Pop Pyrotechnics

Many thanks to artist and designer April Rose for posting these explosive

Japanese treats!

Happy 4th!

eBay Eyes: Vintage Baseball Goodies From Japan

Baseball season is well underway and April is National Kite Month! I came across these vintage baseball-player kites on eBay a while back along with some mid-century "baseball menko" cards.

eBay Eyes is an occasional presentation of found visual treats from that ever expanding , electronic mega-marketplate. 

I was amazed to see pictorial elements of traditional Japanese prints in the three "bookmark" cards above. 

European artists were smitten with the "new" aesthetic they encountered when Japanese prints found their way to the continent in the later part of the 19th Century. The influence of ukiyo-e on the Impressionists, and everything from fashion to décor was profound.

These baseball cards confirm how culturally determined our sense of design really is. What struck the eyes of Western artists as “fresh” in Japanese prints—asymmetrical compositions, adventurous cropping, the flat indication of space—were elements of design native to the Japanese sensibility. So much so, as to show up in in their baseball cards!

The portrait cards, below, are formatted with traditional Western composition.

eBay Eyes: Mustad Sample Cards

Unless you were an early 20th Century purveyor of fishing gear, I wouldn’t expect you to know that these cards, the backs of which you are seeing in the first three images, display fish hooks. They are from O. Mustad & Sons, a Norwegian company dating back to 1832. I’ve yet to snag one of these on eBay—they are not cheap—and it’s probably for the best. If I ever came to own one, I would have a hard time deciding which side to display.

eBay Eyes is an occasional presentation of found visual treats from that ever-expanding, electronic mega-marketplace.

DIY Thanksgiving

These paper targets for turkey and other critters were sold at Sears. I don't know the dates of when the store sold J.C. Higgins branded targets and when they sold their own brand, but I was struck by the difference in the bird renderings.

Before you run out and shoot a turkey, you might want to note the instructions. For a decorative, happy-looking turkey, like the one above, be aware that "For Best Results Always Use SEARS Ammunition." If it's a more organic, introspective turkey you are after, like the one below, then you must keep in mind that "For Best Results Always Use J.C. Higgins Ammunition."

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

FLASH … PRESIDENT KENNEDY DEAD

Curious as to what the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination had inspired in the way of person-to-person commerce, I decided to peruse the “sold” listings on eBay.

Which is how I found myself looking down the barrel of a roll of teletype.

This original United Press International transmission of November 22, 1963, was from the newsroom of KPIX in San Francisco. An anchorman at the station had kept the roll since that day. Recorded on it, are the events as they unfolded, background information, updates, and responses to the news from around the world.

So, along with learning that the New York Stock Exchange had ceased trading as of 2:07 p.m., and that that the Mexican government announced it would close its border with Texas for 72 hours, we get a first hand account of Lyndon Johnson being sworn in as President on Air Force One. There is a dispatch from Ireland that “men and women dropped to their knees in the crowded streets of Dublin to begin reciting the rosary” and a message from West German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, “I feel as if a light has gone out, gone out for all men who hoped for peace and freedom and a better life …”

UPI White House Reporter Merriman Smith received the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the assassination. His personal account of the day, which you can read here, needless to say, is fascinating. He describes what it was like being four cars back from the president’s bubble-top limousine when the shots rang t.

Our car stood still for probably only a few seconds, but it seemed like a lifetime. One sees history explode before one's eyes and for even the most trained observer, there is a limit to what one can comprehend.

Smith takes you through the rest of his day—to Parkland Hospital and then onto Air Force One, where he and Charles Roberts of Newsweek are the only two reporters on the flight back to D.C.

UPI probably reached some 6,000 subscriber news organizations at that time, so the one pictured above is hardly the only ancient scroll to have survived.

Below are snippets from this and another teletype that sold recently.

Obviously, an early report, which no one ran to immediately blurt out on the air before getting more information.

Found Palettes: Needle Books

Needle books are usually collected and displayed for their illustrated covers, which were created for advertising and promotion purposes. You can see examples of covers here.

For me, the attraction of these little folders has always been on the inside. That's where small patches of colored foils are pierced with groups of needles and usually a needle threader, for which I am deeply grateful. The colors range from jewel tones to pastels to metallics, and I think of the combination in each book as a unique found palette.

