Let's form a SWEET POTATO BAND!

Okay folks...

Let's put on a show! You bring your sweet potato and I'll bring mine!

or for the more refined folks visiting here...

Let us consider performing this evening for a few of our really smart chums. You bring your ocarina and I'll bring mine.

This book, Music Is Fun with this Gretsch Ocarina Book, dates back to 1940, pre-war. I'm wondering if it actually became popular, as this book hoped, for service men to form ocarina bands. I would like to hear that. This is another dandy from Bert's collection

Click on any image to see it larger.

I guess you could say this is another "raise your hand" post. Who remembers sweet potatoes when you were a kid. (No, not those things in the bowl with the melted marshmallows on top.) I remember someone having one made out of plastic. Maybe I owned it, I don't know. I do still have my kazoo, but that's a whole other story.

For your listening pleasure I give you some faux ocarina playing by Hope and Crosby. The sound is true ocarina, but they aren't playing it.

It's HAPPINESS BOYS FRIDAY!

Have you got your ukulele in tune? Well sit down and do it now before you read any further.

There’s a reason I’m calling this Happiness Boys Friday. You won’t have a difficult time figuring it out.

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This song book is from the big box of sheet music Bert gave me. It dates from 1926. I’d never heard of these fellows, but I’m stunned I know one of the songs they were known for.

So who were the Happiness Boys (aka The Taystee Loafers and The Interwoven Pair)? According to Wikipedia:

The Happiness Boys was a popular radio program of the early 1920s. It featured the vocal duo of tenor Billy Jones (1889-1940) and bass/baritone Ernie Hare (1881-1939) who sang novelty songs.

Career

Jones and Hare were already established as soloists on phonograph records. One of Jones's better solos was "Mary Lou," while Hare scored with the Yuletide novelty "Santa Claus Hides in the Phonograph." In 1920 recording executive Gus Haenschen had them sing an accompaniment on a Brunswick recording. They went on to do numerous recordings for Brunswick Records, Edison, and other companies. Similarities between the two singers were often noted: same height, same weight, birthdays a few days apart.

They began on radio October 18, 1921 on WJZ (Newark, New Jersey), where they were sponsored by the chain of Happiness Candy stores. Listeners mailed in their comments about the singers on cards supplied to retailers by Happiness Candy.

Beginning August 22, 1923, the Happiness Boys broadcast on New York's WEAF, moving to NBC from a run from 1926 to 1929.

By 1928, Jones and Hare were the highest paid singers in radio, earning $1,250 a week. They also made highly successful personal appearances in the United States and Europe.

The partnership ended with Ernie Hare's death on March 9, 1939. Hare's 16-year-old daughter, Marilyn Hare, joined Jones at the microphone, allowing the act to continue as "Jones and Hare" until Jones's death on November 23, 1940. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Want a sample? You sure?

Here are the words to two of their catchy tunes included in this book:

Broken Down Mamma

Broken Down Mamma
Broken Down Mamma
Quit your tormenting me
Broken Down Mamma
You’re as sassy as can be,
Go on an’ take yo’body on a big long trip
Your daddy’s done found some brand new lip
Broken Down Mamma
You’re just a broken mamma to me.

Indoor Baby

She’s what you call an Indoor Baby
She’s awfully fond of indoor sports
She’s more proficient at parlor games
Than on the links or tennis courts
Two loving arms,
Two lips and two eyes
She’ll challenge any boy
Who likes that kind of exercise.
She’s is not the kind who can ride, swim or climb
But she’s an Indoor Baby all the time.

Wouldn't you like to hear these?

You might now be wondering which song of their’s is now running through my head? Okay, so you’re probably not wondering, but I’ll tell you anyway. It's "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?” Raise your hand if you remember it. And what was the catchy chorus? Take a listen to this version by Lonnie Donegan and if you’re of a certain age you’ll probably remember singing along when you were a kid.

How FILM NOIR GETS YOU THROUGH THE NIGHT

I didn't want to go to sleep last night. I felt like it would be wasted hours. I ended up spending hours with this book, The Art of Noir by Eddie Muller. A beautiful book full of four- color images of vintage noir movie posters.

