One of the Things You Can Be Thankful For -- November 24, 2024

San Francisco Examiner, 27-November-1924

San Francisco's Cabiria Restaurant offered Thanksgiving dinner for $1.50, with music by Garry Fisher's Amphions. I had to look up "Amphion" and found that it was the name of a musician in Greek mythology.

America's Greatest Food Dessert -- November 23, 2024

Algiers Herald, 27-November-1924

During Prohibition, Anheuser-Busch and other breweries resorted to some different tricks to stay in business. Brewing requires a lot of cooling, so perhaps that gave them some of the equipment needed to make ice cream.

Hoagy Carmichael 125 -- November 22, 2024

listal.com

Hoagy Carmichael was born 125 years ago today, on 22-November-1899. He played the piano, composed songs and wrote lyrics, sang, acted in films, and he was Bix Beiderbecke's buddy. Any movie is better with Hoagy Carmichael. He collaborated with Johnny Mercer on many songs.

listal.com

In The Best Years of Our Lives, Hoagy played Uncle Butch, a barkeep. Harold Russell played his nephew Homer, who had lost his arms while serving in the Navy. He went through a long period of rehabilitation before he got home. Homer didn't know where he fit in with his family or the girl next door, but Uncle Butch provided emotional support.

listal.com

Hoagy wrote many popular songs.

Riverboat Shuffle - Wolverine Orchestra (Bix Beiderbecke) (1924)


Stardust, Hoagy Carmichael & His Pals


Stardust - Louis Armstrong - The actual best version


Skylark

Woody Herman and His Orchestra -- November 21, 2024

listal.com

This must have been a fun show. I remember when he was still touring. Herb Caen always wrote interesting items about his visits to San Francisco.  I enjoyed all of Woody's music that I got to hear, but the Four Brothers period is my favorite. He was often ahead of his time.  He had Dizzy Gillespie write arrangements in 1942. 

I assume that this was his Second Herd.

Travel in Comfort to San Francisco -- November 20, 2024

Cloverdale Reveille, 07-November-1924

The Northwestern Pacific -- and its predecessors -- has always been one of my favorite railroads. In this ad, it offered excursion service from Cloverdale in Sonoma County to San Francisco and back.

Cloverdale Reveille, 07-November-1924

The railroad faced competition from the Redwood Highway Stages, buses which ran down what is now CA-101 to Sausalito, where they boarded ferryboats to cross the bay, and then continued to Fifth and Mission Streets. "Direct to 5th and Mission streets without change." Riders on the train had to debark in Sausalito, board a ferry to San Francisco and then ride a streetcar or take a taxi to their destination. 

Stars Break Up Hearst Yacht Party When Death Strikes Ince -- November 19, 2024

New York Daily News, 20-November-1924

One hundred years ago today, on 19-November-1924 producer Thomas H Ince died under what some see as questionable circumstances. William Randolph Hearst and his inamorata Marion Davies invented several Hollywood acquaintances to a party on Hearst's yacht, Oneida. On 15-November-1924, the group held a birthday party for producer, director and writer Thomas H Ince. Ince took sick that evening. He may have indigestion, a heart problem or some sources insist that he had been shot. Some people believe that William Randolph Hearst was jealous of Charlie Chaplin's attentions to Marion Davies and that Hearst tried to shoot him but mistook Ince for Chaplin. Ince's family took him to their home in Los Angeles, where he died on the Nineteenth. 

STARS BREAK UP HEARST YACHT

PARTY WHEN DEATH STRIKES INCE

Director Dies in Arms of

Wife; Children Near

(Special to DAILY NEWS)
Los Angeles, Cal., Nov. 9. -- Thomas H, Ince, maker of celebrated films and film celebrities, died early this morning at his Beverly Hill home, of a heart seizure. The producer's death was sudden and came from a heart affection following an attack of indigestion which began at a yacht party aboard the Oneida, off San Diego, last Sunday.

