The Doubletake

The Yorkshire King of Roulette

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Sat, 26 May 2012 13:38:00 +0000

Joseph Hobson Jagger - possibly a Victorian relation of Mick Jagger's - was a Yorkshireman who went to the famous Grand Casino of Monte Carlo, in Monaco, back in 1873. Lots of people did. But not everyone had a song written about their time there. Jagger did, because he is one of the most celebrated casino winners of all time. He was, in the words of the song's title, "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo." There is a 1935 film of the same name, too, starring Ronald Colman - looking very debonair in the movie poster on your left - and Joan Bennett (who looks a bit glum, perhaps because women in this sort of movie mostly stood behind the gambler and just watched). The title character, though, is a Russian aristocrat, not a Yorkshireman.

Casinos have been around for centuries - the name comes from the Italian for "little house," and they were originally summerhouses on large estates; later, casinos were recreational places in towns where people went to dance, hear music, and relax. But by the 19th century, casino buildings were places where you could attend the theatre, hold meetings - and, yes, gamble.

The beautiful Grand Casino at Monte Carlo

Joseph Jagger decided that he wanted to play the best game of roulette ever. Roulette ("little wheel" in French) is played by placing bets on one of the black or red numbered pockets around the outside of a wheel. The wheel is then spun by the croupier, the casino employee in charge of the game. If the ball lands in the pocket you've bet on, you will win.

In the mid-1870s, Jagger, with the help of six clerks from his cotton mill (I guess he paid to have them go to Monte Carlo, too), analysed the winning numbers on the six roulette wheels at the Monte Carlo Casino. He noticed that one wheel stopped at certain numbers more often than not. So he bet on that particular lucky wheel and starting winning a huge amount of money over three days. The Casino management was not best pleased with this and moved the wheels into new locations. But Jagger remembered a scratch on his lucky wheel, found it in its new location, and carried on. The Casino people then upped their game and started moving other things on the wheel so that it would spin differently. Finally Jagger began losing and wisely took his remaining winnings back to Yorkshire with him, bought property and retired from the cotton mill. How much had he won? In today's money, the equivalent of about 3 million pounds. Isn't that amazing?

Today people who love casinos and the spinning of the roulette wheel don't need to go all the way to Monte Carlo to have a great time, and win some money, too. You can stop by http://www.luckynuggetcasino.com/ whenever the mood strikes, and enjoy a game or two.

An Unusual Cure-All

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:32:00 +0000

Wikipedia

If you had been a medical student in the Middle Ages, you might have used a picture like the one on the left to study how blood travels around the body. Any good medieval medical teaching course would have emphasized knowing just where the veins were, because blood-letting was an important therapeutic practice. People thought that the only way to release illness and disease from the body was to let out some of the blood.

Bloodletting was practised in the ancient world, too, and continued to be a respected medical practice into the Victorian period. Blood was either taken from the vein directly, or leeches were used. These last were especially popular in the 19th century. Barbers - or, as they were known then, barber-surgeons - were traditionally known as bloodletters, as well as doctors - that is why the traditional barber's pole has red and white stripes on it.

1860 photo of bloodletting (Wikipedia)

The Victorians sometimes used bloodletting as a cure for psychological problems, too. Mental illness was thought by many practitioners to reside in the bloodstream. In the April 1883 issue of Popular Science, the case of a German bookdealer named Nikolai is presented for physicians to use as part of a medical management course or teach the teacher course. Poor Mr. Nikolai had been "disturbed by several melancholy incidents" including seeing ghosts and phantoms both of people he had known, and strangers, too. But "the application of leeches relieved him promptly of his hallucinations."

Happily this is something that no modern consultant interview course will be teaching the doctors of today. Today's medical students learn safe practices, new healing techniques, and interviewing skills - and they don't have to wear top hats like the man on the right, either.

Keen About Beau Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:32:00 +0000

Big version over here

When I first noticed this ad I thought it said "Bean Cake" and I couldn't understand why Cashmere Bouquet would name a soap something like that. I like Japanese bean cakes*, and I like soap - just not at the same moment.

Beau Cake, however, is not a soap. When I saw the name Cashmere Bouquet I did think of soap, because we used that brand when I was a kid. But in the 1947 (when this ad appeared), they made makeup as well and that's what Beau Cake is - foundation makeup with a little sponge. Fancy. And according to actress Martha O'Driscoll, Hollywood has gone wild over it. Can you imagine? Stampedes at the drugstore, movie stars using Beau Cake and bursting into song in their dressing rooms, a general sense of joyous mayhem in the streets.

Martha says that when she opens her Beau Cake compact, the sponge is right there "ready for use." No wonder she is so keen on it. Because here I was thinking maybe the sponge would wander off and go get an ice cream soda. Hint: as long as you close the lid, you'll probably be all right.

*I might even write about them on Cinnamon Moon. I am now aiming to update Cinnamon and this blog at least once a week, so do drop by and see what's going on. I don't update as much because you can't, really can't, write 4 blogs and then expect to be able to try writing a novel and work on family history (and if you read my history blog you will know that I have some unusual ancestors). I need to learn to write shorter, more casual posts and maybe even talk about everyday things more. That could be fun! Also, I do want my blogs to evolve and grow and change a little - so, um, there's that, too. Stay tuned.

The Dacron Underground

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 17:17:00 +0000

LJ Vintage Ads

The John Lennon type sitting in the background is giving this beige couple the side-eye that we all would be giving them too if we were hanging out outside the Cool Underground Movie Theater somewhere and sometime in the 60s.