The book was originally published in 2004 so you know it must be pretty good to still be in print. You don't have to go looking for used copies.

If you have a love of film noir, vintage illustration and posters, hand lettering, oh heck...Joan Crawford, Humphrey Bogart, Ida Lupino, Dick Powell, Betty Davis, Ray Milland and on and on and on. Simply stunning sumptuous images.

I've put a link to the left in the Amazon column where you can see more images from the book. I add these below just to give you an idea of how stunning it is.

Time will pass and you'll find yourself lost in it. Each page brings a new and stunning piece of ephemera that fortunately was not destroyed as the theater owners had been originally told to do.

And don't think you're getting a small format book. This book is a very nice trim of 10.6" x 14.3", 271 pages. A coffee table book that should come with it's own table because you'll just want to leave it open so you can stand back and take it all in.

The SCHOOL ARTS MAGAZINE paper doll

Included in a large box of sheet music Bert gave me is a magazine from 1926, The School Arts Magazine. I'd never heard of this publication. It was published by The Davis Press, Inc. out of Worcester, Massachusetts. It appears the magazine was first published in 1901. When my issue was published, 1926, their offices were located at 44 Portland Street. Today, Davis Publications is located at 50 Portland Street so in over 100 years they haven't moved too far.

A magazine that then, and apparently now, focuses on helping schoolteachers teach arts and crafts. From their website:

SchoolArts is a national art education magazine committed to promoting excellence, advocacy, and professional support for educators in the visual arts since 1901.

Considering that too often schools jettison art programs this is a nice step back in time when the arts were considered of value to a growing child. I won't even go into what I think of people today who see no value in the arts or specifically exposing children to it. I get angry just thinking about it. I'm glad to know this magazine still exists.

To see a full copy of an edition from 1918 click here.

Inside the edition I have is a wonderful little find. A paper doll for children to color.

Click on any image to see it larger.

Paper doll lovers, come out, come out, wherever you are! This one might be a new one for you.

SWANS DOWN CAKE FLOUR vintage recipes

I don't have a cover for this old cookbook, nor can I find any date on the pages. It has fallen apart and most likely belonged to my maternal grandmother. I can see from the logo on the center spread that it is for Swans Down Cake Flour. Swans Down Cake Flour has been around for over 100 years. It is now owned by the Reily Foods Company.

I do recall my mother using this flour, but eventually she used Softasilk, which is what I now use. I don't even know if Swans is available in my stores. I had forgotten about the brand until I found these pages.

The main reason I'm posting this is because of the lovely illustrations. They aren't photos. The artist appears to be named Giro. They're really nicely done so I do wish I could find something about the artist, but I'm finding nothing (and no, the fellow in Spain who has a couple images on iStockphoto is not this Giro). If anyone has examples of Giro's work let me know of the links.

Click on any image to see it larger.

So did Giro work from photos or did they have to bake all these tasty morsels? Oh my, a full on carb rush while trying to work. Hey, some of the recipes look worth it. Strawberries are just showing up at the market so I might just have to make a cake. Then again, maybe I'll just dream about it instead. Salivating as I type this. And yes, I do look like Pavlov's dog.

UPDATE: I've done another post on Swans Down Cake Flour with more vintage recipes. It can be seen here.

EXOTIC GIFT from the Mideast in 1957

This item is from Bert's collection. Imagine opening an envelope and finding this inside. I think it's amazing it exists intact.

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Ridin' the rails to DOWNERS GROVE, ILLINOIS

My friend Bert, who I've mentioned at my other blog, is a collector of ephemera and most especially photographs. Last week when I visited him he mentioned a story about his father at the Downers Grove train station. I remembered I had a post card of the station and emailed this to him last night.

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The card brought back the following memories for Bert:

"As a child in the late 1920"s and 1930"s. Bert used to stand on this station's platform and watch the freight trains go by. He would look at the many railroad signs on the freight cars and dream of those places that seemed so remote to his childhood visions of being there. Little did Bert know that his eventual home would be in the city of Oakland, CA where the Southern Pacific trains terminated its runs, then people took ferries across the bay to San Francisco and connected to Peninsula trains at the Townsend Street terminal, on journeys to all points south. But today, like dreams, that vast railroad junction in Oakland has vanished and changed into large ports-of-call for container ships to unload their cargoes. Has the Downers Grove railroad station survived, he wonders?"--Bert

Bert, the station is still there. Click here to see a recent photo. And here's a fun video of a steam engine going lickity split through the station.

