When I was a kid, I certainly never wanted to run away and join the carnival! To me, carny workers were the scariest folks i'd ever seen. Greasers with tattoos and wallets chained to their belts, slack-skin women with loose dirty print dresses, and a sweaty fat guy who was obviously the boss wandering around making sure they didn't slip any coins into their dirty pockets. Even then, I saw through their tricks and scams, and I figured anyone who would cheat a kid out of a dime would certainly not mind giving you a shiv in the parking lot if you stayed around after closing. Every time I saw a child gypped out of a coin, I resented the local cops wandering around oblivious. They seemed much more interested in "preserving order" than in protecting allowances.
Who would guess carnies could even read, much less pay attention to rules other than "don't trip over the wires, dude." Well, they could, at least some of them, and the others could "see picturs." So here are selected pieces from "Employee's Manual for Amusement Parks" no date.
Carny Rule book, c. 1960 Collection Jim Linderman
Times are pretty bad now, but for a few years in the 1940's, they were much worse. So bad the pennies turned white. You don't find too many of them anymore, but I used to, and like the gentleman above, when I did, I kept them. Copper is a precious metal of sorts, but not precious enough to be worth much, so it became the penny. Penny is a misnomer, the official word for Honest Abe on a coin is "cent" not penny. If you want to be proper, this is a time to save your cents.
During WWII, copper was at a premium. It was used for wire to make radios. Electrical connections to start a truck. And if you have ever heard the expression "copper-jacket" you know what else it was needed for. So Uncle Sam turned the penny white, creating them out of steel instead of copper for one year, 1943. Actually, a few steel cents were made in 1942 and even less in 1944, but the only date you'll find on a white penny is 1943. If you find one. After the war, the white penny was history. It was the only US coin ever produced which was magnetic, but that refers to a property, not a personality, so they were unofficially withdrawn. Some were even pulled from circulation, shipped to the San Francisco mint and dumped in the Pacific Ocean. Unlike copper, they rusted, so the ones you do see now are in pretty bad shape. And unlike the proverbial "bad penny" they do NOT keep returning. Kids still hoard them like the fellow above, but now they go into a little spot in their coin collection.
Is the white penny worth more than a penny today? Barely. In 1943 more than one billion were minted, so even today coin collectors won't pay you more than a cent for one. However, in a curious twist, it was later discovered a few 1943 cents were made out of copper by mistake. In fact, 40 of them. Experts believe just enough copper remained in the hopper at the time of conversion that a few precious copper ones squeezed out. In 1958, the first one was sold for $40,000. Several years later, one sold for over $80,000. Don't get your hopes up. Some rusty old 1943 steel pennies have been coated with copper by unscrupulous folks hoping to "discover number 41" and reap profits. However, they forgot about the magnet. Even a copper coated white penny will stick to a magnet. Today the penny is zinc.
Photo: William Waylet, a bakery salesman, looks with satisfaction on the five-gallon jars of white pennies he has taken out of circulation. Original Press Photo, 1951. Collection Jim Linderman
Filler Fluff From 1952 Chevrolet Comic Giveaway (to keep the kids busy while Pop shops for wheels)Collection Jim Linderman
Circus Photographer Robert D. Good advertised his services, among other places, in the circus section of Billboard Magazine during the 1940's saying "If you raised the circus, see it in pictures" offering real photo size images. 20 cents would bring you a sample and lists of photographs he had taken in the past. He called his studio "Circus Snaps" and frequently typed captions on the reverse of work along with his stamp.I love this photograph, and you'll have to enlarge it to see why. A simple enough shot of the Sparks Circus Sleeper becomes a group of boys admiring the Circus Strong Man.Robert was not only a photographer, he was a well-informed fan of the circus. His letter to Life Magazine on July 19, 1954 tells readers the "last living driver of the 40 horse team pulling the famous Two Hemispheres Band Wagon" was celebrating his 91st birthday. Good passed away in May 1974. A splendid photograph of the photographer appears on the Circus Historical Society "Bandwagon" pages for the May 1964 issue"Sparks Circus at Lehighton PA. in 1946 Bus Converted into Sleeper for Performers" Robert D. Good Photographer Collection Jim Linderman
