Sewertile Brick Clay Head of a Woman End of Day Folk Art Pottery Pipe Sculpture

Sewertile Brick Clay Head of a Woman End of Day Folk Art Pottery Sculpture.  19th Century.  The figure appears to have been built up over shards and leftover materials.  Collection Jim Linderman

The REAL Baby Ruth

HERE is the real Baby Ruth, with her scepter likely made of spun sugar!  She is sitting smack dab in the middle of candyland.  Fortunately, this professional shot (Commercial Photo Co. St. Louis, MO) is crisp and clear, providing all the detail we need to investigate the Baby Ruth story!

First of all, the company (or COMPANIES, ownership has changed a few times) didn't name the bar after Babe Ruth, but they did benefit.  The Curtiss Candy Company claimed it was named after our fattest president's daughter Ruth Cleveland. However, they did it 17 years after little Ruth had died. Whaaa?

Furthermore, the company was located steps away from Wrigley Field.  I smell corporate malfeasance.  Sorry Babe...NO ENDORSEMENT DEAL and NO ROYALTIES!  (But keep on hitting it out of the park.)

Baby Ruth started out as "Kandy Kake" and Baby Ruth came about the year Bambino hit 59 home runs.  What did Grover Cleveland's daughter do that year?  Nothing, she was dead.

We see here not only the lovely queen of candy, but some graveyard brands.  By Jiminy.  Taffee Girafee.  Chum Gum.  Plus, some little goober with a comb over also apparently claiming the name.

Now I have to agree Baby Ruth has really good taste.  The famous scene in Caddyshack?  Not such good taste, but it is the type of gag which has kept the film on the top of the "best golf films" forever.  

Original 8 x 10 promotional photograph Commercial Photo Co. St. Louis, MO No date. Collection Jim Linderman

The Great Big Sunflower Plant and Science Helianthus Annuus Vintage Photograph

Long ago, I had a job which required a commute behind the wheel, and I would pass a sunflower field in the morning and again returning home in the late afternoon.  The flowers were always facing me!  In August,  there was a big hubbub when scientists had "broken the secret" of why sunflowers face the sun.  It has to do with cell growth.  I could have told them that.  No great miracle.  Plants reach for the sun, and if it requires turning a bit, they'll do it.  Here, an anonymous farmer stands next to his massive (if unfortunately named) Helianthus annuus while it stretches to meet the sun.  

Vintage Snaphot photo, circa 1930 Collection Jim Linderman
Thanks to BOXLOT

Antique Folk Art Whirliwind Bowler Carved by Hand Trophy

It's going to be a hell of a ball release when our whirlwind, "full wind-up" bowler lets fly.  
Folk Art Wood Carving of a Bowler (amateur trophy?)  Collection Jim Linderman

Sewertile Sewer Pipe Victorian Folk Art Shoe End of Day Pottery

Sewertile Sewer Pipe Victorian Folk Art Shoe End of Day Pottery circa 1900
Collection Jim Linderman

A Dozen Beautiful (if bizarre...) Odd Fellow Slides

A Dozen Beautiful (if bizarre...) Odd Fellow Slides.  Early 20th Century.  Sit back and enjoy the show, fellow odds!

Black History Painting Original Handpainted Boycott A&P Handbill

In 1935, a white clerk at the A&P store in Atlanta beat a black customer.  An unemployed father of three, he had stolen a bag of sugar.  Black consumers of the store began to picket and organized a boycott. One demand was the hiring of black clerks.  

The following is from Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta by Karen Jane Ferguson.  "Despite visits from the Ku Klux Klan and a menacing police cordon which "protected" the store from vandalism with sawed-off shotguns, the picketers persisted…the boycott received wide community support, especially after schoolboys distributed handbills in the surrounding black neighborhood urging black consumers to stop patronizing A&P."

The boycott lasted five years and eventually the store had to close.

I do not know if this hand-painted handbill is associated with the Atlanta strike, but it seems to come from the time period.  I presume there were other incidents involving the grocery over the years. There was a significant boycott of the chain in the 1960s apparently organized by Albert Brinson, a friend of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Original watercolor monochrome painting for a handbill, no date.  Anonymous. 
Collection Jim Linderman  Thanks to Curley's Antiques

4 Way Hand painted sign NO U TURN Galvanized Steel

4 Way Hand painted sign NO U TURN Galvanized Steel

Some Books (and instant downloads) by Jim Linderman HERE

CDV photograph of a Grinding Wheel circa 1870 Antique Machinery Salesman Sample

It is pretty remarkable to think that only 150 years ago, a grinding wheel to sharpen tools was so important, it was placed on a pedestal and photographed.  We have come a long way from sharpening knives in that period of time.  The CDV (carte de visite) photograph was an improvement on the tintype. They were most popular from 1859 to 1866.  Often, photographs of inventions and hard goods were promoted with photographs, and it is possible this photograph played the role of a salesman sample.

