatedwho.com/pafa.org)
White also cited Cosmopolitan magazine regarding “the age of accumulation” (twenty-five to thirty-five), and noted the average speed of rival ocean liners for “New Yorkers hastening to the Scottish moors for the grouse shooting…”
CONSUMER REPORT…White cited Cosmopolitan regarding “the age of accumulation,” and considered the average speeds of the world’s fastest ocean liners, France’s SS Normandie (top), and Great Britain’s RMS Queen Mary. (instagram.com/ucla.edu)
* * *
Sounds of Music
Paris correspondent Janet Flanner moved on from the Nazi Olympics in Berlin to the foothills of the Alps for the Salzburg Music Festival, where German dramatic soprano Lotte Lehmann and Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini made music together.
DRAMATIC DUO…Dramatic soprano Lotte Lehmann and conductor Arturo Toscanini were the big draw at the 1936 Salzburg Music Festival, which also featured the debut of the Trapp Family Singers, who were encouraged by Lehmann to enter the Salzburg Festival contest. (taminoautographs.com via stolpersteine-salzburg.at/en)
In August 1936 Lehmann discovered the Trapp Family Singers (made famous in 1965’s The Sound of Music). While approaching a villa available to let, Lehmann overheard the Trapp children singing in their garden. Due to her fame, Lehmann was able to persuade Captain Georg Von Trapp to allow his children to perform at Salzburg Festival.
Flanner also marveled at the Austria’s Grossglockner High Alpine Road—with the highest pass in Europe—and noted the bitter struggle between Nazis and Social Democrats that was dividing Austrians less than two years before the Anschluss, the German annexation of Austria.
GETTING HIGH…At left, the Grossglockner High Alpine Road (Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse); at right, the Hohensalzburg Fortress (Festung Hohensalzburg) a large medieval fortress that is a prominent landmark in the city of Salzburg, Austria. Flanner noted that unbeknownst to gawking tourists, the fortress contained political prisoners. (Wikipedia)
* * *
At the Movies
John Mosher found Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers at the top of their game in the musical comedy Swing Time, but lamented the stodgy and laborious plot that burdened the non-dancing scenes.
BUSTING SOME MOVES are Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in Swing Time. The film was the sixth of ten films starring Astaire and Rogers. (goldenageofcinemasite.wordpress.com)
Mosher also had a look at Girl’s Dormitory, which introduced audiences to the young French actress Simone Simon, and also checked out the latest Myrna Loy flick.
THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM…Clockwise from top left: Set at a Swiss boarding school, Girl’s Dormitory is a story about a middle-aged school director (Herbert Marshall) who resists the attentions of a forty-something professor (Ruth Chatterton) and instead hooks up with a 19-year-old student (Simone Simon);1936 photo of Simon by George Hurrell—Simon is is perhaps best remembered for her role in the 1942 American horror film Cat People and its sequel; Claire Trevor, Warner Baxter, and Myrna Loy in To Mary—with Love; cover of Movie Parade, a book on movie history when the history of film was just three decades old. (imdb.com/facebook.com)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
The magazine opened with another enticing photo from Grace Line depicting an ocean cruise before the days of water slides, buffet lines and norovirus…
…some one-column selections from the back of the book, including an ad from the Camel Pen Company introducing an innovative fountain pen that contained a dry ink pellet—the user added water to dissolve the pellet into a year’s supply of ink…
…these days most of us use ball-point pens, and we are also so accustomed to automatic doors that they no longer seem “magic” as they did in the 1930s…
WONDERS NEVER CEASE…In 1931, Wilcox’s Pier Restaurant in West Haven, Connecticut featured the first automatic doors in America, invented by Stanley. (cbsnews.com)
…New York artist Sheila Raleigh employed the desert island trope to sell some beer for Jacob Ruppert…
…the inside back cover popped with this ad for the streamlined V-12 Lincoln Zephyr…
…the “Talk of the Town” occasionally featured these illustrated mini-bios, here highlighting Jesse Owens’ record-setting performance at the 1936 Olympics (illustration by William Cotton)…
…a couple of spots by George Shellhase…
…and Richard Taylor…
…Helen Hokinson gave us frenemies at a dog show…
…James Thurber looked out for cockroaches…
…Otto Soglow found a new use for a bass case…
…Soglow again, demonstrating the wonders of radio advertising…
…Alain showed us a man with a cagey cane…
…Peter Arno illustrated the trials of working with extras…
…Rea Irvin continued to chronicle achievements in industry (Peruna was a well-known patent medicine sold from the late-19th to mid-20th century—with its high alcohol content, Americans drank large amounts of Peruna during Prohibition)…
…a beat cop receives an unlikely confession, per Whitney Darrow Jr…
…and we close with Alan Dunn, in a forgettable situation…
Above: Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland in "Anthony Adverse". (tcm.com)
Epic costume dramas were all the rage in the 1930s, doubtless due to their escapist qualities (escape from the Depression and fears of war, among other things) and the cool comforts of a movie palace during a decade of exceptionally hot summers (yes, once again I’m leading with a movie. Nevertheless, some tasty bits ahead!).
August 29, 1936 cover by William Steig.
Unlike MGM’s Romeo and Juliet, which lost money, Anthony Adverse was Warner Brothers’ most popular release in 1936, a nearly two-and-a-half-hour film featuring the seemingly ever-present Frederic March and rising star Olivia de Havilland. Based on Hervey Allen’s 1933 historical novel by the same name, New Yorker critic John Mosher gave Anthony Adverse passing marks.
COSTUMES IN MOTION…Critic John Mosher appreciated a costume drama that was also lively. Clockwise, from left: Warner Brothers promotional poster; Olivia de Havilland as Angela, the daughter of a cook who becomes Mademoiselle Georges, a famous opera star and mistress of Napoleon Bonaparte; Anita Louise portrayed sweet young Maria, betrothed to grumpy old Don Luis (Claude Rains). (frockflicks.com)WICKEDLY GOOD…Gale Sondergaard with Claude Rains in Anthony Adverse. Sondergaard would win the inaugural Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as the villainous Faith Paleologus. In total, the film would earn four Oscars. (IMDb.com)
Mosher found other cinema diversions, including a film featuring a cameo by Robert Benchley.
WORLD OF WODEHOUSE…Madge Evans and Robert Montgomery in Piccadilly Jim; Dolores Costello and George Raft in Yours for the Asking; Ida Lupino portrayed con artist Gertie Malloy in Yours for the Asking; pioneer American film animator Mary Ellen Bute created some of the first electronically generated film images, her specialty being visual music. (imdb.com/csfd.sk/facebook.com/Wikipedia)
And lest we forget, here is The New Yorker’sRobert Benchley portraying a “barroom character” in Piccadilly Jim:
THE TWO BOBS…Robert Montgomery and Robert Benchley in Piccadilly Jim.(immortalephemera.com)
* * *
Pentameter Pickle
E.B. White expressed his annoyance with MGM’s claim regarding Norma Shearer as “the first screen Juliet” (see last week’s post on Romeo and Juliet). He also noted that after seeing Romeo and Juliet, he had the urge to speak in Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter.
White noted that either Beverly Bayne or Theda Bara were the first screen Juliets…actually both appeared in dueling films in 1916, opening just three days apart.
FILM DUEL…Top, Francis X. Bushman and Beverly Bayne (married in real life) in Metro’s 1916 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Below, Theda Bara and Harry Hilliard in Fox’s 1916 Romeo and Juliet. In direct competition, the Fox film was released on Oct.22, the same week as Metro’s (Oct. 19). Both silent films are considered lost. (theeverydaycinephile.com)
If White had had access to the internet, he would have learned that the very first screen Juliet was actually Florence Lawrence , who appeared in a fifteen-minute silent film short made in 1908 by Vitagraph Studios (amazingly, the film survives and can be viewed on YouTube).
THE ORIGINAL…The first screen Juliet was Florence Lawrence, who appeared in a 1908 silent film short by Vitagraph Studios. Lawrence (1886–1938) is widely referred to as the “first movie star”, appearing in almost three hundred films. She also invented a surprising list of patents, including the first “auto signaling arm.” (messynessychic.com).
* * *
He Used His Bean
“The Talk of the Town” featured a rare mention of baseball in the form of a brief profile of Jo-Jo Moore (1908–2001), a New York Giants left fielder known for his intimidating, left-handed-hitting as lead-off man; Moore batted over .300 five times in his career. Apparently he was also known for getting beaned at the plate, as this excerpt explains:
LEANING IN…Jo-Jo Moore, who batted left-handed and threw right-handed, hit over .300 five times in his career with the Giants from 1930 to 1941. When he died in 2001 at age 92, he was the last surviving member of the 1933 World Champion New York Giants. (centerfieldmaz.com)
* * *
The Bobby We Didn’t Know
Mention the name Bobby Riggs to those of a certain age and they’ll likely conjure up the cheeky grin of a 55-year-old man who in 1973 challenged 29-year-old Billie Jean King to a much-ballyhooed “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match at the Houston Astrodome—which King won in straight sets (6–4, 6–3, 6–3). What seems forgotten is the fact that Riggs was once considered the best tennis player in the world. As a 21-year-old amateur in 1939, he won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Even in 1936 the teenaged Riggs was already sensation, as this excerpt explains:
PROMISING BEGINNINGS…Left, Bobby Riggs (center) accepts the 1939 men’s national singles championship trophy after defeating Welby Van Horn at Forest Hills. Riggs also won the U.S. Singles Championship in 1941. At right, Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs strike a pose in 1973, the year they competed in famed “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match. (facebook.com/Wikipedia)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
Singer Ethel Merman lit up the opening page of the August 29 issue in this colorful advertisement for Stage magazine…
…the makers of the bargain cigarette Twenty Grand used this New Yorker-style cartoon to push their brand of tobacco…
…the inside back cover featured this bright appeal from Imperial Wallpapers…
…and the makers of Luckies claimed the back page to build their base of women smokers…
…on to our cartoonists, we begin with spots by Abe Birnbaum…
…and Robert Day…
…more cartoon art from Richard Taylor to enliven Morris Bishop’s limericks…
…Birnbaum again, with a bit of hide and-seek…
…Alan Dunn confronted a moral quandary…
…Rea Irvin put up a tempting target…
…Helen Hokinson found the right words to describe a bridge party…
…Peter Arno illustrated one way to accommodate an estrangement…
Above: Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer played the lead roles in George Cukor's 1936 adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." In retrospect, these major stars were miscast; Shakespeare's original play identified Juliet as thirteen years old (soon to be fourteen), while scholars estimate Romeo to be around sixteen. Howard was forty-three and Shearer thirty-four when the film was released. (pinterest.com)
Although Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer were too old to play Romeo and Juliet as lovesick teenagers, in 1936 audiences and critics didn’t seem to notice or care. What did keep audiences away from the big budget Romeo and Juliet was the perception that it was too “arty.”
