12/30/13

The SCARLET HATTED LADY and TWO NEW TATTERED AND LOST BOOKS


Dear Boy

When I am gone
no more to see
Look at this card
and think of me

Mother




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TWO NEW TATTERED AND LOST BOOKS

I'm happy to finally be able to announce the publication of two more books in the Tattered and Lost series. I would have loved to have announced them before Christmas, but then those that were receiving them as gifts would have lost their surprise.

Volume 1, Tattered and Lost: Vernacular Photographs, which was originally published via Blurb, is now at a larger trim size with more content. You can peruse the volume at Amazon.

Volume 4, Tattered and Lost: Cakes, Picnics, and Watermelon, is a fine example of my "obsession" with silly categories. Wander on over to Amazon and take a look.

Also still available are volume 2, Tattered and Lost: Childhood and volume 3, Tattered and Lost: Telling Stories. Each are available at CreateSpace and Amazon. You'll find links to all four in the column to the left.

12/28/13

The SCARLET LETTER


"A" leads the way and "x" marks the spot. Another card that would have the "war on Christmas" nuts foaming at the mouth. Such a simple and lovely greeting, but there's that word "xmas" taunting them. 100 years ago? Not so much.




Click on images to see them larger.

12/27/13

JOYFUL Greetings


If over 100 years ago someone sent you a holiday card which did not say Merry Christmas was there a "war" on Christmas? Of course not. There's just a rabid insane group of people these days who are unwilling to accept anything but a narrow point of view, especially when they see dollar signs as their goal. Sometimes the stupidity so prevalent today makes my head expand to twice its size with an explosion imminent.

So "Joyful Greetings." 




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________________________

New book available on Amazon.
Tattered and Lost: Forgotten Dolls

This one is for those who love dolls!

Snapshots from the last 100+ years of children and adults with dolls. Okay, there are a couple of dogs too.

Perfect stocking stuffer!









12/25/13

10/24/13

BUSY LITTLE RICKSHAW BOY


No doubt about it, the cover art for this sheet music is offensive, as is the title. The fact that we realize this is a good thing. What's strange is that the copyright for this piece is 1950. Now, I don't know if that was when it was first released or simply reissued. I can easily see this being something that was popular in the early part of the 20th century, but then I find a newspaper clipping indicating it was still popular in 1963.


Click on image to see it larger.

Let's not fool ourselves, offensive material is just as prevalent today, but it generally doesn't have the seal of approval by most people. Racism is alive and well on one news network and they would probably defend the art. And if we're talking offensive, nothing can match videos for rap music where women are degraded verbally and visually.

Offensive material that belittles someone to make an idiot feel superior will always be around. It's like whack-a-mole trying to rid ourselves of it. Just when one thing disappears another takes its place. Racism is again raising its ugly head with the blessing of far too many ignorant people.

So why would I post this? It's a reminder and each person who views it brings their own conclusion as to how they feel about it.

Click here to read about the publishing company, Theodore Presser, which is located in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

10/23/13

A HILLBILLY WEDDING IN JUNE





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Looking through Wikipedia I found it strange that there is no listing for the Log Cabin Boys. Instead I found a listing on the German Wikipedia site. Go figure. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is the Google "translation" of the German site.
The Log Cabin Boys were an American old-time duo and later String Band . Later, she also appeared as a Log Cabin Log Cabin passage or girls.

More Frankie was born on 22 June 1906 on the Uncle Sam Plantation in Louisiana born. Of a field worker, he learned guitar and banjo playing and later sang in the church choir. With various shows, he traveled through the United States and thus began his career as a musician. In 1924 he joined WLS in Chicago , and entered the 1920s with singer and musician Freddie Owen as a Log Cabin Boys National Barn Dance on WLS on. Their repertoire consisted mainly of traditional ballads and songs such as Big Rock Candy Mountain.

On 13 More and Owen held in October 1933 in Chicago for the American Record Corporation its first session, the pieces were rehearsed on a variety of labels such as banner Records , Conqueror Records or Oriole Records published. From September 1934, the Log Cabin Boys took to the newly founded record label Decca Records , whereby images such as New Crawdad Song, Answer to Twenty-One Years or a cover of That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine (originally by Gene Autry and Jimmie Long) emerged. Your last recording session was held on 7 Held in May 1935.

