NEW YEARS RESOLUTION No. 4

I promise that next year I will take more public transportation, no matter how early I must get up each morning to get a seat. Doing my part to help green America!

Click on images to see them larger.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION No. 3

I am resolute that this year I will read books of better quality. I will no longer grab every novel I see with a woman running away from a castle. The stories are all the same. I need a new challenge! Henceforth I vow to only read novels of women running away from manor houses!

Published in 1969.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION No. 2

I am resolved to take a creative writing course in which I will learn to rhyme…in time…without the need of lime…or tequila. By the end of 2011 greeting card companies will be beating down my door in their attempts to get me to write special rhymes for them. Success is within my grasp.

Click on images to see them larger.

Oh, and I will also take a handwriting class in order to make my writing more legible. I am tired of my junkie friends asking me to sign prescription pads.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION No. 1

I am resolved to finally re-thatch my house. Plus, I will get up the gumption to tell my neighbor that when he comes for a visit his pigs, chickens, ducks, and cows are not welcome. I'm tired of having to clean the yard after he leaves! I don't care how many bottles of Guinness he brings!

Click on images to see them larger.

Here Comes Santa IN A RED CANOE

This posting is for my friend of 51 years. Those who have read this blog for any real length of time will be aware of our friendship. Met aboard ship on our way to live in Hawaii. Two 7 year old girls out on an adventure. We never knew how far the adventure would take us.

Click on either image to see it larger.

She will understand this post and it will make her smile. And perhaps she'll even think of the boys in Kresses.

Meli Kalikimaka!

And yes, the music is available on iTunes.

It was the GREAT DEPRESSION and they were still MERRY

I promised another card which might offend some. Not me, but some.

Again, this card is from the same scrapbook as the one yesterday. Early 1930s. The Great Depression. A jackass, some booze, and a wreath. That about sums up the holidays for many a soul.

Enjoy!

And for those closing up shop to rush away to loved ones I wish you all a Merry Christmas. Now that I have net access again, and as long as the rains don't take my signal down, I'll be able to go back through a few weeks of posts to catch up.

SANTA LOOSES HIS...

For those out there thinking they're living through their own version of the Great Depression I give you a greeting card from THE depression. This card was published in 1931 by the Pyramid Card Company in Chicago.

To those offended by this greeting all I can say is it came from an old scrapbook. I didn't personally send this card to anyone, but come next year....

I can say that if you're offended by today's you'll probably also be offended by tomorrows. This statement guarantees that some people will be back tomorrow.

TRON 1982 and THE DUDE

I never know what I'll find around here. Today, taking a break from Christmas and Child Life, I give you the cover of the August 19 1982 Rolling Stone featuring Jeff Bridges and the movie Tron. Why post this today? Because Tron 2 is coming out, or whatever it might be called.

Click on image to see it larger.

I never watched the first Tron movie. It was about a video game. I really could care less about video games, but there are now millions of people who grew up not knowing life before video games. And probably many of these people, now young adults, have never seen this old magazine. There are two articles inside. One "The Secrets of Tron" and the other simply titled "Jeff Bridges." All of this long before the Coen brothers came along and turned him into one of my all time favorite characters, The Dude. Looking forward to seeing their take on True Grit.

Click on image to see it larger.

So for the people who are going to be going to the multiplex for Tron I'm here to remind you what you see was here before. Yes, I'm sure the special effects will be eye popping as per today's technology, but let's see...just imagine what it will look like 28 years from now when they make Tron 3.

28 years is a really long time between sequels! I mean, you could go to this one with your parents and they could tell you all about the first one. Then when the third one comes along you can take your kids, and maybe even your grandkids, and bore them with how you were there the day Tron 2 opened and so on and so forth and on and on....

Oh, and I see where this same issue of Rolling Stone is for sale online for $45.00. Uh huh. Sure. Good luck with that.

Tron? What's Tron? Check out IMDB.

In MEMORY OF PEARL HARBOR

To those I knew who were there that day and to those who lost their lives.

