Category: Art

Delectable Vegetable Soup

LifeFeb41-044

You already know soup is good food, but here are some more soup-related quotes to stir your soul.

Anyone who tells a lie has not a pure heart, and cannot make a good soup.–Ludwig van Beethoven

Let me be the first to tell you, drinking alcohol is the worst thing to do in cold weather. Hot soup is the best because the process of digesting food helps to warm you up.–Morgan Freeman

Soup is a lot like a family. Each ingredient enhances the others; each batch has its own characteristics; and it needs time to simmer to reach full flavor.–Marge Kennedy

A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting.–Abraham Maslow

I live on good soup, not on fine words.–Moliere

Whenever something went wrong when I was young – if I had a pimple or if my hair broke – my mom would say, ‘Sister mine, I’m going to make you some soup.’ And I really thought the soup would make my pimple go away or my hair stronger.–Maya Angelou

(source: www.brainyquote.com)

Precious Little Pre-WWII Graphs

I got my paws on a December 1939 Fortune magazine this week, which contained several interesting graph results of a readers’ poll. Keep in mind that there was no television then, no internet, no means of learning up-to-date war information other than radio or newspaper.

This question was: Which statement best represents your idea of Germany? 

FortuneDec1939-012

Most Americans believed that Germans were peace-loving, misled by ruthless rulers. Understanding that Hitler was the most ruthless of rulers, impending war led to this question.

FortuneDec1939-011

I love the body language on these little black bodies. Yes, maybe, and hell to the no.

At this point, the four-term FDR was only in his second term, and readers had no way of knowing if he would go on to serve again. Look how cute they made the innacurately non-wheelchair-bound but accurately chainsmoking president look. Reports say he smoked 20-30 cigarettes per day! And as you recall, he did have polio, so he could not walk unassisted.

FortuneDec39-067

The last question simply asked if those polled wanted to keep FDR in the White House at all, which nearly half the readers did. And why not? Did you ever see a happier horse with a cigarette holder, swimming away from a crocodile?

FortuneDec1939-010

 

Fat Shaming & Lubrication

LifeFeb41-047

LifeFeb41-048

Look, we all have obese friends who ask too much of our heirloom furniture that we just had appraised on Antiques Roadshow by those buff Keno twins, and that stinks, but the good news is that Texaco can MARFAK your car. What on earth?

Snapping wicker=bad

40 Point lubrication=good

Makes perfect sense, right?

Derelict Hobos & The Demise Of The Running Board

hobosDid you realize these unkempt tramps were to blame for the ruin of the running board? Neither did I. Not until today. But this 1941 Chevrolet ad has opened mine eyes to the truth.

LifeFeb41-032

Just look at those adjectives: swank and streamlined. Running boards were preventing those adjectives from existing. And look how happy she is! A woman who wears an entire colony of minks on her frame is a woman I can trust. Maybe it’s badgers, wolverines–I don’t care, as long as they keep her warm.

And did you know there was a real fear of package-carrying tweens in knee breeches and dress shoes attacking your windows if your car had running boards? It was practically an invitation.

LifeFeb41-033Here I was thinking auto makers had simply stopped caring about style, but all along, I was wrong. I had never stopped to consider the peril involved in taking TWO STEPS.

LifeFeb41-034

This is what they mean when they talk about light-bulb moments, friends. Running boards were downright dangerous.

dangerous

It’s December, folks. Some of you Northerners can relate to Trenchcoat Trent and the loss of his dapper derby. Should that really happen in a civilized country? God bless Chevrolet for hitting CTRL+ALT-DEL on the cursed running board.

Ads That Almost Changed My Mind, Part II

FortuneSep1933-001

If it’s toasted, it can’t be that bad.

And what about these couples from a 1929 Camel ad? Don’t they look cozy and warm in the amber glow of a Prohibition-era eatery? If I couldn’t drink, I’d be smoking, too. Enjoy your finery and walking sticks while you got ’em, folks. Nine months ’til Black Tuesday…

SpurJan29-001

Ads That Almost Changed My Mind, Part I

FortuneSep1933-003

This 1933 ad for Budweiser is so colorfully delicious, that I almost forgot my many encounters with the “King of Bottled Beer” and the inherent mehness it consistently offers. My Bud experience has ne’er entailed a sunbursting orchestra as fancy dancers trip the light fantastic. Then again, 1933 was the year that the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, ending national Prohibition. Any ale tastes good after 14 years of illicit backwoods hooch.