Thursday, February 28, 2019

André Previn, RIP -- February 28, 2019


Composer, conductor and pianist André Previn has died.  He wrote film scores and he moved back and forth between classical and jazz.  He won four Academy Awards.  He was stationed in the Presidio of San Francisco at the same time as my father.





XII Gran Premio D'Italia -- February 28, 2019

www.facebook.com/ArtOfThePoster
The Twelfth Italian Grand Prix took place at Monza near Milan on 09-September-1934.  The beautiful poster is by Plinio Codagnato. Luigi Fagioli won in a Mercedes Silver Arrow.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Sunset Limited -- February 27, 2019


Thank you to Hans-Christian Kasper for sharing this beautiful poster for Southern Pacific's Sunset Limited, which ran from San Francisco down to Los Angeles and then across the Sunset Route to New Orleans.

Monday, February 25, 2019

Monte Irvin 100 -- February 25, 2019


Giants great Monte Irvin was born 100 years ago today, on 25-February-1919.  He played in the Negro Leagues for the Newark Eagles and was an All Star five times.  Newark won the Negro League World Series in 1946.  His Negro League career was interrupted by Army service during World War II.

In 1949, Irvin and Hank Thompson were the first two African American Giants players, if you don't count the men John McGraw tried to pass off as Native American.  Irvin was an outfielder who could hit, run, field and throw exceptionally well.  He was a Major League All Star once.

When Willie Mays joined the Giants in 1951, Irvin was his mentor.

Irvin played in the Major League World Series in 1951 and 1954.  He played for the Cubs in 1956 and retired in 1957 because of a back injury.

The Giants retired  his number in 2010.  He died in 2016.


Saturday, February 23, 2019

The Year of the Pig -- February 23, 2019

Karen Starr Venturini Collection
In honor of the Lunar New Year, the Year of the Pig, here is silent serial star Pearl White with her pet pig, posed on a nice roadster.

http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-exploits-of-pearl-pearl-white.html

The San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade is tonight. The parade has taken place since the 1860s.

Friday, February 22, 2019

Happy Birthday, President Washington, 2019 -- February 22, 2019

Time, 23-October-1989

President George Washington would be deeply disappointed by our current situation.

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Democracy Dies in Darkness -- Februrary 21


The Super Bowl was on the other day.  I wasn't paying much attention, but I noticed a commercial that the Washington Post had sponsored, about how a free press is important.  Tom Hanks narrated.

Some people feel that images of Lady Liberty are insulting to our so-called president.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Don Newcombe, Ken Nordine RIP

www.famousfix.com

Pitcher Don Newcombe has died.  He was a Dodger for much of his career, but I still respected him.  He played for the Newark Eagles in the Negro National League.  Then the Dodgers signed him and he became their first African-American pitcher.  He was a severe alcoholic bur had been sober since 1966.  He helped other people fight addiction.


Ken Nordine also died.  I remember hearing Word Jazz on KJAZ or somewhere.  He had a wonderful voice.

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Our Teddy -- February 19, 2019

Moving Picture World, 01-February-1919
Belated happy Presidents' Day everyone.  Yesterday I was participating in a blogathon.

Former president Theodore Roosevelt died at his family home, Sagamore Hill, near Oyster Bay, New York 100 years ago last month, on 06-January-1919. He was only 60 years old. Vice President Thomas R Marshall said "Death had to take him in his sleep, for if he was awake there'd have been a fight."

Perhaps it is cynical of me, but I'll bet the producers of The Fighting Roosevelts, a movie about TR and life before the presidency, were not prostrated by the news. It probably helped business.

Moving Picture World, 01-February-1919
Across the top, we see photos of the real TR giving a speech.  Below we see scenes from the movie, including:
Roosevelt in the Legislature at twenty-three 
Roosevelt applying the law as New York Police Commissioner
Roosevelt selects future Admiral Sims
Roosevelt becomes a democrat among democrats in the far West
Roosevelt tenders Pres. McKinley his resignation as Asst. Sec'y of the Navy and goes to command the Rough Riders
Roosevelt floors a desperado

Moving Picture World, 01-February-1919
"The biggest box-office attraction since motion pictures began."

Moving Picture World, 01-February-1919
Moving Picture World, 08-February-1919
"The public will think it is a war picture..." so they changed the title.