The full brochure is too large to scan and post so I give you just a few folded and unfolded pages. This dates from early 1960s when I lived in Hawaii. In fact, that sandy looking shore at the entrance to Pearl Harbor is where I lived in military housing, two blocks from the beach.

SNOW BABIES and I LOVE HORSES

Again I've reached my net access limit. Okay, it's because I'm working on my Tattered and Lost Ephemera Cafe Press shop.

Two new images from vintage turn of the last century post cards are available for gift items. Take a look!

From a vintage card printed in Germany sent in 1911 is an image of children sliding down a snowy hill.

The image of horses also dates from the early 20th century, but no message or postal stamp are on the back.

¡VIVA FIESTA! and CHAPULTEPEC for Some Fine Mexican Dining

Let's say you were in Dallas, Texas back in the 1930s. Hankering for some good food. Well, here you go.

This vintage menu was glued into an old scrapbook I bought years ago, thus the damage to the back of the menu. But how about those prices? An entire dinner for $1.00. With what's in my wallet right now I could order the entire menu.

I think the illustration on the front is stunning and decided to create some items in my Cafe Press shop, Tattered and Lost. Take a look!

LIFE INSURANCE Can Be Deceptive

This vintage post card dates back to sometime during the first ten years of the 20th century. An advertising card from "The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company" in New York City. These days they use Charles Schulz's famous beagle Snoopy for their advertising image and it's called Met Life.

Personally I'd like to see Snoopy walking along this hallway smelling the various pillars. But that's just me.

I find the image a little on the odd side. It makes me think of a fun house where someone stands in one part of the room and is suddenly optically much larger than you. I'm going to give the artist the benefit of the doubt that they weren't loopy and instead were indeed drawing inside a house of mystery. Otherwise why would that man in the foreground on the left be so tiny? And why would so many of the folks look like they simply aren't of that building. I get the sense that the little boy in red and his companion are about to slide down the hallway towards the artist.

I'm thinking perhaps that one artist painted the hallway and then they brought in Harry Buckleston* whose claim to fame was drawing tiny people. Harry obviously had an unjustified reputation. They remind me of the little people I used to put out in my train yard.

Okay, even the hallway has some big problems, but by now you've already noticed that.

Still, a fun card even if I do have to wonder why these people have gathered in the hallway. Hmmm...1907 flash mob?

* If you look up Harry Buckleston online I have no idea who you'll find, but I just made the name up so good luck with your search. And someday, someone, is going to actually do a Harry Buckleston search and they're going to be mighty disappointed or surprised.

The BIRDS REVENGE

The day after Thanksgiving it only seems fair to let a large bird seek revenge. Hopefully the 11 turkeys I chased from my front yard this morning will forgive me and not consider doing this to me.

So who was "Wesley A Mix" and why did someone think this an appropriate card for him? I won't even attempt to understand why the card was made at all.

Over the River and Through the Woods TO GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE WE GO

You're on your way there or on your way back. If you're lucky they're coming to your house.

If you didn't take a plane or the bus I'd suggest a Nash. A 1939 Nash ought to do the trick. Bundle up and set out on the highways and byways.

Click on image to see it larger.

And most importantly, Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and remember those who are not there to celebrate it with you.

This image is from the December 1939 National Geographic.

Forget About Flying and RIDE THE DOG TO MIAMI

Are you standing around in your socks waiting to go through the security check? Are you wondering if you'll get the official government TSA "excuse me sir, but do you have an M.D. to do that" grope?

You could have taken the bus you know. Leave the driving to Greyhound.

And instead of going to North Dakota you could have gone to Miami. This couple has the whole beach to themselves while you're getting an icy pat down in Fargo.

Maybe next year. By then we'll all be flying in white plastic suits provided by the airlines. All of our clothes will need to be stored in the overhead compartment. Oh yes, it's going to start feeling like high school locker rooms before you ever get on a plain. A plastic suit and a paper bag for your clothes. That will be the only carry-on you'll be allowed.

Good times. Good times.

