January 16, 1942 - The Death of a Hollywood Legend

A significant and very sad anniversary.

Seventy-five years ago today, in the early morning hours of January 16, 1942, actress Carole Lombard was tragically killed when the TWA DST airplane she was traveling on, crashed into Potosi Mountain, 32 miles southwest of Las Vegas.  She was returning to her home in Hollywood, California after attending a war bond rally in her native Indiana.  All twenty-two passengers on board lost their lives, including Lombard's mother Bess Peters, her close friend Otto Winkler and fifteen Army servicemen.

The search and recovery efforts were based out of the small desert town of Goodsprings, Nevada.  I visited Goodsprings as part of a cross-country roadtrip during the summer of 2015.  It is famous for the Pioneer Saloon, which pays homage to Lombard and actor Clark Gable, to whom she was married at the time of her death.  Potosi Mountain can be seen in the distance from the saloon's Carole Lombard Terrace.

Biographer Robert Matzen has written what I consider to be the definitive chronicle of Lombard's life and death - Fireball: Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3.  

Windows to the Past: The Smiling Irishman

We couldn't resist posting this particular Window to the Past as we fast approach this week's Saint Patrick's Day Holiday.  The photograph dates from 1946 and showcases a Los Angeles entrepreneur know as the Smiling Irishman.  The image is from the UCLA Library Digital collections.

The History and Mythology of Gower Gulch

It is Hollywood pop culture rooted in both history and folklore, born out of poverty row studios, aspiring movie cowboys, and a drugstore famous for its soda fountain and newsstand. Its geographical center was the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street, but the area, and what it represents, has become better known by its somewhat less than glamorous nickname--Gower Gulch.

This location was central to a number of well known movie studios, including Columbia, Paramount, RKO and Republic Pictures. Located at the southeast corner of Gower and Sunset was the Columbia Drug Co., famous for both its soda fountain and newsstand. Both Columbia and Republic specialized in westerns during this time period, and aspiring actors, many of whom were actual working cowboys, would congregate in and around the drugstore, hoping to be selected by the studio casting agents who would frequent the area. Many of these hopefuls would come to Gower Gulch fully outfitted in their cowboy clothing and gear, and thus the moniker "drugstore cowboy" was born.

Gower Gulch as seen in Thank Your Lucky Stars

The area was idealized in the 1943 Warner Bros. film Thank Your Lucky Stars as a rustic colony of aspiring actors and entertainers, living in discarded movie sets. Eddie Cantor, Joan Leslie and Dennis Morgan portray three of Gower Gulch's resident hopefuls, with Morgan's character noting that he lives in the former jail set used in James Cagney's 1939 film The Roaring Twenties. Despite conjecture otherwise (specifically a citation-less Wikipedia entry), this fanciful interpretation appears to have had no factual basis; I could not find any documentation of an actual Hollywood community consisting of individuals living in thrown away set pieces.

But Gower Gulch was in fact a community of sorts, as Time magazine described in their review of Thank Your Lucky Stars, published in October of 1943. The writer noted, "Gower Gulch is not a fiction. Although nothing like Warner Bros. moonlit version, it is one of Hollywood's minor but more durable institutions."

While the Columbia Drug Co. has received the lion's share of the historical attention relating to Gower Gulch, it was in fact another nearby establishment that was considered to be the heart and soul of this community of drugstore cowboys. The Time article identified a small Sunset Boulevard watering hole called Brewer's as the focal point for Gulch citizenry. It was run by woman named Eleanor Lathrop, who was known as the "little mother of Gower Gulch." In addition, the article provided this background:

For ten years Brewer's has been the official gathering place for Western extras and bit men, whiskery old boys who are still vicariously chasing aborigines with General Custer, discarded circus clowns and weary stuntmen who congregate to drink beer and to execute competitive embroideries on the small glories of a past day. Demigods like Gene Autry, Bob Steele and Rex Bell drop in now and then. Nearly all the Western stars have been reflected in the booze there at one time or another, but the roster of names which have been most conspicuous and most chronic during the past decade includes Handlebar Hank Bell, Bear Valley Charley, Vinegar Roan, Tex Cooper, Foxy Callaghan, Curley Rucker.

