Yuletide Entertainments

Title page:

YULETIDE ENTERTAINMENTS

CHRISTMAS RECITATIONS, MONOLOGUES, DRILLS, TABLEAUX, MOTION SONGS, EXERCISES, DIALOGUES, AND PLAYS

SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES

BY ELLEN M. WILLARD

CHICAGO, T.S. DENISON & COMPANY, 1910

(Back cover)

The front matter includes this assurance:

The songs in this book are to be sung to old airs that are presumably familiar to everyone. If any of them should prove unfamiliar, however, the music will be found in Denison's "Songs Worth While," one of the best arranged and most carefully edited collections of old favorites ever published. This book is beautifully printed, in non-glossy paper, measuring 10¾ by 7 inches, and is well bound in a stout paper cover done in colors. It may he obtained from the publisher for the price of $1.00, postpaid.

(Ad page, at back of the book).

Then we have these words of guidance:

INTRODUCTORY

It becomes more and more a part of Christmas gayety to present the legends, or the spirit of it, to the eye as well as the mind.

For this purpose the following pages have been prepared in play and pantomime, songs and marches, drills and recitations. While the needs of adults have not been forgotten, those of the children have been most largely remembered, since Christmas is pre-eminently the children's festival.

A word to those who take charge of such affairs may not be amiss.

Precision of movement is the keynote of success for everythinng of this kind. This does not mean stiffness, but it does mean exactitude and certainty. Uncertain gestures in speaking; scattered attack and close in singing; hesitation in acting; and, more than all, careless motions and marching in the drills (corners not formed squarely, motions only half in unison, etc.)—all these are fatal to that success which makes such entertainments entertaining.

Here, as everywhere else, "What is worth doing at all, is worth doing well."

Rather exacting entertainment...

There are no real illustrations, just a few diagrams, in this paperbound book, "Price, 40 cents." Those figures include a frame and screen arrangement for use as a stage, and diagrams of the movements to be made for specific drills and dances.

The latter two look pretty complicated. "Dance of the Holly and the Mistletoe; For Eight Young Girls or the Number May Be Doubled," has six illustrative figures and seventeen steps in the directions.

The period skits include the usual moral tales about learning the true meaning of Christmas.

There are the usual ethnic stereotypes, such as, "The Pickanny's Christmas."

"Santa Claus in Many Lands" features actors who each dress as a "country," with countries including "Hindustan" and "Esquimaux." "China," has lines in excruciating pidgin to express how much "me likee Melican Santa." Though the dialogue sort of suggests that even countries that don't celebrate Christmas have their points, and at the end, Santa arrives to say he loves all the children.

If this all does not provide adequate entertainment, the publisher also offers:

Tiger of the Month Club: December

As all good things must come to an end...

Frate Indovino: December Divining

Caption: "The law is equal for all but more equal for some."

Well, that's a change from the sentimentality expected throughout this time of year in the U.S.

And a more honest appraisal than publicly acceptable here, at any time.

In any case, the theme is that justice has always been elusive:

As far back as the ancient Greeks, Plutarch complained that "the spiders' weavings blindside flies, but leave hornets alone," and the Latin poet Juvenal stigmatized the censors who "forgave the crows, but made havoc with doves." And many centuries later, things have not changed much, and people say it this way: "In jail he who steals wood, on the throne he who steals a kingdom"; "Many times money and friendship, break the legs of justice" etc., etc. ...

After more quotes and expressions highlighting the theme, there's a long passage about the the slow wheels of justice... Which I can't quite follow, but: it seems to be about an Italian incident [or more than one incident] involving a legal [and maybe political] conflict, that began in 1816 and ended in 2001 [? - the math doesn't quite seem to work, either].

The writer says the dispute ended only

... because the losing party did not contest the umpteenth ruling issued, just think: after 192 years!

The mini-essay concludes that

The justice of God is a bit different but equally "mysterious," as evidenced by the fact that the first to "steal" paradise was the good thief.

Perhaps an inspiring seasonal reference there, after all.