Now, back to that couple on the beach.

The very nice illustration is signed, but I can't read it which is a shame. I'd like to see some more of their work. This is from the December 1939 National Geographic. I love the colors, the movement, and the nice use of white to outline certain areas to give it a glow. Hope to find more by this illustrator.

Is This WHAT YOUR FLIGHT WILL BE LIKE?

Flying this holiday season? Starting to think twice about the nightmare that flying has become? Fed up with the rude people that work for the airlines? The rude people you have to sit next to on the plane? Wishing you could go back in time and be part of civilized commercial flight?

Well, good luck with that.

I put this up to I guess make you feel worse. Look around your flight for smiling passengers. Smiling attendants. Oh, and leg room.

Click on image to see it larger.

Though I did fly Pan Am a few times, I never got to sit in a cabin like this. I don't know if this sort of cabin actually ever existed.

Why are these people smiling so much? And is the guy in the foreground in the brown suit giving the flight attendant a come hither look? Is it me or does the guy in the light brown suit seem to be playing footsies with the lady in blue?

Ahhhhhhhhh...I think I know why they're all smiling. It's the Mile High Club meeting.

So hey, good luck with that flight to grandma's this week.

Ensign O'Toole, meet THE UGLY AMERICAN

Continuing with the Naval theme from yesterday, today I give you Ensign O'Toole and Me written by William J. Lederer, printed in 1959:

Ensign O'Toole and Me is the title of a semi-autobiographical novel by William Lederer. The book was loosely adapted to television in the 1962—1963 NBC Four Star Television series Ensign O'Toole, starring Dean Jones in the title role and featuring Jack Mullaney, Jay C. Flippen, Harvey Lembeck, Beau Bridges, and Jack Albertson.

Early chapters are light-hearted and amusing. One early chapter describes how O'Toole, the hero, gives a clever explanation to his peers at Annapolis, why he chose, as his first assignment, the post of Executive Officer aboard an American River Gunboat in China.

Several light-hearted chapters follow, all set in South-East Asia, prior to World War II, where O'Toole learns oriental languages from beautiful, exotic oriental women, which enable him to bail his Captain out of jail after a drunken rampage.

Our hero and our narrator lose touch during World War II. When they reconnect our narrator has retired from the USN and become a journalist. O'Toole is in Military Intelligence. Our hero keeps running into O'Toole in improbable locations, returning from dangerous missions, behind enemy lines, where he pleads with our hero to make the US public pay more attention to the dangers of Communism. (SOURE: Wikipedia)

Not directly a movie tie-in paperback, but the inspiration for a now-you-see-it now-you-don't NBC show.

Now, what other book do you suppose Lederer wrote? The Ugly American.

So who was William J. Lederer?

William Julius Lederer, Jr. (March 31, 1912 – December 5, 2009) was an American author.

He was a US Naval Academy graduate in 1936. His first appointment was as the junior officer of a river gunboat on the Yangtze River.

His best selling work, 1958's The Ugly American, was one of several novels co-written with Eugene Burdick. Disillusioned with the style and substance of America's diplomatic efforts in Southeast Asia, Lederer and Burdick openly sought to demonstrate their belief that American officials and civilians could make a substantial difference in Southeast Asian politics if they were willing to learn local languages, follow local customs and employ regional military tactics. However, if American policy makers continued to ignore the logic behind these lessons, Southeast Asia would fall under Soviet or Chinese Communist influence.

In A Nation of Sheep, Lederer identified intelligence failures in Asia. In "Government by Misinformation" he investigates the sources he believes lead to American foreign policy:

• Trusted local officials.
• Local (foreign) newspapers, magazines, books, radio broadcasts, etc.
• Paid local informers.
• Personal observations by U.S. officials.
• American journalists.

Other works were intended to be light-hearted and humorous fantasies. His early work, Ensign O'Toole and Me is both. A children's book, Timothy's Song, with illustrations by Edward Ardizzone, appeared in 1965.

