More Stuff From the Box Nov 10
It's time for more STUFF FROM THE BOX - and I've had to start digging through a new box! Well, two of them actually. I have two tin-litho boxes like the one pictured below, former "handy bulb kits" for your car (from the 1930s). They're about 4" x 3", and only about 2 inches deep, so they don't hold a lot. Still... more than you might think for little items like these!
First up is this neat "lucky penny", an encased penny with a nice Lincoln wheat cent from 1936. The Stork Club was a nightclub in Manhattan, New York City. During its existence from 1929 to 1965, it was one of the most prestigious clubs in the world. A symbol of café society, the wealthy elite, including movie stars, celebrities, showgirls, and aristocrats all mixed in the VIP Cub Room of the club.
Next is this advertising clicker for Hafner's "365 Brand Coffee". Most other coffees were only good for 320 days a year, tops, but not Hafner's! There are folks who collect old advertising clickers (there are many different varieties), though I only have a few. I wish I could somehow play the delightful, ear-piercing clicking sound for you.
I love this 2" pin from the Dizzy Dean Winner's club - I believe this one is from 1935. Dizzy Dean was a colorful and brash baseball player who pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Chicago Cubs, and the St. Louis Browns. He is the last pitcher to win 30 games in one season, and was inaugurated into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953.
Kellogg's "Pep" cereal had many wonderful premiums over the years, including several sets of pinback buttons (more on those in the future!), tin comic-character rings, and plastic rings like the one below. They had other series featuring Rin Tin Tin, Tom Corbett (Space Cadet), sports heroes, movie stars, and aircraft. Like the Pan American Double Deck Clipper!
My mom gave me the next item, probably something she found at one of the many weekend antiques shows she used to go to all the time. It's a medal for shooting pistols... "2nd Ladies Slow Fire", from 1939; it's from Alhambra, CA, which is just south of Pasadena. I like the art deco style.
And finally, here's a nice brass pin made of stamped brass, with the likenesses of Buster Brown and his faithful pit bull terrier Tige. It's only about 3/4" wide. Buster was developed by artist Richard F. Outcault in 1902 (he became the mascot of Buster Brown shoes two years later). Buster looked like a fancy boy, but he was a rascal and practical joker, and he was not afraid to get into a fight. Wikipedia says, many strips end with Buster delivering a self-justifying moral which has little or nothing to do with his crime. Pretty funny, actually!
That's it for this time! I hope you've enjoyed today's STUFF FROM THE BOX. If you like fun stuff, check out our friend Stu's blog - Stu's Attic.
28 comments:
Major-
As much as I have a special place in my heart for The Pep Boys, I do believe your Mom's find is my fav this go-round. (Although Dizzy Dean is a beauty, too).
Thanks, Major.
I like the bright color of the Pep Boys box, and the old-style graphics. A treasure to hold your treasures.
At the bottom of the Hafner's clicker, it says (I think) "Made in US Zone of Germany". I'm guessing that would be West Germany, maybe before it got that designation?
It's surprising how much detail, and how close of a likeness, they got in that tiny Buster Brown pin. I never knew much about Buster, but his dog Tige always looked kinda scary to me with that extra wide mouth and all those nasty sharp teeth showing. Some people would say he's just smiling... I'm not one of those people.
Thanks for showing us more of your stuff, Major.
I think my favorites are the shooting medal (is that a diamond above the two pistols?) and the Pep Boys tin box, with it's little art deco accents. My mom used to collect antique tin containers. I think she got rid of some of them over the years, but fortunately not all of them.
Thanks for sharing more of your collection with us, Major!
- Turkey Meatloaf!
As always, the Box Collection® continues to amaze.
Dizzy Dean (as well as his brother Daffy, who played for the Cards, the Giants, and the Browns, and their fictitious French cousin, Gufé) is mentioned by name in a common recording of Abbot & Costello’s “Who’s on First?”
JB, good eye! The ”US Zone of Germany” consisted of the southern states of Bavaria, Hesse, and Württemberg-Baden, plus the ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven farther north. It was joined with the British and French occupation zones to form the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) in 1949, although the occupation continued until 1955.
Forgot to wish all the crayon-eaters out there a "Happy birthday!" Despite all the good-natured inter-Service ribbing, from Tun Tavern to today, we know you've got our backs. Semper fi, Teufel Hunden!
I love these!
My favorite would probably be the clicker, because I just know I would drive everybody nuts with it. I had one to train our dog with years ago. The dog didn't get trained, but the clicker sure got used (until is mysteriously disappeared).