August 22, 1936 cover by Ilonka Karasz.
Indeed, New Yorker film critic John Mosher suggested that “vulgarians” would miss the finer points of this meticulously made film—director George Cukor even secured the services of William Strunk Jr. (of Elements of Style fame) to ensure linguistic accuracy.
This dedication to the finer points of the play obviously didn’t apply to the choice of the principal actors—a middle-aged Romeo, a thirty-something Juliet, or a 54-year-old playing Romeo’s best friend, Mercutio (John Barrymore). In the days of the studio system, it was assumed that big productions needed equally big, established actors attached to them, regardless of age. Also, Shearer was producer Irving Thalberg’s wife.
THE ART OF ARTIFICE…Clockwise from top left: Lavish sets and a star-studded cast made Romeo and Juliet MGM’s most expensive sound film up to that time; the famed balcony scene between Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer; Shearer in a scene with Ralph Forbes, who played a kinsman to the prince. (imdb.com/moviemusings.uk/britannica.com)
Mosher described the film as a “sensible” presentation and praised the 34-year-old Norma Shearer for her youthful appearance. “Actually, for once, we see a Juliet who is a girl,” he wrote. Writing for Literature/Film Quarterly,Allison Kellar notes that “with the help of costumes, props, and lighting, Shearer effectively appears as the young Juliet.”
RAPIER-TONGUED…Top: Mercutio (John Barrymore, left) challenges Tybalt (Basil Rathbone) to a duel and is subsequently slain (this is when Mercutio speaks those famous words, “A plague o’ both houses!”); Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer; MGM promotional poster. (moviemusings.uk/tvtropes.org/imdb.com)
For years MGM’s “Boy Wonder,” producer Irving Thalberg, had pushed the studio to make the film, but MGM head Louis B. Mayer believed (correctly, it turned out) that the masses would consider Shakespeare too highbrow. Mayer was also concerned about a big budget picture in those lean Depression years, but somehow Thalberg won him over (the film lost almost a million dollars, roughly equivalent to $25 million today).
HOLLYWOOD NIGHTS…At left, Anthony Adverse director Mervyn LeRoy and his wife, Doris Warner, accompany Norma Shearer and her husband Irving Thalberg at the Los Angeles premiere of Anthony Adverse, July 29, 1936. A month and a half later Thalberg would die from a congenital heart condition at age 37. (see below). (Wikipedia)
Romeo and Juliet would have its world premiere on Aug. 20, 1936 at New York’s Astor Theatre. The West Coast premiere followed on Sept. 14—that same night legendary MGM producer, Irving Thalberg, husband of star Norma Shearer, would die suddenly at the age of 37. Needless to note, the Los Angeles opening was deeply somber.
Now, just for kicks, here are the ages of actors who have portrayed Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers in more recent films:
FOLLIES OF YOUTH…Clockwise, from top left, with ages in parentheses: Claire Danes (17) and Leonardo DiCaprio (22) in Romeo + Juliet (1996) Hailee Steinfeld (17) and John Booth (21) in 2013’s Romeo & Juliet; Clara Rugaard (27) as Juliet and Jamie Ward (35) as Romeo in 2025’s Juliet & Romeo; Olivia Hussey (16) and Leonard Whiting (16) in Romeo & Juliet (1968). (imdb.com/heyuguys.com/wikipedia.org/reddit.com)
MGM spent a lot on the marketing of Romeo and Juliet, including this full-page ad in The New Yorker that included an endorsement from the magazine’s theater critic, Robert Benchley:
There were other, less-hyped films available for those allergic to Shakespearian drama. Mosher again:
ALL SYSTEMS GO…Clockwise, from top left: Dennis Moore (left) and Humphrey Bogart prepare for a bumpy ride in China Clipper; Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor in His Brother’s Wife. (dailymotion.com/blu-ray.com/imdb.com)
* * *
Getting Out of Town
Food critic Sheila Hibben headed to Long Island to do a little restaurant-hopping, checking out Dahlstrom’s Greentree Lodge on the Jericho Turnpike. Dahlstrom’s was a popular Swedish restaurant that served food smörgåsbord-style. This concept for displaying a variety of self-serve dishes would not become widespread until the smörgåsbord was introduced to the general public in the Swedish Pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
A RARE TREAT…Dahlstrom’s Greentree Lodge on Jericho Turnpike in Huntington, LI, was a popular Swedish restaurant that served food smörgåsbord-style from the 1930s through the 1960s. (Frank Leist via Facebook.com)
Closer to home, Hibben visited the Battery Park Restaurant, a “perky little kiosk sort of place where you can sit outside…and drink your beer while enjoying whatever air is stirring on the North Atlantic.”
MADE IN THE SHADE…The Battery Park Restaurant, circa 1936. (eBay.com)
* * *
Cheers Before Tears
In her continuing report on the Berlin Olympics, Janet Flanner noted that some German fans—despite their country’s “megalomaniacal nationalism”—were polite about the “monotony of the American victories,” and even offered cheers for the French bicycling team (whose country would be invaded by theirs in less than four years).
CYCLING GREATS…The French cycling team (left to right) Robert Charpentier, Guy Lapebie, Jean Goujon and Roger Le Nizerhy celebrate after winning the team race at the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics. The Frenchmen delivered a historic performance, capturing seven total medals (three Gold, two Silver, and two Bronze). Charpentier was the star of the team, becoming a triple Olympic champion across road and track disciplines. (Wikipedia)
Flanner also noted some not-so-happy events that would occur following the games, including initial steps by the Nazis that would lead to the systematic seizure and forced transfer of Jewish real estate and property to the Third Reich’s leaders, citizens, and collaborators. It seems unlikely that Flanner was unaware of at least some of this plan, although she never explicitly mentions that this “real-estate adjustment” was directed solely at Jewish property owners.
THE UGLY TERM “Aryanization” referred to the forced transfer of Jewish-owned homes and businesses to the Third Reich’s leaders, citizens, and collaborators. Above, the formerly Jewish-owned store Gummi Weil was expropriated and transferred to non-Jewish ownership (Stamm and Bassermann). Frankfurt, Germany, 1938. (Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
We begin with Seagram’s, promoting their signature whiskies and “soft-stilled” gin…
…White Rock continued to feature their clever and colorful John Holmgren-illustrated ads…
…Rheingold offered up their “Keglined” canned beer as a summer refresher…
…Wamsutta Mills of New Bedford, Massachusetts became the world’s largest cotton-weaving plant by the end of the 19th century…their iconic “Supercale” sheets (introduced in 1935) typically featured a 200-thread-count…
…William Randolph Hearst’sNew York American (soon to merge with Hearst’s New York Evening Journal) boasted a lineup of writers including short story writer and journalist Damon Runyon, movie gossip columnist Louella Parsons, Forbes magazine founder B.C. Forbes, and “Cholly Knickerbocker“—a pseudonym used by society writers, in this case by Maury Henry Biddle Paul…
…another Flit ad by Dr. Seuss, this time an illegitimate child saves the roof over his head by whipping out some insecticide…
…Stage magazine featured caricatures by Sam Berman to promote its “Great Expectations” issue…
…Susan Willard Flint opens up our illustrators and cartoonists section…
…joined by James Thurber…
…and spots by Garrett Price…
…Richard Taylor…
…and Christina Malman…
…Leonard Dove drew up a stylish scarecrow…
…and a woman who knows what she likes…
…Robert Day found more than scenery on a trip to Yellowstone…
…Barney Tobey exchanged some quick greetings on the omnibus line…
…Charles Addams gave us a case of equatorial insomnia…
…Ned Hilton’s inker had some editing to do…
…George Price gave new meaning to being “in the doghouse”…
…Rea Irvin revealed another advance in American ingenuity…
…Louis Priscilla published the third of a total of three cartoons he contributed to The New Yorker from 1933 to 1936…Priscilla was also a magazine illustrator and a teacher at the Art Students League of New York…
…Helen Hokinson’s club ladies hoped to wow Edna St. Vincent Millay with some of their own poetry…
…and to close…if you’ve seen photos of Coney Island beaches in the 1930s, you know Peter Arno isn’t exaggerating much here…
Above: E.B. White had a bone to pick with whiskey distillers who tried to establish "quick antiquity" by naming their products "Old Something-or-Other." That was not true for these two brands—Old Grand-Dad was introduced in Kentucky in 1840, while Old Overholt debuted in Pennsylvania in 1810, making it America's oldest continually maintained whiskey brand. Both are now subsidiaries of Japan's Suntory Global Spirits. (alcohol professor.com/pinterest)
With the official end of Prohibition on December 5, 1933, brewers and distillers raced to ramp up production and revive brands that had lain dormant for more than a decade. Distillers of aged spirits like rye and whiskey were especially keen to invoke history and tradition when marketing their tipple.