William Lederer rose to the rank of Navy Captain. The source for this is his own statement in Our Own Worst Enemy discussing being assigned as a Special Assistant to Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet. (pg 54, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1968).

A piece of history related in Our Own Worst Enemy is the story of Lederer as a young Navy Lieutenant, Junior Grade, having a chance meeting in 1940 with a Jesuit priest, Father Pierre Cogny, and his Vietnamese assistant, "Mr. Nguyen", while waiting out a Japanese bombing raid in China. Father Pierre asked Lederer if he had a copy of the United States Declaration of Independence on his gunboat, and Lederer said that he did and provided them with a copy. "Mr. Nguyen" later became better known as Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese Communist revolutionary and statesman who served as prime minister (1946–1955) and president (1945–1969) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). The 1945 Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, written by Ho Chi Minh, begins by quoting from the American document.

Lederer died December 5, 2009, of respiratory failure at the age of 97. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

To read Lederer's obituary in the New York Times click here.

I don't think I've ever seen the original Marlon Brando version of The Ugly American, but I have seen the remake with Michael Cain many times. Great story. I know I have the book around here. Need to put it near the top of the stack.

ENSIGN PULVER Was Quite a Guy

One of my favorite movies is Mr. Roberts. I can watch that one over and over and never get tired of it. The cast of Henry Fonda, William Powell, James Cagney, and Jack Lemmon as the hysterical Ensign Pulver, are perfect. Lemmon will always be the true Pulver. Nobody else can inhabit that character. Plus, the little flat island shown in the background in the opening shots is Midway Island where I once lived.

Somewhere around this house I do have a copy of the book Mr. Roberts, but it is not a movie tie-in having been printed decades after the movie. The book shown today is for the follow-up movie Ensign Pulver which starred Robert Walker, Burl Ives, Walter Matthau, Millie Perkins, and once upon a time husband to Nancy Sinatra, Tommy Sands.

I know I've seen this movie, but have only vague memories of it. It's not one I'll rush to see because Jack Lemmon WAS Ensign Pulver, not Robert Walker.

I'm sure I bought this book, and yes I bought it when the movie came out, hoping for more Ensign Pulver shenanigans. Don't ask me about the book. No memory of reading it. It's in pristine condition.

James A. Michener's TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC

Let's see, which song comes to mind first? Some Enchanted Evening, I'm Going to Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair, Happy Talk, or You've Got to be Taught?

Two vintage paperbacks of the same book, James A. Michener's Tales of the South Pacific.

This first one I've had for probably over 40 years and was in a stack of books friends gave us when they sold their cabin. I just moved all the books over to my folks cabin. It was printed in 1950, 16th edition.

This second one, the actual movie tie-in book, I found at the post office on a book exchange table. You bet your sweet bippy I grabbed it. This copy was published in 1958.

What's really fascinating is what's on the first page of the oldest book:

This novel--which won the Pulitzer Prize "for distinguished fiction in book form"--was written by a man of 40 whose only previous books were scholarly research studies. The manuscript (submitted anonymously) was accepted by its original publishers without knowing that the author was one of their own staff editors.

What I don't understand is why haven't I ever read this? It's now on my stack of must read books.

From Wikipedia:

Tales of the South Pacific is a Pulitzer Prize winning collection of sequentially related short stories about World War II, written by James A. Michener in 1946 and published in 1947. The stories were based on observations and anecdotes he collected while stationed as a lieutenant commander in the US Navy on the island of Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides Islands (now known as Vanuatu).

The stories take place in and surrounding the Coral Sea and the Solomons. Michener gives a first-person voice to several as an unnamed "Commander" performing duties similar to those he performed himself. The stories are interconnected by recurring characters and several loose plot lines (in particular, preparations and execution of a fictitious amphibious invasion code-named "Alligator") but focus on interactions between Americans and a variety of colonial, immigrant and indigenous characters. The chronology of the stories takes place from the building of an airfield on Norfolk Island before the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942 to the early 1944 invasion of the fictional island. Although primarily about the U.S. Navy, most of the action is shore-based, and none concerns ships larger than an LCI.