Most of these men started as genuine cowboys. All of them fill the wide-open spaces between the horses in horse operas with masculine strength and silence. Many of them get an occasional line. Perhaps the most prosperous is Handlebar Hank, who owes his modest fortune as well as his name to his mustache. More often than not, these men and others like them are picked up by studios making Westerns without working through Central Casting —a dubious practice known as "casting off the street."

"Blackjack" Jerome Moore

Gower Gulch gained headlines and notoriety in 1939 when a disagreement between two of its citizens ended in an alleged murder. "Blackjack" Jerome Moore was accused of chasing fellow cowboy Johnny Tykes out of Brewer's and shooting him to death in a nearby parking lot. Ward was acquitted when witnesses testified that his actions were committed in self defense. According to one report, "Movie cowboys testified that Tyke was 'pizen mean' and that somebody 'had to shoot him.'"

The Gower Gulch locals elected their own mayor for the first time in 1939,  It was a closely watched contest at Brewer's, where a purchase would earn you a vote.  Veteran movie cowboy Jack Evans edged out his nearest competitor, a much loved pet dog named Tramp, by a slim margin of just 26 votes.

Gower Gulch is made reference to in a number of classic-era cartoons.  It is the name of a town in the 1950 Looney Tunes short All Abir-r-r-d.  A year later in Drip Along Daffy, Porky Pig sings a song entitled "The Flower of Gower Gulch."  And in the 1943 Disney cartoon Victory Vehicles, Goofy, dressed in drugstore cowboy finery, stands near the Gower Gulch Pharmacy.  A grade B western entitled The Kid from Gower Gulch was released in 1949, but bore no relation to the Hollywood locale.

Today, a small strip center located at the intersection of Sunset and Gower retains the Gower Gulch name.   It is the only tangible reminder left of the area's history and of the drugstore cowboys who were once the stuff of Hollywood history and legend.

Explore 2719 Hyperion:
Disney's Hollywood: Gower Gulch and the Drugstore Cowboy

Windows to the Past: Teddy the Wrestling Bear

A carnival barker takes a moment to quench his thirst in this photograph from September of 1941.  A mere five cents granted admission to any number of wonders, including a 32 feet long, 618 lb. snake and the ever popular Teddy the Wrestling Bear.  This particular attraction was located on the midway of the Vermont State Fair in Rutland.  Photographer Jack Delano snapped the photo and it is part of the FSA-OWI collection at the Library of Congress.

Henry J. Kaiser - Out to Launch

You can learn a lot from cartoons.

Case in point: the 1944 Warner Bros. cartoon The Weakly Reporter.  This particular Merrie Melody was a send-up of life on the home front during World War II, and featured numerous situations and references that are near indecipherable to many modern viewers.  One must literally reach to the bookshelf or search engine to even be able to understand the meaning and context of many of the short's gags.

The closing sequence of the cartoon pokes fun at the very rapid production of warships at American shipyards at the height of the war.  The closing shot of the film zooms in on a small shack in a shipyard.  A sign on the door says "HENRY J. KAISER - PRIVATE."  A smaller sign, hanging from a nail, proclaims, "BACK IN 2 MINUTES - OUT TO LAUNCH."  So of course it begs the question, who is, or was, Henry J. Kaiser?

Kaiser was a very well know American industrialist throughout much of the mid-20th century.  Prior to World War II, his construction firm worked on such high profile projects as the Hoover Dam and the Grand Coulee Dam.  He began building ships just prior to the war.  He became famous in the field for being a master of mass production.  According to Wikipedia:

He became most famous for the Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond, California during World War II, adopting production techniques that generated cargo ships on the average of one every 45 days. These ships became known as Liberty ships. He became world renowned when his teams built a ship in 4 days. The keel for the 10,500 ton Robert E. Peary was laid on Sunday, November 8, 1942, and the ship was launched in California from the Richmond Shipyard #2 on Thursday, November 12, four days and 15½ hours later. The previous record had been 10 days for the Liberty ship Joseph M. Teal.

His most famous and lasting legacy is likely Kaiser Permanente, considered to be the first health maintenance organization.  Kaiser passed away in 1967.

Can War Marriages Be Made to Work?

