Comic Book -- Blue Bolt -- April 8, 2025

coverbrowser.com

Dick Cole, The Wonder Boy carries on the fine tradition of punching fascists. On the cover of Blue Bolt Comics, he dreams of taking care of Hitler, Mussolini and either General Tojo or Emperor Hirohito.

Pulp -- War Aces -- April 7, 2025

mutoscope.listal.com

At first, I thought the cover of War Aces might have shown an Allied pilot chivalrously saluting a defeated Central Powers pilot, but then I noticed that both men were wearing the Iron Cross (Second Class?), so perhaps they are intended to be the same man.

Toonerville Trolley -- Safety First in the Skipper's Dental Work -- April 5, 2025

Oakland Tribune, 05-April-1925

I love Fontaine Fox's The Toonerville Trolley That Meets All the Trains. The Skipper takes advantage of the powerful springs that support the trolley pole.

Oakland Tribune, 26-April-1925

Cities and towns all over the nation claim that their transit systems inspired Fontaine Fox's The Toonerville Trolley That Meets All the Trains. Fox himself said that he got the original idea from a decrepit streetcar in the Pelhams. This article claims that a fleet of cars that in Monterey inspired Fox. The cars, which had only one survivor, were bought from San Francisco in the 1890s. I wonder if they were grip cars from cable lines that were shut down or upgraded.

Washington Times, 30-June-1918

Krazy Kat -- Three in One -- April 4, 2025

Kansas City Post, 04-Aoril-1925

Spring has sprung. I love George Herriman's Krazy Kat. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Washington Times, 30-June-1918

Senator Cory Booker -- April 3, 2025

cnn.com

Senator Cory Booker gave the longest speech in the history of the Senate, by speaking for over 25 hours. He didn't use the restroom, eat or drink. He broke the record set by Strom Thurmond, when he tried to filibuster a civil rights act.

Booker spoke against the nihilistic actions of President Elon Musk and his flunky, T***p. He concluded with a tribute to John Lewis. 

I watched some of it Monday night, then Tuesday morning at breakfast, and then all afternoon. I missed the last few minutes, just after 9pm.

George Foreman, RIP -- April 2, 2025

listal.com

George Foreman died last month. My condolences to his family. When I first remember him, he seemed to be a giant thug. There was a lot of prejudice against him. Then he came years later and seemed like everyone's favorite uncle. 

In 1973, George Foreman knocked Joe Frazier down six times and earned a TKO in the second round to stop Frazier's unbroken streak and take his heavyweight title. I think I heard it announced on the radio. It was a great shock to everyone. I admired Joe Frazier and I wanted him to fight Ali again, with the title on the line.

The documentary When We Were Kings told the story of The Rumble in the Jungle, Ali's 1974 fight in Zaire against giant George Foreman.  No one expected Ali to win.  Some people expected Ali to die.  I still get the chant "Ali, boma ye!" stuck in my head.

April 2025 Version of the Cable Car Home Page -- April 1, 2025

I just put the April 2025 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 first day of issue cachet for the cable car stamp from 1988. Note that the Powell-Hyde car is numbered 146. Does anyone recognize the artist's name?
2. On the Cable Car Kitsch page: 
3. More collectible items about cable cars, including: three first day of issue cachets for the 1988 cable car transportation stamp; a Matchbox auto decorated with a cable car; moved Santa Clara University's Cable Car Classic to its own section and added a program from 1969; added a Christmas ornament with Santa on a cable car; a wooden locomotive decorated for the San Francisco Giants (not a cable car); 1949 Examiner ads for cable car pins and wheel spinners and gearshift knobs with pictures of cable cars
4. Changed the toy cable car picture on the main page to Department 56 cable car.
5. Added News items about cable car service interruptions

Ten years ago this month (April 2015):

1. Picture of the Month: Fillmore Hill Counterbalance cars coupled together to run in Multiple Unit for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. (Source: "Two-Car Trains on 25 Per Cent Grade," Electric Railway Journal, 22-May-1915.)
2. On the San Francisco page: The Fillmore Hill Counterbalance and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition
3. On the Kitsch page: A Melbourne stamp; a new toy cable car 504; a bottle of fingernail polish; a refrigerator magnet; a Starbucks mug; a Cal Tjader album cover; a Vince Guaraldi/Bola Sete album cover with a photo of California Street Cable Railroad car 10 at the San Francisco Zoo;
4. On the Market Street Cable Railway page: Thanks to Val Lupiz, a circa-1885 Market Street Cable Railway advertisement
5. Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to rear three-quarter view of toy cable car 504, with free-standing figures.

Twenty years ago this month (April 2005):

1. Picture of the Month: The cover of the second edition of Of Cables and Grips: The Cable Cars of San Francisco.
2. On the Kitsch page: A Downbeat magazine cover and more Hard Rock Cafe pins.
3. On the New York/New Jersey page: A contemporary newspaper article about the experimental non-grip line on the grounds of a lunatic asylum in Binghamton, New York
4. Added News and Bibliography items about the wildcat strike by Cable Car Division crews and the proposal to drastically increase cable car fares
5. On the Roster page: Powell Street Paint Schemes, with early examples of Blue and Gold and Green and Cream cars. Photos courtesy of Walter Rice.
6. Walter Rice provided another Sutro Railroad ticket and two current $3 collectors’ series tickets for the Cable Car Transfers, Tickets and Tokens page. Val Lupiz provided a rare Clay Street Hill Railroad ticket.
7. Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to red Number 28.

125 years ago - 1900
Apr 01 - Denver City Cable Company (Denver, Colorado) Larimer line converted to electricity
Apr 24 - Andrew Smith Hallidie died

50 years ago - 1975
Apr 08 - Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, taking the lifetime home run record from Babe Ruth

25 years ago - 2000 Apr 24 - The California street line back in service after conduit reconstruction

In January 2024 I started on a long overdue process of cleaning things up on my site. I started with the development pages. Actually, I guess I started the year before with making most thumbnails 200 pixels instead of 100.

Coming in May 2025: On the Cable Car Lines in Saint Louis page: A ten-year update about the Peoples' Railway, including contemporary newspaper items.

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

The Cable Car Home Page also has an Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/cable_car_guy/

Joe Thompson
The Cable Car Home Page (updated 01-April-2025)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/
San Francisco Bay Ferryboats (updated 31-October-2024)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ferry/
Park Trains and Tourist Trains (updated 31-December-2024)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ptrain/
The Pneumatic Rolling-Sphere Carrier Delusion (updated spasmodically)
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com
The Big V Riot Squad (updated obsessively)
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/