RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP

This past weekend Run Silent, Run Deep was on TCM. I haven't seen the film in several years so I recorded it. There's something about submarine movies, and this one is great. Do like submarine movies. Das Boat is probably my favorite.

The book by Commander Edward L. Beach Jr. was published in 1955. The film, starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster was released in 1958 through Lancaster's production company. This movie tie-in paperback was published in 1958.

Beach's bestselling novel of submarine warfare begins soon before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The story is ostensibly the transcription of a Navy tape recording, as related by Commander Edward J. Richardson for use in a war bond drive, of events resulting in his award of the Medal of Honor.

The captain of an old submarine used for training at New London, Connecticut, Richardson and his crew are assigned to fit out and commission a new submarine, the USS Walrus, and take her to Pearl Harbor to destroy Japanese shipping in the Pacific Ocean. His executive officer and former best friend, Jim Bledsoe, is resentful because Richardson was forced to fail him during Bledsoe's qualification for comand after Bledsoe acted recklessly, nearly sinking their boat. Adding to the difficulties between them, Richardson is secretly enamoured of Bledsoe's fiancee, Laura Elwood, who despises him for ruining Bledsoe's chance. Laura and Jim wed just before Walrus departs New London.

During their first war patrol in the Walrus, they encounter the Japanese destroyer Akikaze, whose skipper, Captain Tateo Nakame (nicknamed "Bungo Pete"), is responsible for a series of sinkings of several American submarines in the Bungo Suido, including the USS Nerka, which had been commanded by a close friend. Richardson, wounded in a subsequent encounter with Bungo, remains at Pearl Harbor while Bledsoe commands the Walrus for three war patrols. Bledsoe establishes a reputation for himself as an aggressive skipper with a good rate of sinkings. Between patrols, Bledsoe has an extramarital affair at Pearl Harbor, causing Richardson anguish for Laura's sake. During its next patrol, however, Walrus becomes Bungo Pete's seventh victim.

During his stint ashore, Richardson works on solving reliability problems with American torpedoes. Richardson is given a new command, USS Eel, when her skipper comes down with tuberculosis. When the news of the loss of Bledsoe and the Walrus arrives, Richardson convinces his superiors to let him hunt Bungo Pete in the Eel. A great battle ensues in a raging storm between the Eel, fighting on the surface, and Bungo Pete's special anti-submarine warfare group, which consists of a Q-ship, a Japanese submarine, and the Akikaze. After sinking all three vessels, Richardson discovers three lifeboats in the vicinity and realizes that Bungo Pete and his skilled specialists will be rescued to resume their hunting. He intentionally rams the lifeboats.

Soon after the destruction of Bungo Pete, the Eel is detailed to lifeguard duty off Guam, where Richardson's actions saving three aviators earns him the Medal of Honor. After the war he returns home, expressing his hope to begin a relationship with Laura Bledsoe.

The novel was on The New York Times Book Review list for several months.

Beach served on submarines in the Pacific Ocean during the war, and this adds to the realism of the story. He composed two sequels to Run Silent, Run Deep: Dust on the Sea (1972), a third person narrative detailing later patrols of the Eel, and Cold is the Sea (1978), about Richardson's later career in nuclear submarines. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

To see the whole movie online click on the link shown below the video.

Watch Run Silent,Run Deep in Action & Adventure | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

As a kid my Brownie Troop was invited aboard a sub at Pearl Harbor. Let's just say it was really tight inside, even for little girls used to playhouses. This was a wondrous playhouse, especially the torpedos. The cook had prepared a cake for us so we all gathered around for a piece at the tiny table with a big cake on it. Good times. Good times. Somewhere I have a photo of my troop standing on deck dressed in our little brown uniforms. I'm in the back row, neck stretched trying to see over the heads of the others. I was a scrawny kid.

BALL-BAND shoes from Mishawaka

If you grew up in the 1950s you probably remember Keds, Converse, and maybe PF Flyers. Ball-Band? Never heard of them.

I have no memory of these shoes made by the Mishawaka Rubber & Woolen Mfg. Co. in Mishawaka, Indiana.

This ad is from the July-August 1951 Archie comic. It amazes me how many of the ads in this one comic are comics themselves. I did find a series of these comic ads online at ebay, but no actual information about how the idea came about or if they had running characters.

Click on image to see it larger.

The following is a little history of the Mishawaka Rubber & Woolen Mfg. Co. once located at 312 N. Hill St., Mishawaka, Indiana.