The adorable black and white cat is also looking askance at this whole thing, because why oh why would anyone take a cat to the movies? Why is he bringing a camera into the movie? Is he going to make a bootleg copy of the film? Is he shlepping it around so that the girl will Be Impressed and think he is a filmmaker? In either case - ugh. No. Just no.

The little quiz in the box asks why you'd take your date to an underground movie. It can't (the ad says) be (a) so she won't see what you look like. And it can't be (b) so that you can't see what she looks like. The (c) answer is supposed to be the right one, that you go because you like underground movies.

But they would see each other outside the movie, right? I wouldn't want anyone to see me looking like this guy, I can tell you. Or anyone to see me with him, either.

The goofy beige and brown outfits, the perfect Breck hair and Beige Guy's incredibly lame expression also add to the surreal nature of this ad for Cricketeer with Dacron. Oh, with Dacron - far out, man.

By the way, I think that the movie poster is for Saratoga, a 1937 film with Jean Harlow and Clark Gable. And they, it goes without saying, would also be amused by the Dacron couple.

Central Park's (Really) Great Lawn and Sheep Meadow

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 22:00:00 +0000

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Scotts® for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

The Great Lawn in New York’s Central Park is probably one of the biggest and best known lawns anywhere. It was created in the late 1930s, in the space where the Croton Reservoir was originally located when Central Park was planned in the mid-19th century.

It stretches from 79th to 85th Streets, just off Fifth Avenue, and takes up 55 acres. That is a lot of grass to keep green, smooth and beautiful. Can you imagine how much work - and mowing - and grass seed - and plant food - goes into keeping the Great Lawn absolutely Great?

The 15 acre Sheep Meadow is another grassy area in Central Park that now needs a lot of lawn care. It has long been bereft of the sheep who kept the grass neat and tidy since 1864 when the first 200 pedigreed sheep were brought there, to help give the Park a picturesque rural feel. In 1934, though, the sheep were sent off to Prospect Park in Brooklyn; it was feared that New Yorkers would kill and eat the sheep during the Great Depression.

It’s a given that our lawns are a whole lot smaller than the Great Lawn and the Sheep Meadow. But big or small, all grassy areas share the same problem; they need to keep looking thick, green and healthy. That’s where Scotts® Snap® Spreader System comes in. This is Scotts' newest product, and it’s just what lawns need. The Spreader System gets the nutrients grass needs spread onto lawns smoothly and evenly; the flow rate is preset, so you don’t need to worry about it. The Edge Guard keeps product right where you need it. And when it’s time to clean up, the self-sealing Snap Pac is closed and ready to store as soon as you remove it from the Spreader.
By “Liking” the Scotts Facebook page, you’ll get a chance to win perks and prizes through Scotts' Snap perks on Facebook. Keep checking the page to get in on future contest and promotions, too. Even if your lawn isn’t in the middle of an enormous urban park, you’ll want to save time and energy when you take care of it. Scotts can really help you there. Another plus: Scotts products are way cheaper and easier to take care of than a flock of 200 sheep.

Lot's Toddler

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:39:00 +0000

Ephemera Studies

MAN, what a seller! Startling. Dumbfounding. Almost like magic.

Man, what a strange idea. Send Pictorial Statues of America of Janesville, Wisconsin a photograph of someone and they can turn out a statuette that will be "just like seeing the person before your eyes." Well, except that the person will be much, much smaller. As in "nine inches high." So it isn't really like seeing them right before your eyes, is it, Pictorial Statue People?

Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt. Too bad she wasn't around in 1936, because there was a much better option available: you could be turned into a lifelike, colored statue that looked exactly like you. Exactly like you if you were in a permanent state of catatonia (and only nine inches tall), that is.

According to an article in the Wisconsin State Journal (August 20, 1937, link here) the Federal Trade Commission in Washington ordered this company to tone it down a little:

The corporation will cease representing that its photographs are statues or statuettes unless qualified by the word "pictorial," it was agreed. The company also agreed to refrain from advertising that its product is a magic money maker with a $10,000,000 market, and also stop making unmodified claims of salesmen's earnings in excess of the average earned by active full-time salesmen under normal business conditions.

I'm sure they weren't the only ones making claims like this, though.

A thousand thanks to Found in Mom's Basement for pointing me towards Ephemera Studies, where this astonishing ad was found.

Biliousine and Charcoal Biscuits

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:53:00 +0000

UCLA Digital Library

This is the Victorian medicine with everything: a wonderfully nutty name, a long list of medicinal superpowers (it cures just about everything!), and fantastic advertising cards - one of which is over on the right. I love the bright colors that all the dyspeptic, bilious people are wearing (the bile-evoking yellows and greens are especially good).

Biliousine was manufactured in the mid-1880s by Snow and Earle in Providence, Rhode Island. Henry Rice Stout, in Our Family Physician (1887, p. 123), calls it a "specific" for Sick Headache - meaning that it was a homeopathic cure.

I'm not sure what was in Biliousine, but Stout gives the recipe for a similar specific which includes super-carbonate of soda [baking soda], charcoal, paregoric and water. Paregoric is a tincture of opium; that would relax you. Charcoal was used to treat gastric problems, in the form of charcoal biscuits*; baking soda can be used to treat heartburn. So if this was what was in Biliousine, it probably did work pretty well. No wonder all the flashily dressed people are gazing at it like it was a celebrity. Never mind Charles Dickens across the street signing autographs and reading from his latest novel! We are busy looking at a bottle of Biliousine.