Moving Picture World, 08-February-1919
I like this suggestion for a series of advertisements.

Moving Picture World, 22-February-1919
CLEAN UP CAMPAIGN FOR OUR TEDDY


Manager Shackman, of New York's Eighty-first Street,
Demonstrated the Value of Showmanship in Putting
Over Big Feature in House with Neighborhood Location

APPROXIMATELY five thousand new patrons of the class who rarely attend a motion picture theatre, four days of capacity business in a house seating twenty-four hundred, and a special Saturday morning matinee for school children which brought crowds so great that a detail of nine policemen was required to preserve order, are the results obtained by S. A. Shackman, owner and manager of the Eighty-first Street Theatre, at Eighty-first, street and Broadway, New York City, from an unusual campaign to put over "Our Teddy," the six-reel screen version of the life and accomplishments of Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, made by McClure Productions, Inc., and distributed by First National Exhibitors' Circuit.

Mr. Shackman changes his program twice a week. This gives him a three days' run for the first half, and four days for the second half of each week. "Our Teddy" was booked to open on Thursday and to close on Sunday night, making a four days' engagement. His theatre is in the heart of a thickly settled district, populated by well-to-do families, in the upper West Side.

Moving Picture World, 22-February-1919

Going Out for New Patrons.

For appeal to this class of patronage he has found that dignity and a certain element of conservatism are essential. His regular advertising mediums include car cards on the Broadway surface lines, five line insertions daily in the New York Times as the morning newspaper, and the Evening World for the afternoon publication, with larger space in the Sunday editions of both ; advance slides, and a variety of lobby display cards, hand lettered and arranged by himself. Supplementing these is the house program of sixteen pages, containing current and advance announcements. Occasionally he uses blotters for distribution to out-going patrons and among the apartment houses in the neighborhood. Window card displays in a dozen choice locations complete the list of regular methods of advertising and publicity.

"Here is a chance," Mr. Shackman said to his assistant, Mr. Gerard, after he had booked the Roosevelt picture, "to bring new patrons to the theatre. I believe that this production will appeal not alone to the 'regulars,' but to the thousands who still believe that motion pictures are beneath average amusement standards. There is the opportunity in 'Our Teddy' to interest them in screen entertainment. The possibility of results easily is worth the effort."

Made Study of Subject.

He then proceeded to analyze the production for novel advertising ideas. He had just been advised that a song had been written under the title of "Good-bye, Teddy Roosevelt, You Were a Real American." After reading the verse and chorus he hit upon the first of a series of new promotional plans that added five thousand potential "regulars" to his clientele.

The concluding scenes of "Our Teddy" show Colonel Roosevelt and his four sons in double exposures over a service star. The action pictures the part taken by each of the four boys in the world war.

With this for his premise Mr. Shackman began a search for a quartet of wounded soldiers. Commanding officers at several Base Hospitals in New York were consulted and four wounded men were finally located at Bast Hospital No. 1. They had sung in the hospitals in France during their convalescence.

Put Novelty in Lobby Display.

Beginning with the matinee on the Sunday preceding the opening of "Our Teddy," Mr. Shackman introduced them as "Pershing's Overseas Quartet.". Specific reference was made to the Roosevelt picture, and then the quartet sang the song while announcement and scene slides from the film were thrown on the screen. This was repeated at every performance.

Variety and novelty were sought for the lobby display. The idea finally approved by Mr. Shackman provided for a display portrait of Theodore Roosevelt, hung from the marquee and facing the street. In an apartment house opposite he placed a spot light which threw a strong light on the portrait after dark each night.

Made Use of Spot Light.

This received a great deal of attention from pedestrians on the opposite side of Broadway, and from a heavy automobile and surface car traffic. A similar portrait, draped with flags, was hung in the center of the marquee above the sidewalk for the attention of passers-by on the theatre side of Broadway.

He used a different style of lobby display, alternating the arrangements of material in the cards so that it appealed both to his regular patrons and to the new clientele he was seeking. Some of the frames contained lobby display photographs, while others were mounted with newspaper and magazine clippings, surrounding large portrait photos of the former President. These latter displays were given preferred position in the frames facing the streets at either side of the lobby.