(Courtesy of the Mishawaka-Penn Public Library historical archives)

In 1867 Jacob Beiger puchased a small wooden mill built in 1838 near the dam and Mishawaka Woolen Manufacturing Company was born. Incorporated in 1874, the company produced red flannel boots. Adolphus Eberhart and Martin Beiger invented All Knit Boots in 1886. They were made with a black band around the top and when a red ball was later added the Ball Band trademark resulted.

Life, May 10, 1948

Stakes were driven for the first rubber-making plant in 1897. In 1899 the company was authorized to build a new four-story warehouse. More improvements were added after 1900 because of an increase in sales. After Martin Beiger’s death in 1903, a 30-man syndicate took control of the company. Later, Mishawaka Woolen Company became a subsidiary of U.S. Rubber.

Life, May 7, 1951

In 1921 a five-story storage and warehouse building designed by Albert Kahn was erected. The name of the company was changed to Mishawaka Rubber and Woolen Manufacturing Company in 1923, and to Uniroyal, Inc. in 1967. All footwear manufactured by Mishawaka Rubber Company was discontinued in 1969, and, due largely to the price pressures from foreign competition, Mishawaka Rubber Company was dissolved. Uniroyal closed after filing bankruptcy on April 1, 1997. All the buildings were demolished/imploded a few years later. Today, the site is home to the C. Beutter Riverfront Park. (SOURCE: Goldstein, Deborah May. Made in South Bend/Mishawaka. Discovery Hall Museum, 1980.

CAPTAIN TOOTSIE and The Dangerous Buggy Ride

I give you Captain Tootsie. Okay, that just makes me laugh. I know times were different when this character was created, but were they THAT different? Didn't anyone think maybe calling a "superhero" Captain Tootsie was all wrong? Apparently not. Would Captain Roll have been any better? Captain Toot? It gets worse, but you'll need to continue reading for that.

This image is from the July-August 1951 Archie comic. Since I'm not a comic book collector I had never seen this character. Okay, I've had this comic for years, but had never noticed or at least remembered this ad. He's apparently well known amongst serious collectors.

Now, I was a big fan of Tootsie Rolls as a kid and even used them to help take out loose teeth. Yes, it's true, a kids loose tooth and a Tootsie Roll work perfectly together. I won't go into the details. Suffice it to say it was a relatively pain free way to get the tooth disconnected from the gum when it was hanging by a thread and my mother just kept saying, "Pull it! Just pull it!" I liked the Tootsie Method better.

Let's check with Wikipedia to see how Captain Tootsie came about.

Captain Tootsie is an advertisement comic created for Tootsie Rolls in 1943 by C C Beck and Peter Costanza. It featured the title character Captain Tootsie and his sidekick, a boy named Rollo and 2 other young cohorts named Fatso and Fisty. 
It had many generic stories in the form of full colour one page Sunday strips, black and white daily strips usually with very few panels and 2 issues of a comic book of the same title released by Toby Press.


The character was extremely similar to Beck's other main work, Captain Marvel published by Fawcett Comics. The way all the characters featured were drawn looked to be stolen and changed very slightly from one of the stories of Whiz Comics (the Fawcett Comics feature of which Captain Marvel starred).


The stories were written to happen quickly without any background information and were usually quickly solved in only a punch or two, then ended off with 'the gang' enjoy a delicious snack of a Tootsie Roll product.


The advertisement comic was featured by many publishers who rivaled Beck at Fawcett, Fawcett and in the newspapers.


It is currently unknown how many stories were created for these ads, but some full stories can be found around the web.

His powers were quite generic. He seemed to be quite strong and quicker to the punch than any of his enemies. He was never seen flying or bouncing bullets off him, but it never really came up. His stories were kept as light and 'kid-friendly' as possible.



Captain Tootsie's comic strip ads ended at some point in the 1950s and besides a few posts about him online and being mentioned in a Comic Book Encyclopedia published in 2004, he has remained mostly forgotten. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Oh why, oh why, couldn't my comic have Fatso and Fisty in it? But Fisty? Seriously? Captain Tootsie and Fisty? Not goin' there.

To see more Captain Tootsie ads click on any of the following links:

Comic Book Ad Hall of Fame

Toonpedia

Retrospace

The Fabulous Fifties

Cartoon Snap

SARAN PLASTIC Seat Covers

Have I got a product for you! Just in time for a sweltering summer! Protect your car seats from those horrible body oils and shedding skin. Yes indeed-y, give folks a hot seat every single time they sit down in your car after it's been sitting in the sun. Make a contest out of it! See how long someone in shorts can sit in your car before screaming.

Does any of this sound familiar? Then you'll remember plastic car seat covers. If it doesn't sound familiar, I wish I were you.