Video by http://www.youtube.com/user/ryanrules281

From Wikipedia I find the following about Downers Grove:

Downers Grove was founded in 1832 by Pierce Downer, a religious evangelist from New York. Its other early settlers included the Blodgett, Curtiss, and Carpenter families. The original settlers were mostly migrants from the Northeastern United States and Northern Europe. The first schoolhouse was built in 1844.

During the American Civil War, 119 soldiers from Downers Grove served in the Union Army; at least one of these was interred in the cemetery downtown. There was an abolitionist presence in the village, and some of the older homes are thought to have been stops on the Underground Railroad. However, there is no evidence to substantiate this claim.

The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was extended from Aurora to Chicago through Downers Grove in 1862, boosting its population. The town was incorporated in March 1873. Its somewhat unusual spelling ("Apostrophe-free since 1873") remains a minor historical mystery.

In April 1947 the wreck of a Burlington Railroad Twin Cities Zephyr passenger train killed three people, including the engineer. The streamliner struck a large tractor which had fallen from a freight train and two passenger cars crashed through a wall of the Main Street Station.

The construction of two major toll roads along the village's northern and western boundaries, I-355 in 1989 and what is now referred to as I-88 in 1958, facilitated its access to the rest of Chicago metropolitan area. Downers Grove has developed into a bustling Chicago suburb with many diverse businesses, including the headquarters for Rossi Furniture, FTD, Sara Lee, Arrow Gear Magnetrol, Dover, TMK IPSCO and Luxury tour operator, Abercrombie & Kent. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

It's funny where ephemera leads. I've had this post card for many years and never thought about posting it. Now it's linked forever with Bert. Thanks Bert!

More of Bert's railroad nostalgia:

At one point in my youthful years in Downers Grove we lived in a house alongside the railroad tracks. Next to the house was a railroad "Roundhouse" for locomotives to be turned around and face the opposite direction. As trains sped by locomotive "firemen" would sometimes shovel off coal along the railroad tracks for us "poor people" to pick up and burn in our stoves. People really helped each other then. When the Burlington Railroad Twin Cities Zephyr passenger trains were first put into service, a pair of them slowly rode "side-by-side" through Downers Grove. We watched them pass in awe of such beautiful art deco design and technical advances. Eat your hearts out Charles Lindbergh & Amelia Earhart for pioneering the demise of flights that put passenger trains to rest.

TAKE FLIGHT on Valentine's Day

This first card has 1951 written on it in pencil and was published by Hallmark.

This second card, one of my favorites, has no date, but I'm assuming it's late 30s to 40s.

S. Bergman VALENTINE

I can't find anything about the company S. Bergman that published this card. I can find a lot of their cards online, but nothing about the business. So we'll just forget about trying to educate ourselves today.

From the S. Bergman company in 1913. A bit of fancy dancing with your valentine.

______________________

Here are some postcards people might not be aware of. Each fall I buy the Cynthia Hart Victoriana Calendar from Amazon. I won't open it or look at it until January 1st. Don't ask, it's just one of those things. Anyway, postcards are included with the calendar. Here are a few from the past several years. You also get Christmas, Halloween, birthdays, and I can't remember what else. These are obviously valentine cards. They're all quite large so keep your eyes open for them to add to your valentine collection.

VALENTINES From Parents to Their Daughter

This week I was given an old tattered scrapbook that belonged to a woman named Montez Lawton. She was an elementary school teacher in Northern California. The book is falling apart, the pages brittle. But inside are a few wonderful items including handwritten get well wishes from her young students.

These valentines are also inside, sent to her by her parents. I will take them from the album and put them in my archival albums where I keep all of the valentine's I've found. These are unusual to my collection because I tend to find and buy ones that were clearly for children. These are a bit more adult.

Click on any image to see it larger.

Published by Rust Craft.