August 15, 1936 cover by Paul C. Robertson.
In some cases newer distilleries made generous use of the word “Old” in their branding, according to E.B. White in his “Notes and Comment.” White also called out the folks at Seagram’s, who compared the character of Thomas Jefferson to that of their “V.O.” whisky (no “e” in spirits tied to British distilling traditions—Scotland, Canada, Japan, Wales, India). Most egregious, however, was the ad’s claim that Jefferson helped to draft the Constitution. White explained:
HE DID WHAT?…E.B. White called out the Seagram’s ad (left, from the July 25 issue of The New Yorker) for its historic inaccuracy (the distiller erroneously credited Thomas Jefferson for the Constitution; at right, the character and leadership of the Founding Fathers (and other early American leaders) were oft-employed metaphors for a number of whiskey brands, including James E. Pepper. (facebook.com)GOLDEN OLDIES…Here are more examples of historic figures being associated with fine spirits…at left, in 1960 the makers of Old Crow (founded 1835) depicted the genocidal Andrew Jackson pouring a glass of the stuff for Martin Van Buren; at right, in 1937 the makers of Old Taylor (1887) used quotes and themes from Thomas Paine’s revolutionary writings to promote their Kentucky Straight Bourbon. (bourbonbanter.com/etsy.com)
While we are on the subject of ardent spirits, let’s take a look at these excerpts from “The Talk of the Town” (attributed to Eugene Kinkead and Russell Maloney), which told the story of a private detective who had a nose for liquor— disguised as hair tonic.
A SIP WITH YOUR SHAVE…During Prohibition (1920–1933), high-alcohol hair tonics like Rexall 93 (containing up to 24% alcohol) were legally sold as cosmetics but were frequently bought and consumed by people seeking a cheap, accessible substitute for bootleg liquor. The photo at right is of a 1930s barbershop—it is not implied that these fine gentlemen were involved in such illicit activities. (ebay.com/pinterest.com)
A closer look at the Rexall label—the makers made sure “24% Alcohol” was clearly visible. Folks known as “strainers” would run hair tonics like these through bread, cloth, or charcoal to filter out poisonous additives, obviously a dangerous practice.
* * *
Doggy Downer
The legendary Kress “five-and-dime” stores, with more than 250 locations across twenty-nine states, served the needs of regular folks, but the designs of its stores were anything but pedestrian. This was especially true of its Fifth Avenue location, a 1935 Art Deco masterpiece. Given its lofty address, it was no place for one to order a lowly hot dog. E.B. White explained:
DECO EDIFICE…Samuel Henry Kress believed his department stores should function as works of public art that elevate the shopping experience for ordinary people. The company maintained an in-house architectural division, under the leadership of architect Edward F. Sibbert, that designed iconic, custom buildings, including the 1935 flagship S. H. Kress & Co. store on Fifth Avenue and 39th Street, an Art Deco masterpiece rendered in granite, bronze, and stainless steel; at right, a view of the store’s Ladies Lounge. Sadly, the building was razed in 1983. (Museum of the City of New York/New York Public Library)
* * *
Merely Mortal
Janet Flanner filed her second report from the Berlin Olympics, where America’s Black athletes dominated the track and field events (ESPN’s Larry Schwartz credits Jesse Owens for “single-handedly crushing Hitler’s myth of Aryan supremacy”). Flanner noted attempts by propagandists to make sense of the beating they received, including likening the American athletes to wild animals “living in a state of innocence.” Excerpts:
CONQUERING HEROES…Eighteen Black athletes went to Berlin as part of the U.S. team in 1936. Clockwise, from top left: Standing are high jumpers Dave Albritton and Cornelius Johnson, hurdler Tidye Pickett, sprinter Ralph Metcalfe, boxer Jim Clark, and sprinter Mack Robinson…in front, weightlifter John Terry (left) and long jumper John Brooks; Jesse Owens captured four gold medals and became the hero of the Olympics—his long jump (26 feet 5-1/2 inches) was an Olympic record; the American press reported widely on the friendship between Owens and his German long jump competitor Carl Ludwig (“Luz”) Long…Long was killed in action during World War II; the faithful offer their ugly salutes at the opening of the games. (webs.org/Bundesarchiv Koblenz/ushmm.org/history.com)
Flanner also reported on the great fanfare at the opening of the games, including “seventeen searchlights, from far outside the arena…a lofty birdcage of streaming light beams.” One wonders if those same searchlights were deployed during the war four years later, when RAF Lancaster bombers began their night bombing campaign of Berlin.
* * *
At the Movies
Last week we saw Lionel Barrymore in drag (as an old woman) in The Devil Doll. This week he resurfaces as a senile old warhorse in The Road to Glory, a Howard Hawks war film with a screenplay co-written by William Faulkner (the film also featured Frederic March, who had star billing in three major films in 1936). John Mosher found the film “presentable,” but nothing special. The same went for Down Under the Sea, a film concerning sponge divers who battle over the affections of a woman (Ann Rutherford).
WERE THEY SPONGE WORTHY?…Clockwise, from top left: Ann Rutherford finds herself torn between two sponge divers vying for her affections in Down Under the Sea (aka Down to the Sea); divers Ben Lyon and Russell Hardie surprise Rutherford with a “native necklace” in the film; Frederic March, Lionel Barrymore, and Warner Baxter in The Road to Glory; June Lang with March in The Road to Glory. (eBay/silverscenesblog)
Mosher also took in Jailbreak, a minor noir picture about racketeers, cops and newspaper reporters.
SERIOUS BUSINESS…Barton MacLane, June Travis and Joseph Crehan in Jailbreak. (IMDb.com)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
The inside front cover featured a wholesome image of a roadside stand on behalf of leaded gasoline…the makers of Ethyl, which boosted octane ratings and stopped engine knocking, deliberately hid or omitted the word “lead” in their advertising…I don’t miss the Ethyl, but I do miss those roadside stands…
…Warner Brothers took out a full-page ad to trumpet the East Coast release of their epic drama Anthony Adverse, which would go on to win four Academy Awards…
…the original torch singer Helen Morgan lent her endorsement to a budget cigarette brand in this back of the book ad…at this point her career would be headed on a downward spiral, ending with her death in 1941…
…the makers of the Dominican rum Siboney competed with Cuban rival Barcardi with this colorful full-page ad illustrated by American graphic artist Ervine Metzl…
…Barcardi placed this front cover advertisement in Aug. 1, 1936 New Yorker (illustrated by George de Zayas)…
…James Thurber kicks off the cartoons with two terrific spot drawings…
…this spot drawing by Victor de Pauw recalls my favorite childhood book, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (1939), by Virginia Lee Burton…
…I’m not sure if one would call this a spot drawing or a caption-less cartoon, at any rate, Garrett Price aptly illustrated the dangers of swimming beyond the bouys…
…Rea Irvin demonstrated the perils of dognapping in this multi-panel entry…
…William Steig celebrated summer in the city…
…Helen Hokinson drew up an urgent social connection…
…Denys Wortman looked in on the trappings of motherhood…
…Alan Dunn showed us one effect of long-distance travel…
…and Dunn again, with a man who’d rather not ask questions…
…and leave it to Charles Addams to draw up The New Yorker’s first Medusa-themed cartoon…
…before we continue, here are other interpretations of the mythic Gorgon from The New Yorker…this one by Lars Kenseth is from Jan. 21, 2019…
…this is by Ali Solomon (Oct. 29, 2025)…
…and from May 3, 2025, this terrific caption contest cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein (and the winning caption by Peter Sergison, Durham, NC)…
…and here’s a timely cartoon by Daryl Seitchik that was rejected by the magazine…
…we go back to 1936 with George Price and a plucky salesman…
…Chon Day made an unappetizing find at the fish market…
…Gardner Rea looked in on a summer stock performance…
…Peter Arno drew up a Milquetoast unwittingly ordering a knuckle sandwich…
…and we close with some racy decor, courtesy Richard Taylor…
Above: Fredric March as the Earl of Bothwell in Mary of Scotland. March sported a kilt that Alex von Tunzelmann (the Guardian, May 7, 2015) calls "the bane of Scottish historical movies from here to Braveheart." Tunzelmann notes that "What we call a kilt today—the fèileadh beag, or small kilt—was invented in the mid-18th century, almost 200 years after this film is set. The Scots should be wearing belted plaid, or the rather fetching skintight tartan trews (image at right) sported by Mary’s father, James V." (eBay.com/pinterest.com)
These were truly the dog days of summer—New Yorkers had just endured one of the hottest months on record (106 F on July 9) and it remained intensely hot and dry as August rolled in. So for this post we will retreat to one of the few places that had air-conditioning—the cinema—and see what folks were enjoying in the first week of August 1936.
August 8, 1936 cover by Arnold Hall.
Before we jump into the movies, the wonderful cover by Arnold Hall recalled the summer night concerts at Lewisohn Stadium (although Hall took some liberties with the stadium’s design for the sake of composition).
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC…Top: Illustration by Scottish artist Muirhead Bone of a nighttime Lewisohn Stadium concert, circa 1920s; below: Andre Kostelanetz conducts before a crowd of thousands at Lewisohn Stadium in 1939—for an admission price of a mere twenty-five cents, concertgoers were treated to appearances by leading performers of jazz, classical music and opera. The stadium was demolished in 1973. (digitalcommonwealth.org)
On to our movies, Russell Maloney once again sat in for John Mosher as the magazine’s film critic, taking on everything from a Tudor romance to a horror film that featured Lionel Barrymore in drag.
In Mary of Scotland, Maloney found Katharine Hepburn’s turn as Mary, Queen of Scots a bit wanting (the role should have gone to a “grown-up actress”), while he thought the film itself was rather tedious with “lots of goings on.” He concluded that the “wisps of Mary of Scotland visible between cloak-swishings and sword-wavings are not especially encouraging.”
NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME?…Clockwise, from top left: Critic Russell Maloney thought the 29-year-old Katharine Hepburn was not seasoned enough to portray Mary Stuart in Mary of Scotland; Fredric March as the Earl of Bothwell, with Hepburn; March visits with director John Ford, who was better known for his Westerns (Ford and Hepburn would famously have an affair during the filming); Hepburn in a scene with John Carradine, who portrayed Rizzio, the Italian courtier and private secretary to Mary. Patriarch of the Carradine acting dynasty, his children included actors David, Keith, and Robert Carradine. (imdb.com/pinterest.com/frockflicks.com)
In addition to a forgettable lion-tamer flick (Bengal Tiger), Maloney also reviewed a Bing Crosby movie with a host of singing cowboys, Rhythm on the Range, and a “consistently funny” film with an “unpromising name,” We Went to College…
COWBOY CROSBY…Clockwise from top left: Bing Crosby portrayed a traveling cowboy in love with a rich girl (Frances Farmer) in Rhythm on the Range;Louis Prima, Martha Raye (in her film debut), and Bob Burns performed in the ensemble “I’m an Old Cowhand from the Rio Grande” along with Roy Rogers (uncredited and performing under his original stage name, Leonard Slye) and The Sons of the Pioneers; Una Merkel and Walter Abel in a lobby card image advertising We Went to College. (imdb.com)
Maloney also reviewed a horror-farce, The Devil Doll, featuring Lionel Barrymore as banker Paul Lavond. A brief synopsis: Framed by his three partners and imprisoned on Devil’s Island, Lavond escapes with a fellow inmate who introduces him to his wife, Malita. The couple demonstrate a process that shrinks animals and people to the size of dolls, which then can be animated by will power. Seeing the dolls as an opportunity for revenge on his former partners, Lavond disguises himself as an old woman and sends out the shrunken people to harm his enemies.
PLAYING WITH DOLLS…At left, Lionel Barrymore disguised as Madame Mandelip, preparing his demonic dollies for revenge in The Devil Doll; at right, Marcel (Henry B, Walthall) and his wife Malita (Raffaela Ottiano) with one of their shrunken people. (classic-monsters.com)MY, WHAT BIG TEETH YOU HAVE…At left, Tarzan star Maureen O’Sullivan portrayed Paul Lafond’s unsuspecting daughter—in this scene from The Devil Doll she doesn’t recognize her long-absent father, disguised as the kindly Paris toy shop owner Madame Mandelip; at right, Lionel Barrymore (dressed as Madame Mandelip) meeting with Devil Doll director Tod Browning, best known for his 1932 magnum opus, Freaks. (classic-monsters.com/moriareviews.com)
It seems there were few, if any, critics in the 1930s who didn’t like Mickey Mouse cartoons. These days we take animation for granted, but ninety years ago it was still something of a miracle, especially in color. Maloney noted the latest must-see Disney cartoon short, Donald and Pluto.
MARTYRDOM OF DONALD DUCK…Donald Duck was literally put through the wringer for our amusement in the 1936 short Donald and Pluto, one of the three installments of the Mickey Mouse series in which Mickey doesn’t appear as a character. Donald Duck was a fairly new Disney character in 1936, making his debut in 1934’s The Wise Little Hen. (disneyfandom.com)
* * *
Life Goes On
E.B. White mused about the increasing life expectancy at birth of the American male from 47 years in 1900 to 58 years in 1936 (a woman’s life expectancy was roughly 49/62, respectively). White (who would live 86 years) said he would spend his extra years collecting “haunting” signs, such as one on the Boston Post Road that read: Trucks Must Use Right Fork.
AND NO ELBOWS ON THE TABLE, EITHER…Trucker poses in front of his rig in 1936. (facebook.com)
* * *
Wartime Wardrobe
Beatrice Mathieu—the first and only Paris fashion correspondent for The New Yorker—sat in on Lois Long’s column to discuss the latest from The City of Light. Designers were soldiering on with their premieres despite the winds of war blowing from the east. Excerpts:
LIFE GOES ON…At left, a model shows off a “Carnival dress” by Madeleine Vionnet, 1936; a sidewalk café in Paris filled with fashionable folks, 1936. (godsandfoolishgrandeur.blogspot.com/reddit.com)
A note about Beatrice Mathieu: According to her 1976 New York Times obituary, “In an era when honest criticism in fashion writing was relatively rare, she blended humor with a kind of skepticism and honesty in writing that enhanced her reputation as a leader in the field…In 1928, when the young woman from Faribault, Minn., was making a living in Paris as a freelance writer, she received a cable from Harold Ross…asking her to do some work for him. She wired back: ‘What is The New Yorker?’ Mr. Ross replied at some length. She took the job.” Mathieu stopped writing her Paris column in 1936 but resumed after the end of World War II.
* * *
A Dose of Passos
Clifton Fadiman reviewed the latest book by John Dos Passos (1896– 1970), who is known for his pioneering works of nonlinear fiction and his U.S.A. trilogy, which he completed in 1936 with The Big Money. One of the major novelists of the post-World War I “lost generation,” he is widely praised today for his timeless insights into America’s inequalities (and was also highly regarded by contemporaries including William Faulkner). Fadiman, however wrote “A great writer he is not.” Excerpts:
HIS TIME WOULD COME…John Dos Passos on the cover of Time, Aug. 10, 1936. Dos Passos is admired today for showing how Americans respond to the chaos and inequalities of modern life. (time.com)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
We begin our advertising section with the Grace Line, which offered this inviting image (on the inside front cover) of nighttime swimming on the deck of one of its Santa liners, en route to South America and California…
…less inviting, it would seem at the time, would be a cruise to Germany aboard a Hamburg-America Line (HAPAG) ship—beginning in 1939, U.S. and British forces would seize nearly all of HAPAG’s fleet…
…the relatively new company Old Mr. Boston (founded in Boston in 1933, right as Prohibition ended) went big with this two-page color advertisement touting its line that included gin, rum, whiskey, and cordials…
…in the back of the book…Brown & Williamson launched its Viceroy brand in 1936 as the world’s first cork-tipped filter cigarette…at the bottom is a modest ad for Pilsner Urquell, a Czech brewer that produced the world’s first pale lager…it is still brewed in Pilsen (Czech Republic) under the ownership of Tokyo-based Asahi Group…
…Schaefer promoted their “light beer” in this rather spare advertisement…the “light” referred to its pale color, not to its calorie count…founded in New York City in 1842, Schaefer grew to be a top five brewer in America…today it is marketed by Pabst as a regional heritage brand…
…Dr. Seuss was still at it with his Flit ads…after rejections from nearly thirty publishers, in 1937 Seuss (aka Theodor Geisel) would publish his first book with Vanguard Press—And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street…Seuss also illustrated ads for Schaefer beer, Esso gasoline, Holly Sugar, and General Electric, among others…
HONING A STYLE…A sampling of Dr. Seuss’s advertising art from the 1930s to the 1950s. (aoghs.org/UC San Diego/booksforgoatlings.weebly.com)
…R.J. Reynolds lined up another socialite endorsement for their Camel cigarettes…here they go to the West Coast, with a plug from Mrs. William J. Hollingsworth, Jr., aka Madeleine Ruth Piper…her marriage to Hollingsworth was over by 1937…she would marry three more times before her death in 1993…
SHE REALLY LIGHTS UP A ROOM…At left, undated photo of socialite Madeleine Ruth Piper (1916–1993), who was apparently telling the truth about her love of smoking; at right, the Victor Hugo Restaurant in Los Angeles (Beverly Hills), featured in the Camel ad. (findagrave.com/facebook.com)
…on to our illustrators and cartoonists, we begin with spots by Christina Malman…
…Helen Moore Sewell…
…Victor de Pauw…
and Aaron Sopher…
…there was another installment of Morris Bishop limericks illustrated by Richard Taylor…
…Ned Hilton’s lord of the manor took up rice farming…
…Alan Dunn showed us some devious domestic doings…
…and a complaint to the mayor…
…in contrast to Dunn’s style, the spare lines of Gardner Rea…
…Gregory d’Alessio prepared for Olympic glory…
…William Crawford Galbraith continued to plumb the creepy waters inhabited by impressionable young women and lecherous older men, in this case a woman’s personal physician…
…and Rea Irvin continued to explore historic moments in American industry…
…we close with Helen Hokinson, and some scandal brewing under a hair dryer…
Above: The building that housed Manhattan's Democratic Party, known as Tammany Hall, circa 1935, and James Joseph "Jimmy" Hines, perhaps Tammany's most powerful leader. (wpsu.org/facebook.com)
Tammany Hall was founded more than two hundred years ago as an independent social organization serving the needs of New York City’s immigrants and Irish Catholics in particular. After the 1854 mayoral election, however, Tammany grew into a powerful political force, and for nearly a century controlled both city and state elections and the power of patronage that came with them.
July 25, 1936 cover by William Crawford Galbraith.
It was no secret that political graft was rampant in the organization, but business leaders were happy to support Tammany’s corrupt practices as long as they served the bottom line. The same, it seems, also applied to politicians, law enforcement, and the courts, beneficiaries of political favors as well as outright bribes.