School Campaign Well Planned.

The public schools were considered for a semi-educational and semi-entertainment appeal to the pupils. Mr. Shackman learned that within a radius of ten blocks of the theatre were schools with a registration of ten thousand children. A personal appeal was made to the principal of each of nine schools, and permission was obtained from them individually for the distribution of ten thousand blotters, announcing a special school children's matinee at 11 :30 o'clock Saturday morning.

To add interest to the occasion he extended an invitation to the New York Council of the Boy Scouts of America for its members to attend the special matinee as his guests. The New York Council has a band. He sought the leader, and arrangements were made for the band of thirty-five pieces to give a short patriotic concert as an overture for the picture. This fact was made a part of the copy on the blotters sent to the schools.

"A surprising feature of the school plan," said Mr. Shackman, "was the marked willingness of the principals to co-operate with me. They looked upon the production as something that every school pupil should see, and the fact that I was arranging a special matinee seemed to them to be the ideal way of presenting the picture to the children." There is an established rule in all New York public schools prohibiting the distribution of advertising matter of any character to the pupils, either outside the school or in the class rooms. Mr. Shackman's blotters were given out in the class rooms, at the direction of the principals, by the various class monitors.

Used Blotters to Advantage.

A cartoon by R. M. Brinkerhoff, picturing in entertaining style his impressions of the production, was the illustration used on the blotters, which were printed in two colors. The blotters were distributed on Tuesday, two days before the picture opened its four days' engagement. There was a practical legitimate purpose in this. Mr. Shackman was confident that every pupil would preserve the blotter for personal use, and that every one of the ten thousand would be certain to tell their parents about the matinee.

He was right. They did both; more effectively than he had dared to hope.

As a further effort to win the "once-in-a-whiles" Mr. Shackman increased the size of his newspaper space in a four days' campaign, starting on Wednesday, and continuing until Saturday. He used ads two columns by two inches in the Times and the Evening World. The copy was written to interest all classes of readers. Small line cuts of the situations drawn in cartoon by Brinkerhoff were used to illustrate the text.

Moving Picture World, 22-February-1919

Making Music Do Its Share.

Walter Davidson, musical director for the Eighty-first Street Theatre, arranged a musical score which included the "American Patrol" for the overture, various other patriotic airs, including "A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," and an orchestral accompaniment of "Good-bye, Teddy Roosevelt, You Were a Real American." The enthusiasm of the audiences during the first half of the week satisfied Mr. Shackman that the "Pershing Quartet" would contribute to the atmosphere of the production by singing this song as an introduction, and again with the closing scene.


Got Capacity Opening.

The production started on Thursday to capacity business. On Friday the treasurer notified Mr. Shackman that the advance sale for Saturday and Sunday was far above normal. On Saturday morning, with the special matinee scheduled to begin at 11 :30 o'clock, Mr. Shackman arrived at the theatre at 9:30 o'clock to find the lobby and street jammed with children.

Moving Picture World, 22-February-1919
By 10 o'clock the crowd had grown to such proportions that it was becoming unmanageable, and he telephoned to a police station for assistance. Nine policemen responded, and they were kept busy for nearly two hours.

Sees Hundreds of New Faces.

"The production proved a truly wonderful attraction," said Mr. Shackman. "Mr. Gerard and I watched carefully at every matinee and evening performance, and we saw hundreds of new faces in line at the box office, people whom neither of us could remember ever having seen in the house before. I had arranged the remainder of my program so that these new patrons would be thoroughly pleased with the entire show. I wanted to convince them that the Eighty-first Street Theatre would be well worth their future consideration.

Children Were Home Advertisers.

"Undoubtedly the blotters distributed in the schools sent into the homes of thousands of families the news that the life of Colonel Roosevelt would be told in motion pictures at my house. I am positive that hundreds of fathers and mothers and older brothers and sisters of the school children came to the theatre before Saturday to satisfy themselves.

"It is too early yet to say how many new patrons will result from the campaign and the production, but I am satisfied that the number will be sufficient to more than justify the attempt."