Published by The Wishing Well (not affiliated with the company now using the name in the UK)

This one might as well be a get well card and indeed I imagine the image was used for a variety of cards. Nothing about it looks like a valentine.

Published by Hallmark.

To see some of my past posts about Valentines:

Valentine gamble

VALENTINE, VALENTINE, wherefore art thou? To see more about this book click on the link in the Amazon column to the left. The book sells used dirt cheap. It's full of fun images from old valentines.

JACOBS AIRCRAFT ENGINES in 1943

This ad starts off by referencing the work their planes did in helping to build the Alcan Highway (the road that connects the lower 48 to Alaska through Canada). The last part of the ad is where the reference the war demands and the part they are contributing.

As to what became of the company, well there's not much to find:

The Jacobs Aircraft Engine Company was formed in 1929 in Philadelphia. Later the company moved to Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

An early product was the Jacobs L-3, a small 55 hp 3 cylinder engine of 1929 (4.125x4.75=190cuin). By 1933, Jacobs had developed its most famous engine, the L-4 seven-cylinder radial; it was better known as by its military designation, the R-755.

Later developments included the 285 hp L-5 or R-830 (5.5x5=831.54/13.627L), and 330 hp L-6 or R-915 (5.5x5.5=914.696/14.989L)

Jacobs engines were fitted to many US-built aircraft of the inter-wars period, including several Waco models.

After World War II, Jacobs became a division of Republic Industries (not Republic Aircraft). (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

I really like the illustration which unfortunately has no artist signature.

Click on image to see it larger.

Again, another image from the November 1943 National Geographic.

GENERAL MOTORS Goes to War

This ad is, like the ones I've been featuring the past few weeks, from the November 1943 National Geographic. Back when General Motors was a super power. Back when railroads were still the way to move products from coast to coast. How people moved coast to coast. The railways and General Motors are a shell of what they once were and both require tax payer money to stay afloat.

Click on image to see it larger.

PULLMAN SLEEPERS, a Soap Opera, and a Moral

Another vintage World War II ad from the November 1943 National Geographic. This one, for Pullman Sleeper train cars, sells you a soap opera and a moral to the story. Like many other ads, the company was not just selling their product, but also the idea of the country uniting in the war effort. Also, be polite...except of course to the enemy. Racism front and center.

Click on image to see it larger.

LOCKHEED and DISNEY in World War II

Another World War II ad from the November 1943 National Geographic, this time an image from the Walt Disney companies movie Victory Through Airpower.

Click on the image to see it larger and you'll notice that Lockheed offered to send free prints of this image. I wonder how many of those still exist? How large were they? How many did they send out?

Click on image to see it larger.

I'll let Wikipedia tell you about the film referenced below the image and then there are two parts from the film. Who knows how long they will be left on youtube before Disney or Lockheed forces the person to take them down. So if there is a black square with no movie I think we can safely assume that will be what happened.

Victory Through Air Power is a 1943 Walt Disney Technicolor animated feature film based on the 1942 book by Alexander P. de Seversky. De Seversky appeared in the film, an unusual departure from the Disney animated feature films of the time.

The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, but lost to The Song of Bernadette.

Production
The popular filmmaker Walt Disney read the book and felt that its message was so important that he personally financed the animated production of Victory Through Air Power. The film was primarily created to express Seversky’s theories to government officials and the public. Movie critic Richard Schickel says that Disney "pushed the film out in a hurry, even setting aside his distrust of limited animation under the impulses of urgency." (The only obvious use of limited animation, however, is in diagrammatic illustrations of Seversky's talking points. These illustrations featured continuous flowing streams of iconic aircraft, forming bridges or shields, and munitions flowing along assembly lines.) It was not until 1945 Disney was able to pay off his 1.2 million dollar war film deficit.

Reception
On July 11, 1943, the New York Times devoted a half page, "Victory from the Air," to a feature consisting of pictures of scenes from the film with short captions. This was possibly the first time that such skilled use of visual description had been placed at the service of an abstract political argument.

It is one thing to hear someone say that against modern bombers, "bristling with armament… small single-seater fighters will find themselves helpless, for their guns are not maneuverable—they are fixed and can only fire forward." It is quite another to have this accompanied by vivid animations of swastika-tailed fighters jockeying for position and being shot down by beam-like animated blasts of fire from a bomber whose guns are "always in firing position."