Few knew how to work Tammany’s levers better than James Joseph “Jimmy” Hines (1876–1957), who held absolute power over New York’s Eleventh District. Journalist Jack Alexander published Part One of a three-part profile on Hines for the July 25 issue. Excerpts:
SOBER REPORTING…Journalist Jack Alexander (1902–1975) was a reporter in St. Louis before joining New York’s Daily News in 1930. He later worked for The New Yorker and then moved to The Saturday Evening Post, where he became senior editor. He is best known for his groundbreaking 1941 article on Alcoholics Anonymous. (saturdayeveningpost.com)
Tammany was weakened when their scandal-plagued mayor, Jimmy Walker, was ousted in 1932 and eventually succeeded by reformist Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. Hines, however, grew even more powerful as head of the U.S. Civil Service’s patronage system for Manhattan District employees. Ironically, Hines was appointed to the post by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who saw Tammany as a liability but owed Hines a favor—in 1932 Hines split from other Democratic machine bosses (who initially favored Al Smith) to back Roosevelt’s bid for the presidency.
One person who was not tainted by Hines’ influence was Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey, who in 1936 was busy going after New York’s rackets and Hines in particular.
William Auerbach-Levy provided the illustration for Part One of the Hines profile:
In these excerpts, Alexander noted Hines’ “ace in the hole” (the White House) when Tammany Leader James J. Dooling tried to oust him.
I’M GONNA GET YA…Clockwise from top left: In 1936 reformers looked to Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey to fight New York’s entrenched rackets; Jimmy Hines (right) leaves the courthouse after a 1938 mistrial; Hines was accused of having close ties with mobsters Dutch Schultz and Lucky Luciano among others; Hines with his attorney, Martin Littleton, after leaving Tombs Prison on April 4, 1939—he was released on $35,000 bail pending an appeal for his conviction as a political fixer for the numbers racket. Hines would lose the appeal—convicted on thirteen counts of racketeering, he would be imprisoned at Sing Sing until 1944. (alchetron.com/facebook.com/Wikipedia)
Despite his misdeeds, Hines’ many admirers remained faithful to him until his death in 1957 at age 80. Many recalled his annual “June Walk” from the days before he went to prison. According to his New York Times obituary, the annual event in Central Park drew as many as twenty-five thousand women and children, who “listened to half a dozen brass bands, put on paper hats and gorged themselves on ice cream, hot dogs and pop furnished by Hines, who used to take part in the fun wearing the gay green bucket hat of the stage Irishman.” The obituary noted that when Hines left Sing Sing prison, a guard said, “Best of luck. Jimmy! Give my regards to the missus!”
* * *
At the Movies
Critic John Mosher found the perfect distraction from the summer heat in the Mary Boland–Charlie Ruggles comedy Early to Bed:
SILLY SOMNAMBULIST…From left, Mary Boland, Charles Ruggles and Colin Tapley in Early to Bed. (Pinterest)
Mosher also reviewed a Nero Wolfe mystery starring Edward Arnold, and a rather “slight” romance featuring an heiress with a penchant for speeding.
HOMEBODY…Rex Stout’s portly detective Nero Wolfe loved to solve crimes without venturing from the comforts of home. Clockwise, from top left; Edward Arnold (as Wolfe) with John Qualen, Lionel Stander, and Dennie Moore in Meet Nero Wolfe; eighteen-year-old Rita Hayworth (credited as Rita Cansino) appeared in several Nero Wolfe scenes as she continued to build her résumé at Columbia; an heiress with a lead foot runs afoul of a traffic cop (Randolph Scott) who eventually falls in love with her in “And Sudden Death; Frances Drake as the heiress in a scene with Tom Brown. (dancinglady39.wordpress.com/csfd.cz)
* * *
Genteel Sport
The New Yorker featured a variety of sports in its early years, most of them elite pastimes except for hockey, college football and boxing. Save for the occasional mention of Babe Ruth’s antics (and his 1926 “Profile”) and a scattering of cartoons and spots, the game was conspicuously absent from the magazine during the Yankees’ “Murderers’ Row” years in the late 1920s and beyond. I’ve read that editor Harold Ross hated the game, but perhaps the real reason was explained by James Thurber in his “Talk of the Town” piece titled “Peanuts and Crackerjack” (September 22, 1928). Thurber described Yankees baseball as a mass spectacle for out-of-towners who were “a bit mad.” It wasn’t cool to be a Yankees fan if you counted yourself among Manhattan’s smart set.
G.O.A.T. HERD…Less than a month after James Thurber published “Peanuts and Crackerjack,” the New York Yankees would sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in The World Series. The 1928 Yankees set a major league record by having nine players on the team who would eventually be elected to the Hall of Fame. (Wikipedia)
Basketball was also missing from those early issues of The New Yorker, even though it had been played since the 1890s. So we turn to New Yorker cartoonist and author Michael Maslin (via his essential Ink Spill), who recently noted The New Yorker’svery first basketball-themed cartoon by Robert Day (Dec. 23, 1933). The post also features Abe Birnbaum’s terrific 1951 basketball-themed cover and a hilarious MAD magazine parody of Charles Addams.
The elite sports that dominated the back half of the magazine in those early years included golf, tennis, badminton, squash, yachting, rowing, horse hunts and horse racing, and polo (both indoor and out).
Lets look at a couple from the July 25 issue, beginning with these brief excerpts from the “Polo” column authored by “Backhander”—a generic pen name that referred to a rotating cast of polo correspondents including Robert F. Kelley, George F. T. Ryall and Tom O’Reilly (who covered indoor polo).
ELECTRIC HORSEMEN…At left, the Jaipur Polo team (shown here in England in 1933) won all the open tournaments between 1930 and 1938 in India and England. From left is Maharaja Swai Man Singh of Jaipur State and Rao Raja Hanut Singh, Rao Raja Abhey Singh and Colonel Prithvi Singh of Baria; at right, international polo star Laddie Sanford was the dynamic patron and captain of the famed Hurricanes, which won the U.S. Open in three different decades. (The Rajputs via Facebook/polo museum.org)
The “Yachts and Yachtsman” column was also signed by a pen name—”Bosun”—signifying any staff writer assigned to boat races or boat shows. In this case the writer was H. K. Rigg, who covered the start of the 1936 Larchmont Race Week, one of the most successful and heavily attended spectacles in the early history of yacht racing.
ON YOUR MARK…Photo above depicts the start of the July 21, 1936 Larchmont Yacht Club Race. The 1936 event is remembered for its massive turnout—300 boats duelling through crowded waters. In the Aug. 1, 1936 issue of The New Yorker,H. K. Rigg wrote that a “sausage balloon” was needed just to see over the congested fleet. (Rosenfeld Collection via newyork32.org)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
A couple of issues ago we looked at the Advertising Federation of America’s “truth in advertising campaign” (Better Living Through Fiction) that sought to forestall government regulation. On June 29, 1936, the AFA hosted more than a thousand ad executives in Boston, where the head of advertising at Scripps-Howard criticized competitive selling among papers (it hurt them in competition with other media). Newspaper ad executives were urged to work together as a profession, and that likely explains this lavish two-page spread in The New Yorker…
…as well as this full-page appeal from the Chicago Daily News…
…and this spot from the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin…
…Dr. Seuss was still honing his style in ads for Flit insecticide…
…this White Rock ad featured the work of two artists…the prolific R. John Holmgren famously illustrated White Rock ads in the 1930s and 40s, often featuring the “tiny Colonel,” seen below regarding the original painting of Psyche at Nature’s Mirror by German artist Paul Thumann…the owners of White Rock bought the rights to the painting after seeing it at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 and adopted Psyche as their trademark…Holmgren would incorporate a modernized version of Psyche in dozens of ads…
…on the inside front cover Seagram’s referenced the character of Thomas Jefferson as an apt metaphor for their product…
…and on the back cover the makers of Luckies kept it simple with this colorful appeal to the growing market for women smokers…
…on to our cartoonists, we begin with another installment of “Limericks” by Morris Bishop featuring the unique style of cartoonist Richard Taylor…
…Alain helped open things up for the events calendar…
…as did Susan Willard Flint with her woodcuts…
…Ned Hilton offered a new wrinkle in a familiar game of skill…
…and Hilton again, preparing for take-off…
…Carl Rose used a double spread to illustrate a singles match…
…Alan Dunn illustrated a familiar problem of the electric age…
…and Dunn again with some realtor trickery…
…Helen Hokinson looked to an Eastern ascetic for some sage advice…
…and found one of her “girls” overdressed for an outing on the Thames…
…Rea Irvin celebrated the genius of American marketing…
…and we end with Peter Arno, and his unique view of matrimony…
Above: Rochelle Hudson and W.C. Fields in scene from Poppy. Fields reprised his vaudeville character Professor McGargle (from the hit 1923 stage revue of the same name), who learns about a million-dollar inheritance meant for a long-lost local heiress and concocts a plan to pass off his daughter, Poppy, as the true heiress. (Facebook.com)
Eighty years after his death W.C. Fields is still recognized as one of the America’s great comic geniuses. When he made a sound film version of his hit Broadway play, Poppy, in 1936, many thought it would be his last, since he suffered from a variety of ailments including a bad back and chronic lung congestion. Doubtless two quarts of liquor a day also had a few people wondering.
June 27, 1936 cover by Rea Irvin.
It would have been an appropriate, if premature ending to Field’s career, since it was the Poppy stage play that launched him into national stardom (along with the play’s first adaptation into film, the 1925 silent Sally of the Sawdust). The play and the silent film introduced audiences to the lovable snake oil salesman “Professor” Eustace McGargle, who returned in the 1936 film, “a slightly blurred affair” according to critic John Mosher.
THE PROFESSOR RETURNS…Clockwise, from top left: W.C. Fields and Carole Dempster in 1925’s Sally of the Sawdust, which was based on the stage play Poppy and was directed by D.W. Griffith; Fields as Professor Eustace McGargle and Rochelle Hudson as Poppy in 1936’s Poppy; Fields and Catherine Doucet, who portrayed Countess Maggi Tubbs DePuizzi.(filmforum.org/doctormacro.com/facebook.com)
The “blurred” performance by Fields (1880–1946), the result of his various ills, didn’t seem to affect most critics—the New York Times, for example, called the film “a glorious victory.” Remarkably, Fields would live another ten years and go on to star in such classics as 1940’s My Little Chickadee, (with Mae West), 1940’s The Bank Dick, and 1941’s Never Give a Sucker an Even Break.
