Television 70 Years Ago: January 1947
Tag: Communication
Before The Demise Of The Typing Class
The stern-faced Miss Florence Stullken looks about as happy teaching typing to her class in 1937 as Miss Bass looked teaching my typing class over 40 years later. I did not like Miss Bass. She was tall and bony and ornery and she knew when you made an error because there was no delete button then, only White-Out, and that was messy. I despised when she taped a sheet of paper over my fingers so I couldn’t look at them, but by golly, I learned to type. And at one point, I was typing 80 wpm. But I haven’t taken a test in years.
My teen thinks he can type correctly; he can hunt and peck. But he (along with the other kids of his generation) never took a typing class. Or a cursive class. In fact, cursive genuinely stumps them. It’s like a foreign language.
But back in 1937, typing was part of “modern business administration,” as was this nifty machine. The fellow here is compiling and using statistics. For the life of me, I couldn’t tell you what he’s touching, although Monroe made it, and probably not in China.
If you learned how to type properly (and your shorthand wasn’t bad), you could score a keen secretary job, like Miss Dorothy Ayres.
Just imagine answering only one telephone line. No monitor to stare at. No basic Freecell or Minesweeper to play during the tedium. Perhaps not even air-conditioning. Ignorant of what was trending because nothing was trending. No rock ‘n’ roll on the radio; she’d be grey-haired by the time rock became popular. It wasn’t until the next year that The Fair Labor Standards Act would even create a national minimum wage. But, hey, she was a woman with a job during The Great Depression, so she was doing pretty well.
And speaking of women doing well, here’s the inventor of Liquid Paper. Remember how it would clump and get sticky and eventually make the paper so wet that a hole would tear through?
Yep, that’s Bette Nesmith Graham (mother to lanky Michael Nesmith, of the 1960s band The Monkees) who invented the first correction fluid in her kitchen in 1951.
These days, this rolling tape is much more user friendly.
Khaki Wacky Catcalls
Back in the day, khaki wacky meant boy crazy. It appears that this doll has gotten hooched up on Borden’s milk and lost her inhibitions. But who could blame her? The nifty fellow on the left is so brawny and statuesque, while his bold-collared pal is sporting a buck sweater that no gal could resist.
And I’m serious about khaki wacky. It was even a series of comics.
What’s Trending 1949
Android vs. iPhone 1970
Literal Downlow Conversation
Today I got my hands on a 1937 yearbook. I’ve been collecting yearbooks for many years, and have found that yearbooks from the 1930s decade are virtually non-existent. Annuals from the 1920s, however, are much easier to find. I chalk it up to the fact that during The Great Depression, which encompasses all of the 1930s, people were more concerned with getting food on the table and finding shelter than ponying up the cash for a yearbook, if they even could afford a university education. I imagine demand was not great, so fewer were printed than in the prior decade. But that is only my wager.
In any case, celebration and decadence still existed for some, as evidenced by the Delta Theta Phi banquet dinner in these images. Holidays were still holidays, and life went on.
Starter Bartering
Barefoot Mexcaltitán pre-schoolers practice the art of the bargain as Luz Maria gets aggressive toward Green Dress, whose lowball offer for their fruit has insulted the entire Ruvalcaba family. Twin sister Martha Estella bears a bowl of coquitos de aceite on her head, patiently enduring the exchange and the heated voice of the alpha twin.
Pre-Tinder Years
Now My Phone Can Do This
In this pic, Guidance Counselor Homer Gammons (right) visits the lab of Western New England College, where municipal water problems are being studied on an analogue computer.
Actually, 50 years later, my phone may not be able to do that. What do I know?
The wisegeek.org tells me that an analog computer works in parallel, which means that it can carry out multiple tasks simultaneously. A digital computer, even though it may work considerably faster, can only perform one calculation at any one instant…The second difference is that an analog computer handles continuous variables, while a digital computer works with discrete numbers. The difference between these is that continuous variables can include every conceivable number, even irrational numbers, such as Π (pi).
That makes my head hurt. Here’s one used at NASA for space and stuff.
And this one was used for airplanes. Ain’t she sittin’ pretty?
“Huge Electronic Brain, ten tons of it, which is destined to monitor the design, development, and testing of jet engines of the future, even before they are built, left San Francisco International Airport today (July 6) for Indianapolis and the Allison Division of General Motors. A product of the Berkeley Division of Beckman Instruments, Inc., the analog computer system was loaded on an American Airlines DC-6A Airfreighter, grouped in 29 metal cabinets, six feet high and spanning a width of nearly 60 feet. It is scheduled for arrival tomorrow before noon.” Call Bulletin Library, 7/6/56
Telephone Types
“Daddy-yo said nix on the heap…” Not familiar with that jargon? Perhaps you remember shoving into telephone booths as a lark? Jimmy Fallon did a sketch recently with Shaq and Hugh Jackman in phone booths.
Perhaps you recall standing in line at the dorm, just to call your best gal? Come on, Dan. Wrap it up!
I’m too young to remember any of that. But I do remember my mom’s office desk looked like this in the 70s.
Do you suppose anyone uses a Rolodex these days? I still use my address book, but it’ s only about a year old. Nice and sturdy.
Beechwood 4-5789
No, this isn’t the Marvelettes, singing that 1962 hit, but I hope it becomes an earworm for you today. 🎶 🎼 🎧 🎤 These images are courtesy of 1930, when talking on the phone required two hands. Multi-tasking be darned!
Do any of you remember the days of five-digit phone numbers (or less), before the seven-digit system?
Final Phase Of WWI: Germans Retreat
I Don't Get It 