War marriages were very much the stuff of Hollywood romance during World War II.  The most shining example would likely be the 1945 MGM classic The Clock, starring Judy Garland and Robert Walker as a young woman and a soldier who meet and fall in love over the course of a few days and quickly rush to the alter (or in their specific case, a New York City  Justice of the Peace.)

There was certainly a reality behind these whirlwind movie courtships, so much so that the War Department produced a pamphlet in 1944 urging soldiers to demonstrate caution and good judgment when considering any such hurried decisions involving near spontaneous matrimony.  The 32-page booklet was entitled Can War Marriages Be Made to Work? and was classified as War Department Education Manual EM30.  It was part of the G.I. Roundtable series, a series of pamphlets that were also designed to be the basis of potential discussion groups attended by servicemen.

The pamphlet quickly poses the question, "Why War Marriages?"  The answer:

Many war marriages are hasty marriages. Many are made while men are on leave or furlough. Often the time of the marriage is determined by the approaching end of a short leave.

Military promptness and the speed-up of work in war plants tend to hasten marriage. Entrance into service is an abrupt change Of status. Why not, some argue, make an abrupt change from single to married status? If war can change life overnight, why not make the change more complete by marrying? If the Army is going to snatch you away from civilian life, why not strengthen your ties with that life by leaving a wife behind you? And for many a girl who watches the boys going away from the home town, the "dates" of the hectic hours before they go may seem the last chance for marriage.

Courtship, no matter how disguised, is competition. To the soldier marriage offers, among other advantages, a device to ward off the competition of rivals while he is away.

In war nothing is certain but uncertainty. Even an unwise marriage may give a feeling of certainty for a moment. Unconsciously it may seem to offer an escape from doubts and confusion.

Many war marriages come about through loneliness or fear of loneliness. A soldier returns to his home town on leave; his old friends are gone; many things have changed. Or a girl takes a job away from home and is separated from her family and friends. Both to the girl away from home and to the soldier on leave, marriage is an intimate relationship that seems to offer escape from loneliness. Absence makes the heart grow fonder—if there is nobody else. And there may be nobody else in time to prevent a marriage that might never have taken place under normal conditions.

Though very much rooted in the culture of the 1940s, Can War Marriages Be Made to Work? provides some surprisingly progressive advice by way of its concept of the 50-50 marriage:

The "fifty-fifty" marriage, the kind in which neither husband nor wife orders the other around but in which they share equal authority and parallel responsibility, seems to have the best chance of success. There are persons who like to be bossed and others who enjoy bossing. If such individuals happen to pair off, the marriage may be a success. But in general American women are not by temperament or by training inclined to play the role of door mat in marriage any more than American men.

In fact, a couple's attitude toward equality in marriage relationship may be as important as the actual division of authority and responsibility between them. One recent study showed that husbands opposed to rights for women were somewhat less likely to be happily married than those more tolerant on the subject of equal rights and responsibilities for women. Many happily married couples assert that a "fifty-fifty" meeting is not enough—that each must be ready to go more than half way and provide, -in a "sixty-sixty" arrangement, a wide area for compromise.

Straight Shooting with Tom Mix

Sometime in 1944, a young Tony Mangano, to whom Boom Pop! is lovingly dedicated, happily opened an envelope from the Ralston Straight Shooters that had been mailed to him from a post office box in St. Louis.  Inside the envelope was his very own Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters of America Secret Manual.  At the time, Tony was a faithful listener of  "Radio's Biggest Western Detective Program," aka Tom Mix and His Ralston Straight Shooters, that aired every evening, Monday through Friday, on Pittsburgh-based radio station WCAE.
 
The real-life Tom Mix had little to do with the radio program beyond licensing his name and image to the Ralston-Purina Company, a breakfast cereal maker.  His fictional radio counterpart was portrayed by a number of different actors over the course of the show's seventeen year run.  Selling cereal was certainly a key component of the show and listeners such as Tony were encouraged to collect cereal boxtops that would earn various premium items.  Radio historian Jack French notes that, "The demand for the radio premiums offered on the program began strong and stayed high for the nearly 20 years the series was on the air. Virtually every type of premium was offered: guns, rings, air planes, books, lariats, coins, bandanas, badges, stationery, cowboy clothes, make-up kits, telegraph sets, periscopes, branding irons, etc.  The Ralston boxtops were pouring into St. Louis and truckloads of radio premiums were routed through the postal system into the hands of anxious kiddies."

The Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters of America Secret Manual is an amazing little booklet.  It is filled with many of the standard fan club components: a pledge of allegiance, secrets (as in handshakes, passwords, salutes, whistles and flashlight signals), theme song, and of course the obligatory "Tell Your Friends About Ralston, the Official Straight Shooters Cereal" advertisement.  An almost entirely fictional 17-part  biography of Mix is included, but even more interesting (and no-doubt was especially thrilling for any young Straight Shooter of the era) is the detailed diagram of Tom Mix injuries.

 The special note included at the bottom of the diagram had me laughing out loud:

Note:  Scars from 23 knife wounds are not indicated; nor is it possible to show on diagram the hole 4 inches square that was blown in Tom's back by a dynamite explosion.

But perhaps most compelling was the section entitled "Straight Shooters are Home Front Soldiers."  It distinctly spins away from the western fantasy of Tom Mix and reminds us of the realities of being a child on the homefront during World War II.

Straight Shooters have been outstanding in helping to win the war in many ways:

1. By buying War Stamps regularly. Every ten-cent War Stamp helped to keep some fighting man supplied with food and clothing and medicines and ammunition.
2. By collecting Waste Paper ... never letting anyone burn old newspapers or wrapping paper. Straight Shooters have collected tons of waste paper for ammunition packing cases and other vital war needs.
3. By helping mother save tin cans ... by taking off the tops and labels, flattening the cans, and seeing that the boxful of cans was placed on the curb.
4. By helping mother save waste fats ... reminding-her not to throw away fats and grease no longer useable for cooking, but to save it in a tin container ... and by taking it to the grocery store.
5. By not talking about the letters their brothers and sisters in the army or navy wrote home. Those letters might have contained information the enemy wanted to know.
6. By not wasting anything—food, clothing, electricity. By eating everything mother puts on their plates; by taking care of their clothes and by turning off unnecessary lights.
7. By being careful! Accidents in the home or in the street may mean a trip to the hospital — and hospitals are short of nurses and doctors.

 The manual provided one other pointed, though still upbeat reminder of the year 1944:

Straight Shooter Heroes have fought on every battle front

More than five million boys and girls have joined the Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters since the organization was founded in 1933.  Today, many of those boys and girls are grown-up and have taken their places in Uncle Sam's forces battling for Straight Shooter ideals of freedom and right and honesty all over the world.

While the youthful Tony Mangano did not personalize any of the places in the manual that called for his name or signature, he did faithfully comply with the page 3 instructions to KEEP THIS BOOK IN A SECRETS SPACE!  Tony kept the Manual secure, still within its original mailing envelope for well over six decades.  His family discovered it shortly after his passing in January of 2009.  He was a true Straight Shooter. 

Windows to the Past: The Reality of Rosie

Rosie the Riveter has long been the symbolic icon of women working in American industry during World War II.  This stunning color photograph from June 1942 showcases a real life study of that homefront dynamic.  The unidentified woman in the picture is working at a North American Aviation, Inc. plant in California.  The picture was taken by photographer Alfred T. Palmer who was at the time working for the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Collection.  

Photo from the Library of Congress Prints and Photograph collection.

Americans! Share the Meat

In this era of Double Quarter Pounders With Cheese (McDonalds) and 2/3 lb. Monster Thickburgers (Hardees), it's interesting to reflect back on more conscientious and certainly leaner times.  This World War II era public service poster was produced in 1942 by the War Information Office and  prepared in cooperation with Foods Requirement Committee of the War Production Board. 

Image courtesy of Northwestern University Library.

Gardening for Victory!

"Every town, city and suburban family with a plot of sunny, open space of suitable soil, or access to a community or allotment garden, can make an important contribution to our national food program and our war effort by growing a victory garden."

So declared then Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard in early 1943. Thus, the Victory Garden became not just a means of supplementing food supplies and alleviating the need for extensive food rationing, but also emerged as one of the more pronounced aspects of World War II era popular culture. In the same statement, Wickard went on to say:

"This year we need more food than ever before in history. We need it for our men at the battlefronts, and those in training. We need it to keep the folks at home healthy and strong.