I gave my wife (whose birthday is tomorrow, btw) a penny in a frame much like that one for a past birthday. It was for a bank opening in my home tomn of Denison, Tx, and it happened to be the year she was born.
I have a coo-coo clock marked "made in the U.S. Zone of Germany. "I used to run it all the time, but the bird kept me up at night, so now it's usually quiet.
Thanks for the Stu's Attic shout out!
More great stuff from the vaults.
The Pep Boys bulb box must have been for those little bulbs used in the turn signals and other lights in those old cars. Same kind of bulb used in many of the battery operated toys we got in the early 50s.
The lucky penny from the Stork Club is neat for me as I was born in a hospital not too far from it. My parents lived on west 34th street in an 'apartment' building. The big move to Tucson was in 1955. Goodbye NYC. Really happy that my parents made the decision to follow my uncle to Tucson.
Thanks Major and the link to Stu's Attic is a nice bonus.
Nanook, I like the medal because my mom found it, and because it’s a SoCal item from the ‘30s, AND because it is Art Deco!
JB, yes, those boxes are cool, I have more stuff in some other cool boxes, at some point I decided that brown cardboard was just not the way to store these treasures. Good eye on the “Made in the US Zone of Germany”, I didn’t even notice! Pretty neat. You’re right, Tige was always kind of scary with his mouth full of sharp teeth, but I sort of like that he wasn’t made ultra-cute. I’ll have some more Buster Brown items to share with you guys in the future.
TokyoMagic!, I can see where diamond (or rhinestone) SHOULD be, but unfortunately it’s just a metal indentation. Funny how it still almost looks like there’s a gemstone there, though! I used to have a box full of fun tins that used to hold typewriter ribbons (!), and some of them were really neat, but it seems to have vanished, much to my chagrin.
Chuck, nobody talks about the other Dean brother, Derpy Dean. Poor guy! I love the “US Zone” detail that JB spotted; I have a few items that are stamped “Made In Occupied Japan”, which is also a very interesting bit of history.
Chuck, er, em, whose birthday is it? Somebody in the Marines? A fellow Crayola gourmand?
Stu29573, yeah, those clickers are pretty obnoxious, but I love the litho graphics. Some of the other examples that I have are for bug spray, children’s shoes, and cereal. I might have another “encased penny” (I guess that’s the proper term), but it’s not as fun as the Stork Room example. Your clock sounds neat! Funny that it kept you up. My grandma had a big old pendulum wall clock that used to drive me crazy, the ticking was SO loud, and the darn chimes were impossible to sleep through.
DrGoat, yes, those bulb kits contained little turn signal bulbs, I have a non Pep Boys bulb box that still has the bulbs. I guess you were too young when you left New York to have any memories of being in “the city”, but still, what a time to be there! I’m glad that you have been happy in Tucson, but it must be intriguing to imagine what your life would have been like had you stayed in NY.
A box day is always a good day. Thanks Major!
Chuck, RE: Yesterday's vintage video camera photo. You jogged my memory. My early 80s camera WAS connected to a VCR unit that contained the video tape and provided power. So much gear to haul and set up for remote recording. Every school play had several dads in the back of the room with similar rigs. A time gone by.
Major, that is a cool box. As always, you have the best stuff.
My favorite today is the Stork Club coin. I would love to have visited that place. New York is full of neat clubs and bars. I bet Philo Vance was a regular there.
Chuck, does Tige qualify as a Teufel Hunden?
The Buster Brown thing reminds me, in one of the vintage kid posts sometime back, one of the little boys had some scuffy brown leather shoes just like I had, once upon a time. I think they were Buster Brown. The toes were always scuffed and my Dad taught me to polish them myself. I never wore athletic shoes to school until late high school, just wasn't done.
Dr. Goat, your family made the right choice.
JG
Denny McLain, Detroit Tigers, 31 wins in 1968!
Major-
My memories of those little clickers revolves around the non-advertising ephemera versions. These 'more robust' versions were used by elevator starters to get the attention of the elevator operators, patiently waiting for their next 'charges'. Yes, both the 'operators' and 'starters' are clearly from a by-gone era, pre-dating "self-service" elevators. The 'starters' were often found in the lobbies of large office or medical buildings, and seemed to have photographic memories of the building's occupants and suite numbers, etc. If an operator wasn't standing in the open doorway of the elevator indicating its readiness to travel, using the clicker, the starter would get the attention of an operator, probably seated inside the car, waiting for the signal.
I seem to recall this set-up in use at the Metropolitan Building (@ 315 5th Street, downtown Los Angeles), which was (is-?) a location for many jewelers and diamond dealers.
