William Steig – A New Yorker State of Mind

Star Maker

Above: Although MGM head Louis B. Mayer (right) had a strong business sense, he needed Irving Thalberg's keen ability to combine artistic quality with commercial success. During his twelve years at MGM, Thalberg supervised the production of more than four hundred films. (artsfuse.org)

Born in a Ukrainian village in 1884, Louis B. Mayer grew up poor in Canada and dropped out of school at age twelve to support his family. Nearly three decades later he co-founded Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, lured the “boy genius” Irving Thalberg from Universal, and went on to lead one Hollywood’s most prestigious filmmaking companies.

March 28, 1936 cover by **Perry Barlow.**

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Henry F. Pringle (1897–1958) looked into Mayer’s life in a two-part profile, leading with a look into the movie mogul’s ability to control his vast stable of stars (illustration by Hugo Gellert):

BOY GENIUS…Clockwise, from top left, MGM producer **Irving Thalberg** (seen here in 1929 with wife and actress **Norma Shearer**), had a knack for combining quality art with commercial appeal. Born with a weak heart, Thalberg died in September 1936 at age 37; *The Great Ziegfeld* was one of MGM’s top movies in 1936—it won three Academy Awards including Best Picture; **Louis B. Mayer** with young MGM stars Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland; **Shirley Temple** signing with MGM in 1941 with Mayer, Garland and Rooney. *(theguardian.com/Wikipedia/facebook.com)*

Mayer (1884–1957) is credited with helping to create the “star system” in Hollywood. “The idea of a star being born is bush-wah,” Mayer once said. “A star is made, created; carefully and cold-bloodedly built up from nothing, from nobody.” Mayer believed he “made” his stars, and therefore had the right to control their careers as well as their very lives. Pringle explained the predicament of actress Joan Crawford:

MAYER-MADE…**Louis B. Mayer** not only gave Joan Crawford a new name (she was born Lucille LeSueur), he was also instrumental in transforming her from a dancer to a major Hollywood star. Throughout her career at MGM Crawford pestered Mayer for better roles (until she finally left MGM in 1943). However, they remained friends until his death in 1957. Crawford once called Mayer “the best friend I ever had.” *(Wikipedia/imdb.com)*

Many stars were less forgiving than Crawford regarding Mayer’s controlling behavior. Although many male actors saw him as a father figure, women often had a very different view. A young Elizabeth Taylor called him a “monster” for his attempts to oversee her life, while Judy Garland was forced to go on diets and take amphetamines and barbiturates to meet Mayer’s punishing work schedules. Many believe this led to Garland’s lifelong addiction issues.

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Water Water Everywhere

In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White was at a loss for words to describe the floods in the northeastern U.S. that followed a bitter winter. A combination of rain and the melting of heavy snowpack caused massive damage in the Connecticut and Merrimack River valleys as well as in the Pittsburgh area. In addition to approximately two hundred fatalities, hundreds of thousands were left homeless.

DELUGE…The flooding in Albany, NY, in 1936 (top) was part of a series of devastating floods that affected much of the northeastern United States. Below, the Holyoke Dam in Massachusetts, March 19, 1936. *(South Hadley Public Library/sungazette.com)*

White’s “Notes” also included an update on the “aesthetic restlessness” at Rockefeller Center, where the statues Youth and Maiden were removed from the Paul Manship-designed Prometheus fountain. The artist decided the two bronze figures did not fit well in the fountain, so they were moved to the roof garden of the Palazzo d’Italia.

EXILED…**Paul Manship’s** two gilded figures, *Youth* and Maiden, representing mankind receiving the fire, originally flanked *Prometheus* (top photo). In 1936 they were moved to the roof garden of the Palazzo d’Italia, but were returned to the Plaza in the 1980s. Pictured below, the six-foot statues were again moved in 2001 to the top of the Plaza staircase between the Channel Gardens and the Sunken Plaza.

*(mcny.org/Elisa.rolle/photo-opsblogspot.com)*

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Pyramid Scheme

“The Talk of the Town” commented on some unusual research conducted by Dr. A.E. Strath-Gordon, in which he used measurements from the Great Pyramid to predict the end of the Depression. Excerpts:

JUST READ THE STONES…**Dr. A.E. Strath-Gordon** (1873–1952) was a spiritualist, researcher, author, and lecturer on the occult and paranormal subjects. (strathgordon.wordpress.com)

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Deeper South

James Thurber had some fun with novels about the Deep South that sought to employ authentic dialogue—but not as successfully as novelist Erskine Caldwell. These excerpts are the first and last paragraphs from the piece.

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED…**Erskine Caldwell’s** writings about poverty and racism in his native South included novels such as Tobacco Road (1932) and *God’s Little Acre* (1933). Unlike Thurber’s parody, Caldwell’s writing style has been described as spare, direct and unadorned. (Wikipedia/etsy.com)

* * *

An Introduction

I didn’t know much about the novelist Leane Zugsmith until I read her short story in the March 28, 1936 edition of The New Yorker. During the 1930s she was prominent among writers who focused on the struggles of the working class during the Great Depression. “Mr. Milliner” was the eighth short story she published in the magazine, out of a total of fifteen from 1934 to 1949. Here are the opening lines:

FED UP…Writer Leane Zugsmith (1903–1969) focused on the shortcomings of capitalism in her novels and short stories, including her 1936 novel *A Time to Remember,* which depicted a department store strike and the rise of white-collar unions. She published fifteen short stories in *The New Yorker* from 1934 to 1949. (*bolerium.com)*

* * *

Over There

In her latest dispatch from Paris, Janet Flanner noted the growing anxiety among Parisians over Germany’s arms buildup and its re-occupation of the Rhineland.

HAIRY HEADLINES…**Janet Flanner** noted the anxious crowds around newspaper kiosks (unlike the quiet image above) and the boos being issued by the market women in the Halles (at passing soldiers) as war with Germany was being seen as inevitable. (tresors-de-paris.com/mattbarrett-travel.com)

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At the Movies

Lillian Hellman’s drama The Children’s Hour premiered on Broadway on Nov. 24, 1934, and ran for 691 performances—but bringing it to the screen in the era of the Motion Picture Production Code (aka Hays Code) proved a bit tricky, according to film critic John Mosher. Hellman’s play centered on a schoolgirl’s false accusation of lesbianism against two of her teachers, or as Mosher put it rather delicately, “a friendship of two young women…characterized by such emotional undercurrents as are not held seemly for screen exposition.”

Hellman rewrote the play to conform to the Code, removing any mention of lesbianism and changing the dramatic focus to a schoolteacher accused of having sex with another’s fiance. It appeared in 1936 under the title These Three.

Mosher wished the film could have included Florence McGee, who portrayed the conniving student protagonist Mary Tilford in the original play. The part in These Three went instead to Bonita Granville, who at age fourteen earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance as Mary Tilford.

TWO TAKES…**Florence McGee** (pictured at right, seated center) portrayed the conniving student protagonist Mary Tilford in the Broadway production of *The Children’s Hour.* The part of Mary Tilford in the re-written film version of the play, *These Three,* went to Bonita Granville (left), who at age fourteen earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance. (oscarchamps.com/Wikipedia)

THREE TOTALLY STRAIGHT PEOPLE…**Joel McCrea, Merle Oberon** and Miriam Hopkins starred in *These Three*, a cinematic rewrite of **Lillian Hellman’s** play The Children’s Hour. (quadcinema.com)

Mosher also reviewed Petticoat Fever, a “trifle” starring Myrna Loy and Robert Montgomery.

BABY ITS COLD OUTSIDE…**Myrna Loy** and **Robert Montgomery** in Petticoat Fever. Montgomery was the father of **Elizabeth Montgomery,** best known for her portrayal of Samantha Stephens on the TV sitcom *Bewitched.* (IMDb.com)

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From Our Advertisers

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…Lux Soap Flakes were featured in big, celebrity-filled ads in mid-century America, soap being one product (like whiskey and cigarettes) that proved to be mostly Depression-proof…

…a twelve-cylinder engine was usually a feature of top-of-the-line luxury automobiles, but the folks at Lincoln put one into their medium-priced Zephyr…the car succeeded in reigniting sales at Lincoln dealerships during the Depression…

…beginning in the late nineteenth century cigarette companies included coupons that could be redeemed for items ranging from cocktail sets to silk stockings (per this ad)…Brown & Williamson, the makers of Raleigh and Kool cigarettes, featured coupons on the back of every pack, and smokers could write the company for a free premium catalog…

…this Raleigh catalog from the early 1950s even featured toys…250 coupons could get you a “Teddy bear with plastic nose”…so keep on puffing…

…Luckies went with the glamour of flying, an experience only the well-heeled could afford…

…on to our cartoonists, we have Richard Taylor…

…and Barbara Shermund welcoming us into the issue…

…and a this nice spot from Christina Malman…

…Al Frueh gave us his interpretation of Saint Joan…

…W.P. Trent explored the deep seas…

…Helen Hokinson revealed a secret…

…Gluyas Williams was still examining club life…

…William Steig went for a haircut (across two pages)…

…Leonard Dove received some junk mail…

…George Price uncovered a spy…

…Garrett Price assessed the price of fame…

…William Crawford Galbraith continued to explore the world of sugar daddies and chlorines…

…and we close with Ned Hilton, and those floods…

Next Time: Idiot’s Delight…

The Harsh Glare of Fame

Above: Posters advertising The Country Doctor, a film featuring the Dionne Quintuplets as "The Wyatt Quintuplets." (Wikipedia/imdb.com)

The Dionne Quintuplets, famed as the first quintuplets known to have survived infancy, appeared in a motion picture before their second birthday—The Country Doctor—just one example of the many ways the girls were exploited by the province of Ontario, their doctor, their father, and the companies who used their images to sell everything from toys to toothpaste.