My folks always put plastic car seats on every car they owned through the 50s. Over the years I asked over and over again, "WHY?" They told me they were trying to protect the seats so that they looked new. Okay, I get it. They had a messy kid in the car, but geez those things hurt. Get in wearing shorts and I'm telling you you were going to stick to the seat and when you tried to lift your thigh it made a sucking sound and left a red mark on the back of your leg. But I must admit when I or the dog barfed it was a quick clean-up.

I give you another ad from the July-August 1951 Archie comic.

Click on the ratty image to see it larger.

Notice it says "Saran Plastic Seat Cover." I'm thinking maybe I could do the same thing today with one of those huge boxes of plastic wrap from Costco. Be about the same price. Just think how stylish it would look!

And if you didn't buy Archie comics did that mean you couldn't purchase this impressive product? No siree. The ad below, placed by Advance Stores, is from the March 2, 1961 newspaper The Bee from Danville, Virginia.

So, I wonder what other business was run out of 318 Market Street, Newark, New Jersey? Well, there's this ad from the June 1956 Popular science.

Any idea what's there now? It certainly can't be the saran plastic seat cover company.

The KINGSTON TRIO in 1959

Another wonderful find at the thrift store last week, The Kingston Trio's Here We Go Again released in 1959.

Raise your hand if you fondly remember the song "Tom Dooley." I don't know what my singing voice was like when I was a kid, but whenever that song came on the radio I was singing along. It has also indelibly etched the mental image of a hanging tree in my mind, but that's my own neurosis (like my hatred of lima beans).

"Tom Dooley" is not on this album, but that's always my first thought when I think of the Kingston Trio. That and short sleeved striped shirts.

This album contains "Worried Man" which is another fine sing-a-long tune. If you don't tap your feet when you hear it you must have poor circulation.

For those who don't know anything about the Kingston Trio I can only say I'm sorry. You missed some good music that would make you smile and make you think.

From Wikipedia:

The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds. It rose to international popularity, fueled by unprecedented sales of 33⅓ rpm long-playing record albums (LPs), and helped to alter the direction of popular music in the U.S.

The Kingston Trio was one of the most prominent folk music groups of the era's relatively short-lived pop-folk boom that their success helped to create. Beginning with their first album released in 1958, which included the hit recording of "Tom Dooley" that sold over three million copies as a single, the Trio released nineteen albums that made Billboard's Top 100, fourteen of which ranked in the top 10, and five of which hit the number 1 spot. Four of the group's LPs charted among the Top 10 selling albums for five weeks in November and December 1959, a record unmatched for more than 50 years, and the group still ranks after half a century in the all time top ten of many of Billboard's charts, including those for most weeks with a #1 album, most total weeks charting an album, most #1 albums, most consecutive #1 albums, and most top ten albums.

Music historian Richie Unterberger characterized their impact as "phenomenal popularity", and the Kingston Trio's massive record sales in its early days made acoustic folk music commercially viable, paving the way for singer-songwriter, folk rock, and Americana artists who followed in their wake. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Click on the source link to read more about the group and how they got together. I can only say that Hawaii and San Francisco played a big part, as they did in my life.

Click on any image to see it larger.

BOBBY PINS and hair winding rods

Bobby pins. They always seemed to be in the bottom of my mother's purse. She used them for all sorts of things, including in her hair. And once a stray bobby pin is lost in a drawer it may take years before it's found again. This isn't to say it won't be seen in the drawer, it's just that there are probably plenty other pins around so why go digging around for that particular pin.

The pins on these cards are probably as organized as I've ever seen these little tools. Put them in a drawer, box, or jar and they end up in all directions, stuck in and out of each other. Oh sure, I'm betting there are some very neat people who keep their pins organized all facing the same direction. Not me. Sometimes a stray one will stick upright keeping me from closing the box lid.

Not finding much online in my brief search for information about bobby pins or hair winding rods. But then, who really wants to read a lengthy history of a piece of bent wire?

The "bobby pin" came into wide use as the hairstyle known as the "bob cut" or "bobbed hair" took hold. This trend gained popularity in the 1920s, and the bobby pins kept the bobbed hair in place. A trademark on the term "bobby pin" was held for some decades by Bob Lépine Corporation of Buffalo, New York. A trademark infringement claim made by Bob Lépine against Procter & Gamble regarding their naming their home permanent product Bobbi was settled in the 1950s by a payment to Bob Lépine by P&G. The term is now in common usage and therefore is no longer a valid trademark.