"Farmers broke all records in food production last year for the third time in succession. They are ready to do their level best to produce even more this year. All they can possibly produce of most foods will be needed. In many cases, more than can be produced on our farms will be needed. We simply can't get too much of some kinds of food. Every farm family, of course, will be expected to have a garden for home use and, if possible, to provide extra supplies of vegetables for nearby markets.

"The entire national food situation will be tremendously helped, and our total food needs more easily supplied, if those who have suitable ground will grow all the vegetables required for the family. Special attention should be given to green and leafy vegetables, yellow vegetables and tomatoes, because these kinds bring valuable vitamins and minerals right to the family table."

Shortly after the Secretary made his pronouncement, Time Magazine noted:

"This year Victory gardens have the Agriculture Department's blessing: Secretary Claude Wickard wants 12,000,000 in cities, 6,000,000 more on farms. The Department has arranged for production of a special Victory Garden Fertilizer and is ready with all kinds of free advice and pamphlets. Seed companies have keyed their advertising to Agriculture's campaign. From almost any catalogue, neophyte gardeners can choose a victory garden combination ($1 and up) with full instructions how, when and where to plant it. With a little luck and work, they will have fresh vegetables on their tables all summer. With a normal dose of inexperience, they will also waste a lot of seed and fertilizer.

"If Claude Wickard gets his 18,000,000 Victory gardens, food rationing will have much less sting this summer. The Agriculture Department estimates that every city garden will produce at least $10 worth of vegetables, every farm garden at least $50. At these figures, Victory gardens should yield a $420,000,000 crop."

Americans rose to the call. Nearly 20 million Victory Gardens were planted and tended in 1943. They grew out of farm plots, back yards, vacant lots and building rooftops. It was estimated that those gardens produced closed to 40% of the country's food supply that year. The initiative was so successful that public figures worried that a restored food supply would cause complacency among the new found Victory Gardeners and they would lay down the shovels and hoes the following season. Hence a "Dig More in '44" campaign was launched to insure continued participation and bounty. An article in the April 1944 issue of Modern Mechanix noted:

"Canned goods have recently been so plentiful that a few people, watching the points go down, have, like the grasshopper in the fable, questioned whether they should work a garden this summer or not.

"The answer to these slightly disillusioned persons is that they mustn't be fooled by any temporary signs of a food surplus, for this is more apparent than real. Food officials in Washington and authorities everywhere are really concerned about the needs for food that lie just ahead. after the invasion starts.

"The prudent householder will, therefore, garden this year as ardently as in 1943 and on as extensive a scale as his facilities, time and energy permit."

The Department of Agriculture produced numerous materials to promote Victory Gardens. Posters, pamphlets and extensive instruction manuals were readily available to an eager populace. Seed companies and hardware vendors were quick to also promote the effort for commercial as well as patriotic reasons. A booklet entitled ABC of Victory Gardens and sponsored by the Paragon Oil Company of New York, proclaimed to its readers:

YOU MUST HAVE A GARDEN THIS SUMMER!

You may not be able to carry a gun or drive a tank, but you can grow food for Victory! The scarcity of food is no longer something that may happen--it is here RIGHT NOW! Canned, dried and frozen vegetables have been rationed. Some experts estimate that we will receive about 70% of the amount that we had last year. WHY NOT RAISE YOUR OWN? Have as many of them as you want! Have the finest tasting vegetables a king could have, gathered fresh from your own garden.

Numerous Hollywood movies and cartoons made reference to V-Gardens. Eddie "Rochester" Anderson cultivated one in the movie What's Buzzin' Cousin? Numerous cartoons released in 1943 featured Victory Garden storylines. Popeye grew a beanstalk out of his Victory Garden in Ration for the Duration. He climbed it, only to encounter a giant who was hoarding not treasure, but valuable war rations. Both MGM's Barney Bear and Walter Lantz's Andy Panda starred in Victory Garden cartoons, and a Victory Garden was employed as a gag in the Warner Brothers short A Tale of Two Kitties.

When the war ended in 1945, Victory Gardeners prematurely abandoned their vegetable plots, causing some food shortages well into the following year. In the post war years, Victory Gardens became little more than memories of home front resourcefulness and patriotism.