March 21, 1936 cover by **Constantin Alajalov.**

The Country Doctor was the first of three 20th Century Fox films featuring the toddlers as the “The Wyatt Quintuplets.” Actor Jean Hersholt played the country doctor (“Dr. John Luke”) in all three films, his character based on Allan Roy Dafoe, the Ontario obstetrician who successfully delivered the identical quints in 1934. It was a sign of the times that no one seemed too concerned about the children’s welfare—The New Yorker’s John Mosher was joined by his fellow critics in generally praising the film.

MARKETING MATERNITY…*The Country Doctor* was the first of three 20th Century Fox films featuring the Dionne Quintuplets. Clockwise, from top left: **Slim Summerville, Jean Hersholt**, and **John Qualen** in *The Country Doctor*; Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn with the quintuplets in 1934; a 1936 book based on the film; a 1937 ad for Karo Syrup, a major sponsor of the girls and Dr. Dafoe; an array of quintuplet-related toys included paper dolls and the much sought after Madame Alexander dolls. (Wikipedia/ebay.com/facebook.com/pbs.org)

The Dionne Quintuplets were used to endorse an array of products including Quaker Oats, Colgate toothpaste, Palmolive soap, and Lysol disinfectant. Dr. Dafoe became a wealthy man due to his association with the quintuplets, while the government of Ontario saw enormous tourism potential (the girls were made wards of the province ostensibly to protect them from exploitation). At the age of four months the quintuplets were moved from the farmhouse where they were born to a compound (“Quintland”) that featured an outdoor playground designed as a public observation area.

SURROUNDED BY RICHES…at left, **Allen Roy DaFoe** on a postcard with the Dionne Quintuplets; tourists consult sign for the next public showing of the “Quints.”*(roadtripusa.com/facebook.com)*

CHA-CHING…**Oliva Dionne,** the quintuplets’ father, ran this souvenir and refreshment stand at Quintland, where the public flocked to view the girls playing. *(montrealgazette.com)*

The last surviving quintuplet, Annette, died on December 24, 2025, at the age of 91. Her sister Cécile died a few months earlier, also at age of 91.

John Mosher also reviewed Mae West’s latest film, Klondike Annie. Some critics regarded it as her finest film, despite heavy censorship and the outrage of “Decency people.”

GO WEST, WEST…**Mae West** portrayed a kept woman who murders her keeper in self-defense and escapes to Nome, Alaska in *Klondike Annie*. At left, West in a scene with Son Yong; at right, with **Phillip Reed**. *(Pinterest)*

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St. Katharine

Robert Benchley found Katharine Cornell’s theatrical performance in Saint Joan to be “as fine as was expected.” An excerpt:

KNOWN QUANTITIES was how **Robert Benchley** described the talents of stage actress **Katharine Cornell.** At left, Cornell as Saint Joan; at right, Cornell (1893–1974) is perhaps best known in her role as **Elizabeth Barrett** in the 1931 Broadway production of *The Barretts of Wimpole Street. (Wikipedia)*

* * *

It Begins…

On March 7, 1936, 22,000 German army troops crossed a bridge over the Rhine River and entered the Rhineland, breaking the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, which mandated a demilitarized Rhineland to ensure French safety. Despite the violation, and the fact that the German army was still weak, France and Britain took no military action. E.B. White reported:

REOCCUPATION…On March 7, 1936, German Army troops crossed a bridge over the Rhine River and entered the Rhineland for the first time since the end of World War I. The lack of response from France and Great Britain no doubt emboldened Hitler to annex Austria and occupy Czechoslovakia in 1938. (iwm.org.uk)

Howard Brubaker, in his column “Of All Things,” also noted:

* * *

Some Pretty Things

“The Talk of the Town” paid a visit to the Museum for the Arts of Decoration at the Cooper Union and found many treasures within, including a unique circular elevator.

BRIDGE TO THE PAST…The Cooper Union’s Museum for the Arts of Decoration held many treasures, including (at bottom) an Italian birdcage fashioned to resemble the Rialto Bridge; at top, rooms filled with examples from the decorative arts. *(cooperhewitt.org)*

The “Talk” visit included a ride up a circa 1850s elevator shaft designed by inventor Peter Cooper four years before safety elevators even existed. The design was based on Cooper’s belief that the circular shape was the most efficient.

ROUND AND SOUND…At left, entrance to Peter Cooper’s circa 1850s round elevator and the elevator’s shaft at the Cooper Union Foundation Building. The round shaft remains a central feature of the building today, now housing a modern round elevator designed in 1972. (Cooper Union Library)

* * *

Commie Cutlery

American non-fiction writer Carl Carmer published the first part of a two-part essay on the revolutionary Oneida Community, which Carmer dubbed “a materially successful communist experiment…”

This polyamorous Christian utopia disbanded before the end of the 19th century and reemerged as a joint-stock company, Oneida Community Limited, which focused on making silverware. This brief excerpt is from the first paragraph.

COHABITING COMRADES…Oneida commune members gather on the lawn in front of the Community Mansion House in in Madison County, New York, circa 1860s. Members of the community practiced free love, women and men had equal freedom in sexual expression and commitment, and children were raised communally. (collectorsweekly.com)

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From Our Advertisers

Yes, take a doctor’s advice, and put some leaded gas in your car, and into the air you breathe…

…R.J. Reynolds presented three women who exemplified the “society model” trend of the 1930s…well-known debs and socialites who provided an air of prestige to a brand…especially cigarettes…

…Lorillard Tobacco Company, on the other hand, stuck with pin-up artist George Petty to push their Old Golds…

…General Motors took out the middle spread to tout their low-priced luxury automobile, the La Salle…

…the convertible La Salle looked handsome, if not a bit brisk with the top down…

…American luxury carmaker Packard proudly displayed their twelve-cylinder luxury model, but reminded readers they could have a lesser model, the 120, for a price “in the $1,000 field”…

…a couple of one-column ads…Don Herold helped Hale’s move mattresses, while fashion columnist Alma Archer employed class anxiety to promote her new book, The Secrets of Smartness and the Art of Allure…

SMARTNESS AUTHORITY **Alma Archer** in 1937. Archer (1898–1988) wrote a widely read column for the *New York Mirror* that was syndicated in more than a thousand newspapers.

…if you have been following this blog, you’ll recall the ads with angry duchesses fuming over tomato juice and rich old men fondly recalling their countrified youth via canned corn niblets…well here is one robber baron who needed some niblets pronto to quiet his rage…maybe a snifter or two of brandy would have also helped…

…on to our cartoonists, James Thurber kicked things off on page two…

…the “Goings On” section concluded on page four with this drawing by Charles Addams…

…a couple more spot drawings from the issue by Christina Malman (left) and Richard Taylor…

…Al Frueh offered this interpretation of the players in End of Summer…

…and we have Thurber again, with a hard-to-miss distraction…

…William Steig continued to explore the varieties of “Holy Wedlock”…

…Leonard Dove gave us a golddigger stranded at sea…

…Gardner Rea put a captain of industry in a tight spot…

…Ned Hilton encountered a hairy challenge…

…Eli Garson demonstrated some remarkable foot dexterity…

…while Robert Day showed a lack of dexterity a construction site…

…Charles Addams revealed a materialist in the brotherhood…

…Peter Arno’s charwomen let a sleeping dog lie…

…and we close Garrett Price, and one perceptive lad…

Next Time: Star Maker…

Comfort Food

Above: Sheila Hibben became The New Yorker's first food critic in 1934. She also wrote several cookbooks, including Good Food for Bad Stomachs, a book that was suggested by New Yorker founder and editor Harold Ross. Hibben was a pioneering advocate for American regional dishes, and despised food snobbery (she wanted to banish the word "gourmet" from the English language). (Wikipedia/Amazon)

Long overdue is a look at The New Yorker’s first food critic, Sheila Hibben, who wrote frankly about the dining scene in her restaurant reviews and in her column “Markets and Menus.” Decades ahead of her time, she drew attention to America’s regional dishes, persuading readers to embrace the comforts of humble, practical recipes during the lean years of the Depression and the Second World War.

Eleventh anniversary cover by **Rea Irvin**, February 22, 1936.