More and Owen came after some time continue to (among other things on WHAS), but broke up after that. More came in 1936 Wheeling , West Virginia , where he uses the name of the duo for his own bands. Saturday evening he appeared regularly in the WWVA Jamboree on the Log Cabin passage, the Log Cabin Boys or Girls with the Log Cabin. The latter consisted among other things of Little Shoe and Cousin Emmy and sang songs like Do not Forget Me Little Darlin 'or their version of Lamp Lighting Time in the Valley. Even Pee Wee King , Dale Cole and Dolph Hewitt was a long time member of the Log Cabin Boys. The band's popularity helped More to engagements throughout Kentucky and Indiana to get. In addition, they were given a place in the Crazy Water Barn Dance on WHAS.

However, Frankie More's band broke up later. Cousin Emmy went to Atlanta , Little Shoe traveled around and settled in 1946 in Little Rock , Arkansas , down un Pee Wee King was a successful western swing musicians of the 1940s and 1950s (Tennessee Waltz). More 1941 moved to Nashville , where he worked as a manager until his death. For a short time he returned in 1948 to WWVA back.

10/20/13

CARRIE WILLIAM KROGMANN


A little digging online revealed that C. W. Krogmann was an American woman composer named Carrie William Krogmann. She was born in 1863 and died in 1943. That's the extent of the biographical information I found. Click here to see a list of her compositions.

The original copyright date for the piece featured here, The Little Prince, was 1898 for the B. F. Wood Music Company. The copyright was renewed and transferred to G. Schirmer, Inc. in 1926.







I was a bit more successful finding information about the publisher, G. Schirmer, Inc.
G. Schirmer Inc. is an American classical music publishing company based in New York City, founded in 1861. It publishes sheet music for sale and rental, and represents some well-known European music publishers in North America, such as the Music Sales Affiliates ChesterNovello, Breitkopf & Härtel, Sikorski and many Russian and former Soviet composers' catalogs

History
The company was founded in 1861 in the United States by German-born Gustav Schirmer, Sr. (1829-1893), the son of a German immigrant. In 1891, the company established its own engraving and printing plant. The next year it inaugurated the Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics. The Musical Quarterly, the oldest academic journal on music in the U.S., was founded by Schirmer in 1915 together with musicologist Oscar Sonneck, who edited the journal until his death in 1928. In 1964, Schirmer acquired Associated Music Publishers (BMI) which had built up an important catalog of American composers including Elliott Carter, Henry Cowell, Roy Harris, Charles Ives, Walter Piston, and William Schuman, adding to a Schirmer's ASCAP roster which had already included Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, Morton Gould, Gian Carlo Menotti, and Virgil Thomson, as well as composers from the earlier part of the century such as Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Charles Martin Loeffler, John Alden Carpenter, and Percy Grainger.
The company was owned by the Schirmer family for over 100 years until Macmillan, a major book publisher, purchased it in 1968. Macmillan then sold G. Schirmer (except for its reference division, now part of Gale) to its current owner, Robert Wise, in 1986, the owner of popular music publisher, Music Sales, Inc. According to a spokesman, the purchase price was around USD $7 million. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

10/19/13

MUSIC TOWN by Stuart Wade


Here we have some old sheet music published by the Keith Prowse & Co. Ltd. located in London, England in 1947. Unfortunately I can't find any definitive information about the company other than this listing at Wikipedia which says nothing about sheet music. Thus, I don't know if the Wikipedia post is actually about this company. I haven't found anything about the composer Stuart Wade.






Click on images to see them larger.

I do enjoy the little "people" made from notes. The music was obviously meant for children.

10/16/13

W. C. HANDY for the ukulele


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From Wikipedia:
William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was a blues composer and musician.He was widely known as the "Father of the Blues".

Handy remains among the most influential of American songwriters. Though he was one of many musicians who played the distinctively American form of music known as the blues, he is credited with giving it its contemporary form. While Handy was not the first to publish music in the blues form, he took the blues from a regional music style with a limited audience to one of the dominant national forces in American music.