I also love the back of the above card, which lists a bunch of Satisfied Customers - with their addresses! Presumably it would be all right if you went around Providence with this card and knocked on everyone's door and talked to them about Biliousine. Even for the 1880s, this seems a little strange. Do you think that those people all agreed that they would "testify from actual experience" to anyone who came around?

Not if they had a sour stomach, they wouldn't, I'll bet. Or perhaps a hangover. One Biliousine ad from the Albany Evening Journal in December 1884 mentions that it was especially good for those sick headaches you got when you were suffering from "intoxication or excessive drinking." So it was actually a hangover cure of sorts, too.

Wikipedia

Erica Weiner has a wonderful Biliousine advertising card on her Pinterest board, here (which is full of all kinds of wonderful ephemera) - featuring a mother cat and her kittens. I trust that none of the kittens are suffering from excessive catnip consumption, though.

*Charcoal biscuits were really cookies of a sort, made from powdered charcoal, flour, sugar and eggs; they were mixed into a dough and baked. It looks like they still make them, too. Or you can even make them yourself - recipe here.

Enjoy Hilarious Monkey-Shines

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 19:35:00 +0000

Wikimedia Commons

Oh sure. People will "gasp with amazement and delight" when you come to their party wearing one of these rubber masks. And you will "enjoy hilarious 'Monkey-Shines' at your next Masquerade Party."

Just look at Johnny, showing us how to put on one of these terrible things. "It pulls over the head like a diver's helmet." Oh thanks, kid. I thought you wore it like a muff, over your hands. Or maybe like a beret, so that it dangled over your head.

You can eat and smoke through the mask, apparently. And since it is "hand-painted for realism," everyone will think that you - what? Really look like an Idiot, or Santa Claus - or, in Johnny's case, look like "the Mystery 'Devil' Man."

Yes, charm all the girls, why don't you. They will be "all agog" and - that's something. I guess. I don't really understand what sort of social circle this is where they have full fancy-dress masquerade balls, yet clearly are not members of Venetian high society. Because we all know that members of high society probably aren't sending off to Rubber-For-Molds Inc. in Chicago for their costuming needs.

And if you still aren't cvonvinced, consider this: these suffocating, tacky-looking rubber masks are "wonderful for every dress-up occasion." Every dress up occasion, folks! That means - what? Going to the neighbours' house for dinner? The Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue? Appearing in court to fight that parking ticket? I would give anything (well, not anything, but something) to see an ad where Johnny has some Hilarious Monkey-Shines wearing his Mysterious Devil Man mask to his in-laws' house for dinner.

The DIY Scooby Doo Villain Balloon

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:03:00 +0000

Tomheroes.com

Imagine how scared and amazed your friends will be when they see this thriller-chiller floating down towards them.

You've got the decrepit old castle. You've got the devious plot to steal millions of dollars from the Burger Museum down in the Big City. You've got some capes and a few funny masks and hats, and some henchmen with rusty medieval weapons.

But you need something more.

If you really want to become a Scooby Doo villain, you will need to order a Scary, Giant Size Alien-Eye Creature from the back of the nearest comic book. Maybe you should get a few, in case Scooby pops one with his claws, or tries to put it in a big sandwich, by mistake.

It will really frighten your friends, won't it? A balloon that looks like an Alien-Eye Creature with birthday-party-streamer tentacles. Unless they watch a lot of Scooby-Doo, that is. Because this looks just like something Shaggy and Scooby find in the scary old mansion while Fred, Daph
ne and Velma go looking for what Fred always calls "traysure." The Alien Eye Creature floats around and maybe makes a pathetic lunge or two towards the dynamic duo, cowering in a corner.

Your friends will be impressed

But it never really does anything, does it? My favorite of these wimpy monsters is the one that looks like a giant lobster. It is huge - why, about 7 feet tall, I believe, just like this fellow - and it waves its claws around a bit but otherwise seems....I don't know, kind of sad.* Unsuccessful in its career as a Scary Creature, really. Most of the monsters are, on Scooby Doo.

I stumbled upon the Scoobypedia (yes, I had to know what the lobster critter was, exactly) and had a look and that and also at the Villains list on Scoobyaddicts.com but I still couldn't see the lobster monster. And, um, even I have my research limits and I really need to get back to work on other stuff so...trust me, there is a lobster claw creature. And he's related to this Giant Squidlike Alien-Eye balloon creature, I believe.

So instead of the lobster creature, here is the Cheese Monster, courtesy of the Villains Wiki - yes, I spent way too much time on this, I know! This terrifying little thing was supposed to scare the Scooby Snacks Factory out of business in the timeless episode "Wanted Cheddar Alive" from Season One of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo in the late 1980s.

If only Scooby and Shaggy had just looked for the 50 foot string on all the creatures they encountered.

*This was the creature in "The Creepy Cruise," from 1977, link here. You know, just in case you were still wondering, like me. Didn't think so ;)

There Is Nothing Like A Colonial Dame

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:42:00 +0000

Oh, well. I am not Rio bound and I don't suppose most of the potential makeup buyers back in 1945 were either. But we can all get a "Rio-Tan" complete with a hyphen if we use Colonial Dames Campus Make-Up.

Doesn't it sound like they're trying for too many angles though? Either you are a fancy Colonial Dame gliding across campus at Smith or Wellesley, or else you're a glamorous jet-setting tanned party gal down at Carnival. Well, which is it? Maybe both. Just put some bronzer on your face and people will think you're a wealthy, well-connected society gal. If they notice that you're wearing an old housedress and Keds, why - they'll just think you're downplaying your wealth. Like Howard Hughes - but, obviously, a lot cleaner and not nutty.