Monday, February 18, 2019

Fifth Annual Buster Keaton Blogathon -- February 18, 2018

Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual, 1918

Lea at Silent-ology is hosting the Fifth Annual Buster Keaton Blogathon:
https://silentology.wordpress.com/2018/12/12/announcement-the-fifth-annual-buster-keaton-blogathon

My entry for the blogathon is on my movies-mostly blog, The Big V Riot Squad:
Comique: Roscoe, Buster, Al and Luke
https://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2019/02/comique-roscoe-buster-al-and-luke.html

I write about the series of short films produced by Comique and starring Roscoe Arbuckle.  Roscoe's nephew, Al St John, Buster Keaton and Roscoe's dog Luke appeared in many of the films.

Sunday, February 17, 2019

City of New Orleans -- February 17, 2019


The Illinois Central Railroad  published this poster to promote its service from Chicago and points south to New Orleans.  The railroad launched The City of New Orleans in 1946.  The original City was a daylight run.  The Amtrak version runs overnight.

In 1970, Steve Goodman wrote a song inspired by the train.  Arlo Guthrie had a hit with a version that was released in 1972.  I'm happy when I get this song stuck in my head.




Friday, February 15, 2019

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Happy Saint Valentine's Day. 2019 -- February 14, 2019

www.coverbrowser.com
Happy Saint Valentine's Day, everyone.

Jack Benny 125 -- February 14, 2019


Happy Saint Valentine's Day, everyone.

I did not remember that Jack Benny, star of stage, screen, and radio, was born on Valentine's Day in 1894.  Today he would have been 125 years old.

Benny left his footprints in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese on 13-January-1941. "My heart belongs to Mary (his wife, Mary Livingstone) but my feet belong to Grauman." I love his radio show.

His best movie was To Be or Not To Be with Carole Lombard, but he made many others.  This was the only Jack Benny movie directed by Ernst Lubitsch. 

I took this on 18-July-2009.  DSCN4146.


www.listal.com
www.listal.com

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Comic Book -- Looney Tunes -- February 13, 2019

www.coverbrowser.com
Bugs Bunny and his friends from Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons wish us all a Happy Sant Valentine's Day.

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Happy Birthday, President Lincoln -- February 12, 2019

Life, 06-September-1963
Today is Abraham Lincoln's 210th birthday. My favorite president.

When I despair about the damage being done by our current so-called president, I think of the problems that Lincoln and our country faced and dealt with.  

The organizers of the 28-August-1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, A Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, stand in front of the Lincoln Memorial, where Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr would soon deliver his speech, "I Have a Dream."

http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2013/08/i-have-dream-50-august-28-2013.html

Monday, February 11, 2019

Seattle General Strike of 1919 -- February 11, 2019

Seattle Star, 11-February-1919
The Seattle General Strike of 1919 started 06-February-1919. Several shipyard unions had gone on strike for better wages, including unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Shipyard owners resisted strongly and striking workers appealed to the Seattle Central Labor Council. Many other unions also went on strike.

The Strike Committee allowed some unions to work to provide food and other essential services.  The Mayor of Seattle, Ole Hanson, claimed that they were trying to take over the government, as the Soviets had done in Russia.

The general strike ended 100 years ago today, on 11-February-1919.  Even though there was no unrest or violence, Mayor Hanson brought in more and more police and soldiers.  National unions worried that the strike would hurt them.

City Speeds Up; General Strike Over

Purged of attempted Bolshevik rule, Seattle today resumes normal business, with the exception of the shipyards, where the strike is still on.

While the general strike was ordered over at noon by the conference of union leaders yesterday, the bustle and rush of the city's business district was again in evidence long before the scheduled hour.

Street cars continued in operation since Saturday afternoon, the men refusing to abide by the eleventh-hour order of the strike committee that they discontinue yesterday afternoon and remain on strike till today noon. Similarly several other unions began work Monday and Tuesday morning.

Restaurants along the downtown streets opened sharply at the stroke of noon. Cooks were back in the kitchens and the members of the Waitresses' union once more donned their aprons.

At noon Tuesday Seattle tooted its whistles and switched its civic gear into "high" agrain. as the five-day sympathetic strike of workmen came to a close.

Business did its best to make up for lost time.

Street crowds hastened to deferred shopping, thronging the avenues and the stores.

Markets, shops, groceries, theatres—places of commerce and amusement—combined to restore the interrupted social and industrial life of the harried Northwestern metropolis.

"Speed up." was the word everywhere.