Personages who made merry with Ince on Sunday when the yacht party was turned into a celebration for Ince's forty-third birthday anniversary, dispersed yesterday and tonight none could be reached, although a partial list of the guests assembled from other quarters contained the following names:

Marion Davies, William Randolph Hearst, Elinor Glyn, Charlie Chaplin, Seena Owen, D.C. Goodman, Margaret Livingstone.

Miss Davies Hostess

It is understood Miss Davies issued the invitations for the party.

Ince died in the arms of his wife and surrounded by their children, William, 14; Thomas H. jr., 11 and Richard, 8. at his estate, Dias Dorados, in Beverly Hills.

The film magnate decided to quit the Oneida when he found that Dr. D.C. Goodman, the executive head of Hearst's film enterprises and formerly a practicing physician, was returning by train to Los Angeles by San Diego by train on Monday morning.

Became Nauseated

Shortly after taking the train at San Diego Ince became violently ill. He was extremely nauseated, and Dr. Goodman decided when the train stopped at Del Mar, 25 miles on the road toward Los Angeles, that his friend's condition was critical.

He gave the film magnate temporary attention until Dr. Parker of La Jolla, Cal., and a nurse summoned from San Diego arrived at Stratford inn, in Del Mar, to attend the sick man. Both doctors agreed Ince was suffering from acute indigestion, which often precedes heart seizure.

Mrs. Ince was notified by wire at Beverly Hills and another wire sent to the yacht party at San Diego, which broke up after news of Ince's condition.

The Oneida is said to be listed in marine records under the name of International Film Corporation.

It has been regarded however, as the personal yacht of Miss Davies, used by her on week-ends and periods between the making of pictures.

The yacht, when in New York waters, was known as the property of Mr. Hearst. It came to coast waters from New York within the past several months.

Coulter -- For the Klondike Trade -- November 18, 2024

San Francisco Call, 25-December-1897

William A Coulter did many maritime drawings for the San Francisco Call. In late 1897, there was a great shortage of suitable ships to take adventurers to the Klondike Gold Rush. 

Folding Camera Perfection -- November 17, 2024

Popular Photography, January, 1916

The Rexo Camera, made by Burke and James of Chicago, competed with Kodak's folding 1A camera.

Kodak -- You Made the Movie Yourself -- November 16, 2024

Chicago Tribune, 16-November-1924

Kodak encouraged people to use the Ciné-Kodak camera to shoot home movies and the Kodascope projector to watch home movies or rented professional movies. 

We're Still Not Going Back -- November 15, 2024

moveon.org

We're still not going back.

KPO to Give Special Armistice Day Music -- November 14, 2024

San Francisco Examiner, 11-November-1924

San Francisco's pioneering radio station KPO (now KNBR) broadcast a special music program on Armistice Day, 1924 (11-November 1924). The music was composed by "the talented blind composer" Joseph B Cary. I can't find much about Cary except that he wrote a popular song, "When Honey Sings an Old Time Tune."

And His Murderer Hanged by a Mob -- November 13, 2024

Fresno Bee, 02-November-1899

This victim might well have committed the crime, but he had a right to a fair trial instead of being hanged to a tree.

Fletcher Henderson -- November 12, 2024

Pittsburgh Courier, 01-November-1924

Fletcher Henderson led the most important jazz band in New York, which played for much of the year at the Savoy Ballroom. Louis Armstrong joined the band late in the year. The Pittsburgh Courier, an African-American newspaper, asked readers to vote for Henderson as "the most popular artist on radio."

Happy Veterans Day, 2024 -- November 11, 2024

San Francisco Examiner, 11-November-1924

Happy Veterans Day to all the veterans out there. Thank you for your service to our country.

California's Palace of the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco's Lincoln Park, was dedicated 100 years ago today, on Armistice Day, 11-November-1924. Philanthropist and irresistible force Alma Spreckels paid for the museum. The building is a copy of the French pavilion at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The pavilion was a reduced-scale model of the original Palace of the Legion of Honor,

Comic Book -- Two-Fisted Tales -- November 10, 2024

mutoscope.listal.com

Veterans Day is coming.

Two-Fisted Tales was a famous war comic from EC. This cover of this issue shows two Marines who have been through hell. The cover promises "A document of the action at the Changjin Reservoir." This battle, one of the Marine Corps' most famous, is more commonly called the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. If you have never heard of it, look it up.