Handy was an educated musician who used folk material in his compositions. He was scrupulous in documenting the sources of his works, which frequently combined stylistic influences from several performers.

Handy was born in Florence, Alabama. His father was the pastor of a small church in Guntersville, another small town in northeast central Alabama. Handy wrote in his 1941 autobiography, Father of the Blues, that he was born in the log cabin built by his grandfather William Wise Handy, who became an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) minister after emancipation. The log cabin of Handy's birth has been saved and preserved in downtown Florence.

Growing up he apprenticed in carpentry, shoemaking and plastering.

Handy was a deeply religious man, whose influences in his musical style were found in the church music he sang and played as a youth, and in the natural world. He later cited the sounds of nature, such as "whippoorwills, bats and hoot owls and their outlandish noises", the sounds of Cypress Creek washing on the fringes of the woodland, and "the music of every songbird and all the symphonies of their unpremeditated art" as inspiration.

Handy's father believed that musical instruments were tools of the devil. Without his parents' permission, Handy bought his first guitar, which he had seen in a local shop window and secretly saved for by picking berries, nuts and making lye soap. Upon seeing the guitar, his father asked him, "What possessed you to bring a sinful thing like that into our Christian home?" Ordering Handy to "Take it back where it came from", his father quickly enrolled him in organ lessons. Handy's days as an organ student were short lived, and he moved on to learn the cornet. Handy joined a local band as a teenager, but he kept this fact a secret from his parents. He purchased a cornet from a fellow band member and spent every free minute practicing it.


Studying the Blues

In 1902 Handy traveled throughout Mississippi, where he listened to the various black popular musical styles. The state was mostly rural, and music was part of the culture, especially of the Mississippi Delta cotton plantation areas. Musicians usually played the guitar, banjo and to a much lesser extent, the piano. Handy's remarkable memory enabled him to recall and transcribe the music heard in his travels.

After a dispute with AAMC President Councill, Handy resigned his teaching position to rejoin the Mahara Minstrels and tour the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. In 1903 he became the director of a black band organized by the Knights of Pythias, located in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Handy and his family lived there for six years. In 1903 while waiting for a train in Tutwiler in the Mississippi Delta, Handy had the following experience:

"A lean loose-jointed Negro had commenced plunking a guitar beside me while I slept... As he played, he pressed a knife on the strings of the guitar in a manner popularized by Hawaiian guitarists who used steel bars....The singer repeated the line three times, accompanying himself on the guitar with the weirdest music I had ever heard."

About 1905 while playing a dance in Cleveland, Mississippi, Handy was given a note asking for “our native music”. He played an old-time Southern melody, but was asked if a local colored band could play a few numbers. Three young men with a battered guitar, mandolin, and a worn-out bass took the stage.

“They struck up one of those over and over strains that seem to have no beginning and certainly no ending at all. The strumming attained a disturbing monotony, but on and on it went, a kind of stuff associated with [sugar] cane rows and levee camps. Thump-thump-thump went their feet on the floor. It was not really annoying or unpleasant. Perhaps “haunting” is the better word.”

Handy noted square dancing by Mississippi blacks with "one of their own calling the figures, and crooning all of his calls in the key of G." He remembered this when deciding on the key for "St Louis Blues".

"It was the memory of that old gent who called figures for the Kentucky breakdown—the one who everlastingly pitched his tones in the key of G and moaned the calls like a presiding elder preaching at a revival meeting. Ah, there was my key – I'd do the song in G."

In describing "blind singers and footloose bards" around Clarksdale, Handy wrote, "[S]urrounded by crowds of country folks, they would pour their hearts out in song ... They earned their living by selling their own songs – "ballets," as they called them—and I'm ready to say in their behalf that seldom did their creations lack imagination."
Click here to read more.







10/15/13

TEN LITTLE SPINSTERS


Who doesn't love that rousing old campfire tune from 1925 Ten Little Spinsters because I know you do.