Maybe this is supposed to appeal to genealogists. The Colonial Dames of America is a lineage society open to women who are descended from residents in British America (1607-1775) who served the country in some way - military or otherwise. Its headquarters are in New York City. There is also a second society called The National Society of Colonial Dames of America, which has similar requirements for membership, but it is based in Washington, DC.

Marietta Willats

You don't think that people saw this ad and thought: well, that's an interesting way to raise money for all those afternoon teas, do you? If you did, you hadn't read the little parenthetical statement at the bottom: "Not associated with any society." In fact, the makeup company still exists; their site is here. It was founded by an actress named Marietta Bosworth Willats - who, I gather, was a descendant of Colonial Governor Henry Wise of Virginia. So that makes sense. The link under Marietta's picture on your right will take you to the official history of the company, on their site. Colonial Dames makeup has been used in movies and TV for decades, so...well, I guess you could look like you'd been to Rio or Smith College. Or at least like you were starring in a movie about Rio or Smith College.

[Title from the song in South Pacific, "There Is Nothing Like A Dame." It was the first thing that came to mind, really.]

Big Future, Use Coupon

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:04:00 +0000

Popular Science, August 1936

Today's practical, accessible ecommerce solutions don't need to shout you down in print - you can be on the cutting edge of design and commerce with a few clicks of your mouse.

You see, back in the 1930s, people who needed to find new careers or experts such as web designers ny went to magazines like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics to see what kind of novel opportunities were available to them. There was no online business information, which we all take for granted in the internet age. I know I do - and I grew up in the era when, if you wanted a job, you looked at print ads. And if you wanted to see an old movie, you had to wait until it came on television or showed up in a specialty movie theater.

Take this 1936 advertisement, which offered people the chance to work in the brand-new field of television. You would get 6 months of "thorough, practical training" by mail from a place called First National Television. Their address in Kansas City is the very appropriately named Power and Light Building. In 1936 this was cutting edge marketing - the picture of the futuristic radio tower, the forward-thinking copy that urges the reader to be "on the next big buying wave" (all in capitals for emphasis). Great opportunities await you - no coupons or mail-order lessons necessary.

The Return of the Scarf Pin; or, Dating Etiquette In 1887

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:21:00 +0000

"Sir, might I have your carte-de-visite, or a scarf pin?"(NYPL)

Daisy Welch, a young lady of the year 1887, had some Gentleman Problems. So she wrote to a lady called Mrs. S.O. Johnson, authoress of an advice column in the Ladies' Home Journal called "Hints Upon Etiquette and Good Manners." There were so many other ladies - young and not so young - asking questions of Mrs. Johnson, that I was intrigued by. It was hard to choose one to write about. But Daisy caught my eye because she asked the most questions - six, to be exact.

Daisy was not her real name, by the way, as it is printed in quotation marks. This may be because she had a LOT of questions about gentlemen. Six questions, to be precise. Mrs. Johnson only gives her (Mrs. Johnson's, that is) majestic answers, though, so we'll have to imagine the questions - and the back story. I always wonder, you see. I've been trying to work out Daisy's blundering social life through that imprecise old detective trick, Reading Between the Lines. Here is Mrs. Johnson's advice to Daisy Welch. See what you think:

1st. Say - thank you.
Uh oh - this sounds very basic. Someone may have handed her the potatoes at dinner, or her handkerchief from the floor. Or something. I suspect, from the tenor of the following questions, that the someone is A Gentleman.

2d. You can ask a gentleman, with whom you are well acquainted, to exchange pictures, without being impolite.
This could be kind of tricky, though, couldn't it? This seems like a couple-y thing to do. I really don't think Daisy (whose questions, as you'll see, suggest a rather forward and desperate nature) ought to push for a carte-de-visite exchange.

A prize drill, ca 1920

3d. If on intimate terms with the gentleman, you could ask him for two tickets to the Prize Drill.
What in the world is the Prize Drill? Well, it is a demonstration of military drills that a regiment puts on as an entertainment, and - yes - prizes are awarded, both for companies in the regiment and for individuals. Daisy probably should be reminded that unless she is pretty sure that he likes her, too, asking him for two tickets to anything is - certainly in 1887 - a trifle bold.

4th. Unless your position is above that of the gentleman, you should not request an introduction to him. It is the gentleman's place to ask the favor of your acquaintance.
Oh Daisy, are you begging all your friends to introduce you to a particular Hot Gentleman? Unless you're the Duchess of North Dakota and he's the local stable boy, just don't do this, is what Mrs. Johnson is saying.

5th. Of course you should ask for the return of your scarf-pin when you return the one belonging to the gentleman.
If Daisy has not been introduced to him, how on earth did she get a hold of his scarf pin? Daisy, please tell us you didn't sneak up next to him and steal it. And how did he get hers? Is this what happens after she begs her friends to introduce her to someone?

6th. When walking in the street with a friend and she meets a gentleman unknown to you, unless you desire an introduction, you should walk on slowly.
I can just see her hanging around, bouncing anxiously in place, waiting to be introduced, can't you? And once that happens, he'd better watch his scarf pin, that's all I'm saying.

A scarf pin, by the way, also known as a stickpin, was what Wikipedia amusingly calls "a neckwear-controlling device" which held down feisty ties, cravats, scarfs or anything else of that nature. They were first worn by English gentlemen but by Daisy's time in the 1880s, the scarf pin was all the rage in the United States, too. Scarf pins came in all sorts of fanciful designs, such as the golden hand on your left (this is from Wikipedia, too). I can see why Daisy liked them.