Born Cecile Craik, Hibben (1888–1964) detested food snobbery, and through her pioneering work “persuaded housewives to be proud of their American culinary identity, to embrace traditional regional cuisines, and to reject fancier fare for the sake of fashion,” observed Meaghan Elliott in her 2021 dissertation at the University of New Hampshire.

In addition to her “Markets and Menus” column and restaurant reviews, Hibben also wrote several books including Good Food for Bad Stomachs, which was inspired by New Yorker founder and editor Harold Ross. Plagued by ulcers and discouraged by his limited diet, Ross encouraged his gastroenterologist, Sara Murray Jordan, to write a cookbook with Hibben. Good Food for Bad Stomachs was published in 1951, with a laudatory foreword by Ross, who unfortunately did not have long to enjoy the recipes, dying of heart and lung problems that same year.

DYSPEPTIC DIETER **Harold Ross** brought together the talents of his gastroenterologist **Sara Murray Jordan,** left, with his magazine’s food critic, **Sheila Hibben**, to publish *Good Food for Bad Stomachs. (Wikipedia/The New Yorker)*

Here are excerpts from Hibben’s “Restaurants” column for the Feb. 22 issue, featuring her takes on a couple of the city’s finer dining establishments, including Theodore Titze’s restaurant on East 56th and the famed fare of Charles Scotto at the Hotel Pierre:

KNOWN AS THEODORE OF THE RITZ, the German-born **Theodore Titze** (1879–1953) was a well-known maitre d’hotel—at left, **Ralph Barton** featured Titze as one of his “Heroes of the Week” in the Dec. 12, 1925 issue of *The New Yorker*; at right, a 1933 drawing of Titze by the cartoonist Vinzento Zito—the image refers to Titze’s 1931 departure from New York to take charge of the Castle Harbor Hotel in Bermuda. He later operated other properties in Bermuda before opening Theodore’s at 4 East Fifty-sixth Street. (wikitree.com)

CAN’T MISS IT…Top, postcard image of Theodore’s Restaurant; below, ad for Theodore’s in *Stage* magazine, February 1938. (Etsy.com)

Hibben also wrote about the excellent fare at the Hotel Pierre, where Chef Charles Scotto, an early protégé of the legendary Chef Auguste Escoffier, reigned supreme.

CREAM OF THE CROP…At left, a page from the 1934 booklet *Angostura Recipes* featuring a recipe by famed Chef **Charles Scotto** (1887–1937). At right, undated image of the Hotel Pierre. (The Cary Collection/geographicguide.com)

From 1934 to 1962 Hibben wrote the “Markets and Menus” column, which appeared in rotation with several other columns that were tacked onto Lois Long’s weekly “On and Off the Avenue.” Here is an excerpt from Hibben’s Feb. 1, 1936 column:

* * *

Not Music to His Ears

In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White took issue with “the fascism of music” in public places including Grand Central Station and the Central Park skating pond.

SAD CATHEDRAL OVERTONES is how E.B. White described the organ music of Mary Lee Read, who played organ in Grand Central’s north gallery from 1928 until the late 1950s. On the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked she played “The Star-Spangled Banner;” activity on the concourse ground to a halt, causing commuters to miss their trains. She was forbidden from playing the song after that. She has also been credited with saving the life of a man who was planning to commit suicide until he heard her play a moving hymn. (marthahallkelly.com)

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At the Movies

Paul Muni was considered one of the best actors of the 1930s, his talents so appreciated by Warner Brothers that he was allowed to choose his own roles, including the lead in The Story of Louis Pasteur. It was a good choice, as it landed him a Best Actor Oscar in 1936. New Yorker critic John Mosher had these observations:

HE’S ON TO SOMETHING…**Paul Muni** in The Story of Louis Pasteur. One of the best posters for the film was the Italian version at right, the rabid dog promising some some real drama. Muni won the Best Actor Oscar of his portrayal of Pasteur. (researchgate.net/imdb.com)

Mosher also took in The Prisoner of Shark Island, featuring Warren Baxter as a man falsely accused of complicity in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

I DIDN’T DO IT…**Warren Baxter** and **Gloria Stuart** in *The Prisoner of Shark Island.* Moviegoers today will remember Stuart (1910–2010) in her portrayal of the aged Rose in 1997’s *Titanic.* Stuart’s film career would span more than seventy years, 1932–2004. (mubi.com/imdb.com)

Mosher found much to like in a Soviet film about the struggles and hardships of three childhood friends from Petrograd who become nurses to serve the cause of the Bolshevik Revolution.

SOVIET SISTERHOOD…At right, **Irina Zarubina, Yanina Zhejmo** and **Zoya Fyodorova** in 1936’s *Three Women*. It was released in the Soviet Union as *Girl Friends (Podrugi).*

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From Our Advertisers

If you wanted to visit the land of the Soviet film, Three Women, you could have hopped onto this Reliance cruise to Russia as well as to the Summer Olympics in Berlin…in just a little over three years the Germans would invade Poland and these “wonderlands” would become a living hell for many…

…John Groth, who would contribute cartoons to The New Yorker in the 1940s, provided this illustration for a Stage magazine ad…

…the folks at Minnesota Valley Canning Company continued the theme of a rich man returning to his humble roots via canned Green Giant vegetables…here the man is brought to tears over “Niblets”…

…as you might recall, it was a wealthy “Major” who recently (Dec. 21, 1935) sought to rekindle lost youth through Green Giant Niblets…

…and what’s the deal with the Duchess trope found in so many ads?…she has been featured in a Green Giant ad for peas, as well as in ads for tomato and grapefruit juice…

…the magazine’s opening spread once again featured the odd juxtaposition of canned soup and high fashion…

…one-column ads in the back of the book featured illustrations by Peter Wells (at left), and William Steig…

…Book-of-the-Month Club enticed new members with a FREE copy of the Nobel Prize-winning trilogy Kristin Lavransdatter by Danish-Norwegian author Sigrid Undset…

…this colorful ad from the Bermuda Trade Development Board beckoned New Yorkers to trade “slush and chilly winds” for the pink sands of the British island territory…

…the back cover cycled back to Camel cigarettes with a lineup of fashionable debs enticing young women to join their ranks…as Camel smokers, at least…

…more one-column ads, featuring the latest in reading material…

…including the latest edition of The Bedroom Companion…it was one of those “For Men Only” books that compiled some previously published pieces with other contributions…

…the index of the 1935 edition included a number of New Yorker regulars…

…such as E. Simms Campbell…

…and Abner Dean…

LATE NIGHT READING…Clockwise, from top left, 1935 edition of *The Bedroom Companion*; a racy cartoon by **Abner Dean**; comic lyrics by Ogden Nash; a contribution by **Vincenzo Zito**, a well-known caricature artist who particularly favored dogs. (etsy.com)

…on to our other cartoonists, we begin with spots by Constantin Alajalov…

and Richard Taylor…

…Taylor again, a spot in the “Musical Events” section…

…and a Taylor cartoon…

…and we wonder what’s behind the curtain, with James Thurber…

…William Steig continued to probe the downsides of matrimony…

…Robert Day showed who’s in charge at the zoo…

…more club life from Gluyas Williams…

…Richard Decker was in a tight situation…

…Perry Barlow drew up two pages of scenes from Snow Trains that took thousands of skiers from Grand Central to the Berkshires and Adirondacks…

…Leonard Dove delivered a knockout punch…

…Peter Arno raised a question of initiative…

…and Gilbert Bundy sought to spice things up at Popular Mechanics…

A final note: Aside from the recurring Rea Irvin cover, this issue made no reference to the eleventh anniversary…except, on the bottom of page 57…

…a recurring column filler, “The Optimist,” appeared in Issue No. 1, and was featured in subsequent issues until Katharine Angell mercifully put an end to it.

Next Time: Führer Furor…

Modern Times

Above: A mechanic (Chester Conklin) gets caught up in his work with the help of the Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) in Modern Times. (festival-entrevues.com)

The film Modern Times was Charlie Chaplin’s last performance as “The Tramp” (or, “The Little Tramp”), a character he created more than twenty years earlier to represent a simple person’s struggle to survive in the modern world. That struggle was no more apparent than in Modern Times, a film in which the Tramp faced the dehumanizing industrial age in all its kooky complexity.

A sweet Valentine’s Day-themed cover by **William Steig,** February 15, 1936.

The film is notable for being Chaplin’s first picture to feature sound, and the first in which Chaplin’s voice is heard—singing Léo Daniderff’s comical song “Je cherche après Titine” (although Chaplin replaced the lyrics with gibberish). Modern Times was nevertheless filmed as a silent, with synchronized sound effects and a small amount of dialogue. Critic John Mosher appreciated the movie as being “of the old era,” not anticipating that it would become one of cinema’s most iconic and beloved films.

