Category:
1930s
1930s
Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 18
Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
Prostitute Undressing
1934-35
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jan 08, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Sexuality, 1930s, Russia
Bugsy Siegel and Atomite
One of the mobster's lesser-known rackets.Source of text.
Di Frasso and Siegel pictured below the text.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 01, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Crime, Dictators, Tyrants and Other Harsh Rulers, Frauds, Cons and Scams, 1930s, Europe, Weapons
The year of multiple Thanksgivings
Thanksgiving used to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November until 1939, when President Roosevelt decided to move it back a week in order to help retailers by lengthening the pre-Christmas shopping season. Not everyone was happy with this decision. As wikipedia notes:Republicans decried the change, calling it an affront to the memory of Lincoln. People began referring to November 30 as the "Republican Thanksgiving" and November 23 as the "Democratic Thanksgiving" or "Franksgiving". Regardless of the politics, many localities had made a tradition of celebrating on the last Thursday, and many football teams had a tradition of playing their final games of the season on Thanksgiving; with their schedules set well in advance, they could not change. Since a presidential declaration of Thanksgiving Day was not legally binding, Roosevelt's change was widely disregarded. Twenty-three states went along with Roosevelt's recommendation, 22 did not, and some, like Texas, could not decide and took both days as government holidays.
So Governor Lee O'Daniel declared that Texas would celebrate 2 official days of Thanksgiving, but some parts of the state weren't satisfied with that. The city of Monahans decided they were going to have 3 Thanksgivings: on the 16th, 23rd, and 30th. Then Harlingen, Texas upped the ante by declaring they were going to have a full 8 days of Thanksgiving. They designated every day from the 23rd to the 30th as an official day of Thanksgiving.
That sounds like a swell idea to me. A full week of gluttony!
Arizona Republic - Nov 2, 1939
Warren Times Monitor - Nov 16, 1939
McAllen Monitor - Nov 19, 1939
Posted By: Alex - Thu Nov 22, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Holidays, Thanksgiving, 1930s
Charles Norman, the toddler who smoked
Charles "Mickey" Norman achieved fame in the 1930s, while only a 2-year-old, because of his love of smoking. He was known as the "puffing prodigy." For a few years the media checked back at each of his birthdays and found him still smoking. Then they eventually lost interest... until his 18th birthday, when they checked and found he was still smoking, and quite healthy. The last news story about him I could find was when he was 25. Not clear what became of him after that. He might still be alive. If so, he'd be 87.
St. Louis Star and Times - July 12, 1933
Public Opinion - July 31, 1934
The Hackensack Record - July 29, 1936
Newsweek - Mar 20, 1950
No Ill Effects: At the age of 14 months, Charles (Mickey) Norman of Paterson, N.J., picked up a smoldering cigar from his father’s ash tray and took a few puffs. He liked it. By the age of 3, Mickey was an inveterate stogie smoker—his pictures appeared in papers from Italy to Australia, bringing an avalanche of fan mail. A short time later he announced: “I drink beer.” None of this seemed to have an ill effect. Now a husky, 6-foot-tall auto mechanic of 18, Norman estimates that he has smoked 13,000 cigars, along with pipes and cigarettes.
-Newsweek, Mar 20, 1950
-Newsweek, Mar 20, 1950
Philadelphia Inquirer - July 30, 1956
Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 17, 2018 -
Comments (2)
Category: Smoking and Tobacco, 1930s
Mystery Gadget 68
What is this hook used for?
The answer is here.
And after the jump.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 17, 2018 -
Comments (2)
Category: Technology, 1930s
Follies of the Madmen #395
Shaving is just like Gulliver serving as a golf course for Lilliputians.
Full ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 15, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Business, Advertising, Hygiene, Surrealism, 1930s
Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 17
Sjöguden (The sea god) by Carl Milles.
Wikipedia page for the artist.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Nov 05, 2018 -
Comments (3)
Category: Art, 1930s, Europe, Russia
The Marionettes of Donald Cordry
The green fairy is one of four marionettes used by Donald Cordry in his production of "The Three Wishes" that played in Minneapolis between 1930-1934. "The Three Wishes" was first written as a play for puppets by German writer Fronz von Pocci around 1900 and continues to be a popular play performed in many versions. Hand carved from wood, the fairy has an ethereal green painted face with joined eyebrows, black lips, large eyes with some hint of Asiatic features. She wears a clear blue glass pagoda head ornament in her golden hair , and she is wearing a long blue-green velvet dress, with beige tights,and rhinestone shoes with leather heels. Her wings are made of plastic. These charming carved and painted marionettes are great examples of Cordry's decorative sense of design and craftsmanship. The angel is operated with an airplane holder and eight strings.
The Three Wishes was first written as a play for puppets by German writer Fronz von Pocci around 1900. Donald Cordry (1907-1978) was a well known and highly respected American artist, craftsmen and puppeteer of the 1920s and 30s. He was gifted with a great decorative sense and his craftsmanship was extraordinary. Born in Minnesota, Cordry attended the Minneapolis School of Art from 1924-1929 and after graduation he went to work for the Board of Education. While his main job was to lecture and teach classes, Cordry took used the opportunity to create and perform his own marionette show with both hand puppets and marionettes. From late 1930 to early 1931 Cordry joined the Rufus Rose Company, owned by Rupert and Margo Rose that played the school and college circuit on the East coast. In the summer of 1931 he traveled to Mexico where he developed a life long interest and dedication to the arts and landscape of Mexico. An avid collector of ethnographic material for over 40 years, Cordry amassed a large collection of indigenous Mexican arts and crafts which he meticulously documented and researched. His passion also included Native American cultures, and in the mid 1930s he worked at the Heye Museum of Indian Art in New York City where he cataloged and researched objects for the museum. (The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History owns a large collection of Mexican masks donated by the Cordry family in the early 1980s.) After returning to Minneapolis in late 1931, Cordry started creating his own puppets. He formed his own company and performed shows until 1934.
The Dolly Sisters and the Three Wishes were popular with young and old audiences alike. In June of 1934, Cordry moved to New York and worked with Tony Sarg, a well known and established puppeteer in his own right, and taught classes at Sarg's Summer School. Cordry made a number of puppets for Sarg and toured with his company from 1934-1936. By 1937 poor health forced him to give up puppetry and he moved to Mexico. He did however, continue his field research on indigenous peoples and later on published two books - Mexican Indian Costumes (1968) and Mexican Masks (c1980). "The Three WIshes" was Cordry's final production before he moved to Mexico with his wife. The puppets and sets from this production were shipped in crates to Mexico and remained there almost fifty years. In 1982, his widow Dorothy Mann Cordry donated this collections to the Smithsonian which included not only the marionettes, but props made to scale and a fully operational puppet stage.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 15, 2018 -
Comments (5)
Category: Art, Design and Designers, Puppets and Automatons, 1930s
Rollerskating as Art
This artform is pretty well extinct, so far as I can tell.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 30, 2018 -
Comments (5)
Category: Bicycles and Other Human-powered Vehicles, 1930s, Dance
Johnson Smith Catalog Item #38
From the 1930s catalog.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 10, 2018 -
Comments (3)
Category: Johnson Smith Catalog, Sports, 1930s, Brain Damage
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