HELLO FRIENDS…W.C. Fields chats with his close friend and Poppy director Eddie Sutherland, who was accompanied by writer Dorothy Parker during a visit to the set of Poppy. (Facebook.com)
Mosher also reviewed a “sad” picture about the tragic life of a Tyrolean sexton, Sins of Man, and the musical comedy Dancing Pirate, which he deemed even sadder because it was so terrible (Mosher walked out during the middle of the picture).
The origin of the music video? See reader comment at the end of the post.
FROM BELLS TO THE BOWERY…Jean Hersholt played a Tyrolian sexton with an American dream that goes awry in Sins of Man. (eBay.com)SEEING RED…Not even Technicolor could spare Dancing Pirate from John Mosher’s wrath. At left, Steffi Duna and Charles Collins in a dance scene; eighteen-year-old Rita Hayworth (right) appeared as an uncredited dancer in the film—here she poses in a publicity photo for 1936’s Human Cargos.(mediaplaynews.com/facebook.com)
* * *
All Aboard
In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White described a trip on a Boston & Main streamliner that traveled along a branch line. Lacking a turning loop, the train had to run in reverse for half of the round trip.
TWO-WAY TICKET…The Boston & Main streamlined Flying Yankee (seen here in 1938) would run both forward and backward when traveling along a branch line that lacked a turning loop. (Wikipedia)
* * *
Furies Al Fresco
On June 17, 1936 Rockefeller Center opened the Promenade Café in the plaza surrounding the Prometheus Fountain (later that year a temporary ice skating rink took the spot, now a permanent, iconic feature of the plaza). Writing for “The Talk of the Town,” E.B. White commented on the breezy dining experience he shared with wife, Katharine Sergeant White. Excerpt:
FIRE AND ICE…Patrons enjoy dining with the god of fire in the plaza beneath 30 Rock, circa 1970. The plaza is converted to an ice skating rink in the winter. (eBay.com)
The magazine’s next issue (July 4) advertised dinner, dancing and thirty-five cent cocktails at the Promenade Café…
* * *
From Our Advertisers
We open with a June Bride and hubby tanking up on some leaded gas before heading to Niagara Falls…
…opposite the Ethyl ad was this Simeon Braguin-illustrated spot for Bergdorf…
…the pacifists behind the World Peaceways ads pulled no punches when delivering their anti-war message…
…Budweiser continued its laborious series of ads that employed analogies and metaphors to promote its best-selling suds…
…recall the ad from the April 18 issue of The New Yorker, when the brewer used this disagreeable analogy to tout its “vacuum-cleansing” process…
…the Revere Copper and Brass company responded to the recent invention of canned beer with an invention of its own…the Tapster, an elegant nickel and brass pitcher with a built-in punch on the underside of the lid…just insert a can, push down on the lid, and pour…great for the yacht, or as a gift to some newlyweds…
The nickel-silver and brass “Tapster” is highly sought by collectors today. (americanhistory.si.edu)
…in contrast to Budweiser’s wordy ads (or to White Rock’s colorful ones), the folks at Hoffman advertised their products with just a few lines of black ink…
…Don Dickerman continued to promote his latest “Pirates Den” near Port Chester…note that among many other talents, Dickerman was also an artist…he illustrated the ads for all of his enterprises, including this one…
…John Hanrahan, publisher and editor of Stage theater magazine (and who also helped put The New Yorker on solid financial footing), set aside the August 1936 issue as a special edition, the “1911 Number,” a nostalgic, tongue-in-cheek look back to the founding of Stage’s predecessor, The Theatre Guild Magazine. The magazine marked its 25th anniversary by examining the striking differences between 1911 and 1936 in the world of theater as well as in fashion and cultural mores.
…here is the cover of that issue, featuring Billie Burke, a leading Broadway actress who would marry producer and impresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr in 1914…she is still known today for her portrayal of Glinda the Good Witch of the North in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz…
(eBay.com)
…and Dr. Seuss was still at it, finding new and clever ways to deploy the insecticide Flit…
…the New York radio station WOR employed Otto Soglow to drum up some business for their ad department…WOR began broadcasting in early 1922, and is one of the oldest continuously operating radio stations in the U.S. (the three–letter call sign is characteristic of stations dating from the 1920s)…
…Soglow gives us a nice segue to our cartoonists and illustrators, beginning with a Susan Willard Flint woodcut…
…Alan Dunn contributed this spot drawing…
…as did Richard Taylor…
…Perry Barlow offered some sketches from the summer convention scene…
…Helen Hokinson considered the value of fortune-teller…
…Alain illustrated what dreams are made of, at least for one man…
…and what are friends for? Gardner Rea had an idea…
…Barbara Shermund offered a challenge at a dress shop…
…and Shermund again, with an enterprising commuter…
…just the facts ma’am, with Peter Arno in the court of law…
…Robert Day presented a construction conundrum…
…Rea Irvin took a child’s perspective of the wild world…
Above: The RMS Queen Mary arriving at New York harbor accompanied by a flotilla of escorts on June 1, 1936. (liverpool.ac.uk)
The RMS Queen Mary was launched in the age of superliners that included the SS Bremen, the SS Île de France and the SS Normandie. These and other liners competed for the Blue Riband, an unofficial honor bestowed on Atlantic Ocean liners achieving the highest average speed. These ships also vied for the distinction of being the most luxurious.
May 30, 1936 cover by Rea Irvin, celebrating the arrival of the June bride.
The Queen Mary was a top contender for both honors when she departed on her maiden voyage from Southampton on May 27, 1936. London correspondent Samuel Jeake, Jr (aka American poet and novelist Conrad Aiken) paid a visit to the liner just days before her first Atlantic crossing. Excerpts:
BOAT AFLOAT…Clockwise, from top left, a Bentley automobile is brought aboard the Queen Mary before her maiden voyage; the liner departs from Southampton, May 27, 1936; first-class passengers dining during that first crossing; the Queen Mary arriving at the newly built Pier 90 in New York Harbor, June 1, 1936. The Queen Mary and the SS Normandie were speedy competitors for the Blue Riband in the 1930s. (RMS Queen Mary via Facebook/NYC Municipal Archives)SEEING STARS…Celebrities on the maiden voyage included John F. Kennedy and his father, Joseph P. Kennedy (top left), as well as actress Joan Crawford (right). Bob Hope, Mae West, and Noël Coward were also spotted aboard the maiden voyage.Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Dolores Del Rio (bottom left) were photographed on the liner’s second departure from Southhampton. (cruiselinehistory.com/RMS Queen Mary via Facebook)HOME AWAY FROM HOME…First-class accommodations on the Queen Mary included, clockwise from top left, the Main Lounge; the Queen Mary Suite; swimming pool; and Observation Bar. (RMS Queen Mary via Facebook)NOT BAD…Conrad Aiken called the liner’s second-class (Tourist class) sections “one of the best travel bargains in the world.” Photos at left show lounge areas, while at right is the ship’s Shopping Centre, open to all passengers. (RMS Queen Mary via Facebook)OUT TO PASTURE…The majority of the great superliners were either destroyed during World War II or scrapped after their service. However the RMS Queen Mary, after her retirement in 1967, was permanently moored at Long Beach, California as a hotel, museum, and convention space. During her years of service she crossed the Atlantic 1,001 times, carrying more than two million passengers. From 1939 to 1946 the liner also served the war effort, transporting more than 800,000 troops. (visitlongbeach.com)
* * *
Green Acres
It’s hard to believe that at one time Greenwich Village was home to trash-filled back yards and deteriorating tenements. Beginning in the 1920s, residents transformed these back yards into communal green oases. “The Talk of the Town” visited three that had “more or less grown together.” Spot art by Christina Malman. Excerpts:
URBAN OASIS…Undated photo shows the interior courtyard garden shared by twenty-one row houses of the Macdougal-Sullivan Gardens Historic District in Greenwich Village. (nytimes.com)
* * *
Art for the People
Geoffrey Hellman penned a profile of social realist artist George Biddle (1885– 1973), who played a major role in establishing the WPA’s Federal Art Project and who created murals for government buildings in the U.S., Brazil, and Mexico. Excerpt:
SERVING THE PUBLIC GOOD…George Biddle at work on a fresco titled Society Freed through Justice, located in the fifth floor lobby of the Attorney General’s office in the Department of Justice Building, Washington, D.C. (Wikipedia)AMERICAN IDEAL…Detail from Biddle’s fresco painting Society Freed Through Justice. (Library of Congress)
* * *
The Shoe Fits
Architecture critic Lewis Mumford was unimpressed with latest designs in commercial shops, however for “some mysterious reason” he was quite taken with various shoe stores in Midtown. Excerpts:
BRIGHT SPOTS…Lewis Mumford lauded the shoe company Thom McAn (top left) for its pioneering designs. Other notables included I. Miller & Sons (top right) on Fifth Avenue, and below, Florsheim Shoe on West 37th. (clickamericana.com)
* * *
A Pirate Sets Sail
In her “Tables for Two” column, Lois Long noted a few of the summertime getaways near the city including the Westchester Embassy Club. She also mentioned the re-emergence of Don Dickerman, famed for his series of gaudy themed restaurants in the West Village from the late 1910s to 1930. Among those was his famed Pirate’s Den, which was destroyed in a 1929 fire. With the stock market crash Dickerman (1893-1981) was forced to sell the location, and he declared bankruptcy in 1932. However by 1936 he was on his way back, opening a pirate-themed enterprise near Port Chester:
SUMMER DIVERSIONS…At top is a postcard image of the Westchester Embassy Club; below, Don Dickerman at his Los Angeles Pirates’ Den with his fifth wife, Thelma Mills Wunder (he had at least seven known wives). Originally a fixture of Greenwich Village, Dickerman emerged from his 1932 bankruptcy to open themed restaurants in Miami, Miami Beach, Port Chester, NY , Washington DC, and Hollywood. Bottom right, a matchbook cover from Dickerman’s revived Pirate’s Den at Port Chester, which was mentioned by Lois Long. (facebook.com/restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/ebay.com)
* * *
At the Movies
Under the strict moral guidelines of the Hays Code, gangster films of the Pre-Code era gave way to milder fare, much to the chagrin of film critic John Mosher.