The musical play South Pacific (which opened on Broadway on April 7, 1949), by Rodgers and Hammerstein, was based on these stories. Characters from the stories are merged and simplified to serve the format of the musical. For example, while the coastwatcher in the musical was portrayed as an American Marine (Lt. Cable) assisted by an expatriate French plantation owner (Emile de Becque), in the original story ("The Remittance Man"), the coastwatcher was an English expatriate assisted by his native companions. This coastwatcher is a disembodied voice on a short-wave radio, and is never seen by the characters in the story until his head is found impaled on a stake by a search-and-rescue party. The character of de Becque in the short story has eight mixed-race illegitimate daughters by four different women, none of whom he married, when he meets the nurse Ensign Nellie Forbush. In the musical, he has two legitimate mixed-race children by a woman whom he had married and who had died.

Go ahead, tell me which South Pacific songs pops into your head first.

THE BEATLES Movie Tie-In Paperback Writers

After the previous post about Beatle bubblegum cards for the movie A Hard Day's Night I thought I'd post the two movie tie-in books I have.

During the hey-day of The Beatles I was always checking magazine stands for anything Beatles. Buying records and magazines was how my allowance was spent. I still have the specialty magazines I bought, but all of the old Tiger Beats, etc. were cut up and now I'm left with scraps floating loose in an old binder.

Each of these books has an 8 page photo insert, the main reason, I'm sure, that I bought the books. I haven't seen either of these movies in decades. I don't know why they aren't shown on any of the premium channels. Seems a shame to me, especially A Hard Day's Night. Help not so much.

And then there's this magazine full of promotional snapshots taken during the filming of A Hard Day's Night. Though there are some great photos inside, the cover shots are just plain weird. It seems someone went to town airbrushing the boy's faces with retouching pancake makeup. It's just odd.

To see more movie tie-in paperbacks, not The Beatles, click here, here, and here.

THE BEATLES in Small Packages

Some people will smile when they see this old gum wrapper. I found it in an old jewelry box last week. No, I'm not a diamonds sort of gal. Give me an old gum wrapper in a jewelry box and I'm happy.

Anyone remember the horrible gum that was inside the wrapper? Dreadful stuff. But then, I didn't care about the gum. It was the Beatle cards I wanted. I have a shoebox full of these cards. My friend's father somehow managed to score boxes of these cards. So the gum was tossed in the trash and the cards were kept. Alas, this is the only wrapper that survived.

I find it interesting that Ringo was featured on 4 of the first 6 cards. How was that decision made? Were there arguments amongst the Fab Four when they saw his bubble gum status? If there was trouble it seems to be something the biographers have missed. Hmmm...new Beatle book to write. "Ringo Was the Top Card" or "Ringo Gums Up the Works."

RED COACH INN Label

I've posted some fruit labels in the past and have said if you're looking for something fun, colorful, easy to store, and relatively inexpensive to collect keep fruit and vegetable labels in mind.

This particular label comes from Bert's collection.

Click on image to see it larger.

My first thought when looking at it is how easy it would be to revise it and make it into an image for a holiday greeting card. Mentally that was about as far as I got.

I then began a Google search and found the label for sale at various sites. Okay, fine and dandy, but that didn't give me any information. Then I typed in "Bruce Church Inc." and stumbled upon this:

THE DEATH OF CESAR CHAVEZ

Cesar Estrada Chavez died peacefully in his sleep on April 23, 1993 near Yuma, Arizona, a short distance from the small family farm in the Gila River Valley where he was born more than 66 years before.

The founder and president of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO was in Yuma helping UFW attorneys defend the union against a lawsuit brought by Bruce Church Inc., a giant Salinas, Calif.-based lettuce and vegetable producer. Church demanded that the farm workers pay millions of dollars in damages resulting from a UFW boycott of its lettuce during the 1980's. Rather than bring the legal action in a state where the boycott actually took place, such as California or New York, Church "shopped around" for a friendly court in conservative, agribusiness-dominated Arizona-where there had been no boycott activity.