Schickel quotes film critic James Agee as hoping that

“Major de Seversky and Walt Disney know what they are talking about, for I suspect that an awful lot of people who see Victory Through Air Power are going to think they do… I had the feeling I was sold something under pretty high pressure, which I don't enjoy, and I am staggered at the ease with which such self-confidence, on matters of such importance, can be blared all over the nation, without cross-questioning. ”

Impact
On December 8, 1941, Disney studios were essentially converted into a propaganda machine for the United States government. While most World War II films were created for training purposes, films such as Victory Through Air Power were created to catch the attention of government officials and to build public morale among the U.S. and allied powers. Among the notables who decided after seeing the film that Seversky and Disney knew what they were talking about were Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Disney studio sent a print for them to view when they were attending the Quebec Conference. According to Leonard Maltin, "it changed FDR's way of thinking—he agreed that Seversky was right." Maltin also adds that "it was only after Roosevelt saw 'Victory Through Air Power' that our country made the commitment to long-range bombing." Roosevelt recognized that film was an effective way to teach and Disney could provide Washington with high quality information. The American people were becoming united and Disney was able to inform them of the situation without presenting excessive chaos, as cartoons often do. The animation was popular among soldiers and was superior to other documentary films and written instructions at the time.

Victory Through Air Power played a significant role for the Disney Corporation because it was the true beginning of educational films. The educational films would be, and still are, continually produced and used for the military, schools, and factory instruction. The company learned how to effectively communicate their ideas and efficiently produce the films while introducing the Disney characters to millions of people worldwide. Throughout the rest of the war, Disney characters effectively acted as ambassadors to the world. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

GO GREYHOUND in World War II

I'm thinking they're going to need a bigger bus.

Click on image to see it larger.

Another great vintage World War II advertisement from the November 1943 National Geographic.

GOT MILK in World War II?

Look at Private Peterson. Look at Private Peterson milk Lulu. Milk Lulu, milk. Private Peterson loves Lulu. Lulu loves Private Peterson.

And so this fellow became the pin-up poster for dairy cows across the country in the 1940s. There wasn't a milking barn that didn't have this photo tacked to the wall to keep the cows dreamy eyed and contented while they were milked.

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The National Dairy Corporations ad in the 1943 National Geographic proving they too were part of the war effort.

Seriously, I haven't a clue what cows used to relax in the 1940s.

INTERWOVEN STOCKING COMPANY Goes To War

As I've been showing for the past several posts, companies in one way or another tried to show they were supportive of the national war effort during World War II. For some companies this wasn't an advertising problem because it was obvious their products were necessary. Other companies...not so much.

I give you an ad for the Interwoven Stocking Company from the November 1943 National Geographic.

Click on image to see it larger.

Of course socks were important, and you often read horror stories of what soldiers went through with their socks, specifically in jungle climates. But I think this one is pushing it. It makes me think of the PF Flyer ads in the 1950s that were marketed to kids implying you could run faster and jump higher if you wore them. What exactly does this ad say? Were soldiers able to run through the jungle chasing the enemy faster because they wore Interwoven socks? They were to "sock" it to the enemy? Did the company actually have a government contract?

Okay, the real value of this ad historically is the racist image. This was acceptable during the war. I'm sure there are small companies today with limited advertising dollars with extremist views that use racial stereotypes, but you don't find it in large main stream ads.

From what I've been able to find online the Interwoven Stocking Company is no longer in business. In fact it shares a similar history to a lot of other companies I've looked up online over the years. At some point they were incorporated in Florida and simply disappeared. There must be something about Florida's laws and I don't know what it is.

Incorporated by Power, James A., Stark, William E., Rice, Lacy I’., Gregory, Marshall G., Mettler, John W., Jr., Simmons, Harold W., Interwoven Stocking Company is located at 123 Church St New Brunswick, NJ 08901. Interwoven Stocking Company was incorporated on Thursday, July 09, 1953 in the State of FL and is currently not active. Source: Public Record data - Department of State - Division of Corporations.