JUST A COG IN THE MACHINE…Clockwise, from top left: Repetitive assembly line work drives the Tramp **(Charlie Chaplin)** to a nervous breakdown; the steel factory is an Orwellian world where the president (**Allan Ernest Garcia)** constantly monitors his workers—even in the bathroom where the Tramp is caught taking a break; the company tries out a new lunch efficiency machine on the Tramp, with mixed results; iconic image of the Tramp at work. (medium.com/YouTube.com)

One of the film’s best stunts involved the blindfolded Tramp rollerskating on the fourth floor of an under-construction department store; Chaplin employed a matte painting, perfectly applied on a glass pane in front of a camera, to create the illusion of a sheer drop-off. Even as an illusion, Chaplin’s skating skills were remarkable.

HIGH ANXIETY…The blindfolded Tramp (**Charlie Chaplin**) skates precariously close to a sheer drop-off on the fourth floor of a department store while his companion, an orphan girl known as “The Gamin” (**Paulette Goddard**) puts on her skates, unaware of his peril. (YouTube.com)

The model below shows how the effect was achieved, filming next to a glass-mounted matte painting to create the illusion of a sheer drop off…

In his conclusion, Mosher found the film to be “secure in its rich, old-fashioned funniness.”

Chaplin gave a happy send-off to the Tramp, who at the end of earlier films walked down the road alone. Modern Times closed with the Tramp and the Gamin walking hand in hand, dreaming of a life together.

FOND FAREWALL…**Paulette Goddard** joined **Charlie Chaplin** on the road at the end of *Modern Times.* Goddard became Chaplin’s third wife in 1936. (the-cinematograph.com)

THE TRAMP RETURNS…World premiere of *Modern Times,* Feb. 5, 1936, at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City. The film was one of the top-grossing films of 1936. (Wikipedia)

A final note: The website The Twin Geeks offers an excellent synopsis and analysis of Modern Times.

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Bachelor King

In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White wrote about the ascension to the British throne by Edward VIII following the death of his father, George V. In this excerpt, White considered a question raised by the Daily News regarding the king’s plans to marry (a question answered a few months later when Edward announced his plan to wed American divorcee Wallis Simpson, which led to a constitutional crisis and Edward’s subsequent abdication).

BUT I DON’T WANNA BE KING…The reluctant king **Edward VIII** would choose love over the crown when he abdicated the throne in December 1936 to marry **Wallis Simpson** (bottom left); **E.B. White** noted one woman’s suggestion that the king should marry actress **Greta Garbo,** since “Both have had a rough time at love.” (highland titles.com/George Eastman Museum)

* * *

By Any Other Name

“The Talk of Town” featured a profile of Arthur J. Burks, a prolific writer of pulp fiction who published everything from detective stories to science fiction under a half-dozen pseudonyms. A brief excerpt:

A CURIOUS MIND…**Arthur J. Burks** (1898–1974) and the cover of *Astounding Stories*, January 1932, which featured the first part of his two-part tale, “The Mind Master.” Burks produced around eight hundred stories for the pulps, twenty-nine of which appeared in the magazine *Weird Tales*. (findagrave.com/gutenberg.org)

* * *

A Day in the Life

From 1935 to 1962 Eleanor Roosevelt published a daily syndicated newspaper column titled “My Day”—through the column millions of Americans learned her views on politics, society, and events of the day as well as details about her private and public life. James Thurber couldn’t resist writing a parody—here’s an excerpt:

THE REAL DEAL…At left, sample of one of Eleanor Roosevelt’s syndicated “My Day” columns from 1938; photo of the First Lady from 1932. (arthurdaleheritage.org/Library of Congress)

* * *

At the Movies

Besides Modern Times, there were other movies of note that were given rather scant attention in Mosher’s column, including the film adaptation of The Petrified Forest starring Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis and Leslie Howard.

Robert E. Sherwood wrote the 1934 Broadway play of the same name, which was co-produced by Howard and featured both Howard and Bogart. When it was adapted to film, Howard insisted that Bogart appear in the movie, and it made Bogart a star (he remained grateful to Howard for the rest of his life).

DANGEROUS DINER…An odd mix of patrons at a gas station cafe are taken hostage by desparate criminals in *The Petrified Forest.* From left are **Leslie Howard, Dick Foran, Bette Davis** and **Humphrey Bogart.** Playwright Robert Sherwood based Bogart’s character, Duke Mantee, on the the real-life criminal **John Dillinger**, the FBI’s first “Public Enemy #1.” (moma.org)

Other cinema diversions included the musical Anything Goes, which included songs by Cole Porter; the comedy Soak the Rich, which featured a radical who falls in love with a rich man’s daughter; and a detective film, Muss ‘Em Up, with the usual movie gangsters.

TAKE YOUR PICK…Clockwise, from top left: **Ida Lupino** and **Arthur Treacher** in the musical *Anything Goes*; **Bing Crosby** (in disguise) and Ethel Merman in Anything Goes; **John Howard, Mary Taylor** and **Walter Connolly** in the comedy *Soak the Rich*; **Preston Foster, Maxine Jennings** and Guinn “Big Boy” Williams in the detective film *Muss ‘Em Up.* (imdb.com/torontofilmsociety.com/zeusdvds.com)

* * *

The Amazing Race

The New Yorker periodically featured “That Was New York,” which took a detailed look at significant events in the city’s history. In this installment, Donald Moffat recalled the 1908 New York to Paris automobile race, which commenced in Times Square on February 12 with six cars representing the U.S., France, Germany and Italy. It was an extraordinary event given that motorcars were a recent invention, and roads were nonexistent in many parts of the world. A brief excerpt:

ON YOUR MARK…Cars lined up in Times Square on Feb 12, 1908 for the start of what would become a 169-day race. American George Schuster was declared the winner when he arrived in Paris on July 30, 1908, after covering approximately 10,377 miles (16,700 km). (Library of Congress)

* * *

Miscellany

Another regular feature in the early New Yorker was coverage of the New York Rangers, a team founded in 1926 by Tex Rickard after he completed construction of the third incarnation of Madison Square Garden. The Rangers were one of the Original Six NHL teams before the 1967 expansion, the others being the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs.

In this excerpt, the writer “K.B.” described the rough play against rival Detroit, which would win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1936 and 1937.

ZESTY…The excerpt above noted that the Rangers’ **Phil Watson** cuffed the Red Wings’ **Syd Howe** “with a zest richly appreciated by the balcony.” At left, team photo of the 1935-36 New York Rangers, with star and fight instigator **Phil Watson** identified with arrow; at right, **Syd Howe** won three Stanley Cups with Detroit, winning back-to-back in 1936 and 1937, and then again in 1943. (hockeygods.com)

* * *

From Our Advertisers

General Motors’ luxury car line offered three price points (and this lovely image) to weather the Depression years, ranging from the relatively affordable La Salle to the Cadillac Fleetwood…

…the Chrysler corporation took a different approach, deploying a very wordy full-page ad that referenced history (a Madame Curie analogy) and something called “Unseen Value” to move its line of autos…

…the makers of College Inn Tomato Juice Cocktail brought back the “Duchess” with this shocking scene at the opera…

…recall last summer when College Inn featured the Duchess in a series of ads that illustrated her increasing fury over plain tomato juice…one wonders what sort of sadistic torment she had in mind for her hostess, “the old WITCH”…

…on to our cartoonists, beginning with this spot by James Thurber…

…and Thurber again, with an unwanted call to solidarity…

…William Steig explored marital bliss…

…George Price gave us a Three Stooges moment…

…I do not have the identity of this cartoonist…I will keep looking, but would love suggestions in the meantime…*update*…thanks to Frank Wilhoit for identifying the cartoonist below as John Kreuttner, also confirmed through Michael Maslin’s Ink Spill…

…Charles Addams added some frills to an executive suite…

…Otto Soglow illustrated the hazards of sleepwalking…

…Alain revealed a challenge to the publishing industry…

…Peter Arno possibly craved some sauerkraut and corned beef…

…William Crawford Galbraith was in familiar sugar daddy territory…

…Whitney Darrow Jr gave a nod to some homey surrealism…

…Barbara Shermund offered some well-weathered advice…

…and we close with Garrett Price, and a visitor more suited to Charles Addams…

Next Time: Comfort Food…

Having a Ball

 Above: Beginning in 1934, the President’s Birthday Balls became annual fundraisers for polio research. The Waldorf-Astoria's 1936 event (left) featured dance bands, celebrities, and formal dress. At right, a 1934 "Toga Party" birthday with FDR's Cuff Link Gang, Washington D.C. (fdrlibrary.org)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s birthday was a cause for annual celebration throughout the country, where cities and towns both large and small used the occasion to raise money for polio research.

February 1, 1936 cover by Roger Duvoisin.

The Jan. 30, 1936 President’s Birthday Ball marked FDR’s 54th year, featuring celebrities, dances, and a national radio address. The Waldorf-Astoria hosted an event, as did the Central Park Casino, where E.B. White found the one-hundred-dollar price tag and the dress code a bit too rich for his tastes, but not too rich for Lucy Cotton Thomas Magraw, a Manhattan social climber who represented the “Spirit of Golden Prosperity” at the Casino event.