"Cesar gave his last ounce of strength defending the farm workers in this case," stated his successor, UFW President Arturo Rodriguez, who was with him in Arizona during the trial. He died standing up for their First Amendment right to speak out for themselves. He believed in his heart that the farm workers were right in boycotting Bruce Church Inc. lettuce during the l980's and he was determined to prove that in court." (When the second multimillion dollar judgement for Church was later thrown out by an appeal's court, the company signed a UFW contract in May 1996.

After the trial recessed at about 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 22, Cesar spent part of the afternoon driving through Latino neighborhoods in Yuma that he knew as a child. Many Chavezes still live in the area.

He arrived about 6 p.m. in San Luis, Arizona-about 20 miles from Yuma, at the modest concrete-block home of Dofla Maria Hau, a former farm worker and longtime friend. Cesar and eight other UFW leaders and staff were staying at her house in a poor farm worker neighborhood not far from the Mexican border.

Cesar ate dinner at around 9 p.m. and presided over a brief meeting to review the day's events. He had just finished two days of often grueling examination by attorneys for Bruce Church Inc.

He talked to his colleagues about taking care of themselves-a recent recurring theme with Cesar because he was well aware of the long hours required from him and other union officers and staff. Still, he was in good spirits despite being exhausted after prolonged questioning on the witness stand; he complained about feeling some weakness when doing his evening exercises.

The UFW founder went to bed at about 10 or 10:30 p.m. A union staff member said he later saw a reading light shining from Cesar's room.

The light was still on at 6 a.m. the next morning. That was not seen as unusual. Cesar usually woke up in the early hours of the morning well before dawn to read, write or meditate.

When he had not come out by 9 a.m., his colleagues entered his bedroom found that Cesar had died apparently, according to authorities, at night in his sleep.

He was found lying on his back with his head turned to the left. His shoes were off and he still wore his clothes from the day before. In his right hand was a book on Native American crafts. There was a peaceful smile on his face. (SOURCE: United Farm Workers)

And this:

Farm Workers Sign Accord With Lettuce Growers, Ending a Long and Bitter Conflict

By CAREY GOLDBERG

Published: May 30, 1996

SALINAS, Calif., May 29 — After nearly 18 years of supermarket boycotts, legal clashes and bitter conflicts in the fields, the United Farm Workers of America and one of the nation's top lettuce growers signed a work contract today, laying to rest one of the oldest American farm labor disputes.

Along with setting out the terms for five years of employment for more than 400 workers who pick Red Coach lettuce, mainly in the Salinas Valley, the agreement appeared to mark the passing of a generation of internecine farmer-laborer fights over California's bounty, labor analysts said.

Things change, life is changing rapidly," said Steve Taylor, president of Bruce Church Inc., which grows Red Coach lettuce. "Businesses that don't change become extinct. And unions are the same way."

When the Red Coach conflict began, Mr. Taylor's father, Ted, was at the helm of Bruce Church, then the second largest lettuce grower in the country, and Cesar Chavez, the farm labor organizer, headed the United Farm Workers, which he had founded. (SOURCE: NY Times)

There are a variety of other posts online about Bruce Church Inc. including a case that went to the Warren Burger Supreme Court in 1970 in which the ruling was in Church's favor.

As to Bruce Church I think you'll be surprised to find the following:

Fresh Express Inc.

1020 Merrill Street


Salinas, California 93901


U.S.A.

Web

site: http://www.freshexpress.com

Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Chiquita Brands International Inc. 


Incorporated: 1978 as Red Coach Foods


Employees: 2,500


Sales: $900 million (2006 est.)