In other wisdom, the almanac says:

A Dicembre nevoso - segue anno fruttuoso
Snowy December - a fruitful year follows

In the skies:

A total lunar eclipse on the 21st, visible from Asia, Australia, the Pacific, America and Europe, and lasting 3 hours 29 minutes.

Also:

Magnetic storms will influence the weather, with the possibility of gales and storms at sea... in the first ten days: negative influences on mental activity.

"First ten days": quite early for holiday behavior, American-style.

Though with the opening of the shopping season having been pushed to the night of Thanksgiving and following dawn, this may fit here, after all.

Sadly, the year of visiting with Frate Indovino is coming to an end.

One last bit of wisdom, as we wave bye-bye to crazy, dear Italy:

Besides death, three things are certain for the Italians: the New Year's television horoscope, the size of the budget, and the soccer league.

Stop That, Kitty Cat!

Live action meets cartoons, in a 1968 cheaply-produced children's book.

A mish-mash of drawings and story based on photos from three sources.

One is Walter Chandoha,who was all over the cute cat market, in magazines and newspapers of the period.

There are pictures from "Three Lions, Inc." -
A lot of these involve yarn or string. Which may spell "cat mischief," but I'm still not sure if the company's main business was photography or selling fiber.

The third photo source is "ZFA, Dusseldorf":

At the risk of repeating myself: a mish-mash...

Tiger of the Month Club: November

Nice cat...

... Although our artist seems to be observing National Boring Generic Props Month.

Frate Indovino: Penultimate Prognostications

Cartoon: "Dalla coda riconosci la volpe" — Recognize the fox by her tail

Written over a year ago, yet—as if the cartoonist were channeling a message about Election Day, USA.

Or—could it be that the good brother from another realm is picking up signals from a deceitful Fox of a very different magnitude of con artistry?

Below the cartoon is this month's mini-essay of quotations. Title is in the artist's lettering, and seems to read, "Conosco più d'un gatto ch' è disposto a vende er fumo pè magnà l'arrosto"

That may be a bit off, or the problem with translating could be abbreviations or slang. But the idea seems to be, "Know that more than one cat is ready to sell smoke as a tasty roast."

Yes: all good advice, and easily applied to our elections tomorrow.

A couple of other apt thoughts, from the daily almanac:

Da giudice che pende – giustizia invan s'attende
From a hanging judge – one expects justice in vain

Which sure will fit anyone falling for the manipulations of the ultra-rich—instead of having the sense to vote in the interest of themselves, and practically everyone else.

Then there's:

Ricordare storie vecchie – fa venire collera nuova
Remembering old stories brings new anger.

Good advice for our Confederate voters—if only they would heed it.

Especially when—as so often—the meaning of "stories" is really, "myths."

Among this month's Spiritual Thoughts:

L'unico modo per rimanere fedeli al futuro consiste nel non tradire il presente. (A. Pronzato).

The only way to remain faithful to the future is to not betray the present.

Famous For Foods

Angostura-Wuppermann Corporation,1934

Back cover:
The booklet opens with some history, entitled,"The Romantic Career of Dr. J.G.B. Siegert the Inventor of Angostura Bitters."

A summary:

Born in Silesia 1796, Siegert studied medicine in Berlin. He became Army Surgeon with the East Prussian Infantry during its campaign against Napoleon.

Siegert emigrated to Venezuela in 1820. During the war for independence he offered his services to Simón Bolívar, and was appointed Surgeon-General of a military hospital.

In 1824 he first began developing his product, which he named after the place where he had settled. (The town of Angostura would later change its name to Ciudad Bolívar.)

After Siegert's death, and "due to constant political disturbances," two of his sons relocated the business to Trinidad in 1875. The business grew from there, going on to become famous and award-winning.

This is followed by testimonials from happy customers. These home cooks found that Angostura solved a variety of sensitive problems :

"My cooking may seem too rich, but that danger has been eliminated by the Angostura."
Miss Dorie Will, 4313 Wilkinson Ave., North Hollywood, Calif.

"I find I do not have indigestion when I use Angostura for my meat sauces."
Mrs. P. H. Klingensmith, 1218 Coal Street, Wilkinsburg, Pa.