LIKE MOTHS TO FLAME…At left, debutantes mark FDR’s birthday fundraiser at the Waldorf-Astoria in the 1930s; at right, **Lucy Cotton Thomas Magraw** (1891–1948) was a chorus girl from Houston who appeared in several silent films, but was best known as a Manhattan social climber and for her marriages to a series of prominent men. (wwd.com/davidkfrasier.com)

FDR himself was diagnosed with polio in 1921, which left him paralyzed from the waist down. To counter the effects of the disease, Roosevelt explored the potential benefits of hydrotherapy, establishing a rehabilitation center at Warm Springs, Georgia. Proceeds from the charity balls went to Warm Springs until Roosevelt founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in 1938. Funds raised by the foundation supported the development of a vaccine by the 1950s.

A NIGHT OF MERRIMENT…Celebrations in CCC camps in honor of FDR’s birthday became annual events, such as the one at left (illustrated by **Marshall Davis**) that depicted various happenings at the 1936 President’s Birthday Dance in Biloxi, Mississippi; at right, actress Jean Harlow cutting FDR’s birthday cake at the Eastbay Birthday Ball in Oakland, CA, in 1934. (newdealstories.com/facebook.com)

“The Talk of the Town” noted the role of Carl M. Byoir, a pioneering publicist, in creating the buzz around the yearly birthday balls.

CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?…Clockwise, from top left, **Carl Byoir** created and organized one of the world’s largest public relations firms in 1930, and was a force behind making the FDR Birthday Balls a major national event; **Eleanor Roosevelt** cuts the cake at a Birthday Ball, Washington, D.C., Jan. 30, 1936; **Margaret Lehand,** personal secretary to President Roosevelt, holds up one of the 30,000 dimes received on the morning of Jan. 28, 1938 for FDR’s National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which would later become the March of Dimes. (Wikipedia)

COIN FOR A CAUSE…As we saw in the previous post, it was comedian Eddie Cantor who coined the phrase “March of Dimes” for the annual fundraiser for polio research. The phrase later became the official name of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. (Facebook)

The Roosevelt Dime went into circulation in 1946, commemorating FDR’s role in inspiring the March of Dimes.

* * *

Rap on Scrap

Poet and author Phyllis McGinley apparently had her fill of social occasions that included interminable, tedious viewings of the hosts’ scrapbooks, photo albums, and various tchotchkes.

SPARE ME YOUR VACATION SLIDES…**Phyllis McKinley** would have hated Facebook. (Wikipedia)

* * *

Wise Guy

Henry F. Pringle published the first part of a three-part profile on Elihu Root, making much of the fact that Root (1845–1937) was still kicking at ninety after a lifetime of public service including two stints as Secretary of War and serving as Secretary of State under President Theodore Roosevelt. Unofficially, he advised a number of presidents and other leaders on foreign and domestic issues, giving him the imprimatur of a political “wise man.” A brief excerpt (with caricature by William Cotton):

WAR BUDDIES…U.S. Secretary of War **Elihu Root** (right) and his successor, **William Howard Taft**, c. 1904. Taft was elected U.S. President in 1908, and in 1912 Root would receive the Nobel Peace Prize. (Wikipedia)

* * *

Devastating Irony

According to critic Robert Benchley, the adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel Ethan Frome to the stage required a precise hand, and apparently director Max Gordon delivered when it opened at the National Theatre. Excerpt:

EDITH WHARTON WOULD HAVE BEEN PROUD, according to **Robert Benchley,** of the stage adaptation of *Ethan Frome.* The cast, from left, included **Pauline Lord, Raymond Massey**, and **Ruth Gordon**. Benchley would have been well acquainted with Gordon, who was a familiar face at the Algonquin Round Table. (Facebook)

Benchley praised the performances of the principal actors Pauline Lord, Raymond Massey, and Ruth Gordon.

IN FINE FORM…**Pauline Lord, Raymond Massey,** and Ruth Gordon in a publicity still for *Ethan Frome*. (witness2fashion.com)

* * *

At the Movies

We take to the air with Howard Hawks’ Ceiling Zero, which featured an odd mix of screwball dialogue and nerve-wracking flight scenes. Critic John Mosher found the film to be well done, even though most of its action took place on the ground.

GROUNDED…Shot a shoestring budget, Warner Brothers’ *Ceiling Zero,* directed by Howard Hawks, staged most of the action at an airline’s headquarters rather than up in the air. From left are **Pat O’Brien, James Cagney**, and **June Travis**. (Harvard Film Archive)

Mosher was also happy to welcome Myrna Loy back to the silver screen in the “agreeable” Whipsaw.

HUSTLE AND BUSTLE…**Myrna Loy** and Spencer Tracy starred in action-packed crime drama *Whipsaw.* (Letterboxd.com)

Mosher was at a loss to explain the popularity of comedian Joe Penner, whose presence in the film Collegiate inspired impatient “mobs” to crash the windows and doors of the Paramount Theatre.

INCONSEQUENTIAL was the word John Mosher used to describe *Collegiate*. Clockwise, from top left, **Frances Langford** and Jack Oakie in a scene from *Collegiate—*Oakie played a man who inherits an all-girls school from his aunt; **Betty Grable** with **Joe Penner**; Grable shows off her school spirit and her famous legs in a publicity photo. (rottentomatoes.com/imdb.com)

About Joe Penner (1904–1941): Broadcast historian Elizabeth McLeod sums up Penner’s popularity as “the ultimate Depression-era zany.” Mostly forgotten today, Penner was a national craze in the mid-1930s. “There is no deep social meaning in his comedy, no shades of subtlety,” writes McLeod, “just utter slapstick foolishness, delivered in an endearingly simpering style that’s the closest thing the 1930s had to Pee-wee Herman.”

WANNA BUY A DUCK? was Joe Penner’s catchphrase. Born József Pintér in what is now Serbia, he is shown here with his ubiquitous duck, Goo Goo. According to historian **Elizabeth McLeod,** Penner was doomed to an early decline by the sheer repetitiveness of his format. He died in his sleep, of a heart attack, at age 36. (imdb.com)

* * *

Something Completely Different

We go from Joe Penner to George Santayana, who finished the six-hundred-page The Last Puritan after laboring on the novel for fifteen years. A brief excerpt from a Clifton Fadiman review:

WHEN WRITERS MADE THE COVER…**George Santayana** on the cover of *Time,* Feb. 3, 1936. (Time.com)

* * *

From Our Advertisers

The folks at Hormel continued their ad series pairing Hormel French Style onion soup with notable historic figures…apparently Mary, Queen of Scots was honored with some onion soup when she married the Dauphin in 1558…nearly three decades later she would lose her head under the reign of Elizabeth I…

…the opening spread of the magazine sometimes offered odd juxtapositions…

…and what was this obsession with peas?…last week (and previous weeks) the makers of Green Giant canned foods featured a “Major” obsessed with fresh peas…

…in this issue, the folks at Birds Eye presented frozen peas as a fresher alternative to canned…the ad featured their own version of a “Major,” here sharing the wonderful news about frozen peas with his cronies…

…Capitol Theatre predicted that their latest feature, Rose Marie, would be even better than Naughty Marietta…

…and apparently it was…

WHEN I’M CALLING YOOOOUUUU…The Capitol Theatre’s prediction came true—*Rose Marie* was a big hit, as was the duet “Indian Love Call” (it remained a signature song for both actors); at left, **Nelson Eddy** and **Jeanette MacDonald** in Rose Marie; at right, Eddy and MacDonald in 1935’s *Naughty Marietta*. “America’s Singing Sweethearts” made eight films together. (MGM)

…only forty hours to paradise, claimed this ad on the inside back cover…

…and on the back cover, readers were greeted by a smug, almost withering look—a fashionable woman striking a pose, one that was doubtless imitated by many in the smart set who would soon realize they were hopelessly addicted to nicotine…

…on to our cartoonists, we begin with Al Frueh and his topless tribute to George White’s Scandals…

…Gregory d’Alessio drew up this trio—endomorph, mesomorph, ectomorph—for the opening pages…

…here’s a spot by Robert Day, dreaming of warmer climes…

…we join Charles Addams at the Louvre…

…and on a desert island…

…a rather strange entry by Alice Harvey, with the longest caption I’ve come across so far…

…we join William Steig’s “Small Fry” during a school day, beginning on page 24…

…and continuing onto page 25…

…here is how it originally appeared…

…In 1935, Saks Fifth Avenue installed an indoor ski slope on the men’s floor of its New York City flagship store, here illustrated by Perry Barlow…

IT WAS A THING…Ski slope inside Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, 1935. (CNN.com)

…department stores such as Macy’s often featured model homes in their household departments…Alan Dunn added a bit of color, or rather, soot, to this one…