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10/5/13

1912 Apperson Jack-Rabbit





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From Wikipedia:
The Apperson was a brand of American automobile manufactured from 1901 to 1926 in Kokomo, Indiana.
The company was founded by the brothers Edgar and Elmer Apperson shortly after they left Haynes-Apperson; for a time they continued to use a FR layoutont-mounted flat-twin engine, following it with a horizontal four.
Apperson cars
By 1904, Apperson offered vertical fours in two models. The 1904 Apperson Touring Car was a touring car model. Equipped with a tonneau, it could seat 6 passengers and sold for US$6000. The vertical-mounted straight-4, situated at the front of the car, produced 40 hp (29.8 kW).[1] A 4-speed transmission was fitted. The steel-framed car weighed 2800 lb (1270 kg). The wheel base was 96 inches.[1] The Apperson offered electric lights, a novelty for the time, and used a modern cellular radiator. The 25 hp (18.6 kW) version weighed 1800 lb (816 kg) and sold for US$3500.
In 1906 the company catalogued a 95 hp (71 kW) four at $10,500. The next year the first of the famed Jackrabbit speedsters rolled off the line; this was a 60 hp (45 kW) that sold for $5000. For a time, the entire range was known as the "Jack Rabbit" - in 1913 a 32.4 hp (24 kW) four and a 33.7 hp (25 kW) six were listed, and a 33.8 hp (25 kW) 90-degree V-8 of 5.5 L (5502 cc/335 in3) followed in 1914.

Roadplane models introduced
In 1916 the company announced production of the "Roadplane" six and eights. The term "Roadplane" did not refer to a specific model but was a marketing concept devised by Elmer Apperson that was applied to the "Chummy Roadster" and the "Touring" car. Elmer took the unusual step of patenting the "Chummy Roadster" design (see:"U.S. Patent 48359").
The "Silver-Apperson", designed by Conover T. Silver, was launched in 1917; the model was known as the "Anniversary" after 1919. A sedan proprietary with six cylinders of 3.2 L (3243 cc/197 in3) appeared in 1923, and a Lycoming eight-cylinder was offered beginning in 1924.
Final production
By now, Apperson and Haynes were both losing sales; a rumored re-marriage came to naught, and Apperson folded for good despite the introduction of four-wheel brakes on the 1926 models. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)
(SOURCE: Hemmings.com)

Click here to read a woman's memory of riding in a Jack-Rabbit in 1924.

And here's an ad, currently available on ebay, for a 1911 Apperson Jack-Rabbit.

10/4/13

1906 AUTOCAR ROADSTER


I haven't found any information about this car, so if someone does know anything let me know and I'll post it.

What I can tell you is that this vintage postcard is part of a series of cards that City Chevrolet in San Diego sent out to potential customers. If you search around the net for "1906 Autocar Roadster" you'll find lots of car dealers used the same card, only the information on the back was different.




Click on images to see them larger.

I guess the big question for me is what company created this series and sold it to dealers? Where were they located and what else did they market that was used by a variety of companies?

UPDATE: Thanks to WJY I have some info about the manufacturer of this car:
Next time you see a garbage truck take a close look. You might see an Autocar logo. They're still in business. Your car was made in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
And this then led me to Wikipedia:
The Autocar Company is a Hagerstown, Indiana specialist manufacturer of cabover vocational trucks, mainly for refuse applications. Started in 1899 in Ardmore, Pennsylvania as a manufacturer of Brass Era automobiles, and from 1907, trucks. The last cars were produced in 1912, but the company continued as a truck maker until 1953 when they were taken over by the White Motor Company. White was taken over in turn by Volvo Trucks in 1980 with Autocar continuing as a division. In 2001, it was sold to Grand Vehicle Works Holdings, which continues to use the brand name for their line of trucks.
The company was called the Pittsburgh Motor Vehicle Company when started in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1897 but became the Autocar Company in 1899 when it moved to Ardmore, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia. One of the company's early cars was the Pittsburgher. By 1907, the company had decided to concentrate on commercial vehicles, and the Autocar brand is still in use for commercial trucks.
 Based on the minutes of company board of directors meetings during 1903-1907 it is known that in 1903 the Board of Directors included the president, Louis S. Clarke, the secretary, John S. Clarke, as well as, James K. Clarke. Both Louis Semple Clarke and his brother John S. Clarke were members of the fabled South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club of Johnstown Flood fame.
Autocar founder Louis Semple Clarke (1867–1957) was a successful mechanical engineer. Among Clarke's innovations were the spark plug for gasoline engines, a perfected drive shaft system for automobiles, and the first design of a useful oil circulation system. Clarke's insistence of placing the driver on the left hand side of the vehicle led to that standardization throughout most of the automotive industry worldwide, and consequently we drive on the right side of the road. The patented porcelain-insulated spark plug process was sold to Champion and remains the industry standard.
Clarke was also a talented photographer. His family were members of the elite South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club above Johnstown, Pennsylvania, whose earthen dam at Lake Conemaugh burst on May 31, 1889, causing the Johnstown Flood.
 Clarke sold his interest in Autocar in 1929 and retired from business. He died in Palm Beach, Florida, on January 6, 1957, and is buried in Allegheny Cemetery, in Pittsburgh. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)
Click here to read about the various vehicles they built.

