For as little as 5¢ a day

Undated leaflet. No zip code, so we at least know it's pre-1963.

Proof positive of efficacy—

While it's unknown how this stacks up against Vegemeatavitamin, the product does measure itself against your classic American foodstuffs.

No effort has been spared in providing a rating system, context-free numbers and all.

Don't neglect your security!

Act now!

What I find searching the Ritamine name are several FDA Notices of Judgment from the 1940s. In those cases, products and sales leaflets originating from American Dietaids in Yonkers were seized from health food stores in different cities. This one is from the Southern District of California in November 1944. The February 1945 disposition:

... the case having been removed to Eastern District of New York pursuant to agreement, judgment of condemnation was entered and it was ordered that the booklets be destroyed and that the remaining merchandise be released under bond for relabeling under the supervision of the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA records reproduce the claims made by each manufacturer charged with violations, so those are an interesting look at hucksterism of the period. In the Ritamine case, more than a page worth of leaflet text is offered. Although text was typical of its kind, an additional contemporary pitch was used. After all, consumers needed all possible help for meeting the stress of wartime living—

Ritamine cases I saw from other years also were charged as labeling violations, and dispositions may have amounted mainly to wrist slaps. It may have been that the product was later produced under a change of company name, in a state other than New York. Or perhaps it was just a matter of these kinds of promises following patterns, so that other marketers recycled the product name at a later time.

Thrift Shop Day

A couple of items promising to take care of a range of needs. One barrel good for 50 huddled in your shelter—

At the other end of the size spectrum (and these images are around 40% larger than the tin)—

Also: assorted unsettling tourist destinations.

"Berlin - Karl-Marx-Allee 15 Jahre Haupstadt der DDR"

"Berlin - Hauptstadt der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik" (Soviet War Memorial, Treptow)

Schwarzwaldmuseum Triberg

"Los Caracoles   Restaurante Tipico"

Viva

Jesus and Sicily: instant identifiers of which neighbor cleaned house and put these in the giveaway spot.

Thrift Shop Day

Swedish cookie press set—

Recipe booklet—

Household essential—

Convincing!

Wowee...

Leather apron with painted fraternity motifs. I wasn't aware of the Masonic influence this suggests, but it makes sense for a male group with secret rituals.

Another view—

No clue what's represented by the mask, or by what looks like a stone planter with shrubbery. The only easily interpreted symbol is hearts chained to the University of Michigan ...

Couldn't come up with any Greek speakers to ask, so I used this to try typing out the motto. Translator gave me the first and last word as Αδελφοι - brothers, and Κοινη - common

It fits a joined-in-brotherhood concept. The middle word was harder to discern, though, and the result for my guess was less exalted—

Σρεδτια - walnuts

I like it! But really, this must be some word expressing a highfalutin concept. Unless walnuts is for a version of strong oaks growing from acorns? Or this was a forestry students' fraternity? Maybe it's all something to do with shrubbery.

Apron supplied by—

A company ad (Banta's Greek Exchange: Published in the Interest of the College Fraternity World, 1914)

Thrift Shop Day

Pictures from the holiday half-price sale, at the Parent-Teacher Organization's shop. While the shop is there to raise funds for student activities, it is itself a highly educational experience.

For instance, before today's visit I would not have known either this object (filter paper for chemical tests), or the 19th century scientist endorsing the brand.

Finding Berzelius' actual endorsement would no doubt take real research, but here are prices from a 1903 lab supply catalog, published in St. Louis.

Program notes from a Philadelphia Orchestra concert.

This was in a locked case, and the place was way too busy to bother having it opened. Going by art style, the program is probably from the 1940s to early '50s.

According to this, the game originated in WWII (but copyright was 1940, per this.)

For this to have caught on, it would seem to have needed public confidence that the Depression was ending. Perhaps a few years of New Deal had inspired enough confidence by then. The early '40s picture does seem complicated by what was on the near horizon: wartime status for the economy, and rationing for the public. Maybe the game's concept was attractive as a matter of aspiration.

Jump to postwar; roughly, early 1960s?

This would work as a soundtrack for the speedway action.

Complete with genuine simulated stereo.

Another country heard from...

Spotted by J, who, a few years ago, found this classic of the genre.

J's other find today—and the pièce de ... something or other—a newspaper-collaged candle holder.

 

At first glance—and in keeping with the motif—this wacked-out face had looked like some medieval equivalent of a hippie. A wild-eyed alchemist? Some ancient Dr. Caligari?

On further consideration... Shylock?

And...

Multi-tasking Lenin, who orates while sheltering a young girl. I assume the cringing figures on the right must be serfs (who haven't yet heard the good news?) Although Marx must be meant to listen thoughtfully, it really has to be said that he looks pained and disbelieving.

Karl Was Here?

THE PLAIN MAN'S GUIDE TO WINE

1961. From the front matter—

TO HIS FRIENDS, AND, AS HE MAY NOW SAY,
    HIS COLLEAGUES OF THE JURADE OF ST.
     EMILION THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY
                            DEDICATED
  BY THE AUTHOR, RAYMOND POSTGATE,
       CHANCELIER D'AMBASSADE POUR
                LA GRANDE BRETAGNE

That's the only illustration. Even so, I'm always fascinated by such period books that present fine dining and wining as topics of potential interest to anyone, not an elite. Though it's also depressing to see the degree of literacy exhibited, from the vantage point of a time when even basic literacy is not evident in most spheres.

Following his dedication, Postgate cites a poem in Latin, by Canon Walter Map. This translation follows—

It is my proposed aim to die in an inn; let wine be placed to the lips of the dying man, so that, when they come. The chorus of angels may say: 'God be kind to this drinker.'

The translation is presumably Postgate's own, though he adds this exegesis—

The translation does not do justice to the Latin of this agreeable poem. Propostium, for example, has an intentionally formal character: 'this is the proposition,' it says, as if the matter were put before a meeting and the Canon were looking round for a seconder.... Observe, too, how, being a Prebendary of St. Paul's as well as a Canon, the author writes chori, choruses; for you or me, perhaps, one brisk cherub will suffice, but as an escort to heaven he knows he is entitled to at least two ranks of angels. He was chaplain to Henry II and aware of his importance. He unwisely added other verses to these; they are of no importance.

Dated it may be, and getting to the punch lines takes a little reading on. Still, I can't help but enjoy an occasional serving of this style.

These are the contents of chapter 1—

THE ELEMENTS

Simplicity of wine-drinking — Falsehoods of the Wine Snob — 'Drink what you like' — Smoking — List of chief varieties of wine — Apéritifs, table wines, dessert wines — Temperature of wine, shaking of wine, wine with food — The vintages that matter — Glasses — How to taste wine — The minimum of knowledge on a postcard.

The "post card" is closest the book comes to having a second illustration.

Sew or Save?

The lithography and country of origin make this pre-World War II: from the 1930s at the latest, though I expect it was made earlier.

Although this type of button was rather workaday, the card seems like a souvenir. The shape is striking, and the design gets in Mt. Fuji...

...torii gate and shrine...

...and Buddhist temple motifs.

I can't decide if the card was originally diamond-shaped. Maybe the manufacturer had the horizontal edges cut to taper, or maybe that was done later, by a purchaser (American shop-keeper?) The taper does look a bit more uneven than I would expect, if it was done when the card was made.

Even if Japan used to export a lot of pearl buttons, early 20th century cards are usually rectangular. The main card decoration I've seen before has been either label art, or the man's shirt theme:

More examples.

And a couple of nice litho cards here.