…Helen Hokinson looked for answers at a book shop…

and Hokinson again, doing a bit of home decorating…

…it appears Morton was displaying a copy of Constantin Brancusi’s Princess X…

…Barbara Shermund engaged in some light banter at a cocktail party…

…and we close with a surprise visit from William Crawford Galbraith…

Next Time: The New Ziegfeld…

Fracking the Frick

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * *

Shock of the New

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

* * *

O Tannenbaum

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

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

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

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

* * *

Honor Roll

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

* * *

Best (and Worst) of Broadway

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

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

* * *

At the Movies

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

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

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

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

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

* * *

From Our Advertisers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

…Otto Soglow gave us a singing fish…

…George Price came across a landscaping challenge…

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

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

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

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

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

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

Next Time: The Major’s Amateur Hour …

Some Holiday Shopping

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * *

Pouting Plutocrat

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

* * *

A City Resurrected

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

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

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

* * *

At the Movies

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

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

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

* * *

From Our Advertisers

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

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

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

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

…colorful ads also came our way from Firestone…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

…what de Pauw illustrated…

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

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

…and Steig again…

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

…Day again, with some evicted ghosts…

…Helen Hokinson went plant shopping…

…and found a surprise in the kitchen…

…Alan Dunn offered a challenge to the Salvation Army…

…Alain received a special layout for this cartoon…

…which was arranged thusly…

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

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

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

Next Time: Two Nights at the Opera…

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Above: Clockwise from top left—the Douglas DC-3 was introduced to airlines in 1935; Seaboard streamlined locomotive, c. 1930s; 1936 Lincoln-Zephyr; 1936 Pierce Arrow. (hushkit.net/Wikimedia/classicautomall.com)

As we’ve seen in previous issues, E.B. White often served as The New Yorker’s unofficial aviation correspondent; despite his sometimes anachronistic views on progress, he never missed a chance to hop aboard an airplane and marvel at the scene far below.

November 2, 1935 cover by **Constantin Alajalov.**

White’s enthusiasm, however, was tempered with doubts about air safety, including observations he made in an August 31, 1935 column following the deaths of Wiley Post and Will Rogers in an Alaska plane crash. Here is what he wrote then:

The aviation industry’s strong reaction to that “noisy little paragraph” apparently led to a number of subscription cancellations, prompting White to return to the topic in his Nov. 2 “Notes and Comment” column:

HE’D BEEN AROUND…**E.B. White** supported his comments on air safety by citing his many flying experiences, including soaring around the Empire State Building “on a blithe morning.” Pictured above is a New York Daily News plane flying over Manhattan in 1934. (NY Daily News)

White also turned to statistics for his defense, finding that per passenger mile, railroads were still the safest mode of transportation in the country.

HOP ABOARD…According to 1933 statistics shared by **E.B. White,** trains were the safest mode of transportation per passenger mile, followed by buses. Automobiles were the least safe, a fact that still holds true today. From left, Greyhound bus and driver, 1937; automobile wreck, 1930s; New York Central’s 20th Century Limited leaving Chicago’s LaSalle Street station in 1938. (Facebook/Reddit/Wikipedia)

With that, White still wasn’t done with the topic, turning to none other than Anne Morrow Lindbergh for her thoughts on flying, which she shared in her latest book, North to the Orient. White noted Lindbergh’s mixed feelings about flying, about getting to places quickly and missing familiar landmarks. He also suggested that someday airline passengers would use mountains and rivers as landmarks…(I still try to do that when I fly, but at 35,000 feet it is a challenge). Today most folks are content with plugging in their earbuds and tuning out completely.

NOT YOUR EVERYDAY OUTING…In July 1931 Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh embarked in their Lockheed Model 8 Sirius on an often treacherous 7,100-mile journey across Canada, Alaska, Siberia and Japan in an attempt to find a commercial route to Asia for Pan American Airways. Top photo, Charles (standing on pontoon) and Anne (in the cockpit) make final preparations before the flight; bottom photo, enthusiastic crowds greet the Lindberghs upon their arrival in Japan. The Siberia-to-Japan leg was the most dangerous due to heavy fog. (historynet.com)

E.B. White also announced the return to the city of former Mayor Jimmy Walker, who had fled to Europe in 1932 amid corruption charges. White noted that New York’s nightclubs were eager to welcome the fun-loving Walker back to town.

SECOND ACT…Still image from a 1935 British Pathé newsreel shows the triumphant return from Europe of former Mayor Jimmy Walker and his wife, **Betty Compton**. (YouTube)

* * *

A Zephyr Blows In

The magazine’s “Motors” correspondent (pen name “Speed”) noted the dazzling display of 1936 models at the New York Automobile Show, singling out the Lincoln-Zephyr as the year’s biggest innovation.

DECO DREAMSCAPE…Streamlining was all the rage at the 1935 New York Automobile Show at Grand Central Palace. Upper right, a woman opens the hood of a streamlining pioneer, the Chrysler Airflow. (New York Daily News)

LEADER OF THE PACK…The 1936 Lincoln-Zephyr had tongues wagging at the New York Automobile Show. (thehenryford.org)

* * *

At the Movies

William Powell and Hollywood newcomer Rosalind Russell blessed film critic John Mosher with their spy caper, Rendezvous, while Pauline Lord got lost in the London fog with Basil Rathbone in A Feather in Her Hat.

A CAPER AND A WEEPER…At left, **William Powell** starred with Hollywood newcomer **Rosalind Russell** in *Rendezvous;* at right, Broadway stage actress **Pauline Lord** appeared opposite **Basil Rathbone** in *A Feather in Her Hat.* (1935)

Mosher also screened a French comedy, René Clair’s Le Dernier Milliardaire (The Last Billionaire), finding its slapstick approach to satire a bit dated.

DURABLE AND ADORABLE…**Renée Saint-Cyr** as Princess Isabelle in the French comedy Le Dernier Milliardaire (The Last Billionaire). Known for her chic comedies, Saint-Cyr (1904–2004) was a major French film star for seven decades. (Film Forum)

Finally, Mosher turned his critical eye toward a British sci-fi film, Transatlantic Tunnel. Looking forward to seeing a gee-whiz Jules Verne-type story, what Mosher found instead was a lot of sentimental “padding” and very little gee-whiz.

UNDERWATER…**John Mosher** looked forward to an undersea adventure, but instead got a lot of sentimental fluff in the British sci-fi film, *Transatlantic Tunnel.* Clockwise, from top left, movie poster for the American release; scene from the film depicting the tunnel entrance; the film showcased such futuristic conveniences as video phones (called “televisors”); a group of wealthy industrialists gather at the home of a Mr. Lloyd, a millionaire investor who used a motorized wheelchair. (Wikipedia/Reddit/cinemasojourns.com)

* * *

No Thanks, Ernie

Clifton Fadiman had an armload of books to review, including an autobiography by Andre Gide (If I Die), novels by Mikhail Sholokhov (Seeds of Tomorrow) and Mari Sandoz (Old Jules), and an Ernest Hemingway tale about big game hunting (Green Hills of Africa) that Fadiman did not care for at all. Here are excerpts from a couple of the reviews:

RUGGED TYPES…At left, **Ernest Hemingway** poses with skulls of kudu and female of sable antelope in East Africa, 1934, part of his hunting trip described in *Green Hills of Africa;* at right, photo of **Jules Sandoz** from the frontispiece of *Old Jules*, a biography written by his daughter Mari Sandoz. (JFK Library/U of Nebraska)

* * *

From Our Advertisers

With the National Automobile Show in full swing at the Grand Central Palace, the issue was jammed with ads for every type and price range…the Chrysler Corporation took out this full-page spot on the opening spread to promote one of the lowest priced cars on the market…

…Chrysler/DeSoto continued to tout its streamlined Airflow models…introduced in 1934, the Airflow was the first full-size American production car to use streamlining, and it featured a number of other innovations, but consumers just weren’t ready for something this radical…even with the streamlining toned down after its first year, only 55,000 units were produced during the model’s four-year run…

…on a side note, Chrysler has revived the Airflow nameplate for an electric car concept due to the marketplace in 2028…

…mentioned in Speed’s review of the Automobile Show, the Lincoln-Zephyr would find success with its aerodynamic design…

…most manufacturers were in on the streamlining trend, noticeable in the tilted grilles, low rooflines, and sweeping fenders…

…unlike the other car companies, Pierce Arrow did not produce an economy model to keep its luxury line afloat during the Depression…emphasizing its handmade quality, this American rival to Rolls-Royce went out of business by 1938…

…Goodyear got in on the Auto Show action promoting its tires for the “new and faster cars”…

…the folks at Campbell’s continued their ad series featuring upper-class women covertly serving canned soup to their society friends…in this ad, however, the hostess reveals her secret…

…there were no secrets to be found at Schrafft’s—its popularity increased during the Depression, when more than forty locations in the New York metro offered moderately priced “home-style” meals in an atmosphere that suggested upper-middle-class gentility…

…Long Island’s Lido Country Club tried to drum up some autumn business by promoting the “warm and lazy” sunshine of “Indian Summer”…

…the makers of King George IV Scotch used the face of Stork Club owner Sherman Billingsley to lend some nightlife cachet to their product…here’s an odd little fact: his nephew, Glenn Billingsley, was married to Leave It to Beaver actress Barbara Billingsley, who played June Cleaver on the TV series…

