History Adventuring

I've always had a fascination with history, which is part of the reason that I started this blog. And to me, history includes everything that's ever happened, from the beginning of the universe to the end of time. In a brief human lifespan, interrupted by the usual things of life, I really can't hope to learn everything, but that won't stop me from trying. Aside from the obvious limitations, such as probably living no longer than 100 years (which leaves me with less than thirty years to continue my studies), there are limitations that I haven't yet reached, which may affect my physical ability to simply sit upright, take in nourishment, read, and think. But while those thoughts pop into my head every once in a while, they're not enough for me to scale back my project. My attempts to begin to understand what a virus is last year (I'm writing this in 2021) were an absolute failure. I found a book about viruses (viri?) but got about half-way through and realize...

This billboard, from the 1920s, which is for Oh Henry! candy bars, has an illustration by Andrew Loomis, who was a notable illustrator at the time. I'd never heard of him, but he must have been pretty important in order to be allowed to sign his drawing on an ad. Most illustrators are anonymous. By the way, just to get it out of the way, it seems like either Loomis had never seen an actual Oh Henry candy bar, or he exaggerated the size. Anyway, let's look at the illustration: Although I don't really know, my best guess is that this was done with tempera, possibly egg tempera, which Andrew Wyeth used. Of course Andrew Wyeth was never considered an illustrator, he was a fine artist. Most illustrators don't sign their work. This must have really meant a lot to the Oh Henry company, that they got Loomis to do the artwork. Speaking for myself, although I've done thousands of illustrations (my style is cartoon illustrations) I never signed them, and I can count on one han...

  Time-travel with me, and let's go to the Atlantic City boardwalk on a blustery day in 1923. This photo is from the Duke University site ROAD (Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions), and their interest is in historical advertising. My interest is how these photos make me feel. And I feel cold! I've never been to Atlantic City, and in fact I've never seen the Atlantic Ocean, but I spent enough time near the Pacific to know how it feels when the tide is high and the chill is coming in from the sea. No one in their right mind wants to be there, which is why my best guess is that these people are tourists. I know that sounds a bit snooty, but really, who would want to be down by the shore unless they were on vacation? If you lived there, you'd wait for some nicer weather. I mean, look at where the tide is, all of the way up on what's usually the beach! Brrrrrrr! If that were me standing there I'd have a nice warm scarf wrapped around my face, and probably be...

If you've ever been tempted to read the book "Two Years Before the Mast", I encourage you. Or not. If you're looking for a thrilling story, it will just be very long and tedious, without much happening. I'll sum it up for you: a young man in Boston takes a year off from college to be a sailor. There ya go. If, on the other hand, you're like me with a fascination with Southern California, it's wonderful. He goes into wonderful detail about places that I'm familiar with, especially Santa Barbara, in 1835 and '36. And since I just finished reading it again, I've decided that he and I have a lot in common. No, I wasn't a sailor, and I didn't go to Southern California in the 1830s. But I was a young man, and I spent a couple of years in Santa Barbara in the 1980s. By the way, the title "Two Years Before the Mast" doesn't mean that something is supposed to happen to the mast in that timeframe, it's just an old-fashioned expr...

Although I've been a grownup for a long time now (longer than I care to admit!), my point of view tends to that of a kid, and of course I'm always looking at dogs. Today I'm looking at kids and dogs in a photo from the Duke University site ROAD (Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions), which is all about historic advertising - because grownups look at that kind of stuff. I'm a kid, and I look at dogs, and things that interest kids. It's 1946. If you're a serious historian, I'm sure that you'll be seeing stuff that I'm gonna pass by today. I'm the kid in the foreground, holding the hand of his big brother and being wary about the dog there on the leash. Don't get me wrong, I love dogs, but I know that they can be startled.  I've never been bit by a dog, but I know kids who have been, so I'll keep my distance if the dog doesn't look friendly. The other dog, up ahead, looks more relaxed, maybe if we catch up with those people I...

Let's time-travel to 1924, and look around the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I'll be your tour guide today! But really, I don't know much, so I won't do as much explaining as asking questions. Come on! This image, as you can see from the watermark on the upper left, is from the Duke University. They have  a site called ROAD (Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions), which is dedicated to the study of historic billboards (yes, that's a thing). And while I'm interested in advertising, as an old graphic designer, I'm mostly interested in just looking around. And the first thing that catches my eye is the guy on the ladder: Whenever I see someone on a ladder it makes me nervous, so hopefully he is observing all safety precautions required in 1924. Not sure what he's doing? Painting? I don't see a paint can. Anyway, the ladies in the fur coats don't seem to be interested, so I'll just look at something else. Hmmm... Steel's Fudg...