KINDER, GENTLER GANGSTERS…Clockwise from top left, poster for Bullets or Ballots gave Edward G. Robinson top billing with Joan Blondell also prominently featured—Humphrey Bogart was a relative newcomer in the movies, seen here in a scene with Robinson in Bullets or Ballots; Robert Young and Betty Furness in The 3 Wise Guys; James Cagney and Loretta Young in the pre-Code film Taxi, which was released in 1932 but reissued in 1936 (SEE BELOW) to capitalize on Cagney’s new superstar status. The film also featured the famously misquoted line: “Come out and take it, you dirty yellow-bellied rat.” (imdb.com/tcm.com)
In the following week’s issue (June 6), Mosher noted that he’d forgotten about his previous review of the Cagney film Taxi in 1932:
* * *
From Our Advertisers
Appropriately buried in the back pages of The New Yorker was this tiny ad promoting Don Dickerman’s new Pirates’ Den at Port Chester, referenced above in Lois Long’s “Tables for Two” column…
…the Cunard White Star Line took out this two-page spread to announce the launch of the Queen Mary…
…illustrators with European roots brought modern touches to fashion advertisements…the Ukrainian-born Simeon Braguin (1907–1997), who created the ad below for Bergdorf Goodman, emerged in the 1930s as a prominent fashion illustrator, ultimately becoming the Creative Director for Vogue…during that time (1940s) he supported the work of an unknown artist, Andy Warhol…
…the artist behind this next fashion illustration was the prominent French-Hungarian costume designer and illustrator Marcel Vertès (1895–1961)…
…the prolific illustrator R. John Holmgren (1897- 1963) worked for dozens of publications, and was well known for his White Rock ads in the 1930s and 40s…
…the folks at R.J. Reynolds were still pushing their digestion claims along with their cigarettes…here they demonstrated the appeal of Camels to both the working class and the classy…
…Brown & Williamson introduced a new cigarette to the market…Viceroy was the first brand to feature a cork-tipped filter…
…Liggett & Myers continued to run their somewhat old-fashioned ads with softly lit, romantic settings…illustrator McClelland Barclay (1891–1943) created this look to promote the company’s Chesterfield brand…
…Barclay’s work recalled similar imagery used in a controversial 1926 ad for Chesterfield that sought to break the taboo placed on women smokers…
…not so controversial was Susan Willard Flint, who opened the magazine along with…
…Otto Soglow…
…and Richard Taylor…
…we turn to the cartoons starting with Whitney Darrow Jr and a canoodling couple…
…Charles Addams found some formidable bowling opponents…
…and Addams again at the races…
…Alain showed us the harder edges of marital bliss…
…while William Steig was all sweetness and light…
…Peter Arno showed us some political intrigue…
…Alan Dunn offered a new twist in hat fashions…
…and we close with Denys Wortman, and a very posh lion…
Above: Washington Square North circa 1930. (nypap.org)
In the first decades of the 20th century very few buildings in New York City were considered sacred, especially during the building boom of the Twenties when large swaths of the old city were erased to make way for massive skyscrapers and more than 740,000 new housing units.
May 9, 1936 cover by Constantin Alajalov.
To keep anything historic from the wrecking ball required constant vigilance as well as political savvy. Such was the case at Washington Square, where in response to a 27-story building erected at 1 Fifth Avenue a campaign was organized to create height limits around the square itself. The land for 1 Fifth Avenue was leased by Sailors’ Snug Harbor—a foundation dedicated to assisting retired mariners and one of the largest owners of land in Greenwich Village. The threat to Washington Square became even greater in 1936 when the same foundation announced plans to demolish several of the structures facing the north side of Washington Square, known as “The Row.” In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B.White explained:
INTERLOPER…The Sailors’ Snug Harbor Foundation had already altered the scale of Washington Square with the erection of 1 Fifth Avenue (1926-27), seen to the right of the arch in the bottom photo (by Berenice Abbott, 1936); above left, facade of Sailors’ Snug Harbor Foundation building as it appears today (inset: the foundation’s monogram set within the spandrels of the arched windows); top right, looking west down Washington Square North, 1937. (daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/geographicguide.com)
Fortunately the demolition did not proceed, with Sailors’ Snug Harbor deciding to retain the character of “The Row”—numbers 1-13 Washington Square North. Not so fortunate were the adjacent Rhinelander Houses that were demolished in the mid-1940s, and “Genius Row” on Washington Square South, which was demolished in 1948 to make room for the NYU Law Center.
NOT SO FORTUNATE…The Rhinelander Houses at Washington Square North (top photo, from 1922) were demolished in 1951 to make way for an apartment house; photo below, the “Genius Row” on Washington Square South was demolished in 1948 to make room for the NYU Law Center. Occupants of Genius Row included writers Stephen Crane, O. Henry, and Willa Cather.(nypl.org/Village Preservation–GVSHP)
Beginning in the 1940s, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses would try many times to ram a highway through Washington Square Park, including a proposal in the early 1950s (below) that would bisect the park with a 48-foot-wide highway connecting Fifth Avenue to West Broadway.
PAVING PARADISE…Opposition was so great to Robert Moses’s Washington Square proposals that he finally abandoned plans for a highway through the park. (MTA Archives)
* * *
Farewell Artie
Legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini (1867–1957) transformed the New York Philharmonic into a world-class ensemble during his stint as music director from 1928 to 1936. Unfortunately, his stellar career with the Philharmonic ended rather ignominiously: When the Maestro turned to take a bow at the conclusion of his Carnegie Hall farewell concert, a young photographer exploded a flash bulb directly in his face, causing the great conductor to flee the stage. E.B. White was there to take it all in:
I SAW THE LIGHT…a photographer’s flash temporarily blinded legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini (top) following his farewell concert at Carnegie Hall. Below, a ticket stub from the historic evening. Five bucks seems like a bargain, but it is roughly equivalent to nearly $120 today. (wfimc.org/carnegiehall.org)
The New Yorker’s music critic Robert A. Simon also shared some thoughts on the evening, which included a scuffle between a “hatless fellow” and another fellow (also hatless) that followed the photographer incident:
PLEASE BEHAVE…A view from the Carnegie Hall stage in 1930. Following Arturo Toscanini’s farewell concert in 1936, a scuffle broke out in the lobby, the result of a row over the temporary blinding of the Maestro by a photographer’s flash bulb. (nypap.org)
* * *
Lah-Dee-Dy
“The Talk of the Town” looked into the fuss over the toy industry’s first practical “drink-and-wet” baby doll, Effanbee’s Dy-Dee doll. Marketed as “The Almost Human Doll”, the “Talk” correspondents (Helen and Charles Cooke) found a demonstration at Macy’s a bit too real (included with this excerpt is spot art by Abe Birnbaum).
UNCANNY…The Effanbee Doll Company marketed their “Almost Human” Dy-Dee doll as the first workable “drink-and-wet” baby doll. The doll was designed by German-born Bernard Lipfert (1886–1974), who sculpted dolls for prominent American toy manufacturers from the 1920s to the 1960s, including the famous Patsy and Shirley Temple dolls. (collectornet.net/Linda Lipfert White via catskilldolls.com)
* * *
At the Movies
Many film critics in the 1930s, including The New Yorker’sJohn Mosher, admired the Soviet film industry for its cinematic innovations and often brutal realism, even if deployed as propaganda. Such was the case with We Are From Kronstadt, which depicted heroic Red sailors defending the city of Petrograd from counterrevolutionary forces. “It’s a film to be respected,” Mosher wrote.
NO BLONDES, JUST BOMBSHELLS…Clockwise from top left: Russian poster for We Are From Kronstadt; actor Georgi Bushuyev; battle scene from the film; actress Raisa Yesipova. (Wikipedia/imdb.com)
Mosher also reviewed the lighter fare coming out of Hollywood, including two films featuring the actress Joan Bennett.
SEEING DOUBLE…Joan Bennett shared top billing in two new releases—with Cary Grant in Big Brown Eyes (left); and with Fred MacMurray in 13 Hours by Air (top right); Claudette Colbert was paired with Ronald Colman in Under Two Flags (below). (csfd.cz/imdb.com)WET AND COLD…Bette Davis and George Brent went through the motions in The Golden Arrow (left); at right, Rochelle Hudson and Alan Hale braved the wilds of Canada in The Country Beyond. Hale was the father of Alan Hale Jr., who was also a film actor but is best known today for playing the Skipper on TV’s Gilligan’s Island. (pinterest.com/20th Century Fox)
* * *
Swing Time
Ninety years ago America’s youth primarily listened to (and danced to) swing music and big band jazz. The New Yorker kept readers up to date on the latest hits.