Pulp -- War Stories -- November 9, 2024

coverbrowser.com

Veterans Day is coming.

Soldiers of the AEF (American Expeditionary Force) at the front during World War One.

Toonerville Trolley -- Heaven Help the Poor Trolley Patron Now! -- November 8, 2024

Washington Times, 08-November-1924

I love Fontaine Fox's The Toonerville Trolley That Meets All the Trains.

Washington Times, 30-June-1918

Krazy Kat -- Why Should I Hide in That Skimpy "Pine Tree"? -- November 7, 2024

Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 02-November-1924

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

Washington Times, 30-June-1918

I Am Discouraged -- November 6, 2024

I am discouraged. How could so many people vote for that creep?

We have to carry on and resist.

Quincy Jones, RIP -- November 6, 2024

listal.com

Quincy Jones died. I have been listening to music shaped by him for my whole life.

The Overland Trail To-Day -- November 5, 2024

San Francisco Examiner, 11-November-1924

The Overland Limited was the premiere transcontinental train of the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads. "Union Pacific trains traverse the historic Overland Trail in one-twentieth of the time it took your forefathers."

For Work or Play -- November 4, 2024

San Francisco Examiner, 11-November-1924

Hobart Bosworth (I have always liked his name) was a big tough guy who could act. He had been a friend of Jack London's and produced and starred in a series of movies based on London's stories.

Dayton Daily News, 31-May-1924

Closely Connecting all Important Southland Cities -- November 3, 2024

San Pedro News-Pilot, 01-November-1924

The Pacific Electric Railway operated its famous Red Cars on interurban and streetcar routes throughout the Los Angeles area. "Many delightful weekend trips to beach and mountain resorts, parks and picnic-groups may be made via our lines."

Is The Champion Automobile Tire Changer -- November 2, 2024

Palisadian, 14-October-1924

Philadelphian Charles Paine was an expert at changing tires, and he may have set a record in changing clincher tire in under one minute. A clincher tire is a type now used mostly on bicycles.

November 2024 Version of the Cable Car Home Page -- November 1, 2024

San Francisco Examiner, 06-January-1951

I just put the November 2024 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: An ad for the Cable Car Cocktail Lounge in Fred Solari's Grill at 21 Maiden Lane. "Have a HIGHBALL at NITEFALL." (Source: San Francisco Examiner, 06-January-1951).
2. On the Cable Car Businesses page: A new article about the Cable Car Cocktail Lounge in Fred Solari's Grill Street station

Ten years ago this month (November 2014):

1. Picture of the Month: Catcher Buster Posey and closer Santiago Casilla pass the old Main Library, now the Asian Art Museum, on their double deck motorized cable car during the Giants' 2014 World Series victory parade
2. On the Decorated Cable Cars page: the the 2014 Giants Victory Parade.
3. On the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page: A new article about the New York Cable Railway, which was a name shared by a company that tried to create a comprehensive system in Manhattan and a another that built cable traction systems in other cities
4. On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about EJ Lawless , who worked on cable car lines in San Francisco and Kansas City and who was the propritor of a marvelous mustache
5. On the More California Street Pictures page: Some new Cal Cable photos around California and Drumm

Twenty years ago this month (November 2004):

1. Picture of the Month: A Pacific Avenue cable train in the 1920's.
2. Migrated one item from the Cable Car Museum site:
   • Added "The Sutter Street Railway - History and Technology," an article by Walter Rice, in honor of the 75th anniversary of the abandonment of the Pacific Avenue cable line on 17 November.
3. Added a newspaper article about the hearing to allow the abandonment of the Pacific Avenue cable car line to the newspaper article page
4. Added a photo of Henry Casebolt's balloon car to the Who page
5. Added a new article by Walter Rice about the 1950 Broadway Tunnel Construction Project and how it caused the O'Farrell/Jones/Hyde line to be temporarily replaced by Ford buses. Photos from Robert Townley and Walter Vielbaum.
6. Added News and Bibliography items about some outages and an accident that occurred in October

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 December 2024: Cable cars of Christmas past.