…this week the back cover belonged to R.J. Reynolds, with various aviators testifying to the calming effects of Camel cigarettes…the lead endorser in the ad, Frank Hawks, was famous for breaking aviation speed records until he perished in the crash of an experimental plane in 1938…

…Forstmann ads were a regular feature on the inside front cover during the fall/winter fashion season, rendered in a style made popular by illustrator Carl “Eric” Erickson…

…on to our cartoonists, we open the magazine with Maurice Freed…

…James Thurber was busy in this issue, writing a touching character sketch of a medicine show man he greatly admired (“Doc Marlowe”)…and contributing this spot art for “Goings On About Town”…

…he also turned in this terrific cartoon…

…Christina Malman livened up the Auto Show review with this spot art…

…Carl Rose also paid tribute to the annual event…

…Daniel ‘Alain’ Brustlein did a bit of home decorating…

…Robert Day was ready to call it a night…

…Helen Hokinson contributed two cartoons, shopping for a pet fish…

and taking in a Dolores Del Rio picture…

…no doubt Hokinson’s “girls” were commenting on the 1935 musical comedy In Caliente, featuring Mexican actress Dolores Del Rio (1904–1983)…Del Rio was the first Mexican actress to achieve mainstream success in Hollywood…

**Dolores Del Rio** in a scene from *In Caliente.* (Reddit)

…we continue with George Price, and a dedicated lumberjack…

…Ned Hilton discovered some honesty in the Men’s Department…

…William Steig took a look around on Election Day…

…Richard Decker took the pulse of the medical profession…

…and we close with another by Decker, where seeing is not believing…

Next Time: Jimmy Comes Home…

A Merry Menagerie

It has been a while since we’ve heard from art and design critic Lewis Mumford, who often cast a censorious eye at the rapidly changing world around him.

October 12, 1935 cover by William Steig. From 1930 until his death in 2003 at age 95, Steig contributed 121 covers and 1,676 drawings to *The New Yorker.*

In his column “The Sky Line,” Mumford cast an envious gaze north toward Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Zoo, which he believed had greatly improved upon the recently rebuilt Central Park Zoo.

HE HAD OPINIONS…**Lewis Mumford** (1895-1990).

Brooklyn’s advantage, according to Mumford, was the superior design of Prospect Park, which offered a better location for a zoo than Central Park. We’ll let Mumford explain in these excerpts:

CURIOSITIES, MOSTLY…Clockwise, from top left: Animals were on display at Prospect Park as early as 1866, as seen in this photo of the “Deer Farm”; circa 1900 postcard of Prospect Park’s rather distressing “Menagerie,” which opened around 1890; the park’s Elephant House opened in 1908—modeled after the Hippo Palace at the Antwerp Zoo, the Elephant House also featured rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, and tapirs; baby elephants (postcard circa 1940s) were a popular attraction until the zoo moved on to smaller creatures in the 1990s. (bklynlibrary.org/untappedcities.com/blog.wcs.org/nycgovparks.org)

LEWIS MUMFORD PRAISED the 1934 plan for the Prospect Park Zoo, designed by architect **Aymar Embury II** and approved by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. The zoo was built, in large part, through Civil Works Administration and Works Progress Administration labor and funding. (Brooklyn Public Library)

FLATBUSH FAUNA…Clockwise, from top left: Postcard image of Prospect Park Zoo circa 1935; zoo keeper sprays an elephant with a hose, circa 1940; an 1899 bronze sculpture depicting a mother lion nursing her cubs was created by French artist Victor Peter; seal pool, undated photo. (nycgovparks.org/Center for Brooklyn History/Facebook)

CARING OVER CAGES…Prospect Park Zoo today. The zoo closed in 1988 for five-year, $37 million renovation program that, except for the exteriors of the 1930s-era buildings, completely replaced the original zoo. With an emphasis on education and conservation, current exhibits house smaller species rather than elephants, tigers, and lions. (Prospect Park Alliance)

Mumford also looked at the latest developments at Rockefeller Center. As we’ve seen before, he favored smaller-scale developments that were organic and community-focused, and therefore was a strong critic of projects like Rockefeller Center. At its inception he called it a dehumanizing “megamachine,” a product of corporate greed, a “reckless, romantic chaos” that represented the capitalist jungle. Harsh words indeed, so it was something of a surprise to see his approval of the latest piece of the complex—the International Building at 630 Fifth Avenue:

SIMPLE AND CORRECT were the words **Lewis Mumford** used to describe the interior entrance to 630 Fifth Avenue. (Wikiwand/newyorkoffices.com)

* * *

Bad Benito

In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White had some choice words for the murderous Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and for the newspaper columnist Arthur Brisbane, both unconcerned with the slaughter of “backward” Ethiopians by invading Italian forces:

White also noted the role played by The New Yorker in a new novel by William Farquhar Payson (1876–1939) titled Give Me Tomorrow. Apparently the novel credited the magazine’s unique humor for revealing the banality of an evangelist and delivering a young woman from his clutches…

*THE NEW YORKER* TO THE RESCUE…**William Farquhar Payson** deployed a copy of the magazine for a pivotal scene in his novel *Give Me Tomorrow*. (findagrave.com)

* * *

A Star Is Born

Stage and film director Vincente Minnelli (1903-1986) moved from Chicago to New York in 1931, where he worked as a stage designer for Earl Carroll’s Vanities and costume and set designer for the Ziegfeld Follies before becoming art director at Radio City Music Hall. He got his big break in 1935 when he directed, to critical acclaim, the Broadway musical At Home Abroad. “The Talk of Town” took notice of the rising star (excerpts):

AN EYE FOR DESIGN…Photographer **Lusha Nelson** photographed **Vincente Minnelli** at his desk with a miniature stage on Feb. 1, 1936. (James Grissom via threads.com)

* * *

A Safe Space

Lois Long had mixed feelings regarding the Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room, fearing that it was a tourist magnet but also desiring to take in its sumptuous floor shows. In the first excerpt, Long continued her comment on the heated competition she perceived among nightclub owners.

FEAR FACTOR…The entertainment lineup at Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room helped **Lois Long** overcome her fear of encountering tourists. Clockwise, from left, the Rainbow Room in 1934; **Ramon** and **Renita** lit up the dance floor (photo from Nov. 1935 *Harper’s Bazaar)*; **Ray Noble** and his orchestra provided “all-around beauty”; and (inset) cabaret singer **Frances Maddox** offered her sophisticated warble to the glittering affair. (Rockefeller Center Archives/Pinterest/Shedd Institute)

* * *

An Untamed Shrew

Theatre critic Wolcott Gibbs had a good time watching Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne take on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew at the Guild Theatre, especially Lunt’s uproarious take on the play.

FUN WITH SHAKESPEARE…**Alfred Lunt** and **Lynn Fontanne** matched wits in the Theatre Guild’s presentation of The Taming of the Shrew. (minnesotaplaylist.com)

* * *

At the Movies

Our film critic John Mosher didn’t have much to say about Here’s To Romance, which seemed contrived to introduce the Italian tenor Nino Martini (1905–1976) to a wider audience. To Mosher, the highlight of the film was the appearance of Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861–1936), the Austrian-American operatic dramatic contralto, who appeared to be having a good time.

SINGER SANDWICH…**Genevieve Tobin** (center) stands between tenor **Nino Martini** and dramatic contralto **Ernestine Schumann-Heink** in a scene from *Here’s to Romance.* (rottentomatoes.com)

Mosher reviewed two other films that were a bit more dismal: The Last Outpost was a war-themed melodrama starring Cary Grant and Claude Rains; O’Shaughnessy’s Boy featured Wallace Beery as a circus animal trainer who loses his arm as well as his family.