RHYTHM SECTION…”The Ol’ Perfessor” Kay Kyser’s band (the “Kollege of Musical Knowledge”) kept the kids in rhythm in the 1930s; at right, Benny Goodman (left) and Gene Krupa both released records with some new “swings.” (jimramsburg.com/grampsblog.wordpress.com)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
The makers of Packard automobiles were big into the idea of continuity, emphasizing the quality and longevity of their product over gimmicky style changes…
…in the mid-1930s (and especially in 1936) Chrysler employed the comedic talents of Ed Wynn to sell its low-priced Plymouths…
…the makers of Fisher car bodies (a division of General Motors) continued their campaign of two-page ads pairing cute kids with their “Turret Top” safety feature…
…canned beer was a recent innovation in 1936, with New York breweries leading the way (Krueger Brewing Company was first, its canned beer officially debuting in January 1935)…
…the French Line enticed New Yorkers to see Paris in the springtime…
…Harper’s ran this ad on the top left corner of page 95 to promote Robert Benchley’sMy Ten Years in a Quandary…and How They Grew, illustrated by Benchley’s New Yorker colleague Gluyas Williams…
BENCHLEY IN A BIND…Robert Benchley and the cover of My Ten Years in a Quandary…and How They Grew. (ebay.com/ebooktakeaway.com)
…on to our cartoonists, we begin with Richard Taylor in the calendar section…
…and a nice bit of spot art by Christina Malman…
…Alan Dunn revealed a time tunnel under the Hudson…
…Rea Irvin drew up an odd sight along a garden path…
…this honeymoon was over before it even started, per Peter Arno…
…Alain showed us the troubled dreams of a jailbird…
…Charles Addams at his best, taking the daily horrors in stride…
…James Thurber gave us a Gish, but not of silent movie fame…
…Helen Hokinson illustrated a day at the radio station across pages 22-23…
…Hokinson again, weighing the competition between a sofa and table…
…and we close with Kemp Starrett, and a helpful husband…
Above: Behind the scenes production photo of the space gun used to launch a manned projectile to the moon in Things to Come. (Instagram)
One of the most anticipated films of the 1930s was the British production of Things to Come. Loosely based on the 1933 science fiction novel by H.G. Wells,The Shape of Things to Come, the film was an extraordinarily ambitious and expensive production featuring a huge cast and elaborate sets, both full-scale and in miniature.
April 25, 1936 cover by Rea Irvin.
Critic John Mosher wasn’t quite sure what to make of Things to Come, seizing on the film’s promise to end the common cold.
CLEANING CREW…A businessman in Everytown in the 1940s, John Cabal (Raymond Massey) returns in the 1970s to find his city in ruin and governed by a warlord. As a member of a secret organization called “Wings Over the World” (comprised of the last surviving band of engineers and mechanics), Cabal orders his organization to send giant flying wings over Everytown and saturate the population with a “Gas of Peace.” Not only does the gas make the population tranquil, it also kills the warlord, played by Ralph Richardson (right). (midnightonly.com/instagram.com)
In a review for The Criterion Collection, Geoffrey O’Brien notes that the film’s shocking scenes of war were shown to an audience “in active denial, many of them, of the possibility of such things coming to pass in the near future.”
But an antiseptic city with a population made docile by a “Gas of Peace” didn’t appear to be something one would look forward to either. O’Brien points to Jorge Luis Borges’ remarks regarding Things to Come: “The heaven of Wells and Alexander Korda, like that of so many other eschatologists and set designers, is not much different than their hell, though even less charming.” Borges dismissed the notion that science and technology would be the rallying force against tyranny: “In 1936, the power of almost all tyrants arises from their control of technology.”
WAR AND PEACE…At left, bombers lay waste to Everytown in the 1940s, seemingly forecasting The Blitz of London in 1940-41; at right, decades later, “Wings Over the World” sends giant flying wings (right) over Everytown to saturate the population with a “Gas of Peace.” (Illinois.edu/facebook.com)UTOPIA?…After years of rebuilding, a new, underground Everytown emerges in 2036. The set (left) was designed by director William Cameron Menzies and Bauhaus artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Above, transportation included autogyros; both men and women wore futuristic togas, including John Cabal’s great-granddaughter Catherine Cabal (Pearl Argyle). Note the acrylic furniture, ubiquitous in the future scenes of the film. (midnightonly.com/facebook.com/YouTube)
O’Brien concludes: “There is no way any audience, in the 1930s or now, would be likely to accept Raymond Massey’s Oswald Cabal as an empathetic spokesperson for the human race. He is essentially the chairman of the board of a quasi-fascist ruling elite—and not so very far from the idea that Wells, at best ambivalent about democracy, in fact had in mind.”
In all fairness, I should note that Massey did not like his character’s “heavy-handed speeches” that lacked human emotion. He complained H.G. Wells prioritized cold scientific ideals over personal character depth. “For heart interest, Mr. Wells hands you an electric switch,” Massey stated.
WISHES SOMETIMES COME TRUE…In the movie, a little girl in the year 2036 receives a history lesson from her great grandfather (including a video of 1936 New York), and she expresses delight that people will “keep on inventing things and making life lovelier and lovelier.” The little girl was played by eight-year-old Anne McLaren. The great grandfather was played by Charles Carson (1885–1977). (midnightonly.com)DAME McLAREN…In real life that little girl, Anne McLaren (1927–2007), did make life better, becoming a leading figure in developmental biology and paving the way for other women in science. Her work also helped lead to the development of human invitrofertilization. Dame Anne Laura Dorinthea McLaren received many honors for her research and ethical contributions. (YouTube.com/Wikipedia)POW! TO THE MOON…At left, Catherine Cabal (Pearl Argyle) and fellow scientist Maurice Passworthy (Kenneth Villiers) prepare to fly around the moon, launched from a gigantic space gun (right). (theguardian.com/YouTube)
Interestingly, Raymond Massey (1896–1983) and most of the film’s cast would live to see an actual moon landing in just 33 years. Most of them would also be involved in some way in the Second World War, Massey being wounded as part of the Canadian regiment.
American writer and editor Al Graham (1905–1972), who contributed a number of poems and “Talk of the Town” pieces to The New Yorker in the Thirties and Forties, offered some thoughts regarding Things to Come. Here are excerpts of the first and last parts of his piece:
SLOW AND STEADY…Al Graham is perhaps best known for his 1930s humorous verse and children’s literature such as Timothy Turtle (1946) and The Rhymes of Squire O’Squirrel (1963). At right is a cover of the first edition of H.G. Wells’The Shape of Things to Come. (Wikipedia)
Incidentally, the British automaker Triumph used Wells’ title in a 1970s ad campaign for the TR-7…
(The Daily Drive)
While we are talking movies, Mosher also reviewed Frank Capra’sMr. Deeds Goes to Town. Films such as Mr. Deeds and It’s a Wonderful Life were Capra’s “love letters to an idealized America—a cinematic landscape of his own invention,” wrote social critic Morris Dickstein. Or as actor/director John Cassavetes once observed: “Maybe there really wasn’t an America, it was only Frank Capra.” Whatever it was, Mr. Deeds would win Capra his second Oscar for Best Director (he would win three in all, plus a fourth for a World War II documentary).
HAPPY ENDING…Mr. Deeds (Gary Cooper) finds love and salvation with Jean Arthur in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. (britannica.com)
* * *
Ah-Choo!
Those familiar with E.B. White’s writings are likely also familiar with his lifelong struggle with hay fever, or “catarrh” as it was also referred to in those days. White notably wrote about his condition in a 1938 New Yorker essay, “Daniel Webster, the Hay Fever, and Me.” He addresses the malady in his April 25, 1936 “Notes and Comment” column:
SNEEZING AND HONKING…Despite his allergies, E.B. White had a deep love for the countryside and nature. Although he grew up just outside New York City, he cultivated a love of rural life that was finally realized when he and wife Katharine bought a farm near Brooklin, Maine. Above is a 1974 photo (by Jill Krementz) of White at his Maine farm. (cornell.edu)
One of the more common and effective treatments for allergies in the Thirties was the benzedrine inhaler. The active ingredient was amphetamine. It was safe if inhaled, however some folks got the idea to crack open the inhaler and swallow the contents, which would induce a mind-altering effect (the amount of amphetamine in the inhaler was 250 milligrams, much greater than the five or ten milligrams in tablets prescribed for depression).
NOT SHIRLEY TEMPLE, however the marketers of the inhaler probably wanted consumers to make the connection. (mcgill.ca)
* * *
Before the Internet
What did some folks do in the evening before modern-day distractions? According to “The Talk of the Town,” at least one man and his family loved to gawk at the new Wrigley sign in Times Square.
CHEW ON THIS…The Wrigley sign spanned the block on Broadway from 44th Street to 45th Street. Designed by artist Dorothy Shepard, the display featured fish blowing bubbles and was lit by 29,608 lamps and 1,084 feet of neon tubing. It was so large that its electrical power usage was estimated to be equivalent to a small city of ten thousand people. (Wikipedia)
* * *
From Our Advertisers
White Rock continued its series of brightly illustrated ads, this most likely the work of noted illustrator John Holmgren…
…Stage magazine continued to promote its star-studded content in full-page color ads…this one featured American stage and film actress Ina Claire…
Ina Claire, center, with Osgood Perkins and Doris Dudley in End of Summer.(jacksonupperco.com)
…ah, the pleasure of an after-dinner Lucky back in the day when you could still smoke indoors…
…another ad for Green Giant Niblets featuring a rich old toff who’s just over the moon about canned corn…
…these surreal Lyse Darcy ads for Guerlain really stood out in the magazine…
…speaking of standing out, who could resist the distraction of a tabloid, especially with the Gray Lady folded in one’s lap?…Alain illustrates…
…and per James Thurber, who was immune to the charms of a woman with a heart tattooed on her hip?…
…Charles Addams showed us a man with a built-in fishing advantage…
…Gregory d’Alessio gave us an understandable marital mix-up…
…Helen Hokinson offered a dose of “meh” in the hat department…
…Garrett Price showed us the consequences of Robert Moses’s transformation of Long Island from a rural area for the rich into a suburban landscape for the hoi polloi…
…and we close with Peter Arno, who wondered what’s the fun of drinking in the tropics when you can do the same thing in Queens?…