NAIC: 311423 Dried and Dehydrated Food Manufacturing

A subsidiary of Chiquita Brands International, Inc., Fresh Express Inc. is the market leader in the consumer packaged salad business. The Salinas, California-based company essentially invented the category, and today produces 40 million pounds of salad each month. Every week more than 20 million bags of Fresh Express salads are eaten by consumers. Product categories include Crispy Lettuces, featuring several ready-to-eat salad mixes using blends of iceberg, romaine, and green leaf lettuce along with carrots and red cabbage; Tender Lettuce Mixes, which include other types of lettuce and spinach leaves mixed with such ingredients as red cabbage, radishes, and carrots; Flavorful Whole Baby Blends, using baby leaves of various types of lettuce and spinach and other ingredients; organic mixes; complete salad kits that come with dressings, croutons, bacon crumbles, and other ingredients; and specialty salads, including a variety of cole slaws.

PIONEERING REFRIGERATED LETTUCE SHIPPING: 1926

Fresh Express was established by Bruce Church Inc., a company founded by Bruce Church in Salinas, California. Originally from Ireland, Church’s family had come to California by way of Canada and New York in 1875 and was originally involved in timber before turning to stock raising. Born in 1900, Church studied business economics at the University of California at Berkeley and then went to work for a produce shipper. In 1926 he found a financial backer in Whitney Knowlton, who provided $3,000 to buy a field of head lettuce, which Church packed in ice and shipped to the eastern markets. The shipment garnered $100,000 for the two men from enthusiastic customers. One company legend holds that the term iceberg lettuce originated with these deliveries, as children in Maine greeted the arrival of the vegetable shipments with shouts of “The icebergs are coming!” In any event, Church’s idea paid off, leading to the creation of Bruce Church, Inc., and turning its founder into one of the valley’s largest produce growers and shippers.

Church died in 1958 and son-in-law Edward “Ted” Taylor took charge and proved to be an innovator in his own right. Because produce was a commodity and subject to low profits, it was natural that shippers like Bruce Church Inc. would look to increase margins by adding value to their products. In the mid-1960s California lettuce growers introduced packaged shredded lettuce, an idea well ahead of its time. Although consumers were resistant, some fast-food restaurants embraced the idea because of the convenience, but by 1980, according to the New York Times, it still only accounted for about 5 percent of all lettuce sales. The biggest obstacle to gaining acceptance in the market was the product’s short shelf life. According to Forbes, “Once it’s cut, lettuce, like any plant, breathes in, or ‘respires,’ oxygen while giving off carbon dioxide, water and heat. Left in the open air, the lettuce will respire as much oxygen as it can get, speeding up its own decomposition.” Placing the shredded lettuce in a simple plastic bag did nothing to control the lettuce’s intake of oxygen, however.

To solve the respiration problem, a Whirlpool subsidiary called TransFresh Corporation, began experimenting with controlled- and modifiedatmosphere packaging. Taylor bought the company for Bruce Church Inc. in 1966 and two years later formed a venture called Trim Fresh to develop a packaged salad for the foodservice channel. The technology failed to measure up to the potential of the concept, however, and eventually Trim Fresh was shut down. However, company researchers continued to further the technology, so that in 1978 Taylor revived the packaged salad idea as Red Coach Foods (drawing its name from the company’s popular Red Coach lettuce). The company was able to drum up some foodservice business, selling packaged shredded lettuce and other raw produce to the likes of McDonald’s and Burger King.

In 1981 Ted Taylor asked his son Steve to spearhead an effort to sell packaged salads to the retail market. However, the requirements of foodservice customers were not the same as retailers, who needed a much longer shelf life. Once again the film available for packaging was not up to the task and after two years Steve Taylor left. He had never intended to become involved in the family business, having earned a degree in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, and for a time he pursued a career in social work. He traveled east to earn a Harvard University M.B.A. After a stint running a Los Angeles restaurant, he returned to the family business in 1987, but while he was away film suppliers had made significant progress on meeting the needs of TransFresh. With a viable retail product in sight, Taylor again devoted himself to the effort, working closely with TransFresh and the film manufacturers to develop a bag capable of breathing, allowing oxygen in and carbon dioxide out. In addition, researchers learned to introduce nitrogen into the bag to lower oxygen levels in order to extend shelf life. (SOURCE: Encyclopedia.com)

So you just never know where a little old piece of paper might take you. And for me it comes down to Chief Justice Warren Burger because Burger's grandson and family once lived across the street from me. Not where I thought I'd end up when I scanned this image.