The earliest "living flag" reference I find is a group of Los Angeles schoolgirls in the 1890's. A considerable number of them are recorded in that decade so there must be earlier examples. This one is certainly from that period, it is a primitive and ragtag posing but quite charming nonetheless. I am sure the "conductor" had greater expectations when he told the children what to wear then next day. Perhaps the origin of the living flag photograph is to be found in parades after the Civil War? Arthur Mole had it easier...his participants were used to not squirming like schoolchildren, they being all well-trained soldiers. Several of his staggering works are shown here, they are available at the Library of Congress website.The funniest living flag is certainly the one in Lake Wobegon, which keeps breaking up as the participants with red, white and blue baseball caps leave to climb to the third story buildings on Main Street and look down. Garrison Keillor has said his living flag was based on a 1917 photograph of several thousand army trainees arranged on a football field to form the Liberty Bell, this was certainly the photo produced by Arthur Mole shown here. Spencer Tunick, of course, does not ask his participants to wear baseball caps or anything else. To date, the largest Spencer Tunick piece has been 18,000 folks in Mexico City. He is no Arthur Mole, and the idea is getting a bit tired by now anyway. There was a living flag made in Portugal to celebrate the country's soccer team making the finals in the World Cup, it was comprised of 18,788 women dressed in red, green and black. That one I'd like to have seen, but not as much as a Mole. "Living Flag" photograph Anonymous c. 1880 Collection Jim Linderman
Archiving is a natural thing, I suppose, as is arranging, organizing and documenting. Various content sites such as flickr and a million plus blogs are growing faster than American's waistlines. There is a tendency for humans to share just as there is a tendency for birds to crow. What is usually missed, however, is that social websites have basically created an entire population of content providers, none of whom get paid one penny. In fact, some pay for the privilege. Every image loaded becomes public property of a sort, but it also becomes fodder for search engines to use, manipulate and market. As computerized digital recognition becomes more and more sophisticated, one will be able to specify any characteristic in an image and retrieve it in micro-seconds. "Let's find 50 images which look EXACTLY like Aunt Gertie!" I'm not kidding one bit. (One might also specify a search parameter to find models with their faces obliterated by too much incandescent light, as above) It should give one pause...me? I don't care as I usually retain the originals, and there will always be someone interested in physical objects (at least I think there will). I am also interested in how things age and fall apart more than how they are maintained and preserved. But if you treasure a photo, drawing, painting or doodle with unique characteristics of any kind, you might think about uploading it into the universal brain.Untitled (Photographer) Snapshot, c. 1940 Collection Jim Linderman
DULL TOOL DIM BULBBuilding for the Future, a solid chunk of cyber-cement!Continue following blogs as usual.
The new website is a directory of all things Jim Linderman and will grow in time.
www.dulltooldimbulb.com
DULL TOOL DIM BULB
An extraordinary story I wish I knew more about. Press photos here from 1937 show Ronald Jones, age 37, a Mohave Indian (or member of the Yuma tribe, both have roots in the area now known as Colorado) as he was awaiting his trial for murder. Typical saturday night fight on the Rez? Not quite. Mr. Jones defense claims the murdered person, John Lee Stokes, age 68, was a witch. That's right, a witch doctor. He had apparently bewitched others on the reservation near Parker, Arizona as well. I was able to locate a subsequent article in the LA Times which indicates Ronald Jones accepted a 12 year sentence. I can not find that he was released after completing his sentence. Oh...the handwritten note on the reverse of the photo indicates he "hacked" his fellow tribesman to death. Shamanism was a spiritual practice of many, if not all of the original Americans but I certainly don't know the Shamanistic characteristics of the tribe here. Nor do i have any idea how the Justice system of the United States prosecuted a member of First Peoples outside of their own system of justice. Doctoral students? Here is a big plate of story for you.
Pair of small press photos, original, dated 1937 Collection Jim Linderman
NOTE: an informed reader sent the following: It does not address this particular case, which is so interesting as the murder of a presumable tribal leader was involved(?) but he covers the general rules of reservation law. Thanks!
I refer you to a U. S. Department of Justice publication, Policing on American Indian Reservations. Having grown up in New Mexico, I was taught the basics of reservation justice during my junior high school days (New Mexico History) due to the many reservations in the state. I refer you to chapter 2, page 9 (pdf page 21) of the DoJ document above. Tribal justice systems only have jurisdiction over crimes committed on tribal lands. The offender must be an American Indian (although there are exemptions). Finally, the crime can't be a serious one like murder. For major crimes, e.g. felonies, the Federal system has jurisdiction, not tribal courts or police. The laws cited include the Major Crimes Act of 1885 and the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968.
Indians in the U.S. are dual citizens, not sole citizens of a separate sovereign nation. Indeed, Chief Justice Marshall referred to Indian nations as semisovereign or "domestic dependent nations" in 1831. Members of U. S. Indian nations are U. S. citizens at their root. This is how they can, and are, appropriately, subject to the U. S. Federal justice system.