Be sure to visit 2719 Hyperion to discover Disney's Victory Gardens.

The Reception Committee

World War II veterans returning home were greeted by numerous post-war archetypes, so much so that many of these characterizations became part of the popular culture of the era. Numerous movies employed such characterizations, most notably the 1946 Oscar-winning The Best Years of Our Lives. This magazine advertisement from 1945, produced by War Advertising Council and sponsored by Bristol-Myers, satirically described the various types of personalities returning soldiers were likely to encounter.

THE GREETER. He's a one-man brass and when it comes to welcoming a veteran. "Nothing's too good for Our Boys!" he always says. And that's exactly what he gives them. Nothing, except a big hello and empty words. Help? That's the Government's job. "Don't vets have bonuses?" he asks, "Pensions? Job agencies?"

THE CLUTCH. One like her in every town. Always leaping to help some disabled veteran over a pebble. Practically blubbers at him while she's doing it. Succeeds in making the veteran feel as if he's ruined for any normal life. Or career.

THE BLOODHOUND. "It's OK, Sailor, you won't shock me!" This shock-proof stalwart is after the details. How does it feel to be bombed? Ever knife a Jap? The War's just one big adventure to him. But it hasn't been for the sailor. He wants to forget it— fast. Not talk about it.

THE PATRIOT. He's practically winning the war single-handed. Always talking about all the things he goes without, all the War Bonds he buys. Talks as if he were doing the Government a favor, when he's really making the best investment in the world. Veterans (who've been buying plenty of Bonds themselves) love this kind of talk. Makes them wonder whether we had the right people in the front lines.

THE ROCK. He's nerveless. The Iron Man. War hasn't affected him. Can't understand why discharged veterans are allowed 90 days to relax before going back to their old jobs. Can't understand why they should need time to get over the War. He doesn't. Combat Officers would love to have this type in their care for a while.

BLUE RIBBON CITIZEN. Like all good people, she asks no questions, weeps no tears, doesn't stare at disabilities. To her, a returned veteran is an abler, more aggressive and resourceful citizen than the boy who went away. She's proud of him, proud to know him. Anxious to be of real help to him. She's the kind of person we should all be.

Sincerely, Superman

This very cool war-era Superman postcard dates from 1944 and is currently up for auction at Hakes.

The Future of the Family - 1946

The hopeful idealism of of post-World War II America can be seen in this 1946 U.S. Treasury poster promoting U.S. Saving Bonds. The parents and children depicted are together a perfect example of the family archetype that would come to symbolize post-war society and the beginnings of the Baby Boom. A classic image from a classic time.

Hey, Got a Nickel, Mack?

A Hare Grows in Manhattan - 1947

"It was once the world’s largest restaurant chain, serving 800,000 people a day. It was Horn & Hardart, and its cavernous, waiterless establishments represented a combination of fast-food, vending and cafeteria-style eateries. These restaurants, with their chrome-and-glass coin-operated machines, brought high-tech, inexpensive eating to a low-tech era. Making their debut in Philadelphia in 1902, just up the street from Independence Hall, and reaching Manhattan in 1912, Horn & Hardart Automats became an American icon, celebrated in song and humor. With their uniform recipes and centralized commissary system of supplying their restaurants, the Automats were America’s first major fast-food chain."

Carolyn Hughes Crowley

Smithsonian Magazine, August 2001

"Horn and Hardart believed that the cafeteria-like eatery would be a success if they could provide quality food inexpensively and conveniently. Customers could drop a nickel into a slot next to chrome and glass displays, choosing a hot meal for five cents. The company instructed employees to be especially friendly—anyone, despite the amount of money they spent, was welcome in an automat and could stay as long as they wanted. Some customers, unable to afford the nickel meals, were welcome to make tomato soup out of hot water and ketchup for free. In the 1930s automats appealed to both the working class because of their prices and to the upper class for their quality food. During the Depression, the automats flourished with their inviting atmosphere, excellent food, and bargain prices."

Catherine Finn

Preservation Magazine, Jaunuary 2007

"A kiss may be grand, but it won't pay the rental on your humble flat,

or help you at the automat."

-from the song Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend,

as performed by Marilyn Monroe in the film
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.