With the last writer's address, I picture her ensconsed in the local mine owner's mansion, suffering from over abundance before discovering this product.

Other endorsements:

"Recently I have found that by the addition of Angostura a delicious new zest has come into my salads."
Mrs. George W. Keenan, 11 Atkinson St., Rochester, New York.

"I cannot remember a time when my mother's cupboard was without a bottle of Angostura. She always used it for flavoring Hard Sauce at Holiday time and Father managed to use it in between times. We have always considered it somewhat of a family secret, using it in food as we do. Now that the secret is out, I hope that many people enjoy what we have always known."
Mrs. Beatrice Thurston, Santa Monica, Calif.

Ahh, those little family "secrets"... Father barely managing a nip "in between times" that Mother was using the stuff.

Followed by a page of thanks to chefs whose menus include dishes using Our Product. Among these:

Gabriel Lugot .... Waldorf-Astoria, New York
for his WALDORF SALAD ANGOSTURA

Antonio Mestres .... National Hotel, Havana
for his ARROZ CON POLLO HABANERA
(Chicken with Rice, Cuban Style)

Ernest Amiet ... Palmer House, Chicago
for his MORNING GLORY DELIGHT

These recipes are not divulged.

The ones that the booklet does offer are pretty much the American diet of the period, pepped up with Bitters. Canned items are featured a lot, which I assume was the chic, modern thing.

There is also such typical period stuff as a recipe for "Mammy's Chocolate Spice Cake with Lemon Icing."

Another dessert is this 1930s "dream" ... of toasted sugar, graham cracker, walnuts, coconut:

Dream Cake
Part 1
1/3 cup butter
3 tablespoons sugar
3 cups graham cracker crumbs

Part 2
3 cups brown sugar
1 cup walnuts
1 teaspoon flour
1 cup cocoanut
3 beaten eggs.
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ANGOSTURA

Mix well the ingredients of Part 1. Spread in large or 2 square pans, 8 x 8 inches. Bake 5 to 10 minutes. Have ready Part 2, the ingredients mixed in the order given. Spread the mixture evenly on top of the partially baked Part 1. Return to oven and bake until nicely browned in about 350-degree oven. A too hot oven will burn this exceedingly rich mixture. Cool and cut in squares to serve. Will serve 10. Can be served plain or if for a company dessert it may be topped with whipped cream.

Mark Your Place

Book marker, found in a second-hand book—

silver embossing on plastic film, c. early 1960s.

And a word from our sponsor:

Tiger of the Month Club: October

Time to harvest a fine crop, by the bushel full!

Frate Indovino: October Oracle

Cartoon: "Getting by, Italian art"

From this, we arrive at the timely theme, "Mi Rifuto" o "Mi Riciclo" ["I Refuse" or "I Recycle"]—

Remember the joke about the child who ran into the house: "Papa, Papa, the man with the garbage is here!"
- "Tell him we don't want any more, we already have plenty!" And we're filling up with more and more. The Tuscans say: "Pork fat was never clean," but it's true that waste from consumption has become so cumbersome and unwieldy that no one wants it, though, thanks to the Italian art of getting by, there is always someone who can profit from it. How hard it is to be like the sun, shining on the manure pit without getting dirty! Now the watchword is to recycle. Italy is starting to, but many are still upset and like Hamlet in our common dilemma: "To refuse or to recycle?" Others are playing the blame game so that many landfills are like the conscience: "clean, because unused." I come back to the bitter prophecy of Chief Seathl [Sealth; Seattle], of the Duwamish Indian tribe, contained in a letter written to the president of the United States, Franklin Pierce, in 1855: "You will die buried under your waste." We don't know whether the wise Seathl, were he living today, would refer only to landfills, or to other kinds of garbage, such as television, print media, politics, etc... but his words continue to hang over our heads like a sword of Damocles, as the sun continues to shine "on the human tragedies"

Now there's some food for thought... even if the writing style for this department is always a run-on bunch of "on the one hand/on the other hand" points, interspersed with quotes.