In the mid-1970's, around the time of Dylan's Blood on the Tracks album, tape traders and fans of bootleg records such as the Basement Tapes were frantic about a set of tracks rumored to be a Bob Dylan Christmas Album. It even had the title "Snow Over Interstate 80" and track listings. Not only that, it was rumored he also recorded "Silent Night" which was to be the single release. A good story, but alas, years later the truth came out (and so does his REAL Christmas album) New Musical Express, that Brit rag which thankfully brought us the fabulous Sex Pistols only to end up forcing the abysmal "New Romantics" fad on us a few years later are to blame. In 1975 they reportedly ran a false article, a hoax...and the full story is reprinted HERE on Searching for a Gem, the great fan-run Bob Dylan recordings site which covers his rare records. If you don't want to read the entire article, the "lyrics" to the title track follow:"Arabella talks so sweetly
Her Chevy's broken downAs the snow piles on her windshield
Winston's back in town ... "Doesn't sound so bad! And the new Christmas disc? Well...it's for charity. And since many songsters release a Christmas album the third or fourth year of their success, at least he waited this long. What's not to like? Except that it fails to include "Silent Night" so I'm still waiting. The REAL disc (and all the Dylan you could want) is at his official website HERE. However, Searching for a Gem probably knows more about his music than the label does. That's what fans are for, after all.
Jim Linderman
Dull Tool Dim Bulb
"Pop's Midget Friends" on reverse Snapshot c. 1940 Collection Jim LindermanSee Also THE WONDROUS WORLD OF FRANK WENDT
A "Specimen Page" from the Pen-Art book Bible Pearls of Promise published in 1887. I have also included the corresponding page from the actual book. Look close and you will see slight differences, most evident on the head of the top dove. I do not know if the sample page was enhanced with pen, or if the effect is achieved by the "new pen-ink" process being touted. Salesman Sample Specimen Page from Bible Pearls of Wisdom Real-Pen Work Publishing Co. 1887 Collection Jim Linderman
See Also OLD TIME RELIGION blog
Peruna was a prohibition tonic. Otherwise known as booze. It was 28% alcohol, that's a pretty stiff drink. At one time the elixir was banned on Native American reservations by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs for that very reason. It was claimed to cure nearly everything you can find on WebMD, but all it did was make you feel warm inside and slur your words. For a dollar a bottle. Peruna was at one time the largest selling proprietary "medicine" in the United States, due largely to the innovative advertising techniques of Frederick Schumacher. I presume the "Cotton Queen" show above was one of his projects. Peruna was spending one million dollars on advertising and that's more than enough to hire as many minstrels, cowboys and tuba players you need. I believe the minstrels here are one "Hink" and "Dink" as a duo with those names toured midwestern states claiming to be WLN radio stars in the late 1930's. Like another recent post of mine, early radio plays heavily in this story...why, for god's sake, the performers dressed in blackface for a RADIO show is beyond me, but then I guess they all slicked up for the camera here.
Peruna faded away... maybe because the "kick" was reduced to 18% alcohol in response to pressure from the AMA and others. Today, it lives on only in the form of the the kicking horse mascot of Southern Methodist University, and yes, that's where they got the name. As for Schumacher? HIs swill tasted bad but he had good taste. He left a 50 MILLION DOLLAR estate to the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, now the Columbus Museum of Art. That's an awful big gift from a bootlegger, but I'm sure they would prefer the term "philanthropist" in Ohio. And they do have Renior, Matisse, Monet and Weegee!
Peruna Promotional Photograph 1935 Collection Jim Linderman
Of all the posts on this blog, the ones generating the most hits are the series I did on vintage sleaze illustrators of the 1960's, in particular the profile and pictures of work by Eugene Bilbrew. So much for my attempts to uplift the masses. I aim to please, ALL ARE NOW COLLECTED ON THE SITE VINTAGE SLEAZE
Bilbrew, an African-American School of Visual Arts student (!) fell into bad company and even worse habits. As he slipped into heroin addiction, his work became even more bizarre. He moved to the rear of a porno bookshop on the deuce. The mob-run publisher he worked for was busted out of business, so he sold his drawings to no less sleazy publishers such as Wizard, Satan and Chevron. Most of these are from Satan. A pall-bearer hits on the widow. An unlikely prison visitor tempts caged psychopaths. A rogue cop harasses an amorous couple out on the beach too late. A shop-class goggles wearing professor aims his student's motorcycle "headlights" into the wind. And of course, the extra-flamboyant dancer against a lime green wall "trips" and falls into the lap of his modern art loving suitor. Never mind that the text had absolutely nothing to do with the cover illustration, this is kitsch of the highest order. These all date to the late 1960's. Several have "saw-cut" slashes, which means they were returned to the distributor unsold. I can not imagine why.
To his credit, I suppose...Bilbrew was one of the few artists doing multi-racial covers at the time. (and the hair-impaired, for that matter) I don't think it helped sales.
Group of 1960's paperback cover illustrations by Eugene Bilbrew. Formerly collection Jim Linderman
