That Old Black Magic on Wheels - For the last several months I’ve been preoccupied with planning a move across the U.S.A. to the East Bay. (Obviously not with writing posts on this blog. That should change soon.) Both of my daughters and grandsons are permanently in California. So I’ll start a new adventure living in Oakland near Lake Merritt in…
Where Is Dick Wick Hall Now? DWH Day is October 12th this year. - On October 12, 2019, once again, the town of Salome, Arizona, and the surrounding community will celebrate Dick Wick Hall Day. (Details below) Years ago, I was fortunate to participate in these festivities with each of my daughters. My grandfather’s most visible legacy still lies in Salome (where he’s pictured here), and in the other…
Turner Classics–Still a Great Escape and Often Provocative - Despite the loss of its beloved host, Robert J. Osborne, two years ago this month, Turner Classic Movies is still thriving. For those of you who are classic film fans (or Such Mad Fun fans), I strongly suggest subscribing to TCM’s Now Playing Newsletter. In addition to several Irish films, Thursdays devoted to journalism… What Movies Teach Us About Being Women-Thank you Manohla Dargis - “Movies teach us all sorts of things: how to aspire, whom to fantasize about, (all those princes will come), how to smoke, dress, walk into a room (always like Bette Davis). They teach us whom to love and how, as well as the ostensible necessity of sacrificing love along with careers. . .…
Poplar Springs Manor –New Priorities for a Historic Venue - Happy August to you all who have been following Jane Hall’s story and other posts. Please disregard the much older post you just received about Poplar Springs history as it was not supposed to be resent. I simply looked it up for some info. But there is news. Poplar Springs has a new owner as of…
Immigration in Context - While exercising in the condo’s pool yesterday, I noticed a small brown beetle floating in the water. When I was ready to leave, I realized it was still alive. There was a toy football on the edge of the pool, so I let the beetle climb on it and placed it in the shade. It…
A “Nation of Immigrants” in the “Good Old Days” - Jane Hall’s experiences in Arizona and California before she became an orphan in 1930 did not expose her to as many people from other nations as New York City. Although her guardians introduced her to an exclusive social world, when she went to art school at The Cooper Union on Manhattan’s Lower East Side,…
New Year’s Eve 1938 and 2017: Elephants and G-men (or when FBI Agents were Heroes) - The January 1, 2018, New Yorker cover, “Cramped” by George Booth, features a huge grey elephant that looms over the living room of two people trying to have a quiet evening at home. Another pachyderm appeared on the December 31, 1938, cover of the magazine. This gleeful pink elephant by Rea Irvin (1881-1972) might just as…
A Depression-Era Thanksgiving — Just as Many Calories Circa 1932 - I came across an interesting article recently about Thanksgiving in the 1930s thanks to journalist Julie Chang. She notes that, for those who could not afford to dine in an elegant hotel or club, making recipes from scratch compensated for inflated food prices during the Depression. And many Americans remained optimistic despite their troubles. At…
“The world is at sea on a raft in a hurricane” 1940 and 2017 - As many of you know, for quite a while I’ve been reading magazines published in the 1930s and 1940s; I’ve been interested in the values that women’s magazines, such as Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping, imparted to their women readers. In those days, magazines were filled with articles about current events as well as fiction by…