This evening will see the opening of all the city's theatres and motion picture houses. A number had already operated Monday evening.

In strike circles Tuesday morning the principal topic of discussion was the action of the street car men. When the committee decided Monday that the strike end today, they stipulated that those unions already at work should again quit their jobs in order that all union men in the city might go back together.

This the street car men refused to do. A number of teamsters, however, listened to the strike committee appeal and failed to show up for work Tuesday morning, after completing their rounds Monday.

The barbers, too, steadfastly remained at their chairs, in spite of the dictates of the labor leaders. "A further strike would be of no additional benefit to organized labor," is the way the carmen expressed their opinion in a resolution.

Mayor Hanson had ordered that all municipal car employes would be considered to have relinquished their jobs if they walked out a second time. No such order went forth from the traction company headquarters, the men deciding of their own initiative that one strike was enough.

Fear that workmen who had participated in the general walkout might be discriminated against by employers, was an admittedly big actuating motive in the leaders' eleventh-hour decision for a final demonstration.

The big strike ends after five days' duration. However, the backbone of the strike was virtually broken by Saturday, after two days of the walkout. It was on Saturday morning that the strike committee gathered at the Labor temple to take up the proposition of calling the strike off.

While no date was set at that time for the return of the men to work, street cars began operation Saturday afternoon and by Sunday morning traction traffic was normal.

The strike passed off without any rioting or disturbances. The only arrests made were in connection with the distribution of Bolshevik leaflets entitled "Russia Did It."

A few restaurants were open this morning, but generally, the eating places did not seek to open for regular business till this afternoon.

The general strike has caused the city to appropriate $50,000 for men and supplies for protection and preparative purposes. It is estimated that another $50,000 appropriation will be made before the issue is finally settled. More than 3,500 emergency policemen were employed, 600 being added to the police payroll. The appointments were ratified by the city council.


WATERFRONT IS BACK TO LIFE

Waterfront activities started gradually in Seattle Monday. and were scheduled to be in full swing before Tuesday night. The first vessel to be worked wan the Pacific Steamship company's liner Alameda, which discharged several hundred boxes of fresh fish with union and non union men. The steam schooner Multnomah, of the Charles Nelson fleet, started unloading with union and non union help. Union Pacific pier officials announce they would start work independently of union longshoremen.

STRIKE STILL ON IN SHIPYARDS

J. Von Carnop, shipyard strike leader and one of the members of the Metal Trades conference committee, declared at noon today that the walkout of the shipyard workers is in nowise affected by the settlement of the general strike.

"Our status is just the same as it was before the other unions went out," Von Carnop asserted.

"The conference committee is in session thruout the day, and you can say for us that the shipyard men are still on strike."

Saturday, February 9, 2019

Pulp -- Ace G-Man Stories -- February 9, 2019

www.coverbrowser.com
FBI agents Klaw, Kerrigan and Murdoch were the Suicide Squad in Ace G-Man Stories from 1939 to 1943. They managed to survive a series of suicide missions. Their methods were not delicate.

Friday, February 8, 2019

Frank Robinson and John Dingell, RIP -- February 8, 2019


I was sorry to hear about the death of Frank Robinson.  He grew up in Oakland.  I don't remember when he played for the Reds, but I remember when he played for the Orioles.  I didn't see the American League much except for the Game of the Week and the World Series, but he often turned up.  He was the first black manager in the majors when he managed Cleveland.  Then he managed the Giants from 1981 to 1984. Giants broadcasters Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow tell many stories about his fearsomeness.  He was active in the Civil Rights movement.


I was also sorry to learn of the death of retired Representative John Dingell of Michigan.  He served as an officer during World War Two and then became the longest-serving Representative, holding the office from 1955 to 2015.  He fought for civil rights and health care.  He was a vocal opponent of our current so-called president:

"I signed up to fight Nazis 73 years ago and I'll do it again if I have to.  Hatred, bigotry, and fascism should have no place in this country."

"“Crooks like Donald Trump will steal a hot stove and come back for the smoke. There’s no bar too low.”"