And Daisy, I really want to know whether you succeeded in your exchange of photographs, scarf pins and Prize Drill tickets. I wasn't able to locate any more correspondence from her. I do wish that she had written back to Mrs. Johnson, if only to let her (and us) know how she got on with her social life.

[Source: Ladies Home Journal and Practical Housekeeper, vols 5-6, 1887, ed. Louisa Knapp, p. 126]

Prize drill picture: Courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

The Man-From-Mars Radio Hat

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:22:00 +0000

Popular Science Oct 1949 (via LJ Vintage Ads)

I pretty much love everything about this Man-From-Mars Radio Hat, starting with the name. And I love the advertising copy. Apparently it is a "famous two-tube topper" (comes with FREE partial tongue-twister) and is not only "a perfect gift" but also a "dream come true." Yes, we've all been dreaming about a stylish (not really) waterproof sun helmet that has tubes and loops and things stuck on it.

Look down at the bottom left hand corner of the ad and you will see that even Santa Claus is wearing one of these. His old red hat with the pompom didn't get FM radio and goodness knows he needs something to listen to while he hands out presents all over the place.

I also love the name of the company that makes it: American Merrilei. Merrilei we roll along. Life is but a dream. No! Life is but a Man-From-Mars Radio Hat.

And if you didn't want to spring for a hat you could check the box on the coupon that says "Please send me more information about this new scientific marvel." Yes, I wish I could. I would like to know more.

Victor Hoeflich models the Radio Hat, big version here

Well, the Merrilei (sometimes Merri-Lei) Corporation in Brooklyn made lots of other novelties and the guy who ran Merr-Lei, Victor Hoeflich, invented a machine that made paper Hawaiian leis (hence the name, get it?). You can see him over on the right, modeling the Radio Hat.

The Radio Hat was heavily marketed in 1949, and was in fact featured in a lot of magazines. It was sold in stores all over the US and came in 8 fashion-forward colors. If you want to read up on all the swell technical details, you can go on over to Wikipedia and check out exactly how the Hat worked. All I need to know is that you can be as fashionable as a Martian in this hat. And that it plays the hit parade directly into your brain (the transistor radio , incidentally, was still only a gleam in the future inventor's eye in 1949, so this really was exciting stuff).

And here on your left is Hope Lange, teen model and future movie actress, showing how much fun it is to wear a Lipstick Red Radio Hat. Hope Lange was in (among other things) Bus Stop (1956) with Marilyn Monroe, Peyton Place (the movie, in 1957) and in the late 1960s starred in the TV show The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. But nothing in her career can top the pinnacle of dreams come true: wearing a Man-From-Mars Radio Hat!

And over here - I don't think I'm allowed to copy this, but oh how I want to - there is a photo of a couple dancing while wearing Radio Hats. So it would also make a perfect Valentine's Day present, right? There, I did it. I didn't think I would be writing a themed post today, but it just happened somehow. Inspired by the Dream-Come-True Radio Hat.

A Clipboard of Delicious Retro Gelatin

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:01:00 +0000

clipixBlogging about history and retro ads has made me realize how much I have always loved and been inspired by images. If I don’t have a strong, amazing, funny or weird image to write about, I just don’t feel inspired. I tend to bookmark images I see and want to write about in the future - but as you know, bookmarks tend to show up as a line of text. And even though I’ll read the title and think: oh yeah, Chocolate Mint Gelatin from 1939, I don’t connect with it that well.

But now! Oh my goodness, there is Clipix to the rescue - for me and anyone else who loves, needs, collects and gets totally excited by images. I can’t even tell you how much fun I have been having setting up Clipboards on Clipix. Let’s walk through the process - it is super easy, so you can be clipping away in no time. I also want to show you one of my growing collection of Clipboards. The Retro Gelatin board, of course!

Just go to the Clipix site and sign up for an account (through FB, Twitter, or your email). Then drag the Clipix icon to your toolbar. Every time you see an image you want to keep, just hit the icon and you can save the image onto the Clipboard of your choice. You can switch images around from clipboard to clipboard too. Multiboards allow you to group clipboards together (I plan to have a retro group and a history group, to start with). You can create new clipboards easily, so if you see something that inspires you to think of a new category, no problem (I have done this about 5 times today already).

Share the images and clipboards

or not, as you like. You can use Syncboards with friends and family so that you can all

share an image on your boards. You can post any of the images on Facebook or

Twitter - I really appreciate this, because I want to update my Facebook page more often. Incidentally, not only have I found tons of new images, I am also discovering lots of

wonderful sites and blogs. Which is an added benefit I hadn’t even thought of.

You can use Clipix for tons of things besides blogging, of course - you can make vivid shopping lists, for example. How about a clipboard of new restaurants you want to check out, or one of ideas for your next vacation (this would be perfect for comparing, say, a bunch of cabin sites or hotels in a certain area) - or of articles and posts you want to read later. Oh, and recipes. And books you want to read. And of videos. You can even take Clipix along with you as an iPhone App, too - and take photos of stuff you see in the store and add that to your clipboard.

As for me, I am going to be using Clipix for all my vintage ads, other retro images, and New York and Brooklyn history images for my history blog, The Virtual Dime Museum. This is going to make thinking of new posts SO much easier. Because so often I’ve seen an image and wanted to keep track of it but was too lazy to make a link that would just disappear into my bookmarks. No more of that! If you love images and are a visual person like me, you will love Clipix. It is as delicious as a Chocolate 'n' Mint gelatin mold.