10/3/13

1910 WARREN-DETROIT


Back in the 1970s a car dealer in San Diego sent out advertising postcards featuring vintage autos. Fortunately for me, my best friend saved all of them.

We start with the 1910 Warren-Detroit made by the Warren Motor Car Company.




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According to this ad, available here on ebay, the car originally cost $1250.


Now, let's take a ride.

10/1/13

1970 VALIANT DUSTER 340





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History of the 1970-1976 Plymouth Duster

For the 1970 model year, Plymouth designers were tasked with "muscling up" the staid Valiant. The Duster retained much of the Valiant's parts, including the chassis and floorpan, front end styling, drivetrain, suspension, and more, though it was a completely different car in most respects, with a more steeply raked windshield and a two-door fastback roofline.

The Duster came with a choice of four powerplants—two slant-sixes with either 198 or 225 cid, and two V-8s with 318 or 340 cid. Power ranged from 125 hp in the small slant-six to 275 hp in the high-performance Duster 340. That car was priced at only $400 more than the base model, but with it came a four-barrel carb, three-speed manual, heavy-duty suspension, front disc brakes, and more.

The car had officially been named the Valiant Duster, but for 1971, "Valiant" was dropped. The Duster 340 received a new "sharktooth" grille, and a Duster Twister appearance package debuted, which added Duster 340 looks to the lower models of the lineup—Rallye wheels, side stripes, the "sharktooth" grille, a flat black hood with scoops, and bucket seats.

The following year, horsepower fell across the range, as Plymouth adopted the SAE Net standard while also reducing compression on the Duster. As a result, Duster 340s were now rated at 240 hp. Dodge dropped the 198-cid slant-six, and Twister models lost their special hoods and grilles, while the Duster 340's single hood scoop was changed to a dual scoop.

A redesign came in 1973, with a refreshed front end—including bulky 5 mph federally mandated bumpers as well as new taillights. A new Space Duster trim joined the lineup alongside the Twister as well as the Gold Duster model, a decal special that first appeared in 1970. The Space Duster featured a folding rear seat and carpeted trunk, which provided increased cargo space.

Big news for 1974 was the replacement of the popular 340 V-8 with a 360 V-8, while 1975 included another restyled grille, plus another new trim—the Feather Duster—which included the 225-cid slant six and incorporated lightweight aluminum parts for reduced overall weight. The car was rated at an impressive 24 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on the highway.

In its final year, power dropped again across the range, with the Duster 360 now developing 220 hp. After more than 1.3 million Dusters had been sold, the car was discontinued, though the Duster name would live on in subsequent cars like the Volare and Sundance. (SOURCE: Hagerty)
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To find out about The Last Unicorn Screening Tour click here or on the link in the left column.

9/30/13

1969 Chevy CORVETTE


I'm still trying to wrap my head around the huge used car sale that occurred this weekend in Nebraska. It was an amazing find of vintage cars. Seeing the images on tv was like walking down a street from my childhood.

I wonder if they had one of these?




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A friend once had a Corvette, I don't know the year. Her husband, an actor, won it with a hole-in-one at a golf tournament. She loved that car, but they finally had to get rid of it. I never asked why, sore subject.