The (San Francisco) Call Bulletin dated Wednesday May 17th 1939
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A very busy front page typical of the Call Bulletin.
6 years after the attempt to assassinate Franklin D
Roosevelt featured in this post, a man is arrested outside the White House armed with a rock, a knife and a
grievance.
The
Royal Tour of Canada lasted until June 15th and took in all the
Provinces as well as a quick foray into the USA to visit Washington, New York
and, for some unknown reason, Poughkeepsie, home of IBM.
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The 2nd Sino-Japanese War had been going on since
1937 and was, by 1939, pretty well a stalemate. The Chinese were being
supported by the USA and the USSR. Foreign nationals were under the protection
of the British, US and French navies. The conflict became a part of WWII and
ended with the defeat of Japan by the Allies. ‘Bluejackets’ in the front-page
headline just means ‘sailors’.
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In the 1930’s in America there was a strongly held belief
that they should stay out of any foreign squabbles. And there’s some that think
that it’s a pity they don’t revive that attitude.
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Spin doctoring Nazi style.
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Britain took over control of Palestine in 1923
with the intention of making it a homeland for the Jewish People whilst not
displacing the Arab population, but they just couldn’t win. The Jews resented
the Arabs, the Arabs resented the Jews and they both resented the British, who
finally got out in 1948 with the independence of Palestine and the
establishment of Israel.
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Oxygen tents were used in hospitals to help
patients with respiratory problems breath by creating an enclosed oxygen rich
atmosphere. Oxygen gas is inflammable. Smoking was not banned in hospitals. Nor
were idiots.
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When the doors opened you would think that he might notice
he was facing a dark brick-lined hole rather than a well-lit lift car.
When
I was working in London in the 1960’s I once visited an office building that
had a man-with-a-rope-operated lift. To move the lift the man pulled on a rope
that came down through the ceiling and went out through the floor.
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The phrase ‘turret top’ refers to the all steel
roof of the car. This was a change from the previously more common fabric insert
tops on saloons. The ‘Sunshine Turret Top’ is what became known as a sunroof.
The first sunroofs appeared in about 1937.
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“By Gad, Sir! I like my cars like my women – big, fast and
with a rust-proofed body. Pass the Ethanol!”
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Wyatt Earp had Doc Holiday, Matt Dillon had
Chester and the Sheriff of San Francisco had George Daniels complete with
spectacles.
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The World’s first parking meter was installed in Oklahoma
City in 1935, but it wasn’t just the motorists who were unhappy with their
proliferation.
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Non-story of the year award goes to the 16
year-old who had amnesia one day and recovered the next. How did this story
even get into the paper? On realising her daughter couldn’t remember whether or
not she’d turned the gas off, Mrs Parker immediately contacted the
Call-Bulletin?
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The FBI arrested Mrs Rose Carina the following day (May 18th). Intrigued? Have a look at this very detailed 7-page account
of the whole sordid business. There’s a picture of Rose on page 6.
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The Golden Gate International Exposition (or San Francisco
World’s Fair) had been running for almost 3 months, and this piece looks
forward to the Rome World’s Fair of 1942, which, due to a little interruption
called World War 2, didn’t happen. The next Fair was actually in Brussels in
1958.
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To get some idea of the dangers of driving on the ‘steep grades and sharp
curves’ of the Sierra Nevada mountain roads try watching the climatic (and
speeded–up) car chase sequence from the 1941 Humphrey Bogart film ‘High
Sierra’.