Promoted Post

A Bright and Airy Home In Melbourne

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:51:00 +0000

In 1891 a Mrs. H. P. Wicken wrote the charming guide The Australian Home: A Handbook of Domestic Economy, which is full of recipes and housekeeping tips. The advertisement for Waugh's Baking Powder on your left is from this book, by the way. Among her areas of advice is that of how to look for a home in Australia, and this is what she has to say:

Melbourne, Australia in 1840 [Wikipedia]

There are many things to be considered in choosing a house. We must get one that is convenient to the daily business, large enough for our wants, and, above all, one the rent of which we can afford...[and] in this hot country we are very glad to have cool and shady rooms, but at the same time rooms into which fresh air and sunshine are not freely admitted soon become unwholesome. The sun is good medicine.

Mrs. Wixken is quite right, of course. When you look for an ideal home, you want the surrounding area to be just right too, and have a nice balance to it. At Manor Lakes estates in Melbourne, you'll find estates on land for sale that will give you both cool shade and a healthy dose of sunshine, too. You can choose among land for sale werribee, land for sale melbourne or even land for sale melbourne west depending on where you want to live. They are all beautifully planned out with schools, shopping, walking and bicycle trails and all kinds of amenities including a future train station to link you to downtown Melbourne. I am sure that Mrs. Wicken would heartily approve.

A Sensational Triumph For Science

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I've been buying a lot of cough drops at the drugstore lately, because it's that time of year and not only am I coming down with a cold but my throat gets really dry in the winter. You know how it is. I usually go for the basic cherry-menthol combo. But if I was able to go back in time and visit a drugstore in the 1940s, I might go for these "Liqwid Center Cough Drops." They look like they were probably really effective.

Having said that, although they may well be "a sensational triumph for science," they are hardly a sensational triumph for spelling. And as for the demo in the ad - I doubt that squeezing an LC Cough Drop on the table was ever going to do anything for anyone.

But I'm always so grateful for the range of products and services you can get in a modern drugstore - everything from pet supplies to makeup to, yes, cough drops - and any prescriptions you might need, too.

Speaking of which: right now Walgreens is offering special discounts on any Walgreens Prescription Savings Club Walgreens on Twitter membership - you can get a family membership for only $35 a year and $20 will get you an individual one. This will bring you fabulous savings on both brand-name and generic products (prescriptions for your pets, too), discounts on flu shots, nebulizers and diabetic supplies. If you buy Walgreens brands or get your photos developed there, you'll get some nice bonuses.

And of course, you can keep up with all the latest Walgreens offers and news through following Walgreens on Twitter - and of course, Walgreens on Facebook. I'll see you over there!

Hot Dog Nail Polish

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:40:00 +0000

Despite Punxatawney Phil's prediction of six more weeks of winter, spring is going to be here - well, pretty soon. And back in 1941 Revlon was celebrating spring's arrival with some odd, if patriotic, nail polish colors. So what sort of cosmetic names were Americanisms? Rosy Future (looking ahead to the end of the war, I guess). And Cherry Coke, that soda fountain staple. And finally: Hot Dog. Huh?

Revlon, as you may know, was known for its matching lipstick and nail polish combos with gorgeous names like the 1950s classic Fire and Ice, Paint the Town Pink, or Fatal Apple. Romantic. Dramatic. Classy. These are not adjectives we associate with hot dogs though, are they?

Buster Keaton in a pork pie hat

Of all the cosmetic names I've seen over the years in ads and in drugstores I've never seen one like this. I wonder if it caught on. I wonder if women enjoyed going around telling people that the "luscious bronzed rose" coating on their delicate fingernails was called Hot Dog. Why not Barbecue Sauce Bronze? Or Spam Pink. Just the thing to wear to the first cookout of the year.

Actually, the ad says that you are supposed to wear Rosy Future with navy, Cherry Coke with beige, and Hot Dog with tweeds and stripes. They forgot to mention that it's also ideal to wear when you go out with a man wearing his soup and fish (old slang for a tuxedo) or a pork pie hat.

Yes, the food carts are all going to turn into little cosmetics stands where the nail polish bottles are as big as industrial-sized ketchup containers. One manicure coming up - hold the relish, thanks.

An Extra Special Truck

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:59:00 +0000

This ad is from 1937 and shows us that a fancy truck will always impress gigantic ladies in fur stoles. Yes, she will be impressed by "Store Prestige" symbolized by painted-out back windows decorated with the store's prestigious logo. Why are the back windows painted out, do you think? It's the motor vehicular equivalent of the plain brown package that comes through the mail, that you ordered from the back of some comic book or slightly sleazy magazine. Extra special service, indeed.

Sometimes when I find these old ads, something odd pops into my head (well, not just sometimes, it mostly does). This time I was reminded of the British comedy series Keeping Up Appearances which is about the social-climbing exploits of suburban matron Hyacinth Bucket ("pronounced 'bouquet,'": as she always reminds people in trumpeting tones). In the episode "The Three-Piece Suite," the plot revolves around her machinations to make sure that the neighbours notice the royal warrant logo on the side of the delivery truck. Part 1 of the episode is here, with links to the rest of it, if you want to check it out. This 1937 truck would please her very much, I think.