Elevator Operators. Elevator Starters. Who needs automation-?
JG,
I agree wholeheartedly. I can't (don't want to) imagine what my life would have been like if they stayed. Crowded, chaotic place with tall buildings and way too many people vs the beautiful Sonoran desert. So I missed out on some good hot dogs and cultural events. I can live with that.
Nanook, thank you for sharing that info regarding the elevator operators. I’m looking forward to asking my dad about that, as one of his first jobs was as an elevator operator in Chicago. I know he liked that job, but don’t recall details he shared a while back with me...am hoping he’ll still remember now.
Major, my favorite is the Ladies Slow Fire medal.
Major, today is the 246th anniversary of the founding of the United States Marine Corps at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia on November 10th, 1775. It's traditional to wish Marines, both current and former, a "Happy birthday" on November 10th. "Crayon eater" was originally a derogatory nickname applied by the other military services to Marines, but like every other derogatory nickname applied to them (see jarhead), they just co-opted it for themselves. According to legend, Teufel Hunden ("devil dogs" in German) was the name the German Army used to describe the Marines after the Battle of Belleau Wood in June of 1918, and semper fidelis ("always faithful" in Latin) is the motto of the United States Marine Corps.
Grant, that unwieldy setup was a suppressed memory for me, too, until yesterday.
JG, only if he's completed Boot Camp.
Grant, glad you enjoyed these!
JG, yes, I would have loved to see the original Stork Club; my pal Mr. X is a fan of the 21 Club too, that place looks crazy. I always imagined that it was super elegant, but photos show that there were tons of toys and stuff hanging from the ceiling. Those New Yorkers! I don’t think I ever owned a pair of Buster Browns, we had cheap sneakers (from the discount shoe store), because we wore them out so fast. The only time we wore leather shoes was to church, I still remember applying that white polish with the foam applicator. White shoes, yeesh.
dennis, so much for Wikipedia! Maybe they meant in the National League??
Nanook, I’ve only seen people use those clickers to train their dogs, just like Stu. I don’t think I have ever been in an elevator that had an operator! Have you? Why not just have them play a merry tune on a flute, that’s what I think anyway. In Europe I stayed in a hotel that had one of those cage-style elevators, but we still had to do the work ourselves. Until just now I’d never heard of an “elevator starter”. As long as I got to wear a little pillbox hat (tilted rakishly to one side) I would be happy with that job. Of course now we have pneumatic tubes for humans, as predicted in “Futurama”.
DrGoat, there is a part of me that envies the people who were raised in New York. I love the places I have lived (mostly SoCal), but the folks who have lived in Manhattan or over in Brooklyn (for example) seem to have interesting lives. However, there is much to be said for being out in the relative peace and quiet, with access to the beautiful desert!
Lou and Sue, wow, very cool that Lou was an elevator operator! Did he work in one of the many Chicago high-rises? I wonder if he had to do that spiel, “Fourth floor, ladies clothes, linens, and furniture!”. Also, did he wear a little pillbox hat?
Chuck, sorry, I had no idea! Funny that you used the term “crayon eater”, since I said that I had a statue of myself eating a crayon in yesterday’s blog post. COINCIDENCE?!? Or alien intervention? I just assumed that you were making a reference to that, but that I just wasn’t getting it. I often don’t “get it”, as you have surely realized by now. Happy Anniversary to the Corps! And thanks for the info, Chuck.
Chuck, thanks for the US Zone of Germany explanation. I figured it was something like that.
Also, like Major, most of that Happy Birthday stuff went over my head. Again, thanks for the explanation.
Stu, I loved your story about the disappearing clicker and the untrained dog. (maybe the dog buried it.) Also, I'm sure you're already aware but, you can remove the weight that gives the coo-coo its voice, while leaving the weight that powers the clock itself. (unless the clock only has one weight?) Our clock has 3 weights, one for the tunes it plays every half-hour.
Nanook, I remember when I was a little kid that our downtown JCPenney's store had an elevator with an honest-to-goodness elevator operator. I had forgotten all about that until you mentioned it here.
Major, definitely alien intervention. You forgot to wear your tinfoil hat. ALWAYS WEAR YOUR TINFOIL HAT! (it also prevents Covid infection.)
Major, haha, it was a large store with multiple floors—but I still can’t recall the name. They were known for beautiful women’s clothes and furs, and I shopped at one of their suburban locations, years ago. It’s not Marshall Field’s. Now, I’ll also have to ask my dad what he wore and said, on the job...I’m hoping he’ll remember a funny story or two...