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-November-2024)
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-October-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/

Halloween 2024 -- October 31, 2024

Scariest Vintage Halloween Ads

Happy Halloween, everyone. 

This undated Coca-Cola ad features a smiling pumpkin.

Halloween Carnival -- October 30, 2024

San Francisco Examiner, 31-October-1924

Halloween is coming.

This looks like fun. The Chutes was a popular San Francisco amusement park. In 1902 the park was located at Ocean Beach in the Richmond District. 

Halloween Frolic Dansant -- October 29, 2024

San Francisco Examiner, 31-October-1924

Halloween is coming.

This frolic at San Franciscan's Mandarin Cafe looks like fun. "Dansant" means "dancing."

I Voted -- October 28, 2024

I went to the gym at Saint Peter's church and submitted my absentee ballot. 

Open the Great Highway - NO on K -- October 28, 2024

If I still lived in San Francisco, I would vote no on Proposition K. Closing the Great Highway on weekends is inconvenient for a lot of people who need to cross the Sunset District and don't want to get stuck in traffic on Nineteenth Avenue or have to navigate from Sunset to Chain of Lakes Drive via Lincoln. If they closed it permanently, it would make a bigger mess. People could walk on the path or Ocean Beach. If the Great Highway had closed while I was caregiving for my mother and my uncle, I would have had a nervous breakdown.

Would YOU Put the Lights Out for Lights Out? -- October 27, 2024

Winona Daily Times, 17-February-1947

Halloween is coming.

Yesterday I wrote a bit about Arch Oboler's radio horror show Lights Out:

The Pneumatic Rolling-Sphere Carrier Delusion: Turn Your Lights Out -- October 26, 2024

I later came across this item, which I like. It advertised an episode starring Boris Karloff.

"Would YOU Put the Lights Out for Lights Out?" 

Turn Your Lights Out -- October 26, 2024

Oakland Tribune, 02-February-1972

Halloween is coming.

When I was a kid, Gene Nelson on KSFO played old radio shows at 10 pm on weeknights. I would be in bed by ten so I could listen every night unless the Giants' game ran late. I had to keep the radio's volume turned down very low because my dad was a light sleeper. 

Nelson often played episodes of great horror shows. Arch Oboler's Lights Out was hard to come by, but it had many wonderful stories including "The Chicken Heart" and "The Dark." 

When I took public speaking in high school, I reenacted Bill Cosby's routine about "The Chicken Heart." 

On this night, Nelson also played an episode of The Inner Sanctum, which was not as much fun as Lights Out, but which had one of the best openings of any radio show.

My wife and I both miss Dinner Jazz on KJAZ.

New Cat #122 -- October 25, 2024

Halloween is coming.

I took the photo on 20-October-2024.

Comic Book -- Tales From the Crypt -- October 23, 2024

mutoscope.listal.com

Halloween is coming. 

EC was famous for its horror comics, The Vault of Horror, The Haunt of Fear and Tales From the Crypt. This fellow is suffering from claustrophobia or something. 

Pulp -- Terror Tales -- October 22, 2024

coverbrowser.com

Halloween is coming.

Let's review this cover of Terror Tales:

-- Weird lettering in title, Check.

-- scary person behind that curtain, ... Check.

-- hand holding knife, ... Check.

-- which is dripping with blood,...   Check.

-- and scantily clad woman. Check.

This should work.

Peace is Possible -- October 7, 2024

afsc.org

A year after Hamas invaded Israel from the Gaza Strip, murdering about 325 people and kidnapping about 240, Israel is still attacking Gaza. Israel has just sent ground troops into southern Lebanon to attack Hezbollah which has been firing rockets and missiles into northern Israel. More than 40,000 Gazans have died. Most of them had nothing to do with Hamas. This has to stop.

Feast of Saint Francis, 2024 -- October 4, 2024

Today is the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. I took the photo at Saint Veronica's parish in South San Francisco on 24-February-2019.

"Lord make me an instrument of your peace;

Where there is hatred let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

"O divine master grant that I may

Not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.

