Category Archives: Newspaper Clippings

Too Skinny? Add 5 Pounds of Alluring Curves!

Skinny? Add 5 Pounds of Alluring CurvesAnother ad from a 1930s newspaper, this time encouraging the malnourished ladies to take Kelp-a-Malt tablets to put on 5 pounds of firm flesh. This would be the pre-Twiggy days when people liked a little meat on their women. But not too much. That didn’t work either.

Bizarre. I always thought anything pre-1950 was so much more straight-laced, bathing suits that looked like wet suits and the like (at least mainstream stuff you’d find in a newspaper). Apparently not. (Though I suppose these sorts of ads might be just like today’s ads for L.A. Weight Loss and the what not that look just as creepy.)

The Sanitary Meat Company

Sanitary MeatHere’s yet another 1930s newspaper clipping I scanned, an ad from the Sanitary Meat company.

Boy, I sure hope so. But right there in the title they’ve assuaged my fears:

Butcher: Wanna buy some meat?
Shopper: Yeah, but is it sanitary?
Butcher: [points to ‘Sanitary Meat Co.’ sign]
Shopper: Oh, OK then.

There’s a little marketing tip for you from the 1930s, free of charge. Use at your own risk.

The Wife Who Needed Spanking

The Wife Who Needed SpankingI found this gem in an October 22, 1933 issue of the St. Paul Pioneer Press Magazine: “The Wife Who Needed Spanking”. Despite the illustration and the kinky title it’s more a cat burglar story with some soap opera thrown in to hook people.

Oddly, it seems like there are a lot of these seemingly risque stories in the Sunday magazine section from the 1930s. So much for people being proper back in the day.

I’m not sure this one would make a good T-shirt.

Dandruff Disappears T-shirt

Dandruff Simply Disappears T-shirtOK, I’m having a bit too much fun with my stash of old newspapers. At first I thought, what could be more fun than a yellow Minnesota Macaroni T-shirt? Well, the obvious answer was a Dandruff Simply Disappears T-shirt. Check out my Cafepress store for more styles and designs, including regular white T-shirts, hoodies, bags and yes, even a onesie.

Get them while they last (which will probably be until I find new cool 1930s illustrations to slap on T-shirts). Though this won’t exactly be the T-shirt of the Month idea I had a while ago that never panned out (By the way, in case any one is interested, I sold a whopping five of those “May the Force Be With You/And Also With You” shirts. You can still get yours today!). Any profits (my cut is usually $1 per shirt, a little more for the pricier items) will go to our meager adoption fund.

Technicolor Newspapers and a 1934 ‘Monkini’ Swimsuit

2007_08_18swimwear.jpgThis is one of my favorite discoveries from my odd little stash of 1930s newspapers. There are several pages of poorly colored photos, like a Technicolor version of the newspaper. I scanned two full pages from a 1934 issue, one covering Hollywood and one seeming to cover news and social updates. It’s just bizarre.

I think my favorite has to be this bathing beauty to the right:

Billie Seward, Columbia PIctures’ latest discovery, displays the newest thing in California bathing suits.

Apparently the newest thing was stolen from Buck Rogers. At least we now know where the term waterwings came from. Though ironically, the ‘monokini’ is among the hottest trends in swim wear this year (no word on the wings–but I predict big things for ’08).

It’s also interesting to note that Seward didn’t last long with Columbia. They dumped her in 1935. I blame the swimsuit.

Creepy 1934 Listerine Ad

It Feels Swell!How creepy is this? I think she’s actually rubbing listerine into that kid’s head and he says it feels “swell.” Now I know things were different in 1934, but when I was a kid you rinsed your mouth out with listerine. You didn’t pour it on some kid’s head. (OK, my grandpa rinsed his mouth out with listerine, I didn’t.) So what else were they doing with listerine back then? Do I even want to know? Swell.

Babe Ruth’s 700th Home Run Newspaper Clipping

Lucky Babe and Lucky BoySo fun story. While a friend of mine was tearing apart his house he found a curious form of insulation in the walls: newspaper. Someone had wrapped old newspapers together in butcher paper and sowed the whole package together and sold it as “water proof, vermin proof” insulation. I got a hold of the insulation and painstakingly unstitched the packages to find well-preserved newspapers from 1934. I have no idea what to do with them, but it’s fun to share little gems like this one:

Lucky Babe and Lucky Boy
It was worth $20 to Babe Ruth to get the ball back that he propelled over the wall at Detroit last Friday for the 700th home run of his major league career. Ruth retrieved the ball for a souvenir from Leonard Beals, a boy who caught it outside the park, and gave the lad $20 for it. (The Minneapolis Tribune, July 17, 1934)

Ruth paid about $311 in 2007 dollars for his 700th ball. That cracks me up a bit, given that Barry Bonds record-setting 756th home run ball is worth an estimated half a million bucks.