JB, I have a similar memory of the J.C. Penney in the big city where we went for school clothes. The operator had a uniform and a little flip-down seat.
Even five-year old me thought it would be a dull job, today you could surf Instagram on your phone.
JG
The Pittsburgh sports stadiums still have elevator operators, but they have TVs to entertain them. Seems like a fun job!
My father’s family’s ancestral village is in Baden-Württemburg; interesting to know it was part of the U.S. Zone in that postwar period. And my Mom is a big fan of Buster Brown. But I think my favorite from today’s hoard in the ladies’ shootin’ medal. You’ve clearly inherited your mother’s good eye for trinkets.
JB, I do think that it is kind of amazing that the clicker for that coffee company was manufactured in the US Zone of Germany of all places. Back then there must have been plenty of places in the States that could have easily made such a thing. As for Stu’s clicker, I think anybody who’d ever been in earshot could be considered a suspect in its disappearance! I love them as fun things, but they’re pretty annoying. Are you supposed to tip an elevator operator? I have no experience with such things. Good advice on the tinfoil hat, I like to sculpt mine so that it has a point. That keeps the cosmic rays out too.
Lou and Sue, I’d love to know where he worked (assuming I’ve even heard of it, of course)! You know Lou’s got stories. I wonder how old he was when he had that job? Is the old beautiful Marshall Fields flagship store still around? I assume it’s a Macy’s now. I only went there once, but wow, it was beautiful.
JG, hard to believe that J.C. Penny of all places had an elevator operator! It would be like 7-11 having valet parking. But I do believe you!
Andrew, wow, amazing. Also amazing that the stadiums use elevators? Not that I've gone to a lot of sports stadiums, I think of them as using ramps. I prefer climbing a knotted rope, myself.
Melissa, I think it’s cool that you know that much about your family history! My dad’s family is from Germany, but during and after WWII, they pretty much stopped talking about it, my father always regretted that he didn’t learn to speak German from his grandparents. I have lots more trinkets for everyone to enjoy! We’ve only scratched the surface.
Major-
You betcha I've ridden in many an elevator with an operator-! I still remember the [rather small-ish] cars at the Saks Fifth Avenue location in Beverly Hills - which had no car doors - only hall doors-! And as long as no car doors existed, no car-mounted motor existed to operate the doors... requiring the floor doors to be manually-operated. A very thick pair of L-shaped steel arms, spanning both doors - with a pivot point in the center - would be pulled down to open the pair of doors to one side of the opening.
Additionally, the operators held [what appeared to be] a short riding crop across the door opening, 'discouraging' folks from getting any hands, arms, umbrellas, packages, etc., entangled in the fixed inner workings of stationary door parts-! Incredible, but true.
We definitely were a different breed of folks back then. The very idea of personal responsibility-!!
Major, you are correct - that beautiful Marshall Field’s flagship store is now a Macy’s, and still now occasionally being looted and vandalized—per my friends who currently work in Chicago. The news doesn’t even report a lot of the looting that’s still happening in downtown Chicago. Sad.
For lunch, once or twice a week, I used to eat at Marshall Fields and browse around that store. It was especially beautiful at Christmas time.
I’m currently digging through my dad’s records to try to find info on his elevator operator job - which he did in his late teens, I believe. JG, I chuckled to myself when you mentioned it might be a dull job - but I bet my single dad enjoyed meeting the ladies. ;o)
I just remembered where my dad was an elevator operator:
Evan's Furs, in Chicago. A quick google search and I got the address: 36 S. State Street (that historic building is still there).
I also googled the history of Evans and, in part, it states:
"In its store on State Street, the company had created an elegant and sophisticated atmosphere where women felt privileged to shop. This atmosphere of rarified luxury, where women were expected to dress properly and even have their hair done before coming in to shop, was what set the standard for fur stores across the country in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s."
Like I stated earlier, I bet my dad enjoyed this job. ;o)
I'll ask him tomorrow.
Sue, that’s fascinating! Thanks for sharing that. I’ll bet he enjoyed that job.
My grandfather moved to Chicago when he first arrived in the US. Family tradition says he was a bricklayer on the Marshall Field store, but I haven’t researched to see if the dates were right. A far cry from running the elevators.
JG
JG, the internet states that Field’s was built in stages from 1893 to 1914. How cool that I got to enjoy a beautiful store/building that your grandfather helped to build! Please find out more about your family’s Chicago history and share it with me. I was born there. (So was our Major.)
@ Sue-
Thanks for sharing that info. That building appears to be a real beauty.
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