The old foils are usually graced with the magical spider-web embossing that calls to mind the translucent sheets inside an antique photo album or scrapbook.

Save Grand Central

As we celebrate Grand Central Terminal’s centennial this week, I think about what I can’t help myself from doing whenever I’m there, which is to tilt my head back in surrender to that heavenly ceiling. Then, when my head returns to its straight-ahead position, I inevitably shake it in disbelief knowing that a mere 41 years after the building’s completion, greedy minds were already scheming to tear it down.

In 1954, a plan to replace the structure with an 80-story skyscraper was successfully thwarted, as was a plan proposed in 1960 for “Grand Central Bowl,” a three-story bowling alley above the waiting room. Within the next few years, Penn Station would be torn down and the Landmarks Preservation Law would be enacted. GCT was now protected--end of story, right? Well, no because we are dealing with prime New York real estate, during a development boom.

In 1969, Penn Central presented a plan for a Marcel Breuer-designed building that would effectively block out the terminal (right). Of course the plan was turned down by the City, but the railroad was not about to take no for an answer. Penn Central sued the City of New York claiming that landmark protection violated the part of the 5th amendment which states that “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” The State Supreme Court of New York ruled in favor of the railroad, and GCT’s landmark status was overturned.

Breuer proposal

Enter Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis who had already demonstrated a passion for preservation while she lived in the White House. It was now 1975 (as the design of the above button clearly indicates) and thanks to her involvement with the Municipal Art Society, the situation would finally command the public attention and outrage it deserved. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the landmarks law was upheld, confirming that the protection of historic buildings for the public good was indeed, constitutional. Read more details here and here.

The “Save Grand Central” button along with “Save the Bandshell” and “Save the Beacon,” are from the collection of the New York Historical Society.

Save the Bandshell

1985-1990

Save the Beacon Theatre

1986

These next two are from my personal collection. New Yorkers might remember them. In 1991 the City threatened to close the Central Park Zoo due to a fiscal crisis. The "radio" in need of salvation was WRVR, the only all-jazz radio station in the city, which turned out to not be as lucky as the polar bear. And can you guess where the big fundraiser-concert for the station was held? Why the Beacon Theatre, of course.

Ephemera of the Airwaves: Vintage QSL Cards

I think I can safely say that the two greatest questions of our cellular age are “Can you hear me?” and “Where are you?”

It just so happens that those two questions have been around for quite some time. In fact, it’s been about a hundred years that while the rest of us were telephonically tethered, amateur radio operators around the globe have been asking each other those exact same questions. The answer came in the form of a QSL card.

The QSL card (Q-code for “confirming contact”) came into popular use in the early 1920s, around a decade after amateur wireless started to spread as a hobby. When sending out a signal, the only way to know how far away it was picked up, was to get verification from a recipient. A QSL card was sent by mail as confirmation that a signal had been received. In addition to date, place, and call letters, the sender supplies details about all the receiving equipment. Upon receipt of a card, the originator of the signal would then send one back.

There are thousands upon thousands of QSL cards out there. Their design range from large letters of whichever type style prevailed at the time, to radio and transmission imagery, to something representing the sender’s location or interest (usually amateur radio). Some of the cards look to be standard issue, but as you can imagine, given the DIY nature of ham radio, many operators designed their own cards.

One especially well know operator was cartoonist, Otto Eppers (1893-1955). The first thing you will read in any write-up on him is that as a teenager, he jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge as a stunt and survived. Eppers worked as an inker for numerous comic strips and also illustrated ads for radio supply companies.You can see lots of his work, including many QSL cards here.

Like all subcultures, ham operators have their own lingo, and love bragging about the celebrities in their ranks. They claim Walter Cronkite, Marlon Brando, and Robert Moog as fellow operators. And while there is no doubt about the geek quotient (GQ?) inherent in ham radio, operators get to clam the nerdiest nerd of all time as one of their own--Gerson Strassberg, inventor of the plastic pocket protector.

Okay, all you OMs and YLs, enough rag chewing. Over, 73!

Much thanks to Bob Green W8JYZ and  David Johnson G4DHF, 

 for permission to post cards from their fantastic collections.