Augusta Goes To College

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:23:00 +0000

Hunter College in 1874 [Wikimedia Commons]

My great aunt Augusta would have been 115 years old last week. She was born in a tenement in Manhattan in January 1897. Her father worked as a clerk for a lumber yard. He was born into a well-to-do German family in 1868. But by the time he was a teenager, the family money and the little estate he had been born on, were gone. So he joined the crew of a Hamburg ship bound for New York, and set his sights on America. He was just eighteen years old on New Year's Day 1886 when he jumped ship and disappeared into Manhattan, a world where everything was strange and new, and he had to learn everything all over again. I think he passed on a good part of that courage to his children - especially Augusta.

You see, Augusta - unlike most girls in that era - rich or poor - became a biologist. I wish I knew more about how she decided to go to college and train for a science career - and how she got the money and the gumption to go. Her family was poor, and there were five surviving children, all living first in lower Manhattan, then in Queens, on her father's lumber yard clerk's salary.

But somehow she got to Hunter College in New York. How difficult it must have been to be a woman back then choosing your college major - whether it was going to lead you to a career in science, in teaching English or even as a graphic designer. Then in the 1920s, Augusta went to graduate school at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. When she graduated, she became a research scientist at the Rockefeller Institute in New York. She also worked at the Connaught Labs at the University of Toronto in the 1940s.

I wish I'd asked her more about her life when I had the chance, in the 1970s. By then she was a tiny old lady, living in a Queens apartment straight out of the 1930s. I was too busy admiring her vintage sheet music cabinet with its thin drawers, and her baby grand piano (she was a talented musician, too). I kept hoping that she'd play something for us - or even let me play ( I was taking lessons back then). If only I'd known to ask her about all the things she'd done, and what it was like to go to college back in the early 20th century.

Now, women (and men, of course) have so many choices such as courses where you can study anything from business, history, foreign languages or Information Technology - even graphic design courses in Miami. Aunt Augusta would thoroughly approve, I know.

Muzak To Their Ears

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:14:00 +0000

Did you ever wonder when supermarkets and other stores started piping in canned music? This Billboard advertisement is from 1954, and makes it sound like "RCA-Planned Background Music" is something new and fabulous - for the store owners, anyway:

PROFITS ARE YOURS...when you offer the Magnecord System to business men. They all know about the money-saving benefits of Background Music...

Those business men could put Magnecord in restaurants, stores, hotels, and even factories, the ad suggests. What fun to dress up and stroll down the aisles of the Food Lion and listen to bland, lush orchestral music. This would inspire you to buy many many things - especially, I guess, things in cans. Canned music leads to canned corn. Canned music is canned corn!

According to this article at Lib.com, Muzak was a company that made the first so-called "canned music" back in 1924, when it was marketed as a way of increasing production in the workplace. Canned music in groceries arrived along with the rise of the large chain stores in the decade after World War II, and the idea of shopping and spending lots of money as a grand event. It was especially grand for those Business Men counting their profits to the sound of Magnecord, of course.

Walgreens: A Model Drug Store

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:01:00 +0000

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

In 1937, students at New York's Fordham University set up a real working drugstore and worked in it in order to become the best pharmacists that they could be: familiar with medications, and always thinking about how best to help and serve their customers.

This is exactly what Walgreens does as a matter of course. Case in point: the way they're helping customers deal with a transition regarding Express Scripts.

As of January 1st, Walgreens and Express Script pharmacy provider network are working together no longer - this applies to Walgreens all across the US and Duane Reade pharmacies in New York City. This basically affects any Walgreens or Duane Reade customer who get prescriptions at the store - in other words, a lot of customers. And they are feeling stressed about maybe having to pay more, or go to a new pharmacy that is farther from home and maybe more expensive and without the 24 hour service, drive ins and great discounts that Walgreens is known for.

Now, having said all that, only patients under some insurance plans will be affected by this, so you'll want to check with your pharmacist or look on the back of your prescription insurance card (if Express Scripts isn't mentioned on the back of the card then you're OK).

Anyway, Walgreens wants to help their customers either stay with them, or transition into going elsewhere if they want to stay with the Express Scripts program. One thing that they are doing is offering a special discount on the Walgreens Prescription Savings Club. A family membership, which includes you, your spouse and all dependents younger than 22, is being offered at an amazing $10 a year. And with it you'll get discounts on over 8000 brand name and generic medications, discounts on stuff like flu shots and prescriptions for your pets, nebulizers and diabetic supplies. And you can even get bonuses when you use Walgreens brand name products and get your photos developed with them. If you just want to join the Walgreens Prescription Savings Club as an individual, it'll only cost you $5.

This is such a terrific deal for anyone who, like me, has to take a couple of regular medications, has family members who need prescriptions sometimes, has a pet who sometimes needs the odd prescription - oh, and who loves to save money. You can help Walgreens keep helping us (and stay posted on the latest news and offers, too) by liking Walgreens on Facebook and following Walgreens on Twitter at @Walgreens. Those 1930s Fordham pharmacy students would do the same, I am sure.

A Studio Merry-Go-Round

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:45:00 +0000

Here is an interesting idea for studio apartment living from way back in 1919. It was devised by Pasquale Cimini of Buffalo, New York, who invented a revolving platform that you (somehow) place in the middle of your single room and thereby get the illusion of a four room apartment by spinning it around. His patent, from 1916, is here and is called "Revolving Platform for Apartment Furniture." If you want a detailed run-through of how this worked, you can read the abstract. It doesn't sound very practical on a large scale, but it really is an ingenious idea. Cimini also patented a portable Household Cabinet in 1936, which would be ideal if you had a small revolving kitchenette, I suppose.