Time-travel with me, and let's walk around Newark, New Jersey in 1941. This image is from the Duke University site ROAD (Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions) and their main interest is studying historic advertising, and mine is time-traveling. Come on! I'm gonna say that it's May of 1941 because that's the May '41 issue of the Saturday Evening Post at the newsstand. It could, of course, be earlier than that, but it's not later - no self-respecting stand would have an old magazine for sale! Suffice to say that the United States is not yet in the war. By the way, I found a better pic of the cover, here ya go: It's a hat check girl, comically overwhelmed by coats and hat at a Convention, of course drawn by Norman Rockwell. And before I forget, we're looking north on Broad Street towards Williams. Let's take a closer look: I'd like to imagine that's me, striding confidently, great posture, looking as if at any moment I'll be changing...

I've lived in Arizona for a long time, and not far from Sun City, so I know that there are a LOT of people who really shouldn't be behind the wheel. Driving requires the kind of things that young able-bodied people take for granted, and when those abilities fade away, driving can be a very dangerous thing for both the driver and other people on the road. But there really is a reason why so many elderly people continue to drive long after they themselves realize that they're just an accident waiting to happen - there really is no safe and dignified alternative. Well, not yet. And I'm hoping that the future that I will be living long enough to see will include a new type of technology, something so revolutionary that it's almost unthinkable to many people, self-driving cars. Time-travel with me. I'm old enough to remember life before computers, long before it was just a given that you could make a phone call simply by carrying around something in your pocket. Why ...

When I saw this image on the Duke University site ROAD (Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions), I really had a sense that I could project myself into it, and walk past Dave's Market in the 1950s. As near as I can figure, this man looks to be about my age. Here, I'll zoom in a bit: Yeah, I figure that this man is in his early sixties, like I am. Of course, he could be a very youthful-looking man in his nineties, or a man in his thirties who has been aged by care. I really don't know, and I really don't know the exact location. And I'm just estimating the date based on the cars, which look to be the early fifties. Update: February 12th - see comment below. Thank you! The store is Dave's Market, but it looks like the sign says "Frank's Fruit Beverages", not sure what that means? And it looks like Dave put up a display area, with chicken wire and lumber, presumably to display things when he wanted to. By the way, the expression on the man there ...

Although technically I qualify as a "Baby Boomer" (or "Boomer" as they're just called nowadays), to me true Baby Boomers were born right after World War II. And it must have been an amazing time. This ad, which I found on the Duke University site, is advertising the Pennsylvania Railroad, has a little girl being visited by Santa Claus, and the train conductor. Presumably visions of sugarplums are dancing in her head! I'm no expert on guessing the age of kids - maybe two? or three? Anyway, born right after the end of the war, and the beginning of a huge boom of babies. The war is over, and the past four years are something that people are anxious to put behind them. The future is bright, and the decade of the fifties is about to begin. The "can do" attitude of the United States which helped to win the war still thrives, and the economy is booming (along with the babies!). Of course, not everyone could afford to ride in such luxury, but for people wh...

Nowadays, in my sixties, I find that the range of people that I consider to be "about my age" is very wide, from the young whipper-snappers who are just barely qualifying for a senior discount, to the wise and venerable ones who have made it past seventy. But when I was going to ASU, I recall really feeling my age, because there's a huge difference between someone who has recently graduated from high school, and someone who has been away from it for many, many years. I was an "old man on campus", and I knew it. I was twenty-five in the photo at the top of this post, and I really had no one but myself to blame for making such slow progress towards graduation, which I would do that year. It was just a four-year degree, but it took me seven. Most people graduated at age 22, or at least 23, so my being 25 meant that, although no one was kindly holding my elbow when I walked up stairs, I felt my age. It was time for me to get myself organized, wrap up the remaining c...

As a history adventurer, time-traveler, and girl-watcher, I take notice of the ladies. I'm no expert on women's fashion, but I'm now realizing that there was a gradual change of what was acceptable for them to wear on the beach. And maybe not so gradual, if you compare the very revealing swimsuits of the 1950s to the more modest bathing costumes of the 1920s, even 30s. Of course, it all started changing after the war. And I'm not talking about bikinis here, I'm just talking about swimsuits, what most women nowadays would consider very modest, and call a "one piece". These must have taken a lot of nerve to wear, even before "itsy-bitsy-teenie-weenie yellow polka-dot bikinis". And as you can see from the billboard there in Atlantic City in 1950, it would take a bit of convincing. The headline there says "When all you're wearing is a swim suit, be sure it's a Sea Nymph (a particular brand). Hang on a second here, I'll go into my fil...