Circa 1870 CDV of a Grinding Wheel Courtesy CURLEY'S ANTIQUES.

Handmade Large Articulated figure Standing Man Vintage Industrial Folk Art

Bigfoot!  This industrial articulated figure stands nearly 5 feet tall and the wood is 2" Thick.  Adjustable screws allow the arms and legs to move.  My guess is that this was a display model in a factory to show workers how to properly lift heavy items, but It could have served some other trade purposes.  Mid 20th Century.  Collection Jim Linderman

Antique Handmade Folk Art Toy Animals

Antique Handmade Folk Art Toy Animals, Depression era.  Wonderful abstractions, as well as paint surface.  Collection Jim Linderman. 

Odd Fellows Honor the Dead Flag

Odd Fellows Honor the Dead Flag with affixed stick. No Date  WW1 ?  Collection Jim Linderman

Hand Drawn Automobile Radiator Cover of Canvas with Hitler and Tojo World War Two Folk Art

Hand Drawn Automobile Radiator Cover of Canvas with Hitler and Tojo World War Two Folk Art. Patriotic instructions "Do you Drive 35?" is likely a reference to gas rationing during World War Two.  A shortage of gasoline was not the problem...it was rubber.  It was believed the only way to preserve tires was to limit the amount of driving Americans could do, so drivers were limited by the amount of gas they could purchase. Circa 1940.  Collection Jim Linderman

Sewer Tile Sewer Pipe Folk Art Man with a Cap Wall Pocket End of the Day Pottery Sculpture

Sewer Pipe tile Folk Art Man with a Cap Wall Pocket End of the Day Pottery sculpture. No date.  Collection Jim Linderman

The Moving Log Cabin of Vinal Early Trade Training Norwell, MA Vintage Snapshot

They are hanging out the windows to see the Vinal Regional Technical School "Early Trade Training" boys at work!  They built a MOVING LOG CABIN!  I'm not sure what is going on atop the float, but maybe they have a saw and are slitting more logs.  I don't see safety glasses.  I think that is taught before cutting these days.

Who would have thought a few "not on the college track" kids would invent the Tiny House Movement!  Or at least a moving duck blind.  I can see the Duck Dynasty guys pulling right up to the swimmin' hole and killing stuff in this. 

Vinal School is in Norwell, Massachusetts.  A tiny town which has produced notables such as Jeff Corwin the naturalist and Susan Tedeschi, the female blues musician who is lucky she gets to tour with Derek Trucks.   Derek is Duane Allman come back to life on slide, but then the super band here ain't bad either. 

Vintage Antique Gauze Linen Muslin Buckram Masks for Halloween or Theater

A fine group of novelty masks!

"Many of the masks for the early costumes were produced by U.S. Mask Company in Woodhaven, New York. Their earliest gauze masks, made of buckram, were sprayed with starch and steamed over a mold." according to the "Love to Know" website.  I am not so sure…as they can be found as coming from Czechoslovakia and other places (including the AMERICAN Mask Company, a company which originated in Europe.) They apparently moved to the United States around 1884.  They claimed to be the first mask manufacturing establishment in the United States of America.  Pages from the 1915 catalog are below. 
(Illustrated catalogue of papier mache, linen, wax, wire, gauze, show and curtain masks, noses, wigs, beards, etc. 1915 Findlay, Ohio)

Interestingly, they sold them in numerous categories including Dutchman, Devils, Dudes, Prominent men (such as presidents) and many more.  They appear to be a bit more dramatic than mine. I also find catalog pages as late as 1938 in cities other than Woodhaven.  They are probably still being made somewhere.

The material could be Buckram, which goes back to the Middle Ages.  It is a concoction of starch and strands of cotton.  You will find them called muslin, linen, gauze and likely more.  As with so many things, they look better beat-up after long use than pristine.  The ones above likely date to the late 1930s to the 1940s.

Thanks and a tip "o" the mask to BOXLOT on Facebook.

Beatnik Girls Go CRAZY

J

Print Journalism reveals the Beatnik Girls!  1967  There was only one real beatnik...Herbert Huncke.