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Claim They Saw a Flying Airship -- February 7, 2019

San Francisco Call, 18-November-1896
There were many sightings of unidentified flying objects in the United States during the late 1890s. I wonder what people saw. Last month we saw a later report about this particular airship:
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-great-airship-that-is-startling.html

CLAIM THEY SAW A FLYING AIRSHIP
Strange Tale of Sacramento Men Not Addicted to Prevarication.
Viewed an Aerial Courser as It Passed Over the City at Night.
Declare They Heard Voices of Those Aboard Join d in Merry Chorus.

SACRAMENTO, Cal., Nov. 17.— A vast amount of excitement was created among residents in the outskirts of the city to-night by the appearance of what they claim to have been an airship, which, seemingly under perfect control, passed over the city, going in the direction of San Francisco. The sky was obscured by heavy clouds and it was impossible to ascertain the shape and size of the aerial conveyance, presuming it to be such, but the onlookers followed its course by the lights displayed, which were about twice the brilliancy and size of an arc light.

In speaking of the appearance of the reputed airship, an eye-witness of undoubted veracity said: "When my attention was called to the traveling light it was, I should judge, about 1000 feet high, but as it approached the city limits it arose to probably an elevation of 2000 feet. When I first saw it, it was approaching from a northeasterly direction, and on arriving at the city limits it bore off to the south until past the city, when it turned toward the southwest as if resuming its course toward San Francisco.

"When the airship passed over the streetcar company's barn, a crowd of the employes came out, and they claim that they distinctly heard people's voices singing in a chorus, a rattling song, which gradually died away in the distance. The lights of this mysterious visitant were visible for upward of thirty minutes, until they passed out of sight."

A lineman in the employ of the Postal Telegraph service claims to have seen the same visitant about 9 o'clock in the vicinity of Suisun on Sunday evening. The impression here seems to be that some one has solved the mystery of aerial navigation, and is conducting his experiments at night in order to escape impertinent curiosity.

Men in charge of East Park, which lies outside the city limits, state that as the airship passed over the park the voices of men, who seemed to be disputing as to whether they should cause their conveyance to rise higher, could be heard. The lights then rose rapidly into the air and passed on.

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Seattle General Strike of 1919 -- February 6, 2019

Seattle Star, 06-February-1919
The Seattle General Strike of 1919 started 100 years ago today, on 06-February-1919.  Several shipyard unions had gone on strike for better wages, including unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).  Shipyard owners resisted strongly and striking workers appealed to the Seattle Central Labor Council. Many unions also went on strike. The general strike lasted five days. 

from the Tennessee News-Scimitar, 06-January-1919:
SEATTLE SCENE OF GENERAL STRIKE
City Virtually at Standstill as Big Walkout Is Staged.

Seattle Wash., Feb. 6. -- Seattle's general strike was called at the scheduled time, 10 a.m. today. First reports rom the downtown section said union street car men started their cars for the barns at 10 o clock, union elevators in all the large buildings abandoned their cars and restaurants closed their doors when their union cooks and waiters left.

Most of the city stores announced they would remain open as long as their stocks lasted. They will be unable to replenish them as the truck drivers are striking. Telephone operators remained at their posts, according to reports. Seattle expects to have lights tonight as the strike committee of the Central Labor council exempted the engineers in the municipal lighting plants from the strike order.

Schools may he closed because of the strike of janitors and engineers, the superintendent of schools stated. Moving picture houses will be crippled by the strike of operators.

Today's walkout was called by the Seattle Central Labor council as a sympathetic move to help shipyard workers who, numbering 25,000 struck for higher pay Jan. 21.

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Pearls Before Swine -- February 5, 2019

www.coverbrowser.com
In honor of the Lunar New Year, the Year of the Pig, here is the cover of Sgt Piggy's Lonely Hearts Club Comic, by Stephen Pastis.  I have enjoyed his comic strip Pearls Before Swine since I first read it in the San Francisco Chronicle.  I hope I take more after Pig than Rat.

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Norman Rockwell -- February 3, 2019

www.listal.com
Popular artist Norman Rockwell was born 125 years ago today, on 03-February-1894.  I have seen opinions about him go up and down, but he was a good painter.  He did many covers for the Saturday Evening Post.


www.coverbrowser.com

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Happy Groundhog Day 2019 -- February 2, 2019


Happy Groundhog Day, everyone. This groundhog does not look very happy. For some reason he reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock.