In one of the many small sidebar items, we find this piece of wisdom attributed to a later (naturalized) American—

L'alcool è un liquido prezioso; conserva tutto...tranne i segreti
- C. Grant

Alcohol is a precious liquid: it preserves everything... and keeps secrets

"One of the fairest monuments that America has raised"

Part of title page; published by New York Public Library, 1961.

This book commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the Library's move to its Fifth Avenue location.

From the credits:

William K. Zinsser is a fourth-generation New Yorker who often writes about his home town. A former critic and editorial writer of the New York Herald Tribune, he is the author of two books and many magazine articles.

That was a name I remembered from family copies of Life.

From my more recent reading, I recalled a jazz biographer's reference to a book by Zinsser, Mitchell & Ruff: An American Profile in Jazz. Its subjects are pianist Dwike Mitchell and bassist-French horn player Willie Ruff, and Zinsser seemed to be a writer who really got around.

Well, I see from his site: he is still around; Zinsser studied piano with Mitchell and in the 1990s did some performing in clubs.

That was only a small break from writing. Among other work during his long career, Zinsser wrote On Writing Well, "the classic guide to writing nonfiction," first published in 1976 and still in print. In 2005 he published Writing About Your Life: A Journey into the Past.

But getting back to 1961: the illustrator's name was not one I knew, although his style did look familiar—

Tom Funk, whose grandfather co-founded the New York publishing firm of Funk & Wagnalls, has been a free lance illustrator in the city since 1937. His fondness for its vistas is well known to readers of, appropriately, The New Yorker.

These are spot illustrations in classic New Yorker style. To get any decent detail I had to scan them as grayscale, but they actually are printed in a rich black, for a woodcut effect.

Zinsser opens with an anecdote from early in World War II, when the Library needed to consider whether some of its holdings should be removed for safekeeping.

When the curators met to discuss the prospect,

Each... spoke up for the items he thought most valuable: the Gutenberg Bible and the five First Folios of Shakespeare, the handwritten copy of George Washington's Farewell Address and Jefferson's early draft of the Declaration of Independence... and the illuminated copy of Ptolemy's Geography. The longer they talked, the longer the list stretched, for among the 7 million volumes are some of the rarest books and manuscripts in the heritage of mankind.

... Harry M. Lyndenberg, director of the Library, listened gravely and finally said, "But first I think we should evacuate all the pamphlets."

"Save the pamphlets" — now that's a director after my own heart!

Zinsser continues,

He meant that Gutenberg Bibles and Farewell addresses do at least exist in other copies, but that the pamphlets are unique. In thousands of cases the Library's edition is the only one that survives. The same thing is true of the countless old periodicals, broadsides, playbills, scrapbooks, popular songs and other fugitive documents that the Library — and nobody else — has bothered to keep. They are the routine archives of life. Trivial yesterday, they are priceless research tools today.

It is this passion for continuity, for collecting everything and discarding nothing that has made the New York Public Library a supreme reference source, one that extends backward in time to the Babylonian clay table and outward in space to every corner of the globe and many globes beyond...

Zinsser's text is accompanied by Funk's renderings of various building details, inside and out...



Along with those views are illustrations representing the varied collections to be found in the Library's "eighty miles of shelves."

Zinsser describes those extraordinary collections, and the experts who staff them.

I don't work in the library world, and wouldn't normally recognize its notables. But here I actually recognized two names—from this biography of Joseph Cornell.

Like many New York area artists, Cornell was a frequent visitor to the Library. Children's librarian Maria Cimino met him in 1945, when he first did research in her collection. After her 1950 invitation to collaborate on a children's presentation, Cornell loaned some of his boxes. Enthusiastic about his first exhibit for children, he would participate in others in the future.

Romana Javitz was also a friend of Cornell's, as she was of other artists who used the Picture Collection. I first read of her in the same Cornell biography, but have since come across her name in other books about the New York art scene—of the 1930s and beyond.

NYPL's site has this interesting article about the Picture Collection, and Ms. Javitz's role in expanding it into the important archive it became.

