Saturday, May 22, 2010

1945 Magazine Catalog

A souvenir of the era when department stores sold everything, including books and magazines.

This catalog for 1945 subscriptions would have been published in 1944. The emphasis is on red-white-and-blue, and the continued state of war.

Uncle Sam and "Mrs. Uncle Sam" stand beneath a rendering of the cast-iron entrance to Louis Sullivan's Carson Pirie Scott building.

The story of Mrs. Uncle Sam is on the inside cover.
... She was only a baby when her folks build their first rude log cabin at Jamestown. She was in pigtails when Uncle Sam first began to notice her—that cruel winter at Plymouth. He was ready to pop the question the night Cousin Paul Revere rode so furiously down the road to Lexington...
It continues in this vein, from the couple marrying after Yorktown; "a framed copy of the Bill of Rights...the first picture hung on their walls."

There's the crossing the plains and heading off Indians; then on to the 1860s, when Mrs. Sam went "on the battlefield to nurse [Uncle Sam], and his wounded brothers of the South." Next,
She bought Liberty Bonds with their savings during the first World War. She managed wonderfully all through the depression.
Today, she stands in the front line with Uncle Sam—to defend what they built togehter. She knows he needs her now, as never, never before.
...
And Mrs. Uncle Sam faces this resolutely, serenely and free!

We salute you homemakers—mothers and women of America—for you are Mrs. Uncle Sam.
One magazine on offer:


The war would actually end in the summer of 1945, and Time was already pitching post-war life


War or peace, Time was willing as ever to take "news-words," and "boil them down and point them up and connect them together for you..."

Then, as now, considerately sparing readers the work of thinking for themselves.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Tiger of the Month Club: May


This month, our models pose in the lush spring greenery.

Our calendar artist's efforts merit an even closer look at this landscape.

Note, in particular, the left edge of that log—

Frate Indovino: May Magus


This month's cartoon:
The politicians of one side cry out for "Justice! Honesty! Transparency!"
The side in power hears not a sound...
Change sides; repeat process.
With the observation, "None so deaf as who doesn't want to hear," commentary and aphorisms about politics follow.

Two persons "of undoubted competence" are quoted:
"Politicians are the same everywhere: they promise to build bridges even where there are no rivers." - Chruščëv

"In politics always follow the right path, because you are sure to never meet anyone." - Bismarck
This month's astronomical curiosity is another constellation promoted by Lalande, the cat constellation guy.

This time around, Lalande proposed a constellation named after the Montgolfier brothers. The balloon-shaped constellation was to be south of Aquarius and Capricorn. Interestingly, the Italian term for "hot-air balloon" is "montgolfiera."

This is followed by—Capuchin vaudeville turns?

Well, one liners, anyway:
- "The Italian Republic is founded on work..."
- "Whose?"
Another item is headed, "Strizzatina d'occhio!" ["Wink!"]

Yes, humor is hard to translate, and this is based on preposition use that doesn't work in English. Even so, some jokes never retire:
- "Excuse me, Stationmaster, is there a Marsala train?"
- "No, the trains nowadays are electric or diesel."