FRANK H. MOSS and the Cola Wars

This laminated ID card of Frank H. Moss dates from 1948. This is from Bert's collection of photographs and ephemera.

Was Frank a low level paper pusher while stationed in Yokohama following the war? Or is Frank the person responsible for writing a book entitled "The History of Coca-Cola in the Japanese Market as I Lived and Worked It"? According to what I find in Google Books Frank's book was not published and currently sits in a box in Coca-Cola's archives.

So we'll probably never know what part this Frank played in the cola wars following World War II or if he played any part at all.

Look BOTH WAYS

To find out why I haven't posted in so long it's best to just read my post at my vernacular photography site. Net access has been the problem.

I'm finding I'm so rusty at blogging that what once came naturally is a little foggy. I need to get back on the bike and go full tilt. No guidance needed. Okay, perhaps at my age it's best to take it slow and look both ways...which leads me to this post.

This image comes from the collection of a gentleman named Bert who I met last week. Again, it's best to read my other blog for the full information about how I came to have this and many other images to share. Bert, like many of you, loves ephemera and old photos. Burt is a collector with a keen eye.

Click on image to see it larger.

All I can tell you about this image is that it's dated 1932, was printed in the U.S.A, and there is an artist's signature which I cannot read in the lower left corner. Other than that it was in a bag of photos that Bert purchased at a flea market.

I adore this image. I love everything about it and would love to see more work by this illustrator. These images would have made wonderful paper dolls.

If anyone sees this and it looks familiar please drop me a line so I can fill in the pieces of the "where did this come from" mystery.

AMERICA'S NAVY in 1942

This little book was purchased while on vacation in Oregon many years ago. Found at an antique store where my only other purchase were two old photos.

I was first drawn to the trim size, 4" x 5.5", palm size. I can easily imagine a child clutching this book, enamored of the images. After all, it was published in 1942 so military images were part of every day life.

Perhaps the child had a relative or friend serving in some far away land. Their visit home always an exciting occasion. The child's thoughts of war were filled with glory unless reality came to their door.

America's Navy published by Rand McNally & Company in 1942.

Click images to see them larger.

I have found nothing about the cover illustrator Herbert Rudeen other than a few other samples of his work (here and here).

The interior illustrations, which are quite wonderful, were done by George Moll, or so the title page says. Dig a little deeper online about Moll and you discover he was the head of an ad agency called the George Moll Advertising Agency. The art director was Charles H. Steinbache. If you look up Steinbache's name you'll find a lot of artwork that looks similar to what you see here in this book (here, here, here, and here). I simply don't know who really did the work. Possibly just someone in the art department who never got credit. The agency apparently did a lot of work on non-sport trading cards.

To see photos and read more about "Ace" Lieutenant Edward H. O'Hare who appears on the final page of the book click here, here, and here. O'Hare Airport in Chicago was renamed for Lieutenant O'Hare in 1949. He was shot down in 1943 and listed as missing in action.

UPDATE: Thanks to an anonymous commenter we now have a link to see more illustrations featured at the Northeastern University College of Engineering.

BOOK OF MODERN WARPLANES 1942

Continuing with planes from the 1940s I give you a few pages from a book my folks gave my mother's cousin when he was about 12. He proved in his adult years to be a rather lost individual who hurt my grandparents deeply. They had raised him. So he left the book with my grandparents and that is how I ended up with it in my collection.

The book was published in 1942 by Garden City Publishing Co., Inc. in Garden City New York. You can find copies of it for sale on eBay. I'm not finding anything about the author, Squadron Leader Harold H. Booth of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

I have only scanned a few pages because its spine is rather arthritic. You'll notice on the page of the Japanese plane the young cousin drew in his own version of what he wished would befall the Japanese pilot. It's of its time.

Click on any image to see it larger.

The wing insignia pages are the endsheets, front and back.