She originally studied art, then headed the Picture Collection from 1929 to her retirement in 1968. Among her accomplishments at the Library, she encouraged Arturo Schomburg in developing archives that became the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

With many friends and contacts among artists, Ms. Javitz became very active in New Deal arts projects. She was a driving force behind creating the Index of American Design, as well as being involved with Farm Security Administration photography and its preservation.

Zinsser ends his 1961 tour of the collections with this vision, worth quoting at length—

The quality that makes The New York Public Library great is one that runs deeper than men and books. It is the quality of freedom. This is a building that takes no sides because it presents all sides. It grants its visitors the dignity of free access to information. It does not hide the ugly or censor the injurious. These guarantees are woven through every division, and often they take extraordinary form. The Jewish Division owns the biggest known mass of anti-Semitic material; the Picture Collection has hundreds of racist cartoons; the Current Periodicals Room subscribes to subversive magazines.

At first glance such a policy might seem at least unsavory, at most perilous to the very freedoms that it is trying to protect. Rare is the library, in fact, that does not defer in these sensitive areas to the government, the institution or the trustees that control it. The New York Public Library makes no such surrenders. It operates on the belief that free men will find the truth, however devious the route by which they approach it, or at least that they should have the fullest opportunity to try. Enacting this belief every day of the year for fifty years, it is an ornament to democracy, one of the fairest monuments that America has raised.

Metropolitan Cook Book

1957 pamphlet published by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; front cover—
Full of happy '50s food!

Period cookbook cliché it may be, but the food here is just... so darned happy!

Foodstuffs are happy on the title page:

Kitchen equipment shares the joy:


Lively food children are full of pep and wholesome hijinks:

Yes, it certainly is the 50s: Cake Mom has done her bit for the Baby [Cake] Boom!

... She does seem a bit overwhelmed: home all day with the cupcakes, while Cake Dad is away at the office...

There are merry mischief-makers:



After all, who would have expected the apple
to pie...

...a pie!

Tiger of the Month Club: September

Sure, there's more centerpiece here than table.

But when you can gaze on these beauties, who needs mere surface?

Frate Indovino: September Sage

Gli affari sono affari! - "Business is business!"

No further comment needed there...

So instead: this month we look at the Frate's fine print.

The calendar is crammed full of miscellaneous items—in assorted fonts that don't scan legibly. So I've only been able to do quick selections for typing into the translator.

I hadn't looked closely at the monthly list of saints and saints-in-waiting [the latter are names preceded by "B." for "Beato"—beatified]. I just assumed the line of text below each name must explain the religious meaning of that day.

But this section is actually where the almanac-style material is placed, on one line per date.

There are weather forecasts:

Settembre 1 Ultimo Quarto... Prime piogge abbondanti mitgano la tempuratura estiva.
September 1 Last quarter... the first heavy rains moderate the summer temperatures

Rhyming proverbs with religious morals:

A chi crede - Dio provvede
To those who believe - God provides

Beato chi vede con l'occhio della Fede
Blessed are those who see with the eye of faith

And general philosophizing, mostly expressed in rhyme:

Chi spreca ogni risorsa - non termina la corsa
Who squandered every resource - does not finish the race

There are proverbs that seem equivalent to some in English:

Dove sta la rana - l'acqua non è lontano
Where is the frog - water is not far
["Where there's smoke there's fire"]

Non dire mai "gatto!" - se non l'hai nel sacco
Never say "cat" - if you have not in the bag
["Don’t count your chickens..."; but with disturbing imagery]

Like the messages inside chocolate baci wrappers, there are lovely-sounding Italian rhymes that fall flat in English:

Amor perso in un momento - non si riacquista in anni cento
Love lost in a moment – will not return in one hundred years

Quando soffia Madam Fortuna- i granelli fan presto una duna
When it blows Madam Fortuna soon fans grains into a dune

Awkward translation grammar isn't too hard to clean up, but idioms that stump the translator have me stumped, too:

Di ogni altro amore è perno - il sincero amor materno
Each pin is another love - the true maternal love

Non c'è mucca così netta - che non abbia una macchietta
There is no clear-cut cow - which has not a speck

There are even weather and agricultural reports in rhyme:

Se piove il quattro di Settembre - si sta a bagno fino a Dicembre
If it rains on the 4th of September - it will soak until December

Settembre amico - apre mandorla e fico
September friend - opens [start of harvesting?] almond and fig

And, were truer words ever written?