Friday, February 1, 2019

The New Pacific Mail Freighter Aztec -- February 1, 2019

San Francisco Call, 27-June-1895

William A Coulter did many maritime drawings for the San Francisco Call. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company had a monopoly on carrying the United States Mail across the Pacific. It also did a big business in passengers and freight to and from Australia, New Zealand, the Kingdom of Hawaii, Japan and China.  SS Aztec was torpedoed and sunk by a German U Boat on 01-April-1917. 

The Pacific Mail people are busy loading their new freight steamer Aztec for her first trip to Panama and way ports. Over 4500 tons of cargo will be packed into the huge vessel, which sails Friday noon.

The steamer, which was first called the Canterbury, was built at the Edwards shipyard at Howden-on-Tyne, for the grain and cattle trade. She was not satisfactory to the owners, and was thrown back upon the builders' hands. She was finally disposed of to the Pacific Mail for $41,000, a bargain, considering she is new and constructed wholly of steel, and in the strongest possible manner. The Aztec is 350 feet long, 43 feet in beam and 30 feet in depth. Her trial speed was 13 knots, though 9 knots an hour is her usual run.


February, 2019 Version of the Cable Car Home Page -- February 1, 2019


I just put the February, 2019 version of my Cable Car Home Page on the server:
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ 

It includes some new items:
1. Picture of the Month: A train of the Temple Street Cable Railway in Los Angeles near Temple and Hoover Streets in 1889. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Archive (c) 2004, California Historical Society: TICOT/Pierce, CHS-7070. All rights reserved.
2. On the Other California Cities page: A ten and twenty year update on the Temple Street Cable Railway, the most successful cable traction line in Los Angeles
3. On the Roster page: Thank you to retired gripman MJ McClure, some interesting items about the history of Powell Street car 20.
4. Added News items from SFMTA's Twitter updates about cable cars 

Ten years ago this month (February, 2009):
1. Picture of the Month:
2. On the Australia/New Zealand page: Thanks to Bob Murphy, photographs of the North Carlton winding house and tram shed in Melbourne A photo of a Melbourne cable winding house and tram shed, taken by Bob Murphy
3. On the Other California Cities page: A contemporary newspaper article about the Temple Street Cable Railway in Los Angeles: -- AT LAST/The Temple Street Cable Road Completed (Los Angeles Times, Wednesday, July 14, 1886)
4. On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Jack Tillmany, I added Mr Billion
5. Added News and Chronology items about a collision between a California Street car and a Powell Street car 

Twenty years ago this month (February, 1999):
1. Picture of the Month: Los Angeles Temple Street Cable Railway cable train.
2. Roll out Los Angeles Temple Street Cable Railway on the Other California Cities page
3. Add car 512 toy picture to main page, Hallidie picture to Who page, and Collins Street picture to Melbourne page
4. Add SF Beautiful link to Who page
5. Add Fickeworth book to bibliography
6. Add news item about California Street conduit replacement
7. Roll out train spotting page 

125 years ago this month, on 11-February-1894, Manhattan's Third Avenue Railroad extended its Third Avenue line.

125 years ago this month, on 19-February-1894, San Francisco's Market Street Railway extended the Sacramento-Clay line from Walnut Street via Lake and 6th Avenue to D Street (Fulton) Golden Gate Park for the Midwinter Fair.

125 years ago this month, on 26-February-1894, San Francisco's Market Street Railway extended the Powell-Jackson and Ferries-Jackson lines to Golden Gate Park via the extended Sacramento-Clay line on Sundays and holidays for the Midwinter Fair.

Coming in March, 2019: On the Other California Cities page: A ten and twenty year update on the ill-fated Los Angeles Cable Railway/Pacific Cable Railway

On my San Francisco Bay Ferryboats page: I added an item about two new ferry services that launched in January:
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ferry/

The Cable Car Home Page now has a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/CableCarHomePage/

Joe Thompson
The Cable Car Home Page (updated 01-February-2019)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/
San Francisco Bay Ferryboats (updated 31-January-2019)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ferry/
Park Trains and Tourist Trains (updated 30-September-2018)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ptrain/
The Pneumatic Rolling-Sphere Carrier Delusion (updated spasmodically)
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com
The Big V Riot Squad (new blog)
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/