DUELING MUSTACHES…**Cary Grant** (left) sported a rare mustache in a role opposite **Claude Rains** in *The Last Outpost.* (mabumbe.com)

A TOUGH ACT…**Sara Haden** played a skeptical aunt who sees a one-armed circus animal tamer (**Wallace Beery**) regain his son (**Jackie Cooper)** and the confidence he lost along with his wife in *O’Shaughnessy’s Boy*. (tcm.com)

* * *

From Our Advertisers

I find these advertisements oddly appealing, because this kind of travel no longer exists. Today there is exactly one ocean liner left in the world—the Queen Mary 2; the cruise ships that rule the 21st century seas are essentially hotel/amusement parks stacked on top of a huge barges…water slides, Vegas-style entertainments, and all-you-can-stuff-into-your-face buffets…

…this curious ad on page 10 mimicked the look of a New Yorker short in the vein of Clarence Day…what it promoted was an around-the-world cruise that would take two-hundred (well-heeled) passengers to more than twenty destinations including Malaysia, Bali and Singapore…

Postcard image of the Franconia. (Pinterest)

…society women could be counted on to endorse all sorts of things from cigarettes to cold cream…here a “Mrs. Francis L. Robbins, Jr” (I couldn’t find her given name) endorses Cutex nail polish and lipstick…the ad noted that Mrs. Robbins “is a beautiful and popular member of Long Island and New York society”…

…the makers of Spud menthol cigarettes entered the realm of the surreal with a talking cigarette that encouraged chain smoking…

…the board game Monopoly had its origins in The Landlord’s Game, created in 1903 by an anti-monopolist named Lizzie Magie…over the years variants of the game were introduced until Parker Brothers bought the rights from Magie and another inventor and began mass-marketing the game in the fall of 1935…

…Peggy Lou Snyder was performing in vaudeville when she met the saxophone-playing bandleader Ozzie Nelson in 1932. Nelson hired her to sing with his band (under the name Harriet Hilliard) and then married her three years later…in 1944 the couple would launch a comedy series for radio, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, which made a successful transition to television, appearing on ABC from 1952 to 1966…

…here we have some old-timers offering hunting advice and promoting octane-boosting Ethyl gasoline, which helped prevent engine knock…it also contained the highly toxic additive tetraethyllead, which could cause severe neurological damage, particularly in children…it was completely banned in the U.S. by 1996…

…on to our cartoonists, we start with this delightful spot art by Christina Malman that graced the bottom of the calendar and events page…

…Helen Hokinson appeared twice, first at the vet’s…

…and later shopping for the maid at a department store…

…George Price had a surprise in store for this mirror-gazer…

…Charles Addams took the top of page 29 to show us a proud papa in a maternity ward…

…Ned Hilton uncovered some history at the Singer Building…

…Mary Petty eavesdropped on a tactless toff…

…Leonard Dove showed us that being a sugar daddy wasn’t so sweet…

…and we close with William Steig, one of his “Small Fry” speaking up for the old man…

Next Time: On Catfish Row…

Down to Earth

Above: Will Rogers (with hat) visits with pilot Wiley Post near Fairbanks, Alaska, hours before their fatal crash on August 15, 1935. (okhistory.org)

It would be a challenge to find a place for a multi-talented, mega-star like Will Rogers in today’s over-saturated and segmented media landscape—he was a trick roper, vaudevillian, social commentator, comedian, journalist, author, and radio and film celebrity. His early fame on the vaudeville circuit, including the Ziegfeld Follies, would spark a film career in 1918 (he would appear in 71 films), and a 1922 town hall speech would lead to a nationally syndicated newspaper column. When radio became a nationwide phenomenon his voice could heard coast-to-coast. He was seemingly everywhere.

August 31, 1935 cover by **Harry Brown.** Brown illustrated eighteen covers for *The New Yorker.*

Rogers (1879-1935) was also a big promoter of aviation, and he gave his audiences many entertaining accounts of his world travels. In the summer of 1935 he announced plans to join famed aviator Wiley Post (1898-1935) on a flight to Alaska and beyond. It appeared to be routine, making the trip’s tragic ending all the more poignant.

Although E.B. White often seemed stuck in the past—he preferred Model Ts and rattily omnibuses to more more modern conveyances—he was a flying enthusiast, never missing a chance to hop aboard an airplane and marvel at the scene far below. However, when tragedy struck, White would become circumspect. When Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne’s Fokker Trimotor crashed into a Kansas wheatfield, White expressed doubts about air safety and pondered “safer” alternatives such as autogiros (a kind of early helicopter that wasn’t so safe or practical). Such doubts returned in his “Notes and Comment” for August 31, 1935:

The fated aircraft, a Lockheed Orion, was heavily modified by Post into a floatplane; one wing was even salvaged from a wrecked Explorer (an older Lockheed model). The pontoon floats he attached were also designed for a larger aircraft, which made the nose-heavy Orion even more unwieldy.

BUILT FOR SPEED…A Lockheed Model 9 *Orion* parked at Boeing Field, Seattle, in May 1935. With 200-mph speed, the single-engine passenger aircraft (5 to 6 passengers) was faster than any American military aircraft of the time. It was Lockheed’s last aircraft to use wood construction in the frame, which was lightweight but not designed for longevity on major airlines. (James Borden Photography Collection)

TIGHT QUARTERS….Interior view of a Lockheed *Orion* 9. No doubt much of the passenger space was loaded with gear for the trip to Alaska. (James Borden Photography Collection)

When Post and Rogers arrived in Juneau, local bush pilots doubtfully regarded the Orion and asked Rogers about the flight plan. “Wiley and I are like a couple of country boys in an old Ford—don’t know where we’re going and don’t care,” he said. They were actually headed to Point Barrow, and from there planned to hop over to Siberia.

After stopping in Fairbanks they set off for Point Barrow in bad weather. Lost in the murk, they landed short of their destination in the shallow waters of Walakpa Lagoon, fifteen or so miles southwest of Point Barrow. Post and Rogers then took off—despite warnings from locals about the conditions. But the weather wasn’t the worst problem: Post had a bad habit of taking to the air in an abrupt, steep climb, which likely caused the engine to stall. Powerless, the ungainly aircraft plunged into the lagoon and landed on its top. Post and Rogers were killed instantly.

JUST A COUPLE OF COUNTRY BOYS…Top photo, **Will Rogers** on the wing of the Lockheed floatplane belonging to famed aviation pioneer **Wiley Post**, hours before their fatal crash on August 15, 1935. Below photo, inverted wreckage of the float plane in Walakpa Lagoon. (Wikipedia/vintageaviationnews.com)

Rather than eulogize the fallen Rogers, “The Talk of Town” offered up an anecdote about his rise as a newspaper columnist, which was sparked by a backhanded endorsement speech:

A HUMAN FACE…Top left, **Will Rogers** backstage with the 1924 *Ziegfeld Follies* cast. At right, Rogers made his film debut in the now lost silent film *Laughing Bill Hyde* (1918) with co-star **Anna Lehr.** The magazine ad at right quoted producer **Rex Beach,** who called Rogers “the most *human* player who ever faced a camera.” (Will Rogers Memorial Museum/Wikipedia/IMDB)

FINAL CURTAIN…Top photo, **Will Rogers** with co-star **Anne Shirley** in *Steamboat Round the Bend.* Rogers wrapped filming just before heading to Alaska. The film was released posthumously on September 6,1935. Bottom image is a detail from a full-page ad in the October 1935 issue of *Picture Play Magazine.* Oddly, the ad makes no mention of Rogers’ death, proclaiming that “Will blazes a new path in his screen career as he scores his greatest triumph!” (theretrorocket.blogspot.com/IMDB)

* * *

Putting it Mildly

In “Onward & Upward With the Arts,” H.L. Mencken continued to explore the quirks of American language, this time looking at the pervasive (and evasive) use of euphemisms by “professional uplifters.” Excerpts:

INTELLIGENCE TEST was suggested by “professional uplifters” as a polite replacement for giving someone “The Third Degree.” Image is from the 1941 noir thriller *I Wake Up Screaming,* starring **Victor Mature**, pictured here getting his “intelligence test.” (cinematography.com)

* * *

At the Movies

We join film critic John Mosher to take a look at the latest epic from Cecil B. DeMille, The Crusades, which to Mosher’s disappointment was a rather mild epic, with little to astonish. However, our critic did find something to admire in a more recent historical drama, Diamond Jim.

ANTISEPTIC EPIC?…Clockwise, from top left, movie poster for The Crusades offered up an image one typically does not associate with religious warfare, but you had to bring ’em in somehow; **Henry Wilcoxon** and Ian Keith in a scene from the film; co-stars **Loretta Young** as Berengaria of Navarre and Wilcoxon as Richard the Lionheart; the film also featured **Joseph Schildkraut** as Conrad of Montferrat and **Katherine DeMille** as Princess Alice of France (bottom left). A talented actress, Katherine reportedly landed the role as a Christmas gift from her adoptive father, **Cecil B. DeMille**. (cecilbdemille.com)

HEY BIG SPENDER…At right, **Edward Arnold** in the title role (here with **Eric Blore**) in *Diamond Jim.* At left, **Cesar Romero** moves in on Diamond Jim’s love interest, portrayed by **Jean Arthur.** (Rotten Tomatoes/IMDB)

* * *

From Our Advertisers

We begin with this advertisement from Lord & Taylor, featuring the latest fall fashions for young women heading to college…notable here is the inclusion of Mickey Mouse in the illustration…the animated rodent was in vogue as much the latest fashions…

…John Hanrahan, whose advertising savvy helped guide The New Yorker through its lean early years, was publisher of the richly designed Stage magazine, promoted here on the inside front cover…

…soft drink giant Coca-Cola recalled its soda fountain origins in this ad that promoted its 6.5-ounce bottled product…

…on the inside back cover Goodyear continued its series of perilous ads illustrating the dangers of tire blowouts (but not the obvious hazard of children riding untethered in a rumble seat, where they doubtless inhaled all manner of noxious fumes)…

…the majority of back covers in 1935 featured tobacco companies…here we learn that Lucky Strikes were more than cigarette; they were your “best friend”…

…on to our cartoonists, we start with this “Profile” illustration by William Steig…the profile was a two-parter featuring a clever summons server…