The circular platform is divided into four pieces: one holds a folding bed, one a small kitchen, one a bureau and clothes closet, and one a desk (you're on your own for a bathroom, it would seem). The plumbing and pipes and wiring and stuff are in a column in the middle of the revolving circle. The column also contains a duct for the kitchen aromas that also airs out your bed (not at the same time, one hopes). The whole thing is made of steel (platform, dividing walls and the frame).

As the article in the October 1919 Popular Science says, "you will have four large rooms, though, of course, not all at the same time." You just get up, get out of bed and off the platform, give it a push, and there's the kitchen. When you're all done, get off and push again, and "you can read the morning paper comfortably in the library." That would be the desk, in other words. Which means that I have a library right in my bedroom, doesn't it? Oh, and an office! All without a revolving platform. It wouldn't fit in there anyway - not with the desk taking up all that space. But I digress (as usual).

I don't know if this ever caught on, but it certainly is original. It sounds expensive to make and install, though. There are probably other problems too, that I haven't thought of. So tell me: what do you think might go wrong if you lived in a furnished merry-go-round?

To Hud and Hudnut

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:33:00 +0000

Larger version at Vintage Ad Browser

Let's all go to the Hudnut Salon Success School and achieve some real Hudnut Salon Success in the New Year! Oh, but what might that be, you are asking (just pretend you are asking).

Well, it looks like it means you won't be grumpy looking when you answer the phone, for one thing. I really don't like phones that much so I do tend to look like the Before picture of Mrs. Stewart when I pick up and it is some happy telemarketer wanting to sell me a vacation in Miami or ask a few questions about my newspaper-reading habits.

Also they put makeup on you, change your clothes and hairstyle and (it would seem) switch you with another, younger person altogether. I mean, the Before Mrs. Stewart is just not the same woman as After Mrs. Stewart.

The Hudnut Salon Success School grew out of the cosmetics business begun by Victorian druggist/perfumer Richard Hudnut (1855-1928) who created, among other cosmetics, a line called DuBarry. And his salon was at 693 Fifth Avenue in New York. The school was also known as the Hudnut DuBarry School, since the latter name was far more fancy-sounding than Hudnut. Although to tell you the truth I prefer Hudnut. Just try saying "Hudnut Salon Success School" (three times fast) and you will feel like laughing. That''ll make you feel better right away - no class fees necessary!

The Hudnut business was still going strong into the 1960s when this Name-the-Hudnut-Doll contest was advertised, to plug the Hudnut line of "Quick" permanents. Have you ever seen a doll that could do yoga and while wearing a faceful of makeup? Amazing. I would name the doll "Mrs. Stewart" of course, after my favorite Hudnut gal. Even though she'd probably bean you on the head with that phone receiver if you asked her to sit cross-legged on the floor.

Fun fact: Richard Hudnut's stepdaughter married Rudolph Valentino when Rudolph was still married to his first wife. Although maybe they were actually the Before and After versions of the very same woman (dun dun dun!). You never know!

There is another fun Hudnut ad over here, by the way. And the feeble title of this post is from the 1944 Bogart/Bacall movie To Have and Have Not. Happy New Year!

You've Never Seen Anything Like This

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:48:00 +0000

As you admire your new Christmas electronics, take a minute to travel back to the world of 1965 and see what was on offer back then. Behold the Show'N Tell - cutting-edge "home entertainment center" that appeared to be a combination TV-record player. You could use it just as a record player, but wait, there's more:

Yes, that TV allowed you to see a bunch of slides. Wow, kids! Fabulous slides! So you could look at the animals and the record bit would tell you about them, no doubt in a boring Mutual-of-Omaha voice.

If you are a child of the 60s like me, you may remember Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. It was on the air from 1963 until 1988 and apparently was put back on in a new shiny version in 2002. But I'm talking about the old, black and white show* with Marlin Perkins and Jim Fowler. Jim Fowler had a very funny cameo on Seinfeld years later, by the way, on the episode called "The Merv Griffin Show" in which Kramer has Jim on as a guest (and George tries to get Jim to take a convalescent squirrel).

Here's the Seinfeld clip, by the way. Not only does Jim Fowler show up with a hawk, but Jerry talks about his disappointing childhood toys. Which brings us right back to the Show'N Tell, sort of.

*It looks like it was actually in color back then but for me it was black and white because we didn't get a color set until about 1973. And even then I had to sit pretty much in the next room because the radiation from the set was No Good.

More Fun Than A Circus

noreply@blogger.com (Lidian) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:21:00 +0000

Hurry before supply is exhausted!

And if you do hurry, and you are lucky enough to get your very own Waddle the Duck - you too will be exhausted. Because Waddle the Duck - made by the very specifically-named Waddle Duck Mfg Co. of San Francisco - is a Toy Sensation. And what is more, Waddle is More Fun Than A Circus.

Whatever could this mean? How can a plastic duck be more fun than a circus? Oh, you say, it depends on the circus. And to be honest with you I never found the circus very much fun. When I was a kid in the 60s my parents took me to the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus at Madison Square Garden and honestly it was not that great for me. The menagerie = ugh, very depressing. The clowns = frightening sense of unease. The rest of the stuff = can't see it from way up here anyway. I did like the little flashlight things on loops of plastic string that you swung around in the dark, though.

But I doubt that Waddle is more fun than the little flashlight things. You cannot swing him around in the dark, for one thing. So what can you do with him? Well, the ad says that he (a) flaps, (b) waddles, (c) is foolish and (d) fun. And if all that isn't thrilling enough, just "parade him around on his leash" and then next thing you know "your dignity disappears" and your family laughs at you. Yeah, that sounds hilarious. I'll take a dozen.

Advertisement from Billboard, November 13, 1943.