Bolli, scartoffie e fogli - il mondo è pieno d'imbrogli
Stamps, paperwork and spreadsheets - the world is full of tricks

And in a world full of managers like the guy in the sheepskin: one can only try to look absorbed in the spreadsheets, while praying the boss takes note and walks on by...

Marine Products

Found on a shelf in a Chinese supermarket—
This is on glossy paper, 6 x 10 1/2 inches. It may have been packed in a shipping carton, then put aside and forgotten as shelves were stocked.

The gaudy colors—and the humanoid fish—remind me of this Max Fleisher underwater world...

Tiger of the Month Club: August

Of all the months, this credibility failure is my favorite:

Frate Indovino: August Augur

"Traffic Report"

Cartoon based on the proverb of the month, "Who goes slowly goes safely and far."

A discussion follows, with additional proverbs/thoughts on safety and traffic.

Of course, these expressions usually don't translate well—even more so when they are just plugged into a program.

But, tortured syntax and all, this seems to contain plenty of good sense:

Today, thanks to the miracles of progress, can also change the proverbs. And then there are those who think it is useless to continue to lower speed limits, especially for those who want to bust, 50 or 100 does the same. And then the proverb says: "Never did good dog chain." Has anyone else tried to make us even on irony: "If we think about it, the more you stay on the road, the greater the chances of accidents: prudence therefore advised to go at full speed." (Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca). The reasoning seems to spin, but when we open the newspaper or turn on the TV, always jumps out of the usual news: "A long row, close the street, made a pass and so be it!" In life you can correct many errors, but in traffic, no, "It is true that those who arrive late ... bad park," but it is equally true that "we must not disturb the misfortunes when they sleep." Psychologists say that to protect the shell of your car, even the timid become lions, but what's the point then, if you just fall back rabbits? In conclusion, my advice is to drive carefully in mind cleared, and moderate speed, without competition of strength or cunning, and above all respect the traffic lights (keep an eye on the yellow ... traitor), because in crazy and chaotic bustle of life today, were the only instruments capable of us together.

The "Favorable Days" prediction sounds pretty much like Italian traffic:

unfavorable critical months that cause psychological distress in addition to possible geophysical consequences.

Social History Through T-shirts

Make that: teii shatsu. To be exact, Japanese shirts from the mid-1980s: the era of puffy youth fashion.

While my French is pretty basic, and word division aside, this seems perfectly fine. For that matter, when I've seen French used on Japanese objects, it has read like it was lifted from printed matter.

Then, as now, the usual practice for product decoration was to go with some version of English. If the French came from printed sources, the English equivalent was not exactly Shakespeare.

Meaningless scrawl, or "Repo"? As in, "Repo Man"? The movie is from 1984, so the timing works for me to have bought this 1985 or so.

At some point in those years I was told there had been a notorious drug bust of stationery designers. Tripping would go a long way toward explaining how they came up with wacky English for embellishing kids' pencil cases. Whether the story was truth or joke, it's brought to mind by this T-shirt verse. Which, for once, is admirably grammatical.

A puffy girl...

While Econo Size is impressive, it's hard to accept that she could heft it with only one tiny hand. Tiny because it's so out of scale, or to accentuate the chic puffiness of her outfit?

Some of the most unavoidable pop music of the mid-'80s was by a boy band whose members wore oversized, wiiiiide jackets. If I ever knew the band's name, it's long forgotten. As huge as Japanese pop culture is now, most stuff from my time in the country can't be found, at least not in English. Unfortunately, it was just a few years too pre-Internet.

My surviving mid-'80s T-shirts at least document the puffy fashion of the era.

Like so many other shirts, the collar of this one offers a bonus.

While it's doubtful that Japanese youth ever actually read the messages, this shirt did have good intentions. Too bad the execution didn't live up to them.