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A Return to Coney

Above: Coney Island "freak" show, summer of 1935. (seeoldnyc.com) It has been about a year since we’ve visited Coney Island, and with summer upon us (and upon 1935 New York) let’s have a look at “The Talk of the Town” and see the latest attractions. June 15, 1935 cover by Garrett Price. Price (1897–1979) illustrated 100 covers for the magazine. Garrett Price’s first New Yorker cover, “Heat Wave,”…

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Not a Square Deal

Above: Postcard image of Washington Square Park, circa 1930. (citybeautifulblog.com) New Yorkers know all about change, and especially during the 1920s and 30s when the city razed everything from Dutch settler houses to the Gilded Age mansions of Fifth Avenue. Landmarks such as the old Waldorf-Astoria were leveled to make way for the Empire State Building, while several blocks—22 acres of…

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Wining & Dining

Above: The Waldorf-Astoria's Starlight Roof, and a 1930s menu cover. (Facebook/Pinterest) With summer approaching, the rooftop restaurants were in full swing, and Lois Long continued her exploration of favorite haunts, including one nightclub that drew many Manhattanites across the Hudson to the cliffs of the New Jersey Palisades. June 1, 1935 Cover by Rea Irvin. Ben Marden couldn’t wait for the…

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Vive La Normandie

Above: At left, Adolphe Cassandre's famed 1935 depiction of the S.S. Normandie; right, image from a 1935 promotional booklet published by the French Line. When the S.S. Normandie entered service in 1935, she was the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat, crossing the Atlantic in a little over four days. The ship was so impressive that even the imperturbable Janet Flanner expressed enthusiasm…

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Settling Down

Above: Celebrating the repeal of the 18th Amendment, 1933. (New York Times) “Settling Down” was the title given to Morris Markey’s examination of the post-Prohibition world, which to no one’s surprise heartily embraced (and imbibed) everything this world had to offer. May 18, 1935 cover by Adolph K. Kronengold. In his column, “A Reporter at Large,” Markey examined the challenges faced by local…

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What's in a Name?

Above: H.L. Mencken at the Baltimore Sun, circa 1930. From April 1934 to September 1949, Mencken contributed more than fifty articles to The New Yorker. The American journalist Henry Louis Mencken (1880–1956) was well-known as a biting satirist and cultural critic, but he was also a noted scholar of the English language and its various quirks. May 11, 1935, Mother’s Day cover by William…

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The Royal Treatment

Above: King George V and Queen Mary posed for portraits by John St Helier Lander to commemorate the king’s Silver Jubilee in 1935. (Wikipedia)  The British Royal Family has never been my cup of tea, but its hard to deny their influence on world affairs, even if today it is mostly ceremonial. The king and queen were also figureheads back in 1935, however they could still claim to lead a vast…

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Broadacre City

Above: Detail from Spanish architect David Romero's computer-generated model of Frank Lloyd Wright's Broadacre City, complete with an "aerotor" flying car. To be sure, architect Frank Lloyd Wright was a visionary, creating a uniquely American vernacular that influences architecture and design to this day. That might also true for his Broadacre City concept, which demonstrated how four square…

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Terse Verse

Above: Holiday greeting card circa 1920 (left) and framed poetry (1916) from the P.F. Volland Company, which rejected E.B. White's attempt at a get-well card. (Newberry Library/Wikipedia) A deep reading of The New Yorker’s back issues can lead a person down some interesting rabbit holes as well as to new insights. For instance, who knew that the greeting card business could lead to murder? April…

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The Cowboy Philosopher

William Penn Adair Rogers, aka Will Rogers (1879–1935), was a man of many talents. Today he is mostly referred to as a humorist, but he was also an actor, a social and political commentator, a trick roper and a vaudeville performer. To Americans he was a national icon. April 13, 1935 cover by Barney Tobey. Rogers was also internationally famous, having traveled around the world three times and…

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Keep Calm and Carry On

If you lived in Germany in 1935, or in Italy or Spain for that matter, the world would have looked very different from the one most Americans were experiencing, clawing their way out of the Great Depression and hoping to improve their domestic lives. War was not big on their worry list. April 6, 1935 cover by Leonard Dove. In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White satirized the talk about war that…

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The Lighter Side of George Grosz

Above: Landscape in Bayside, 1935, by George Grosz (Phillips Collection) Knowing that the Nazis would not look kindly on his art, George Grosz took a job teaching drawing in New York in 1932, and by 1933 he had become a permanent resident of the city. March 30, 1935 cover by Garrett Price celebrated the traditional “Bock” beer of spring. Grosz (1893–1959) was overwhelmed by the size and pace of…

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Something Frivolous

And what can be more frivolous than a Busby Berkeley musical, with a hundred leggy showgirls tap-dancing in perfect rhythm, or dressed in identical white gowns while playing flying pianos. Did it make sense? No, and that was the whole point. March 23, 1935 cover by Peter Arno. The color, contrast and composition are striking; it looks more like a cover from the 50s or 60s. “In an era of…

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Home Sweet Motohome

Morris Markey thought he was getting a glimpse of the future when he attended an exhibit of “machines to live in” at New York’s Grand Central Palace. March 16, 1935 cover by Constantin Alajalov. The Great Depression created a housing shortfall in the U.S. of nearly two million units, so many idled architects and builders turned to industrialized housing as a way to boost the building industry. In…

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Snapshot of a Dog

Above: A bull terrier in the early 1900s. (Westminster Kennel Club) For dog lovers, or really for anyone with a heart, James Thurber’s “Snapshot of a Dog” is a moving tribute to a childhood pet, a bull terrier named Rex. March 9, 1935 cover by Rea Irvin. “Snapshot of a Dog” was reprinted almost two decades later in Our Dogs, A Magazine For Dog Lovers, which featured cover stories of various…

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The Mouse That Roared, In Color

John Chapin Mosher was the first regularly assigned film critic for The New Yorker, writing reviews for the magazine from 1928 to 1942. He was also a fan of Disney animated shorts, and one particular mouse. March 2, 1935 cover by Robert Day. Mosher, who also contributed short stories to the magazine, displayed a lively, witty style in his reviews, and in the early years of Walt Disney animation…

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Quite a Month

ABOVE: E.B. White presented us with a mixed bag of February happenings, from the comings and goings of Neily Vanderbilt to the Macon disaster and the economic power of Mickey Mouse. The title for this entry comes from E.B. White’s “Notes and Comment” column, which kicked off the Feb. 23, 1935, issue with a quick rundown of February events. Feb. 23, 1935 cover by Abner Dean. February notably…