And it's in dying that we are born to eternal life."

Harvey Kurtzman 100 -- October 3, 2024

coverbrowser.com

Cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman was born 100 years ago today, on 02-October-1924. He was the creator and first editor of Mad Magazine. 

October 2024 Version of the Cable Car Home Page -- October 1, 2024

I just put the October 2024 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: This portion of an ad for the Kelley Steiger and Company clothing store at Dodge and Fourteenth Steets, says that "Parties from out of town will find it convenient to take the Dodge Street line of cable cars, which run directly by our store, stopping at the post office." (source: Omaha Daily Bee, 08-January-1888).
2. On the Other Cities page: A ten year update about the Cable Tramway Company of Omaha, including several contemporary newspaper items
3. On the More Muni Photos page: Muni's 2024 Heritage Weekend
4. Added News item about Powell Street cars turning back because of a police action at the Powell Street station

Ten years ago this month (October 2014):

1. Picture of the Month: New Orleans Canal Street streetcar 2018 outbound at Royal Street in July, 2014.
2. On the Miscellany page: General Beauregard's Cable Car, a new article about an experimental line in New Orleans. Includes lots of photos of streetcars and other items of interest from my recent visit to the Crescent City
3. On the Who page and the News: The passing of economist and cable car historian George W Hilton
4. On the Horse Car Home Page: We visited History Park at Kelley Park in San Jose and saw Central Railroad 7, an 1863 San Francisco horse car built in New York by John Stephenson and shipped around the Horn.

Twenty years ago this month (October 2004):

1. Picture of the Month: The header of a Rider Alert card issued during the 2002 Powell/Market Turntable Replacement. The other side was in English. The Bay/Taylor turntable is being replaced this month.
2. Added the October installment of Val Lupiz's quarterly column, Tales From the Grip
3. Thanks to information from Rich Fill, updated the article about the Park Hill Incline, a funicular in Yonkers.
4. Migrated one item from the Cable Car Museum site:
   • Added "The Wire Rope Street Railways of San Francisco, California," an 1881 article by Andrew Hallidie from the Scientific American Supplement, collected by Val Lupiz, with an introduction by Walter Rice.
5. On the page about the 2002 Powell/Market Street Turntable Replacement page: Scans of a rider alert card in English and Chinese. Also a News item about the current Bay/Taylor turntable replacement.
6. Added News and Bibliography items about some outages that occurred in September
7. Added more Chronology items

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 October 2024: On the Cable Car Businesses page: More items about businesses named after cable cars

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-October-2024)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/
San Francisco Bay Ferryboats (updated 31-July-2024)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ferry/
Park Trains and Tourist Trains (updated 29-February-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/

Jimmy Carter 100 -- October 1, 2024

Happy 100th birthday to former President Jimmy Carter. He is the first US President to reach that age. I voted for him in 1980. His basic decency caused him to make some mistakes as president, but he has been our greatest ex-president. He has acted as an actual Christian. He has helped to create peace agreements. The Carter Center promotes human rights. He has worked steadily for Habitat for Humanity.  He taught Sunday School until recently. I'll bet he was good at it. 

I am praying for President Carter to get his wish; he wants to live long enough to vote for Kamala Harris. 

 

The Happiness Boys -- September 17, 2024

New York Daily News, 19-September-1924

Billy Jones and Ernie Hare, billed as "The Happiness Boys," were pioneer broadcasters. They sang duets and engaged in humorous repartee. They performed on New York station WEAF. Many people find them obnoxious. Musical and comedy styles have changed.

New York Daily News, 19-September-1924

Twisting the Dials (Happiness Boys)

Lynching Record for Four Months -- September 17, 2024

Birmingham Age-Herald, 20-September-1899

33 lynchings in 4 months.

Grito de Dolores, 214 Years -- September 16, 2024

San Francisco Call, 16-September-1901

A portrait of Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the Mexican priest whose Grito de Dolores led to the birth of the Mexican indepence movement, 214 years ago today. He was captured and executed in 1811. 

The President of Mexico raises a version of the cry every year:

“Viva México! Viva la Independencia! Vivan los héroes!”