Firehouse #55 -- May 7, 2012

I thought I should get a shot of the back of station 1 before they tear it down. I took the photo on 26-March-2012. The station and the white building to the left will get torn down when they extend the Museum of Modern Art. The W Hotel is to the right. 

 It was very warm last night and today.

For the Love of Film III -- May 6, 2012

Coming next week, on 13-May-2012: For the Love of Film III -- For the Love of Hitchcock.  This is a blogathon which is trying to raise money to stream on the internet The White Shadow, a 1923 film directed by Graham Cutts.  Alfred Hitchcock was the assistant director.   

Thank you to Ferdy on Films (http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/), The Self-Styled Siren (http://selfstyledsiren.blogspot.com/) and This Island Rod (http://thisislandrod.blogspot.com/) for organizing the blogathon.

Please consider participating in the blogathon and donating to the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Happy Cinco de Mayo #4 -- May 5, 2012

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone. 150 years ago on 05-May-1862, the Mexican army under General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín defeated the French invaders at the Battle of Puebla. "The national arms have been covered with glory" General Zaragoza wrote in a letter to President Benito Juárez. Some people credit this defeat with preventing French interference in the US Civil War.

I borrowed the poster for the movie ¡Vámonos con Pancho Villa! from the wonderful site LucyWho (http://www.lucywho.com/).

Something Good ar Last -- May 4, 2012

Carl Herz, a native of San Francisco, toured the world with his magic act and a Lumière Cinematograph. Many magicians had begun to add movies to their acts.  From the 29-September-1898 Honolulu Bulletin.

Mistress of the Air -- May 3, 2012

The ad is from the 09-May-1914 Moving Picture World.  The story is from the 16-May-1914 Moving Picture World.  Florence Seidell was a pioneering aviatrix who learned to fly from Glenn Martin.  A hydro-aeroplane is one that can land on and take off from water.  Parts of this movie may have been recut into a portion of MGM's "Goofy Movies Number Three" in 1934.  Be sure to click on the images to see larger versions. 

"The Mistress of the Air"

A Three-Reel Production Released by Albert Blinkhorn Feature Company Under the "Deer Brand."

Reviewed by Harry W. DeLong. 

This is an American production and was made principally along the coast of southern California.  Florence Seidell, said to be the only woman in the world flying a hydro-aeroplane, is the star, and she certainly demonstrates that she has the nerve to accomplish wonderful feats, in driving an automobile at full speed and manipulating a hydro-aeroplane both on the water and in the air.  the gentleman in the case, Richard Garrick, as Tom Hendricks, the villainous villain, and Jack Conway as Dick, clearly show that they are not afraid to take chances in the portrayal of their roles.  This picture-play involves all of the elements in its plot -- air, land and water.  Miss Seidell makes an actual fall, accidentally, of three hundred feet from her aeroplane while racing with a motor boat, which was recorded by the camera.  There is a highly interesting romance incorporated in this picture, full of light and shade; told in exquisite photography and intense action.  One can exult with the lovers and sneer at the villain, who exerts every effort to foil the hero, but of course he fails.

The principals of the cast are Florence Seidell, the "Mistress of the Air;" Richard Garrick, Tom Hendricks, the villain; Edith Sterling, Florence's chum and Jack Conway as Dick, the lover and hero.

The story of the play in interesting.  Florence Seidell, a wealthy young lady devoted to athletics of every kind, owns a hydro-aeroplane.  Tom Hendricks (Richard Garrick), the owner of a dirigible airship, who is a fortune hunter, annoys her with his attentions without success.  Florence has met and fallen in love with Dick Sterling.  Later Tom induces Dick to take a trip with him in his dirigible and through jealousy determines to rid himself of his rival.  He attacks Dick and throws him out of the balloon car.  Fortunately Jack drops into the sea and is rescued by Florence, who has been watching them through a field glass, with her hydro-aeroplane.  Later Tim is convicted of crippling the hydro-aeroplane by cutting one of the braces and in attempting to escape from the officers is shot while on a small hand ferry and falls into the stream.  A month later Florence and Dick are married at an aerial wedding, which takes place on her hydro-aeroplane, and they fly away on their honeymoon, disappearing in the clouds hanging over the summits of a range of California mountains.

The three hundred feet fall of Florence Seidell was an actual mishap, verified by the makers of the picture and was most thrilling, but which happily did not result seriously from the fact that she fell into the water.  The machine was totally wrecked, which fact the camera registered.

 An ad  from the 16-May-1914 Moving Picture World.

An ad  from the 23-May-1914 Moving Picture World.

New Seats on Board -- May 2, 2012

When the train home pulled into Montgomery Street Monday, I noticed this sticker on the side of the last car.  I didn't write down the number of the car.  The seats were firmer than the old ones, but not uncomfortable.  They still have that new (rail)car smell.  I took a photo of the seat by the door before I got off in Colma.

Yesterday there were several Occupy protests in San Francisco and Oakland for May Day.

May Day #2 -- May 1, 2012

Today is May Day. The image comes courtesy of the Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University (https://www.reuther.wayne.edu/).  The 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike, the Bread and Roses Strike, was an important stage in the growth of unionism in the United States. Immigrant workers in the Lawrence, Massachusetts textile factories struck when a law capping the hours women could work in the week resulted in wage cuts for people who already could barely feed their families.

The A.F. of L. had little interest in organizing unskilled foreigners, so the Industrial Workers of the World stepped in, sending Big Bill Heywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn to lead a team of organizers. The Wobblies helped the strikers to gain sympathy by sending their children to other cities so they would not starve. Mill owners sent the police and the militia to stop a group of women from sending their children to Philadelphia. Photographs of police beating women, one of whom miscarried, lost any sympathy people might have had for management.

The poster decries the use of child labor in the mills and includes a quote from Bill Heywood: "The worst thief is he who steals the playtime of children."

All of this seems appropriate in light of attacks on unions by people like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.