In 1913, Hump bobbie pins are introduced by Cincinnati-born inventor-manufacturer Sol Harry Goldberg, 33, who has devised "humps" for hairpins to help them grip the hair and has founded the Hump Hairpin Manufacturing Co.

In 1915, the Hump Hairpin Mfg. Co. factory was built in the Prairie Avenue section of Chicago.

A site called Ads by Dee is selling a vintage 1945 ad for the Hold-Bob pins seen above. This ad is from her site.

EARL STANLEY GARDNER and Perry Mason Through the Years, PART 3

Finally, the end of the Earl Stanley Gardner/Perry Mason cover posts. These date from the mid-1940s to mid-1950s. These are the cover styles I grab when I see them.

On the left 1953, the right 1956.

This one dates from 1952. I love the back cover.

The one on the left is from 1944, the one on the right from 1949.

I find the use of lowercase letters on the 1949 cover interesting.

Interesting to see how often red and yellow were used over the years until we hit the 60s.

I find it fascinating to see how one author has been marketed through the years. What the publisher in each decade thought would sell. Do they reflect each decade or did the publisher sometimes miss the boat completely? I have no idea, but I know I'll keep collecting them when I find them in used bookstores and thrift stores. I like to be surprised by them when I find one and won't be buying them on eBay. eBay isn't fun anymore. It's cold and corporate.

And finally, all past Earl Stanley Gardner posts so you can compare the covers:

She'd only read PERRY MASON

What do you do with A STUTTERING BISHOP?

EARL STANLEY GARDNER and PERRY MASON Through the Years

EARL STANLEY GARDNER and PERRY MASON Through the Years, Part 2

EARL STANLEY GARDNER and Perry Mason Through the Years, PART 2

Now, where was I before I was so rudely interrupted by bandwidth issues?

Continuing where I left off, I now give you some Perry Mason covers dating from 1959 to 1966.

This very lazy series cover dates from 1966. I'm assuming it was a decision by the publisher to make the most simplistic series style possible requiring little effort by all involved to say nothing of cheap. No photographer or illustrator to pay. Bring it in the front door, shove it out the back. Or as one fellow designer calls it, "sausage making." I'm not blaming the designer because cover designs are done by committee. Too often way too much input from too many people. This is just a sad case of everyone giving up. In a few years the publisher gave up with this idea and decided sex sold better (see my previous post). Sex sold the year before and sex sold the following years. What was there about 1966? I don't remember pirate things being particularly popular. Yes, I know that skull and cross bones signify death, poison, etc., but this was the best they could come up with in '66?

Printed in 1966.

So let's go back a year to 1965 when sex was selling. Subtle sexuality. These photos could have just as easily been found in a woman's magazine. And though a series design, it was at least flexible. Okay, I have no idea what the redhead on the left is doing. Scouring the shower wall in the middle of the night? Did she sleepwalk and do windows? I can't say the images are particularly thought provoking, but then let's remember the direction the covers went the next year. Let's call these the Stepford years. Mindless looking women posing.

Printed in 1965.

1962 and 1964. We've finally arrived at covers I'm interested in collecting. Yes, the illustrations look like they could have been from an early '60s Playboy, but they're interesting. You look at these women and know something is going on. They make you wonder what the story is. Well, what I wonder the most is why there's an arrow forming the first part of "Perry Mason" on the 1962 cover. I can guarantee you that someone at the publisher said, "...but is it too clever? Too gimmicky?" There was a committee decision behind this arrow. At least one person had to be convinced the arrow was important.

The cover on the left is from 1962, the one on the right from 1964.

1959. Now we're talkin'! This cover, front and back, is just plain fun. A seductress on the front with a strange modern painting of a guy behind her and a brochure in her hand. An interesting blend of vertical and horizontal movement for the eye. Not a stunning cover, but eye-catching. I do wonder what's going on here. On the back we get Earl Stanley Gardner's signature (how many people thought they had just bought an autographed book?) AND an ad for the Perry Mason show staring Raymond Burr.

Printed in 1959.

The original tv series was on the air from 1957 to 1966. Earl Stanley Gardner died in 1970 (though one post on Wikipedia says 1969). I wonder how much input Gardner had in each final cover design if any?

To read Wikipedia's post about the Perry Mason tv show click here. Their post about the character of Perry Mason is here. To read about the author, Earl Stanley Gardner, click here. To read a very interesting post about Gardner click here.

Seriously, no matter what you think of the writing or of the show, Perry Mason has been around for a very long time. Good marketing or good storytelling? I'm thinking both.

More Mason covers to come in the next post showing the evolution of marketing one product through many decades.